Broken Bow novelization issue?

[Tiberius]

These sorts of glitches happen when tie-ins are written early to ensure they can be released in a timely fashion. They're often based on series bibles and early scripts and so they reflect an unfinished idea of what the series will be. The glitches in Ghost Ship have been mentioned. The first few Voyager novels referred to the Doctor as Doc Zimmerman, because the producers originally thought that he'd adopt that name after a few episodes.

In the Enterprise bible, not only was Tucker referred to as Charlie, but he was a lieutenant and his nickname was Spike. Along with Captain Jackson Archer, Subcommander T'Pau, and Joe Mayweather.

In David Gerrold's novelization of "Farpoint," Data was built by aliens...

 

[Christopher]

In David Gerrold's novelization of "Farpoint," Data was built by aliens...

Yes, that was the original plan from the TNG bible. Data was basically a recycling of the android Questor from Roddenberry's failed pilot The Questor Tapes, and Questor was descended from a long line of androids seeded on Earth by aliens to guide our development.

Also in the original bible, Riker was called Bill and was prejudiced against Data (which was a significant thread in Ghost Ship), Data's name rhymed with "that-a," Geordi was a liaison with the ship's children, and Worf didn't exist. Data was also intended to have an Asian or Pacific-Islander appearance, but they didn't stick with it. Memory Alpha says they did consider a few Asian actors -- Kelvin Han Yee, John Lone, and even actress Kim Miyori -- but also a number of white actors (including Robert Englund, Mark Lindsay Chapman, and Eric Menyuk) and even Kevin Peter Hall (who was Leyor in "The Price" and the title character in Predator).


By the way, I found an early casting memo for TNG:

http://www.lettersofnote.com/2010/08/star-trekcasting.html

Some interesting alternatives there. They considered Yaphet Kotto for Picard. Julia Nickson and Rosalind Chao were considered for Tasha. Candidates for Geordi included Tim Russ and, of all people, Wesley Snipes. (Odd that they were determined to cast a black male as Geordi but were more flexible with the other characters' ethnicities.) And Jenny Agutter of Logan's Run was considered for Dr. Crusher. It also lists Denise Crosby as the only possibility they'd found for the role... of Troi.

 

[Sto-Vo-Kory]

Liaison with the ship's children? What on Earth would that job entail? And why would the children in the ship require a liaison?

Was Burton pushing for a TNG/Reading Rainbow crossover?

 

[bfollowell]

I see what you guys mean about these early books being really messed up fact-wise. I just noticed that the second original Enterprise novel, What Price Honor?, takes place in mostly January 2151. That's kind of funny since the pilot episode where the Enterprise first launches takes place in April 2151. If you're one of the first authors to write a tie-in novel for a new series, it must be sort of like trying to navigate through a dark room blind folded!

- Byron

 

[tomswift2002]

I remember reading the novelization before seeing the episode and the book totally made me to expect a completely different series than the one that aired.

 

[Christopher]

Liaison with the ship's children? What on Earth would that job entail? And why would the children in the ship require a liaison?

I guess it would be someone whose responsibility is to explain events that affect the crew, handle problems involving the children, make sure they're being well taken care of, stuff like that. Which does sound more like something that would be Troi's department, or the job of someone else in Troi's department, rather than the flight controller's job.

It does seem like a Reading Rainbow-inspired idea, but I think the bible was written before the role was cast (given what it says about Data's ethnicity), so maybe that's just a coincidence.

 

[Stevil2001]

"Kids, we've just passed beyond the physical universe into a realm of pure thought. But you don't have to take my word for it."

 

[Kertrats47]

"Kids, we've just passed beyond the physical universe into a realm of pure thought. But you don't have to take my word for it."

 

[JD]

It really is pretty crazy just how different a lot of shows are in the early series bible versus what we actually end up getting.

 

[Christopher]

^Well, that's how creativity works -- you figure it out as you go, refine your ideas as you discover what works and what doesn't, and as you find new inspirations along the way.

 

[JD]

Does the Rodenberrys' website still sell the series bibles and scripts? I know they used to, years ago.