Where I Re-Read NEW FRONTIER by Peter David

[Charles Phipps]

Hey folks,

I truly love the NEW FRONTIER series and it was a huge influence on my writing style. I first read it in college when it was in those little tiny books available in 1997 (though I bought mine around 2004--which is to say its never too late). It, Jim Butcher, and Joss Whedon (before his fall) were my comic genre match-up inspirations that told me that there was a kind of writing style that I wanted to get into.

I feel like the spirit of the series is kept with LOWER DECKS as it has the ragtag band of misfits, all the wonderful Easter Eggs you need annotations to come up with, and the kind of snarky fast paced dialogue that makes it so wonderful. I feel like the series eventually went off the rails toward the end but still holds a special place in my hearts.

So I thought I would do my review of the books again. I may start with the Omnibus but will go enjoy each of them thereafter.

New Frontier reviews

New Frontier (#1-4)
Martyr (#5)
Fire on High (#6)
The Quiet Place (#7)
Dark Allies (#8)
Requiem (#9)
Renaissance (#10)
Restoration (#11)
Being Human (#12)
Gods Above (#13)
Stone and Anvil (#14)
After the Fall (#15)
Missing in Action (#16)
Treason (#17)
Blind Man's Bluff (#18)
The Returned (#19-21)

Spin Offs

Once Burned (Captain's Table)
Double or Nothing (Double Helix)
Double Time (TPB)
Cold Wars (Gateways)
No Limits (anthology)
Worf's First Adventure (Starfleet Academy)

Other WIR

The Vanguard series
The New Frontier series
The Stargazer series

 

[Charles Phipps]

New Frontier 1-4

Star Trek: New Frontier

Synopsis: The ancient Thallonian Empire has collapsed, throwing an entire sector of the galaxy into chaos and unrest. Billions of sentient beings are faced with starvation, warfare, and worse. Faced with a tragedy of interstellar proportions, Starfleet assembles a new, handpicked crew to help where it can and report what it finds. Captain Mackenzie Calhoun, recommended by Jean-Luc Picard himself, takes command of the U.S.S. Excalibur, which is manned by Starfleet's best and brightest, including some old friends from Star TreK: The Next Generation and some of the most dynamic new characters ever to boldly go where no one has gone before!

For anyone who knows me, I am a fan of Expanded Universes. There's only so much you can fit into even long-running series like Star Wars and Star Trek. Indeed, these are my two favorite franchises and I have devoured hundreds of books set in them. Some people have dismissive attitudes to these books but they're missing some real quality works. The Thrawn Trilogy, Rogue Squadron, Star Trek: Vanguard, Star Trek: Destiny, The Department of Temporal Investigations, and more. If I had to praise my favorite Star Trek series, though, it would be New Frontier. Essentially, a novel-only series combining original series wackiness with TNG stuffiness to great action-adventure and humorous effect.

New Frontier provided a self-contained corner of the Alpha Quadrant written entirely by Peter David, carrying the consequences from one story to the next. For over twenty years, the adventures of Captain Calhoun have entertained fans of Star Trek and created a bedrock to let publishers know fans were willing to follow original characters into the void. Thanks to the existence of Discovery, Star Trek is no longer in need of the Expanded Universe to continue its legacy [though I hope it continues as its own thing for as long as possible] but I still love these classic books written by Peter David. So what do I have to say about this series, now that I've talked it up for so long? It is very-very silly. Awesome but silly.

No, seriously, that's what you should understand before you pick up this volume and read a word of it. Peter David is a comic book writer, one of my favorite if not my favorite, and I mean that in both tenses of the word. The adventures of Captain Calhoun and his wacky crew trump the Original Series in terms of ridiculousness, are often prone to comedy skits, and include a race of Ewok-shaped evil wizards. If the idea of a planet-sized egg for a being not-too-dissimilar to the Phoenix from the X-men comics offends you, this may not be the series for you.

The strange thing is, New Frontier is still capable of generating drama and pathos despite its occasional verges into utter insanity. I care about the characters of the U.S.S. Excalibur more than I care about a lot of fictional characters. The death of billions during the Star Trek Destiny series affected me less than than the loss of some crew members here. This is definitely a book series where your mileage may vary but I recommend checking them out just in case. I freely admit it was a strong influence on my writing and helped make me the die hard satirical nerd I am in books like The Rules of Supervillainy and Lucifer's Star.

Now that I've discussed the series as a whole to death, I'll mention the omnibus itself. It's not actually an omnibus but the original novel that the publishers broke into four novellas for reasons of, "we believe it'll sell better this way." The premise is brilliance in itself and I've replicated it a dozen times for my tabletop Star Trek games. A big Romulan Empire-sized territory called the Thallonian Empire has collapsed, leaving dozens of star systems anarchic and without leadership. The Federation, fearing a humanitarian crisis on an epic scale, sends a lone starship into the chaos to patch things up. It is captained by the second most renegade/rules-ignoring Captain in Starfleet history (the most being Chris Pine's Captain Kirk).

Captain Mackenzie Calhoun is a former planetary warlord who joined Starfleet after liberating his planet from oppressive alien rule. He's also spent the past six years on undercover assignments for Admiral Nechayev, doing the sorts of things Section 31 would do if it had been invented yet out-of-universe. His crew is a similar collection of misfits including straight woman Shelby from "The Best of Both Worlds", Robin Lefler (Wesley's girlfriend played by Ashley Judd), a hermaphrodite alien engineer, one-off TNG character Selar, an exiled alien dictator, and the cast from Peter David's Starfleet Academy books. It's not the sort of cast which immediately excites you but the way they interact is delightful. Assuming, you know, you throw out all sense that Starfleet has any discipline whatsoever.

This is a book filled with action, adventure, comedy, and oddball office quirks that somehow don't detract from the story. Peter David did something very much as we'd think of as "Whedon-esque" humor well before Whedon had hit it big. This is because he combines his comic book writing skills with a deep love of Star Trek's lore to create something bizarre. This is clearly the oddest ship in the Federation and that's not a bad place to be.

The first four books aren't perfect. I'm not too fond of the way that Shelby conducts herself around Calhoun, I think Burgoyne (the hermaphrodite engineer) treats Selar in a manner dangerously close to sexual harassment, and the best moments for our captain are usually when his brother is humiliating him. Despite this, the humor and sense of adventure is nearly beyond compare in the EU. Check them out, I suspect you'll find them well worth it.

 

[DGCatAniSiri]

Burgoyne is interesting to approach from twenty years later - at this point, there’s more awareness of out of the binary gender identities, so all the focus on Burgoyne being “both” genders feels awkward. And there’s also the emphasis on sex, which can come across as fetishizing.

I gotta say, I passed through much of New Frontier not that long ago in my own reread, and I came away less favorable on the series than I once did. I think it’s because of the emphasis on humor in the series, and humor is usually the quickest aspect of any media to age and likeliest to age poorly.

Still, even if I’m not as likely to go five out of five in a ranking of the series, it certainly can’t be denied how important New Frontier was for the novels - without New Frontier, we’d never have gotten any of the original novel lines in the Litverse, and probably none of the post-finale books for the canon series. For that, if nothing else, New Frontier deserves celebration.

 

[Charles Phipps]

Burgoyne is interesting to approach from twenty years later - at this point, there’s more awareness of out of the binary gender identities, so all the focus on Burgoyne being “both” genders feels awkward. And there’s also the emphasis on sex, which can come across as fetishizing.

I gotta say, I passed through mug of New Frontier not that long ago in my own reread, and I came away less favorable on the series than I once did. I think it’s because of the emphasis on humor in the series, and humor is usually the quickest aspect of any media to age and likeliest to age poorly.

Still, even if I’m not as likely to go five out of five in a ranking of the series, it certainly can’t be denied how important New Frontier was for the novels - without New Frontier, we’d never have gotten any of the original novel lines in the Litverse, and probably none of the post-finale books for the canon series. For that, if nothing else, New Frontier deserves celebration.

Some other thoughts:

1. I cut Peter David a certain level of slack with issues of not being properly understanding of the differences between sexual identity in the early Nineties. Because I take it in the context that he is depicting a woman/non-binary relationship and family in a favorable light (as badly as Burgoyne's stalking was), which wasn't something that you saw much of in the time period. Also, the fact that Burgoyne is someone who insists on the proper use of pronouns is interesting because while it could have been played for laughs, it's also something that is actually extremely important and has aged better than it might have. It's now a scene that can be taken at face value that the Hermats (terrible name) are asserting their gender identity.

2. I am a huge fan of humor in my books and since I write comedic genre fiction (superheroes rather than science fiction), I think I'm incredibly biased here. I believe that Peter David's humor is more hit than miss too. Everyone is a wiseass or "Bunny Ears Lawyer" (see TV tropes) on the Excalibur but Shelby and that makes her a wonderful straight (wo)man. Everyone is good at their jobs and forge a strong bond that I feel works well.

3. The contrast between the TOS era and TNG is something that was probably far fresher in the Nineties than now when there's more crossover by Lit fans and works. The TOS era felt "weirder" than the TNG era with more wackiness and bizarre alien races while TNG struggled for more cohesion. While I don't go so far as Jellico as to deny Kirk's weirder adventures, I felt like that was a nice introduction to the idea that, "You will see some wacky stuff here but it's Star Trek." It also feels very much like a literary comic book with the Great Bird of the Galaxy having some Phoenix-esque undertones.

4. As you say, this is its own continuity-based series that help lay a lot of groundwork for the future Litverse.

5. Lower Decks is another example of what amounts to the flanderization of characters for comic effect that people can take or leave. Jellico, Shelby, Selar, Robin Lefler, and other characters are designed up to the 11 for more comic effect -- and for the most part It works but I have to believe it's a little unrealistic. I will say I also give props for Peter David setting the stage of using discarded minor characters in such a way. Even if you'll take my Wesley/Robin ship from my cold dead fingers!

6. It's interesting to put the series politics into a larger perspective with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. While not intentional, it is interesting the Thallonian Empire is shown to be something that was torn apart by reforms exposing corruption only to have it reform under a Pro-Federation/West environment and gradually become a corrupt more efficient version of its old self (The Russian Federation/Putin). So Peter David kind of lucked into that.

 

[Guy Gardener]

A British AI lady on my phone read the first two books to me recently.

Her pronunciation of the made up words was whack.

 

[Steve Roby]

I liked the early books. But the silliness that was built into them early on just couldn't sustain the heavier storylines PAD decided to tell. By the end, we're getting sexual assault and suicidal characters. Fun.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Still, even if I’m not as likely to go five out of five in a ranking of the series, it certainly can’t be denied how important New Frontier was for the novels - without New Frontier, we’d never have gotten any of the original novel lines in the Litverse, and probably none of the post-finale books for the canon series. For that, if nothing else, New Frontier deserves celebration.

Yeah. New Frontier is important for what it meant, if not for what it actually did. Had it ended much earlier, I'd look back on it with genuine fondness rather than mild disappointment.

 

[David cgc]

Oh, sure, it was getting a little sweaty by the end there, but Stone and Anvil was a fine finale, and I'm content with there having been no other New Frontier novels after it at all.

 

[mastadge]

New Frontier 1-4Peter David did something very much as we'd think of as "Whedon-esque" humor well before Whedon had hit it big. This is because he combines his comic book writing skills with a deep love of Star Trek's lore to create something bizarre. .

I think you hit it right there: It's comics banter intersecting with a deep knowledge of the material and genre. Leads to the love-or-hate self-referential humor and the tendency toward retcons and "small universe syndrome" of connecting everything. PAD brought it from comics to Trek lit; Whedon brought it from his comics fan background to TV . . . and then back around to comics when he went onto X-Men.

 

[Charles Phipps]

Oh, sure, it was getting a little sweaty by the end there, but Stone and Anvil was a fine finale, and I'm content with there having been no other New Frontier novels after it at all.

I have some issues with the final trilogy and even before that, the seeming never-ending series of bad things that constantly hit our heroes. I think Peter David intended the ending of the series to be a happy one ("look, Calhoun has a kid! Who doesn't suck!") but it happened in the worst way possible. Plus Calhoun is interested in committing genocide (for "legally not in his right mind" levels of grief understandable reasons) but no one is trying to stop him.

There was also a bunch of also tragedies befalling our heroes left and right that contrasted heavily with the comedy that made the first books the most entertaining. It just got to be too much at the end and why the books I think lost a lot of their appeal to their audience.

For example: if you want Calhoun and Soleta to have a kid then maybe you should have Shelby and him break up before hooking up. You know, a perfectly valid thing that happens in RL. Not, what happens.

 

[Thrawn]

Oh, sure, it was getting a little sweaty by the end there, but Stone and Anvil was a fine finale, and I'm content with there having been no other New Frontier novels after it at all.

This is 100% my opinion. Stone and Anvil was brilliant, and things really should've ended there. Every book after that is a steady decline; The Returned is goddamn abysmal.

 

[F. King Daniel]

It's definitely dated in It's treatment of gender and pronouns, although it's heart was in the right place. I never saw the quality dip others speak of in latter NF novels... but then I like TOS S3, so what can I say?

 

[mastadge]

A simple formatting/editorial criticism but I wish that they'd treated Books 1-4 as, like "Pilot, parts 1-4" and then had Martyr be Book 2. Because these first four are clearly one book, and it looks goofy on the shelf to have the omnibus hardcover followed directly by #5.

 

[Charles Phipps]

A simple formatting/editorial criticism but I wish that they'd treated Books 1-4 as, like "Pilot, parts 1-4" and then had Martyr be Book 2. Because these first four are clearly one book, and it looks goofy on the shelf to have the omnibus hardcover followed directly by #5.

Random aside but I was once sold 1/4th of a copy of HARDWIRED by Walt Jon Williams and for years looked for the sequel but was unable to find it (because the complete first book was sold under the same title).

 

[Charles Phipps]

Book 5

Martyr

Synopsis: With the fall of the ancient Thallonian Empire, civil war threatens the planet Zondar. The arrival of the USS Excalibur is greeted with relief and celebration by the anxious populace, and Captain Mackenzie Calhoun, fresh from his cataclysmic escape from the Thallonian throneworld, is acclaimed as their prophesied savior. But one believer's messiah is another's blasphemer – and a prime candidate for martyrdom.

When Captain Calhoun is captured, Lieutenant Commander Burgoyne must find him before an alien fleet launches a holy war against the Federation!

Star Trek: New Frontier had a bit of growing pains to go through with the first four books. While there were moments of great comedy and great adventure, they were interspersed with unprofessional behavior amongst the crew and inappropriate silliness. New Frontier's fifth installment hammers out some of these problems and makes a more "realistic" (for whatever value that word has in a setting with Apollo running around and logical elves) take on the characters.

The premise of this novel is Captain Mackenzie Calhoun is summoned to the planet Zondar by the locals due to their startling claim he's their planetary messiah. Mackenzie is flattered by this proposal and believes he can use it to bring an end to their centuries-long civil war. Meanwhile, the authoritarian religion known as the Redeemers are dealing with the after effects of Thallonia's destruction.

Part of why I enjoyed Martyr so much is the novel takes the time to walk you through the the setting's craziness as well as address the lunacy of the last four novels. Admiral Jellico doesn't believe a word of Mac's logs regarding the "Great Bird of the Galaxy", for instance, and it requires Shelby citing Kirk's memorable encounters with the unreal to convince him to lay off. Everyone has time to reflect on the previous craziness and that makes the future insanity all the more effective.

This book nicely illustrates a lot of Mackenzie Calhoun's flaws, showing how easily he's taken in by the prospect of being a planetary messiah as well as his belief in brute force over subtler solutions. The arrogance of the boy-warlord turned starship captain is shown as a weakness rather than a strength as is his refusal to compromise on anything.

It's a challenge which reminds me of Captain Kirk's own in Star Trek: The Motion Picture and The Wrath of Khan. Seeing him forced to confront problems on an intellectual level rather than through brute force was deeply satisfying. By the end of Martyr, I felt Captain Calhoun was actually worthy of being a starship captain than "Conan in Space."

The character of Elizabeth Shelby also grows. Whereas she was originally a somewhat contrary commander for contrary's sake, her objections are much more reasonable in this book. Still, there are times she comes off as more jealous than introspective, which doesn't suit her character. The whole plot of unrequited feelings between both her and Captain Calhoun just doesn't work for me.

Likewise, the ongoing relationship between Burgoyne 172 and Selar the Vulcan doesn't improve. Burgoyne 172 comes off more as a stalker than a romantic suitor, ignoring Selar's continued requests for he/she to leave. It becomes especially annoying when Selar goes into Pon Farr, which makes the entire thing just creepy. While I can accept Burgoyne is genuinely in-love with Selar, it just reminds me of too many RL situations where someone won't take a hint.

The Redeemers are bad guys I can either take or leave. While I love cruel and evil Star Trek races as much as the next guy, the Redeemers see-saw between ridiculous and nightmarish. They're capable of decimating whole worlds with plagues but their religion is almost parody-like, designed to do evil because their god is too good to emulate.

Overall, I really liked Martyr and think it's a nice set up for a 'serious' Star Trek: New Frontier series. Its flawed but these flaws don't hurt my enjoyment of the work overall.

 

[SolarisOne]

I'd really love to see Soleta and T'Ryssa Chen interact.

 

[Charles Phipps]

I'd really love to see Soleta and T'Ryssa Chen interact.

Soleta is my favorite Alt-Saavik.

 

[GaryH]

Soleta is a fantastic character.

her child is probably a pensioner now because of Peter David’s propensity to age babies through out all his work.

 

[Charles Phipps]

Book 6

Fire on High

Synopsis: On the planet Armista sits a nameless woman. High upon a mountain, she is cradling a weapon unlike anything the Armistans have ever seen. She rocks back and forth on her haunches, singing softly to herself. The weapon is her only companion on the planet, since everyone else is little piles of ash. A weapon that could destroy life on one planet could do so again.

Lieutenant Robin Lefler's mother died in a shuttle explosion ten years ago. So is the woman being held prisoner in Thallonian space really her? If it is, what is her connection to the mysterious woman holding a weapon that could doom entire worlds?

With the lives of billions at stake, Robin Lefler, Captain Calhoun and the crew of the U.S.S. Excalibur must find the answers before time runs out for them and for the struggling remnants of the once-great Thallonian Empire.

Fire on High continues with the changes started in Martyr, keeping the crew semi-serious and toning down the humor so it's still hilarious but possessed of more character development and drama.

The premise of Fire on High is the discovery of TNG character, Robin Lefler, that her mother is still alive. This is not much of a cause for celebration as Morgan Primus faked her death in order to escape her family. Amusingly, Peter David makes Morgan Primus yet another of the characters "played" by Majel Barrett.

Specifically, she is the character Number One from the original Star Trek pilot. How is she still alive after almost a century between the New Frontier era and the Original Series? Well, Peter David has an interesting explanation about that which I'd be remiss in spoiling.

The character of Morgan Primus is an interesting one as she nicely contrasts with the rest of the crew. For the most part, aside from some "aggressive courting" and disagreements, everyone gets along. Morgan Primus is a character who is distinctly unfriendly to everyone and causes no end of problems for the U.S.S Excalibur's crew.

Peter David does an excellent job in getting Majel Barrett's "voice" down so I was able to easily imagine her acting the role of Morgan Primus. It's a harsher character than Christine Chapel or Lwaxana Troi but still has much of the subtle humor which makes her characters distinctive.

The Burgoyne and Selar relationship continues in this volume, losing much of its creepiness since its now clearly consensual and desired by both parties. The addition of the character McHenry into their back and forth 'romance' is an interesting swerve in the storyline. I also like the fact Burgoyne has hir own issues to get over before s/he is ready to commit to either.

The character of Soleta also gets some development as she discovers virtually everyone on the ship considers her a close personal friend. Which isn't a good thing because Soleta considers herself both naturally surly and a loner. It leads to my, hands down, favorite moment in the series where she's trapped in a never-ending turbolift ride with a succession of people who want romance advice.

Romance advice...from a Vulcan.

Captain Calhoun and Si Cwan go through the most development this volume. The former gets a reality check on his actions, discovering that intervening according to one's moral compass isn't always the best solution for every problem. The latter manages to display how deeply loyal he's become to the crew in an impressive manner.

The plot, itself, is somewhat weak and mostly an excuse while the real focus is on the characterization. I have no problem with this and enjoy the change of pace from the usual New Frontier zaniness is welcome. I also am intrigued by the Prometheans and think they're an excellent addition to the Trek universe.

In conclusion, I heartily recommend Fire on High and consider it an excellent continuation of the New Frontier series.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

I think it was Fire on High that has a subplot clumsily edited out, though it might have been Martyr.

https://www.peterdavid.net/2012/12/21/creative-differences-part-2/