Star Trek IV: What Might Have Been

[FormerLurker]

^^The time it took, perhaps, but not necessarily the events. Scotty waxing philosophic about how Dr. Nichols invented transparent aluminum being distilled down to "How do we know he didn't invent the thing?" is the sort of script revision that happens all the time.

^I don't remember the whalesong being translated into English dialog. Not in the script, not in the novelization, not anywhere. All I do remember is V. McIntyre injecting emotional response into the actions of the Probe, as though we could truly understand that it felt grief, rather than some unknowable reaction that appears that way to us.

 

[RandyS]

^^The time it took, perhaps, but not necessarily the events. Scotty waxing philosophic about how Dr. Nichols invented transparent aluminum being distilled down to "How do we know he didn't invent the thing?" is the sort of script revision that happens all the time.

^I don't remember the whalesong being translated into English dialog. Not in the script, not in the novelization, not anywhere. All I do remember is V. McIntyre injecting emotional response into the actions of the Probe, as though we could truly understand that it felt grief, rather than some unknowable reaction that appears that way to us.

The whale song was indeed translated to English in the novel. It's towards the end when George and Gracie talk to the probe.

 

[FormerLurker]

My copy is currently buried under other stuff. I'll have to dig it out and read it.

 

[Maurice]

Vonda McIntyre had to have seen it. She's the one who wrote the novelization. There was a prolonged scene about Scotty writing out the matrix for transparent aluminum, describing it as taking an hour or two, before McCoy asks Scotty about giving Dr. Nichols the formula. Scotty tells McCoy Dr. Nichols is the one who developed it in the first place, so they aren't changing history. Just maybe hurrying it a couple of years. All that got distilled down into the scene we got in the film through rewrites, some of it probably for time.

Nick Meyer wrote all the scenes in the 20th century and his style would be much more towards the joke dismissal of historic concerns that we got than what's being suggested here. In short, until a script draft shows up that supports this idea that Dr. Nichols was the inventor and t hat Scott knew it, I'm going to chalk this up to fan speculation and not fact.

 

[EnriqueH]

A lot of the "extra stuff" in Vonda McIntyre's novelizations reek of elaboration by the author.

I read those novelizations in 8th grade (around 1989-1990) and was not a fan of her writing, to be honest.

There was something annoying about the way she wrote Gillian Taylor "making circles" with the bottom of her glass in the pizza scene. Actually, I can remember the novelization expanding on that pizza scene. When Kirk says, "I'll have the same." The waiter replies, "Big appetite." And Gillian covers for Kirk by saying, "He means the same beer." or something to that effect. Was that really necessary for McIntyre to write? When two people order a large pizza pie and one orders a beer and the other says, "I'll have the same." OF COURSE HE MEANS THE SAME BEER! Since when do two people orders two large pizzas for themselves! I guess maybe she was being paid per word, or was that in the original script? Either way, it still annoyed me.

The way she wrote Scotty's accent also pissed me off, or how about the way she wrote David and Saavik's love scene (can't remember if that was written for the TWOK or TSFS novelization). Ugh!

I've noticed many Trek fans enjoyed her Trek books, (or at least Entropy Effect, which I thought was just ok). Something about the writing style that seemed lazy and overindulgent. And all those books have the same voice, which makes me think that a lot of the aforementioned scenarios were invented by her.

Ok, now that I got THAT off my chest...