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Spoilers Could the Kelvinverse become a home for a new Relaunch style ongoing story?

JD

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I've been thinking over the last few days, with Picard and Lower Decks probably bringing an end to the Novelverse as we currently know it, and most of the books tying into Discovery and possibly Picard being stand alone prequels, maybe the Kelvinverse would be a good place for the kind of big ongoing stories we've been getting in the DS9, TNG, and Voyager Relauches. It's pretty open with only three movies, with years in between them, so there's plenty of space for big stories. The big question with this would be Quentin Taratino's movie, but based on his comments it might not be entirely clear yet which universe it will take place if/when it happens. At one point he talked about how much he liked Chris Pine's Kirk, but then he also said that the original series is going to have happened and he brought up William Shatner at one point.
 
That sounds like an exciting possibly! It would be great to see where they could take those characters based on how the movies define them. I think for my part I would like to see two tracks: stories on board the first Enterprise between the movies, and stories after Beyond set on the second Enterprise where there is an ongoing continuity the builds from story to story. Maybe once in a while a story structured like Peter David's The Rift, partly in the early timeframe and mainly in the current ongoing timeframe.
 
I think that could only happen if Paramount flat-out said there were going to be no more Kelvinverse movies*. As long as the state of a Start Trek 4 is "maybe", it won't happen.

[*Note: This doesn't mean that there could never, ever be a Kelvinverse movie after such a statement, just that the book would be closed by the people then-currently in charge.]
 
I think that could only happen if Paramount flat-out said there were going to be no more Kelvinverse movies*. As long as the state of a Start Trek 4 is "maybe", it won't happen.

Whyever not? As I said in the other thread, there's plenty of room to fit books in between the existing movies -- a year between the first and second films and three years between the second and third.


[*Note: This doesn't mean that there could never, ever be a Kelvinverse movie after such a statement, just that the book would be closed by the people then-currently in charge.]

As I've said many times before, the reason the four Kelvin novels were cancelled a decade ago had absolutely nothing to do with their content or any risk of conflict with later movies. There have been literally hundreds of Trek books and comics that were published in ongoing series without any concern about possible future contradictions. The Kelvin books were cancelled because of behind-the-scenes issues involving overall company strategies and priorities and unrelated to the specific contents of the books. And those issues evidently no longer apply, since two of the books are now coming out.
 
While SJ Clarkson's ST4 starting Chris Pine and Chris Hemsworth is dead, there's still a chance Quentin Tarantino's movie may happen, which is rumoured to feature Chris Pine (alongside William Shatner and Patrick Stewart, if the craziest rumours are to be believed). I'm guessing they'd wait until that project either comes to fruition or gets officially shelved before beginning a big ongoing storyline set post-Beyond? Otherwise they risk Starfleet: Year One-ing it immediately out of the gate.

They've got about 4 years total to squeeze stories into, with 6 months to a year between ST'09 and ID (with the limitation that Kirk can't lose any crew in that time, as per his conversation with Pike in ID) and then 3 years of TOSish "episodic" adventures between ID and STB.
 
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Three or four years should be plenty of room for many adventures. Have you seen how many novels and comics are set during the famous five year mission? It's an endless 5YM, it just goes on and on!

I'll bet it would be possible to have some interesting stories within the one-year time jump inside Star Trek Into Darkness, too. Maybe a novel that does what the third Jason Bourne movie did inside of the second Jason Bourne movie. Or alternatively a couple of adventures with the recovery efforts in the background. Like the Lost Years novel, a couple novels set inside of that one lost year.
 
I would be more interested in novels between ''TFF'' and ''TUC'' with a more matured crew
This, times 1,000. Would love to see more novels featuring the more mature movie-era TOS crew, especially after the events of the Genesis-trilogy. Also, expand that timeframe slightly to just after the ending of The Voyage Home (John Jackson Miller's Prey: Hell's Heart partially took place just a few months post-TVH, to give a fairly-recent example).
 
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This, times 1,000. Would love to see more novels featuring the more mature movie-era TOS crew. Also, expand that timeframe slightly to just after the ending of The Voyage Home (John Jackson Miller's Prey: Hell's Heart partially took place just a few months post-TVH, to give a fairly-recent example).

Yes! I loved that part of Prey. I would aggressively buy movie-era TOS books, especially if they are part of an ongoing narrative.
 
The Kelvin books were cancelled because of behind-the-scenes issues involving overall company strategies and priorities and unrelated to the specific contents of the books. And those issues evidently no longer apply, since two of the books are now coming out

I thought I read somewhere once from one of the PTB's that they were concerned about the future movie's content though. I wish I could remember where I saw that. But I remember reading something, I believe on trekmovie.com around the time they were pulled, that they were in the midst of writing the next movie (STID I believe) and they wanted to see what that movie included before releasing the books. Now, I know that never mattered before but that doesn't mean it couldn't come up as an issue at some point. It was a different regime after all. In fact, I thought I saw that it was Bad Robot or someone with the production company that asked for them to be pulled. NOW, I'll grant that perhaps where I read that and the sources it came from was incorrect, or misinterpreted something. But I don't think this was just blind fan speculation. I think it was based on some article or interview around that time (even if that was incorrect info).

But I've also heard it had some licensing/legal issues with Bad Robot also? I mean, you'd think that wouldn't be an issue, but I suppose something could have come up after the books were commissioned. I mean, no one's perfect and maybe someone forgot to cross a t or something. Didn't that have to be resolved with the most recent S&S contract in fact?

Three or four years should be plenty of room for many adventures. Have you seen how many novels and comics are set during the famous five year mission? It's an endless 5YM, it just goes on and on!

Ha-ha, so true. Among just the novels there are probably enough 5 YM stories to fit a 50 Year Mission.

I would be more interested in novels between ''TFF'' and ''TUC'' with a more matured crew

Yeah, that's a constant gripe, er, request of mine. While the comic books have explored this era a great deal, there are only a handful of novels that take place during this period. I'd love to see some pre-Sulu leaving for the Excelsior and some post-Sulu leaving for the Excelsior stories (if you use Forged in Fire he left the Enterprise late 2289).

I was really excited when Greg Cox's "Foul Deeds Will Rise" novel came out since it took place during that period. It sounds like the authors prefer 5YM stories though, and only write a movie era book when the story they want to tell makes more sense in that time period. I think Greg Cox mentioned once one reason FDWR took place after TFF was because of the age he needed Lenore Karidian to be. There was an E-book that took place in that period as well---"Miasma" I believe.

Personally I love 'lost era' type books, both the literal series and just uncovered eras in Star Trek history in general. Another series I'd love to see continued would the the "Stargazer" series. There is what, over 20 years between "Maker" the last Stargazer book to date and Christopher's "The Buried Age" which takes place after the loss of the Stargazer. I'd love to see someone pick up on that. We never even got to really see Jack Crusher in the novels in any Stargazer books. He had not yet joined the ship when the last book was written and he was dead before the loss of the Stargazer. Esp. with the new Picard show coming out it would be interesting to see more about Picard's early career and life.
 
I've always been a little shocked we haven't gotten more books with Jack Crusher. He's such a big part of Picard's and the Crushers' backstories that you would think there would be more interest in him than there appears to have been.

Three or four years should be plenty of room for many adventures. Have you seen how many novels and comics are set during the famous five year mission? It's an endless 5YM, it just goes on and on!
There was also the 2376-77 time frame, which features most of the early DS9 Relaunch, a lot of SCE/Corps of Engineers, IKS Gorkon, and a several TNG books. If things are put fairly close together they could get quite a few stories in the one year and/or three year gaps.
They could also do what the comics did and do at least a few books between the Enterprise crew getting home, and setting out on their Enterprise-A. The comics had at least one or two stories arcs in that period with the characters all spread out on different assignments for a while, before coming back together once the A was ready to go.
 
I've always been a little shocked we haven't gotten more books with Jack Crusher. He's such a big part of Picard's and the Crushers' backstories that you would think there would be more interest in him than there appears to have been.

Yeah. I don't know exactly when he came on the Stargazer and how many years he served until he died but there probably are a lot of stories in that time period. And when you think about it Picard was captain of the Stargazer for a long time, 20+ years going by the novels. With the new Picard show it'd be nice to see someone fill in some of the gap between "Maker" and "The Buried Age". As Michael Jan Friedman seems to have moved on from the world of writing Star Trek novels (I'm not sure if that's by choice or not) it would fall unto one of the other authors to pick up where Friedman left off I guess, and of course for S&S to WANT to put out a Stargazer novel, two big ifs.

Christopher did a good job with "The Buried Age" (though not officially a Stargazer novel) so I nominate him :rommie:. And while his "Captain's Oath" is not totally consistent with Friedman's "My Brother's Keeper" from a story standpoint, they both had a similar, er, interpretation I guess you'd call it about Kirk's earlier career (to the point I can almost see them in the same narrative universe--at least where they aren't directly inconsistent), I think he would be a good choice to continue the story Friedman started. ;) But any author will do. :hugegrin:
 
Not that my nomination holds any weight whatsoever. Like future DS9, Enterprise and New Frontier novels, more just blind hope :beer:
 
I thought I read somewhere once from one of the PTB's that they were concerned about the future movie's content though. I wish I could remember where I saw that.

I don't know how many dozens of times over the past decade I've had to repeat that that is NOT sufficient reason in itself to cancel an entire line of books. Concern for continuity would've only necessitated rewriting or delaying the books. Fans kept jumping to this conclusion, but it was utterly wrong. It wasn't about the books themselves or their contents; they were a casualty of something bigger behind the scenes.


In fact, I thought I saw that it was Bad Robot or someone with the production company that asked for them to be pulled. NOW, I'll grant that perhaps where I read that and the sources it came from was incorrect, or misinterpreted something. But I don't think this was just blind fan speculation. I think it was based on some article or interview around that time (even if that was incorrect info).

That's the point. It was about overall company strategies and priorities, not the content of specific stories. IIRC, I think it was eventually reported that Bad Robot only wanted to do tie-ins that they generated in-house, and that didn't mesh with Pocket's approach. Or something broadly like that.

As for what's changed now, I have no idea. Again, it's probably more to do with business matters and behind-the-scenes politics/negotiations than with anything the public will ever see on the printed page. But whatever it is, it seems to be a change for the better, so gift horses, mouths, etc.
 
I don't know how many dozens of times over the past decade I've had to repeat that that is NOT sufficient reason in itself to cancel an entire line of books. Concern for continuity would've only necessitated rewriting or delaying the books. Fans kept jumping to this conclusion, but it was utterly wrong. It wasn't about the books themselves or their contents; they were a casualty of something bigger behind the scenes.


Yeah, I agree, esp. in retrospect. It was something I read on trekmovie.com, and that's not a website that posts unsubstantiated rumors. I'll have to try to find it if I can. It's several years ago though so I can't promise I'll find it. I think maybe the whole continuity thing was more an excuse they used at the time, but the real reason is what you noted later, that they wanted more in-house control. Or maybe story continuity is just one part among many about having in house control. Maybe they only wanted stories coming out written or at least invovling the then movie writers/producers.

At the time I remember reading them saying they were writing the next movie and the books were placed on hold because they weren't sure how they would work with the new movie coming out. That's what was said at the time. I don't think you can blame fans for thinking story continuity was a reason they were pulled. Now, yes, we know much more. But that was the line they were using then.

Like I said, I'll try to find it, if for no other reason I'm curious.
 
Ok, that was easier than I thought. I just put the title in the search of one of the book titles and found it immediately. I copied the link below:

https://trekmovie.com/2010/01/14/po...vie-tie-ins-4-novels-pulled-from-summer-2010/

The official statement at the time by Pocketbooks is below:

"With last summer’s blockbuster STAR TREK movie, JJ Abrams created a new vibrant, layered version of the Star Trek universe. After careful consideration, we decided to hold off on telling new stories while JJ and his team continue to develop his vision."

I would say, after reading the article, that I misinterpreted their intent. There's no mention of continuity mentioned here specifically. Only that they felt on the Abrams team should be telling the stories at the time. Now I think it was a PC way of saying Bad Robot didn't want any spin-offs at the time they weren't directly involved with, like novels. But I stand corrected about it having to do with continuity. It wasn't continuity really, it was control over the story of the Abramsverse (or Kelvinverse I guess I should say).

I'll admit, I was wrong. :ack:
 
Yeah, I agree, esp. in retrospect. It was something I read on trekmovie.com, and that's not a website that posts unsubstantiated rumors.

I don't have a lot of faith in TrekMovie's journalistic integrity. Some years back, their head guy Anthony Pascale interviewed Roberto Orci and relentlessly browbeat him to agree with Pascale's desire for the IDW Kelvin comics to be canonical, until Orci finally gave in and went along with it to get it over with. Orci had to walk it back in the comments in the article the next day. I found that to be shamefully dishonest and irresponsible reporting. Journalists are supposed to objectively report the facts, not try to shape the narrative to fit their biases.
 
I don't have a lot of faith in TrekMovie's journalistic integrity. Some years back, their head guy Anthony Pascale interviewed Roberto Orci and relentlessly browbeat him to agree with Pascale's desire for the IDW Kelvin comics to be canonical, until Orci finally gave in and went along with it to get it over with. Orci had to walk it back in the comments in the article the next day. I found that to be shamefully dishonest and irresponsible reporting. Journalists are supposed to objectively report the facts, not try to shape the narrative to fit their biases.

Yeah, I remember that article. I was dubious about comics being canon officially. Even back then I knew only what was on screen was canon. At the time I was a frequent visitor there and I can't disagree with you there. Usually I thought they were pretty decent, at least as far as reporting things they heard and providing sources, like the above link. I think Anthony was probably just getting a little over zealous in that case. Now, I wouldn't be my life on their reporting or anything. But usually I found their information reasonable accurate later on.

I hadn't gone over there in a while, but recently I started looking at some of the articles again since they've had some news about the Picard show. (Can never get too much news). I also like to review the book reviews there, though that's hit or miss (that is they don't provide reviews of every book). I used to comment there a lot too but sometimes the 'debates' devolved into almost name calling and I just don't get into that (I mean it's just entertainment after all). Not to say debates here don't become spirited at times, but it usually stays on the respectful side of things....and if someone gets carried away I find the moderators usually do a pretty good job here of cooling things off if the need arises.

I'm still amazed I never bumped into TrekBBS until 2017. I only found this site because I was trying to find out info about 2018 books and why there were almost none on the schedule. That was the first time I ever encountered this site.
 
There's also:
* USS Kelvin stories (George and Winona Kirk as well as Robau)
* Spock's Starfleet education/career pre-Kirk
* Whatever happens to the Harewoods after Thomas's death (I imagine little Lucille and Jim (and of course the tribble) wind up at the same Starfleet medical research facility post-Khan, since they're both recipients of his blood, for bio and psych testing. Come to think of it, with Chapel's bioresearch creds (assuming also in this universe), she and McCoy and Kirk would reunite here maybe?
 
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