Trek book Relaunch questions
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^I'm kind of a continuity hound myself, and PAD is one of the worst offenders. I actually posted a mini-rant in the "So...what are you reading" thread earlier today. I just finished Treason a few days ago, so my feelings are still fresh
I will go read that thread and your contribution.
I'm with you guys. NF's semi inconsistancies with the rest of Trek Lit drive me crazy. Now it's because I want everything to be incontinuity, it's more due to the fact that it seems like the other authors seem to be trying to include it, but then PAD comes along and does stuff like Desma.
The annoying thing is that many of these inconsistancies are of no real importance to the plot and could easily be changed; throwaway lines or such. Of course, no author is required to keep their work consistant with everyone elses, and if Peter David decides to go in another direction from the mainstream, that's his perogative (sadly, what I want isn't the major concern of the authors 
). However, I do find myself wondering why loose ends aren't tied up when the story being told would not be altered or deviated from by tighter conformity. I'm probably moaning too much here, but, hey, given all the nice things I've said about Trek lit here, all the gushing I do, I guess I'm allowed a grumble every now and then .
). However, I do find myself wondering why loose ends aren't tied up when the story being told would not be altered or deviated from by tighter conformity. I'm probably moaning too much here, but, hey, given all the nice things I've said about Trek lit here, all the gushing I do, I guess I'm allowed a grumble every now and then .
Huh?
Andorians have traditionally been called a "warrior race" in most of their novel appearances, and have acted suitably feisty and proud, predating Peter David's entry as a ST novelist. Their main mention in TNG was describing a group of Andorian rebels.
What's so bad about "shaky at best"? In "Spock's World", Vulcan was ready to withdraw from the UFP.
Huh? We've been given only glimpses of Desma, and what is "unique" about her?
Huh?
Now I'm really puzzled. What "major problem"? That all Andorians must all act the same?
I don't see that PAD's portrayal of Cray ("Once Burned") and Desma are all that far removed from Shran and Talas as to be a "major problem". They are feisty, proud members of a warrior race.
Does what with Desma?
Simply that "New Frontier", as mentioned earlier in this thread, tends to stand a little apart from other Trek lit series. I apologise if I was unclear; this is all simply my personal take on Trek lit, and my attempts to reconcile all the interpretations wherever possible. It's entirely subjective. There is no problem objectively, of course, it's just that I enjoy trying to balance these things
Ah, that's a pre-21st century book, so I don't include it in my personal Trek lit universe. Of course, you've been working with Andorians for far, far longer than I, Therin. Your perspective is much wider.
Also, yes, they've always been passionate warriors, and as I said many novels have shown the political situation on Andor to be volatile, but New Frontier suggests it is to the point of Andor being a marginalized or semi-hostile world (or so I read it), which is at odds with other portrayals of Andor as a leading core world of the Federation (most importantly, DS9 episodes strongly suggested this). I hope it doesn't appear as though I'm pointlessly New Frontier-bashing, mind you. While it's not high on my list of series, I do enjoy New Frontier.
"After the Fall" mentioned that there are no Andorians in command positions, leading to a perception of bias. Starfleet wanted an Andorian in such a position as soon as possible. However, in other novels there are plenty of Andorian captains and Admirals, and Andorians don't appear to be "under-represented" at all.
Indeed, it's not the individual portrayals, but the incompatible overviews of the culture's position in the Federation and Starfleet. Of course, again I'll mention that my limiting sources to canon and 21st century Trek lit, plus my obssession with continuity, might well limit my perspective here. By "major problem", I simply meant my personal efforts to reconcile different interpretations of the Trek universe. It's a personal thing, there's certainly no objective problem
.
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I'd argue that there has never been a definitive or consistent description of the Andorian culture's position in the Federation and Starfleet.
And our only glimpses of the homeworld have been ENT's "The Aenar", Pocket's "Andor: Paradigm" and IDW's "Andorian Spotlight".
I suppose we might say I'm trying to create one for personal enjoyment, and the only stumbling block left in the realm of canon and 21st century Trek lit is New Frontier.
My attempts to link everything up are entirely for my own enjoyment. Despite my signature below, I'm not obssessive about continuity to the point of being unreasonable. Attempting to reconcile every interpretation would be impossible and silly. I just like to try with "modern" (by my perspective) Trek lit and canon. PS. I feel somewhat intimidated arguing on the subject of Andorians with Therin of Andor!
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Well, just thinking about different countries of Earth - there is no one right way to describe any of them politically. Each other country with interactions with once particular locale would attribute different motivations to them, depending on their own political situation, so I don't see that PAD has done anything with Andor that can't sit beside any other interpretations.
You're probably right. When you phrase it that way, it certainly helps ease the inconsistancy. Perhaps it was a little foolish of me to take Kat Mueller's interpretation of the situation at face value as a statement of "fact". Anyway, my personal attempts to reconcile everything don't interfere with my enjoyment of Trek, and I certainly wouldn't wish to impose it on anyone else!
I'll try to explain, because I'm not very clear and my constant babbling about continuity must be vexing. My experience of "Star Trek" consists of canon and 21st century Trek lit. That's what I grew up with, so "my" Star Trek universe has always been mostly unified, given the tendency for these books to remain consistant (with a fair few holes, of course, given that it isn't mandatory- nor should be, I think we can all agree). I tend to take continuity issues seriously, then, because it's a luxury I can afford with my narrower experience. Of course, you, Therin, have been an active part of the fan community since a decade before my birth, and your experience of Trek is much wider, incorporating what I imagine must be many reinterpretations and tie-in material that was not so unified. I can afford to try and build a single Andorian culture, because the only interpretations I need to work with are canon (Enterprise in particular), DS9-relaunch material (which most other 21st century Trek books use) and New Frontier. The first two have now been unified by "The Good That Men Do" and "The Chimes at Midnight", so that leaves only New Frontier. I imagine you've seen so many interpretations of Andorians that an attempt to build one consistant culture would be impossible, and quite foolish. What's more, I imagine many people wouldn't see the point, instead enjoying the various ideas presented. Continuity mania like mine can't easily exist outside my narrow slice of Trek history!
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Or, you could just roll up into a ball. Convenience of being a sentient pill bug.
Why does there have to be one over-arching culture? ENT showed us that "The Aenar" kept their culture separate from other Andorian clines for decades - they were believed by many to be extinct. Do you think Earth will ever have one over-arching culture, or will we continue to be a host of interrelating ones? When we see that even localised Earth accents are preserved into the 24th century?
Or, you could just roll up into a ball. Convenience of being a sentient pill bug.
That's the coward's way out!
Ah, well, again I probably didn't phrase it as well as I could have. You're right, it is more likely Andorians, like anyone else, maintain a mix of distinct cultures, sub-cultures and communities. Perhaps I should have said I'm aiming for a unity of interlocking cultures built up into a functioning planetary society. Given that political unity is a requirement for Federation membership, I assume Andor will have a sense of an overarching political/national identity in addition to the cultural diversity we might expect it to demonstrate internally. As you say, though, examples such as the Aenar prove that we- or I, I suppose
- should be wary of being too hasty to throw all appearances by a species into one watertight cultural model. It wasn't my intention to do so,but I see my methods run that risk, something I would definately want to avoid.
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Of course, but its discussion of Andorian history and the reconciliation of Enterprise depictions of Andor and its appearance in "Paradigm" points to events predating Spock's birth and the divergence of that timeline (if I remember correctly). Until a prime-timeline story shows anything different, I'm accepting "The Chimes at Midnight's" ideas.
Ah, well, there we are then
. Straight from the Zabathu's mouth, so to speak.
Apparently both. I suspect that Andoria is the more Anglicized version.
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