Fan who is somewhat "out of the loop"

[Kerberos]

Greetings everyone. This is my first post here so I apologize in advance if this subject has been discussed to death. I did some poking around and couldn't find anything.

So long story short, I'm a fan of ST but due to lifestyle changes (getting married, kids etc) I haven't been able to really "keep up" with the Star Trek Universe. I watched TOS, TNG, DS9 up to season 2 and then stopped. Recently I got the DVD's for all the DS9 seasons and watched them through. I'm now on season 4 of Voyager. I've seen all the movies including the new 2009 Star Trek.

Anyways, the point of my rambling is that I've been reading some ST novels and honestly, there is a lot of events I haven't even heard of. Also, my brother gives me his Star Trek magazines after he's done with them and I noticed in the last few issues there are "Time Lines" that move towards the year 2409. Some of these stories lines I have NEVER even heard of. The Klingon's are at war with the Gorn. The continuing political landscape with the Romulins and Remans. What happens to Cardassia after the Dominion War.

I'm feeling somewhat completely out of the loop on this. What I was wondering is if you fellow fans would be able to point me in the right direction to sort of "get up to speed" on the happenings, essentially after DS9 etc. Are these story lines continued in novels? Where did Star Trek Magazine find these ideas? Is there a resource you could point me to, so I can systematically work through the different books etc?

I'm really enjoying picking up where I left off, so any assistance would be great. I hate reading anything online or in print and thinking "what on earth are they talking about? I thought Martok was chancellor!"

 

[The Wormhole]

Canonically speaking, Nemesis is the latest the prime timeline has developed, unless you count the brief glimpse of it we sw in Trek XI.

It sounds like the stuff you're describing is from the Pocket Books novels or the Star Trek Online video game. I wouldn't worry about ignorance in these matters. These events aren't canon, they don't count, and a lot of them aren't even really good stories, IMO.

 

[plynch]

Book: Star Trek 101. Very user friendly, has series overviews, episode guides, etc. I'm gonna try to link ya to it here. I don't seem to be able to link to things, so here's an address for amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Star-Trek-101-Terry-Erdmann/dp/0743497236

Later edit: Hey, it looks like it did work. Good job, bbs software.

 

[Finn]

Welcome, and I'd have to say that most trekkies are probably like you.

p.s. Mentioning the Dominion War shows you know more than some trekkies I know.

 

[Kerberos]

Thanks for the clarification on the books and online game. Frankly, there is almost a 0 percent chance I will start playing the game. I'm not a big fan of MMO's anyways, and with all the other crap going on in my life, spending hours a day playing a video game would put me on the fast track to deeeevorce.

I am enjoying the books I'm reading. I think maybe what I need is a sort of "guide" or timeline on which books to read in what order. I read the "A Time To" series and then just read random others. I will admit some were a little bit much. One of them, the Borg assimilates Pluto. At that point I was thinking "come on, really?!?". I've also read a few from the Titan series.

I watched DS9 when it first aired, but didn't really like it all that much after 2 seasons. Ironically it was season 3 that really started to get good IMHO with the Dominion War. I like the direction ST went in there with some rather really interesting / large scale battles and plot lines. I wouldn't mind reading some more fiction on those lines.

That 101 Book looks solid. Years ago I had a TON of stuff I had bought, technical journals etc. Loads of fun. Too bad I don't have them anymore.

Any recommendations on a reading list or website with one already prepared???

And thanks for the welcomes!!! I'm looking forward to reading some interesting threads around here.

 

[sojourner]

What is your wife going to say when you come out of the trek closet?

 

[Robert DeSoto]

Well you know the books aren't considered canon, right? So there isn't really anything to be "in on the loop". The novels don't have to relate to each other and can contradict each other. They can even contradict the tv show.

But I guess if you really want to know about the novels, you could go to memory beta. But for the official stuff, theres memory alpha

 

[Mr Darcy]

There is always this thread:

http://trekbbs.com/showthread.php?t=122092

Otherwise:

http://memory-beta.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page

 

[Trek_princess]

If you're reading books, treat each novel, or set of novels by the same author, as a differerent "canon." Otherwise you get all mixed up and confused. What happens in the episodes and movies is all you really "need" to remember to stay in the loop. I think if you try to integrate everything, including noncanon books, then your head will explode!

 

[DevilEyes]

This is really a question for the Trek Literature forum, where you can find a lot of people who will give you much better advice than you'll likely to get in the General Trek forum.

If you're reading books, treat each novel, or set of novels by the same author, as a differerent "canon." Otherwise you get all mixed up and confused. What happens in the episodes and movies is all you really "need" to remember to stay in the loop. I think if you try to integrate everything, including noncanon books, then your head will explode!

That may be true of the old standalone novels, especially those published during the series' run, but most of the novels from 1999-2000 onwards are all interconnected, reference each other, and form the primary continuity of Trek literature... at least the DS9, TNG, VOY and ENT ones are, there have been quite a few crossover books. Each of these novel series has had a bunch of different authors, but they are all required to follow the storyline (which the editors ultimately decide on) and respect the continuity set in the previous books.

 

[I am not Spock]

Just stick to the shows and movies. The books, games, comics, etc, are not considered canonical. No worries in not keeping up with them.

 

[DevilEyes]

Just stick to the shows and movies. The books, games, comics, etc, are not considered canonical. No worries in not keeping up with them.

Why would anyone "worry" about keeping up with a fictional franchise? Unless it's their job or something. People read books and comics and play video games for exactly the same reason they watch shows and movies: ENTERTAINMENT. Who cares if something is "canonical" or not, unless you're a Trek writer who needs to keep up with it in order to do the job?

If the OP is interested in reading books, why the hell would they need to keep away from them only because they're not "canonical"? "Not canon" only means that whatever happens in the fictional work can be ignored in future TV shows and movies. Since there are almost certainly not going to be any more TNG, DS9, VOY or ENT episodes or movies, this is a moot point. So the books, comics and video games are not going to have an impact on the future episodes, which are never going to be made anyway. So what?

 

[F. King Daniel]

Re: The Missing Line of Dialog that Destroyed Star Trek XI

There's just as much "point" in keeping up with the novels as there is in keeping up with the TV shows and movies.

That is to say: None. It's a pretend universe that's meant to be fun, but none of it really matters.

IMO the novels give Star Trek a far deeper background than the TV shows and films ever could. It's from the novels that Uhura and Sulu's first names, as well as Kirk's parents came from.

And since we're assigning "worth" to bits of Star Trek, didn't the last movie render the entire "canon" of TOS/TNG/DS9/VOY and the rest of the same worth as the various nothing universes glimpsed in "Parallels"? Therefore the only Star Trek of any worth whatsoever is the new one, and the prequel series Enterprise.

 

[Mr Darcy]

Re: The Missing Line of Dialog that Destroyed Star Trek XI

And since we're assigning "worth" to bits of Star Trek, didn't the last movie render the entire "canon" of TOS/TNG/DS9/VOY and the rest of the same worth as the various nothing universes glimpsed in "Parallels"? Therefore the only Star Trek of any worth whatsoever is the new one, and the prequel series Enterprise.

Exactly.

Therefore I decided to destroy my entire DVD and book collection as any dedicated fan ought to do.

(With the exception of events preceding the moment the Narada encountered the USS Kelvin of course)

 

[Kerberos]

Wow. Thanks! I didn't expect so much response to my question.

I think I have a better grasp on things now. That being said, I should clarify, I watch and read Star Trek strictly for entertainment purposes. I'm not someone who wants to find inconsistencies and then yell about "canon" or "non-canon". I just like to read Star Trek Sci-Fi fiction. My biggest concern is that at times it would be frustrating to read a novel or magazine etc. and it would reference events that I had no idea about. That, to me, distracts from my enjoyment of my reading. For example, Worf is on the enterprise, now he's the Ambassador to Qo'nos. Now he's on the Titan as first officer. It was getting a little frustrating sitting down and then wondering "ok, is this just a one off thing or is there another story line I'm completely missing". Then when the magazine had these timelines with happenings all the way to 2409 I was thinking "wow, there must be a TON of material out there that I don't even know about". That was exciting (loads more books to read, maybe fan episodes etc.) and frustrating (where do I even start). Hence the reason I'm here talking with all of you.

That all being said, there is some great ideas and suggestions here. I am of the mind that I like to delve into the Star Trek universe, but at the end of the day, IMHO, it's just a giant story (one that I really like) and should be viewed like that, it's just fiction.

Oh and my wife already knew I was a trekkie when we got married. She knew I was a nerd as well. Fortunately for me, nerd is the new cool.

 

[Alex1939]

Movies/TV > Books > Games.

Enjoy the books but almost nothing onscreen will acknowledge them for story purpose and sometimes they completely contradict onscreen events.

As for Worf, he ended DS9 becoming an ambassador but that's all we ever even HEARD of his ambassador life. Otherwise he was on Enterprise for whatever convenient or totally dismissed reason when the TNG movies happened.