For example, the Federation’s founding members (Tellarites, Andorians, Vulcans, Humans) were the subject of fan theories and “fanon” for many years before the ENT writers made it official. One of the interesting (and fun) aspects of this recent wave of series has been seeing the writers increasingly add nods to fan theories and pieces of fanon lore over the years. What are some good examples of this?
And relatedly: what’s a fan theory, or piece of fanon, that you suspect the current writers believe, even if they haven’t explicitly stated it on-screen?
The most recent and significant canonizations of fanon that come to mind is the use of Geoffrey Mandel’s Star Charts as a basis for the charts we see in the show, and the NX-01 refit finally showing up in PIC. Also, the use of the Black Fleet from The Final Reflection in DIS and the importation of Una’s name and her origin as an Illyrian (although tweaked) from the novels. Also the importation of David Goodman’s wording of the Prime Directive from Federation: The First 150 Years in PRO: “First Con-Tact”.
The use of Diane Duane’s terminology for Vulcan emotional suppression (arie’mnu) also makes me suspect that everything she came up with about Vulcan logic like cthia in her books is in the back of the writers’ minds - especially Kristen Byers, just like they influenced the Reeves-Stevens when they were writing ENT. I wouldn’t be surprised if eventually some of her Romulan stuff made it in as well.
