Star Trek (2009) novelization (finally) announced!
- Thread starter DarkHorizon
- Start date
I tend to think one of the current Trek novelists like Peter David, KRAD, David Mack, Dayton Ward etc etc etc would be a better choice, both because they know the material better and the Trek novelization might pull in readers to their other Trek books.
Still, ADF isn't a bad choice. His best years seem to have passed, but he's not bad.
Still, ADF isn't a bad choice. His best years seem to have passed, but he's not bad.
I'm happy with this. I don't expect much from a movie novel and I'm glad it's a Trek stalwart doing it rather than Terry Brooks or something.
I'm glad it's a Trade paperback because at the very least it will be pretty.
I'm glad it's a Trade paperback because at the very least it will be pretty.
I distinctly recall an early interview with the movie's writers where they said they expected to have a hand in "making of" books, and that was part of the fun of being involved. I'm expecting at least one, either an "Art of..." or "Making of..."
She's not known for fleshing out screenplays too much. And her two most recent original ST novels had mixed reviews.
???
ADF wrote ten collections of TAS adaptations, including all-new TAS adventures, several book/record stories and the story of TMP. How does he not know the material for TOS based stories at least as well as current Pocket authors, some of whom read ADF adaptations when they were youngsters?
Yeah, that gets to me as well - I prefer either the mass market paperback or a good old fashioned hardback. I know that's the way the production is going, but the trade paperbacks just don't... feel right. Probably just me being resistant to change, but I don't like them.
If it sells well, they'll probably do a MMPB reprint about a year later.
I rather like the trade paperbacks, although, the Next Gen anthology is far larger than the others I have and thus looks a little silly.
Did I read right the book will be out at the same time as the film? Well as the film is being released simultaneously here and the states (give or take a few hours) will we still have to wait for a few weeks or will it be shipped across for May 8th?
His novelisations of Clash of the Titans and The Thing are fantastic books.
I wouldn't count on it, though you never know. Most of Pocket's trade paperback originals have never been reprinted as mass market paperbacks.
That mirrors my thoughts as well. I met ADF at a con back in 1980 and I'm pleased to see that he'd going to handle this project. I'm also pleased that it will be released in TPB instead of hardcover; I probably will splurge for that.
I'm wondering how much of the ST: Countdown backstory will find its way into the novelization.
As much as this comment makes my morning (and it truly does - one of the nicest things a reader has ever said about my Trek work), I know I wouldn't be a good choice for such a project. Setting aside the fact that I'd love to do something like this, a number of factors are working against me in this case:
1) Name recognition. ADF has it, I don't. Not being negative or fishing for compliments; it's a simple fact. ADF has earned his stripes through decades of hard work in what often is a thankless, unappreciated field of writing.
2) Time. The time frame for turning in this manuscript is/will be brutal. I simply couldn't do it in the time allotted, not without sealing myself off from everything else going on in my life, which isn't really an option.
3) Hollywood Idiocy. If even half of what I've heard with regards to getting access to scripts in Hollywood is true so far as this script is concerned, I'm out from the get-go. I'd have to live in or near LA (which is a deal-breaker by itself - I don't live there, and never would want to) or be willing to travel there, be able and willing to go into a locked room at the studio and read the script - without being allowed to take notes - and then write the novelization based on what I could recall from my reading. Like I said, I don't know if this is the case with this script, but given the "veil of secrecy" surrounding the entire production....
Which leads to...
4) Me, and my general unwillingness to have to put up with anything described in #3.
I'm quite satisfied with ADF as the pick, and I'm hoping that his name/reputation will give him some pull as he works to write the book. I've only met him once, but it was enough to solidify every opinion I have on the man and how he goes about his craft. To use a turn of phrase I just learned yesterday, I think he'll pull a blinder on us.
It sounded like Alan Dean Foster was going to be collaborating with Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman on the book, so even if he didn't have access to the bank-vault structure in which the script is kept, he'd have access to their earlier drafts and notes on what scenes got cut, their philosophy behind the story and backstories of the characters, and how it fits in the context of everything else. I wonder if that collaboration is being done over email for the most part. Also, he's already seen the movie, and will likely see it several more times, in order to reconsile that research with what's made it on screen (of course that was in LA, though if he scored that gig I wonder if they'd trust him with a screener DVD).
Ahh, but would they know the material better in this case? This film is a return to basics, to old-school TOS-era Trek. So it makes sense that the choice of novelizer be the same. Alan Dean Foster novelized the entire animated series and wrote the story on which ST:TMP was based. He's strongly linked to the TOS era, and doesn't have any later-series ties to influence (didn't want to say "contaminate") his approach.
1) Because Foster is a bigger name. This movie is meant to be a fresh start, a mega-budget tentpole blockbuster with mass appeal. They're doing all they can to draw in audiences who've rarely or never watched Star Trek, to create a whole new audience for the franchise. Someone like Dillard, however well-known she is within the Trek reading audience, just isn't a familiar name to the general audience. Alan Dean Foster, on the other hand, is just about the most famous SF/fantasy novelization author on the planet.
2) Because a couple of the producers on the film are huge Trek fans going way back, and meeting and working with ADF was no doubt a fantasy come true for them.
Probably not much, due to the different schedules on which novels and comics are made; novels need a lot more lead time. Any common backstory the two tie-ins have will probably just be stuff that Kurtzman & Orci had in mind all along, rather than anything conceived specifically by the Countdown scripters.
Mine was "The Naked And The Dead."
I learned a lot of vocabulary from it.
My spelling was fugged up for years, though.
Dr No was mine, I think
I kind of have to question this statement, because Dillard does flesh out screenplays quite a bit in her novelisations. Her novel of Star Trek V adds so much depth to Sybok's character and back story that it makes the book for a more pleasant experience than the movie, and her novel of Star Trek VI adds a lot of background detail to the political climate regarding the Klingons, also weaving in a renewed romance for Kirk with Carol Marcus and giving Kirk a greater motivation for his bitterness against the Klingons. The adaptation of Generations not only includes added scenes in the "Kirk era" that feature Spock and McCoy, but also fleshes out the Nexus sequences and makes clearer the appeal the Nexus has for Kirk and for Soran.
Now, the other reasons given for why Dillard wasn't chosen for this assignment make total sense, but the expanded stories of her novelisations were always part of the appeal of those books for me.
I'm psyched - I am a big Foster fan... and I thought he might be doing it.
Although I understand there's an obvious "conflict," I'm also very pleased that he says the movie is "really, really good" - we're talking about a guy who has novelized classics like Star Wars and Alien, and who taught cinema at UCLA, so I think he knows a good sci-fi movie when he sees one.
ADF really is a fine writer and I've longed for his return to the Trek universe for a long time (it's amazing how much he can flesh out the sparse TAS plots into fully enjoyable novellas - I'm excited to see what he'll do for the movie).
I'm not an old-school fan, but I am an ADF fan, so this pleases me greatly!
By the way, I'd love to suggest that anybody interested in getting to know some of his better original fiction check out the Spellsinger series. He's most famous for the Pip & Flinx books, but the Spellsinger books are absolutely the most fun thing I've ever read.
Although I understand there's an obvious "conflict," I'm also very pleased that he says the movie is "really, really good" - we're talking about a guy who has novelized classics like Star Wars and Alien, and who taught cinema at UCLA, so I think he knows a good sci-fi movie when he sees one.
ADF really is a fine writer and I've longed for his return to the Trek universe for a long time (it's amazing how much he can flesh out the sparse TAS plots into fully enjoyable novellas - I'm excited to see what he'll do for the movie).
I'm not an old-school fan, but I am an ADF fan, so this pleases me greatly!
By the way, I'd love to suggest that anybody interested in getting to know some of his better original fiction check out the Spellsinger series. He's most famous for the Pip & Flinx books, but the Spellsinger books are absolutely the most fun thing I've ever read.
It's not judging a book by its cover. It's judging a book by its size, and the general issues of unwieldiness and jacked-up prices attendant thereto.
Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman
Similar threads
