Which character do you think the relaunch novels rehabilitated the most?

[Misco]

This can be for any of the shows/book lines.

Personally, I think one of the least well-served characters on any of the shows was Chakotay; I believe a lot more could have been done with him, which would have benefited not only his character but Janeway as well. Having a strong first officer would have given them a much more interesting command dynamic and done wonders for the show overall. I do think the bare bones of Chakotay's character are there on the screen, at least early on, but he quickly devolves into scenery (for me anyway).

However, Kirsten Beyer really did wonders for his character; I actually got to see the guy who jacked in Starfleet for a cause and he felt real. I could even imagine the Starfleet officer he would have become if not for the Cardassian treaty. I was never all that wild about the Janeway/Chakotay romance (what little there was of it) because I never believed he was interesting or vibrant enough for her, but I can totally get onboard with it in the books. Now this is a remarkable turnaround for a character who I loathed more than any other on Voyager (including Neelix) and now when I watch the show, I can actually enjoy Chakotay.

So my question is, has the treatment of a tv character in the books improved the idea of that character so much that you can now retroactively enjoy them on the show?

 

[Sisko_is_my_captain]

I'm going to go so far as to say it rehabilitated the character, but neelix really impressed me in one of the Invasion! series books. Mainly the scene in which he had been imprisoned, and he had a handful of extra communicators in his shoe. He pointed out that they were extremely useful and they always seem to be stolen when people were captured.

 

[Kilana2]

For me it is definitely Ro Laren. From Maquis defector to Captain of DS9. Will Riker was never a Ro fan and Admiral Akaar mistrusted her even more. She was supported by Picard though. She even survived Taran'atar's attack and received more development than in her TNG appearances.

 

[marlboro]

Dax would be my pick. I didn't dislike Jadzia or Ezri on tv, I just think that it is virtually impossible for an actor to do a character that complex justice. On the printed page you are able to delve into the character's mind which is essential when you have someone who has the life experiences of over a half dozen beings.

Troi is also (sometimes) better in the books. I think the idea of having her be a first contact specialist has improved her. Some writers still have her fall back into "I sense something obvious!" mode, but not as much as on tv. I can't necessarily fault the writers because that was very much in character for 7 years.

Bashir. I still miss the old " doctor" Bashir, but the "spy" version that debuted later in the tv series run has been fleshed out better in the books.

Kira is even better in the books than in the show.

All of the Mirror Universe characters are greatly improved. Not just campy caricatures.

Slightly off-topic:

Hand to hand combat scenes are much more believable in the books. You have to suspend disbelief on the old shows when you see doughy middle aged guys and petit women beating the crap out of Klingon warriors.

Technobabble is very hard to pull off in books. I don't know what kind of wizardry Trek actors utilize to make that gibberish sound believable, but it's almost impossible to pull off in a book.

 

[marlboro]

I'm going to go so far as to say it rehabilitated the character, but neelix really impressed me in one of the Invasion! series books. Mainly the scene in which he had been imprisoned, and he had a handful of extra communicators in his shoe. He pointed out that they were extremely useful and they always seem to be stolen when people were captured.

In the Voyager pilot, there seemed to be some hints that Neelixx was going to sort of a semi-trustworthy rogue who would be valuable to the crew due to his savoir-faire. I wish they had stuck to that characterization.


Another rehabilitated character: Travis Mayweather. He actually does things in the novelverse.

 

[USS Firefly]

Kira is even better in the books than in the movies.

In which movie was she in?
I liked her character untill she became a Vedek

 

[Damian]

This is more a rehabilitated storyline but I like what they did with Trip in the Enterprise novels, and how they 'fixed' TATV (at least fixed IMO). They didn't technically retcon it, since Riker and Troi did view what they did on the holodeck (in a way, by TATV being a holodeck episode, it allowed the novels to revise the story). It was also interesting to see Reed gain a love interest for a change, and in a way that's consistent I thought with his character. How Shran and Archer's relationship developed was interesting too.

In general I find characters are generally more fleshed out in books just because they are books and can spend a little time giving that sort of background.

 

[Damian]

In which movie was she in?
I liked her character untill she became a Vedek

From other discussions I'm probably in the minority, but Kira becoming a Vedek made perfect sense to me. As time went on in the novels her goal was to facilitate Bajor's admission into the Federation. Once that was completed I felt that part of her character had completed it's course. Sure she could have stayed on in Starfleet, but for what purpose. I think at that point she would hit a dead end. She was not an explorer, not interested in serving on a starship, certainly not interested in any sort of promotions. Bajor was her home. My guess is she felt her purpose there was served and it was time to move on.

Her faith was always very important to Kira. She wasn't a religious fundamentalist as we understand it, but her faith I thought even during the TV series was an important part of who she was. But there were a number of times during the show when she feared she fell short of the Prophets expectations, almost like she didn't measure up despite her strong faith. To me it made sense that becoming a Vedek would complete her in her mind. That she could strengthen that part of her being that she felt might be lacking.

For me it seemed perfectly natural that once Bajor joined the Federation, she would decide to explore that part of who she was.

 

[marlboro]

In which movie was she in?
I liked her character untill she became a Vedek

All of them. Those Bajoran terrorists are really good at blending in, so I'm not surprised to hear that you may have overlooked her.

 

[JD]

I don't know if they were necessarily rehabilitated, but I've loved the way the books have taken one off or minor recurring characters like Shelby, Gomez, Klag, or Melora Pazlar and really fleshed out and developed them.

 

[Reanok]

I agree with Damian I liked what the The Good that men do and the way the story fixed the mess that is Tatv. I liked what was done with Trip's character. I recently finished reading Enterprise Patterns of Interference by Christopher Bennett. And I hope someday we'll find out what happens with Trip's continuing story arc after the ending of this book. I'd be really sorry if there were no more Enterprise books to come out for a along time. Since there has not been any news about future Rise of the Federation books I'm just curious why there hasn't been any news about them.

 

[Damian]

I agree with Damian I liked what the The Good that men do and the way the story fixed the mess that is Tatv. I liked what was done with Trip's character. I recently finished raeding Enterprise Patterns of Interference. And I hope someday we'll find what happens with Trip's story arc after the ending of this book. I'd be really sorry if there were no more Enterprise books to come out for a along time. Since there has been any news about future Rise of the Federation books I'm just curious why there hasn't been any news about them.

Sadly I have a bad feeling there may not be any more Enterprise books. With future books apparently being all Trades I'm not sure there is enough of a market to support $16 Enterprise books. And I think S&S is going to shift their focus more on books supporting the current TV series and of course there will always be original series books.

That's just my gut feeling and I'd love to be wrong. But it's a suspicion I have.

 

[Kilana2]

Ezri became more depth although her change to the command track needed some getting used to. Alas, her love life suffered from her job as Captain of the Aventine.

Harry Kim was finally promoted. His role became more important since he became involved with Conlon and stepped in for Paris in the Voyager Relaunch novels.

 

[USS Firefly]

And I think S&S is going to shift their focus more on books supporting the current TV series and of course there will always be original series books.

I hope not.
I am not going to buy books from the DISCO crew/timeline.

 

[David cgc]

In the Voyager pilot, there seemed to be some hints that Neelixx was going to sort of a semi-trustworthy rogue who would be valuable to the crew due to his savoir-faire. I wish they had stuck to that characterization.

Neelix's crafty streak was really underused in the show. One of the only examples I can think of is when he fast-talked Voyager into that Kazon training camp in the episode where Chakotay was trapped with the Kazon kid who totally wasn't Nog.

Speaking of the novels taking the more effective, but underutilized, characterizations from the original show, Pulaski has been nicely polished up in Una McCormack's recent novels, being more lovably gruff and less of a bullying asshole than she tended to be on-screen.

 

[Damian]

I hope not.
I am not going to buy books from the DISCO crew/timeline.

I will say the Discovery novels have been pretty good, esp. the 2nd one (Drastic Measures I think it was called about Kodos the Executioner). I haven't watched the show because I'm too lazy and cheap to go to the trouble of getting CBS All Access (I'm a dinosaur and still have cable) and I didn't find myself at a disadvantage for not seeing the show.

So far I've enjoyed all 3 of the Discovery novels that have been released thus far.

But I'd like to think there's enough room to still have books based on DS9, Voyager and Enterprise, even if it were just one a year for each show. I'm just not sure at a $16 price tag it would generate enough interest to make them feel it's worth it. An $8 or $9 MMPB, I think that would fly, but $16, probably not I'm sorry to say.

 

[Alwaystrekkin]

Well Quark wasn't a favorite of mine during DS9's TV run, but in the newer novels I actually much of the time kinda enjoy him. And Bashir has improved in some ways too, less annoying for me. And BTW, I thought Chakotay was pretty interesting on TV, but for awhile in certain "relaunch" Trek books his character seemed rather weakened, though in the more recent VOY books he's like his old confident self, thankfully.

 

[Kilana2]

Well Quark wasn't a favorite of mine during DS9's TV run, but in the newer novels I actually most of the time kinda enjoy him. And Bashir has improved in some ways too, less annoying for me. And BTW, I thought Chakotay was pretty interesting on TV, but for while in certain "relaunch" Trek books his character seemed rather weakened, though in the more recent VOY books he's like his old confident self, thankfully.

I guess it was during the time when Chakotay thought he has lost Kathryn Janeway and suffered. During that time he was insufferable. But I guess he had to go through this, at least it was credible.

 

[Alwaystrekkin]

I guess it was during the time when Chakotay thought he has lost Kathryn Janeway and suffered. During that time he was insufferable. But I guess he had to go through this, at least it was credible.

Oh yes, naturally that was a tough time for him, with the Borg invasion happening too, but I disliked him being portrayed as a kind of out of control, drunken, prone to it seems extreme traumatization and at times wildly overwrought behavior. It's a wonder Starfleet took him back after he tried to resign. JMO.

 

[Kilana2]

Oh yes, naturally that was a tough time for him, with the Borg invasion happening too, but I disliked him being portrayed as a kind of out of control, drunken, prone to it seems extreme traumatization and at times wildly overwrought behavior. It's a wonder Starfleet took him back after he tried to resign. JMO.

Let's just say that I'm happy he is back to his former self - thanks to Kathryn's wondrous resurrection. And Chakotay had a long and intensive evaluation. It is not as if Starfleet has a great many experienced officers to chose from, especially after the Borg invasion. They did their best to heal affected personal. Many of the young and fresh ones aren't yet up to the task of commanding ships. They need time to learn. What happens to the young who overestimate their abilities we have seen in the Red Squad episode.