Book events/characters later established on-screen?

[Star Treks]

I was just wondering - are there examples of a character, place, or event being established in a Star Trek novel (I'm referring specifically to fiction books) that was later used in an episode or film? I know that the books are not considered "canon" but has anything appeared first in the books and then made the leap to canon?

Just curious if anyone knows of some examples.

 

[Smiley]

The first one that springs to mind is Sulu's first name. The Entropy Effect by Vonda McIntyre established it as Hikaru, and it was made canon later in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.

 

[Christopher]

IIRC, the Klingon Day of Honor holiday was conceived for the book crossover series, but the makers of Voyager heard about it and decided to make an episode based around the premise.

A DC comic by Peter David mentioned a planet named Endicor, and the same name was mentioned years later in TNG: "Time Squared." It may have been coincidence, though.

Much of what was established about Andorians in ENT's fourth season was taken from a role-playing game supplement book, but the question was specifically about things from fiction books, so I'm not sure that counts.

 

[captcalhoun]

IIRC, there was something about Klingons used by Ron Moore in TNG that was from that Klingon book everyone loves i don't remember the title of...

*checks VoI*

The Final Reflection.

now, where's KRAD? there's a KRADlist in this I'm sure...

 

[Turtletrekker]

Wasn't the name "Vulcan's Forge" for the Vulcan desert from the books?

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Yeah. In Vulcan's Forge.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Wasn't Kirk's middle name (Tiberius) established in the novels first, and onscreen in ST VI?

 

[Christopher]

Both Vulcan's Forge and Kirk's middle name were originally established in the animated series ("Yesteryear" and "BEM" respectively). And Kirk's middle name was first postulated by the TOS staff behind the scenes (and was adopted from the protagonist of Roddenberry's previous series The Lieutenant, William Tiberius Rice) before it was mentioned onscreen in TAS.

 

[David cgc]

Christopher said:
Much of what was established about Andorians in ENT's fourth season was taken from a role-playing game supplement book, but the question was specifically about things from fiction books, so I'm not sure that counts.

However, the Andorian Ice Powers were thankfully omitted.

(I hope someone else else here remembers that)

 

[Therin of Andor]

Christopher said:
Both Vulcan's Forge and Kirk's middle name were originally established in the animated series ("Yesteryear" and "BEM" respectively).

In fact, "Vulcan's Forge" was coined in a 1969 fanzine story, and became part of worldbuilding panels at the early Los Angeles-based Star Trek conventions - and the term made it into TAS thanks to DC Fontana. It's canonical debut was in "DS9: Change of Heart".

Similarly, "Tiberius" was coined by David Gerrold at a ST convention, and he made sure to slip it into TAS.

 

[Therin of Andor]

David cgc said:
the Andorian Ice Powers were thankfully omitted.

Oh yeah? So how did that Aenar pilot a remote starship then, huh? And how did his sister Jhamel comummunicate with Gareb? And where did the Aenar live?

Ice powers!

captcalhoun said:
there was something about Klingons used by Ron Moore in TNG that was from that Klingon book... The Final Reflection.

Yep. Several Klingon salutations. But also, the concept of Ford's The Black Fleet, for the Klingon warrior's afterlife, inspired the canonical term "The Barge of the Dead" (VOY).

 

[Vic Sixx]

Sulu's Captainsy made it into the novels before it was mentioned on screen.

And Ford's theory of different races of Klingons was sort of eluted to in DS9 Trial and Tribble-ations, although never mentioned again.

 

[Christopher]

Vic Sixx said:
Sulu's Captainsy made it into the novels before it was mentioned on screen.

Oh, you mean Vonda McIntyre's movie novelizations mentioning that he was supposed to be captain of the Excelsior? I don't think that counts, since she got it from a deleted line in the TWOK script. So the idea of it originated in screen Trek.

And Ford's theory of different races of Klingons was sort of eluted to in DS9 Trial and Tribble-ations, although never mentioned again.

I wouldn't say that. The episode alluded to a couple of fan theories for the change in the Klingons, genetic engineering and viral mutation, but not to anything as specific as Ford's genetic fusions. (And come to think of it, the explanation finally given in "Affliction"/"Divergence" pretty much proved both Bashir and O'Brien correct -- it was a viral mutation created through genetic engineering!)