They were pulled while Bad Robot was still counting the cash from the first one.
Questions regarding the ST XI continuity in novels
- Thread starter Maltz
- Start date
Huh? You seem to be implying that they acted in haste, but we authors received notification of the novels' cancellation on January 14, 2010, more than seven months after the film's theatrical debut, and just about two months after the DVD release. Remember, we couldn't even start writing the books until we'd actually seen the film, and we had time to finish the manuscripts, a process that takes several months.
And technically I doubt that Bad Robot (and Paramount, which owns the copyright, and Spyglass Entertainment, which provided financial backing) have ever stopped "counting the cash" from the first one, since I assume the DVDs and BluRays are still selling, plus there have been the various comics tie-ins. So I really don't get what you thought that statement would convey.
One or more might have infringed on some ground they were considering covering, even if it were just early ideas. For example, Peter Weller's character could be a Starfleet overseer, sent to evaluate Kirk's performance as captain - which sounds vaguely like something in the blurb from "To Seek a Newer World"
Doesn't make sense. The books were cancelled before we got to the copyedit phase. If they'd had issues with the content, they could've just asked for rewrites, the same as Paramount/CBS would. And of course we turned in outlines for approval months before we turned in our manuscripts, so they would've had plenty of advance notice about the content of said manuscripts.
In that case, it's back to the conspiracy theories...
Christopher, lets assume that a decade passes and these books never see the light of day. Do you see any conceivable possiblity of them ever being released unofficially by the authors, editors, anyone, way after any higher ups would be interested in keeping them locked up?
If Pocket's editors ever inform the authors that those four books are permanently canned, I would think that three of those authors, all quite prolific in current TrekLit, would simply cannibalize some of their concepts and original characters into new ST novels set in the old TOS era.
Alan Dean Foster probably wouldn't bother repitching, but he did once use his proposed-but-unused Season Four TOS Klingon two-parter into the final two-thirds of "Star Trek Log Seven".
About the humanoid Jabba the Hutt Marvel used: His design was based on a background alien from the first SW movie, and some Lucasfilm sources have retconned him to being Jabba's accountant (Yes, really).
Yes, there are continuity issues with The Clone Wars and the Mandalorians (TBH, I never cared for Karen Traviss's books, and news she was leaving left me with a feeling of "Don't let the door hit your butt on the way out"), but it's nothing Lucasfilm's continuity-meisters can handle. Check out Wookieepedia sometime, you'll be surprised.
Yes, there are continuity issues with The Clone Wars and the Mandalorians (TBH, I never cared for Karen Traviss's books, and news she was leaving left me with a feeling of "Don't let the door hit your butt on the way out"), but it's nothing Lucasfilm's continuity-meisters can handle. Check out Wookieepedia sometime, you'll be surprised.
As Therin suggests, it's more likely that we could rewrite them or repurpose portions of them as Prime-universe Trek novels or even as original works.
^ There would be nothing I could do with mine; I had tailored it so specifically to the characterizations and circumstances of the 2009 film versions of the characters that I don't think I could use it for anything else.
In any event, S&S paid for it and Star Trek owns it. What happens to it now is not up to me. I can't ever choose to give it away online, because I can't legally give away someone else's property. The most honest answer about the future prospects of these books is simply, "It's unclear what will happen."
In any event, S&S paid for it and Star Trek owns it. What happens to it now is not up to me. I can't ever choose to give it away online, because I can't legally give away someone else's property. The most honest answer about the future prospects of these books is simply, "It's unclear what will happen."
Dream sequence between TOS bookends?
Yeah, I'd have to rewrite the character parts, but there's some nifty worldbuilding in mine that I hope to repurpose someday.
What about MWB's "Music of the Spheres", the original version of "Probe", which she posted online? Surely the same would have applied to her?
What about it? The Music of the Spheres manuscript remains the intellectual property of CBS (who inherited it from Paramount), and MWB posted it illegally when she published it without obtaining a license from Paramount at the time. Paramount didn't care, of course -- the manuscript was over ten years old at the time, the corporate employees responsible for its rewriting had departed -- and the editors at Pocket at the time of its posting were sufficiently convinced of MWB's talent and marketability that she was still writing Star Trek books as of 2010. But it was still illegal.
And the circumstances surrounding MWB's posting Music aren't necessarily applicable to those surrounding the ST2009 books.
Ah, I was under the misapprehension that she'd been given permission to distribute it online.
Oops.
Oops.
Maybe she had, as there isn't a link saying she had done it illegally (which made me chuckle) I'd air on the side of caution and mark it up to one persons opinion on the matter without the whole facts.
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