Are the Blish novelizations canon?

This blog is an excellent resource and covers all the broadcasts on the BBC
https://space-doubt.blogspot.com/20...dwHeL9uMldUaoC3Jaje3jm-GEU6y75oBAwJ58zmRoQnic

 

Exactly what I thought. If they had called it Zeta-rays or Epsilon Rays then no problem.
I thought Operation Annihilate was an exciting interesting episode. I had no issues with McCoy. He was under pressure, under orders from Kirk, even pressured by Spock. Spock was about to lose it and was advocating killing the entire population including Peter Kirk. even Spock not knowing about his inner-eyelid could be Spock knew about it but wasn't sure that it would have protected his eyesight.
My issue with the episode was the "dissolving" creatures. I just thought it wouldn't happen like that but I put it in the same category and the sudden cures in "Miri" and "Deadly Years" as being for dramatic effect in series TV.

I remember decades ago waiting for each new James Blish book. Going to the bookshop, reading practically half of it on the way home in the bus. But I always thought - did that really happen? I can't remember this or that but of course in those days it could have been years since I saw an actual episode on TV.. I'd say the Blish adaptions were 90% accurate but now I'm thinking would the adaptions been better if done by another author.
I'm not criticising him as an author - I love and have his original novels. But in retrospect following some observations here _ i'm thinking if everythings from Kirk's POV he misses out on the Kirk-Spock_McCoy interactions. I'll have to go back and read them again. I don't regards Star Trek TOS as just Kirk's adventures in space..
I haven't read Spock Must Die since I bought it decades ago but from what I can remember (and I may have mixed it up with another early novel) Blish or Lawrence or whoever wrote it certainly had the characters "wrong". Not to give the plot away but the main part I object to was that Kirk had to stop Spock doing something and was working out the best way to kill him without much emotional concern. I got the impression from the novel that Kirk actually disliked Spock even when he wasn't running amuck. But its been decades since I read it. Maybe I'm misremembering.
I just don't like a Spock-hating Kirk. That's McCoys job.

 

One of these (Probably not this exact one) https://www.ebay.com/itm/Star-Trek-...546720?hash=item48dedb1ba0:g:peYAAOSwjZFeNHvW

Had a timeline that mentioned the Vegan Tyranny.

Now *somewhere* (Or i dreamed it) it was mentioned the Vegans were actually part of a central intelligence...and that Earthmen easily or accidentally brought down the entire empire when they destroyed the 'central brain'.

 

To be fair, it was STIII TSFS where the concept of 'Viking Space Biker' Klingons started; TNG only followed along with that concept even though TNG took place 80 years after TSFS yet the Klingons looked and acted no different than before.

However, the Klingons in TOS and TAS were pretty one-dimensional; they were just the token bad guys with little to no personality traits other than 'conquer the universe!!!" John M. Ford's take on them was probably the most superior version of the Klingon race in fiction, but only a miniscule amount of that influence was used for the TNG Klingons.

 

There seemed to be quite a variety in the TOS Klingons. A few were run of the mill villains. But Kang, Kor and Koloth had distinct personalities with motivations beyond "conquer the universe".

 

Koloth was a smarmy little weasel, Kor was a bloodthirsty conquerer, and Kang, while admittedly more rational-seeming than the typical Klingon, still adopted the attitude that all Klingons seemed to share, that the Federation was an enemy they had to destroy. Granted, these personality traits were in marked contrast to how those three were represented in DS9, but we're talking about TOS.

 

I would disagree about Kor. He comes across a somewhat tired administrator doing things because thats the way things are. Yes, one of those things are mass executions. And perhaps his "business as usual" attitude is worse than being blood thirsty.

 

No, the concept of "Klingon Honor" was introduced in TSFS, but these guys weren't the "head butting partying with blood wine" Vikings until TNG took them in that direction. The Klingons in TSFS were simply bad-asses looking for a greater weapon.

 

I would disagree. Kruge and his cronies were absolutely what the TNG Klingons were based on. They were just a bunch of thugs acting on their own. But the concept of honor came from Ron Moore reading The Final Reflection and adding that concept to Worf's character.

 

That sounds kinda interesting, I'd like to read it.

 

No, Ron Moore didn't start writing for TNG until "The Wounded" in season 3, and Worf's concern with honor was established no later than "Heart of Glory" in season 1. I'd say it was "A Matter of Honor" in season 2 that solidified the Klingons' fixation with honor as we understand it today.

Really, it's long been a stock fictional trope to portray warrior cultures in a positive light by making them "honorable" -- we see it in TOS with the Romulan Commander in "Balance of Terror" and the Capellans in "Friday's Child," and of course it goes back much earlier than that. As for TNG-era Klingons, a lot of their portrayal, especially in Moore's work, is inspired by samurai culture.

As for The Final Reflection, I've seen it said that the way it portrayed the Klingons was closer to how TNG/DS9 portrayed the Cardassians. After all, TOS portrayed the Klingons as a culture driven by treachery and scheming, and Ford would've built on that.

 

I could have sworn that I’d read somewhere that the TNG concept of Klingon honor was influenced by The Final Reflection. Maybe I’m mistaking Moore for someone else who read the book.

Edit: Just checked Memory Alpha and it was indeed Ron Moore who was influenced by the book. Perhaps it was just parallel thinking with whoever wrote ‘A Matter of Honor.’

 

I honestly had completely forgotten about that scene in DSC Season 1 until I saw this meme

Unrelated to the TNG Discussion, but 'The Final Reflection' was stated by the writers and (Klingon) actors of DSC as an influence for the show, a couple of the actors said they read the book in preperation. The Black Fleet from the book is mentioned in the first season for example.

The 25 Great Houses thing I believe also originated from the book? I haven't read it, just heard of it from second hand sources.

 

Like I said, the whole "honorable warrior culture" trope is ancient, far older than Star Trek or the Klingons or any one book. Ford didn't invent it out of whole cloth. It's the predictable default for any work of fiction seeking to portray a violent people in a positive light, by claiming that their violence is constrained by a moral code and only used in the "right" way.

 

I was a big fan of the Blish books back in the 70’s, but what left a lasting impression on me was the cover art of the Bantam paperbacks. The artwork does a great job imagining the mystery of space exploration and the final frontier that was so foundational to the original series.

Of course, per the theme of this thread, the artwork had its own share of canon issues…

 

Ah. that could be part of what Blish used to shape his adaptation. I sort of wish Tracey's issues with Spock were retained for the filmed episode, as it would reinforce the idea that many humans--particularly of the "high-minded" 23rd century Starfleet--were still eyebrow-deep in racism (beyond Lt. Stiles), and would be a springboard for the kind of racist sentiments expressed by humans decades later in The Undiscovered Country.

 

YES!!

My favourite was the James Bama NBC promotional art on Star Trek 1, Blish’s first collection of TOS episode adaptations.

 

But that "mystery" you felt about the covers was a common--and frankly great--artistic leaning on endless sci-fi and fantasy novel covers of the 50s & 60s. Artists like Mitchell Hooks (who created the cover for Blish's Star Trek 5 in your post) and Lou Feck had a command of many styles, and had no trouble merging sci-fi concepts with the feeling of the unknown--something early TOS episodes often captured.

 

Back in the day my collection of James Blish adaptations along with Spock Must Die! and my first AMT Enterprise model kit were my earliest Star Trek priceless treasures.

 

I think I saw every episode of TNG when it was new, but can someone refresh me on the scene in question, with Troi holding up two fingers? And what was the DSC scene?