The Autobiography of Mr. Spock by... Una McCormack?

[The Wormhole]

The books even list the authors as a collaborator of the person who's autobiography it is, EG, David Goodman is listed as Kirk and Picard's collaborator on those autobiographies, thus explaining how someone else could write a person's autobiography. Hell, the Picard one even includes a picture of David Goodman and Patrick Stewart together, to further sell the idea.

It's actually a common trend, many people with no writing background tend to hire professional authors to assist them with their autobiographies all the time. I'm kind of surprised it needs to be explained here.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I don't think Sybok is a character that detracts anything from Mr. Spock...

But when DC Fontana wrote the memo asking that TOS writers not submit stories with a long lost relative or sibling for Spock, she did it to preserve the character's uniqueness, at least for the rest of the TV series. Without that memo, there may have been a deluge of Spock family members in those formative years.

Decades on, enough has happened that a Sybok or a Michael Burnham (or Steven the smiling blonde Vulcan cousin in the "Enterprise: The First Adventure" novel, or niece Teska in "Mind Meld") can be inserted into the cracks. Benefit of hindsight. DC was wise to foresee the growing popularity of Nimoy and Spock.

 

[Charles Phipps]

But when DC Fontana wrote the memo asking that TOS writers not submit stories with a long lost relative or sibling for Spock, she did it to preserve the character's uniqueness, at least for the rest of the TV series. Without that memo, there may have been a deluge of Spock family members in this early years. Decades on, enough has happened that a Sybok or a Michael Burnham (or Steven the smiling blonde Vulcan cousin in the "Enterprise: The First Adventure" novel, or niece Teska in "Mind Meld") can be inserted into the cracks. Benefit of hindsight. DC was wise to foresee the growing popularity of Nimoy and Spock.

True, I suppose I've always felt that characters that are devoid of roots weren't actually that more interesting. Spock is actually a great deal more interesting backstory wise because we have his relationship with Sarek and Amanda to draw from. Sybok was apparently not part of Spock's life (raised by his mother seems the most reasonable) but you could imagine they'd have some interesting conversations. Ditto Michael in the Second Season of DISCO.

One thing I liked about TNG is we did get to meet plenty of the other cast members' families.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Spock is actually a great deal more interesting backstory wise because we have his relationship with Sarek and Amanda to draw from.

But it was drip filtered to us.

* One of Spock's ancestors was human.
* Balok remind Spock of his father.
* Spock's mother was human.
* The Vulcan ambassador and his wife are his parents.
* Spock was his own distant cousin.
* Spock has a Vulcan protege.
* Spock has a half-brother.
* Picard attended the wedding of Sarek's son.
* Spock has another Vulcan protege.

And so on.

 

[Charles Phipps]

* Picard attended the wedding of Sarek's son.

This was obviously meant to be Spock but there's no indication of Spock being married aside from it. I choose to believe Sybok came back from the dead and mellowed out considerably.

 

[JD]

But when DC Fontana wrote the memo asking that TOS writers not submit stories with a long lost relative or sibling for Spock, she did it to preserve the character's uniqueness, at least for the rest of the TV series. Without that memo, there may have been a deluge of Spock family members in those formative years.

Decades on, enough has happened that a Sybok or a Michael Burnham (or Steven the smiling blonde Vulcan cousin in the "Enterprise: The First Adventure" novel, or niece Teska in "Mind Meld") can be inserted into the cracks. Benefit of hindsight. DC was wise to foresee the growing popularity of Nimoy and Spock.

I've been thinking about getting Mind Meld, since it's only $4.00 for the e-book, and I've been wondering, how exactly is Teska Spock's niece? Is she Sybok's daughter, or did they invent another post-Sybok, pre-Michael Burnham sibling who was never mentioned before or after to be her parent?

 

[Therin of Andor]

I've been thinking about getting Mind Meld, since it's only $4.00 for the e-book, and I've been wondering, how exactly is Teska Spock's niece? Is she Sybok's daughter, or did they invent another post-Sybok, pre-Michael Burnham sibling who was never mentioned before or after to be her parent?

It's been a while, but yes, I think the assumption is that it's Sybok's daughter. Memory Beta doesn't say so, so probably never confirmed by name in print?

I do recall enjoying the book very much.

 

[Stevil2001]

No, Teska's not Sybok's daughter. Spock fulfills the role of her uncle in a Vulcan ceremony because "the child has no uncles" according to Sarek. Spock refers to her grandfather Sopeg as a kinsman, but it's not really explained beyond that.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

The books even list the authors as a collaborator of the person who's autobiography it is, EG, David Goodman is listed as Kirk and Picard's collaborator on those autobiographies, thus explaining how someone else could write a person's autobiography.

There's a long tradition of "biographies" of fictional characters, and often the actual author is credited in some oblique/clever way. Nicholas Meyer listed himself as the "editor" of all four of his Sherlock Holmes novels, with the fictional Dr. John H. Watson listed as the author.

In James Bond: The Authorized Biography, author John Pearson presents himself as a writer sent to interview James Bond in retirement, getting Bond's full life story. There are at least a couple biographies of Sherlock Holmes as well. And Nero Wolfe. Philip Jose Farmer did biographies of Tarzan and Doc Savage that formed the basis of the Wold Newton Universe. George MacDonald Frasier presented the Harry Flashman series as the lost diaries of a historical figure, and his research was so impeccable that many reviewers took the books as real.

But when DC Fontana wrote the memo asking that TOS writers not submit stories with a long lost relative or sibling for Spock, she did it to preserve the character's uniqueness, at least for the rest of the TV series. Without that memo, there may have been a deluge of Spock family members in those formative years.

Decades on, enough has happened that a Sybok or a Michael Burnham (or Steven the smiling blonde Vulcan cousin in the "Enterprise: The First Adventure" novel, or niece Teska in "Mind Meld") can be inserted into the cracks. Benefit of hindsight. DC was wise to foresee the growing popularity of Nimoy and Spock.

Dorothy Fontana was damn right, and I wish that subsequent Trek writers had followed her example.

One thing I liked about TNG is we did get to meet plenty of the other cast members' families.

That got old really fast for me. The TNG crew ran into their relatives so often in those seven years that it began to strain plausibility.

 

[Charles Phipps]

That got old really fast for me. The TNG crew ran into their relatives so often in those seven years that it began to strain plausibility.

I had a different attitude because my assumption was, "families might actually visit the ship because most people don't go completely without contact with their families and this is not a ship in a war zone usually."

 

[BillJ]

Dorothy Fontana was damn right, and I wish that subsequent Trek writers had followed her example.

Damn right she was.

 

[David Weller]

Bernard Cornwell’s Last Kingdom novels are written as if the central character is dictating his memoirs to a scribe.

 

[The Wormhole]

That got old really fast for me. The TNG crew ran into their relatives so often in those seven years that it began to strain plausibility.

The seventh season was when it really got out of hand. The season premiere has Data's brother in it. Then we get an episode about Geordi's mother which also features his father and sister. Then Deanna's mother returns and in that episode her father also appears along with a previously unknown sister. Then Data meets his mother with his father also appearing in that episode. Then Worf reunites with his adoptive brother. Then Dr. Crusher attends her grandmother's funeral and meets her lover. Then Wesley returns and has a vision or dream involving his father. Worf has a run in with his adult son having time traveled back from the future. Picard learns of someone he's led to believe is his son. Then the Enterprise itself has a baby of its own.

 

[JD]

No, Teska's not Sybok's daughter. Spock fulfills the role of her uncle in a Vulcan ceremony because "the child has no uncles" according to Sarek. Spock refers to her grandfather Sopeg as a kinsman, but it's not really explained beyond that.

OK, thanks.

 

[Therin of Andor]

No, Teska's not Sybok's daughter. Spock fulfills the role of her uncle in a Vulcan ceremony because "the child has no uncles" according to Sarek. Spock refers to her grandfather Sopeg as a kinsman, but it's not really explained beyond that.

Okay. None of that detail is in Memory Alpha or Beta, and its been a while since I read it. I wonder if it was originally proposed to be Sybok's daughter and Consumer Products asked for a tweak? I thought I recalled it had to be kept vague. It's a June 1997 publication, so I'm thinking its proposal would have been long after Richard Arnold's last vetting assignment (September 1991).

 

[JonnyQuest037]

The reason I didn't like that section of the book is because I'm not a fan of pretending something didn't exist just because it was goofy. We're counting all of TOS as official, but somehow ST5 is worthy of redaction? Seems a bit lopsided.

This. Trek is very silly, and I don't "get" why some of the silliness is okay but other parts arent. Real life has some shit and nonsensical episodes and movies too but they still happened.

Exactly, yeah. We need a reason to write-off The Final Frontier, but Spock's Brain gets a pass?

To backtrack a bit and throw in my two cents on this particular question:

For my money, it's a lot harder to ignore a multimillion dollar movie that establishes something major and previously unrevealed about one of your major characters than it is to ignore one standalone episode of a (then) 20-year old television show that was never referred to again. But since, AFAIK, we've never gotten a novel that tells us Sybok's life story or had a story that brings him back, it seems that most people are okay with pretty much ignoring Sybok altogether.

Also, while I think Laurence Luckinbill did a nice job as Sybok, I didn't really buy him as Spock's brother. An old friend who was studying the Kolinahr with him, maybe.

In short, I think that Sybok does more harm than good to Spock's backstory and ST canon in general. YMMV. (As I said above, I've still yet to catch up on the 2nd season DSC, so I'm still undecided on Michael Burnham.)

 

[Greg Cox]

For what it's worth, I briefly referenced Sybok in one of my novels and nobody at CBS objected. I've also used the "God" creature from STAR TREK V as well.

 

[Charles Phipps]

For what it's worth, I briefly referenced Sybok in one of my novels and nobody at CBS objected. I've also used the "God" creature from STAR TREK V as well.

For which I am very grateful.

Other Final Frontier references: I loved when Nimbus III unironically was a major part of VANGUARD and was actually wondering if "God" would turn out to be the Last Shedai when I read through that series.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

For what it's worth, I briefly referenced Sybok in one of my novels and nobody at CBS objected. I've also used the "God" creature from STAR TREK V as well.

Oh, I wasn't saying that you couldn't reference STV, just that most people choose not to.

 

[Tosk]

Oh, I wasn't saying that you couldn't reference STV, just that most people choose not to.

Yeah, but there's "not referencing", (which I totally get) and then there's explicitly stating that none of the events of Star Trek V happened...which is what Goodman did.