Alien of the book

[Therin of Andor]

IBut how many books have there been where a new alien species was created and later heavily focused on by other author's other than a name drop or a brief appearance?

Well, it'd be a bit rude for one ST author to play with another author's original race in such a way that it changes plans the first author might have had to use them again one day. So the authors tend to be respectful of each others' alien races. They'll name drop them, or cameo them, but not get too much into motivations or dark secrets.

There've been a few examples of sharing of aliens. The final "Double Helix" novel made big use of a Peter David "New Frontier" alien race for a main character.

KRAD's Damiano have turned up as main characters.

The books have developed the Efrosians beyond scant canonical information and shared it.

 

[Starbreaker]

I found the aliens in Mission Gamma: Twilight (I forgot their name, David, sorry) to be some of the most interesting aliens we've come across in a Star Trek novel in years and years. I get sick of reading about the Borg and the Bajorans sometime, and it's nice to have a new and refreshing take on the universe that's out there.

 

[JD]

Are you sure about the Bajorans, and Cardassians? Because I think I read somewhere that they were actually introduced to TNG specifically to set up DS9.

It's possible that the Bajorans were specifically introduced to set up for use in a spinoff, but the Cardassians weren't, given that they were introduced in the fourth season, before the notion of a spinoff was being discussed.

Oh, ok. I didn't realize the Cardassians were introduced that early.

You also might be mixing it up with the Maquis, which really was specificaly introduced into TNG and DS9 to set up Voyager.

I just checked Memory Alpha's entries for the Bajorans and Ensign Ro, and it didn't say anything about them being introduced for DS9, so I think you might be right there. My bad.

 

[Deano2099]

There've been a few examples of sharing of aliens. The final "Double Helix" novel made big use of a Peter David "New Frontier" alien race for a main character.

There's a Thallonian officer crop up in the DS9 relaunch too.

 

[Trent Roman]

From J.M. Dillard's Where No One Has Gone Before: A History in Pictures, p. 154:

The two [that's Rick Berman and Michael Piller - Trent] first considered using a starbase on an alien planet. Almost from the start, they were drawn to the planet Bajor. Part of its appeal had to do with the Bajoran people's conflict with the Cardassians. According to Berman, "We wanted to center the show around Bajor, which was part of the Cardassian Empire. That had been established in 'Ensign Ro,' which was that show that Michael and I had written a year ago. We realized that we certainly couldn't have the Klingons as bad guys and the Borg are not the kind of bad buys that are that practical to use on a regular basis [fascinating to have Rick Berman on record saying that - Trent]... and the Romulans just didn't excite us. So we decided to try to further develop the Cardassians, which will be a continuing process."

Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman

 

[JD]

Cool, thanks for sharing that, that really clears things up.

 

[Arpy]

I agree about wanting to see more pre-established aliens. It just makes sense. Some of them are important players that can and should be used again, but I think are just lost in the jumble more than passed over for other reasons. Also, different writers can experiment with them in the lit just like the canon aliens on the screen. Of course the Ferengi, but also the Klingons, Romulans, Cardassians, and Borg all changed over time.

This is something I've thought about before.

It's also I think disrespectful to the rarity of any alien life in the real world to overpopulate Trek's fictional one with WASPy foreheads-of-the-week. It's a matter of suspension-of-disbelief.

Here's a link to a thread I'd started some time ago with some of my favorite Trek lit aliens:

http://www.trekbbs.com/showthread.php?t=49389

I'm still curious about others' favorites. Otherwise, why dwell on them at all? Or, you know what, I'd otherwise be curious what aliens we haven't seen others would want to.

 

[David R. George III]

I found the aliens in Mission Gamma: Twilight (I forgot their name, David, sorry) to be some of the most interesting aliens we've come across in a Star Trek novel in years and years. I get sick of reading about the Borg and the Bajorans sometime, and it's nice to have a new and refreshing take on the universe that's out there.

They would be the Vahni Vahltupali. Thanks for mentioning them, Tyler. I spent a good deal of time and effort in attempting to make the Vahni alien yet still somehow accessible to the reader. I even gave their species a moniker that seemed different than the norm. In writing them, I found myself liking their society a great deal, and I consequently came up with some future plans for them. Whether or not those plans will ever reach fruition remains an unknown at this point.

 

[Therin of Andor]

It's also I think disrespectful to the rarity of any alien life in the real world to overpopulate Trek's fictional one with WASPy foreheads-of-the-week. It's a matter of suspension-of-disbelief.

Of course, the Screen Actors Guild only supplies WASPy ones in the most plentiful supply. I believe GR once also said something along the lines of, If an alien is going to be delivering lines, then I want to see the actor's eyes.

One of the strengths of the first few arcs of the LA Times post-TMP comic strip - and the first Marvel comic series (set in the same period) - was that the great array of "new" Federation races barely glimpsed in TMP were being featured as guest characters, and populating background scenes.

Of course, the reason we never saw them talking on-screen was that most were over-the-head latex masks (similar to DS9's Morn, but not nearly as sophisticated - yet) and the actors couldn't talk in them. Hence the Rhaandarite ensign - the most humanoid of the lot - was the one to get the one line of dialog on film. I remember Fred Phillips saying that when he started making all the alien masks, GR had planned there'd be a banquet scene, similar to "Journey to Babel", and that the bantering ambassadors would be interrupted to be informed about the mysterious cloud heading to Earth.

The early Pocket novels (and ST II) missed the boat by not exploring them, or at lest revisiting them. Many years later, Christopher Bennett's "Ex Machina", being a novel without makeup restrictions, and a direct follow-up to TMP, did a great job in reminding everyone who these races were, how fascinating they could be - and it's great that many specimens of these species have secured themselves prominent places in other novel series now.

 

[Sxottlan]

I like the idea of exploring species already part of the Federation. There's certainly enough of them. It's one of the reasons I so loved Jarman's SCE book on Pattie and her homeworld. It was alien enough, but also still part of the Federation and I loved seeing what changes, if any, they made to adapt to being members and what they didn't have to change.

 

[Starbreaker]

I found the aliens in Mission Gamma: Twilight (I forgot their name, David, sorry) to be some of the most interesting aliens we've come across in a Star Trek novel in years and years. I get sick of reading about the Borg and the Bajorans sometime, and it's nice to have a new and refreshing take on the universe that's out there.

They would be the Vahni Vahltupali. Thanks for mentioning them, Tyler. I spent a good deal of time and effort in attempting to make the Vahni alien yet still somehow accessible to the reader. I even gave their species a moniker that seemed different than the norm. In writing them, I found myself liking their society a great deal, and I consequently came up with some future plans for them. Whether or not those plans will ever reach fruition remains an unknown at this point.

Okay, I'm not embarrassed by not remembering the name. That's a little complicated.

 

[DS9Continuing]

Yay! More Vahni! I loved them, they were sweethearts.

 

[Arpy]

I believe GR once also said something along the lines of, If an alien is going to be delivering lines, then I want to see the actor's eyes.

But this is Trek lit - you never "see" anyone's eyes.

Besides, what's he saying? Ray Charles or Stevie Wonder would never have been permitted to guest star on Trek in some holodeck simulation or whatever? Maybe Roddenberry liked the eyes' ability to communicate non-verbally, or maybe he was just giving spin because they couldn't afford heavier make-up or Farscape/Star Wars-like muppets, but the man had no absolute pro-eye agenda or there'd never been aliens like the Horta.

P.S. Sorry if I sound terse. Don't mean to be a jerk - just mean to say "work with me hear people." What are we saying about Star Trek...about ourselves if we can't deal with actually alien aliens? "Here, writer, no budget. You sorta have to deal with all these norms that are Star Trek because of on-screen budgetary issues, but go for it. Whaddaya got?" ...It's not like on-screen Trek's any different: look at the Klingons in TMP after Trek got some real money to work with. Heck, they created an entire language for them and they were only on screen for a few minutes! The Lincoln quote comes to mind: "Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want test a man'scharacter, give him power."

P.S.S. There's a lot of text on the Net, and you chose to read mine. Thanks you.

 

[Thrawn]

I believe GR once also said something along the lines of, If an alien is going to be delivering lines, then I want to see the actor's eyes.

But this is Trek lit - you never "see" anyone's eyes.

Besides, what's he saying? Ray Charles or Stevie Wonder would never have been permitted to guest star on Trek in some holodeck simulation or whatever? Maybe Roddenberry liked the eyes' ability to communicate non-verbally, or maybe he was just giving spin because they couldn't afford heavier make-up or Farscape/Star Wars-like muppets, but the man had no absolute pro-eye agenda or there'd never been aliens like the Horta.

You use words in strange ways. You think it's "disrespectful" to populate the Star Trek universe with human-like aliens? I don't think that the fact of the rarity of intelligent life in the universe will get its feelings hurt.

You respond to that post by calling it a "pro-eye agenda". Uhh, again, I don't think Roddenberry had an eye fetish. Star Trek was, primarily, a series of parables meant to reflect on the actual lives of people. Usually, that meant casting aliens that resembled humanity, including in their ability to emote, necessitating human-like faces. In other episodes, the goal was different, like indicating just how weird life could be. In those episodes, as the aliens weren't meant to reflect directly on humanity, they could be stranger.

And I think Therein's point was that the lit *does* have more of these weird aliens than the movies did. Which is what you want. He was explaining the motivations for not doing so in TV. In books, there are no human faces to emote at all (as you pointed out) so there's no need for characters to resemble humans to reflect on them. And thus: they don't. Like in Titan, where just about every other new species is really weird.

 

[Therin of Andor]

the man had no absolute pro-eye agenda or there'd never been aliens like the Horta.

The only time the horta delivered lines, though, they were burned into a stone floor, or said through the lips of a Vulcan.

What are we saying about Star Trek...about ourselves if we can't deal with actually alien aliens? "Here, writer, no budget. You sorta have to deal with all these norms that are Star Trek because of on-screen budgetary issues, but go for it.

ST had plenty of very alien aliens, but the ones who delivered lines had to be believeably capable of articulation. How did the Salt Vampire deliver lines? As Nancy Crater or Crewman Green. How did the Gorn, with its immobile mouth and fly-like eyes deliver lines? Via a Universal Translator, translated as a computerized humanoid voice.

look at the Klingons in TMP after Trek got some real money to work with. Heck, they created an entire language for them and they were only on screen for a few minutes!

And you could still see their eyes.

"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want test a man's character, give him power."

The power of the five senses, especially sight and speech.

^And many thanks, Thrawn. Yes, that's exactly what I was saying.