Guinan in ENT novels?

Discussion in 'Trek Literature' started by Freman, Nov 11, 2009.

  1. Captain59

    Captain59 Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    I agree with the idea she wouldn't need to be on Earth to interact with the Enterprise crew, so that wouldn't contradict with Christopher's novel.
     
  2. Cicero

    Cicero Admiral Admiral

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    ^ Since Christopher's novel itself apparently conflicts with The Eugenics Wars, it's probably not worth worrying about, anyway.
     
  3. ClayinCA

    ClayinCA Commodore Commodore

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    I don't know about that...Federation is flatly contradicted by First Contact, but Federation is still a great read and First Contact is still a fun movie, so there's no reason not to enjoy both. Same with The Buried Age and The Eugenics Wars.
     
  4. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    ^Well, of course, but quality and continuity are two different matters. If I'd remembered about the Guinan reference in The Eugenics Wars, I would've acknowledged it in TBA.
     
  5. William Leisner

    William Leisner Scribbler Rear Admiral

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    All right, someone has to remind me of Guinan's role in the EW books...
     
  6. Deranged Nasat

    Deranged Nasat Vice Admiral Admiral

    I think it was minor; something about her giving Seven the location of the Antarctic Ozone What-Have-You base?
     
  7. EmperorKalan

    EmperorKalan Commander Red Shirt

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    Well, if they'd made the episode, Christopher probably wouldn't have written that part of TBA the same way, depending on his writing schedule vs. the theoretical air date of the episode.
     
  8. Ronald Held

    Ronald Held Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Christopher, can you make a minor edit ot make it consistant with The Eugenics Wars, in for future printings?
     
  9. 21Spike65

    21Spike65 Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    Guinan assisted Gary Seven in preventing a nerve gas attack in the Chunnel. Seven stopped an attack in England, while Guinan prevented a similar attack in France. Her appearance is in Chapter 19, on page 225 of the Hardcover.

    Christopher, do you happen to know where in The Buried Age you made the reference to how long it had been since Guinan was on Earth?
     
  10. 21Spike65

    21Spike65 Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    ^I think I just found it, on page 336 and the preceding pages (I love Amazon's Look Inside feature!). All it says is that after the events of Time's Arrow, the anthropologists "eventually" returned for Guinan and she began "the long migration back home," upon which it goes into talk of "centuries" and unspecified time frames. One could argue that, in a race as long lived as the El-Aurians, "eventually" could have been a century later, and it doesn't conflict Eugenics Wars as much as we would think.
     
  11. William Leisner

    William Leisner Scribbler Rear Admiral

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    I believe the TBA reference is from page 336, which recounts the events of "Time's Arrow," and then says, "Eventually the anthropologists had returned for her, and she had begun the long migration home, sobered by her brush with death." So it seems to me that, if someone really wanted to reconcile TBA and EW, they could just reason "eventually" was a hundred years later... a blink of the eye for an El-Aurian.

    ... or, what Spike said.
     
    Last edited: Nov 13, 2009
  12. 21Spike65

    21Spike65 Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    ^Haha, amazing the difference a minute can make. ;)
     
  13. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Well, that's not really what I had in mind, and I'm not sure it's completely consistent with the subsequent paragraphs, but it's a clever fix.
     
  14. JarodRussell

    JarodRussell Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Can't we just ignore that in favor of a good story with Guinan in ENT novels?
     
  15. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    ^See the posts above.
     
  16. 21Spike65

    21Spike65 Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    It will only be an issue if and when the Enterprise books decide to include Guinan, which so far there's no indication of. Until then, there's no real point in worrying about it.
     
  17. mattburgess

    mattburgess Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    JarodRussell -

    In my opinion, yes, we can just ignore that in favor of a good story with Guinan in Enterprise novels, because continuity is a fairly moot point when you consider how many Star Trek novels contradict other novels already, even other episodes.
    The Star Trek timeline isn't perfect, or error-free. It's very much like Batman continuity (or that of any other major franchise) - if you're not happy with all the contradictions, then only buy the books that you want to make up your own continuity.
    Or, like me, buy all the books, read all the books, and just accept that they can't all be right.
    If two books written many years apart can contradict each other and still be published, then it won't make much difference for two books written just a few years apart to contradict each other. Sure, it's not perfect, but it ain't gonna be.

    At the end of the day, they're not canon anyway, so it doesn't really matter.
     
  18. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    My Guinan backstory in TBA was a minor enough part of the book that it could easily enough be ignored for the sake of a new story. And others above have offered a way to reconcile its existing contradiction with The Eugenics Wars. So I guess it's not that huge a deal.
     
  19. Therin of Andor

    Therin of Andor Admiral Moderator

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    My personal take, when contradictions can't be easily reconciled: the ST novels, short stories, comics and RPG manuals are works of faction, (fiction based on fact) and derived from actual ships' logs, but sometimes the authors take artistic license to "improve" the story or fill in unknown gaps - exactly how many 20th and 21st century authors do historical fiction.
     
  20. 21Spike65

    21Spike65 Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    Of course, let's not forget that we're talking about Guinan. She's always been mysterious. If she pops up someplace that doesn't jive even with her own account of her adventures, is anyone really going to be that surprised? ;)