Alien of the week has been talked about to death regarding the TV shows so I'm curious how people feel about it when it comes to "Alien of the book". When I look at my favorite Trek Novel's (Terok Nor trilogy, A Stitch in Time, A Burning House, Avatar, Left Hand of Destiny etc), they all do not focus on or have some new alien species. When I read those types of books (Like the Mission Gamma quadrilogy), I find I'm not as engaged or interested compared to when I read about existing alien species. I believe the major problem is knowing I'll most likely never read about them again so who cares.
Alien of the book
- Thread starter Divine
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Well, "revisiting previously-visited worlds and catching up with the same life and civilizations we just met last week or season" isn't as catchy a mission statement 
Okay, on a more serious note: the fiction lines allow both for introducing new alien species which may or may not warrant revisitation at some future point, as well as new stories with favorite races already known to viewers/readers. Plenty of room for everyone to play.
Since most books feature characters/settings the author may well never revisit, does this effect your enjoyment of mainstream fiction (or even regular SF/Fantasy) in similar fashion? I'm not attempting to stir up anything; I'm genuinely curious.
Okay, on a more serious note: the fiction lines allow both for introducing new alien species which may or may not warrant revisitation at some future point, as well as new stories with favorite races already known to viewers/readers. Plenty of room for everyone to play.
Since most books feature characters/settings the author may well never revisit, does this effect your enjoyment of mainstream fiction (or even regular SF/Fantasy) in similar fashion? I'm not attempting to stir up anything; I'm genuinely curious.
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I actually find myself agreeing in part with Divine's post, though perhaps not for the same reasons. I know the Federation itself is made up of over a hundred species (...right?), and there must be many others outside the Federation's sphere of influence, but every time a new 'alien of the week' or 'alien of the book' is trotted out, it feels as though the Alpha Quadrant is just so crowded with many more species than one could ever remember. I am grateful when an author chooses to expand on a known species rather than creating one whole cloth, because it feels more consistent with past works and pushes off this sense of inhabited worlds, which even by Trek's generous standards shouldn't be all too common, just falling all over each other. Obviously, it bothers me less when the fiction goes into 'unexplored' regions; Voyager, Titan, the Defiant in the Gamma Quadrant, so I did like Mission: Gamma. And the fiction has been less egregious about this recently than in years past, when the stand-alone nature of the fiction meant new species (or worse, new species that had hegemonies or empires or other 'large' sounding interstellar nations) were very common.
Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman
Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman
Many of Trek's most popular recurring alien species started out as "aliens of the week": Klingons, Romulans, Andorians, Tellarites, Q, Ferengi, Cardassians, Bajorans, etc. They were introduced in standalone stories, but they were well enough realized to capture the audience's imaginations within the course of a single story, which is why they kept getting brought back.
So it's kind of getting the cause and effect backward to write off all one-shot aliens as intrinsically less interesting than recurring aliens. A one-shot alien species can be just as compelling to watch or read about if the story is well enough told.
Heck, one of my all-time favorite alien species from Trek is the Tamarians from "Darmok," which is my favorite TNG episode. They're a race that was never seen again, except in the sequel I wrote for The Sky's the Limit, and frankly I don't think they're a race that would work very well on a recurring basis, because it's their very otherness and the resultant barriers to communication that make them so intriguing.
So it's kind of getting the cause and effect backward to write off all one-shot aliens as intrinsically less interesting than recurring aliens. A one-shot alien species can be just as compelling to watch or read about if the story is well enough told.
Heck, one of my all-time favorite alien species from Trek is the Tamarians from "Darmok," which is my favorite TNG episode. They're a race that was never seen again, except in the sequel I wrote for The Sky's the Limit, and frankly I don't think they're a race that would work very well on a recurring basis, because it's their very otherness and the resultant barriers to communication that make them so intriguing.
Are you sure about the Bajorans, and Cardassians? Because I think I read somewhere that they were actually introduced to TNG specifically to set up DS9.
You forgot the Borg
I like the "alien of the book," especially when they are given such depth as in Orion's Hounds or The Buried Age (no, I'm not not gushing, those are the two that just came to mind). The Mission Gamma tetralogy did an excellent job of exploring not only the GQ but the interactions between Starfleet and the GQ species they encountered. This to me is quintessential Star Trek, and science fiction at its best.
It's possible that the Bajorans were specifically introduced to set up for use in a spinoff, but the Cardassians weren't, given that they were introduced in the fourth season, before the notion of a spinoff was being discussed.
You also might be mixing it up with the Maquis, which really was specificaly introduced into TNG and DS9 to set up Voyager.
... where they became the Group of the Week...
This is what I want to happen but it seems author's don't want to touch other author's new aliens so they will never progress beyond a single book.
Since I've only started reading books post-school starting this year, I have not read any non-trek books yet
Perhaps the problem is that the reason I started reading trek books was not because I wanted just a sci-fi story but to fill in gaps to the existing knowledge I already have from the shows.
Not me. In A Singular Destiny, I've got Kreel (created by Peter David), Kinshaya (created by John M. Ford), and Belandrid (created by Carolyn Clowes), to name three.
[Translation from native Thermian]
"Keith DeeeeeCandidoooooooooo. He has saaaaaaaaaaaaaved us."
[/Translation from native Thermian]
"Keith DeeeeeCandidoooooooooo. He has saaaaaaaaaaaaaved us."
[/Translation from native Thermian]
You forgot the Borg
No; the Borg were deliberately introduced to be recurring villains.
You're missing the point. The reason these one-shot aliens got brought back is because they were sufficiently intriguing and engaging even in their initial, self-contained appearances. So it's not true that an alien species is only worthwhile if it appears more than once. If the execution is strong enough, a one-shot alien can be just as worthwhile and effective as a recurring one. For instance, the Tamarians, who appeared once (twice if you count my story) and remain one of the most effective, unforgettable aliens in all of Trek.
^ Who?? 
(I'm just kidding; the setup was too good.)
Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman
(I'm just kidding; the setup was too good.)
Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman
IIRC, the Ferengi were also introduced as recurring villains but they were seen as too comical originally and the Borg were brought in instead. Then DS9 really fleshed out the Ferengi after a few meh! TNG eps.You forgot the Borg
No; the Borg were deliberately introduced to be recurring villains.
I never really accepted the concept of the Tamarians. I mean how did the UT manage to translate words in the first place? if the sentence structure was so alien, how did the UT or the linguists figure out which word is which?
You haven't read many ST books yet, have you?
As Memory Beta continues to grow, you'll see it happens a lot.
You haven't read many ST books yet, have you?
As Memory Beta continues to grow, you'll see it happens a lot.
I've read books where other alien species from different authors were mentioned here and there and maybe make brief appearances. But how many books have there been where a new alien species was created and later heavily focused on by other author's other than a name drop or a brief appearance?
One-shot aliens used to be the norm. I didn't so much mind a fledgling new species being encountered by the Enterprise crew and then handed off to the Federation's First Contact Bureau, but 'this important Federation member-world' or 'major adversary to the Federation' coming in and then disappearing does leave an artificial aftertaste. Some authors would give a shout out to a species from one of their own previous books, but there was little cross-author continuity.
Things have gotten much better in recent years. The 24th century seems much more cohesive and less like isolated points of light in the vastnesss. If one is going to stand in the Trek sandbox, play with the sand!
The number of species detailed in the books and comics and games is giganormous. I wouldn't want to crush author creativity by assigning long homework hours searching Memory Alpha or Memory Beta for the perfect alien. Hopefully Trek authors have some knowledge of Trek, and ever-helpful internet types could point them toward the right choices. Otherwise, the same internet types will bonk them on the head, "Oh, you could have used the V-8ians!"
Things have gotten much better in recent years. The 24th century seems much more cohesive and less like isolated points of light in the vastnesss. If one is going to stand in the Trek sandbox, play with the sand!
The number of species detailed in the books and comics and games is giganormous. I wouldn't want to crush author creativity by assigning long homework hours searching Memory Alpha or Memory Beta for the perfect alien. Hopefully Trek authors have some knowledge of Trek, and ever-helpful internet types could point them toward the right choices. Otherwise, the same internet types will bonk them on the head, "Oh, you could have used the V-8ians!"
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