Spoilers DTI: Watching the Clock by C. L. Bennett Review Thread

Discussion in 'Trek Literature' started by Thrawn, Apr 18, 2011.

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Rate DTI: Watching The Clock

  1. Outstanding

    100 vote(s)
    59.5%
  2. Above Average

    44 vote(s)
    26.2%
  3. Average

    14 vote(s)
    8.3%
  4. Below Average

    3 vote(s)
    1.8%
  5. Poor

    7 vote(s)
    4.2%
  1. P0sitr0nic

    P0sitr0nic Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread

    Isnt that the very idea of the Federation, at its heart?
     
  2. Sci

    Sci Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread

    Certainly! And it's wonderful to see these basic ideas re-affirmed and to see how these ideas would practically manifest. Such as, for instance, a woman being able to walk the streets alone at night without fear. :)
     
  3. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread

    I appreciate the thought. It is easy to forget, if one is a man, the everyday fears women still have to deal with in our society. That's why it's so important for men to have female friends, so we don't remain blind to that perspective (and thus don't become part of the problem). That particular line wasn't something I gave a lot of thought to; it just struck me as one of the things that would undoubtedly be better in the utopian future of Star Trek. But it would be something that would stand out in the awareness of a 20th-century woman transported into that time.
     
  4. Admiral_Young

    Admiral_Young Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread

    I had a chance to re-read this Christopher and I think DTI is perhaps your best written book. I know it is now my new favourite after Ex Machina. I also forgot to mention that I absolutely loved the character of Teresa.
     
  5. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread

    ^Thanks!
     
  6. Relayer1

    Relayer1 Admiral Admiral

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    Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread

    This is my first post and I just wanted to say thanks to Christopher - that was an impressive piece of work, from the Trek research, the theoretical science and detailed plotting !

    I had drifted away from Trek-lit but was drawn back by the publicity for Destiny. Ironically, Destiny is some of my least favourite of the 'relaunch' fiction that I am now almost caught up on, Articles of the Federation being a particular favourite, and Watching The Clock is another similarly hugely enjoyable (and different) novel - more from the DTI please !
     
  7. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread

    ^Thanks! There is more DTI coming next year in Forgotten History, dealing with the department's origins in the original-series era.
     
  8. Relayer1

    Relayer1 Admiral Admiral

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    Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread

    On a related topic, with mutterings (most likely futile) of a post Voyager TV show which would probably invalidate part or all of the current novel continuity, would the Trek-lit be brought into line or carry on regardless ?

    The reason I ask in this thread is that bringing it into line would probably require some sort of timeline related retcon...
     
  9. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread

    Those particular mutterings seem to be the self-generated press of a producer who has virtually no credits to his name, so I doubt there's anything to worry about in that regard. However, if there were new canon established that conflicted with the current novel continuity, then subsequent novels would be obliged to be consistent with it. That's how tie-ins work, how they've always worked. The novels in the '80s had a continuity built around things like John M. Ford's Klingons and Diane Duane's Rihannsu, but when TNG came along and contradicted those things, that continuity was brought to an end.


    It's possible that the current book continuity would just be stopped and a new one (or a new wave of standalone books) started in its place, as was done before. Trek tie-ins are already full of multiple incompatible continuities -- look at how the books, the comics, and Star Trek Online differ from one another -- and there's no need to explain their differences.
     
  10. Relayer1

    Relayer1 Admiral Admiral

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    Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread

    Hmm, if it did happen, those of us with continuity hangups would certainly appreciate a decent attempt at a retcon - I rather think you would be the man for the job !
     
  11. Mr. Laser Beam

    Mr. Laser Beam Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread

    Who says the current continuity would have to stop?
     
  12. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread

    It is the job of media tie-ins to follow the lead of the property they tie into, not to strike an independent course. That's simply the nature of the beast. We're free to fill in the gaps unaddressed by Trek canon, but we are not allowed to contradict it (not intentionally, anyway).

    Maybe there would be a way to justify continuing the current continuity as a clearly delineated alternate timeline from the new canonical 24th century, similarly to how the Rihannsu Saga continuations were published with disclaimers, or perhaps as something akin to the Myriad Universes banner; but the majority of novels would have to be consistent with the new screen continuity. In fact, it might be seen as too confusing if the books were inconsistent with the shows or films people were watching. And remember, the books are a very, very small sidebar to the shows and films, read by maybe 1 to 2 percent of the audience that watches Trek onscreen. If it comes down to a clash between the shows and the books, the shows win, period. After all, it's their universe. We're just visiting it with their permission.
     
  13. Mr. Laser Beam

    Mr. Laser Beam Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread

    ^ Then I guess we can start hoping that the rumors of a new series are false. :p

    Also, if novels are not allowed to contradict the books, why are all current novels not Abramsverse?
     
  14. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread

    There are no rumors of a new series -- at least, none that have any accuracy to them. There is a fellow who has developed a pitch he wants to present to CBS and he's talked about it to the press in hopes of generating publicity for it. But he hasn't actually pitched it. And let's face it, if Paramount/CBS have already rejected Trek pitches from folks like Bryan Singer and J. Michael Straczynski, there's no reason to expect much to come of a proposal from a producer who has only two minor credits on IMDb and hasn't even gotten a meeting with CBS yet.

    Because the Abramsverse explicitly established itself as an alternate timeline that coexists alongside the "Prime" continuity. So there is no contradiction. Nothing that happens in the Abramsverse has any bearing on what happens in the Prime universe, aside from the established facts that George and Winona Kirk served aboard the USS Kelvin prior to the timeline split in 2233 and that Romulus is destroyed and Spock disappears in 2387.

    So if, for example, someone a couple of years ago had done a novel asserting that Winona Kirk had been a farmer who never left Earth, or a book about Spock on Romulus in 2388, that book would have had to be disregarded after the movie came out, because that would conflict with canon as it now stands. But a story set on, say, Prime-universe Vulcan in 2275 is unaffected by the fact that Abramsverse Vulcan was destroyed in 2258, because it's overtly a separate history.
     
  15. Relayer1

    Relayer1 Admiral Admiral

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    Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread

    Also JJ does not seem to want novels cluttering up his shiny new universe just yet - at least not while he is redefining everything. There have been 4 JJverse novels completed but pulled from release.

    Christopher - do you know if they will be released later or retooled as TOS releases ?
     
  16. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread

    I do not know that.

    (Also, I'm not sure if all four were quite completed. I think Greg's was in first-draft stage or copyedits or something when the word came down.)
     
  17. Relayer1

    Relayer1 Admiral Admiral

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    Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread

    We should have 2 lists - novels that conform to current canon and those that don't.

    Books can be moved from one to the other (and back again) as the state of play changes...

    :cool:
     
  18. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread

    You wouldn't get any consensus on that. What one reader sees as an irreconcilable contradiction, another sees as just a slight difference in interpretation.
     
  19. Mr. Laser Beam

    Mr. Laser Beam Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread

    ^ This is nerd rage. It's what we do! :D
     
  20. Trek

    Trek Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Re: Star Trek: DTI: Watching The Clock Review Thread

    Finished this last night and though it was excellent. The last few chapters were especially hard to put down.

    Very much looking forward to the next DTI book now.