Well, Gold Key at least had funky visuals.
Frankly, I loved some of the cover art on Bantam’s Star Trek titles. Pity about some of the actual books.
Spoilers TOS: The Captain's Oath by Christopher L. Bennett Review Thread
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Frankly, I loved some of the cover art on Bantam’s Star Trek titles. Pity about some of the actual books.
Just finished up "The Captain's Oath" and I rated it above average. It's not your typical book with a single narrative (or the occasional book that might have 2 overlapping plot threads). This is almost what I'd call an anthology, but with the common thread of giving us some insight into James T. Kirk as a captain. Sometimes there's a danger when an author tries to carry on too many storylines that some things may be lost in the story they hope to tell. I did not notice any issues with that here. Christopher handled the various storylines pretty well, giving each adequate attention and bringing each to a satisfying conclusion. My main criticism isn't related to the stories, but to the jumping back and forth through time. Sometimes that led to a bit of confusion as I had to recall things that were going on at a particular time frame when we'd return to it.
My favorite storylines had to do with the Agni, a species that resides in an N-Class environment (also known as Demon class--as noted in Voyager) that the Sacagawea encountered, and the Aulacri storyline that the Enterprise encountered.
It is clear in the book that Christopher does not view Captain Kirk as a maverick, cowboy style captain in his early days. He drives that point home in the novel a couple of times. This is not the Admiral Kirk we saw in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. This is a captain who views rules and regulations as very important. Yet he does have a gift of knowing how to interpret the rules. He doesn't break the rules, but he may bend the letter of the rules if he feels he needs to respect the spirit of the rules. That is what makes Kirk not just a good, competent captain, but a great captain, and one day legendary. A gift of looking at the meaning and intent of the rules and regulations. As time goes on he becomes even more adept at that skill.
I noted earlier in the thread that I was initially doing a compare/contrast with "Enterprise: The First Adventure", since that book also features Kirk taking command of the Enterprise. However both are very different novels. I see very little in common between the two, other that Kirk had wanted Mitchell to be his first officer and Pike had used his leverage to have Spock become first officer (which has been noted in other stories as well) and a few very minor points that aren't even worth mentioning. The only other possible similarity was in E: TFA Scotty believes Kirk to be basically an untested captain and not worthy of the Enterprise. In TCO it's Kelso who sort of takes that role on, though not as overtly. He is not sure Kirk is worthy of the Enterprise. It's interesting to note that Christopher has Kelso as a holdover from Pike's command (though for just a few months) similar to Piper being a holdover as well. I always wondered about Piper (even creating a poll about it at one point), but I have to admit I never gave much thought to whether Kelso and others on WNMHGB might have been holdovers as well.
I did find some common elements with the earlier "My Brother's Keeper" trilogy which I read about a year or so ago. Not as far as plot points, but in how Michael Jan Friedman and Christopher viewed Kirk's early history. That Kirk was not the maverick in his early days that he is sometimes made out to be. Kirk is very committed to the rules and regulations and Mitchell is the one trying to get him to relax more in both works (though MBK, by it's focus, gives more equal time to Kirk and Mitchell). I would say the first two MBK novels could conceivably fit to a general extent with Christopher's story (not in every detail, but Friedman gives some information in Kirk's pre-command career which I enjoyed and Christopher gives information about Kirk's early command which was equally enjoyable). The 3rd MBK novel however does not fit all that well, storywise or continuity wise.
But overall I enjoyed the book. It was nice to see stories of Kirks first command. I admit I sort of just thought the Enterprise was his first command for a long time. I didn't take issue with it when I heard Christopher was writing about it...I just never gave it a lot of thought. But even E:TFA had Kirk in command of a prior vessel before the Enterprise (though at the rank of Commander officially). Christopher does have the common refrain that Kirk is the youngest person to make Captain in Starfleet up to that point, it just was of another ship. And maybe a bit of a nod for doubters does have Kirk being the youngest person to be given command of a Constitution-class starship at that point. It was also nice to see a new story of Kirk taking command of the Enterprise. For years novels have flirted with him taking command but never really touched it, leaving E:TFA as a story of the first mission of the Enterprise....until now. It's nice to see a novel more consistent with WNMHGB.
My favorite storylines had to do with the Agni, a species that resides in an N-Class environment (also known as Demon class--as noted in Voyager) that the Sacagawea encountered, and the Aulacri storyline that the Enterprise encountered.
It is clear in the book that Christopher does not view Captain Kirk as a maverick, cowboy style captain in his early days. He drives that point home in the novel a couple of times. This is not the Admiral Kirk we saw in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. This is a captain who views rules and regulations as very important. Yet he does have a gift of knowing how to interpret the rules. He doesn't break the rules, but he may bend the letter of the rules if he feels he needs to respect the spirit of the rules. That is what makes Kirk not just a good, competent captain, but a great captain, and one day legendary. A gift of looking at the meaning and intent of the rules and regulations. As time goes on he becomes even more adept at that skill.
I noted earlier in the thread that I was initially doing a compare/contrast with "Enterprise: The First Adventure", since that book also features Kirk taking command of the Enterprise. However both are very different novels. I see very little in common between the two, other that Kirk had wanted Mitchell to be his first officer and Pike had used his leverage to have Spock become first officer (which has been noted in other stories as well) and a few very minor points that aren't even worth mentioning. The only other possible similarity was in E: TFA Scotty believes Kirk to be basically an untested captain and not worthy of the Enterprise. In TCO it's Kelso who sort of takes that role on, though not as overtly. He is not sure Kirk is worthy of the Enterprise. It's interesting to note that Christopher has Kelso as a holdover from Pike's command (though for just a few months) similar to Piper being a holdover as well. I always wondered about Piper (even creating a poll about it at one point), but I have to admit I never gave much thought to whether Kelso and others on WNMHGB might have been holdovers as well.
I did find some common elements with the earlier "My Brother's Keeper" trilogy which I read about a year or so ago. Not as far as plot points, but in how Michael Jan Friedman and Christopher viewed Kirk's early history. That Kirk was not the maverick in his early days that he is sometimes made out to be. Kirk is very committed to the rules and regulations and Mitchell is the one trying to get him to relax more in both works (though MBK, by it's focus, gives more equal time to Kirk and Mitchell). I would say the first two MBK novels could conceivably fit to a general extent with Christopher's story (not in every detail, but Friedman gives some information in Kirk's pre-command career which I enjoyed and Christopher gives information about Kirk's early command which was equally enjoyable). The 3rd MBK novel however does not fit all that well, storywise or continuity wise.
But overall I enjoyed the book. It was nice to see stories of Kirks first command. I admit I sort of just thought the Enterprise was his first command for a long time. I didn't take issue with it when I heard Christopher was writing about it...I just never gave it a lot of thought. But even E:TFA had Kirk in command of a prior vessel before the Enterprise (though at the rank of Commander officially). Christopher does have the common refrain that Kirk is the youngest person to make Captain in Starfleet up to that point, it just was of another ship. And maybe a bit of a nod for doubters does have Kirk being the youngest person to be given command of a Constitution-class starship at that point. It was also nice to see a new story of Kirk taking command of the Enterprise. For years novels have flirted with him taking command but never really touched it, leaving E:TFA as a story of the first mission of the Enterprise....until now. It's nice to see a novel more consistent with WNMHGB.
I think it would be more a picaresque (a novel following its characters through a series of episodic adventures or wanderings) or a Bildungsroman (a novel about the experiences that shape who a person becomes).
Yeah, I was afraid the nonlinear structure in the early chapters might be too confusing.
No, that's different. N-Class is like Venus, so it's an environment based in real astrophysics. "Demon" planets were said to be Y-Class, and they're completely imaginary, from one of the most stupid and nonsensical episodes in the franchise, and thus are one of the last things I would be likely to reference in one of my novels.
It seemed reasonable to me that a lot of the crew would be holdovers, since the changeover is generally portrayed as happening mid-mission rather than with a significant amount of refit time between Pike's and Kirk's tenures (I think Goodman's Autobiography is the exception to this). Besides, I wanted to imply that most of Pike's "Cage"-era crew had moved on by then, making it part of the reason Pike was ready to move on as well.
Don't mince words, Mr. Bennett; what do you really think?
Seriously, I hear you on that one. The whole "Demon"/"Course: Oblivion" story arc tends to leave one wondering how many of the intervening episodes were really about the adventures of the "silver blood" Voyager.
Seriously, I hear you on that one. The whole "Demon"/"Course: Oblivion" story arc tends to leave one wondering how many of the intervening episodes were really about the adventures of the "silver blood" Voyager.
Despite my hatred for "Demon," I actually kind of like "Course: Oblivion" in a weird way, since it's so clearly one of those episodes (like "Year of Hell") where the writers were taking advantage of the alternate-reality nature of the situation to explore the kind of meaningful changes in the crew's lives that they wanted to do with the real crew but weren't allowed to do because of the mandate to keep the show episodic.
It’s simple. The episodes you didn’t like were the “silver-blood” crew.The whole "Demon"/"Course: Oblivion" story arc tends to leave one wondering how many of the intervening episodes were really about the adventures of the "silver blood" Voyager.
I don't why people would think it was a made-up "Demon Class" planet when I came out and explicitly said that it was a Venus-type planet. I just checked -- I mentioned Venus by name four times in the story proper and three more in the acknowledgments.
Yeah, that's probably a better way of putting it. At first I wasn't sure if I'd like a novel that didn't have a single storyline (or dual storylines that episodes sometimes have). But I thought it worked here and the book accomplished I think what you set out to do.
Oops. If I recall something was mentioned about Klingons referring to these planets as demon planets. I assumed it was a reference to Voyager, I forgot about Y-class. And the description of the planet reminded me of a Y-class planet. I liked the alienness of the Agni though.
I didn't mind "Demon" too much, though it wasn't a favorite of mine by any means. I did like "Course: Oblivion" too. But I agree with thribs it did end on a very depressing note. It would have been nice if at least their logs survived so their story could live on, even if the crew perished. It's very sad that not only did they die, but everything about them is gone forever. I don't mind the occasional tragic story, but it would have been nice if their history lived on.
Yeah, I liked that angle. Assuming "The Menagerie" is about a year or so after Kirk takes command, "The Cage" was probably about 10 years or so prior to Kirk taking command. It's probably reasonable that much of the command crew from "The Cage" had moved on, which they had save for Spock.
Plus, in story, it seems reasonable that a more significant refit occurred between WNMHGB and The Corbomite Maneuver. That's something I also liked about My Brother's Keeper--the Enterprise was on it's way for a refit and crew replacements...all in preparation to begin the 5 year mission. It's one reason I like to think of WNMHGB as being pre-5YM, it allows for a ship refit and some of the crew changes. I noticed your novel hinted at that just a bit, with the mission to the galaxies edge being strongly implied to be pre-5YM. MBK was more direct about it but I seem to remember you saying something about the editor/publisher asking you to be more, er, low-key about it.
No, they referred to the as-yet-unnamed aliens as demons, before it was discovered what class of planet they came from. I wasn't referencing Voyager; that show didn't invent the word "demon." I intended it to make the aliens seem scary and ominous and to build suspense.
It's infuriatingly stupid. It was supposed to be based on a dilithium shortage, but the producers arbitrarily changed "dilithium" to "deuterium" because they liked the pun on "running out of gas," creating the idiotic premise that deuterium -- an isotope of hydrogen, the most common element in the universe by far -- could be rare and hard to find. Also that deuterium could only be found on superhot planets, which is equally idiotic, because an element that light would outgas into space from a superhot planet (Venus has almost no hydrogen). There's also the self-contradictory plot point that Paris and Kim collapse because the corrosive atmosphere breaches their suit seals, then they're left lying there for hours while the crew deals with their duplicates, and then they're found alive and unconscious, even though they should've long since died from the lack of oxygen and the corrosive atmosphere eating away at them. It just makes no damn sense.
That's correct. I'm glad the intended implication got through nonetheless.
I just thought Venus was a Demon Class planet. It is pretty nasty down there.
Ok. I was thinking maybe it was the Klingons that came up with the idea of calling those types of planets demon-class but I mixed up the aliens with their habitat.
Yeah, I admit that part of the episode was a bit confusing. Class-Y is sooooo dangerous, yet there's Kim and Paris with breached suits and they're fine (well, a little ill but ok).
Like I said, it's not a 'go-to' episode of Voyager for me. There are better episodes for sure. But I'll watch it when doing a series rewatch. Some of the drama is ok--and the mystery of why 'Kim' and 'Paris' now can only survive in a class-Y environment. I'm a bit more forgiving when they take liberties with the science because overall Star Trek is usually pretty intelligent. With a show with as many episodes as Star Trek, they'll have some clunkers now and again.
I do wonder about why they wanted that kept vague. Well, in any event the intent was clear I think, while leaving some wiggle room for those who have a different interpretation.
Yeah, I noticed that as well. I imagine that was probably a little nod to Star Trek (2009) and gave an explanation on how the planet Spock was marooned on could also be called Delta Vega.
On another note that I didn't mention in my final review I know some people were trying to view this book through a Discovery lens to some extent. I found it easier to view it through a WNMHGB era lens. I haven't seen season 2 of Discovery so I don't know that Pike well. I found myself thinking of Hunter's Pike mostly, though occasionally I envisioned Greenwood's Pike just a little bit. Spock was always Nimoy-Spock for me, and Kirk was Shatner-Kirk. It would be hard to picture Pine's Kirk in this novel as Pine's Kirk was not nearly as disciplined and concerned about regulations as Shatner's Kirk was in season 1.
John Byrne also very recently dealt with Lee Kelso being a holdover from Pike's crew in at least two stories from his Star Trek: New Visions photocomic series ("A Scent of Ghosts" and "The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner," both set shortly prior to the command-handover between Pike and Kirk).
Actually, its WNMHGB which canonically established that Kirk had commanded at least one other starship prior to the Enterprise:
Interestingly (and, as Christopher notes in his online annotations), this line of dialogue from the episode doesn't necessarily preclude Captain Kirk from also ever having had a second command between his "first" command and the Enterprise herself, but CBS basically decided that the U.S.S. Sacagawea would be the big one (notwithstanding the few months he commands the U.S.S. Somerville in the novel during the Sacagawea's drydock repair-time).
Yeah, I know the line. I just sort of assumed the Enterprise was his first command. But I can easily see it otherwise. And obviously it was noted in "The Making of Star Trek" (though I only just read that for the first time a few months ago) and some other novels and works noted a previous command (with different ship names).
It's just previously I wasn't aware he commanded another ship and just interpreted Dehner's comment a bit differently.
Just to avoid confusing people who assumed WNMHGB was part of the 5-year mission.
Yes -- it was an explanation I originally wrote for my cancelled Kelvin novel Seek a Newer World. I recycled much of that novel in The Face of the Unknown, but there were a few leftover bits I managed to work in here as well (including the Kirk-Grnar confrontation reprinted on the teaser page at the front of the book).
Although I ended up splitting the Sac's mission and crew composition into two separate phases that correspond to what I was going to do with two separate ships anyway, so it was basically a cosmetic difference.
Also, Kirk didn't command the Somerville in the interim; he commanded the Starfleet archaeological mission in the Vega system, a ground posting, and the Somerville was one of the ships available for its use.
It is the world's slightest reference, but McCoy calls Jocelyn "honey" in ch. 14 of A Choice of Catastrophes in a salute to Planet of Judgement.
I believe the intent was that all the episodes are the real Voyager and only Course: Oblivion is the Silver Blood one, as indeed in the episode the Silver Blood review their missions since the episode Demon and none of them seem to be any the real Voyager were on. Also, IIRC there's a reference early on in the episode to there being several children on Voyager. Even if one were inclined to squint and try to claim one of the episodes between Demon and Course: Oblivion were indeed the Silver Blood crew, then it should be noted Tom Paris was demoted to Ensign in Thirty Days, but Silver Blood Tom is still a Lieutenant in Course: Oblivion, meaning all episodes between the two have to be the real Voyager.The whole "Demon"/"Course: Oblivion" story arc tends to leave one wondering how many of the intervening episodes were really about the adventures of the "silver blood" Voyager.
That did become rather amusingly glaring in season 7's The Void where the aliens steal Voyager supply of deuterium, much to the confusion of the crew about "why would anyone steal deuterium? You can find it anywhere."
Yes, indeed. "Course: Oblivion" makes a point of establishing such odd inconsistencies between its version of the crew and the version we've seen in other episodes, which are hints that this isn't the same crew we know.
Just finished the book, I rather enjoyed it.
I was glad to see the brief mention of Archer called into doubt his decision making process. I do consider him to be a flawed Captain.
I'm also wondering about Captain Tracey. He is portrayed unsympathetically, which is to be expected, However I wonder what his good points as a Captain were? He must have some talents to be command of a Constitution class starship?
Also he shares some similarity with Garth, a formerly respected Captain gone bad. He was probably court -martialed or placed in psychiatric care. wonder what his fate was after that though? May he have been rehabilitated?
Oh and aren't Kirk and Tracey technically the same rank? I know that Tracey is the senior Captain and Kirk would be expected to defer to him. I'm not too sure about the 'Sir' part though. Tracey treated him like a much lower rank and Kirk seemed too subserviant.
I was glad to see the brief mention of Archer called into doubt his decision making process. I do consider him to be a flawed Captain.
I'm also wondering about Captain Tracey. He is portrayed unsympathetically, which is to be expected, However I wonder what his good points as a Captain were? He must have some talents to be command of a Constitution class starship?
Also he shares some similarity with Garth, a formerly respected Captain gone bad. He was probably court -martialed or placed in psychiatric care. wonder what his fate was after that though? May he have been rehabilitated?
Oh and aren't Kirk and Tracey technically the same rank? I know that Tracey is the senior Captain and Kirk would be expected to defer to him. I'm not too sure about the 'Sir' part though. Tracey treated him like a much lower rank and Kirk seemed too subserviant.
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