TNG: The Body Electric by David Mack Review Thread (Spoilers!)

[Lord Lunacy]

Christopher wrote:

---

Yeah, it would've been a copout. What I love about VGR's first couple of seasons was the producers' fondness for forcing Janeway to face hard ethical choices. "Death Wish" was another great example.

For all its flaws, that's what kept me watching Voyager, to see what moral dilemma they'd slap Janeway with from one week to the next.

[RonG]

Thrawn wrote:

---

I really liked this one. I'm surprised at the bleh reaction from a lot of people. I loved snarky, sure of himself Wesley Crusher, I thought the threat was poetic if not especially scary, and Data was fascinating.

This whole trilogy felt like a novelization of the best three episodes from a whole TV season, in a really good way. Kept that TNG balance nicely of character piece / politics / sense-of-wonder in roughly equal parts (only leaving out the Planet Of The Week trope, which I'm thankful for), gave everyone a chance to shine or have some real development, lots of morality and contemplation of what it means to be human. Very TNG, very well done.

The only thing that ends up bothering me in the final analysis is the Breen. I know Mack loves them, but it would've felt a little more TNG-like if we'd had a classic TNG adversary; the second book felt like it could've just as easily been Star Trek: Typhon Pact: Silent Weapons. But the political element there is consistent with a lot of political episodes on TNG, and so in the end it's still a nice balance.

Great stuff. Not Destiny-great, but really solid.

Thrawn summed it best for me too Not the first time.. probably won't be the last time either

[rfmcdpei]

Mine came late, unusually, so it took me a while.

Overall, I'd say fun. The sheer scope of the problem--hundreds of millions of galaxies--and the exceptional risk if the worst happened made this a book that had a preordained sort of ending for me. The path to the ending, though was enjoyable.

"The Offspring" was one of the first episodes of TNG I watched. The fate of Lal was very sad--"Thank you for my life" has a terrible pathos to it. I'm very pleased that, aided by Akharin, Data managed to bring his daughter back.

[shanejayell]

Good but not great. I'm hoping this gets followed up on... will Data return to Starfleet? Will Lal start dating nd Data become the scariest Dad ever? Will Worf take a promotion? Will Picard finally retire?

[Reanok]

I definitely would like to see books that continue Data's adventures .I certainly liked this miniseries bravo.I was so glad David Mack brought Data back in this series of books.

[Mage]

You know, I for one really hopes that Data doesn't return to Starfleet. Considering the ending of this book, I can't see Data just going back to Starfleet life now. I can see him wanting to explore this new life he has, instead of going back to his old life.

[JD]

I doubt that this will be the last we see of Data. I haven't gotten to the CE books yet, so I don't know his exact situation at the end, but I find it hard they would bring back a character as popular as Data, and not continue to use him. I could see him being downgraded to a recurring character, but I don't see him disappearing entirely.

[Christopher]

^Well, sure, but whether they use him and whether he comes back to Starfleet are two separate questions. We've had quite a few civilian characters in ongoing roles in various Trek novel series.

[Ronald Held]

For now it is bettter to have Data as a civilian. Later on if Picard and Worf move on, then maybe.

[Ood Sigma]

Right. I'd have been disappointed if he'd just gone back to being on the Enterprise. I'm looking forward to seeing him pop up every now and then when the plot requires it (but not just for gratuitous reasons.) I'd expect him to appear in 1-2 of the upcoming The Fall novels, but if he doesn't, I'm OK with that too.

[Mage]

Christopher wrote:

---

^Well, sure, but whether they use him and whether he comes back to Starfleet are two separate questions. We've had quite a few civilian characters in ongoing roles in various Trek novel series.

Exactly!! We'll see Data again, no doubt. But hopefully not as a Starfleet officer, if you ask me.

[rahullak]

Or if he does return to Starfleet, he should be captain with his own ship. We'll get to see his command style suffusing the ship.

[Sci]

It just occurred to me -- The Body Electric is the ultimate TNG novel. Data at center stage, Picard being stuffy... and Wesley saves the Universe by being obnoxiously smarter than everyone else, even the Body.

[Markonian]

rahullak wrote:

---

Or if he does return to Starfleet, he should be captain with his own ship. We'll get to see his command style suffusing the ship.

Maybe he could get... the Enterprise? He finally reserves some new pins on the collar. Who would want to go unpromoted for decades?

[Christopher]

I think there have got to be more imaginative directions to take Data than just to make him the umpteenth Starfleet captain.