The "everything published is canon" lead to this. We are talking about thousands of books and comics here. It was crazy, often cool, but crazy.
Discovery prequel novel: Desperate Hours
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The "everything published is canon" lead to this. We are talking about thousands of books and comics here. It was crazy, often cool, but crazy.
Any chance of yourself, David Mack, Keith DeCandido or others from the Trek novel writing community writing for the show?
It would reassure some people to know Kirsten Beyer isn't a lone voice in terms of providing the writer's room with perspective on past ideas (about, say, different versions of Klingon society over the years).
Right now there is some small apprehension born of our ignorance about the show.
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I decided long ago that I have no interest in pursuing a career in television, and I'd never have the focus or stamina to handle the grind of a Hollywood writer's room (though I wouldn't mind contributing in some peripheral way like as a tie-in author or a freelance science consultant or something). Dave, on the other hand, has already written for televised Trek (the story outlines on which DS9: "Starship Down" and "It's Only a Paper Moon" were based), and he's already working with the show's staff on Desperate Hours (indeed, I gather some of the character backgrounds he worked up for the novel have been used as resources for the show), so in his case it's entirely possible.
The thing to remember is that part of doing a job as a professional is research. Even if you go into a show not knowing a lot about its universe, your basic training for that job includes familiarizing yourself with the show and learning all you can about it. Harve Bennett and Nicholas Meyer weren't very familiar with Star Trek when they were hired to make the second movie, but they watched and studied the entire series as part of their preparation. When I was hired to write a Spider-Man novel a decade ago, I didn't have much knowledge of the actual comics aside from the then-current J. Michael Straczynski run (and aside from Spidey's TV and movie appearances), but I bought a DVD-ROM of the entire run of The Amazing Spider-Man and tracked down every other Spidey comic I could get my hands on, and my novel was praised in fan reviews for its encyclopedic grasp of continuity. What you don't know, you can learn.
And of course, a number of the people behind DSC are longtime Trek fans, not just Kirsten. Bryan Fuller certainly had plenty of prior Trek knowledge both as a fan and a writer/producer, and he's the one who developed the show's basic premise and storyline along with Alex Kurtzman, who's also a longtime Trek fan. TNG/VGR producer Joe Menosky has contributed at least one script for the show, I believe. Apparently Akiva Goldsman, who's involved as an executive producer, is a lifelong fan as well. And then there's Meyer. He's only a consulting producer, i.e. an advisor rather than a day-to-day staffer, but he's there to advise and answer questions. Anyone on the staff who wasn't already conversant with Trek has surely been getting plenty of training under the guidance of the experts.
There always is. But if what Dave tells me is correct, that apprehension is unfounded. Oh, I'm sure DSC will reinterpret some aspects of canon in ways that conflict with our long-held assumptions and expectations, but every prior revival of Star Trek has done the same. And it's done, not out of ignorance, but out of a conscious choice to do what best serves the story.
@Christopher - Thanks for the reply: I'm also really glad to hear that David is impressed with what he has seen.
Looking at Amazon, these books are going to have an MSRP of $16.00 (US)? Kinda steep...
https://www.amazon.com/Star-Trek-Discovery-David-Mack/dp/1501164570
https://www.amazon.com/Star-Trek-Discovery-David-Mack/dp/1501164570
For a Paperback? Yes...ouch.
Geez. They just can't resist small universe syndrome.
Have we ever seen the Farragut on screen?
It's a fleet, and it has only so many ships in it. Having the same vessel mentioned several times over fifty years doesn't make it a "small universe" in any regard.
It really would be pretty silly to make up a new ship every single time they mention or show one.
An appearance here or there can be fun.
I'm not against seeing Kirk or Spock or the Enterprise, but when it comes in concert with the Klingons (House of Kor?), Mudd, Sarek and who knows what else, the universe begins to seem a bit small.
And why is that?
Authors get to choose the characters that they tell their stories about. Star Trek isn't a travelogue or history of some vast future universe. It's a bunch of stories about some people. The writers want to use some established characters rather than manufacturing entirely new ones.
Frodo is Bilbo's nephew. There's no particular reason that Gandalf should have left the ring in the keeping of a never-before-seen-or-mentioned nephew of Bilbo's; in fact, that whole plot line is fairly contrived.
For that matter, why are they fighting orcs again?
Authors get to choose the characters that they tell their stories about. Star Trek isn't a travelogue or history of some vast future universe. It's a bunch of stories about some people. The writers want to use some established characters rather than manufacturing entirely new ones.
Frodo is Bilbo's nephew. There's no particular reason that Gandalf should have left the ring in the keeping of a never-before-seen-or-mentioned nephew of Bilbo's; in fact, that whole plot line is fairly contrived.
For that matter, why are they fighting orcs again?
For me? It makes the universe feel small. Nothing more, nothing less.
Ah.
Well, Trek is a small universe. Always was. Q may have had his doubts about humanity, but he sure knew that he liked hanging with Starfleet officers who had their own TV shows.
TOS had the whole fucking galaxy, and they ran into the same small-tiime flim-flam man twice. Certainly no reason that Discovery shouldn't run into him as well.
Well, Trek is a small universe. Always was. Q may have had his doubts about humanity, but he sure knew that he liked hanging with Starfleet officers who had their own TV shows.
TOS had the whole fucking galaxy, and they ran into the same small-tiime flim-flam man twice. Certainly no reason that Discovery shouldn't run into him as well.
It's $11.00 now. Also, I get the impression it's slightly larger than a typical paperback.
It's the Enterprise.
Picard obviously fascinated him for some reason, but it was particularly dumb to shoehorn him into ds9 and Voyager, especially as there's no indication he met any other Starfleet crews at all.
Desperate Hours is a trade paperback. Amazon says it's 7.8" x 5", which is somewhere between the size of the '90s Starfleet Academy YA books and the Kelvin-timeline Starfleet Academy YA books.
Which is the logical conclusion based on just the synopsis about a man she tried to avoid her entire life.
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