Is Pocket Books embarrassed about allowing Ishmael's crossover to slip through?

[Dukhat]

Yes, Maizlish was the lawyer and Arnold was the ‘research consultant.’ I believe Arnold had influence over the novels and Maizlish had influence over the TNG season 1 scriptwriters. Maizlish was a true shithead, but I think Arnold was just a fan who was suddenly given authority and it went to his head.

 

[Christopher]

Yes, Maizlish was the lawyer and Arnold was the ‘research consultant.’ I believe Arnold had influence over the novels and Maizlish had influence over the TNG season 1 scriptwriters. Maizlish was a true shithead, but I think Arnold was just a fan who was suddenly given authority and it went to his head.

That matches my understanding, though Arnold had oversight over comics and other tie-ins as well as novels (and is the reason Peter David left DC's TOS comic).

 

[Allyn Gibson]

I think Arnold was just a fan who was suddenly given authority and it went to his head.

Indeed. The Ian Levine of Star Trek.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Though there is a lot to admire about Voyages of Imagination, one thing I find annoying about it is that if an author says nothing about a topic—or even a whole book—in an interview, Jeff Ayres does no research and cites no other sources on a topic. It stops the book from being the definitive reference it ought to have been.

If I had realised that Jeff wasn’t planning to cover the original material in Alan Dean Foster’s Star Trek Logs 7, 8, 9 and 10, I would have summarized them for him myself.

 

[I am not Herbert]

I liked Ishmael. A lot. And it's the reason why, when I had an opportunity to see HCTB in strip syndication, I did so, and enjoyed it.

No accounting for taste. Yours, mine, or anybody else's.

Yep, I thought it was one of the better ones I've read, despite (still) not knowing anything about HCTB.

 

[I am not Herbert]

They should have been more embarrassed about signing off on the first edition of Killing Time. And the Errand of Vengeance trilogy.

"Across the Universe" comes to mind...

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

"Across the Universe" comes to mind...

I don't even remember that one (even after reading the Memory Beta article), although I certainly have it, and certainly read it at least once.

I will note that the title is a line in the chorus of "Star Trekkin'."

 

[Turtletrekker]

I don't even remember that one (even after reading the Memory Beta article), although I certainly have it, and certainly read it at least once.

I will note that the title is a line in the chorus of "Star Trekkin'."

"Star Trekkinn' across the Universe
Boldly going forward 'cause we cannot find reverse"

 

[Nerys Myk]

"Star Trekkinn' across the Universe
Boldly going forward because we cannot find reverse"

Unsurprisingly, I prefer the Beatles song.

 

[Turtletrekker]

Unsurprisingly, I prefer the Beatles song.

Shocked. Shocked am I at that statement.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

Unsurprisingly, I prefer the Beatles song.

And it was also a movie. Some kind of Beatles-song-centric "jukebox musical." Never saw it, and as to the Beatles song, I have my doubts I ever heard it. (Then again, my favorite Beatles albums are both Beatles cover albums [and unusual ones at that]: Bach on Abbey Road, by John Bayless [until you've heard Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds as a minuet in the style of Bach, you haven't really heard it], and The Off-White Album, by the Hampton String Quartet.)

 

[Christopher]

(Then again, my favorite Beatles albums are both Beatles cover albums [and unusual ones at that]: Bach on Abbey Road, by John Bayless [until you've heard Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds as a minuet in the style of Bach, you haven't really heard it], and The Off-White Album, by the Hampton String Quartet.)

I vaguely remember that back in the '80s, I used to have two albums of Beatles covers performed as piano solos by a noted classical pianist, but I can't remember who it was. If I remember right, the conceit was that each number was performed in the style of a different classical composer. Sound familiar?

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

That I haven't heard of, but it doesn't surprise me. The Bayless album (and I think he did a second one) was entirely in the style of Bach, often quoting actual Bach melodies.

Back when Bonnie Grice was a jock at KUSC (she's now at WLNG, an oldies station in New York), she opened her daily shift with the aforementioned Bayless arrangement of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.

 

[Christopher]

That I haven't heard of, but it doesn't surprise me. The Bayless album (and I think he did a second one) was entirely in the style of Bach, often quoting actual Bach melodies.

I managed to track them down: François Glorieux Plays the Beatles Vols. 1 & 2. I just searched "Beatles piano classical" on a music site and there they were. I was right about the gimmick -- each song is played in a different composer's style (e.g. "Yesterday" a la Chopin, "Hey Jude" a la Bach, etc.). What I'd forgotten is that he did it as improv, without sheet music. Glorieux's means nothing to me except in connection with those LPs, so I don't remember why I thought he was someone I was familiar with from some other context.

I might be confusing those albums with another novelty-classical album I knew of at the time, Breezin' the Classics by Ron McCroby, who was famous for being a highly gifted whistler; the album consisted of McCroby whistling various classical and popular tunes with instrumental accompaniment. I was aware of that album because my father actually produced it, the only album he ever produced. (My father was an announcer at Cincinnati's classical radio station and a prominent figure in the local classical and contemporary music scene. McCroby was a friend of his, and I think he wanted to help promote McCroby's career because he was impressed by his talent.) If you look at the album cover at the link, I actually had a hand in its creation. The little composer busts in the cover photo were cheap rubber statues that my father bought and assigned me to spray-paint white so they'd look like marble. (I forget whether I volunteered or was impressed into it, but I think maybe I wanted to contribute in some way.) We had a couple of the little busts sitting on top of our piano for many years after that.

(The site lumps my father's name together in its index with a different Myron Bennett who was a bass player on a few jazz albums. My father liked jazz, but he only played wind instruments, and not well enough to play professionally.)

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Then again, my favorite Beatles albums are both Beatles cover albums [and unusual ones at that]: Bach on Abbey Road, by John Bayless

I have both of Bayless' Beatles albums, Bach Meets the Beatles and Bach on Abbey Road. I also have an album of Beatles' covers by the composer for Transformers: The Movie. I have about a dozen symphonic Beatles albums as well. Oh, and one as Gregorian chants.

I wish someone would do a Celtic-flavored Beatles cover album, like Celtic Pink Floyd did of, well obviously, Pink Floyd.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

I will also add that Ayres said that a couple of the authors who declined to be interviewed for the book spoke off the record about the problems that they had with Gene Roddenberry's legal team (Richard Arnold) and the numerous changes they had to make to their books to make things fit Gene's vision and it soured them on working on further Star Trek novels.

I'm shocked. This is my shocked face.

The Ian Levine of Star Trek.

Who is Ian Levine?

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Who is Ian Levine?

A Doctor Who Big Name Fan, and unofficial consultant to producer John-Nathan Turner in the mid-80s. He hates what Doctor Who has become, yet can't stop watching it and complaining about it.

I will sometimes wonder which did more damage to their chosen franchise, Arnold or Levine. It has to be Arnold, in that Arnold had actual power. Levine never did.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

A Doctor Who Big Name Fan, and unofficial consultant to producer John-Nathan Turner in the mid-80s. He hates what Doctor Who has become, yet can't stop watching it and complaining about it.

I will sometimes wonder which did more damage to their chosen franchise, Arnold or Levine. It has to be Arnold, in that Arnold had actual power. Levine never did.

Thanks for the explanation!

 

[Enterprise1701]

And the Errand of Vengeance trilogy.

What is wrong with those books? I have not previously heard of any controversy.

 

[Dukhat]

What is wrong with those books? I have not previously heard of any controversy.

The trilogy was rife with typos and grammatical mistakes. There was almost one on every page. Not to mention the author’s penchant for naming almost every character after a member of Star Trek’s production personnel. The second trilogy was edited much better.