Pop culture references in TrekLit?

[bfollowell]

One thing I loved, and I'm sure some people hated, was the product placement in 2009's Star Trek reboot. I just thought it was funny seeing a futuristic Nokia mobile phone in a classic Corvette. Seeing a young James T. Kirk listening to the Beastie Boys and Uhura ordering Bud Classics was hilarious.

I watched the movie again recently with my kids and got to wondering if there's been any mention of current products, companies, artists, songs, etc. in TrekLit. One that rings a bell is a mention of Reyes' reading material for his trip in Vanguard: Open Secrets. One of the stories he had to read was Stephen King's Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, even though Stephen King wasn't mentioned specifically. Being a big Stephen King fan, I got a kick out of that one.

Any others that anyone is aware of? How about any Star Wars references (yeah, I doubt it too)

- Byron

 

[KDoug]

Barbara Hambly wrote a novel called "Ishmael". It's a time travel story and it draws most of the stuff in the parts set in the past from the TV series "Here Come the Brides". The show features Mark Lenard in the lead role. There are also other, more subtle references to other stuff in the novel, including Star Wars!. You can read about it here:
http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Ishmael_(novel)#Background_Information

 

[Christopher]

^I don't think the question is about incorporating stuff from other pop culture as in-universe reality like Ishmael did, but about characters in ST being aware of present-day media, brands, celebrities, etc. as pop culture in-universe. So crossing over Trek with Here Come the Brides wouldn't count, but having the NX-01 crew watch an old Western on movie night would count.

I think it was in Warpath where Taran'atar was battling holodeck opponents which were implicitly the Xenomorphs from the Alien franchise. It wasn't explicitly stated that the creatures were based on a work of in-universe fiction, but that's the logical interpretation.

As far as present-day product names, I recall Crisis on Centaurus featured a Tellarite using an American Express ATM on a planet of Alpha Centauri. I think there was a reference to a popular brand of soft drink as well, I forget which one. Both CoC and A Flag Full of Stars, both by Brad Ferguson, depicted a 23rd century that wasn't very different from the 20th.

In DTI: Watching the Clock, a few characters make references to classic 19th- and 20th-century science fiction pertaining to time travel, including Wells's The Time Machine, Asimov's The End of Eternity and "The Dead Past," and Clarke & Baxter's The Light of Other Days.

 

[Thrawn]

Clarke & Baxter's The Light of Other Days.

Off topic I know, but that is a weird goddamn book.

 

[JarodRussell]

As far as present-day product names, I recall Crisis on Centaurus featured a Tellarite using an American Express ATM on a planet of Alpha Centauri. I think there was a reference to a popular brand of soft drink as well, I forget which one. Both CoC and A Flag Full of Stars, both by Brad Ferguson, depicted a 23rd century that wasn't very different from the 20th.

The entire Crisis on Centaurus felt kind of anachronistic. American Express and Coca Cola weren't the only references to the 20th century. It also features Sheraton hotels, Videophones, Kirk printing a telegram he receives from Starfleet etc... didn't feel like it took place in the 23rd century we knew from the show and the movies, and as a whole the novel hasn't aged well at all.

 

[Greg Cox]

I'm guessing references to Captain Proton and Dixon Hill don't count . . .

 

[TheAlmanac]

So crossing over Trek with Here Come the Brides wouldn't count, but having the NX-01 crew watch an old Western on movie night would count.

On that note, my own story in SNW 10 does feature the NX-01 crew watching a certain unnamed (but recognisable) comedy classic on Movie Night.

 

[Christopher]

^Well, recognizable to those who've seen it. I had to do some research to figure out what film you were referencing. I've seen (most of?) the film since then, though.

 

[captcalhoun]

there's a reference in TyPac: Seize the Fire to the popularity of porn on the internet on Earth in the 21st century....

a security guard on the Exeter in eXaclibur: Restoration plays a holodeck program which is modelled on comic books, apparently Marvel ones, a 'blonde guy with a hammer' is mentioned.

 

[shanejayell]

There's a TEnchi Muyo anime reference in Immortal Coil.

 

[Stevil2001]

Clarke & Baxter's The Light of Other Days.

Off topic I know, but that is a weird goddamn book.

But so good! Except that it fizzles at the end, like all Baxter novels.

Though I do think Card's Pastwatch is a slightly superior take on the same concept.

 

[Bob Karo]

I know Greg Cox's stories with Gary Seven slip in one or two...

 

[DorkBoy [TM]]

I know Greg Cox's stories with Gary Seven slip in one or two...

... per page ...

 

[TheAlmanac]

^Well, recognizable to those who've seen it.

Er, I guess...but then, isn't that true of any implicit pop-culture reference? Would someone who's never seen any movie in the Alien franchise readily recognise a Xenomorph by description alone?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I know Greg Cox's stories with Gary Seven slip in one or two...

... per page ...

 

[Greg Cox]

I know Greg Cox's stories with Gary Seven slip in one or two...

... per page ...

It's a fair cop . . . .

 

[Rush Limborg]

Planet X comes to mind, I'd say.

I know--it's a crossover...but I'm actually referring to the sequence when Picard interacts with Charles Xavier--and notes that the professor bears a startling resemblance to him....

 

[Christopher]

Er, I guess...but then, isn't that true of any implicit pop-culture reference? Would someone who's never seen any movie in the Alien franchise readily recognise a Xenomorph by description alone?

I dunno. I have seen the Alien movies, but I didn't recognize the Xenomorphs until someone here pointed them out. So I'm not the best judge...

 

[bfollowell]

Planet X comes to mind, I'd say.

I know--it's a crossover...but I'm actually referring to the sequence when Picard interacts with Charles Xavier--and notes that the professor bears a startling resemblance to him....

That would be really strange, since the book predates the first X-Men movie by two years!

Of course, maybe it was already well known that Patrick Stewart had the role of Professor X by that time. I don't really recall.

Or, just maybe there was some adventure involving the Guardian of Forever that was covered up by the DTI!

- Byron

 

[Christopher]

Planet X comes to mind, I'd say.

I know--it's a crossover...but I'm actually referring to the sequence when Picard interacts with Charles Xavier--and notes that the professor bears a startling resemblance to him....

That would be really strange, since the book predates the first X-Men movie by two years!

Of course, maybe it was already well known that Patrick Stewart had the role of Professor X by that time. I don't really recall.

No... even a few years earlier, in her novel X-Men: Empire's End, Diane Duane wrote Professor Xavier in a way that was clearly modelled on Patrick Stewart's (or Picard's) speech patterns. And years before that, when a college friend and I were discussing fantasy casting for a hypothetical X-Men movie, we both instantly thought of Patrick Stewart. So I figure that pretty anyone who was both a Trek fan and an X-Men fan would've considered Patrick Stewart the ideal choice to play Xavier long before it happened. (And Bryan Singer is a huge Trek fan, which is probably why it ultimately did happen.)

But once again we seem to be getting into in-universe crossovers with other media properties, which isn't what the original poster was asking about. The question was about characters in Trek being aware of present-day fiction, brand names, and other popular culture as popular culture.