Books, Episodes, and Movies

[JD]

I've got a pretty big list of Trek books I plan on reading, and I was planning on trying to watch any episodes and movies that tie into the books before I read them. A few of them I have a pretty good idea of what to watch first, but some I'm not sure. I'm planning on saving this list for future reference.
TOS: Ex Machine - The Motion Picture, TOS:For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky
The Fall: Revelations and Dust -?
Cast No Shadow - The Undiscovered Country
SCE: Wildfire -?
Vanguard: Storming Heaven -
TOS: Entropy Effect -?
TOS: Children of Kings - The Cage
TOS: Inception - The Wrath of Kahn, This Side of Paradise
RoF: A Choice of Futures - ?
The Brave and the Bold Book 1 - TOS: The Doomsday Machine, DS9: The Seach, Part 1
DS9: Hollow Men - DS9: In the Pale Moonlight
TOS: Foul Deeds will Rise - The Conscience of the King
TOS: That Which Divides - ?
DTI: Forgotten History - ?
The Eugenics Wars Vol. 1 & 2 - TOS: Space Seed, TWoK, TOS: Assignment: Earth
TOS: No Time Like the Past - ?
TOS: From History's Shadow - DS9: Little Green Men
Cruicible: McCoy - City of the Edge of Forever
TNG: Slings and Arrow: A Sea of Troubles - ?
TOS: Prime Directive - ?
DS9: The 34th Rule - ?
TNG: Q-in-Law - ?
TOS: Errand of Vengence: The Edge of the Sword - Errand of Mercy
TOS: The Vulcan Academy Murders - ?
TOS: Yesterday's Son - ?
TOS: Uhura's Song - ?
TOS: Doctor's Orders - ?
TOS: Assignment: Eternity - TOS: Assignment: Earth
TOS: In The Name of Honor - ?
TOS: Captain's Daughter - Generations
TOS: The Lost Years - ?
TOS: Sarek - ?
TOS: Federation - TOS: Metamorphosis
TOS:Vulcan's Forge - ?
TOS: The Case of the Colonists Corpse - Court Martial
TOS: Burning Dreams - The Cage
TOS: Rihannsu - ?
TOS: A Choice of Catastrophes - ?
TOS: Alliegance in Exile - ?
TOS: Devil's Bargin - The Devil in the Dark
TOS: The Weight of Worlds - ?
TOS: The Folded World - ?
TNG: Doomsday World - ?
TNG: Dragon's Honor - ?
TNG: Intellivore - ?
TNG: Gemworld - DS9: Melora
TNG: Maximum Warp - ?
TNG: Metamorphosis - ?
TNG: Vendetta - TNG: Best of Both Worlds
TNG: Battle of Betazed - DS9: In the Pale Moonlight, DS9: The Sound of Her Voice
DS9: The Siege - ?
DS9: Devil in the Sky - TOS: Devil in the Dark
DS9: Fallen Heroes - ?
Voy: Echoes - ?
Voy: The Nanotech War
TOS: The Rings of Time - Tomorrow is Yesterday
TOS: The Final Relfection - ?

 

[20fridge]

I don't know for most of them. But here are the ones I can suggest episodes for:
SCE: Wildfire- TNG: Q Who, Hollow Pursuits
Voy: Echoes- Deadlock
TNG: Q-in-law- Haven, Manhunt, Hide and Q, Deja Q

 

[Idran]

For DTI: Forgotten History, it'd be worth rewatching all the TOS and TAS time travel episodes: Tomorrow is Yesterday, City on the Edge of Forever, Assignment: Earth, All Our Yesterdays, and Yesteryear. And maybe Miri; it's simultaneously really important to Forgotten History and not important at all. You might want to rewatch TMP too, just for the general setting of the post-TMP events.

No Time Like the Past, you'd want to rewatch The Apple, Let This Be Our Last Battlefield, and All Our Yesterdays.

For the Eugenics Wars duology, anything that calls back to the 20th century might be worth a review; they all get a callback in it.

 

[DGCatAniSiri]

Off the top of my head, Sarek is a post-TUC tale that includes Kirk's nephew Peter, so TUC and Operation: Annihilate would be helpful, while In The Name Of Honor has a promoted Ensign Garrovick as a major character, so Obsession would be a good refresher. And I'm fairly sure that That Which Divides has follow up elements to That Which Survives, though I'm not 100% sure at the moment.

TNG's Metamorphosis takes place right after 'The Measure of a Man,' the first few chapters being a bit of a post-script sequence.

DS9's The Siege and Fallen Heroes were written in the earliest days of DS9's production, The Siege definitely and Fallen Heroes probably before any episodes aired and just the writer's bible and some early scripts to go on, so they probably aren't that tied to any episodes.

For Voyager's Echoes, there's a major plot point on the basis of the episode Deadlock.

 

[Christopher]

For DTI: Forgotten History, it'd be worth rewatching all the TOS and TAS time travel episodes: Tomorrow is Yesterday, City on the Edge of Forever, Assignment: Earth, All Our Yesterdays, and Yesteryear. And maybe Miri; it's simultaneously really important to Forgotten History and not important at all.

I would never be so cruel as to compel anyone to rewatch "Miri." *shudder* I found an element of it to be useful as a starting point, but I avoided any details of the episode as much as I could.

You might want to rewatch TMP too, just for the general setting of the post-TMP events.

Now, this I recommend. A very underrated movie, probably the greatest cinematic, artistic, and technical achievement in the Trek film series. (I just rewatched it days ago, so it's fresh in my mind.) Although it helps if you were there when it first came out in '79 and can remember just how awe-inspiring it was to see the Enterprise so up-close, detailed, and real for the first time.

Off the top of my head, Sarek is a post-TUC tale that includes Kirk's nephew Peter, so TUC and Operation: Annihilate would be helpful...

The former, definitely, but I don't think it's necessary to revisit the latter. The book features a grown-up Peter who's come a long way from the kid we briefly glimpsed in "Operation." As long as you know who he is, that's enough.

DS9's The Siege and Fallen Heroes were written in the earliest days of DS9's production, The Siege definitely and Fallen Heroes probably before any episodes aired and just the writer's bible and some early scripts to go on, so they probably aren't that tied to any episodes.

Actually, The Siege was written with knowledge of the scripts to the first five episodes, and it refers in passing to elements from pretty much every one of them. But they're hardly necessary to follow its story.

 

[tomswift2002]

For Echoes, I can't think of the name, but you might want to watch the Season 2 episode where the Vidiians are chasing Voyager, and then Voyager gets trapped with its anti-matter duplicate. Ensign Kim and Naomi Wildman are also killed in the episode. Really the episode doesn't play a big role with the story of Echoes, but it is referenced in the novel.

The Nanotech War is a stand-alone story. While I haven't read the book since it first came out, I don't recall any particular story needing to be re-watched.

And as for Revelation & Dust, it takes place so far after What You Leave Behind, and Star Trek: Nemesis, you really need to be up on the Post-Series books.

 

[zarkon]

TOS: Yesterday's Son - ?

Watch All Our Yesterdays before
Read Time for Yesterday after

 

[Kilana2]

I would never be so cruel as to compel anyone to rewatch "Miri." *shudder* I found an element of it to be useful as a starting point, but I avoided any details of the episode as much as I could.

Too late. I did it. In the original English. Just to find out that I have my difficulties understanding Shatner and Co. I never had those difficulties with watching DS9 in English..... Maybe Miri wasn't the best episode to start with........

 

[UncleRogi]

HEY! I liked "Miri", Christopher! And I thought that story point was well done! You weaved that together very well! I totally agree with the "continuity porn" premise.

But I have a soft spot for "Miri"!

Though more honestly, a boyhood crush on Kim Darbee.

 

[Thrawn]

The Nanotech War is a stand-alone story. While I haven't read the book since it first came out, I don't recall any particular story needing to be re-watched.

I just finished this today, actually, and yeah, it stands alone very nicely. Also a surprisingly great book, especially for one of the in-series standalones. One of my favorite Seven stories I think I've ever seen or read, and Paris gets some great stuff too.

 

[tomswift2002]

The Nanotech War is a stand-alone story. While I haven't read the book since it first came out, I don't recall any particular story needing to be re-watched.

I just finished this today, actually, and yeah, it stands alone very nicely. Also a surprisingly great book, especially for one of the in-series standalones. One of my favorite Seven stories I think I've ever seen or read, and Paris gets some great stuff too.

I remember when I read it, I was pretty disappointed in the story. Not so much the story, I remember that the novelization of Endgame was released about a year before this one, and I had read it, and the preview for Homecoming, and I was so waiting for Homecoming, to see where Voyager was going now that they were home. And then S&S didn't finish off the story, before jumping to a book set during the series. I was so looking forward to the books continuing on from Endgame, that at the time it was a disappointment.

I'll have to re-read it sometime, now that we are years after the release, and the post-Endgame books are well on their way.

 

[JD]

I'm starting the last Vanguard novel, Storming Heaven, and I was wondering if there are any specific episodes or movies it ties into? I already know about the series ties to Wrath of Khan (the Marcuses), Undiscovered Country (Gorkon, Chang), and The Final Frontier (Nimbus III).

 

[David Mack]

If memory serves, Storming Heaven contains oblique references to the original-series episodes "The Enterprise Incident," "Spectre of the Gun," "The Tholian Web," "Arena," "Who Mourns for Adonais?", and possibly "The Cloud Minders." But I wouldn't call any of them "required viewing" to appreciate the Vanguard finale. They might offer some context, but that's about all.

 

[JD]

Thank you. It's always great to get answers to these kind of questions directly from the authors.

 

[tomswift2002]

I just saw that you had listed Metamorphosis. While not an episode, you should read TNG #4 Survivors as characters from that book appear in Metamorphosis.

Intellivore, really, don't read it. Otherwise, I read it a few years ago and I don't recall any episodes really needing to be watched.

 

[JD]

Thanks for the reminder about Survivors. I knew about the connection Metamorphosis, but I haven't added that one to my wishlist yet. I will now.

 

[JD]

Sorry about reviving such a dead thread, but I just picked up the Rise of the Federation books, and there are quite a few Season 1 and 2 episodes of Ent., and I was wondering which episodes I should watch for each book
I know I've seen references to Silent Enemy, which I've never seen, in the review threads, and the Ware comes from Dead Stop (which was a followup to Minefield), so I'm definitely watching those three. Which others should I watch?

 

[Sto-Vo-Kory]

It's been a few years but I remember that the first RotF novel made me wish that I'd watched "Civilization" again before reading it.

One of the great things about Christopher's ENT novels is how much they make you want to re-watch the entire series after reading them.

 

[Christopher]

One of the great things about Christopher's ENT novels is how much they make you want to re-watch the entire series after reading them.

Well, I wouldn't want to compel anyone to rewatch the entire series. There are a few episodes it's probably best to skip. For instance, I doubt I'll ever include a reference to "Vanishing Point." The one good thing I can say about that episode is that it's well-named -- if it has a point, I can't see it.

Then again, I hate "Daedalus," yet I made Dani Erickson a major character. So I guess you never know.

 

[tomswift2002]

The Enterprise novel Daedalus (and Daedalus' Children, its sequel) was definitely a lot better than the episode Daedalus.