Where I Re-Read NEW FRONTIER by Peter David

[DGCatAniSiri]

I would have saved this for then, but since we're talking now... Yeah, the moment that we start seeing the concept of the series start to genuinely lose steam and the seams begin to show is definitely when the split between the Excalibur and the Trident happens, taking the one crew and splitting it up, particularly taking Shelby out of the day-to-day dynamic on the Excalibur. And it does seem to all come directly as a result of that Dark Allies cliffhanger of the Excalibur exploding - once Shelby's poised to get the command that has been her drive for so long, she CAN'T go back to just being the first officer. It's the same reason that Riker's storyline in TNG effectively taps out after The Best of Both Worlds and we see him start to take a backseat, once the character's story reaches a point where it's natural that they would move on, them remaining in the same place just leads to them spinning their wheels. So I do give points for trying not to fall into that trap, but it did lead to falling into another trap of too many plates spinning at once, trying to juggle the two ships (and then exacerbated in the subsequent time jump that means that now, in addition to the two ships, there's ALSO Bravo Station).

This really is, in a great deal of ways, the effective end of the actual mission to the Thallonian sector - Si Cwan and Kalinda could have left at this point and it would have felt like a conclusion, and there's honestly something of a feeling of 'well, they HAVE to stay relevant, that's the mission' to their continued presence within the series after this. But if, as a hypothetical, the Excalibur hadn't blown up and Si Cwan and Kalinda left the ship, the next book led with the Excalibur being reassigned... It honestly feels like this would have been a fine place to leave Thallonian space behind, and in some ways, it does feel like there's some push-pull between trying to pay lip service to the original idea while still going to more wild ideas that have nothing to do with Thallonian space, and I kinda think that it would have been stronger to just send the Excalibur away from Thallonian space at this point, because... I mean, the big presence of the Redeemers don't ever really play a part again, either, which is kinda frustrating. "Ewok Sith Lords" or not (side note, back when I was a kid, a friend and I did actually write up a comedy fic that included an Ewok Sith as a comic relief villain - I just bring this up because of the amusement value), they WERE built up as a major presence and enemy in Thallonian space, but they only really appear subsequently in the No Limits anthology, which just feels like a loss to the overall tapestry.

 

[Charles Phipps]

I would have saved this for then, but since we're talking now... Yeah, the moment that we start seeing the concept of the series start to genuinely lose steam and the seams begin to show is definitely when the split between the Excalibur and the Trident happens, taking the one crew and splitting it up, particularly taking Shelby out of the day-to-day dynamic on the Excalibur. And it does seem to all come directly as a result of that Dark Allies cliffhanger of the Excalibur exploding - once Shelby's poised to get the command that has been her drive for so long, she CAN'T go back to just being the first officer. It's the same reason that Riker's storyline in TNG effectively taps out after The Best of Both Worlds and we see him start to take a backseat, once the character's story reaches a point where it's natural that they would move on, them remaining in the same place just leads to them spinning their wheels. So I do give points for trying not to fall into that trap, but it did lead to falling into another trap of too many plates spinning at once, trying to juggle the two ships (and then exacerbated in the subsequent time jump that means that now, in addition to the two ships, there's ALSO Bravo Station).

This really is, in a great deal of ways, the effective end of the actual mission to the Thallonian sector - Si Cwan and Kalinda could have left at this point and it would have felt like a conclusion, and there's honestly something of a feeling of 'well, they HAVE to stay relevant, that's the mission' to their continued presence within the series after this. But if, as a hypothetical, the Excalibur hadn't blown up and Si Cwan and Kalinda left the ship, the next book led with the Excalibur being reassigned... It honestly feels like this would have been a fine place to leave Thallonian space behind, and in some ways, it does feel like there's some push-pull between trying to pay lip service to the original idea while still going to more wild ideas that have nothing to do with Thallonian space, and I kinda think that it would have been stronger to just send the Excalibur away from Thallonian space at this point, because... I mean, the big presence of the Redeemers don't ever really play a part again, either, which is kinda frustrating. "Ewok Sith Lords" or not (side note, back when I was a kid, a friend and I did actually write up a comedy fic that included an Ewok Sith as a comic relief villain - I just bring this up because of the amusement value), they WERE built up as a major presence and enemy in Thallonian space, but they only really appear subsequently in the No Limits anthology, which just feels like a loss to the overall tapestry.

Well, I talk about it now because we're about to get into the stories that feel me to be the epilogues of the original series. We're following up everyone in their adventures Post-Excalibur, so the original series is effectively over. It just all gets put back together at the end. Theoretically, it shouldn't have been a problem to have the story follow up on two ships and there's genuinely good moments with Shelby on the Trident. Still, you're absolutely right that the dynamic is never quite the same afterward.

One of the things I'm going to be discussing was also the general subversiveness of REQUIEM for establishing that the crew DIDN'T gel into the kind of "band of brothers" that would rebel against Starfleet in THE SEARCH FOR SPOCK. The opening scenario shows how deep their ties are but Shelby "betrays" them by saying she doesn't want anything to do with the crew and everyone else gradually drifts apart as well.

That's an interesting take on the subject by Peter David but it is the beginning of the cracks of the series because gradually all of them are going to be at each other's throats by the end of things. Captain Calhoun is the guy who should be able to get everyone back together but as we see with what happens--he doesn't. It's kind of an interesting twist on the series.

This is jumping way ahead but you also are correct that Thallonia kind of stays relevant more than it should. What happens with Si Cwan, Robin Lefler, and Kalinda with the "New Thallonian Protectorate" kind of shows the series jumping through hoops to make everything work together again and it has some serious pitfalls. Peter David's comic book shows there as well in how it all gets resolved.

Re: The Redeemers

I think they were effective villains for while they lasted but I believe Peter David actually meant for the ending of Dark Allies to be taken at face value. That Xy left the Black Mass on their homeworld and that it would utterly destroy them. Which shocked me because it is a rather casual act of genocide by one of our protagonists.

OTOH, I understand that the Redeemers do make an appearance in the comic book DOUBLE TIME that I have managed to acquire a copy of. So it seems like they aren't wiped out by Xyon's last act of spite.

 

[Charles Phipps]

Book 9#

Requiem

Synopsis: When the U.S.S. Excalibur was suddenly and mercilessly destroyed, Starfleet lost one of its finest starships. But the crew members of the Excalibur lost their captain... and home. Now, in mourning for their ship and Captain Mackenzie Calhoun, First Officer Elizabeth Shelby and the rest of the crew await their new assignments.

For Lieutenant Soleta, that means a painful reunion with her Romulan father, while Zak Kebron and Mark McHenry are sent undercover to investigate a series of mysterious alien abductions on a low-tech world. Going their separate ways throughout the Alpha Quadrant, the Excalibur's survivors must face diverse challenges and dangers on their own.

The ship is history, but the adventure continues...

I am a huge fan of NEW FRONTIER and the series by Peter David is among there with the Dresden Files and Buffy the Vampire Slayer for some of the biggest influences on my writing. No one can quite combine genre fiction, humor, and rabid fire quips with dedicated use of continuity quite like these books. Star Trek: Lower Decks comes close but I feel the world of New Frontier is a bit better at managing it all.

REQUIEM is the first of the three EXCALIBUR books that follow up a bold and perhaps strange choice by Peter David to break up the entirety of the Excalibur crew. The Excalibur is destroyed, Captain Calhoun is presumed dead, and the crew is scattered across the Alpha Quadrant. These are both some of the best stories in the series and also the end of what I feel is the "classic" New Frontier stories as well since the series starts becoming darker after these are complete. For all intents and purposes, the "Five Year Mission" period of exploring Thallonian Space is over and a tighter continuity is imposed with events bound to get darker and darker.

I think my favorite part of the book is the opening where the crew is gathered together to mourn the Excalibur and discuss their future career prospects. Commander Shelby has the opportunity to command a new vessel and get the band back together. It's a shocking but believable twist to the tired and true formula that, no, she doesn't want Calhouns' ragtag band of misfits to join her on a new starship. I also really enjoyed Soleta confessing her Romulan blood to Shelby in order to draw out a racist reaction, only to find that Shelby may not want to work with her but still considers her a close friend.

However, there's also other subversive and interesting stories in this book that carry Peter David's usual wit and interest. Soleta attempts to meet her biological male tissue donor (and mother's assailant) who seems to have repented of his crimes. It could have been a saccharine story about her finding out anyone could be redeemed but the ending really threw me for a loop. Sadly, I don't think it fits with Soleta's later actions in the series and just flat out confuses me in how they relate.

There's also a parody I didn't realize I needed with Zak Kebron and Mark McHenry of the Men in Black and X-Files. They go to a Pre-Warp Drive world to investigate a series of alien abductions being conducted by rambunctious teenagers and Starfleet cadets that they have to put a stop to, only to get an even more strange set of company. It reminded me of an episode of Farscape and it was all the more entertaining for it.

Finally, we have a Si Cwan and Kalinda story that is straight out of martial arts epic but sadly it isn't resolved in this book but another. Basically, they're no longer in Thallonian Space so there needs to be a reason to have them leave it and seeking to murder a man who killed his master like Kill Bill's subplot is as good a reason as any. I kind of think that Peter David should have just written Si Cwan out of it or have him realize Thallonia has outgrown him, though.

The books biggest failing is the fact that it really does not cover everyone and it feels like a spin off rather than a proper sequel to the series. Part of the issue I have with Requiem is it feels like part one of a much-much larger book that I kind of wish it had been. It's a weirdly wacky Game of Thrones-sized one in my head and broken up for space. Basically, it should have been one large book than three small ones.

Still, if you love the characters of New Frontier then you will enjoy this diversion. Sadly, it still feels like a diversion and we never get back to the adventures of the Excalibur as we knew them.

 

[DGCatAniSiri]

Re: The Redeemers

I think they were effective villains for while they lasted but I believe Peter David actually meant for the ending of Dark Allies to be taken at face value. That Xy left the Black Mass on their homeworld and that it would utterly destroy them. Which shocked me because it is a rather casual act of genocide by one of our protagonists.

OTOH, I understand that the Redeemers do make an appearance in the comic book DOUBLE TIME that I have managed to acquire a copy of. So it seems like they aren't wiped out by Xyon's last act of spite.

Well, Double Time is set on the original Excalibur, somewhere between Fire on High and Double or Nothing, so before the resolution to the Redeemers offered in Dark Allies - There was a production hiccup where basically, the Dominion War was mostly skipped over within the New Frontier timeline, since the series began in a just after First Contact timeframe, with each book picking up relatively close to if not right on the heels of one another, and, aside from a brief reference in Once Burned, the war isn't mentioned at all. Meanwhile, Double or Nothing is set post-Dominion War, but is immediately following up on events and references from Fire on High, which was over a year prior, so why is Selar still pregnant, why does everyone think Burgoyne is pregnant, etc... So to untangle the timeline, Double Time ended up being put out to help smooth over how that happened.

So I stand by the Redeembers functionally vanishing from the narrative after this point, when this ends up being roughly around the halfway point in terms of the overall series.

Come to think, that jumping past the Dominion War probably makes for another reason why the Thallonian space plotline seems to just... fizzle out. Having the Excalibur vanish for months and things there continuing as they were kinda shows that the Excalibur isn't really necessary in this situation.

 

[Charles Phipps]

Yes, Double Time is indeed before Requiem and probably before Dark Allies so I should have reviewed it before now. Thanks for the correction. And yes, basically the Redeemers should be extinct. You're also right that removing the Excalibur from the timeline should have functionally let the remainder of the Thallonian state collapse.

I will admit I am deeply disappointed that they did skip over the entirety of the Dominion War as I think if any Starfleet officer would have been exceptionally valuable during this time, it would have been Captain Calhoun. I think if not for blowing up the Excalibur, they might have had a good excuse to remove the ship from Thallonian space and have him be one of their chief "fighting captains."

At the very least it would have been an interesting book or two to deal with the effects of.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Yes, Double Time is indeed before Requiem and probably before Dark Allies so I should have reviewed it before now. Thanks for the correction. And yes, basically the Redeemers should be extinct. You're also right that removing the Excalibur from the timeline should have functionally let the remainder of the Thallonian state collapse.

I will admit I am deeply disappointed that they did skip over the entirety of the Dominion War as I think if any Starfleet officer would have been exceptionally valuable during this time, it would have been Captain Calhoun. I think if not for blowing up the Excalibur, they might have had a good excuse to remove the ship from Thallonian space and have him be one of their chief "fighting captains."

At the very least it would have been an interesting book or two to deal with the effects of.

I don't know if it was ever clearly stated at the time, but it's clear in retrospect that New Frontier was written in "comic book time," at least for the first few years -- the books took place contemporaneous with the events of broadcast Star Trek at the same time and past books slided to line up. Calhoun may have, on paper, gained command of the Excalibur a few months after Star Trek: First Contact, but by the time you read Requiem, that took place after Insurrection and the Dominion War. (Personally, I don't know when Insurrection is supposed to go, because it doesn't fit during the war, nor does it fit after the war. A Watsonian problem.) I wish the series had been more open about that -- and that readers had been more accepting of that.

 

[Charles Phipps]

Agreed.

Random Aside on continuity: I think I mentally put Insurrection as taking place shortly after DS9: "Tears of the Prophets" but before DS9: "Penumbra/Behind Enemy Lines/Strange Bedfellows" when the Breen join the war. This is when the Dominion has been mostly driven back to Cardassian space but are fighting fiercely and have left severe damage to many worlds that would presumably include many-many wounded.

The Romulans, Klingons, and Federation are going to win at this point due to the Prophets annihilating the Dominion's reinforecments but the Female Changeling wants to make them pay for every light year. The Dominion seeking subcontractors in the Son'a would also make sense and you might even have the Son'a believe they could cure the Founders in exchange for power post-harvest.

 

[USS Firefly]

The new frontier books were my first Star Trek books I read. I love them but when they blew up the first Excalibur the quality of the books dropped in my opinion.

 

[Stevil2001]

I don't know if it was ever clearly stated at the time, but it's clear in retrospect that New Frontier was written in "comic book time," at least for the first few years -- the books took place contemporaneous with the events of broadcast Star Trek at the same time and past books slided to line up. Calhoun may have, on paper, gained command of the Excalibur a few months after Star Trek: First Contact, but by the time you read Requiem, that took place after Insurrection and the Dominion War. (Personally, I don't know when Insurrection is supposed to go, because it doesn't fit during the war, nor does it fit after the war. A Watsonian problem.) I wish the series had been more open about that -- and that readers had been more accepting of that.

Ordover did indeed say NF took place in comic book time on Psi Phi back in the day when people wondered how the whole Dominion War had elapsed in weeks between books. At first he defended the decision, but "Double Time" indicates he and David eventually caved on the issue. I don't think comic book time is a good fit for the Star Trek universe, though the fix is a bit of a kludge. (The first book after the "jump" doesn't really actually admit any room for it. But extra stories folded in where they can't exist is a whole nother kind of comic book time!)

 

[Corran Horn]

I don't know if it was ever clearly stated at the time, but it's clear in retrospect that New Frontier was written in "comic book time," at least for the first few years -- the books took place contemporaneous with the events of broadcast Star Trek at the same time and past books slided to line up. Calhoun may have, on paper, gained command of the Excalibur a few months after Star Trek: First Contact, but by the time you read Requiem, that took place after Insurrection and the Dominion War. (Personally, I don't know when Insurrection is supposed to go, because it doesn't fit during the war, nor does it fit after the war. A Watsonian problem.) I wish the series had been more open about that -- and that readers had been more accepting of that.

Remember the original covers with them wearing late-TNG TV-era starfleet uniforms? The timeline of them was in motion for a while.

 

[F. King Daniel]

If every TOS 5 year mission novel can happen around the TV series in a bizarre temporal version of Discovery's Turbolift Funhouse, than New Frontier can happen whenever it needs to at the time.

In fact, I wonder how much would have to change for NF to work in the ST: Picard continuity. There were some references to the Borg invasion, Seven of Nine showed up sans implants in Treason (or was it Blind Man's Bluff?) but would anyone really complain if the story picked up post-novelverse, in sync with current TV Trek like nothing happened?

 

[Jinn]

If every TOS 5 year mission novel can happen around the TV series in a bizarre temporal version of Discovery's Turbolift Funhouse, than New Frontier can happen whenever it needs to at the time.

Maybe the Five-Year-Mission syphons off time from New Frontier and the Voyager relaunch That would certainly explain a lot.

 

[Charles Phipps]

Spin Off

Double Time

STAR TREK: NEW FRONTIER: DOUBLE TIME is a comic book set in the New Frontier series by Peter David. I have mentioned many times how much I enjoy the New Frontier comics and this is no exception. It actually is so good that I kind of wish Peter David had just adapted it as a novel since it has every bit as complex and interesting as his other works. It also plays an interesting role in setting up multiple character relationships changing in-between THE QUIET PLACE and DARK ALLIES.

The premise of the books is that the Redeemers, fanatical theocratic servants of the god Xant, have set their sights on a new world. Captain MacKenzie Calhoun decides to intervene but arrives too late because he stopped to help another group of imperiled innocents. The entire planet dead, Calhoun can't sit by and grieve so he uses Star Trek technobabble to travel back in time a few weeks.

Shelby, ever the voice of reason [or what passes for such on the U.S.S Excalibur], is appalled by this blatant violation of the Temporal Prime Directive. This also invites Agent Braxton from the 29th century to try to fix their time issues. Mind you, if Braxton is the best and brightest of the future alongside Agent Daniels from Enterprise then they certainly explain why time travel is banned in the 30th century.

I liked the inherent moral conundrum at the heart of things that Captain Calhoun is dealing with. If you do have the ability to fix the past then what becomes the point that not doing so is immoral? A genocide of a planet seems justifiable but how about individual lives? At what point is it interfering with reality as a whole? What about the long term consequences?

As usual, Captain Calhoun spends much of the comic boldly going forward because he can't find reverse. That's always entertaining but this is a problem that is not easily solved and the resolution is one that has a kind of TWILIGHT ZONE-esque twist to it that I liked. Basically, the domino effect means that good actions now can have unintended consequences far later.

The comic apparently exists to rectify a time issue in the books where the Dominion War is skipped over in the text with a lot of characters acting like no time had passed. I feel skipping over the Dominion War was a real missed opportunity in these books and also feel like a retcon wasn't necessary. For all we know, Vulcan women do have two year pregnancies or something similar.

Still, an enjoyable comic and I'm glad we got to see depictions of all the characters. Most lined up with my mental image with the exception of Burogyne. I also regret that we didn't get to see much of the Redeemers despite being the main villains.

 

[Charles Phipps]

Yeah, instead of Ewoks, according to Double Time, the Redeemers apparently look like this:

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Cryptosporidium! (Which may be misspelled.)

 

[Kelso]

I have just started revisiting the New Frontier series myself for the first time in several decades. I'm nearly done with Martyr and I'm thoroughly enjoying it.

I am having some trouble visualizing the Redeemers. I seem to recall that they are intended to be quite short, but if there was a reference to that in the first five books I missed it. Aside from having ebony skin, did I space out when their physical characteristics were described?

EDIT: Oh, after having posted this I noticed that Charles made a post that may have answered my question. Apologies, I am making an effort not to read this entire thread before I'm caught up to avoid spoilers.

 

[Charles Phipps]

I have just started revisiting the New Frontier series myself for the first time in several decades. I'm nearly done with Martyr and I'm thoroughly enjoying it.

Wow, you're a time traveler! What's the future like?



And yes, re-reading this is like getting reacquainted with an old frined.

 

[Steve Roby]

Reading this discussion is reminding me that I don't miss New Frontier at all. I loved PAD's writing on his DC Star Trek comics, I recognize the importance of New Frontier to the Star Trek books line, and I liked some of the individual novels, but the ebook trilogy The Return, in particular, made me hope never to see these characters again.

Spoiler

Throughout all three parts, characters are much too eager to jump into violent hand-to-hand combat as their preferred method of dispute resolution. Captain Calhoun in particular commits some acts of violence that should have him drummed out of Starfleet and into a psych ward, but at the end of the book everyone seems to be happy with him staying in command of his ship. A surprise guest star whose identity is revealed at the end of the second part is also played as much more of a bloodthirsty and physically violent character than we’ve seen him in a very long time. The flipside to all this is that characters keep deciding the only way for them to resolve an issue is to let themselves get killed. It’s kill or be killed, except during the sex scenes, and one of them is pretty unpleasant, too. Nobody is capable of thinking their way out of a situation. What the D’myurj do doesn’t make much sense; what their enemies do doesn’t make much sense; how Calhoun tries to deal with them doesn’t make much sense. No one pays attention to what should be obvious developments just so they can be shocked by utterly predictable things they missed.

One minor example of the characters’ not thinking about anything but just blindly acting based on emotion, and this isn’t much of a spoiler: one Starfleet officer has had a baby with the late leader of an alien empire. She takes it for granted that the baby must some day lead that empire because of the divine right of kings or something, and no one questions it; no one says, maybe this empire would be a much better place as a democracy. It’s just not an issue. Of course this months-old baby is the only logical choice for leader of an interstellar empire not allied with the Federation because that’s what his dad wanted, and of course Federation/Starfleet people should interfere with the empire’s internal politics to make it happen.

 

[Charles Phipps]

Reading this discussion is reminding me that I don't miss New Frontier at all. I loved PAD's writing on his DC Star Trek comics, I recognize the importance of New Frontier to the Star Trek books line, and I liked some of the individual novels, but the ebook trilogy The Return, in particular, made me hope never to see these characters again.

Spoiler

Throughout all three parts, characters are much too eager to jump into violent hand-to-hand combat as their preferred method of dispute resolution. Captain Calhoun in particular commits some acts of violence that should have him drummed out of Starfleet and into a psych ward, but at the end of the book everyone seems to be happy with him staying in command of his ship. A surprise guest star whose identity is revealed at the end of the second part is also played as much more of a bloodthirsty and physically violent character than we’ve seen him in a very long time. The flipside to all this is that characters keep deciding the only way for them to resolve an issue is to let themselves get killed. It’s kill or be killed, except during the sex scenes, and one of them is pretty unpleasant, too. Nobody is capable of thinking their way out of a situation. What the D’myurj do doesn’t make much sense; what their enemies do doesn’t make much sense; how Calhoun tries to deal with them doesn’t make much sense. No one pays attention to what should be obvious developments just so they can be shocked by utterly predictable things they missed.

One minor example of the characters’ not thinking about anything but just blindly acting based on emotion, and this isn’t much of a spoiler: one Starfleet officer has had a baby with the late leader of an alien empire. She takes it for granted that the baby must some day lead that empire because of the divine right of kings or something, and no one questions it; no one says, maybe this empire would be a much better place as a democracy. It’s just not an issue. Of course this months-old baby is the only logical choice for leader of an interstellar empire not allied with the Federation because that’s what his dad wanted, and of course Federation/Starfleet people should interfere with the empire’s internal politics to make it happen.

I'm not sure if you have to keep everything spoiler locked here because this is a re-read after all. However, a general couple of points.

1. I love the characters.

2. I hate the way they were handled in THE RETURN and will have many thoughts about that but I don't believe you can judge a series just by the way it doesn't stick to the landing. I still love seasons 1 and 2 of Battlestar Galactica after all and Mass Effect remains one of my all time favorite video game franchises. Soleta, Calhoun, and the others will ever be one of the formative sets of "fictional friends" I have made and a part of me would love for Peter David to just write a book in the Picard era that went, "Wow, it's almost like someone rewrote reality and fixed everything." Then again, I liked the Halloween remake.

3. I feel like you misconstrue the situation with Robin Lefller there as it actually has a good deal more nuance with that. The issue is that Robin is worried about having her baby STOLEN as a political puppet of the Thallonian Protectorate's oligarchy. Robin is not able to talk about democracy because she's not a politician or leader in the situation but first lady in Si Cwan's reestablished monarchy. She also chooses to leave the Protectorate and effectively let Si Cwan's dream die, which exposes that it was probably a pointless one to begin with.

 

[DGCatAniSiri]

This is 100% my opinion. Stone and Anvil was brilliant, and things really should've ended there. Every book after that is a steady decline; The Returned is goddamn abysmal.

Having just started After The Fall in my own reread, I'm DEFINITELY feeling this. Like I was still in the first third of the book and asking myself if I really wanted to keep reading it, or if I wanted to just let this (as well as the successive New Frontier novels) be shelf stuffers like I've done with the TNG Diane Carey novels and such. I'm powering through for the time being, but man... The magic is just very blatantly GONE right from the start of this "new chapter" in the lives of the characters.

Like it just starts feeling just completely not the same, and, with the whole "time skip" of three years, it has the active feeling of just not feeling like this is the natural evolution of the story, just that Peter David was bored of the old status quo and decided to upend most of everything because he could justify any change he wanted with "it happened in the gap years!" rather than explain and explore it happening.

Factoring in the elements that I know are coming, in particular the killing of several supporting characters for shock value... It all just emphasizes that this really just doesn't seem fun anymore, and it DOES seem to be a direct result of the time jump.