Spoilers Picard Autobiography by David Goodman - Discussion and Review Thread

Glad to hear it.

 

Though I do have a pre-order in and will likely find out soon enough anyway, I'll ask the question here regardless. Does this book have an insert of pictures in the middle like the Kirk Autobiography did?

 

I really enjoyed Goodman's Autobiography of James T. Kirk, and I don't generally gravitate toward Trek-lit at all. That makes me think this one is worth checking out. Goodman also may be doing a Spock book next, according to this interview with Trekmovie;

https://trekmovie.com/2017/10/17/in...g-jean-luc-picard-to-write-his-autobiography/

 

My only problem with that book was the diss of The Final Frontier.

 

Eh, I have a fondness for it.

 

I don't hate TFF as much most people, but I still loved that bit in the Kirk autobiography.

 

I just started reading it and I think I saw a major typo. Well maybe. In describing Picard's family history there is mention of a World War in the 22nd Century. France was invaded by genetically engineered John Ericsson. Goodman could have intentionally changed things but his own History of the Federation book placed the Eugenics Wars in the 1990s and World War III in the 21st Century.

 

That's fair enough. It's one thing to work around canon events with a jab or two, as was done with TATV (and even that was a little snide for my liking). To purport to erase them altogether is remarkable. I'm surprised that was permitted.

 

Interesting. Could there have been another conflict after 2063? Would maybe partly explain the Tribunals of 2079, mentioned in "Encounter at Farpoint".

 

The idea there was that the aftermath of WWIII in mid-century left much of the world in ruins and chaos for the next few decades, and that it took time to rebuild a more enlightened, peaceful civilization out of the wreckage. I think that what Roddenberry had in mind for the latter half of the 21st century in TNG was much like the way he portrayed the early 22nd century in his Genesis II/Planet Earth pilots -- the world "cleansed" by nuclear war and an enlightened group working to reunite the surviving cultures and start over with a new, more peaceful society.

But the idea of a 22nd-century war on Earth is irreconcilable with a lot of canon. That must've been a typo, or an ill-considered attempt to rationalize the erroneous line in "Doctor Bashir, I Presume" about the Eugenics Wars being 200 years earlier.

 

Finished this last night and enjoyed it as much as the earlier Kirk bio and Federation history. I really hope Goodman has more in store for us at some point. Ben Sisko autobio maybe?

One nit on the Picard book - there is an errant footnote that shows up early on that seems to have transported itself from the Kirk autobio somehow.

 

Yup, and even Ronald D. Moore himself admitted to the goof-up:

 

I like that those AOL chats are archived, they're good reads.

 

He’s writing one for Spock next.
https://trekmovie.com/2017/10/17/in...g-jean-luc-picard-to-write-his-autobiography/

 

Seems... Logical.

 

I would like to see Goodman write a regular Trek novel. He's a good writer, and he seems to have a pretty good handle on the franchise.

 

While Spock is definitely one they should do, I want a trashy tabloidish tell-all biog as a counter to all these "presidential" tomes.