My review of "Kobayashi Maru" [SPOILERS!]
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Page 197, where Archer misremembers the name of the Klingon Afterlife as "Sto-Vo-Top" made me laugh out loud.
I wonder if it's especially popular around Thanksgiving and Christmas!
I wonder if it's especially popular around Thanksgiving and Christmas!
That's actually what works about it for me. In the space of a couple years, Tucker is unintentionally responsible for the Cogenitor dying, his home town is destroyed, his sister is killed, he develops an often frustrating relationship with T'Pol who keeps pushing him away, he nearly dies in the Expanse of brain trauma only to learn that he was saved by a clone that was created and killed just to save him, some of his team members are killed in battle with the Xindi, his friendship with Archer seems to be damaged a bit, he's beaten by space Nazis, he's nearly killed on the Romulan drone ship and he loses an infant daughter he never knew he had. That all these things would cause him to harden into someone like the Trip in the books - someone who, in a time of impending war, would do almost anything to protect those he loves - makes complete sense to me. Continued exposure to war, loss and death will tend to change a person. I think ultimately his challenge will be to see if he can recover some of who he was before, when the war is finally over.
Finished the book yesterday.
It was the first ENT-novel, that i've read, and overall it was a good quick read.
The one problem, I had with it, was the way some of the characters were written. I found the stubbornnes of the Coaltion Council members a bit over the top, and their arguments came across as cliched. Been there, done that. In fiction and in real life...
Which is why I was a bit bored by it. But maybe that was the point. Its politics afterall.
Also, at the end, I found Hernandez and Archer a bit too slow on the take. After having fought remote controlled Klingon vessels and having seen the evidence about the telecapture system firsthand, it shouldn't take Hernandez about 10 minutes to jump to the conclusion that maybe those Vulcan ships are remote controlled as well.
For the same reason, Archer should have reacted as soon as he saw Sopeks ship waiting there.
There were some small inconstistencies as well. For example, when T'Pol, Malcom and Trip depart, Trip wants to hug her, but thinks that there is no time for that. A few seconds later, both don't have any problems with frakkin' arround for half an hour.
Still enjoyed the scene, though.
Samuels at one point muses, how Andoria and Tellar don't get along, while throughout the book, Gral and Thoris seem to agree with each other almost all the time..
I didn't quite get why the Vulcans didn't tell the council about what happened to their ships.
I mean, wouldn't that have been a good argument in favor of declaring war on Romulus instead of the Klingon Empire (considering the Klingons weren't involved in those attacks)?
Apart from those bits, I enjoyed the book. Trips story was exciting and interesting, giving inside into Pre-TOS Romulus. Seeing Valdore again didn't hurt either.
The whole Klingon angle was enjoyable as well. I liked seeing a Klingon-style Bat'leth duel, that actually was as bloody as you'd expect from those weapons.
Looking forward to the Earth-Romulan War.
I never had the impression that the design of the KM was supposed to serve any plotpoints other than to flesh out the nature of the ship and its crew.
It was the first ENT-novel, that i've read, and overall it was a good quick read.
The one problem, I had with it, was the way some of the characters were written. I found the stubbornnes of the Coaltion Council members a bit over the top, and their arguments came across as cliched. Been there, done that. In fiction and in real life...
Which is why I was a bit bored by it. But maybe that was the point. Its politics afterall.
Also, at the end, I found Hernandez and Archer a bit too slow on the take. After having fought remote controlled Klingon vessels and having seen the evidence about the telecapture system firsthand, it shouldn't take Hernandez about 10 minutes to jump to the conclusion that maybe those Vulcan ships are remote controlled as well.
For the same reason, Archer should have reacted as soon as he saw Sopeks ship waiting there.
There were some small inconstistencies as well. For example, when T'Pol, Malcom and Trip depart, Trip wants to hug her, but thinks that there is no time for that. A few seconds later, both don't have any problems with frakkin' arround for half an hour.
Still enjoyed the scene, though.
Samuels at one point muses, how Andoria and Tellar don't get along, while throughout the book, Gral and Thoris seem to agree with each other almost all the time..
I didn't quite get why the Vulcans didn't tell the council about what happened to their ships.
I mean, wouldn't that have been a good argument in favor of declaring war on Romulus instead of the Klingon Empire (considering the Klingons weren't involved in those attacks)?
Apart from those bits, I enjoyed the book. Trips story was exciting and interesting, giving inside into Pre-TOS Romulus. Seeing Valdore again didn't hurt either.
The whole Klingon angle was enjoyable as well. I liked seeing a Klingon-style Bat'leth duel, that actually was as bloody as you'd expect from those weapons.
Looking forward to the Earth-Romulan War.
I guess, its called adding a bit of flavor.
I never had the impression that the design of the KM was supposed to serve any plotpoints other than to flesh out the nature of the ship and its crew.
While I agree with that point in general, I think it was ok, the way it was written here. Yes, its a stupid excuse, but if you have other officers who are able to do that job just as well, wouldn't you prefer to have them on the bridge, instead of a sick officer who probably would have problems staying focused because of his sickness?
As I understood it, thanks to Reed's manipulation of the logs. the shuttle launch was considered as "approved by the Captain" by whoever ran the shuttlebay. Which would mean, that there's no reason to inform Archer of something that he seemingly already knows.
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I actually blame "The Doomsday Machine." Commodore Decker (who's, oh yeah, a freakin' commodore) makes off with a shuttle, and that opens the floodgates so that anyone can steal a damn shuttle.
My favorite is Q in "Deja Q," who makes off with a shuttle without anyone knowing it when he's supposed to be under constant guard. How does he even know how to fly the stupid thing?
My favorite is Q in "Deja Q," who makes off with a shuttle without anyone knowing it when he's supposed to be under constant guard. How does he even know how to fly the stupid thing?
^^Q used to be omniscient. He lost his powers, but he didn't seem to lose his memory.
Although in that case, he should've known what hunger and sleep were. So never mind...
Although in that case, he should've known what hunger and sleep were. So never mind...
Btw...am I the only one, who finds the thought of having a doctor named Metzger a bit discomforting?
Metzger is the German word for 'butcher'. Coincidently, I have an unpublished short called 'The Creature of Metzger Manor'. Needless to say, it's not a pleasant place.
Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman
Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman
Yeah, sort of like having a dentist named "Dr. Yank" or "Dr. Paine". 
What about "Dr. Crusher?"
Turn and cough.
It was kind of the running joke in Trek series that the doctors have somewhat macabre names or nicknames -- Bones, Crusher, Bashir ("basher").
Voyager's EMH broke the pattern, and then Enterprise's Phlox went right off the rails. (Funny story about Phlox: when the character's name first hit the internet, I assumed it was a joke or disinformation. The doctor named after a PLANT? What was this, a remake of Quark, where the doctor was named Ficus?)
To make this OT: I'm about halfway through KM, and loving it!
Voyager's EMH broke the pattern, and then Enterprise's Phlox went right off the rails. (Funny story about Phlox: when the character's name first hit the internet, I assumed it was a joke or disinformation. The doctor named after a PLANT? What was this, a remake of Quark, where the doctor was named Ficus?)
To make this OT: I'm about halfway through KM, and loving it!
Yeah, sort of like having a dentist named "Dr. Yank" or "Dr. Paine".
John De Lancie played a obstetrician called Dr. Mot in the hand that rocked the cradle. Where I'm from that's a slang word for the vagina.
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