Legal situation concerning the new TV series
- Thread starter Jinn
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I'm sure there are no answers to this question right now. But I am very interested to see how the show effects the continuation of the various post-series book lines. If current rumors are true, I can easily imagine the Litverse going the way of the Star Wars EU. And that will be a sad day, no matter how great the new show is.
There's simply no way of knowing until we know what the new show will be about, but if the new series is set post-VOY and establishes a new timeline of events, then naturally new onscreen material will take precedence. It's something that should have been expected with all the books set after Nemesis, IMO. Even the ENT: Rise of the Federation books may not be safe if the new series establishes something there that contradicts them.
But if it's a total reboot, it may not matter.
But if it's a total reboot, it may not matter.
I'm blown away that a return to the Prime timeline is even on the table. I don't think Pocket was wrong in assuming they had free reign to do what they wanted with it and expect to never face a massive overwrite.
But we just have to wait and see what happens, and how Pocket choises to move forward.
But we just have to wait and see what happens, and how Pocket choises to move forward.
Folks, none of us will know anything about this until next year. So take a breath.
That said, I doubt there is much reason for concern. When the decision was made to keep the Treklit continuity separate from the Bad Robot continuity, the books were allowed to continue on their merry way. I suspect something similar may occur in this case. For all I know, maybe the new show will mesh fine with existing continuity. Or perhaps the Trek books will spawn a new series to tie in with just the new series. Or maybe the books will go one way and the show will go another and never the twain shall meet.
Of course, that's all nothing but speculation. I won't know any more than that until the show's producers brief the licensing office, who will brief the publisher and editor, who will then give marching orders to us word-pushers.
So breathe, my friends. Breathe.
That said, I doubt there is much reason for concern. When the decision was made to keep the Treklit continuity separate from the Bad Robot continuity, the books were allowed to continue on their merry way. I suspect something similar may occur in this case. For all I know, maybe the new show will mesh fine with existing continuity. Or perhaps the Trek books will spawn a new series to tie in with just the new series. Or maybe the books will go one way and the show will go another and never the twain shall meet.
Of course, that's all nothing but speculation. I won't know any more than that until the show's producers brief the licensing office, who will brief the publisher and editor, who will then give marching orders to us word-pushers.
So breathe, my friends. Breathe.
That happened before, with the '80s Pocket continuity. And of course there are already several incompatible Trek tie-in continuities -- the Novelverse, ST Online, the IDW Byrneverse, and all the various standalone comics and books.
And people keep forgetting that the Star Wars EU was partially contradicted by the prequels and The Clone Wars several times, with later tie-ins adjusting to the new information and either trying to retcon the inconsistencies or just ignoring stuff from earlier books/comics in favor of new canon. Even if the new series is in the Primeverse -- something which we do not know for a fact -- then the books might still be able to work around it in a similar way, much as the novels of the early 2000s managed to work around the new information from Enterprise (e.g. where the portrayal of the Andorians and their home planet was concerned, or in the depiction of the Tholians). The new information conflicted with some details from earlier books, but later books either glossed over or explained the inconsistencies.
You should never be blown away by unconfirmed rumors. That's an easy way to go flying all over the place. One week there was a rumor that the show would be set in "The Lost Era," the next there was a rumor that it'd be post-TNG. Remember how last year everyone was outraged that Wonder Woman in Batman v Superman was going to be Kryptonian? Rumors should always be doubted until more solid information comes along.
Although I got to admit, when the first rumours started circulating last week that the show would be in the Lost Era, my first thought was "hey, only a small percentage of the novel continuity will be affected by that, and even then perhaps not in a serious way."
Sad day, maybe. But an inevitable day we all knew could happen. Or should that be "know can happen?"
The way I see it is, all science fiction is bound to be contradicted sooner or later, whether by scientific progress or just the calendar catching up. Eventually you have to stop trying to pretend it's "real" and just focus on whether it's entertaining.
You're not the boss of me, Mack! I'm going to pass out from lack of oxygen!! That'll show you!!!
Remember how old encyclopedias had annual update volumes? The obvious alternate solution is to mandate that for science fiction works as well.
Actually, they still do.
At my home, we have had the World Book since the 1971 edition. Back then, my parents bought the cream-and-dark-green "Aristorcrat" edition, with dictionary, atlas, and stand; in 1980, at my own personal expense, traded it in on the black-and-brown 1980 edition (I think they called it "Heritage"), and more recently, traded that in on the dark blue edition. And all through that time, we've been subscribing to both the World Book Year Book and Science Year. As I speak, I'm roughly 90 pages from the end of the latest Year Book (skipping over material not of interest to me).
At my home, we have had the World Book since the 1971 edition. Back then, my parents bought the cream-and-dark-green "Aristorcrat" edition, with dictionary, atlas, and stand; in 1980, at my own personal expense, traded it in on the black-and-brown 1980 edition (I think they called it "Heritage"), and more recently, traded that in on the dark blue edition. And all through that time, we've been subscribing to both the World Book Year Book and Science Year. As I speak, I'm roughly 90 pages from the end of the latest Year Book (skipping over material not of interest to me).
What do you mean, "trying to pretend it's real". I don't have to try to do that, because it is real!
Tolkien said it best, in his essay, "On Fairy Stories," when he took exception to the phrase, "willing suspension of disbelief," suggesting "literary belief" as a better term, further declaring that events of a story -- unless it's in the "dream fantasy" genre (a genre of which he generally disapproved, outside of a very few specific exceptions) -- are "real" within the story's own context.
If the new series is set in the Prime Universe, there is also no reason that they couldn't pull a Gene Roddenberry-maneuver and set the series 100, 200 or 500 years after Endgame & Star Trek Nemesis, in which case, the novel continuity wouldn't be really impacted, unless there was some really necessary story plots that take place in the late-2300's.
You're forgetting -- TNG was set a century after TOS, but it still contradicted a ton of TOS novels, because it portrayed things like Klingon and Romulan civilization and the history of Earth and the Federation in ways that conflicted with earlier novels. So setting the new show in the future would not protect the current novels from contradiction. Not unless it were in some completely different part of the universe and never did any stories pertaining to Federation history or to pre-existing species. Heck, all they'd have to do was say that the Borg still exist and that would blow the Novelverse out of the water.
I suppose, if you authors and editors where so inclined, that even something as drastic as the return of the Borg could be reconciled in the epic tradition of the DC vol 1 comic series retcons.
As someone that hasn't read much in the way of Trek comics, what was that?
Ryan is probably thinking of the way DC's first TOS run reset its storyline changes post-ST III in order to restore the status quo leading into ST IV. Spock had recovered and been given command of the Surak, but the Surak was destroyed and Spock's mind was scrambled again. Kirk and crew had been redeemed in Starfleet's eyes, but they violated orders and ended up back in the doghouse again. They'd been given the Excelsior, but Styles took it back and they had to flee for Vulcan in the captured Bird of Prey (which was suddenly, impossibly, small enough to have been sitting in Excelsior's shuttle bay the whole time).
Yes. If that could happen, some pretty impresive retcons could be in store if the series were set in, say, the 25th century.
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