The final two years of the starship Enterprise's five-year mission have proved a fertile ground for storytelling and examination over the past severalThe final two years of the starship Enterprise's five-year mission have proved a fertile ground for storytelling and examination over the past several decades. Pocket Books has multiple tie-in novels from the era and then a hit-or-miss series about the "Lost Years" between the end of the five-year mission and the start of the motion picture series.
Now, IDW attempts to give fans the final year of Captain James T. Kirk and company's tenure on the starship Enterprise with Star Trek: Year Five. This collection of the first six issues of the series contains three complete "episodes" that attempt to blend the stand-alone storytelling of the original Star Trek with the season-long arcs that are prevalent today. The hybrid works well enough, giving us some interesting character exploration as Kirk faces the prospect of becoming an admiral coupled with regrets about his past (his relationship with Carol and David Marcus serves as a launching point for the middle installment of the arc). There's even an apparent rift developing between Kirk and Spock (which interestingly plays into Pocket Books' "The Lost Years" saga) and the crew potentially becoming involved in some squabbling between the Tholians (last seen trapping our crew in their web).
The storytelling and artwork for these six collected issues is spot-on an feels like they came right out of a potential fifth season of the classic series. It's interesting to see the crew go back to "A Piece of the Action" to examine the implications of McCoy leaving his communicator behind (this is also explored by Peter David in his comic arc "The Trial of James T. Kirk" for D.C. years ago). The characters are well represented and some of the crew that aren't Kirk, Spock, or McCoy get a moment or two to shine as well.
In short, this is a diverting and entertaining collection of stories that Star Trek fans will enjoy.
Merged review:
The final two years of the starship Enterprise's five-year mission have proved a fertile ground for storytelling and examination over the past several decades. Pocket Books has multiple tie-in novels from the era and then a hit-or-miss series about the "Lost Years" between the end of the five-year mission and the start of the motion picture series.
Now, IDW attempts to give fans the final year of Captain James T. Kirk and company's tenure on the starship Enterprise with Star Trek: Year Five. This collection of the first six issues of the series contains three complete "episodes" that attempt to blend the stand-alone storytelling of the original Star Trek with the season-long arcs that are prevalent today. The hybrid works well enough, giving us some interesting character exploration as Kirk faces the prospect of becoming an admiral coupled with regrets about his past (his relationship with Carol and David Marcus serves as a launching point for the middle installment of the arc). There's even an apparent rift developing between Kirk and Spock (which interestingly plays into Pocket Books' "The Lost Years" saga) and the crew potentially becoming involved in some squabbling between the Tholians (last seen trapping our crew in their web).
The storytelling and artwork for these six collected issues is spot-on an feels like they came right out of a potential fifth season of the classic series. It's interesting to see the crew go back to "A Piece of the Action" to examine the implications of McCoy leaving his communicator behind (this is also explored by Peter David in his comic arc "The Trial of James T. Kirk" for D.C. years ago). The characters are well represented and some of the crew that aren't Kirk, Spock, or McCoy get a moment or two to shine as well.
In short, this is a diverting and entertaining collection of stories that Star Trek fans will enjoy....more
Back in 1983, it was a little more wild out on the final frontier. Well, at least as far as Sonni Cooper's Black Fire was concerned.
I read this one baBack in 1983, it was a little more wild out on the final frontier. Well, at least as far as Sonni Cooper's Black Fire was concerned.
I read this one back in high school but couldn't recall much about it as I approached this novel for my "Re-Read the Trek novels of 1983" project. Reading it forty years later, I can't believe this one ever saw the light of day as an officially sanctioned tie-in novel. I'm not the one one since this one seems to have created more than a few ripples among Trek fans at the time.
Opening with an explosion on-board that Enterprise that cripples the ship and kills multiple crew members, Black Fire hits the ground running and never looks back. Kirk is critically wounded and Spock gets a piece of metal stuck in his back that could paralyze him at any time but can't be removed for -- well, reasons. Spock doesn't let the fact that he could be paralyzed at any moment with one wrong step stop him from mind-melding with Sulu to find the culprit behind the explosion, tracking down where she went, and then enlisting Scotty to steal a ship and pursue them.
If you're worried I'm giving away huge spoilers, I will say don't be. All of this happens within the first thirty or so pages of the novel.
Once they arrive at the planet, Spock and Scotty find a Romulan and Klingon ship there. Turns out both empires were also attacked and led here. Everyone is captured by a new group called the Tomarii, a bloodthirsty race for whom war is life itself. The Tomarii capture everyone and put them into some type of camp to see if they're worthy adversaries that feel like a fan-fic version of "Gamesters of Triskelion." And don't forget that the Tomarii feel like an early, more aggressive version of the Binars from TNG where they assimilate a lot of technology but don't necessarily understand how it all works.
It's while in captivity that Spock has not one but two ladies fall for his Vulcan sexiness. Spock is having none of this, despite later being kept as a pet by the female leader of the Tomarii. Spock realizes that Scotty will never leave him behind so he tries not once but twice to commit suicide (because it's the logical thing to do) -- once by getting stabbed by a fellow prisoner who is in love with him and later by consuming a deadly berry. Luckily, both attempts are thwarted, the second because Kirk and company show up with the Enterprise at the exact right moment for McCoy to save Spock.
Just when you think it can't get any more batpoop crazy, Cooper kicks things up a notch. For one thing, everyone conspires to shield Kirk from the news that Scotty and Spock have gone rogue, up to the point that he's surprised not to see either of them when he takes back over command of the newly repaired Enterprise. Then, once rescued, Spock makes good on a promise made to the Romulans to warn the Empire of the impending threat and is drummed out of Starfleet and sent to prison for treason. (Scotty is demoted because he was simply following orders). Spock is sent to prison where he meets another Romulan agent who he bonds with in such a way that he's soon telling Kirk to take a long walk off a short pier because he's got a new BFF.
The two eventually escape and become pirates on dual ships known as the Black Fire. Their thought process is that two ships will create a legend on the frontier and help their various governments pay attention to the threat the Tomarii represent.
It's at this point that things are completely off the rails --and yet somehow I couldn't stop turning the pages, wondering what twist Cooper would pull out next.
It's not spoiling much to say that everything has to reset to status quo by the end of the story -- and it does so in one of the more contrived, tacked-on two pages ever. If you've ever rolled your eyes at how late first and middle second season TOS ended on a "funny" moment, you're going to hate how this one ends. I could almost hear the musical queue to indicate it was time to laugh.
Cooper's novel was initially so polarizing that some fans were calling for a boycott of the professionally published Trek novels. I can kind of see where they're coming from because reading it now, it feels like an incredibly dashed-together piece of fan fiction. I keep wondering which of the two females who fall for Spock is the Mary Sue of this one, though part of me suspects it's both. If you've ever wanted to see Spock cosplay as a pirate or the kept pet of a female leader, this is your book.
Reading the novel, there's a good bit that feels off about it. Part of this is the dynamic of Kirk and Spock, which doesn't quite always ring true given that this is supposed to be set between the end of season three and TMP. It thankfully never reaches the overtones that it will in the original version of Killing Time but there is a huge undercurrent of jealousy when Spock ditches Krik for his new Romulan buddy.
Black Fire starts with a huge bang and rockets along at a warp nine for its entire run time. It's kind of like a season of 24 where the less time you think about how the latest development or plot twist could impact the larger picture, the better. The times when I stopped to go, "Now what is this twist and what does it mean" only helped reduce the novel's standing with me.
And yet, despite all the criticisms you can level at this one (and there are a few), there are still some fun moments. The early stages of the attack on the Enterprise work well and a scene where Chapel sees the disgraced Spock going to his trial and weeps for him takes on a new meaning with the nuances introduced by Strange New Worlds. I would give money to see SNW try to adapt some of this story for a future season. We could drop the "every woman he meets falling in love with Spock" aspect and it maybe too much of a reset button for him to go rogue and be drummed out of Starfleet, but I can't admit this wouldn't be fun to see.
I can't see Black Fire is the worst piece of Trek tie-in fiction I've ever read. There are multiple books I can cite as being dull and predictable -- something this novel never is.
But I can see why it caused such a debate among fandom and along with Killing Time probably made Paramount and Pocket Books take a harder look at the final frontier in the printed page.
Read this one at your own risk. Your mileage may vary. ...more
Close to forty years past the premiere of The Next Generation, it's hard to remember just a gamble The Next Generation was back in 1987. After years oClose to forty years past the premiere of The Next Generation, it's hard to remember just a gamble The Next Generation was back in 1987. After years of struggling to get a weekly series back on our airwaves, Gene Roddenberry finally had his wish and was returning to television and the day-to-day running of a Trek series.
And while Paramount had little control over whether or not the quality of a new Star Trek would be up to snuff, they could certainly make sure the public was aware of the series. This brings us to this collection of the six-issue DC limited series comic books based on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Reading them thirty-plus years later, they stand out as a bit of anachronistic.
It feels like writer Mark Carlin was given an early writer's bible to the show and based his stories and characterization on that. Data is a bit more emotional than we see in the series (at one point when Geordi is apparently killed, Data is ready to kill the person he considers responsible), Troi's abilities seem to include predicting the future (to the point that Picard defers to her on the make-up of a landing party) and Picard seems a bit sterner. In many ways, the first couple of issues feel like they were inspired by the same writer's guide that Diane Carey did for the first Pocket novel, "Ghost Ship."
The characters feel almost like the ones we will come to know, but there's something slightly off-kilter about them. Given that TNG is relatively new when the first issues were produced, having the characters stop to reflect on their backstory isn't necessarily worth taking points off. It's just one of those things that happen in comic books from time to time. (Well, at least comics of this era.)
The comics do provide an interesting "what if" glimpse into how Tasha Yar could have been developed. Denise Crosby left after the first season due to the feeling her character wasn't getting any decent scripts or character development. These comics make me wonder if the writing team for the TV series had taken a page from what we see here if Crosby might have stayed around a bit.
There's also an interest in bringing Q back and stripping him of his powers --something TNG would do in season three with great effect. It's interesting to see another writer get to there first and what he makes of the situation and its impact on Q.
Alas, these nuggets are the only gems of this otherwise disappointing collection of six issues. Carlin doubles down on the families on the Enterprise aspect of the series by giving us a bickering couple who work together at the ops station when the regular crew is off having adventures. Think the Bickersons but piloting the flag ship of the fleet. Then there is the second issue in which the crew visits a planet just in time for Christmas and pursues the spirit of Christmas -- who only Geordi can see with his visor and looks like just Santa Claus. Subtle, this ain't.
Given how good the DC run of original series tie-in comics could be, it's a shame that this limited series misses the mark so badly.
And yet, I read the entire collection through to the end. I'm not sure if this says something more about this collection or me. I leave that up to your discretion. ...more
After James Blish’s adaptation of most of the original Star Trek episodes and the first published original novel, “Spock Must Die!”, Star Trek novels After James Blish’s adaptation of most of the original Star Trek episodes and the first published original novel, “Spock Must Die!”, Star Trek novels entered an interesting era. Many of the books that made it to the market were one-stepped removed from glorified fan-fiction.
But as publishing rights were shifting to Pocket Books with the release of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, one glimmer of respectability hit shelves with David Gerrold adapting his initial story pitch for the original series for the printed page. The result was “The Galactic Whirlpool.”
I read “The Galactic Whirlpool” during my intensive Trek novel phase during my teenage years. The only thing I recalled about it was the opening featuring Kirk reflecting on the nature of his middle name and what that means about his character.
Picking up it close to three decades later, I was struck by how my memory had confabulated this sequence a bit and how little else I recalled about the novel as a whole.
Given that Gerrold was part of the writing team for the original series, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that he’s got a good grasp on writing for the regular crew – and that he even brings in a few recurring characters as well, including Lt. Kevin Riley who was seen twice in season one and then vanished off-screen. (I guess if you take over the engineering section and demand ice cream for dinner, Kirk takes a dim view of things).
The Enterprise encounters a large vessel in the depths of space on a course for destruction between two interstellar phenomena. Once the crew has entered the ship, they find a group of colonists that left Earth a long time ago, divided into factions. Can Kirk and company convince them they need help before a course change is too late and their ship is destroyed?
Gerrold originally conceived this story as a two-part episode for the original series. In a lot of ways, this one feels a bit like an early episode of TNG, with an emphasis on Kirk getting all the information from his crew before he makes a decision. There’s even a memorable if lengthy, chapter in which the Enterprise librarian gets to offer his discourse on the colony and exposition dump a lot of useful information to the crew.
The first half of the novel is the more compelling with the second half not quite resonating as well. I appreciate Riley coming on the scene, but his interaction with a colony member brought over and then returned to the ship starts to get a bit tedious in the later pages. Kirk and company are kept off-stage (there’s a Klingon warbird hovering in the sector, requiring KIrk to stay on the bridge) in the second half, and the novel loses a bit of its momentum.
Re-reading “The Galactic Whirlpool,” I was impressed by the patience and attention to detail Gerrold shows. Many of the Trek novels can descend into being pure action and while there is plenty of action to spare, a lot of what appeals about classic Trek is on full display here. I also found it interesting to get the perspective of a guy who worked with some of the creative minds behind TOS in crafting a Trek novel.
Is this a perfect book? Nah.
But it’s a fun tie-in and one of those stories that probably would have been better on-screen than most of what we got in season three. ...more
Tie-in fiction was a staple of my reading life for much of my teens and early twenties. I eagerly picked up each new installment as it hit the shelvesTie-in fiction was a staple of my reading life for much of my teens and early twenties. I eagerly picked up each new installment as it hit the shelves and would quickly consume them over the course of a few afternoons and evenings.
But then, in the late '90's, Star Trek fiction began to become a bit more insular. It started with the annual (generally summer-released) cross-over events, then it continued with advancing the story and characters beyond the finales of DS9 and Voyager. Slowly, Trek fiction demanded (at least it seemed to this reader) that you have read a half-dozen or so novels leading up to the current one and be aware of the various new directions the characters were going. Alas, I started to get behind on my Trek reading because it felt too much I was missing details and was so far behind that I'd never catch up.
Which is why Cassandra Rose Clarke's Shadows Have Offended is such a welcome, breath of fresh air to the Star Trek fiction universe - a standalone story set during the seventh season of TNG and focused on Deanna Troi and Beverly Crusher. Like many of the most memorable Trek novels of my earlier days, this one felt like an episode of the series, only without the constraints of a television budget.
The Enterprise is "volunteered" by Luxwana Troi to ferry guests for an upcoming Betaziod ceremony across the quadrant, much to the chagrin of Captain Picard. While doing this, a research station in a nearby sector suffers a tragedy. Picard sends an away team of Riker, Data, Crusher, and several other original characters to investigate while the ship continues its duties on Betazed.
The biggest compliment I can give this novel is that Clarke really knows the ins and outs of these characters. It's easy to hear the actors saying the lines she gives these iconic characters. But she also takes a page from J.M. Dillard and other Trek writers and introduces her own creations into the canon. The members of the away team with Riker and Crusher are all well-drawn and interesting enough to warrant returning in a future offering should Clarke decide to visit the Trek universe again.
Shadows Have Offended won't be mistaken for a great piece of literature. But, it's a quietly, comforting novel that reminded me of the days when I was immersed in Trek fiction. I hope Clarke has another novel or two set in the TNG universe in her. This one is a lot of fun and every bit as entertaining as I'd hoped it would be....more
Earlier this year, a Den of Geek article centering on the Star Trek novels published in 1983 cropped up in my news feed. Six tie-in novels hit shelvesEarlier this year, a Den of Geek article centering on the Star Trek novels published in 1983 cropped up in my news feed. Six tie-in novels hit shelves that year and the article delves into the wild and diverse crop of stories that were taking place on the final frontier forty years ago.
I’m no stranger to a tie-in novel — especially anything associated with Star Trek. The books were pretty much a literary staple to me in my teens and early 20’s and I’d often “chain read” them — finishing one only to turn around and start another. As I got older, I began to vary my literary diet and not just consume the “junk food” that Star Trek novels can often be.
So, when it came to the books detailed in Den of Geek’s article, I found I’d read about half of them. And that while I long ago parted ways with most of the collected Trek tie-ins I purchased in my teens and twenties, at least half of the novels listed in the article were sitting on my shelf of favorite books that I’d probably re-read someday.
Interestingly, when the article hit my news feed, I’d already started re-reading “The Wounded Sky,” the final novel published in 1983. “The Wounded Sky” may be the most influential of the novels published that year, if only because it was so well received and regarded that Gene Roddenberry had it adapted for the first season of The Next Generation.
“Sky” brings author Diane Duane onto the Trek scene — and she will cast a large shadow upon it from this time forward. “Sky” sees the Enterprise taking on a new type of drive that transcends warp drive and can take the crew farther beyond the final frontier than they’ve ever been before. I recall a friend of mine bought a copy of this one for me back in the day and shoved it into my hands, telling me I wouldn’t regret a second of reading it — and he was right.
Duane’s book feels downright revolutionary when it comes to Star Trek novels. It feels like a weightier, heavier science-fiction title than you generally were accustomed to on the pages of your standard Trek book. From the opening paragraphs talking about how you wouldn’t see the Enterprise flying by at warp to full sections on how the physics of this drive would work (she includes a bibliography!) The book itself clocks in at under 300 pages but it feels longer somehow — and I mean that in the best possible way. The story is immersive and mesmerizing. It includes a singularly alien race that there is no way they could ever truly realize on-screen at the time — and I’m not necessarily sure today’s CGI magic could do them justice either.
That’s not to say they didn’t at least try with the absolutely gorgeous cover art by Boris Vallejo. (Yes, that Boris Vallejo). One thing I’ll say about the early Trek novels — they may not have always been great but they featured some damn fine cover art.
“The Wounded Sky” is a challenging, hard sci-fi novel disguised as a Trek story. And yet, reading it you can tell Duane is a classic Trek and really gets the characters. An early scene with Kirk being nervous about wanting the drive for the Enterprise and his reaction when he gets the good news feels absolutely spot-on and I could see William Shatner bringing it to life. And this is all before we’ve gone beyond the final frontier and everyone’s thoughts are merging together and they’re all getting a glimpse of how each other’s minds work.
This novel established Duane as a force within the Trek publishing community and was probably why she was chosen to pen the first hardcover novel a couple of years later.
If you’ve seen TNG‘s “Where No One Has Gone Before,” you’ve had a glimpse of the story. And while that’s a great season one episode, I’m still not sure it quite lives up to the grandeur of the novel.
On the other end of the Trek literary calendar is A.C. Crispin’s first Trek novel, “Yesterday’s Son.” I will admit part of my keeping this one on my shelf all these years was that I’d picked up an autographed copy at my local Waldenbooks back in the day and not necessarily because I held a great deal of affection for it. It’s good, but it’s not necessarily a story that I loved upon first reading.
In retrospect, I can kind of see why. The novel weighs in a just under 200 pages and, boy howdy, does it pack a LOT of plot into those pages.
Spock sees a cave painting of a young man with pointed ears from the planet Sarpedion over 500 years ago. Sarpedion for those of you who don’t have an encyclopedic knowledge of Trek trivia features in the third season episode “All Our Yesterdays” and was where Spock and McCoy journeyed back in time to Sarpedion’s ice age, meeting Zarabeth. The device used to send Spock back in time somehow removed his typical Vulcan inhibitions and allowed his emotional side to come out, thus resulting in a romance with Zarabeth.
Apparently in between trying to find a way back and McCoy giving them his usual grief, Spock and Zarabeth found time to explore their relationship and the result was a son, Zar. Driven by a sense of responsibility to not leave his son abandoned in time, Spock gets permission to use the Guardian of Forever to go back in time and rescue his son. Kirk and McCoy suss out what’s going on and go with him.
And so they head back in time to rescue Zar, who comes forward to our century and tries to fit in. Except Spock kind of treats him poorly with overwhelming parental expectations. Oh yeah, and the Romulans are determined to figure out the secret of the Guardian of Forever and possibly change the course of history.
Again, there is a lot packed into less than 200 pages of this novel. Crispin’s novel is a significant one because it’s one of the first to build on threads from the original episodes, incorporating elements from multiple episodes into a fast-paced, entertaining story that doesn’t ever slow down long enough to really allow things to sink in or get digested. And that may be my biggest criticism of the story — that it needs time to breathe a bit. I’m not saying we have Spock sit back and navel gaze about his son for fifty pages, but it would be nice to allow this new reality to have an impact on everyone.
Of course, this being the 80s, everything has to go back to the status quo by the end of the story, meaning Zar either has to go back in time, pass away, or be hustled off stage for some reason by the novel’s end. Crispin does this, tying Zar’s fate to that of the Guardian and then sending him back in time from whence he came.
After the pace of “Sky,” “Son” feels a bit more like a race through Trek. And that may be why it didn’t quite connect with me as much then or now. I liked it and don’t regret the time I spent reading it, but I can’t say it would crack my top ten favorite Trek novels. The two biggest takeaways were that Crispin really understands the characters and she really understands the internal continuity.
“Son” also starts a trend in a lot of the best Trek fiction in trying to figure out ways to bring the Guardian of Forever back into play. If there is one thing from the original canon that Trek writers seem to want to explore, it’s the Guardian. This isn’t a bad thing, though I do wonder what Harlan Ellison’s reaction might be to this....more
Another trio of Star Trek stories done in the tradition of the PhotoNovel series from my younger reading days.
As with all Trek tie-in stories, it can Another trio of Star Trek stories done in the tradition of the PhotoNovel series from my younger reading days.
As with all Trek tie-in stories, it can be hit or miss. The good news for this trio of stories is that the hit ratio is a bit better than in the previous installment.
Opening with a story in the Enterprise is pursuing a precursor to a certain modern era Trek entity that we'll meet in "Q Who," the collection gets off to an uneven start. Even trying to put aside my inner nitpicker and just enjoy a story in which Kirk gets to tangle with the proto-Borg, I couldn't get over the fact that John Bryne was trying too hard to draw a connection between the Doomsday Machine and the Borg. Part of this is that Peter David did this almost two decades earlier with his novel, "Vendetta" and that (if my memory serves me right) he did it better. Again, this could be my nostalgia looking back on a book that I consumed in mere days when I was a teenager and have had a strong affection for since.
The next installment is full of time travel wackiness and features Kirk joining forces with Gary Seven to stop a group of aliens from wiping out the Federation as we know it. I was never a huge fan of Gary Seven, so I wasn't overly excited to see him return. But the larger threat of wiping out civilization as we know it and only Kirk can stop it makes for a bit of fun with the story. And since the Guardian of Forever is used, I imagine somewhere right now Harlan Ellison is screaming in frustration and reminding anyone who will listen that Gene Roddenberry ruined his "perfect" episode by re-writing it....
The final installment is not only a follow-up to a classic Trek installment but also to an earlier entry in the New Visions series. Harry Mudd (surgically altered to look like Kirk) stumbles across Exo III and goes into the android business. Mudd begins selling copies of the Andrea robot across the universe and Kirk and company are forced to shut this down because Mudd, as usual, hasn't thought through all the implications of this plan.
[image]
As a fan of "What Are Little Girls Made Of?" and Sherry Jackson's performance as Andrea, I can see where the temptation to have pages filled with multiple images of Andrea comes from. And bringing back Mudd as a thorn in Kirk's side works well enough. But there are a few interesting ideas that Byrne leaves on the playing field and that don't get explored well enough for my liking, including the idea of having an army of Ruks to do with as he pleases. There's also the implications that android Andreas were based on an undocumented member of the original Exo III party and there may have been more to the original android Andrea's romantic interest in Roger Korby than the original episode gave us.
Once again, I find myself marveling at the technical merit that went into creating these stories and the patience that Bryne shows in going through hours of original Trek to create these new images for his stories. I also find myself wishing that he'd put a bit more into the stories to go along with those new images and not just indulging himself to either give us page after page of Andrea or to somehow have Kirk meet the Borg without necessarily saying their name or calling them out within the pages of the story. ...more
Using images from the original (and still the best) Star Trek, this book teaches young ones about opposites.
Yes, I know this is intended for young reUsing images from the original (and still the best) Star Trek, this book teaches young ones about opposites.
Yes, I know this is intended for young readers but I can't hide my big, goofy grin every time I read this one to Shortcake. Thankfully, she's not yet old enough to be bored of it yet or to ask Daddy for something else.
This is one of the books that's fun for young kids and the adults reading it to them. I can only hope this is the first step in a long life of enjoying Trek in all its incarnations....more
Ever since William Shatner committed his memories about working on Star Trek to print, it seems like there have been a lot of books pulling back the cEver since William Shatner committed his memories about working on Star Trek to print, it seems like there have been a lot of books pulling back the curtain on what went on behind the scenes of the original series. And if you were to take the time to put together all those various accounts of what went into creating Star Trek, whether it be from the technical, creative or personal side, you’d probably get a fairly good idea of how the original series came to be on our screens.
But if you don’t have that much time or shelf space, you could simply pick up Edward Gross and Mark Altman’s new book The Fifty Year Mission, The First 25 Years: The Complete, Uncensored, Unauthorized Oral Historyof Star Trek. Weighing it at close to 600 pages, this first installment of two this year from Gross and Altman covers the history of the original crew of the starship Enterprise, from the initial vision by Gene Roddenberry to the cast literally signing off at the end of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.
Taken from interviews with dozens of people associated with the creation of Star Trek, The First 25 Years gives a great macro view of the original series. Gross and Altman have interviewed as many of those associated with the original series as was possible, from creator Gene Roddenberry to the actors who brought these characters to life each week to the creative team, guest stars and fans who had an impact and helped create what Star Trek is today.
Gross and Altman offer connective tissue to the recollections, allowing the various personalities to share their side of the story. This gives the book an interesting perspective on some of the more vilified and praised players in Star Trek’s history. Polarizing figures like Roddenberry, William Shatner, Fred Freiberger, Nicholas Meyer and others have their positive and negative sides laid bare with little or no judgment. Instead, the reader is given the chance to decide for himself or herself where the truth lies (probably somewhere in the middle).
One thing I came away from this book wishing was that Altman and Gross had started their research earlier or had found some previously undiscovered notes or interview with producer Gene L. Coon. While we get a lot of memories of Coon and his tenure in helping shepherd Roddenberry’s creation from a good one to a great one, there is little straight from Coon’s legendarily fast typewriter. Alas, Coon passed away before Trek really hit its stride in terms of popularity, study and journalistic endeavors and has been, sadly, silent. (The closest we’ve come is Marc Cushman’s three volumes featuring memos from Coon to the production staff).
This book purports to be a definitive look at the making of all aspects of classic Trek. And while it offers a great overview of things and hits the broad strokes, it falls just short of being definitive. If you’re an avid Trek fan (like I am) this book could be paired with Marc Cushman’s These Are the Voyages volumes that takes a look at the original series episode by episode. Putting these volumes along side Cushman’s will give Trekkers the definitive look inside the making of the original series.
It just makes me eager to pick up the next volume in the series that examines the backstory of the modern Star Trek series. ...more
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