Forum:Non-canon performers and staff

There is currently a discussion over at Vfd as to whether or not people who worked on non-canon Star Trek products should be given their own articles. The example here is Courtney Taylor, whose sole Trek credit is voice work in a Star Trek video game. My question is, should those performers and production personnel who only worked on non-canon items such as video games have their own articles? Personally, it seems ridiculous to have articles for people who had nothing to do with the canon universe -- but then again, we do have articles for those who write the novels, which are considered non-canon. So what should be done about this: do we leave the Courtney Taylor article alone and thereby allow articles for video game personnel or do we delete it? That's all I have to say about that -- now have at it!!! :-P --From Andoria with Love 11:48, 7 Jan 2006 (UTC)
 * A difficult question. I think the authors of novels definitely have their place in MA, but so might the producers of non-canon works have. It is difficult to judge wether or not they have submitted enough work to receive an own article. I think of people like Larry Niven: ok not a good example, because TAS is canon, but he is normally involved in other projects than Trek, but provided material for the franchise. OTH I don't expect Warren Holland to have an article here, who was the publisher of Star Trek: Communicator (at least publisher of issue #142), either. -- Kobi - (   ) 13:14, 7 Jan 2006 (UTC)

Moved from Vfd

 * Courtney Taylor : Actress whose only credit was a voice-over in a non-canon Star Trek video game. Having articles for those who worked in canon productions is one thing, but I don't think we need to start creating those who worked in non-canon items. At the very least, this should be merged with Star Trek: Starfleet Command III. --From Andoria with Love 01:29, 2 Jan 2006 (UTC)
 * Delete: I don't even think this info should even be included on the Starfleet Command III page. Memory Alpha is about everything related to canon Star Trek, not everything related to things related to canon Star Trek.--Tim Thomason 06:27, 2 Jan 2006 (UTC)
 * unsure -- should contributors to non-canon pursuits (writers and editors and illustrators and artists of comics, novels, toys and games) be given credit here? for voiceovers and some types of comic artists i'd at least say some sort of central table could be created (to see which contributors have been in every release, which have recurred or worked for different companies). i think this master list might be a better idea, if other archivists think giving courtney and her peers their own articles. -- Captain Mike K. Barteltalk
 * Keep for now. We certainly need to open a dialogue on whether or not real-life people attached to non-canon yet sanctioned Trek projects deserve their own pages. -- SmokeDetector47undefined 03:01, 3 Jan 2006 (UTC)
 * Well, we do have pages for authors and illustrators of Trek books, so I don't know. I think we should just delete this, otherwise we may be giving the okay to create pages for others involved in non-canon merchandise (i.e. individual video game engineers and developers). I think that would be going a bit overboard. Just giving them credit on the game's article should be enough. --From Andoria with Love 04:39, 4 Jan 2006 (UTC)


 * Delete. Too many degrees of seperation.  If she had worked on an episode of movie, keep it, but this seems so obscure. Jaz 08:52, 6 Jan 2006 (UTC)
 * A discussion as to whether to keep or delete this article and others like it is currently being held over at Ten Forward. --From Andoria with Love 11:51, 7 Jan 2006 (UTC)

I suggest a "squishy" standard (that's a technical term): only include the creative forces behind non-canon works to the extent (1) the work itself has an article in Memory Alpha and (2) the individual provided a significant contribution to the work. So, for example, with a book the author could be listed, but the people listed on the dedication page as helping would not. With a game the primary developer/programmer might be listed, but not every artist who contributed. Also with a game, someone who narrated the entire thing might be seen as significant, but someone who just had a few lines here and there might not be. It would be a case by case kinda thing, but I suspect with just a little bit of thought it would sort itself out. Aholland 15:51, 26 April 2006 (UTC)


 * Sorry to bring this up again, but what about a single page (or three, depending) for voice actors, etc? That would allow the performers to be listed, but not create separate articles for each person.  The reason this has come up again is that I've found 4-5 links to performers that are only in video games, but showed up in some other movie with one (or more) ST performers that appeared on screen (TV or movie).  Thoughts?  -- Sulfur 01:41, 12 May 2006 (UTC)


 * I personally think that anyone involved with the video games should only be credited on the video game article. There were recently pages created for serveral voice actors and I told the original author that the decision was made that non-canon performers were not to be given their own articles, and I was actually under the impression that this page had been deleted and merged with the content with the video game she voiced in. And from what I can see, we have three deletes, one "keep for now", and one "unsure". The majority said delete, so this should have been deleted. So, by, Courtney. --From Andoria with Love 13:33, 14 May 2006 (UTC)
 * Actually, having just deleted Terrence Beasor... I dunno. I guess there wouldn't be any harm in allowing video game actors to have their own pages here, since we allow writers/artists for non-canon books. I'll go ahead and restore Beasor for now until this is completely settled. Taylor, however, must remain deleted for now as per the votes and since her name was misspelled anyway. --From Andoria with Love 13:59, 14 May 2006 (UTC)

Authors of books are a bit different; a number of them have had some creative input to the series in one way or another. A lot of the writers of the books make numerous books about Trek and have put in tremendous amounts of time creating approved things for Trek. Peter David for example. (Too bad Vendetta wasn't made in First Contact's place, but oh well...) But after voice actors in games, then what? Artists? 3D renderers? Programmers? Most individuals in these categories are going to have a single Trek related non-canon credit. Perhaps that should be the key; if your work related to Trek has been a single non-canon credit, it should probably be entered on a collective page. Individual pages should be for canon work or extensive/pervasive noncanon careers.