Retroactive continuity

Retroactive continuity, known as a retcon for short, is the alteration of previously established facts in a fictional work, either through the addition of new, conflicting information – be it in dialog or on screen – or by visually changing the original work directly. The Star Trek franchise has had numerous examples of such material:
The first such example was the differences in the Galaxy class studio models after the addition of Ten Forward in TNG Season 2.
The Trill also saw a noticeable re-envisioning between TNG and , when the character of Jadzia Dax was created to look less like the first on-screen Trill, Odan, and more like the Kriosian, Kamala.
Reconning became especially prominent when episodes of and were remastered. Examples primarily included changing the information on display screen graphics when an episode was remastered.
Retcons were very predominant with the premiere of had premiered, which introduced a radically new appearance for the Klingons. Whereas a conscious attempt was made to "justify" the difference between TOS and TNG Klingons in as far as noticing the difference in and explaining the difference in , the same cannot be said for their appearance on DIS. The Klingons that appeared subsequent to DIS's first season were in a style much closer to the TNG era(such as in ).
The end of the first season introduced a of the from the "classic" 1960s look. This had also previously occurred with the reboot of the franchise with the J.J. Abrams' series of films, beginning with .
The premiere of , which revised the ethnicity of key character's, such as those of Robert April and Mr. Kyle. According to Trevor Roth, they sometimes "bend the canon" to fit a story need, and with regards to the changes in ethnicity, he said they did so in an attempt to bring more diversity to the casts of the various series, i.e., less white males, as was often depicted in TOS. (Personal conversation with Roth per User:Renegade54)
== External links ==
* 
fr:Continuité rétroactive
Category:Plot devices