The Continuity of Days Gone By

[DigificWriter]

I apologize for necro-ing this thread, but I was wondering if any of the published novels to date which deal with Christopher Pike's tenure as Captain of the Enterprise would be compatible with or fit into the 80s chronology as outlined here.

[ryan123450]

Off the top of my head, I dont think there were any Pike era books during the time period in question, unless The Rift was published at that time.

[Therin of Andor]

ryan123450 wrote:

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Off the top of my head, I dont think there were any Pike era books during the time period in question, unless The Rift was published at that time.

1989 - "Vulcan's Glory"
http://memory-beta.wikia.com/wiki/Vu...ry_%28novel%29

This novel was written as ST V was underway, and DC Fontana (who had been outspoken about Shatner's intention to introduce an elder half-brother for Spock) was able to slip in a line that Spock was "the only son of Sarek", a cheeky snub of forthcoming not-yet-"canon".

"The Rift" was 1991.

[ryan123450]

Hmmm ok. I had it in my head that Vulcan's Glory was later than that.

[Christopher]

Sorry if this is necro-posting, but I just thought of another couple of books that connect to the '80s novel/Spaceflight Chronology continuity: the first two Trek novels by Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens, Memory Prime and Prime Directive. Both books connect to How Much for Just the Planet? by referencing the "4-dimensional dilithium" theory propounded in that book. Also, Memory Prime follows the SFC assumption that Alpha Centauri was home to an indigenous humanoid species rather than just being an Earth colony.

The tricky part is that Crisis on Centaurus, also in this continuity, treats Alpha Centauri purely as an Earth colony. But then, I mentioned earlier in the thread that the '80s continuity didn't hold together perfectly. And there's an existing inconsistency on just this point: Strangers from the Sky went with the SFC's notion that humanity's first alien contact was the Icarus meeting the Alpha Centaurians, but Spock's World substituted the Andorians (perhaps because Richard Arnold ordered any SFC references expunged?).

As for where they take place in the chronology, Prime Directive is apparently, per the prologue, in the final year of the "first" 5-year mission. But Memory Prime is explicitly "a few years" after the events of "The Lights of Zetar," which would suggest a placement in the second 5-year mission I posited above. I'm not aware of any evidence in PD which would preclude it from preceding MP.

So it's a borderline case whether they could really fit into the continuity listed above -- but the same probably goes for a number of the entries in that list. At least they are connected.

[ryan123450]

Awesome discovery Christopher. I'll add them to my list also.

[chrinFinity]

Therin of Andor wrote:

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An account of which Garamet memorized in a bookshop because she was too poor to buy it. The Amity log entry was in the ST:TMP tie-in, "Star Trek Spaceflight Chronology" by Fred & Stan Goldstein.

So in the future there is apparently no wikipedia, and also book stores still exist for some reason...

One would think she could have at least activated her Brynner Info Net Terminal and checked on channel 90.

[Therin of Andor]

chrinFinity wrote:

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So in the future there is apparently no wikipedia, and also book stores still exist for some reason...

You misunderstand. Garamet is Margaret Wander Bonanno, author of "Strangers from the Sky", who was firmly in the 20th century, memorizing ST research for her novel writing.

For a mention/prediction of 23rd century BBS services, see Diane Duane's "Spock's World", which features several amusing excerpts from same.

[Christopher]

I've been reminded of a few details about Greg Bear's early ST novel Corona which might make it a candidate for inclusion with the '80s continuity, though it's very much a borderline case. For one thing, it purports to be a fair number of years after certain TOS episodes (and suggests Kirk is in his 40s), but is pre-TMP in terms of crew ranks, uniforms, etc., which would make it one of the books that assumed a second 5-year mission pre-TMP. (On the other hand, it implies that Spock is in his upper 70s, which is hard to reconcile with canon, since that would've put Amanda in her 90s at least in the TOS timeframe.) Also, it references one or two things that were mentioned elsewhere in the '80s continuity, such as the starship Bonhomme Richard. Not really a genuine cross-reference, though. So it's a really tentative link at best. And there are things about Corona that are kind of idiosyncratic interpretations of the Trek world (Spock's age being just one of them), so it might not be a very good fit with the rest of the '80s-verse. I'm undecided on the question, but I thought it was worth bringing up.

One interesting thing about the book, though, is that it seems to be the first-ever reference to the Federation News Service, an organization that was later established in canon (in Generations and DS9). Probably a coincidence, though.

[ryan123450]

Adding that to my list. Good job again Christopher.

[Christopher]

^Keep in mind it's only a tentative possibility. It might not actually fit. I mean, it's worth reading, and not just for the novelty of being an early Trek novel by someone who went on to be a really, really big name in prose SF. But any links to the overall '80s continuity are tenuous at best.

[ryan123450]

Well I consider the fact that it referenced the Star Fleet Technical Manual to be enough to include it. It seems many authors of the time considered the info in that book part of their 'personal continuity.'

[Christopher]

^Well, at the time, there wasn't much else to go by when it came to Trek tech.

But personally, I'd be more inclined to count it if it referenced something from the Spaceflight Chronology. As discussed above, a number of '80s books built on the SFC's chronological and historical assumptions; The Final Reflection and Strangers from the Sky in particular are very much set in the "SFC-verse." So one could count the SFC as a foundational work of the '80s continuity along with TFR and the Diane Duane books.

[Christopher]

I've been looking through Corona some more, and I think I've found a Spaceflight Chronology nod after all. Toward the end, it cites Epsilon Eridani as Vulcan's home star, rather than the generally accepted and now near-canonical 40 Eridani. Epsilon Eri was also chosen as Vulcan's primary by the SFC and referenced in Strangers from the Sky, at least according to Memory Beta.

The book does have some odd continuity glitches, though, like referring to Andorians as "Andorrans." Maybe there was a copyeditor who thought they were from a tiny European principality.

[Steve Mollmann]

Christopher wrote:

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I've been reminded of a few details about Greg Bear's early ST novel Corona which might make it a candidate for inclusion with the '80s continuity, though it's very much a borderline case. For one thing, it purports to be a fair number of years after certain TOS episodes (and suggests Kirk is in his 40s), but is pre-TMP in terms of crew ranks, uniforms, etc., which would make it one of the books that assumed a second 5-year mission pre-TMP. (On the other hand, it implies that Spock is in his upper 70s, which is hard to reconcile with canon, since that would've put Amanda in her 90s at least in the TOS timeframe.) Also, it references one or two things that were mentioned elsewhere in the '80s continuity, such as the starship Bonhomme Richard. Not really a genuine cross-reference, though. So it's a really tentative link at best. And there are things about Corona that are kind of idiosyncratic interpretations of the Trek world (Spock's age being just one of them), so it might not be a very good fit with the rest of the '80s-verse. I'm undecided on the question, but I thought it was worth bringing up.

One interesting thing about the book, though, is that it seems to be the first-ever reference to the Federation News Service, an organization that was later established in canon (in Generations and DS9). Probably a coincidence, though.

Corona's Kshatriyans are referenced as an interstellar power in the alternate timeline of The Tears of Eridanus, though I spelled the name wrong.