Spoilers ENT: Rise of the Federation: Live by the Code by Christopher L. Bennett Review Thread
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Because I'd like to know.
Is there something wrong with the question?
There's actually at least one character for every letter in LGBT (though I didn't plan it that way):
L: Ensigns Zoanra zh'Vethris, Vol'Rala navigator, and Ramnaf Breg, Vol'Rala helm officer (couple)
G: Ensign Bodor chim Grev, Pioneer communications officer; Klingon Fleet Admiral Krell and Doctor Kon'Jef (spouses)
B: Doctor Phlox, Endeavour chief medical officer (following John Billingsley's opinion about the character); implicitly most Denobulans
T: Lieutenant Morgan Kelly, Essex armory officer
G: Ensign Bodor chim Grev, Pioneer communications officer; Klingon Fleet Admiral Krell and Doctor Kon'Jef (spouses)
B: Doctor Phlox, Endeavour chief medical officer (following John Billingsley's opinion about the character); implicitly most Denobulans
T: Lieutenant Morgan Kelly, Essex armory officer
I mean, nothing, it just seemed a little weird out of context. But, I believe, and someone correct me if I'm missing anyone--Sam Kirk was outed as bisexual, Grev was shown to have an unrequited crush on Sam, Travis Mayweather has been depicted as bisexual as per the last RotF novel, the Arkenite member of the Vol'Rala, whose name escapes me, was in a relationship with a (comparably) female Andorian, and Morgan Kelly from the Essex was depicted as transgender.
Christopher I guess I assumed Sam was bisexual because there was a scene between him and Valeria where she says something about Grev and Kirk says something along the lines of wishing he could find him attractive. I guess I took this as Kirk also is attracted to men, but not Tellarite men, or just that he doesn't find Grev in particular to be attractive.
I was originally going to have him say "I wish I could return his interest, but I'm just not interested in men." But then I thought it would be more fun to have him say "I'm just not attracted to Tellarites." That leaves it more ambiguous, and makes it more about a future society's priorities and preoccupations than our own.
I may have said this last year, but I love, love, love the Ware name and concept, particularly the many different meanings the name evokes: software (and thus malware), the fact that it's something to beware, the fact that it was originally a product for sale (and therefore ware) and the warehousing of its victims. I'd love to see this ported over to canon Trek.
IMO, there is potential in the immediate post-First Contact era for a series of small scale interstellar wars (almost a contradiction in terms, lol). An attack on Earth by the Kzin in the 2070s, say, followed by some clashes in space over the next couple of decades between early colonists on Alpha Centauri and Valiant-type starships, both of which we know were active around this time. The presence of a hostile species may have been a factor in the Vulcans allowing the construction of starships like the Valiant at all.
I do see the point that the Slavers and Kzin originate from another line of fiction entirely, which makes them stand out like a sore thumb. I like to think that they could well have crossed over from the Known Space universe at different points in the past, as we've seen the Trek universe(s) threatened by hostile forces from other fictional universes over the years: the Cybermen, the Shi'ar, a zombie-plague toting vampire, or (flipping the script a bit) the Klingons in "Primate Directive".
TC
IMO, there is potential in the immediate post-First Contact era for a series of small scale interstellar wars (almost a contradiction in terms, lol). An attack on Earth by the Kzin in the 2070s, say, followed by some clashes in space over the next couple of decades between early colonists on Alpha Centauri and Valiant-type starships, both of which we know were active around this time. The presence of a hostile species may have been a factor in the Vulcans allowing the construction of starships like the Valiant at all.
I do see the point that the Slavers and Kzin originate from another line of fiction entirely, which makes them stand out like a sore thumb. I like to think that they could well have crossed over from the Known Space universe at different points in the past, as we've seen the Trek universe(s) threatened by hostile forces from other fictional universes over the years: the Cybermen, the Shi'ar, a zombie-plague toting vampire, or (flipping the script a bit) the Klingons in "Primate Directive".
TC
I do see the point that the Slavers and Kzin originate from another line of fiction entirely, which makes them stand out like a sore thumb. I like to think that they could well have crossed over from the Known Space universe at different points in the past, as we've seen the Trek universe(s) threatened by hostile forces from other fictional universes over the years: the Cybermen, the Shi'ar, a zombie-plague toting vampire, or (flipping the script a bit) the Klingons in "Primate Directive".
Maybe all of those, including "The Slaver Weapon," are holonovels created in the 24th century or later as a sort of mashup fanfic between real Starfleet heroes and fictional classics. I don't know if there is a subgenre of fanfic devoted to rewriting classic fiction with real historical figures acting out the lead roles, but I'd be mildly surprised if there weren't.
Not fanfic exactly, but seems like a sideways move from things like "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" or "Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter"; given those, I'd also be surprised if not.
At this point, I'm acting on the assumption that only the founder worlds have seats on the Joint Chiefs. That might change in the future, but it's only been about a year since Rigel joined. Also, Rigel is influential and prominent, but its power is more economic than military.
But is there a Rigellian Starfleet Admiral (two-, three-, or four-star/pip)/Commodore (one-star/pip) yet - possibly attached to Admiral Osman's staff - or have they not been a part of the Federation long enough to have attained flag rank?
I don't know. I haven't worked that out yet. Maybe the paperwork's still going through.
^It would be fun to see a post-Enterprise recanonized version of Michael Jan Friedman's Alonis Cobaryn in a role like that. I know you have said that you decided to steer clear of that continuity as it can't really be reconciled with what we've seen on-screen and in the Martin/Mangels novels, but wasn't Lydia Littlejohn "recanonized" (AKA, just dropped into the new cohesive Enterprise book canon) in a new role in A Choice of Futures, or was this just because she was vaguely referenced in Articles of the Federation?
I don't recall that specifically, but my goal is to stay consistent with the existing novel continuity, so if something from earlier continuity has been repurposed into the Novelverse by some other author, then I'll follow that lead. For myself, though, I generally prefer to let alternate interpretations stay distinct.
I do see the point that the Slavers and Kzin originate from another line of fiction entirely, which makes them stand out like a sore thumb. I like to think that they could well have crossed over from the Known Space universe at different points in the past, as we've seen the Trek universe(s) threatened by hostile forces from other fictional universes over the years: the Cybermen, the Shi'ar, a zombie-plague toting vampire, or (flipping the script a bit) the Klingons in "Primate Directive".
TC
Don't forget the occasional Questor Tapes easter egg and the X-Men in those '90s comic books and novel. Read the novel. Not the best by far (and as someone who sees the X-Men: Evolution TV show -- and to a lesser extent, the movies -- "their" version of the X-Men, it feels a little off). It doesn't help that most of the team used is made up of characters I've never heard of before or weren't that big a fan of.
But there's something really interesting about the way the author took such a bonkers idea and played with it seriously. The final scene, with two special guest stars capping off the last loose threads, is also great. And the whole Cap. Picard meets Prof. X bit has only gotten better since the X-Men movies.
While I tend to view official crossovers in non-canon media as no different from visits to and from other parallel universes (like the mirror universe), and (obviously) prefer to see the Kzinti episode as canonical (with a version of the Kzinti as offical denizens of the Star Trek universe), IDIC seems to be a fair standard for opinions on how to approach the subject.
As a big X-Men fan who considers the main comic range to be the definitive X-Men, I can tell you that X-Men Evolution and the movies aren't really all that close to who the comic X-Men are. It's been many years since I read the X-Men/Trek crossovers, but I generally remember them feeling true to the comics. I don't think the crossover was a great idea or executed all that well, but it's just the difficulties of crossing over two very different series. The characters were true to who they were as far as I remember.
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