Spoilers Discovery and the Novelverse - TV show discussion thread

[Christopher]

Picard will be in his 90s in his upcoming show

No surprise there. Picard was a decade or so older than Patrick Stewart in the series -- he was born in 2305, so he was 59 when TNG began, 74 in Nemesis. So if we're 19 years later, then of course he'd be 93.

Myriad Universe - Places of Exile depicts fluidic space as a multiversal singularity. The entire story hinges on no parallel timelines being possible for the Groundskeepers' home realm. IMO there is not a chance that screen canon will ever pick up that idea because, due respect to Christopher the author, it is too deep-cut physics for the average TV producer and average audience member to comprehend. Which is probably why Star Trek Online did nothing of the sort when depicting Species 8472.

Of course. I've never been under any illusion that the producers of screen Trek were likely or obligated to adopt any of my ideas. I'm just trying to tell the best stories I can, and to explore the science fiction ideas I want to explore as a writer.

 

[USS Firefly]

Was Mccoy's age exceptionnel with his 130 years?
Because Picard isn't then that old in the new show.

 

[Christopher]

Was Mccoy's age exceptionnel with his 130 years?

So the dialogue indicated. Still, Picard's age here would only be a bit over 2/3 of McCoy's age in "Farpoint."

 

[JD]

I don't think T'Pol is relevant, we're talking about Federation Starfleet.

Didn't they establish that Earth Starfleet was about to become the Federation Starfleet in the Enterprise finale? I don't see any reason to think she would left have just because it was becoming part of the Federation.

 

[David cgc]

So the dialogue indicated. Still, Picard's age here would only be a bit over 2/3 of McCoy's age in "Farpoint."

I'm not sure it was exceptional, just that most people by that age had lost a step or two. Data only brought it up by saying he was surprised McCoy would put up with the "time and trouble of a shuttlecraft." You'd probably say the same thing today to a 90-year-old taking a Greyhound, but they still aren't record-settingly old, just enough you wouldn't expect them to be doing stuff the hard way.

 

[Christopher]

I'm not sure it was exceptional, just that most people by that age had lost a step or two.

No, I think it was meant to be exceptional. McCoy's irritation at having his age brought up suggests that people do often make a big deal out of it and he's tired of that. I mean, remember, later that same year in "Too Short a Season," Admiral Jameson was portrayed as decrepit at age 85.

Even much later in DS9, when Dax said she expected O'Brien to die peacefully in bed at 140, she clearly meant to say that he'd have a good long life and come close to the maximum plausible life expectancy for a human. That's consistent with McCoy's age of 137 being pretty near the upper limit.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Spock may have been the first Vulcan/Human hybrid in Starfleet. If there were other Vulcan/Human hybrids, they either fully embraced their Vulcanness and did something else, or fully embraced their Humanness and did something else, or balanced both and hid on some colony world where it wasn't as big a deal.

 

[Mysterion]

The world needs a Discovery novel centered on Jett Reno. Now. Right now. Or at least I do. So, if there's anyone from Pocket who pays attention to this board, I'd really appreciate some effort on this. Thanks.

 

[Yistaan]

The world needs a Discovery novel centered on Jett Reno. Now. Right now. Or at least I do. So, if there's anyone from Pocket who pays attention to this board, I'd really appreciate some effort on this. Thanks.

Honestly I think her character archetype of sarcastic, know-it-all, seen-it-all, blunt showboating style is tired and cliched. I guess it's clear she has fans from how many likes your post got, but I'll be sitting any tie-in media centered on her character out.

Being a licensed engineer myself, she's not at all the kind of engineer I'd like to work with in real life, so I sure am not going to be throwing her into my free time reading life either.

 

[JD]

The world needs a Discovery novel centered on Jett Reno. Now. Right now. Or at least I do. So, if there's anyone from Pocket who pays attention to this board, I'd really appreciate some effort on this. Thanks.

They seems to be working their way through the cast, so I'd say there's a decent chance we might get one.
I would love to get one for Ariam, that deals with the events surrounding the shuttle accident that lead to her augmentations and it's aftermath.

 

[Yistaan]

Ariam, that deals with the events surrounding the shuttle accident that lead to her augmentations and it's aftermath.

Star Trek's future always seemed not so futuristic medical wise (they should have been able to clone body parts and restore people just as they were before). A novel detailing this would just be very depressing.

We don't need 21st century ailments and injuries to create drama. Wolverine from the X-Men has plenty of drama despite being able to heal from anything.

 

[DGCatAniSiri]

I’m still hoping for something that offers some expansion for the whole of Discovery’s bridge crew, Detmer, Owosekun, Rhys, and Bryce. Especially after the “goodbye messages” sequence teased some relationships that are, given the time jump, much less likely to see on screen.

 

[F. King Daniel]

They seems to be working their way through the cast, so I'd say there's a decent chance we might get one.
I would love to get one for Ariam, that deals with the events surrounding the shuttle accident that lead to her augmentations and it's aftermath.

*sneakily reprints an old Robocop novelization with Robocop find-and-replaced with Airiam and OCP replaced with Starfleet*

 

[WebLurker]

Started the Enterprise War DSC novel. Kinda interesting the book is taking the effort to reconcile Desperate Hours with the TV show.

 

[Enterprise1701]

We don't need 21st century ailments and injuries to create drama.

Some would say not to get one's hopes up with the track record of Kurtzman in charge.

 

[Tuskin38]

Some would say not to get one's hopes up with the track record of Kurtzman in charge.

Why mention him specifically? All of Trek is guilty of this.

 

[Tuskin38]

Here's another example of the co-ordination/respect between the different media partners.

Originally the Star Trek Online was going to do a Stamets origin story, but when they saw that IDW already did a comic about that, they decided that instead of stepping on their toes, they'd come up with another idea.

Though this isn't new, they are using J'Ula from the Comics in their game.

 

[Greg Cox]

Why mention him specifically? All of Trek is guilty of this.

And, honestly, I'm not sure this is really a crime.

Look at "Journey to Babel," for instance. How boring would that episode have been if McCoy had just been able to use some magic 23rd century medical gizmo to quickly and easily fix Sarek's bad heart or Kirk's punctured lung?

Death, injury, and illness are part of the human condition. You don't want to get so "futuristic" that you leave that behind, story-wise. I still remember rolling my eyes when an early TNG ep stated that nobody in the future got headaches anymore. Seriously?

Heck, as far back as "The Cage," Spock is limping, and other crew members are still banged up, after that bloodbath on Rigel IV. And remember the guy with the scarred face in "Conscience of the King"?

I love that kinda thing: adds to a nice touch of gritty realism to Star Trek's bright and shiny future.

 

[Tuskin38]

Yeah, maybe guilty was the wrong word.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Star Trek's future always seemed not so futuristic medical wise (they should have been able to clone body parts and restore people just as they were before). A novel detailing this would just be very depressing.

We don't need 21st century ailments and injuries to create drama. Wolverine from the X-Men has plenty of drama despite being able to heal from anything.

And he (in the movies, at least) eventually dies of cancer, a 21st century ailment.

Trek usually takes modern-day illnesses and invents a futuristic version of it that's really the same. That way they can say it's cured in the future. In "All Good Things", Picard was suffering from Irumodic Syndrome which has the exact symptoms of senility but is beyond 24th century medicine.