You uh, already posted that lol.
Spoilers DSC: Desperate Hours by David Mack Review Thread
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I choose to believe Burnham and Spock did their best to pretend to be polite to one another for the sake of their careers and their later interaction was due to Burnham's completely ruining her career, throwing Spock's life for a loop, and having adopted her annoying, "Everything is my fault" attitude.
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(Copy of review posted on my Facebook page on 4/22/20.) Last night (Monday), I finished reading Desperate Hours (2017) by David Mack, the first novel in the “Star Trek: Discovery” series tying into the television series.
I feel I should start out by pointing out that this novel was written while the first season of the show was still in production. The author (who I'll refer to here by his last name, "Mack") stated in an interview that when his novel was finally “locked” (finished), they still had half of the season one episodes left to write.
The reason I bring this up is that I didn’t read Desperate Hours until just now, long after season two of the tv series has been out, and in season two the creators of the show ended up going in some pretty different directions with certain characters than what was expected back when Mack was writing this.
Therefore, my reaction to the novel is colored by what has been since shown on the tv series (which isn’t really fair to Mack and his novel, but I think he would be one of the first to admit that those are the potential risks of writing tie-in novels to a currently in production property like “Discovery”).
Even with its seeming discrepancies with season two of the show, Desperate Hours is still an enjoyable read (more on that in a bit).
However, at times I still couldn't help myself from thinking to myself things like "Captain Pike doesn't sound very much like they do on the show", and, "That's not the relationship between Burnham and Spock that we see".
Why is that? Well, according to Mack, the idea of making the first Discovery novel a prequel to the first episode of the series, and one in which we get to see the crew of the Shenzhou cross paths with that of Captain Pike and the Enterprise came to him from "Discovery" series creator Bryan Fuller. So, that's what Desperate Hours is about.
At that time, it was not known that the series would be featuring Captain Pike, Spock, and the crew of the Enterprise in season two. At that point, it was assumed that those characters would not be seen on the show, just referred to. (And, adding to the sense of a disconnect, Fuller left "Discovery" while it was still relatively easily in preproduction for season one.)
So, Desperate Hours takes place one year before the start of the tv series, and Captain Georgiou of the Federation starship Shinzhou has just promoted Michael Burnham (the female Starfleet officer you see on the cover of the novel, in case you are not a "Discovery" watcher) to acting first officer and Saru to acting second officer (to Saru's displeasure, having been passed over for first officer by Burnham).
The novel opens on a colony world where a deep sea rig act accidentally discovers a large and dangerous vessel of some kind (soon termed the Juggernaut) that sinks the rig and sends a smaller drone to attack the colony.
Both the Shenzhou and the Enterprise are sent to destroy the Juggernaut before it can possibly leave the planet to attack other more populated worlds, even if it means killing everyone in the colony and destroying this planet's ecology to do so.
Georgiou and Pike butt heads over what to do, Georgiou absolutely refusing to attack the Juggernaut with photon torpedoes (which is what would wreck the planet if fired at the Juggernaut while it is still on the surface) while Pike insists that they must attack sooner than later because the probes the Juggernaut keeps sending to attack the two starships keep getting more powerful with each succeeding launch.
Michael Burnham (of the Shenzhou) and Spock (from the Enterprise) work together to infiltrate the Juggernaut in hopes of finding a way to stop it from within. Once inside, they face a series of deadly tests designed to be solved only if the two work together as a team. Each test becomes harder as they go, and eventually they find they must perform a Vulcan mind meld in order to solve the final test. Burnham at first refuses this due to the trauma of the previous time she had to undergo a mind meld with Spock's father, Sarek. However, she realizes that the only way to save not only her life and Spock's but also the lives of their shipmates and thousands of colonists is to go through with the mind meld.
It is these scenes with Michael Burnham and Spock that, while well written and I'm sure were not seen in anyway to be "wrong" if read when the book first came out, are the ones most effected by season two's later depiction of Burnham and Spock's past history together. Here in Desperate Hours, it is presented as if the two of them both had a history with Sarek and Amanda on Vulcan and very much knew of each other but that they had never actually met each other prior to this story. On the show, on the other hand, while they have not seen each other for many years, they very much knew each other as children, Burnham being taken into Sarek and Amanda's home while Spock was still a child living in the same house. The novel makes it seem like Spock is older and was already gone when his parents took Burnham in.
So, while it is interesting to see these versions of Burnham and Spock getting to know each other and to realize how they both resented the other all these years for different reasons, it can't help but be negated a bit by the knowledge that when they see each other next in season two of the show it will be with a very different history and relationship with each other.
Still, it is a good read, especially the scenes with Saru investigating the ancient civilization found to have existed on this planet in tunnels underneath the colony alongside the Enterprise's first officer, Number One (given an actual name in this novel, Commander Una).
There are also several nods to the original appearance of Captain Pike and the Enterprise on the pilot episode of the original "Star Trek" series ("The Cage"/"The Menagerie"). Characters like Lt. Tyler, the ship's navigator, and Dr. Phillip Boyce, the chief medical officer.
It's obvious that Mack was using Jeffrey Hunter's portrayal of Captain Christopher Pike from "The Cage" as his inspiration (after all, only he and Bruce Greenwood had really played the part at the time Mack was writing this, the latter in the J.J. Abrams reboot Star Trek movies). However, Anson Mount's portrayal in season two of "Discovery" is such a strong, charismatic one (and also the one most fresh in my mind) that it was impossible for me not to picture Mount as Pike in this story. This was a bit problematic, however, as there were times when Pike is quite adamant about destroying the colony if need be despite Georgiou's arguments to the contrary--even to the point of possibly firing on the Shenzhou when the two square off--in a way that doesn't really fit the personality of Mount's rendition of Pike. (And I'm sure that Mack would have written Pike at least a bit differently if he'd had the opportunity to see Anson Mount as Pike prior to writing his novel.)
All in all, I still recommend fans of "Star Trek: Discovery" to read Desperate Hours. It serves as a very good lead up to where the tv series begins and it features the entire bridge crew of the Shenzhou, many of whom were only seen briefly in the series two-part premiere. And it's nice to get another story with Captain Philippa Georgiou (which we will also get in the second "Discovery" novel, Drastic Measures, by Dayton Ward).
In the end (with everything I mention above), I give this three stars out of five. It's hard for me to speculate if I would have given it four stars if I read it back when it first came out (prior to season two of the show) but I think it's a strong possibility.
I feel I should start out by pointing out that this novel was written while the first season of the show was still in production. The author (who I'll refer to here by his last name, "Mack") stated in an interview that when his novel was finally “locked” (finished), they still had half of the season one episodes left to write.
The reason I bring this up is that I didn’t read Desperate Hours until just now, long after season two of the tv series has been out, and in season two the creators of the show ended up going in some pretty different directions with certain characters than what was expected back when Mack was writing this.
Therefore, my reaction to the novel is colored by what has been since shown on the tv series (which isn’t really fair to Mack and his novel, but I think he would be one of the first to admit that those are the potential risks of writing tie-in novels to a currently in production property like “Discovery”).
Even with its seeming discrepancies with season two of the show, Desperate Hours is still an enjoyable read (more on that in a bit).
However, at times I still couldn't help myself from thinking to myself things like "Captain Pike doesn't sound very much like they do on the show", and, "That's not the relationship between Burnham and Spock that we see".
Why is that? Well, according to Mack, the idea of making the first Discovery novel a prequel to the first episode of the series, and one in which we get to see the crew of the Shenzhou cross paths with that of Captain Pike and the Enterprise came to him from "Discovery" series creator Bryan Fuller. So, that's what Desperate Hours is about.
At that time, it was not known that the series would be featuring Captain Pike, Spock, and the crew of the Enterprise in season two. At that point, it was assumed that those characters would not be seen on the show, just referred to. (And, adding to the sense of a disconnect, Fuller left "Discovery" while it was still relatively easily in preproduction for season one.)
So, Desperate Hours takes place one year before the start of the tv series, and Captain Georgiou of the Federation starship Shinzhou has just promoted Michael Burnham (the female Starfleet officer you see on the cover of the novel, in case you are not a "Discovery" watcher) to acting first officer and Saru to acting second officer (to Saru's displeasure, having been passed over for first officer by Burnham).
The novel opens on a colony world where a deep sea rig act accidentally discovers a large and dangerous vessel of some kind (soon termed the Juggernaut) that sinks the rig and sends a smaller drone to attack the colony.
Both the Shenzhou and the Enterprise are sent to destroy the Juggernaut before it can possibly leave the planet to attack other more populated worlds, even if it means killing everyone in the colony and destroying this planet's ecology to do so.
Georgiou and Pike butt heads over what to do, Georgiou absolutely refusing to attack the Juggernaut with photon torpedoes (which is what would wreck the planet if fired at the Juggernaut while it is still on the surface) while Pike insists that they must attack sooner than later because the probes the Juggernaut keeps sending to attack the two starships keep getting more powerful with each succeeding launch.
Michael Burnham (of the Shenzhou) and Spock (from the Enterprise) work together to infiltrate the Juggernaut in hopes of finding a way to stop it from within. Once inside, they face a series of deadly tests designed to be solved only if the two work together as a team. Each test becomes harder as they go, and eventually they find they must perform a Vulcan mind meld in order to solve the final test. Burnham at first refuses this due to the trauma of the previous time she had to undergo a mind meld with Spock's father, Sarek. However, she realizes that the only way to save not only her life and Spock's but also the lives of their shipmates and thousands of colonists is to go through with the mind meld.
It is these scenes with Michael Burnham and Spock that, while well written and I'm sure were not seen in anyway to be "wrong" if read when the book first came out, are the ones most effected by season two's later depiction of Burnham and Spock's past history together. Here in Desperate Hours, it is presented as if the two of them both had a history with Sarek and Amanda on Vulcan and very much knew of each other but that they had never actually met each other prior to this story. On the show, on the other hand, while they have not seen each other for many years, they very much knew each other as children, Burnham being taken into Sarek and Amanda's home while Spock was still a child living in the same house. The novel makes it seem like Spock is older and was already gone when his parents took Burnham in.
So, while it is interesting to see these versions of Burnham and Spock getting to know each other and to realize how they both resented the other all these years for different reasons, it can't help but be negated a bit by the knowledge that when they see each other next in season two of the show it will be with a very different history and relationship with each other.
Still, it is a good read, especially the scenes with Saru investigating the ancient civilization found to have existed on this planet in tunnels underneath the colony alongside the Enterprise's first officer, Number One (given an actual name in this novel, Commander Una).
There are also several nods to the original appearance of Captain Pike and the Enterprise on the pilot episode of the original "Star Trek" series ("The Cage"/"The Menagerie"). Characters like Lt. Tyler, the ship's navigator, and Dr. Phillip Boyce, the chief medical officer.
It's obvious that Mack was using Jeffrey Hunter's portrayal of Captain Christopher Pike from "The Cage" as his inspiration (after all, only he and Bruce Greenwood had really played the part at the time Mack was writing this, the latter in the J.J. Abrams reboot Star Trek movies). However, Anson Mount's portrayal in season two of "Discovery" is such a strong, charismatic one (and also the one most fresh in my mind) that it was impossible for me not to picture Mount as Pike in this story. This was a bit problematic, however, as there were times when Pike is quite adamant about destroying the colony if need be despite Georgiou's arguments to the contrary--even to the point of possibly firing on the Shenzhou when the two square off--in a way that doesn't really fit the personality of Mount's rendition of Pike. (And I'm sure that Mack would have written Pike at least a bit differently if he'd had the opportunity to see Anson Mount as Pike prior to writing his novel.)
All in all, I still recommend fans of "Star Trek: Discovery" to read Desperate Hours. It serves as a very good lead up to where the tv series begins and it features the entire bridge crew of the Shenzhou, many of whom were only seen briefly in the series two-part premiere. And it's nice to get another story with Captain Philippa Georgiou (which we will also get in the second "Discovery" novel, Drastic Measures, by Dayton Ward).
In the end (with everything I mention above), I give this three stars out of five. It's hard for me to speculate if I would have given it four stars if I read it back when it first came out (prior to season two of the show) but I think it's a strong possibility.
Desperate Hours reminds me of Ghost Ship in as much as it's a very different Pike, Spock and Spock/Michael dynamic and it reminded me of how Ghost Ship was a very different version of Next Generation in general.
Number One's name Una actually originates from the TOS Legacies trilogy from 2016.
I think I saw it conjectured many years before that in some fan work. It's more that it was reintroduced in Legacies and that led to its use elsewhere in the literature and eventually in canon.
That doesn't seem to fit with what the actual writers of Legacies said:
I can't be sure. I just have the impression I'd seen it suggested somewhere decades ago.
Well, when you find an actual source as opposed to your impression, I'd be interested to hear it. A quick Googling of "number one" "una" "star trek" with a time restriction of up to 2015 turns up nothing relevant, so if you're right, no one has ever mentioned it on the Internet.
Maybe it was in a Best of Trek article, or some obscure fan reference work lost to the mists of time. I remember owning a few fan tech manuals that I've never seen catalogued on the current sites for such things.
Or maybe my memory is playing tricks on me. I just recall that when I saw Number One called "Una" in the trilogy, my reaction was "Oh, that old idea again" rather than "Gee, I never saw that before." I suppose I could've been confusing it with something else, like Vulcan's Glory's idea that "Number One" was actually her name back home on Illyria. Since I took Latin in high school, it's reflexive for me to look at the name "Una" and see it as "One," so I could've conflated the two without thinking. But that's not the way it feels inside my head.
Heck, maybe it was just an idea a friend of mine had back in high school, and it never got into print.
Or maybe my memory is playing tricks on me. I just recall that when I saw Number One called "Una" in the trilogy, my reaction was "Oh, that old idea again" rather than "Gee, I never saw that before." I suppose I could've been confusing it with something else, like Vulcan's Glory's idea that "Number One" was actually her name back home on Illyria. Since I took Latin in high school, it's reflexive for me to look at the name "Una" and see it as "One," so I could've conflated the two without thinking. But that's not the way it feels inside my head.
Heck, maybe it was just an idea a friend of mine had back in high school, and it never got into print.
I’m in the process of watching Discovery for the first time (just finished “What’s Past is Prologue”), and I’ve been slotting the novels in where they were published, so I started Desperate Hours right after watching the first two episodes. In that context, and setting aside whatever contradictions emerged later, I think its treatment of the Shenzhou and Pike-era Enterprise characters is excellent. In storytelling terms it’s arguably more of a TOS novel, but that was unavoidable given when it was published and the unusual narrative structure of the early Discovery episodes, and it uses that TOS-style story to flesh out the Discovery characters in rewarding ways. Saru in particular gets some great material. I’d say Desperate Hours is best read as a crossover novel between early Discovery and TOS rather than as a “pure” Discovery novel.
It was written about a year before the second season of Discovery, presumably in the way Bryan Fuller (the first showrunner, who left before filming om Discovery even started) envisioned their relationship.
True, but we didn't know exactly what their relationship looked like, until season 2, so maybe that difference in portrayal is what jotap is referring to.
IIRC, the intent during the first season was that Michael and Spock hardly ever spent any time together, and that's the basis for their relationship that was used in Desperate Hours. Then season 2 came along and presented its own take on their relationship.
Pretty much, yes. All the direction I was given — by Bryan Fuller, Kirsten Beyer, and the writers' room — during season one of Discovery was flatly contradicted by the creative choices the showrunners made in season two, long after my book was published. Nothing I could do about that.
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