Starfleet Academy Tie-Ins

[Christopher]

We already got Starfleet Academy novels:

Starfleet Academy (novel)

Tomorrow's Starfleet officers face their first deadly challenge! Starfleet Academy is a novelization of the Interplay video game, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy. Written by Diane Carey, it was released in June 1997. From the book jacket Cadet David Forester has made it to Starfleet Academy's...

memory-alpha.fandom.com

That is not a novel about the 2026 TV series Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, however, any more than the Strange New Worlds anthologies are about the current TV series of that title.

 

[veritech]

When the new Star Wars movies were coming out, I know that a lot of the big questions (i.e. who is Snoke, Knights of Ren, etc) were only answered in comics and books. I really hope they don’t do that for this show regarding what all has changed in the Trek universe.

The problem with Star Wars tie-in fiction for the Sequel Trilogy is that tie-in fiction could only work apart from the specific parameters involving the main characters and narratives. So the novels that came out during that period dealt with the backstories of secondary characters and situations; many times they were inconsequential to the films. Since I wasn't all that interested in the secondary characters I gave up reading Star Wars Tie-In novels.

Star Trek's episodic storytelling has naturally lent itself to tie-in fiction. Of course, I'm sure that changed with the new streaming, serialized Trek.

 

[ace2k]

When the new Star Wars movies were coming out, I know that a lot of the big questions (i.e. who is Snoke, Knights of Ren, etc) were only answered in comics and books. I really hope they don’t do that for this show regarding what all has changed in the Trek universe.

I mean... isn't that what The Lost Era novels were? They could do that again if they really wanted to.

 

[tenmei]

The Poe Dameron comic series ran some of its issues across, through and into the movies. Hardly a secondary character.

 

[veritech]

The Poe Dameron comic series ran some of its issues across, through and into the movies. Hardly a secondary character.

True! The comics seemed to weave through the movie plot more so than the novels.

 

[Christopher]

Star Trek's episodic storytelling has naturally lent itself to tie-in fiction. Of course, I'm sure that changed with the new streaming, serialized Trek.

Not new, and not limited to streaming. There's a reason we didn't see any DS9 novels set later than season 5, or any ENT novels set in season 3, until after the respective series had ended.

Even earlier, the DC Trek comics set in the TOS movie era had to avoid storylines that might conflict with future movies, in much the same way as the Marvel Star Wars comics that came out between the original three films.

 

[Miami Vice Admiral]

I mean... isn't that what The Lost Era novels were? They could do that again if they really wanted to.

That would be dope! Although I doubt paramount would do it because then they might write themselves into a corner if they decide to do shows pre-burn.

I just really hope they do focus somewhat on world building in the show instead of relegating all of it to tie ins.

 

[NCC-73515]

Pretty sure IDW will have something, they do everything

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Comics Set to Boldly Hit Shelves This Spring

Hopefully, this new Star Trek comic book series lives long and prospers.

www.cbr.com

 

[bdub76]

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Comics Set to Boldly Hit Shelves This Spring

Hopefully, this new Star Trek comic book series lives long and prospers.

www.cbr.com

Comics makes sense to me since they turn them over a lot faster than it takes someone to write a book. I'm sure I can grab these in a future Humble Bundle.

I wonder how many seasons have to go by before a demand builds up for novels. I heard Imazdi was written by the pilot of TNG. That feels like more of an exception than the rule. And I did enjoy it. Too bad it was mostly ignored.

 

[Greg Cox]

I started writing my DS9 and Voyager novels before either show debuted, working only from the series bibles and the scripts for the first episode of each show.

Fortunately, both shows did hit the air before I had to deliver the final manuscripts.

 

[Nerys Myk]

I started writing my DS9 and Voyager novels before either show debuted, working only from the series bibles and the scripts for the first episode of each show.

Fortunately, both shows did hit the air before I had to deliver the final manuscripts.

Did you use a lot of white out?

 

[The Wormhole]

I wonder how many seasons have to go by before a demand builds up for novels.

Well, we're a little over a year after Lower Decks finished its five year run, and it has no novels at all...

 

[Avro Arrow]

I heard Imazdi was written by the pilot of TNG.

Are you sure it was Imzadi? TNG premiered in 1987, and Imzadi was published in 1992. I gather that the publishing industry moves slowly, but that still seems a long time if it was already written before the premiere.

 

[DGCatAniSiri]

Are you sure it was Imzadi? TNG premiered in 1987, and Imzadi was published in 1992. I gather that the publishing industry moves slowly, but that still seems a long time if it was already written before the premiere.

Yeah, that couldn't be the case for Imzadi. Like I remember the tales of Peter David interacting with Majel Barrett in the name of getting Q-in-Law published, which led to her later asking him 'what's this about you killing me off?' for Imzadi, in reference to Lwaxana dying in the bad future timeline, so this is well after he's already written multiple TNG novels. And unless the contract is explicitly for multiple books, for things like the Destiny/Cold Equations trilogies or Peter David being given the sole writer credit for the New Frontier series, aside from the No Limits anthology, my understanding has always been that these contracts are for one book at a time.

Now you have things like the tumultuous path to publication that some books have had, like A Flag Full of Stars or particularly Engines of Destiny, which was originally contracted by John Ordover in like the late nineties, and didn't make it to publication until 2005, several years after Ordover had left, but to my knowledge, that was not the case for Imzadi.

 

[Enterprise1701]

That would be dope! Although I doubt paramount would do it because then they might write themselves into a corner if they decide to do shows pre-burn.

I just really hope they do focus somewhat on world building in the show instead of relegating all of it to tie ins.

Interestingly, TOS - The Captain's Oath came out alongside DIS season 2, and thus was expectably overridden by SNW a few years later. On the other hand, no VOY novels have come out in over half a decade, which leads me to wonder if Kirsten Beyer may not see the point in the near-term given her active involvement in Paramount+ writing. Or somesuch. shrug

 

[Christopher]

And unless the contract is explicitly for multiple books, for things like the Destiny/Cold Equations trilogies or Peter David being given the sole writer credit for the New Frontier series, aside from the No Limits anthology, my understanding has always been that these contracts are for one book at a time.

Usually, but I've had a couple of contracts for two books.

Interestingly, TOS - The Captain's Oath came out alongside DIS season 2, and thus was expectably overridden by SNW a few years later.

I dunno, I wouldn't say it was irreconcilably contradicted by SNW until the most recent season, which overlaps TCO's chronology in 2261. There were a couple of slight issues, like my assumption in TCO that Pike and Kirk hadn't met before, but they could be glossed over. So that one lasted for about 6 years. On the other hand, Living Memory came out in June 2021, and its version of Uhura's family backstory was contradicted by an SNW preview clip that was released on February 1, 2022 (ahead of the series's May 2022 premiere), so it only lasted 8 months.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I heard Imazdi was written by the pilot of TNG. That feels like more of an exception than the rule. And I did enjoy it. Too bad it was mostly ignored.

You are thinking of "Strike Zone", I think. Originally pitched as a TOS story, PAD was told to rejig it as TNG because there were already a lot of TOS novels in the pipeline. He did some "heavy retooling" so that it flowed naturally out of Next Generation characters, ie. he couldn't just erase Kirk and put in Picard, etc. PAD also spoke with Marina Sirtis to get her insight into the character of Deanna Troi. Originally, PAD had Dr Crusher in his novel but suddenly had to replace her with Pulaski midstream, whom PAD had not yet seen onscreen, and to add scenes for Guinan. Characters from PAD's TOS comic also appeared in the story, since the novel was a sequel to the unresolved Cognoscenti threads from his TOS comic. Klingon albino dwarf Bernie, also from the comic, became Ambassador Kobry (new name from Konom and Bryce, Bernie's Starfleet guardians from the comic).

IIRC, PAD's next TNG novel pitch had Pulaski -- and he had to quickly replace her with Crusher!

 

[ace2k]

I wonder how many seasons have to go by before a demand builds up for novels. I heard Imazdi was written by the pilot of TNG.

If I remember correctly Ghost Ship was the one written before TNG aired. Diane Carey said she only had the series bible to work off of.

 

[The Wormhole]

If I remember correctly Ghost Ship was the one written before TNG aired. Diane Carey said she only had the series bible to work off of.

And included things from the bible that never made it into the show, like Riker hating Data.

 

[Set Harth]

When the new Star Wars movies were coming out, I know that a lot of the big questions (i.e. who is Snoke, Knights of Ren, etc) were only answered in comics and books.

The comics may have expanded on Snoke's role but it was ultimately a film that "answered" the question. I don't think the books contributed much. The TLJ novelization acted like it was going there but its revelations were mostly vague and ultimately pointless.