Which Trek novel would make the best film and why ?

[TerraUnam]

See, I wanted to say a fair bit, but Chris Bennett beat me to it.

Jasminder Choudury and Miranda Kadohata are both excellent portrayals of professional officers who happen to be women. One has a fling with another officer after losing her entire world (common enough both IRL and in literature) and the other has nagging trouble balancing her career and family.

As for T'Ryssa Chen, this is a character that was long overdue. Spock created a stereotype that Lt. Chen butts up all the time, both in the books and in readers minds. She eats tropes for breakfast. Notice how Picard always had the "juvenile" Wesley or Data around to balance out his fatherly character. Chen has taken that role over well and added a good deal to it besides.

BTW I think a meeting between T'Ryss a Chen and Spock would be .... interesting.

 

[William Leisner]

Again the urge to find the next Trek babe has turned more than half the crew into hotties. While this may appeal to young male fans, the allure of Trek on TV is the thoughtful nature of the stories.

I would just like to point out at this juncture that, given the opportunity to give Jill Rosado some "screen time," I made the conscious choice of not making her another young, good-looking woman, but a 70ish grandmother launching her second career.

As for the suggestion that it was never deemed important to cast attractive actresses on Star Trek... in what alternate timeline?

 

[Sci]

Maybe I'm not hip to the new way of thinking, as the Abramsverse seems utterly exploitive of women, too.

ST09 gave Uhura more of a personality than she's ever had in the canon, and it was just as happy to objectify men. It's certainly a film with some sexuality, but it's pretty equal-opportunity objectification.

So maybe the fanboy wet dreams that permeate some of these Trek books

. . .

What the hell are you talking about?

What fanboy wet dreams?

Have you ever actually had a wet dream? Have you ever actually read erotica? 'Cause TrekLit doesn't come anywhere close to either.

. And nobody would believe that Picard would sort-of adopt this loose cannon, who obviously needs counseling, not an assignment as a bridge officer.

I guess you never saw any episodes with Ro Laren.

Actually I like T'Ryssa, I am just talking about a pattern I see. In TOS, people could barely touch each other. Now it seems we have to keep making girlfriends for Worf. There are a lot of soap operas on TV. Trek should be intelligent.

... so when people have relationships, they're being un-intelligent? Depictions of relationships are inherently unintelligent things? Or are inherently sexist things -- it's not possible to depict a romance between two consenting adults without that depiction disempowering women?

And you know, I am not kidding when I say that Hindu people do not hold hands in public. You can get away with that tucked into some short-run tie-in novel, but if you did this on TV, there would be a backlash.

And as the authors have said, Jasminder isn't Hindu. Her beliefs are a combination of beliefs that doesn't exist today. Syncretism is a real phenomenon, and just as there are belief systems today that did not exist four hundred years ago and which would have been mostly unrecognizable to people from the 16th Century (Mormonism, for instance), there are beliefs in the Trekverse that do not exist and would be mostly unrecognizable to people today.

 

[Mysterion]

As for T'Ryssa Chen, this is a character that was long overdue. Spock created a stereotype that Lt. Chen butts up all the time, both in the books and in readers minds. She eats tropes for breakfast.

Agreed. I like tha t a lot of the myths about vulcans are being destroyed. Especially the whole monolithic "ain't got no emotions" thing. They got them. Big time. And worse then not haivng them, they try to suppress them. A therapist could make a mint on Vulcan with the right advertising support. Enterprise also went a long way in this direction.

BTW I think a meeting between T'Ryss a Chen and Spock would be .... interesting.

Oh, yeah, I want to see that.

 

[Christopher]

And as the authors have said, Jasminder isn't Hindu. Her beliefs are a combination of beliefs that doesn't exist today.

That's not what I've said. Jasminder is basically Hindu, but she's interested in the study of all belief systems and agrees with the great Hindu thinker Swami Vivekananda that all religions are fingers on the same hand, different ways of expressing the same universal truth. There's far more diversity in Hindu belief than snakespeare insists on alleging. After all, there are a billion Hindus, mostly in India but all over the world; obviously that many people aren't going to be anything close to uniform.

And besides, although there are religious people in Trek's human society, they're also products of that society, a society that values inclusion and diversity and has traffic with hundreds of alien cultures. So it stands to reason that religious people in the Federation, whether Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, or whatever, would tend to have a cosmopolitan, inclusive view of religion rather than a conservative, fundamentalist view. They wouldn't see a contradiction between belonging to one faith and being curious about others.

 

[JD]

Actually I like T'Ryssa, I am just talking about a pattern I see. In TOS, people could barely touch each other. Now it seems we have to keep making girlfriends for Worf. There are a lot of soap operas on TV. Trek should be intelligent.

WFT? How exactly does people being in relationships make something unintelligent? Did you ever watch the new Battlestar Galactica? That show had a ton of sex (and in the last two DVD releases nudity) and yet I believe most people consider it one of the smartest shows on TV in the last few years. Same goes for Lost, Rome ( I'm pretty sure Rome would be considered intelligent), and Dexter ( I consider it intelligent).

 

[Christopher]

In TOS, people could barely touch each other.

Since when? There was plenty of "touching" going on in TOS. It was an extremely sexy show by the standards of its day. Kirk got plenty of action, Spock, McCoy, Scotty, and Chekov all had romantic interests, and in general the show pushed the limits of sensuality as far as '60s censorship would permit.

 

[Corran Horn]

Federation would be a nice mini-series. Vendetta would've made a pretty good movie.

 

[Therin of Andor]

p.s. I am not offend by this, your THIRD ATTEMPT to call me a racist. I know myself. I am proud of my work.

Which has nothing to do with racism. If people are misinterpreting your comments, it usually means there's a communication problem.

And I don't care about the judgement of sexist people like you!

Why do I feel like I missed a staff meeting here? Who are you saying is sexist? Christopher?

I know you're reading the new TNG books, but are you actually reading them?

 

[Sci]

I know you're reading the new TNG books, but are you actually reading them?

Apparently any time a female character has a relationship with a male character, that means the book is automatically objectifying and disempowering that female character. For the sake of having "hotties."

Who knew?

 

[Deranged Nasat]

So maybe the fanboy wet dreams that permeate some of these Trek books are better raw material, not worse, and a guy like me is just meant for a more politically correct era. *shrug* I doubt any of it could withstand a feminist critique.

And what of that "feminist critique"? Could it in turn withstand the many critiques offered of feminist theories, movements and ideologies by a great many other people? Some of whom, myself included, find feminism a reactionary and highly conservative ideology that refuses to realize it is such, and essentially work in opposition to it? If we're discussing issues of gender, sex, sexuality, etc, the first thing to realize is that these are very complex issues, with many, many interpretations. Many branches of feminism, all different and offering opposing views on many issues, many non-feminist and anti-feminist perspectives (and, no, anti-feminist does NOT equate to backwards sexism or misogyny, despite what certain branches of feminism have encouraged society to believe. Anti-feminist means opposed to the ideology of feminism, not opposed to women or the original women's movements goals. It's in the name) in addition to them, and pretty much each individual with their own take on things. To claim your viewpoint, or the particular "feminist critique" you have in mind (because there are many varied feminist outlooks), has some sort of claim to absolute authority or morality seems an act of great arrogance to me. Plus, "political correctness" is merely an attempt to claim moral superiority and shut down discussion by insisting that "all upright and moral people support this". So I'm afraid I must respectfully say, you are welcome to a "politically correct era", I want nothing to do with it. "Correct" political ideology is a form of tyranny. As someone who has many issues with most branches of feminism and disagrees with many of their interpretations, I don't want to be told they are "Correct", and that their particular ideological perspective is the moral, right one, end of story.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Not so much movies, but I think a great many books would make good episodes, both single or multi-part. I could start a list, but I'd probably be a fairly standard "fave books" one.

Just nothing by Sondra Marshak & Myrna Culbreath. Ever.

 

[Captaindemotion]

While I have enjoyed many, many Trek novels, I can't think of too many that would make good movies. Some of the most cinematic, like Federation, are now incompatible with canon. Others, such as Ex Machina, Vulcan's Forge and others are quite character-driven and philosophical and would probably make for slow movies. Some have been clearly written in a way that allows them to explore characters' thoughts and emotions in a way that movies and tv series have been unable to and thus would lose a lot of their purpose if filmed. And others, like the DS9 Millennium trilogy or the Shatnerverse series, are too epic and long to translate to the big screen.

I think the makers of the current movies have been wise to look to Treklit for ideas and themes to adapt and put their own stamp on, rather than straight adaptations. I'd suggest that Prime Directive coould well be the starting basis for a movie in the current continuity.

 

[Paris]

I tend to agree that Star Trek works best in a TV format. Movies are a very different animal and not everything that is "Star Trek" translates well to two hour action adventure format. So when adapting the concept to Film something has to give. (For better or worse). I think the same can be said when adapting a novel to film or a TV show to a novel. A lot of Trek novels would lose too much when making the leap to the large or small screen.

I love both trek on tv and trek on the movie screen, but I think Trek works best in novel form. This is why Destiny would need to be made into a mini-series if it ever when live action, because it could never be one 2-hour movie and still be Destiny. The screenwriter would have no choice but to butcher it.

I love that most of the books now come out at 300+ pages and are tied into one another loosely via a unified effort to keep things within a tied together continuity. I haven't felt the sting of a trek-free life for years because of the good people at Pocket and the writers who are truly bigger fanboys than the rest of us and treat this franchise with the reverence it deserves.

 

[snakespeare]

He called me a racist when I asked why someone who everyone says looks Vulcan has to be played by an "Asian". This was based on no knowledge of me or my life or my beliefs. As I say, I know myself. But I will not have my values pissed on by a man who exploits women the way he does. Therefore, I am holding him up to the same level of criticism. If I am a racist merely for asking a question, he is a sexist. And it it time for me to chill out. Go ahead and defend the arrogant bum. His ego isn't big enough already.

 

[RookieBatman]

Apologies for almost derailing the thread back there. As to the original topic, my first choice would be Federation, but only in the fantasy sense of having the original casts in their youth (to include Glenn Corbett and Elinor Donahue). As for things that could actually be achieved now, honestly, I would have to say anything. I may not like every single piece of Star Trek that is produced, but I'll certainly give anything a fair try. The more Trek stories in production, the better, I say.

I do like all this talk of mini-series', though. I like it when stories last longer than a couple hours, so the mini-series (or even unlimited series) format would be perfect for me. If they did something like that with Vanguard or Destiny, line me up, I'd watch.

I'm surprised nobody's said New Frontier, though. That could make a pretty good series, couldn't it?

 

[LightningStorm]

He called me a racist when I asked why someone who everyone says looks Vulcan has to be played by an "Asian". This was based on no knowledge of me or my life or my beliefs. As I say, I know myself. But I will not have my values pissed on by a man who exploits women the way he does. Therefore, I am holding him up to the same level of criticism. If I am a racist merely for asking a question, he is a sexist. And it it time for me to chill out. Go ahead and defend the arrogant bum. His ego isn't big enough already.

Infraction for pretty clear-cut flaming.

Comments to PM

 

[GalaxyClass1701]

IMO The first Titan Novel!

 

[snakespeare]

I would like to see Aventine made into a TV show.

(ignore whatever else I said... sorry)

 

[TerraUnam]

IMO The first Titan Novel!

I second that, but Dr. Ree would be a bit difficult to portray without resorting to CGI, which brings its own wagonload of issues.

It would probably make the decisions over portraying the Andorians look like a cakewalk.