Summer nuTrek novels pulled-TrekMovie.Com

[toughlittleship]

How quickly could an omnibus of Cathedral, Lesser Evil, Unity and Rising Son be put together?

 

[DGCatAniSiri]

Except SCE doesn't come out in MMPB, it comes out in TPB.

Actually SCE started out as MMPBs and then switched to TPBs at some point. The first 7 SCE collections were MMPBs and the one from the 8th one onwards were TPBs.

Alright, let's pretend I said 'SCE doesn't come out in MMPB anymore.' Or COE, if you want to get picky about the series title. At any rate, currently that line does not come out in MMPB, which means it wouldn't fill the open slots.

 

[Thrawn]

^ Or they could just release the next ones in MMPB anyway. There are only four in the next collection, What's Past has 6, but then you could make two more 4-story collections out of the remaining ones, so they could all be MMPB with What's Past being the only stretch.

 

[snakespeare]

Whether or not you or I think they are or are not locked into anything is irrelevant (best Tuvok voice). They own the rights to the images that Pocket Books wants on the covers. And they seem to want creative freedom. Therefore, the fact that novels aren't canon means nothing to them. They earned Paramount a lot of money, and that's the bottom line. If they feel it would inhibit their creativity, then there is nothing for it but to get out of their way.

You're contradicting yourself. Given that the books aren't canonical, why would they feel their creativity was being inhibited in any way?

Let's keep a sense of perspective here. Out of every 100 people who see the next Star Trek movie in the theater, maybe 1 or 2 would read these books. To the overwhelming majority of the audience, the existence of these tie-in novels would be not just irrelevant, but totally unknown. Star Trek is a film and television franchise. Books based on Star Trek are just a very minor side business in comparison, too minor to be in any way restrictive on the creativity of the people who are actually in charge of Star Trek. Expecting the film franchise to be inhibited by what the books are doing is like expecting a charging elephant to be hobbled by a small bird landing on its back. It wouldn't even notice it was there.

So this has nothing to do with their creative process for the next film. ST is theirs to do with as they please. Now, maybe they don't want tie-in novels to conflict with the next movie (thought that's pure speculation), but if so, then their concern would be only about the novels, wanting them to hold off until they could be made consistent with the next movie. There's no way it could have any effect on the movie itself. That's going to follow its own course regardless of what any of its tie-ins do, because it is so very much huger than they are.

All I'm saying is that OUR long-held statement that novels are not canon means nothing to the film team. What is important TO THEM is their creative processes. All the logic in the world won't change it because writers are generally non-rational regarding their processes, whether it be favorite pens, favorite music, no music, or the existence of another story set in the same time period. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about.

 

[8of5]

Conspiracy theorists might want to note Roberto Orci's comment on the TrekMovie report:

"Nothing to do with it. Would’ve liked to read the novels myself, but I may have had to resist!"

--

I'm disappointed, I was looking forward to having this new timeline expanded upon, especially Greg Cox's Spock-prime novel. And it seems bizarrely late to have a change of heart, what a waste of work by the writers! I hope once the script for the next movie is done Pocket are allowed to know enough about it to go ahead and feel safe to bring these books out Before the next movie, so we don’t have to wait forever!

On the other hand if this is an attempt to avoid creating contradictions in the "expanded universe" I really hope they bother to keep it and for example bother to coordinate with IDW to keep the new timeline one cohesive whole. I was disappointed no such intension was announced when these novels were first brought up, this is a perfect opportunity to Avoid the messy alternate continuities and canon issues that plague the prime universe.

 

[Christopher]

All I'm saying is that OUR long-held statement that novels are not canon means nothing to the film team. What is important TO THEM is their creative processes. All the logic in the world won't change it because writers are generally non-rational regarding their processes, whether it be favorite pens, favorite music, no music, or the existence of another story set in the same time period. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about.

I know enough about what you're talking about to know you don't know what you're talking about. Don't presume to generalize about writers' thought processes. We're as diverse as any other group.

And you're still contradicting yourself. The filmmakers are the ones who create canon. So yes, they have the power to say the books would count as canon, but it's getting it completely backwards to think that means they'd be bound by what we did. If they wanted the books to be compatible with canon, then they'd require us to be bound by their guidance. That's what canon means -- material that originates from the primary source, the creators or owners of the property.

Anyway, thanks to 8of5, we now know that this decision has nothing to do with the screenwriters. So can we let this go, please?

 

[snakespeare]

You want to let it go? No problem. But there is no contradiction, and I did not generalize. If you want to let it go, don't say things that require me to explain myself.

I will gladly let it go, as I respect you and it is what you wish.

But if someone else does want to talk about it, and I don't reply, they should know that I am respecting your wishes.

p.s. I do know what I am talking about.

 

[DigificWriter]

Regarding Orci's comments, they only reinforce my ire towards Pocket over the explanation they gave, and only reinforces my point that said explanation is a whole bunch of BS.

 

[Lonemagpie]

Regarding Orci's comments, they only reinforce my ire towards Pocket over the explanation they gave, and only reinforces my point that said explanation is a whole bunch of BS.

They may not know the marketing chimps' reasoning - or may be ordered not to complain about getting shafted by said chimps.

 

[JarodRussell]

Haha, I knew it that it was WAY too early for tie-in literature. Don't say I didn't warn you.

 

[Reanok]

I'm very suprised the 4 movie tie in novels have been canceled by Pocket Books. I wonder what they'll have in place of the planned novels for the Summer schedule?I'm sorry that the writers of the novels and fans are disappointed they won't be coming out this summer. I wouldn't mind Slings & Arrows coming out as a large Trade Paperback Omnibus this summer .

 

[Julio Angel Ortiz]

How quickly could an omnibus of Cathedral, Lesser Evil, Unity and Rising Son be put together?

Yes, this please.

 

[JoeP]

You want to let it go? No problem. But there is no contradiction, and I did not generalize. If you want to let it go, don't say things that require me to explain myself.

I will gladly let it go, as I respect you and it is what you wish.

But if someone else does want to talk about it, and I don't reply, they should know that I am respecting your wishes.

p.s. I do know what I am talking about.

Hey, feel free to talk about anything you want to. Don't feel you have to "respect his wishes". Who cares what he wants? He can stop reading your posts if he has a problem.

 

[JarodRussell]

Nobody's been "ripped off." We met our contractual obligations to produce these manuscripts and were compensated accordingly. Beyond that point, the manuscripts are the property of CBS to do with as they choose.

Would you say you've been ripped off when your manuscript appears on screen and all you got was only that compensation?

 

[Allyn Gibson]

And re: Lonemagpie's comment: yes, Justin would have banged out 4 novels in that time period. That man is a machine.

I once had this mad dream six or seven years ago of Marco and Justin swapping jobs for a year. Justin editing the Star Trek novels, Marco editing the Doctor Who novels. It was a mad dream.

 

[JarodRussell]

It seems pretty obvious to me that they consider the storylines of those novels for their script amongst other ideas, like the Khan reboot. And until they made up their mind, those books won't see the light of day.

 

[snakespeare]

Regarding Orci's comments, they only reinforce my ire towards Pocket over the explanation they gave, and only reinforces my point that said explanation is a whole bunch of BS.

Do you mean this explanation?

After careful consideration, we decided to hold off on telling new stories while JJ and his team continue to develop his vision.

Because it makes sense to me. There are four people on that team, as near as I can tell.

Joe, if I were Christopher I would be in a bad mood today. Wouldn't you? So, I will defer to him.

(((rolling downhill))) as... you... wiiiiiiish...

 

[Dayton Ward]

Would you say you've been ripped off when your manuscript appears on screen and all you got was only that compensation?

I doubt it, since he has the same time of contracts I do, which state that such a thing could happen, and that's the way it goes, because I'm writing a work for hire and all the rights to that work belong to the license owner.

Such is the life of a media tie-in writer.

 

[snakespeare]

I was confused about Roberto Orci's statement. If he wants to read the novels, isn't he entitled to review them in manuscript?

 

[JarodRussell]

Would you say you've been ripped off when your manuscript appears on screen and all you got was only that compensation?

I doubt it, since he has the same time of contracts I do, which state that such a thing could happen, and that's the way it goes, because I'm writing a work for hire and all the rights to that work belong to the license owner.

Such is the life of a media tie-in writer.

No offense, but that sounds spineless if that is really your opinion. Yeah, it's in the contract, but just because it's in there it's right? It's your manuscript, and someone else rewrites it for film and just because it's for film, he gets a much larger paycheck and you get nothing more (I'm theoretically speaking here, because I'm pretty sure this will not happen with those 4 novels and the new movie's script). I'd consider that being ripped off, no matter what the contract says. While I see that you have to live with what you get most of the time, I don't see why you have to accept it at the same time.