Legacies: Captain to Captain cover revealed

[JonnyQuest037]

Pretty much all of those comics are set around 2270 or thereabouts (going by the internal continuity-references within them) IIRC, so if this novel is set earlier in the 5YM, it could still work.

If you mean Byrne's New Visions series, those comics are skipping around all within the original five-year mission. The various issues don't necessarily take place in the same order they come out in. For instance, issue #10, "Mister Chekov" shows how young Pavel Chekov first came to the attention of Captain Kirk.

The stuff we see Number One in in the Romulan storylines take place in a post-TOS timeframe, though.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

I'm not sure that would be kosher, honestly. And I certainly wouldn't want to do so without the artist's permissions.

That was pretty much what I meant by "allowed."

 

[Avro Arrow]

Nice cover! And Captain, er, One... I like!

We found a way around that.

I think I'm actually at the point now where I'd like the authors to just establish an "official" novelverse version of her name, rather than just trying to cleverly avoid it all the time. I don't see how it's that dissimilar to the books using first names for Uhura and Sulu before they were canonically established. (And I would imagine it's exceedingly unlikely that new canon material would overwrite whatever choice was made, at this point.)

That being said... I am looking forward to see how you addressed this. (Do I contradict myself? Well, I contain multitudes, too... )

 

[Christopher]

I think I'm actually at the point now where I'd like the authors to just establish an "official" novelverse version of her name, rather than just trying to cleverly avoid it all the time. I don't see how it's that dissimilar to the books using first names for Uhura and Sulu before they were canonically established.

The Early Voyages comics called her Robbins, and implied that her first name, which she disliked, was Eureka. (It was Eure- something, and I know of nothing else that fits, unless it's a misspelling of Eurydice.)

 

[Avro Arrow]

The Early Voyages comics called her Robbins, and implied that her first name, which she disliked, was Eureka. (It was Eure- something, and I know of nothing else that fits, unless it's a misspelling of Eurydice.)

If my first name was Eureka, I don't think I'd like it much, either!

But I don't think any of the novels have used "Robbins", have they? I thought that was comics-only, but I could be mistaken.

And didn't one of the novels (a Jerry Oltion one, maybe?) use "Lefler", based on the New Frontier hints? Even though if it *was* the same person (which I don't personally care to believe), she shouldn't have been going by "Lefler" at that point in time anyway, IIRC.

 

[Christopher]

If my first name was Eureka, I don't think I'd like it much, either!

I dunno, seems a pretty cool name for an explorer.

But I don't think any of the novels have used "Robbins", have they? I thought that was comics-only, but I could be mistaken.

Not that I know of, but other elements from Early Voyages have been added to the novelverse, specifically the engineer Moves-With-Burning-Grace and the Lirin species.

And didn't one of the novels (a Jerry Oltion one, maybe?) use "Lefler", based on the New Frontier hints? Even though if it *was* the same person (which I don't personally care to believe), she shouldn't have been going by "Lefler" at that point in time anyway, IIRC.

Yeah, that was used in Oltion's "Conflicting Natures" and Where Sea Meets Sky, and it really doesn't make sense, as you say. According to NF, Lefler was the name of Robin's father, whom Morgan Primus married decades after the Pike era.

 

[Greg Cox]

Not to give too much away, but we do provide a name, for convenience's sake.

Whether it's her actual name is another issue . . ...

 

[Leto_II]

If you mean Byrne's New Visions series, those comics are skipping around all within the original five-year mission. The various issues don't necessarily take place in the same order they come out in. For instance, issue #10, "Mister Chekov" shows how young Pavel Chekov first came to the attention of Captain Kirk.

The stuff we see Number One in in the Romulan storylines take place in a post-TOS timeframe, though.

The Romulan miniseries (where she commands the USS Yorktown) is the one I was referring to, there, yeah. It seems to take place no earlier than 2270 (and possibly in 2271), which gives plenty of time for her promotion to flag rank to happen (I don't think this has ever been shown in a Byrne-story yet).

On a related note, isn't there a DC annual which shows her promoted to the Admiralty some time after TMP (she's now white-haired and wearing the first movie's footy-pajama uniform, from what I remember)?

 

[Christopher]

The Romulan miniseries (where she commands the USS Yorktown) is the one I was referring to, there, yeah. It seems to take place no earlier than 2270 (and possibly in 2271), which gives plenty of time for her promotion to flag rank to happen (I don't think this has ever been shown in a Byrne-story yet).

Actually that's in the New Visions issue I mentioned in post #3. It depicts the Enterprise taking the newly promoted Commodore What's-Her-Name (Byrne always leaves her nameless) to rendezvous with the Yorktown and take over as its commander. It's not clear when it's meant to be set, though.

Also, isn't there a DC annual which shows her promoted to the Admiralty some time not long after TMP (she's wearing the first movie's footy-pajama uniform, from what I remember)?

You may be thinking of Byrne's Leonard McCoy, Frontier Doctor, which shows her as an admiral in TMP uniform sometime in the period before TMP. That's her only comics appearance in that era as far as Memory Beta records.

 

[Leto_II]

Actually that's in the New Visions issue I mentioned in post #3. It depicts the Enterprise taking the newly promoted Commodore What's-Her-Name (Byrne always leaves her nameless) to rendezvous with the Yorktown and take over as its commander. It's not clear when it's meant to be set, though.

It's actually a prequel-continuation of her Yorktown-command storyline from Byrne's earlier Romulans: Schism miniseries, where we see Number One in command of that starship around the early 2270s (where the Yorktown's bridge module gets completely destroyed, among other things).

You may be thinking of Byrne's Leonard McCoy, Frontier Doctor, which shows her as an admiral in TMP uniform sometime in the period before TMP. That's her only comics appearance in that era as far as Memory Beta records.

Woops, that's the one, yeah -- for some weird reason, I was thinking I saw it in a DC issue.

 

[Extrocomp]

Not to give too much away, but we do provide a name, for convenience's sake.

Whether it's her actual name is another issue .

Isn't "Number One" already a name for convenience's sake? We've been told in The Rift, The Children of Kings and Child of Two Worlds that she does have a name, but it's very difficult for non-Illyrians to pronounce. I was hoping we'd finally find out what it is.

 

[Christopher]

Isn't "Number One" already a name for convenience's sake?

It's not a name, it's an epithet for a first officer, like Picard uses for Riker.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

The Romulan miniseries (where she commands the USS Yorktown) is the one I was referring to, there, yeah. It seems to take place no earlier than 2270 (and possibly in 2271), which gives plenty of time for her promotion to flag rank to happen (I don't think this has ever been shown in a Byrne-story yet).

We haven't seen her promoted to Commodore, no, but she's already at that rank at the end of "Strange New Worlds," Byrne's first story in his New Visions continuity, which was a 5YM-era follow-up to "Where No Man Has Gone Before." She has a cameo when Kirk reports in to her at the end of the story.

So these two continuities are likely going to be incompatible when it comes to Number One's career trajectory. (Which is 100% fine, BTW. I don't mean this as any sort of criticism, just a statement of fact. Greg Cox should have the freedom to tell his own story without having to jibe with Byrne's stories in a different medium.)

 

[Greg Cox]

For what it's worth, LEGACIES mentions that Number One, who is currently a captain, is expected to be promoted to Commodore soon . ...

 

[Bibliomike]

It's fascinating (to coin a phrase) how enduring this character has been, given she only appeared in one episode (albeit a very key one), and despite a given name. It's the intriguing glimpse of "Star Trek that might have been," re-purposed as instant backstory for the Trek universe, that makes "The Menagerie" my all-time favorite TOS.

 

[ATimson]

It's fascinating (to coin a phrase) how enduring this character has been, given she only appeared in one episode (albeit a very key one), and despite a given name.

I suspect that if she'd been played by anybody other than Majel Barrett, she wouldn't have endured. But because of her connection to an actor who had more important roles in the actual series, she lives on.

 

[Christopher]

I suspect that if she'd been played by anybody other than Majel Barrett, she wouldn't have endured. But because of her connection to an actor who had more important roles in the actual series, she lives on.

I don't know about that. Captain Pike has been revisited in the literature nearly as often as Number One -- and even revisited in screen canon. That wasn't because of the actor. I think people would've still found the character interesting if a different actress had played her, because of her personality and mystery and her unique status as a command-level female Starfleet officer in TOS. Although if a different actress had played her, she never would've been dropped from the cast, because it was Barrett's casting specifically that NBC had an issue with.

 

[Therin of Andor]

http://memory-beta.wikia.com/wiki/Number_One

 

[Idran]

I don't know about that. Captain Pike has been revisited in the literature nearly as often as Number One -- and even revisited in screen canon. That wasn't because of the actor. I think people would've still found the character interesting if a different actress had played her, because of her personality and mystery and her unique status as a command-level female Starfleet officer in TOS. Although if a different actress had played her, she never would've been dropped from the cast, because it was Barrett's casting specifically that NBC had an issue with.

Then again, though, Pike was the main character and focus of the entirety of The Cage, and as you said, he had later references even within on-screen canon; it's not really a fair comparison, Pike to Number One. It'd be more fair to compare the endurance of Number One in Treklit to, say, Piper, or Tyler.

 

[Christopher]

It'd be more fair to compare the endurance of Number One in Treklit to, say, Piper, or Tyler.

Number One had a much more significant role than either of those characters. According to the transcripts, Number One had more dialogue than any other Enterprise crewmember save Pike himself, and she played a fairly central role in the scenes she was in. Spock came next in dialogue quantity and centrality, then Boyce. Tyler spoke almost as much as Boyce, but the doctor's lines were almost entirely character-focused or addressing the key themes and ideas of the story, while Tyler's were mostly just exposition and responding to orders. So Tyler was a far more minor character than the others. As for Piper, he spoke only 16 sentences, which were exclusively exposition. I'd hardly call him a character at all, more just a plot convenience.

Also, as I said, Number One was more distinctive than the other roles by virtue of being a command-level female officer. Consider another one-shot character who's always captivated fans and writers: the Romulan Commander from "The Enterprise Incident." Powerful women in starship service are extremely rare in TOS, and thus many fans gravitate toward the ones that are there. And in the case of Number One, there's the element of "what might have been." Pike isn't all that different from Kirk, Boyce and Piper aren't that different from McCoy, Tyler isn't that different from Sulu. (Indeed, first-season Kirk was written identically to Pike and McCoy was written identically to Boyce; they were basically the same roles recast and renamed.) But a female first officer is something much more different from anything we got in TOS, so naturally it fires our curiosity.