Continuity

[PrimeDirective]

The last few years of Trek novels have been consistent across the various series.

Meh. And I gave up several years ago on Trek novels. Tried a few supposedly noteworthy ones during that time, was unimpressed, and now I don't care.

It's sad because I'd like to be reading Star Trek in print. I just am unimpressed with what I peruse on the bookshelf.

Have you tried Troublesome Minds? When I read the blurb, it looked like it was just gonna be another planet-of-the-week type thing, much like the stuff ProwlAlpha has described. So I got it from the library instead of buying it, and it actually ended up being pretty good, IMHO. Fairly interesting premise, fairly "classical." (That is to say, it did for the most part feel like TOS to me, and not a modernized version of it.)

They don't pay me to say this. Maybe it's just because my expectations were so low, but I was pleasantly surprised.

Besides, name one old Trek novel that didn't describe to the plot themes that I named.

Federation. I could read that two or three hundred times. I had to restrain myself from turning around and reading it again the moment I finished it.
In all serious, that was the first Star Trek book to very nearly drive me to tears.

Federation was a good story Even though it didn't gel with other novels.

 

[RonG]

Federation. I could read that two or three hundred times. I had to restrain myself from turning around and reading it again the moment I finished it.
In all serious, that was the first Star Trek book to very nearly drive me to tears.

Federation was a good story Even though it didn't gel with other novels.

Well, AFAIK at the time of its writing and publishing, most novels didn't gel with other novels, and Federation was very much in-continuity back then (and also had a post-Generations scene with Picard)

 

[F. King Daniel]

Although it doesn't gel with other novels, there are a few references to Federation in J+G R-S's Shatnerverse. They've given the First Contact version of Zephram Cochrane some of the backstory from Federation. His first landing at Alpha Centauri is brought up in Captain's Glory, fig trees and all.

 

[Warped9]

Well, AFAIK at the time of its writing and publishing, most novels didn't gel with other novels, and Federation was very much in-continuity back then (and also had a post-Generations scene with Picard)

That sort of thing never bothered me. The novels have never been part of "official" continuity anyway and as long as it was interesting and a good read then no problem.

 

[Lt. Brannigan]

That sort of thing never bothered me. The novels have never been part of "official" continuity anyway and as long as it was interesting and a good read then no problem.

Yes I agree with this sentiment.

 

[F. King Daniel]

It never bothered me that the novels weren't part of the canon ("we're cancelling the new film because we just found out it conflicts with an obscure novel from 1971!" would just be silly), but I've always been annoyed with many fans' OTT obsessions with what's canon and what's not, and that the novels, for being "non-canon" were somehow the lowest of the low.

 

[Warped9]

My favourite Trek novel is Spock Must Die! by James Blish. It's not "official" canon, but to me it reads like it could be. That's a distinction for me. Does a novel read and feel authentic. Does its elements and characterizations feel as if they could have happened onscreen? Or does it read like glorified fanfic?

That's the distinction for a good Trek novel and not whether it happens to fit into "official" continuity.

 

[Lt. Brannigan]

My favourite Trek novel is Spock Must Die! by James Blish. It's not "official" canon, but to me it reads like it could be. That's a distinction for me. Does a novel read and feel authentic. Does its elements and characterizations feel as if they could have happened onscreen? Or does it read like glorified fanfic?

That's the distinction for a good Trek novel and not whether it happens to fit into "official" continuity.

Far more elegant than I ever could have put it. As long as the characters stay true to who they are, then who cares if the novels are not cannon with the celluloid incarnation.

 

[Admiral James Kirk]

Well, you're starting out from a false premise, in that the novels, comics, and video games are not "canon." Only the television episodes and movies qualify for that designator. Everything else is "extra," "gravy," "additional toppings," etc.

As for consistency between the novels, comics, and video game(s), it's important to remember that each of these ventures does not necessarily appeal in a broad way to the same audience. There's some overlap amongst the hardcore fans, of course, but that's a very small percentage overall. An individual licensee, while required to remain consistent with the "canon" source material (TV episodes and films), still needs the freedom to create their product such that it has the greatest possible appeal to their target audience, without being hamstrung by something somebody wrote in a novel that a minor percentage of their potential customers may have read. The same goes for novels and the comics, which are read by a very small number of people who watch the TV series or the films.

As much as I can appreciate the internal consistency the novels have worked for over the past decade+ or so, something I've come to believe in recent years is that Star Trek, like other properties such as Marvel or DC superheroes to name two prominent examples, can exist with versions and variations which don't necessarily reconcile with each other. I don't need for it all to fit into one box, continuity-wise. I can watch The Dark Knight on DVD, before reading the latest issue of Batman: The Widening Gyre, and then sit down to watch an episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold with my daughter, and worry not one bit that each of these versions of Batman is incompatible with the others. I could do the same with Star Trek, enjoying what I like and dismissing whatever doesn't float my boat.

[DennisMiller]Of course, that's just my opinion...I could be wrong.[/DennisMiller]

WHAT? Rocket Man isn't canon? You mean Kirk really is dead? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!