Data & Lal?

[bfollowell]

Seeing the references to Data in Star Trek: Picard has renewed my interest in Data and his daughter Lal and their adventures in the TrekLit universe. I read the Cold Equations trilogy and The Light Fantastic, and then it seems like there was another story related to an ancient race of synthetic life forms, and I don't think it was either of those stories, but I can't recall the name. I'd like to know what that was, and then also know if anyone has heard any rumors of continuing Data & Lal's storyline.

Thanks.

 

[David Mack]

You're thinking of Immortal Coil by Jeffrey Lang (published 2002). A superb novel, I highly recommend it.

Also, the story of Data and Lal continues in my 2017 novel Section 31: Control, and I suspect we might see them again one of these days….

 

[JD]

Hmmmm, that last part of your post was very interesting.

 

[Relayer1]

Hmmmm, that last part of your post was very interesting.

Don't be fooled. Section 31 dissemble...

 

[bfollowell]

Ah, right you are. I'd forgotten about The Light Fantastic being a follow-up to Immortal Coil, and I have read it. For some reason, I had it in my head that the AI story came after the Cold Equations trilogy. I also read your Section 31 novels. I'd forgotten about Data and Lal being in there. Don't think for a minute that that dissuades me from thinking there needs to be more Data & Lal adventures though!

Thanks for jogging my memory.

 

[ryan123450]

You're thinking of Immortal Coil by Jeffrey Lang (published 2002). A superb novel, I highly recommend it.

Also, the story of Data and Lal continues in my 2017 novel Section 31: Control, and I suspect we might see them again one of these days….

Thanks for this tidbit, David. Making so many of us drool in anticipation of what you guys are cooking up.

 

[tomswift2002]

“The Embrace of Cold Architects” from the ‘Myriad Universe: Shattered Light’ anthology is also a great Data/Lal story set in an alternate timeline that branches in 2364, but with the new “Picard” series, I’m finding that a lot of the back story about the synthetics parallels the story in Architects.

 

[ryan123450]

I see alot of ideas in Picard mined from Treklit. I think we have Kirsten to thank for that.

 

[Reanok]

That last comment from David about Data and Lal is really intriguing.I look forward to finding out what future stories the other writers have planned for future Star trek books.

 

[FreddyE]

I see alot of ideas in Picard mined from Treklit. I think we have Kirsten to thank for that.

Well...That was to be expected, wasn´t it?

 

[Christopher]

I see alot of ideas in Picard mined from Treklit. I think we have Kirsten to thank for that.

Well...That was to be expected, wasn´t it?

Not really. A tie-in author and a TV writer are working for different bosses, as well as writing for different audiences, so the demands of the two jobs may be very different and call for different creative choices. Also, a tie-in writer is usually working alone (under an editor's supervision) while a TV writer is one member of a team, with the showrunner having the final say. So it's possible, of course, that an author working on two different variations of a franchise could reuse ideas between them, but it's hardly a given.

There's precedent in Enterprise's final season, when Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens joined the writing staff. I don't recall any specific ideas from their Trek novels showing up in their episodes.

Indeed, there's no guarantee that a writer would even want to reuse the same ideas in a different continuity. Depending on the writer, they might prefer to embrace the challenge of doing something new and distinct, exploring an alternate path to the one they wrote about before.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I see alot of ideas in Picard mined from Treklit. I think we have Kirsten to thank for that.

Who called in David Mack for some consultation, IIRC.

 

[David Mack]

Who called in David Mack for some consultation, IIRC.

Not on Picard. I was not hired to consult for that series' first season (or, so far, its second).

 

[Therin of Andor]

Not on Picard. I was not hired to consult for that series' first season...

Oh cool. I thought that was when the news broke. Even more intriguing!

 

[David cgc]

Oh cool. I thought that was when the news broke. Even more intriguing!

It's not a secret. He's consulting on Lower Decks, the animated Trek comedy show, and another unannounced upcoming show (possibly the other animated series, rumored to be titled Prodigy, about a group of teenage outlaws who salvage an old Starfleet ship for their own adventures).

EDITED TO ADD: While I did double-check the initial news reports and Memory Alpha, I only just listened to David Mack's interview on Melodic Treks (discussing the music that inspired various scenes and aspects of the Vanguard miniseries), and during the introduction, he confirms the second show he's consulting is the other animated series, and also goes into some more detail about what exactly his consulting consists of (I believe his exact words are "canon sherpa").

 

[David Mack]

^ Correct.