"Beyond" Novelization

[Daddy Todd]

I've been waiting for news to break that there will be a novelization of the forthcoming "Star Trek Beyond" but to date I haven't seen any news.

Anything I missed? I seem to recall that the announcement of the novelization came fairly late for the last 2 movies, so I'm not, you know, panicking. But I am wondering.

 

[Bibliomike]

Wonder if they'll tap Alan Dean Foster again. Did people enjoy his work on the first two films? I have mixed feelings about his adaptation of Force Awakens. His style in that seems unnecessarily formal and wordy most of the time.

 

[Christopher]

Wonder if they'll tap Alan Dean Foster again. Did people enjoy his work on the first two films? I have mixed feelings about his adaptation of Force Awakens. His style in that seems unnecessarily formal and wordy most of the time.

That's pretty much his style. Reading Foster's Star Trek Logs as a kid was great for increasing my vocabulary.

 

[Bibliomike]

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against long words and complex sentences. And I still really enjoy Splinter of the Mind's Eye, and have a lot of respect for Foster. So, yes to increased vocabularies - but the TFA novel just feels clunky to me. Although my judgment is influenced by the fact that my 8-year-old daughter and I are working through it as bedtime reading, and I know this book wasn't written to be read aloud.

Sorry for nudging us off topic, though. I wonder if they could persuade a major non-licensed fiction sf author to do the novelization, as Star Wars did with Terry Brooks and Phantom Menace? I have just discovered Alastair Reynolds (way late to the party, I know)... his latest, Slow Bullets, feels very Trek-ky and he credits the show as an influence on him. Plus, he's already written a licensed Doctor Who novel, so he has experience with media tie-in fiction.

I'd like a novelization that reads well on its own, as Vonda McIntyre's takes on ST II and III do. (IV, I thought, a bit less.)

 

[Ed Sanders]

That's pretty much his style. Reading Foster's Star Trek Logs as a kid was great for increasing my vocabulary.

My 2 dollar yard sale find this morning...have never read them.

 

[Daddy Todd]

My 2 dollar yard sale find this morning...have never read them.

Those are lots of fun. I think you'll like them!

 

[Extrocomp]

http://www.thetrekcollective.com/2015/11/book-bits-new-covers-new-ebooks.html

According to this article there's not going to be a novelization.

 

[Tosk]

Not a massive surprise.

 

[Daddy Todd]

Yeah, I kind of figured that if it hadn't shown up for preorders by now, it wasn't happening. I guess sales of the "Into Darkness" were a disappointment.

 

[Bibliomike]

Any number of snarky things I could say come to mind, but none of them would be helpful. I haven't read a novelization since Star Trek V, anyway. If I'm going to read media tie-in fiction, for Trek or any other property, I'd rather read a brand-new story where I don't know what will happen already. Reading the TFA novelization reinforced that personal decision for me. Also, with the advent of deleted scenes being released on DVD/Blu-Ray/digitally, novelizations don't have that going for them any more, either.

 

[Avro Arrow]

Any number of snarky things I could say come to mind, but none of them would be helpful.

But this is the internet, so why should that stop you?

 

[tomswift2002]

http://www.thetrekcollective.com/2015/11/book-bits-new-covers-new-ebooks.html

According to this article there's not going to be a novelization.

I realize that its probably a sales thing, but this will be the first non-children's novelization of a Trek film since the first Trek movie was released in 1979 to not be released, and its stupid. Even Insurrection and First Contact got hardcover releases here in Canada and the US with no paperback edition, except in a children's novelization.

 

[JD]

I know the novelizations have lost some appeal since they stopped adding extra content, but I am still a little surprised since every other Trek movie has had one.

 

[The Wormhole]

I realize that its probably a sales thing, but this will be the first non-children's novelization of a Trek film since the first Trek movie was released in 1979 to not be released, and its stupid.

Why is it stupid? As you say, it's a sales thing. Novelizations in general don't sell these days, probably because home video releases happen within six months and deleted scenes are made readily available. Of course, what really doesn't help matters is studios are pretty much ruining the only things novelizations really had going for them in the modern era by
1) Forcing the authors not to deviate from the script and not to expand on backstories not provided in the movie, and
2) Not allowing them to be released prior to the movie. Granted, this kind of makes sense, but I guarantee you, back when novelizations were being released weeks ahead of the movies, it likely helped their sales.

 

[tomswift2002]

It's one thing to see a film. It's another thing to read a film in book form.

Also, from the film production point of view, they just cut off one line of cash flow. Sure it wouldn't bring in as much as movie tickets, but still Paramount/CBS and possible Bad Robot would be getting cash that could help pay back any expenses incurred by the film.

Plus, if you are unable to get to see the film, then you could buy the book and read it on a long-distance business trip

 

[The Wormhole]

Clearly

Also, from the film production point of view, they just cut off one line of cash flow. Sure it wouldn't bring in as much as movie tickets, but still Paramount/CBS and possible Bad Robot would be getting cash that could help pay back any expenses incurred by the film.

Obviously they didn't get very much off STID's novelization, otherwise this particular source of income wouldn't be cut off.

Plus, if you are unable to get to see the film, then you could buy the book and read it on a long-distance business trip

These days, hand held devices are perfectly capable of playing movies. And if your life is so busy you can't make it to the theatre, chances are this is how you're watching your movies anyway.

 

[tomswift2002]

Even if you are watching your film on your iPhone, if the film hasn't been released to iTunes, and its only in theaters (unless you are watching a pirated movie, then that's another story), then a book is still your best option to "see" a new film if you don't have the time to go to an actual theater at the date of release.

 

[Idran]

You're arguing why it's worthwhile for readers, though, not worthwhile for Paramount. Calling it stupid is implying that it's worthwhile for Paramount and they made a bad decision in cutting it, and to defend that you'd need to defend it from Paramount's side, not the reader's side. Do you have any evidence that it's actually financially viable for Paramount to fund and publish a novelization? Any numbers or figures?

 

[The Wormhole]

Yeah, like I said, if the STID novelization turned any kind of a profit, Beyond would have one. The fact there isn't makes it clear STID's novelization didn't turn any kind of profit, could potentially have cost Paramount/Pocket money.

Besides, evidence would indicate these days if someone can't see a movie in theatres they're fine waiting another six months (or less) for home video release.

 

[Malaika]

uhm I love novelizations and I got both the ones for the first movies. The audiobook version by Quinto was also great.
I guess maybe they won't make one for star trek beyond because the script was subjected to too many changes and last minute additions while filming and doing reshoots.

as for Alan Dean Foster, like I said I did get both the novelizations but I have to admit I was really disappointed by the one for star trek into darkness. Too many points come across as lazy, like his heart wasn't into the job. I like novelizations because they provide more details, in some cases, for the scenes especially in terms of describing what the characters think.. but in this case the novel ended up being 'less' than the movie, he actually summarized some scenes too much or even omitted things, and where he added more details and explanations they were useless or didn't fit with what we see on screen. It seems that in some points, also, he projected on the characters his own opinions rather than following what really happens in the movie (e.g., Uhura's inner monologue when Spock is talking while not far fetched still feels very disconnected from both her body language in the scene and the scene as it's described in the script you can read in the dvds extras where the editors talk about it)
There is no attempt to further give more depth to the fact that Spock was essentially experiencing PTSD.
So, definitely, if I were to tell people if it was worth to buy it or not probably my reply would be 'nope'. Just watch the movie and wait for the script if it's ever released.