[WikiEN-l] Are TV screencaps reputable sources?

[Ray Saintonge]

Alphax (Wikipedia email) wrote:

>Joe Anderson wrote:
>  
>
>>Cool Cat recently created an article called Starfleet
>>Uniforms<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starfleet_Uniforms>,
>>and it was nominated for deletion as cruft and OR.
>>
>>The screencaps/promo photos in the article, IMO, acted as a reputable
>>source. I mean, how else (canonically) are you going to know about the
>>uniform switch between TOS and TNG? Using a book is not canonical, and
>>therefore is surely not [[WP:V]].
>>    
>>
>There are such things as Star Trek encyclopediae, which report canon and
>real life (and probably not fanfic/other non-canon).
>
>While the TV shows are canonical (as are the movies (except where
>continuity fails, cf. /Enterprise/)), using a screencap is close to
>original research and on dangerous ground wrt. using "fair use" as an
>excuse for copyright infringement.
>
So using a picture from the secondary source would be somehow more free 
than using a screen capture?

If one draws from a Star Trek Encyclopedia, comparing what is said there 
with the original source is still important.  How else are you going to 
know whether the Encyclopedia information is accurate? 

I seriously question the notion that using material from the original 
movie or book is original research.  The original research was done by 
the author of the book.

Ec