The Ending(s) of the Original Five-Year Mission

[Christopher]

I've seen Admiral Noguchi's name more than once, which I assume is a homage to Enterprise: The First Adventure (is that the first mention--I don't recall ever seeing or hearing his name before that).

Yeah, "Admiral Noguchi" was always kind of a weird inclusion -- like McIntyre was thinking of Admiral Nogura but forgot his name. According to a Google Books search, Enterprise was the first mention of the name, but it was also used the following year in J.M. Dillard's Bloodthirst and the year after that in The Final Nexus. Oddly, it cropped up as the name of a 24th-century admiral in DS9: Objective: Bajor in 1996, and the 23rd-century version was resurrected in the Pike-era The Children of Kings in 2010.

Although Dillard featured Nogura as a character in The Lost Years, her next book after Bloodthirst, and said that he'd only just come out of retirement. So she was clearly treating Nogura and Noguchi as different characters. The Final Nexus says that Noguchi gave Kirk command of the Enterprise, which I assume is a reference to E:TFA.

As an aside, I guess it's always gratifying when a fellow writer throws a homage your way years later. I wonder if Peter David was like, 'hey thanks for mentioning my book'.

The book that referenced Vendetta was Before Dishonor, which was by Peter David. So he was mentioning his own book.

 

[Damian]

Yeah, "Admiral Noguchi" was always kind of a weird inclusion -- like McIntyre was thinking of Admiral Nogura but forgot his name.

Ha-ha. Yeah, back then there wasn't Memory Beta to help. I noticed the similarity too, but figured she was just creating a new character.

The book that referenced Vendetta was Before Dishonor, which was by Peter David. So he was mentioning his own book.

I looked this up because I thought I remembered reading a more recent reference in the last year or two. I had to do some searching but Dayton Ward's Armageddon's Arrow does mention Vendetta also, including their encounter with Dulcinea. I remember when I was reading I was wondering if Ward would mention Vendetta, since it too involved a Doomsday machine, and lo and behold, he threw it a shout out .

 

[Damian]

I think E:TFA is the first appearance of Admiral Noguchi, who also showed up in later books.

At one time, I thought maybe he was the unnamed Starfleet character in Pike's illusion of Vina as an Orion Slave girl in The Cage. That character seemed to be wearing a more elaborate uniform and I thought maybe he could be Admiral Noguchi. But I later read read him described as being Asian I believe, which would probably rule that out.

 

[Christopher]

At one time, I thought maybe he was the unnamed Starfleet character in Pike's illusion of Vina as an Orion Slave girl in The Cage. That character seemed to be wearing a more elaborate uniform and I thought maybe he could be Admiral Noguchi. But I later read read him described as being Asian I believe, which would probably rule that out.

Well, "Noguchi" is a Japanese surname, after all -- a much more common one than "Nogura," which could explain McIntyre's mixup. Although I suppose a white guy could have a Japanese surname through adoption or handed down from an ancestor or something. After all, Leila Kalomi and Noonien Soong are both white people with at least partly Asian names, and Philippa Georgiou is Chinese-Malaysian with a Greek surname through marriage.

 

[lawman]

You're more forgiving than me. Probably mostly fans bought the novels even back then and fans I think always considered Where No Man Has Gone Before to be the first on screen appearance of the original series crew in the timeline (even if it was the 3rd episode aired). IMHO I think it was a mistake to seemingly ignore most of that episode. And she didn't totally ignore that episode because Gary Mitchell was mentioned prominently. So it made it very confusing. I'm sure many fans while reading it were thinking, Sulu was a physicist at the time, why is Dr McCoy there, Janice Rand?? and so forth. ... Unfortunately it's made it hard for me to look at that book as a true first adventure, and was a disappointment as a result.

That was certainly my experience as well. What other fans may have wanted or expected to see, I can only speculate.

(Of course it didn't help either that novel's actual story was glacially slow-moving and absurdly trivial, or that all the characterizations felt "off." And as Christopher noted, I have absolutely no idea what she was thinking about Rand.)

Besides, Enterprise: The First Adventure was a big event. It was the 20th-anniversary novel. It was the first "giant" novel. It was promoted more heavily than an ordinary novel. So it stood to reason that it would attract a wider audience than a typical novel, and thus it was logical to make it more accessible to casual fans. Not to mention that a book that was meant to be a celebration of 20 years of Star Trek should logically focus on the characters we care about most.

Truth. Creativity had to work hand-in-hand with marketing there, even more than usual. I think something written to serve those goals still could've been a lot better executed, though. I have a hard time imagining E:TFA pulling any casual fans into being less casual.

Mike Barr did the same thing in DC's earlier (and much better) version of "The First Mission," ... Though he struck more of a balance between the pilot and series casts than the others did.

Exactly.

I remember one--I forget the title, that had Kirk choose McCoy, who he already knew AFTER Piper announced his retirement. It also featured McCoy's first visit to Capella. I believe it was an E-book--but the title escapes me...

Sounds like you're thinking of Mere Anarchy 1: Things Fall Apart.

 

[Damian]

Sounds like you're thinking of Mere Anarchy 1: Things Fall Apart

I did a little research and it was the 3rd My Brother's Keeper novel (Enterprise). The Enterprise was returning to Earth for Gary Mitchell's funeral and it also featured McCoy's first mission to Capella IV. Memory Beta attempts to reconcile E-TFA, Strangers from the Sky and later books like My Brother's Keeper by noting he initially accepted Kirk's offer to be CMO but only served about 3 months before he had to take extended leave to care for his father who was dying (being replaced by Dr Piper). Then he went on his first stint to Capella IV, but became weary at their lack of interest in medical care. When Kirk offered him the CMO job again when Dr Piper announced his retirement, he jumped at the chance to return to the Enterprise.

Uhura's presence is explained that she apparently joined the Enterprise a few years before Kirk took command, in 2262, then left the ship for a time, being replaced by Alden until he left the ship and she was reassigned to the Enterprise. Memory-Beta references E:TFA and My Brother's Keeper, but MBK leaves the impression that this is her first assignment to the Enterprise.

Sulu's being helmsman instead of a physicist is contradictory and I don't think there's really any way to adequately explain it.

I have read a number of stories that do show Scotty was on the Enterprise under Pike before Kirk took command, and I seem to remember it indicated that he and Spock were the only command officers that remained on the Enterprise when Kirk took command.

Maybe I'll take another read of E:TFA. I haven't read it since it came out. There's a lot more established Star Trek history now, in canon and in the novelverse--and it might be interesting to see how it compares now. Are there any parts that might fit the continuity as it stands today?

I just remember being disappointed. I was excited to see the "First" mission of Kirk and the transfer of command. It just pulled me out of the story that Sulu was helmsman and not Lee Kelso, that there was no Dr. Piper, and that characters were there that didn't seem to belong yet. It was like there was no WNMHGB (except for mentioning Gary Mitchell--which made it even more confusing was WNMHGB being accounted for or not). That's just my personal take of course. I had commented about wanting to see more details about the Cardassian conflict because it seemed to be a major event in Star Trek history. E:TFA is another such big event, Kirk's taking command of the Enterprise. To me it was just a bit of a let down- a missed opportunity.

I'm sort of like Christopher in the sense that I think it's easier to just accept the discontinuities and not try to reconcile it. The My Brother's Keeper novels comes the closest to explaining the first year of Kirk's command that is most consistent with canon, IMHO. Friedman doesn't come out and narrate Kirk's taking command or the first mission--I assume partly because he didn't want to outright overwrite E:TFA, and also because it wasn't really critical to the story he was telling.

 

[lawman]

Memory Beta attempts to reconcile E-TFA, Strangers from the Sky and later books like My Brother's Keeper by noting he initially accepted Kirk's offer to be CMO but only served about 3 months before he had to take extended leave to care for his father who was dying (being replaced by Dr Piper). Then he went on his first stint to Capella IV, but became weary at their lack of interest in medical care. When Kirk offered him the CMO job again when Dr Piper announced his retirement, he jumped at the chance to return to the Enterprise.

I suppose that works as well as anything, timeline-wise... whether one includes E:TFA or not! We do know from other novels (e.g., Crisis on Centaurus) that McCoy was a friend of Kirk from years earlier, after all, so it makes sense that Kirk would want him back...

I have read a number of stories that do show Scotty was on the Enterprise under Pike before Kirk took command, and I seem to remember it indicated that he and Spock were the only command officers that remained on the Enterprise when Kirk took command.

Yeah... for instance, D.C. Fontana's Vulcan's Glory has Scott (then a lieutenant) serving on Pike's Enterprise way back when Spock first came aboard. That novel has a few continuity issues with Spock's own backstory (notably with spans of years that don't quite add up), but that particular bit works just fine for me, especially given Scott's age compared to the other main crew members.

 

[Daddy Todd]

Back when LGBT people saw zero representation of themselves in fiction as anything but villains or stereotypes, "slash" fanfiction interpretations of heterosexual relationships as romantic were the only way to see themselves reflected in fiction.

This seems to assume that “/“ was written by and for gay men. That is decidedly NOT the case. When I first encountered slash, I found it ludicrous, and, largely, boring. SO much angst to get Kirk & Spock into each others’ arms. It was about as compelling to me, a gay man, as the typical Fabio-on-the-cover bodice ripper. (Which is to say, not at all.)

Slash was written by women, for women. Not by gay men desperate for representation. I didn’t find any solace in someone turning two clearly straight characters into lovers. It just seemed weird.

I recently read an essay by Joanna Russ from about 1985, where she identifies Star Trek slash as the first porn created by women, for women. Russ sees slash as a feminist construct — sisters doin’ it for themselves, more or less. I think she’s right. So, the reason it doesn’t work for me is because it’s not meant for me. I find it a LOT more interesting now, with Russ’ perspective, then I did back then.

 

[Christopher]

Memory Beta attempts to reconcile E-TFA, Strangers from the Sky and later books like My Brother's Keeper by noting he initially accepted Kirk's offer to be CMO but only served about 3 months before he had to take extended leave to care for his father who was dying (being replaced by Dr Piper). Then he went on his first stint to Capella IV, but became weary at their lack of interest in medical care. When Kirk offered him the CMO job again when Dr Piper announced his retirement, he jumped at the chance to return to the Enterprise.

Arrggh, I hate it that Memory Beta distorts the information about the books to pretend they fit together. It's dishonest and wrong for a reference work to present speculation as factual information. MB is a reference source, not fanfiction.

This seems to assume that “/“ was written by and for gay men. That is decidedly NOT the case. When I first encountered slash, I found it ludicrous, and, largely, boring. SO much angst to get Kirk & Spock into each others’ arms. It was about as compelling to me, a gay man, as the typical Fabio-on-the-cover bodice ripper. (Which is to say, not at all.)

Slash was written by women, for women. Not by gay men desperate for representation. I didn’t find any solace in someone turning two clearly straight characters into lovers. It just seemed weird.

Okay, that's fair. I was thinking more of modern slash fiction and shipping, the kind that is done by LGBTQ+ people as a way of compensating for lack of exclusion. My error was in forgetting the difference between that and the first-generation Trek slashfic.

It's just that I never used to understand the need to posit same-sex relationships in characters who didn't really have them, and it was reading an explanation of the modern stuff, the need of marginalized people to imagine themselves represented in fiction, that helped me to understand it. I've read a number of things written by, for instance, gay men saying that choosing to read gay subtext into characters and relationships that weren't intended to have them was the only way to see themselves reflected in what they read and watched. So that's my baseline for understanding it. It was only afterward that I learned that first-generation Trek slash came from a different origin, as fantasy for heterosexual female writers. So I sometimes forget the distinction.

 

[Damian]

I didn’t find any solace in someone turning two clearly straight characters into lovers. It just seemed weird.

I'm not gay, so I can't pretend to say what the motivations for slash fiction were, though like anything it probably varies person to person. But I tend to agree, there was never any indication to me that Kirk and Spock had any sort of romantic interest in one another. I always felt a more familial connection, like brothers. And it sort of goes back to the old why can't two people just be close friends, whether it be a guy and a girl, or guy and guy, etc. without there being some latent sexual attraction. When I read Price of the Phoenix, there was a sense of that romantic attraction that felt uncharacteristic for Spock and Kirk. I expect that to likely be the case with Killing Time, judging from it's history--though in that case I expect it so it won't be a surprise.

In a way I kind of felt that way about Beyond making Sulu gay. I sort of agreed with George Takei on that. They wanted to have a gay character and they picked Sulu, ooh, because Takei is gay (I know it was partly homage, but he said it wasn't necessary). I mean, a gay guy can play a straight character, just like a straight character can play a gay guy. It probably would have been more creative to pick a different character, IMHO. People were expecting Sulu to be the gay character, so if they picked someone else instead I think it would have had more impact.

 

[Damian]

Arrggh, I hate it that Memory Beta distorts the information about the books to pretend they fit together. It's dishonest and wrong for a reference work to present speculation as factual information. MB is a reference source, not fanfiction.

Well to be fair, they basically present the summaries usually in a chronological order. I have seen at times when they acknowledge inconsistencies, like if you read a summary of the missions of the Enterprise-A. There are some things that just don't go together and there are notations about that.

I've never seen them speculate in the sense that they put information in there that was never chronicled in some form (either in book or comic, or some other form). For instance, if you read McCoy's summary, it basically summarizes all the information there is on him from the various sources in chronological order.

In a way I kind of like it because it's a good place to jog my memory, like when I was trying to remember where it was I saw that McCoy joined the Enterprise after Piper retired, or when I was trying to remember the last Vendetta reference I saw.

 

[Christopher]

In a way I kind of felt that way about Beyond making Sulu gay. I sort of agreed with George Takei on that. They wanted to have a gay character and they picked Sulu, ooh, because Takei is gay (I know it was partly homage, but he said it wasn't necessary). I mean, a gay guy can play a straight character, just like a straight character can play a gay guy. It probably would have been more creative to pick a different character, IMHO. People were expecting Sulu to be the gay character, so if they picked someone else instead I think it would have had more impact.

On the other hand, Sulu was the one core TOS character who never really had a romance subplot. Kirk had a ton of them, Spock had Leila and T'Pring and Zarabeth and others, McCoy had Nancy and Tonia and of course his ex-wife, Scotty had Palamas and Romaine, Chekov had Irina, and Uhura was flirting with Spock in the early first season and had been established in a relationship with Spock in the previous two Kelvin movies. But Sulu didn't really have anything, unless you count Mirror Sulu sexually harassing Uhura, and that was technically a different person (plus harassment can be more an exercise in power and domination than an expression of attraction). Sure, he had a daughter, but so do plenty of gay and lesbian couples, through surrogacy, adoption, and the like. So Sulu was the only one who hadn't been unambiguously established as heterosexual, thus it was a logical choice.

 

[Damian]

On the other hand, Sulu was the one core TOS character who never really had a romance subplot. Kirk had a ton of them, Spock had Leila and T'Pring and Zarabeth and others, McCoy had Nancy and Tonia and of course his ex-wife, Scotty had Palamas and Romaine, Chekov had Irina, and Uhura was flirting with Spock in the early first season and had been established in a relationship with Spock in the previous two Kelvin movies. But Sulu didn't really have anything, unless you count Mirror Sulu sexually harassing Uhura, and that was technically a different person (plus harassment can be more an exercise in power and domination than an expression of attraction). Sure, he had a daughter, but so do plenty of gay and lesbian couples, through surrogacy, adoption, and the like. So Sulu was the only one who hadn't been unambiguously established as heterosexual, thus it was a logical choice.

Yeah, I get all that. He's the only one without a lot of history romantically speaking. It just seemed so obvious, Takei's gay so Sulu has to be gay sort of thing.

 

[Daddy Todd]

They wanted to have a gay character and they picked Sulu, ooh, because Takei is gay (I know it was partly homage, but he said it wasn't necessary). I mean, a gay guy can play a straight character, just like a straight character can play a gay guy. It probably would have been more creative to pick a different character, IMHO. People were expecting Sulu to be the gay character, so if they picked someone else instead I think it would have had more impact.

OK, I kind of agree. It did seem too obvious a choice, but they didn’t really have many options. I imagine the process of making Sulu gay went something like this: The writers wanted to have the family of one of the principals on Yorktown to ratchet up the stakes. Then, they probably thought that making it a same-sex couple would be something different (but don’t make it explicit, because the Chinese censors are homophobes, and there was a lot of Chinese money in the budget.) By a process of elimination, they pick Sulu, because every single other character has had a hetero romance in the original series or in the movies. Only the Asian guy never got the girl (some racism right there).

So, their laudable desire for inclusivity gets hammered because the character they chose to depict as gay happened to be played by a gay man in a previous incarnation of the franchise. Some days you just can’t win!

 

[Damian]

OK, I kind of agree. It did seem too obvious a choice, but they didn’t really have many options. I imagine the process of making Sulu gay went something like this: The writers wanted to have the family of one of the principals on Yorktown to ratchet up the stakes. Then, they probably thought that making it a same-sex couple would be something different (but don’t make it explicit, because the Chinese censors are homophobes, and there was a lot of Chinese money in the budget.) By a process of elimination, they pick Sulu, because every single other character has had a hetero romance in the original series or in the movies. Only the Asian guy never got the girl (some racism right there).

So, their laudable desire for inclusivity gets hammered because the character they chose to depict as gay happened to be played by a gay man in a previous incarnation of the franchise. Some days you just can’t win!

Yeah, I know. I get what you and Christopher are saying. In some ways it was no win. If George Takei was a straight guy and one of the other actors was gay it wouldn't have even come up, or if it was Chekov, say, who never got the girl so they made him gay. But it just happened to be that Takei was gay and his character was rarely seen flirting with girls.

I guess what bothered me was the sense that Takei was gay so Sulu had to be gay conclusion. That just because he's gay doesn't mean he couldn't play a straight guy--I guess that's sort of what bothered Takei too.

But I know having another main character be gay would have definitely conflicted with previous canon. The only other option would have been to have a secondary character shown to be gay, but that obviously would have lost it's impact.

BTW, I just hear on the radio that today is George Takei's birthday coincidentally. Happy Birthday

 

[Christopher]

But I know having another main character be gay would have definitely conflicted with previous canon.

Not necessarily, since such things aren't absolute. It's believed that sexual orientation is affected by epigenetic factors during pre-natal development, rather than hard-coded into the genes, so someone could potentially have a different orientation than their alternate-timeline doppelganger as long as they were conceived after the timeline split. Also, such things can be socially influenced as well. I tend to think (and numerous studies have suggested) that most of us have at least some potential for bisexuality, but whether it's cultivated or suppressed depends on the attitudes of society. Our society has traditionally defined heterosexuality as the norm, so most people have been raised to define themselves in that way (though less so in the "Millennial" and younger generations, it seems); conversely, the ancient Greeks and Romans considered it entirely normal and natural for adult men to pursue sexual relationships with younger males. So one society may encourage the expression of attractions that another society discourages, and that can shape how people grow up defining or expressing their sexuality.

Besides, we've seen precedent in Trek before -- the tendency of DS9 to portray the Mirror Universe doppelgangers of heterosexual characters as bisexual. Which played into the unfortunate stereotype of gay/lesbian people being evil, but I tend to imagine that people raised in the Alliance were conditioned to see sex as a power game, a way to dominate and manipulate others or to humiliate and victimize inferiors, so that it was somewhat divorced from actual attraction and sexual preference.

Although I would've been happier if DS9 had had the guts to establish that Kira Prime was just as bisexual as Intendant Kira, say. It would've helped counter the stereotype.

 

[Damian]

Not necessarily, since such things aren't absolute. It's believed that sexual orientation is affected by epigenetic factors during pre-natal development, rather than hard-coded into the genes, so someone could potentially have a different orientation than their alternate-timeline doppelganger as long as they were conceived after the timeline split. Also, such things can be socially influenced as well. I tend to think (and numerous studies have suggested) that most of us have at least some potential for bisexuality, but whether it's cultivated or suppressed depends on the attitudes of society. Our society has traditionally defined heterosexuality as the norm, so most people have been raised to define themselves in that way (though less so in the "Millennial" and younger generations, it seems); conversely, the ancient Greeks and Romans considered it entirely normal and natural for adult men to pursue sexual relationships with younger males. So one society may encourage the expression of attractions that another society discourages, and that can shape how people grow up defining or expressing their sexuality.

Besides, we've seen precedent in Trek before -- the tendency of DS9 to portray the Mirror Universe doppelgangers of heterosexual characters as bisexual. Which played into the unfortunate stereotype of gay/lesbian people being evil, but I tend to imagine that people raised in the Alliance were conditioned to see sex as a power game, a way to dominate and manipulate others or to humiliate and victimize inferiors, so that it was somewhat divorced from actual attraction and sexual preference.

Although I would've been happier if DS9 had had the guts to establish that Kira Prime was just as bisexual as Intendant Kira, say. It would've helped counter the stereotype.

I suppose. I think they had it be Sulu for two reasons. One, an homage to George Takei, and the 2nd like you and Todd noted that he was the only primary character to not already have a significant romantic history with the opposite sex.

DS9 did touch on that a little bit in the episode "Rejoined". I know a lot of people write that off but I think what's significant in that episode is that never once, at any time, was it indicated that it was a problem, issue or unnatural that Dax and Kahn were the same sex and would have a romantic relationship. The issue was always prior hosts becoming involved. And I think in the 90's that was pretty significant. Being gay was clearly indicated not to be an issue in the 24th century for anyone.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

I've also heard that Mike Barr's annual "The Final Voyage" is great.

It is. That's absolutely my prefered version of Kirk's first mission on the Enterprise. I only make a couple of minor adjustments to it in my headcanon.

The only real contenders for the kickoff are Enterprise: The First Adventure, which I strongly dislike and find a poor fit for continuity, and therefore ignore, and "All Those Years Ago" from DC's Star Trek Annual #1, which as far as I'm concerned is a perfectly good version of how it all started.

Agreed. Enterprise: The First Adventure was pretty disappointing, all things considered. The only things I take from it are a couple of subplots or character bits. The overall story.. bleah.

I'm not sure how well it can fit with other Talos IV stories like Burning Dreams, though.

I don't remember any huge contradictions. I went through Burning Dreams pretty extensively trying to make Pike's backstory fit into my chronology. The only huge discrepancies were I had to rationalize that the "York" was a nickname for the Yorktown (to fit in with Pike meeting Number One there in Vulcan's Glory), and combining Josh Pike with the Admiral character seen in Marvel's Early Voyages (I called him Joshua Charles Pike, IIRC).

In the various timeline discussions around here, there seems to be a broad spectrum of approaches, from "if a given story doesn't fit as a whole, it doesn't fit at all; just consider it part of an alternate continuity" at one end (which seems to be your preferred approach; correct me if I'm wrong) to "pick and choose individual scenes and bits of character backstory from any and all sources, regardless of the actual stories they're situated in" at the other extreme.

Yeah, I pretty much subscribe to the second option. It's the salad bar approach to continuity: I take the stuff I like, and I leave the rest of it alone.

It seems to me that it's hard not to. TNG and the later shows fleshed out so much of what had been a pretty vaguely defined universe before. [...] It's like... TOS was a frontier town in a vast uncharted wilderness, while modern Trek is a network of large cities and elaborate infrastructure.

I like this analogy a lot.

For instance, I've mentioned elsewhere that my favorite version of Kirk's Kobayashi Maru test was at least the second distinct version that was written, Kevin Lauderdale's "A Test of Character" from Strange New Worlds. I like the original Julia Ecklar version just fine, but Lauderdale's is more satisfying in some ways -- not as comical, but more thoughtful, and arguably a better fit for Kirk's character (because he doesn't fix the test to guarantee a win, but only to make it a fair challenge).

I really like that idea, and I have to track down the SNW books so I can actually read it.

Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but at times it felt like Marshak and Culbreath were hinting maybe there was more to the Kirk/Spock relationship then just friendship in the novel--but maybe I'm off base.

Nope. Those two were big into the slash fiction. To the point that one of them cornered David Gerrold (a gay man) at a con and began to lecture him about "What you Star Trek writers don't understand is that Kirk wants to be raped by Spock."

Some novels have Gary Mitchell as the first officer, others have Spock always being the first officer since Kirk was made Captain. There's "Enterprise, the First Adventure"--an ok story but I always thought McIntyre forgot to watch "Where No Man Has Gone Before"

Keep in mind that those were written at the dawn of the home video era and the authors didn't necessarily have videotapes of the episodes to consult. They were probably relying on reference books like the Star Trek Compendium or the Concordance. Bonanno has said that she was so poor when she was writing her early Trek books she had to copy passages from the Starfleet Chronology in the bookstore for reference.

Although it was weird as hell that [McIntyre] retconned Janice Rand into a teenager, given that she was more of a contemporary of Kirk and Spock in the actual show.

Which totally screws up the story of "Charlie X," as it makes her a contemporary of Charlie's.

I remember Strangers from the Sky coming out not long after Enterprise: The First Adventure, and it always seemed that Margaret Bonanno Wander tried to fix some of the character issues--I remember specifically her explaining something about Dr. McCoy having to take leave and Dr. Piper temporarily relieved him.

Mike Barr did something similar in "The First Mission." There, McCoy was taking time off for his daughter Joanna's college graduation.

though he made Sulu the astrophysicist

No, Barr had Sulu at the helm with Kelso under Pike's command (sitting in Chekov's seat since the positions were reversed in WNM). When Gary Mitchell comes aboard, he takes over the helm, and we see Sulu standing on the bridge in one panel, looking at the viewscreen, with no clear position on the bridge.

left out Chekov,

Well, Chekov wasn't on the show yet. It'd be stranger to have him there.

I did a little research and it was the 3rd My Brother's Keeper novel (Enterprise). The Enterprise was returning to Earth for Gary Mitchell's funeral and it also featured McCoy's first mission to Capella IV. Memory Beta attempts to reconcile E-TFA, Strangers from the Sky and later books like My Brother's Keeper by noting he initially accepted Kirk's offer to be CMO but only served about 3 months before he had to take extended leave to care for his father who was dying (being replaced by Dr Piper). Then he went on his first stint to Capella IV, but became weary at their lack of interest in medical care. When Kirk offered him the CMO job again when Dr Piper announced his retirement, he jumped at the chance to return to the Enterprise.

I liked the scene of McCoy being frustrated with the Capellans' refusal to use McCoy's services.

I have read a number of stories that do show Scotty was on the Enterprise under Pike before Kirk took command, and I seem to remember it indicated that he and Spock were the only command officers that remained on the Enterprise when Kirk took command.

John Byrne has said that Scotty came in at the tail end of Pike's tenure on the Enterprise (a little over a year, IIRC) in his New Visions series. Which makes sense to me.

D.C. Fontana's Vulcan's Glory has Scott (then a lieutenant) serving on Pike's Enterprise way back when Spock first came aboard. That novel has a few continuity issues with Spock's own backstory (notably with spans of years that don't quite add up), but that particular bit works just fine for me, especially given Scott's age compared to the other main crew members.

I really liked the idea of a young Scotty coming on board the Enterprise with Spock when I first read that novel, but it's tough to reconcile with Scotty's line in TNG's "Relics" about him serving on 11 ships throughout his career. You'd have to have him leaving the Enterprise and then coming back again years later. IIRC, Scotty's subplot of having a secret still to brew engine room hooch didn't really figure into the main plot of Vulcan's Glory and is pretty easily excised. I may be forgetting something, though.

 

[Damian]

Nope. Those two were big into the slash fiction. To the point that one of them cornered David Gerrold (a gay man) at a con and began to lecture him about "What you Star Trek writers don't understand is that Kirk wants to be raped by Spock."

I wasn't aware of their history. I started following Star Trek around 1986. I've gone back to get the earlier books but by the time I started in, Culbreath and Marshak hadn't written a Star Trek book in some time (and I never knew much about them except they were one of the few I noticed that transitioned from Bantam to Pocketbooks in the early years).

Like I said, when I was reading the Phoenix book I thought I noticed a bit of that Spock-Kirk romance feel in it, but I kept talking myself out of it thinking I was reading more into it then was really there. I have to read the follow up to that novel still, so I'll be curious to see if that trend continues there.

As far as Sulu he does say at one point in the briefing room 'If you want the physics of it' then he goes into his if you had a penny and doubling it everyday. Nowadays most writers have him coming aboard as a physicist then moving to the helm when he wanted something more challenging that might some day lead to command. It sort of fits in his general character as he is shown as a character with many varied interests.

Re: Scotty, it's certainly possible he left the Enterprise and came back. Or maybe he jumped around a lot of ships before being assigned to the Enterprise.

 

[Leto_II]

I don't remember any huge contradictions. I went through Burning Dreams pretty extensively trying to make Pike's backstory fit into my chronology. The only huge discrepancies were I had to rationalize that the "York" was a nickname for the Yorktown (to fit in with Pike meeting Number One there in Vulcan's Glory), and combining Josh Pike with the Admiral character seen in Marvel's Early Voyages (I called him Joshua Charles Pike, IIRC).

And Margaret Wander Bonanno even went to the trouble of making numerous direct references to the events of the Marvel Early Voyages comics in Burning Dreams, but then basically presented a completely-new version of Pike's father that's rather distinct from the Marvel version. Like you, I've amalgamated different characteristics from both versions to reconcile things as best I can, though Bonanno's version of Pike's childhood from Dreams is the dominant version of the two overall.

Yeah, I pretty much subscribe to the second option. It's the salad bar approach to continuity: I take the stuff I like, and I leave the rest of it alone.

Yup, same here. This approach lets me cherrypick certain bits from (for example) the Crucible series that I consider as having "happened" in my main continuity, even if other stuff from those books doesn't necessarily jibe with the greater Litverse.