Shatnerverse

Discussion in 'Trek Literature' started by KHAAAN!, Nov 23, 2009.

  1. Saul

    Saul Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Unless those planes were packed with explosives like a truck bomb. They might do small damage but they could possibly be far easier to get access to and use compared to planes.
     
  2. William Leisner

    William Leisner Scribbler Rear Admiral

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    Sorry for coming late to this particular point... but Wil Wheaton also scripted a TOS manga story in Tokyopop's second collection.

    And given his current writing career and adulthood take on TNG, is there anyone who wouldn't absolutely love to see Wheaton pen a Wesley Crusher novel??
     
  3. Broccoli

    Broccoli Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Clearly, she got better.

    :shifty:
     
  4. seigezunt

    seigezunt Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I can't imagine her getting any better than being dead. :devil:
     
  5. Captain Randy Hall

    Captain Randy Hall Commodore Commodore

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    Oweeeee! :vulcan:
     
  6. Valin

    Valin Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    That would be quite interesting, and I'm sure would also be a very humorous novel.
     
  7. DarKush

    DarKush Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    The Ashes of Eden is my favorite Kirk novel still. I liked The Return a lot at the time it came out. Didn't care that much for Avenger, and I gave up after reading Spectre. From the books I read, I thought they were fairly entertaining. I liked all the little mentions and ties to other continuity.

    I just didn't care for the Mirror Universe stuff. I tried reading the book after Spectre, but I thought it was a bit too much Kirk for me. Though I have been intrigued by the Totality.
     
  8. RookieBatman

    RookieBatman Commodore Commodore

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    I've read the first two trilogies; definitely liked the first better. The Ashes of Eden (as I mentioned quite a few times back when I was more active here) was the book that got me hooked on Trek lit.

    I, personally, don't really think it's much of an ego trip for William Shatner to portray Kirk as a "big d*** hero." Kirk is the hero of the story, he is kinda supposed to win every time, and if it's a little over the top, hey, he's an iconic character. I like how the books have an epic, movie-like feel. But if it's an acquired taste, I can understand that. All I know is, they entertain me. :)
     
  9. Valin

    Valin Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Agreed. That's the way epic heroes are supposed to be portrayed. They have flaws, and some may even die in the end, but they are always larger than life and they win. Odysseus, Gilgamesh, Beowulf, Arthur Pendragon, Tarzan, and even Sherlock Holmes.
     
  10. Janos

    Janos Commander Red Shirt

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    Is the Shatnerverse series over? I stopped reading it after Preserver and was curious where it went after that? I think it was going back in time to Kirk's Academy days, right? I'm more interested in the contunuing story after Preserver.

    Also, is the Shatnerverse concerned one of the Myriad Universes?
     
  11. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    One Shatner Academy book, Collision Course, was published. It was supposed to be the first of two, but plans for the second seem to have been aborted, which I think was largely because of the new movie coming out and dealing with similar ground.

    No. Although the Shatnerverse goes in a distinct direction from the main novel continuity in a number of ways, it's still consistent with onscreen canon, and really only diverges blatantly in the post-2376 timeframe. It's not so much a formal "parallel universe" as an alternative fictional extension from the same canon. Myriad Universes is about alternate timelines arising from changes in canonical Trek history. Someone who'd never read a Trek novel before and started with a Shatner book would see it as a continuation of the Trek universe they know. But if they read a MyrU novel, they'd recognize that it was an alternate timeline. (By analogy, two different movies about plans to resurrect Hitler after WWII may contradict each other, but they're both recognizably outgrowths of the same real history; whereas if you saw a movie in which Hitler never came to power at all, it would be clearly an alternate history. If Trek canon is stipulated as "actual" history, then most Trek tie-ins are historical fiction, and MyrU is alternate-history fiction.)

    Also, aside from The Chimes of Midnight (which revisits the alternate timeline from TAS: "Yesteryear"), every MyrU timeline is original and unique.
     
  12. Janos

    Janos Commander Red Shirt

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    Thanks. I always thought they should have continued the story forward not backwards anyway... I think that series sold well.

    I think I get it. :vulcan: Essentially, since there appears to be a shared novel universe where the backstory / context of of Starfleet, for example, is the same in NF, DS9, TNG, Titan, etc., the Shatnerverse falls outside of that even though the "TV/movie" canon may be the same "seed" they sprung from even though they went in different directions?
     
  13. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Basically. All tie-ins have to be consistent with canon, but they don't have to be consistent with each other. Most of the books in the past decade have been consistent with each other due to authorial and editorial preference, but some have struck different courses. The Shatner/Reeves-Stevens novels were written for a different audience than the main paperback novel line -- a more mainstream audience looking for hardcover blockbusters by celebrity authors -- and since the two lines were not going to be read by all the same people, it was decided that it was best to let them strike their own independent courses and not be restrained by each other's choices. At least, that's my interpretation.
     
  14. Janos

    Janos Commander Red Shirt

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    Whew. :) Thanks.

    I recall that I was reading both the Shatnerverse and (essentially) the shared TNGnovelverse (DS9, NF, etc.) around the same time as Shatner's stuff. I did find some of the deviations interesting, but not anything that hindered my ability to enjoy both "lines".

    Part of me was more amused by Shatner trying to expand his footprint on fandom after Generations. If I recall correctly, I believe "The Return" was his pitch for the movie that was to follow Generations, but the movie franchise was firmly to be TNG's. So, the Shatnerverse was borne in novel format...
     
  15. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Have you read the Totality trilogy yet. It was the next trilogy written right after Perserver, and it takes place after it. I haven't read any Shatnerverse yet, so I don't know if they're any good though.
     
  16. Janos

    Janos Commander Red Shirt

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    Thanks JD. I actually didn't read that trilogy. Its coming back to me now... for some reason, I read the solicit for and it didn't appeal to me. However, I just read online the solicits for the other 2 and they seem interesting. Can anyone tell if the Totality trilogy was any good? Were all 3 collected in 1 book or do I need go out and pick up the 3 individually (if enough people here vouch for the books). Cheers.
     
  17. Admiral_Young

    Admiral_Young Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I've been currently listening to the audio books for the entire series, it's quite entertaining hearing the Shat do impressions for all the characters. During the Mirror Universe trilogy he mispronounces Cardassian several times using an H lol. Out of the entire series I would say that the Totality trilogy is the weakest of the bunch. As mentioned above "The Ashes of Eden" remains my favorite of the series followed by "Collision Course". As Christopher mentioned despite having Kirk being the central character in the series (obviously) the Reeves-Stevens do a good job of reflecting the on screen cannon of the time. I don't really think there were any mistakes. I kind of was upset when he killed off Teliani. I found her to be the most fascinating of his creations, but I suppose that was near the tragedy of his real life wife's death. I can't remember now. Overall I'd give the series a 3/5.
     
  18. F. King Daniel

    F. King Daniel Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    If the idea of Kirk having a mutant hermaphrodite child appeals to you, read the Totality trilogy. I thought it fun, but not up to the standards of the previous Shat books.

    I recommend Collision Course if you enjoyed STXI. They've got the same outrageous and OTT vibe, and young Kirk's characterization is pretty much the same as Chris Pine's. Consider it a "nuShatnerverse" though, because it's much more a new beginning than a TOS prequel. It also tells a different (incompatible) Tarsus IV story to Avenger.

    It's interesting how the Shatnerverse ties into the rest of Treklit. Titan crops up in the Totality books, there are a couple of Federation references and the previous trilogy even references Ship of the Line, with a Captain Bateson cameo. But otherwise, Janeway's alive and Bajor hasn't joined the Federation. It's a sort of vague "don't look too closely" continuity.
     
  19. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    And while the Totality trilogy features the same Titan crew created for the novels, it depicts an incompatible version of Titan's first year in service, in which the ship spends an entire year helping the Romulans clean up the post-Shinzon mess and doesn't get around to making first contact with a new species until 2381. So it's like Star Trek Online, in that it borrows ideas from the main novel continuity as desired but incorporates them into a separate version of the continuity.
     
  20. Admiral_Young

    Admiral_Young Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Actually I took the Shatner/Titan to be following Riker's line that it would be part of a new Romulan Task Force. It didn't even have any other crew mentioned except for Riker and Troi, of course this was before the Titan books were announced.