what did Archer do?
Dumb and Bizarre Trek Novel Moments...
- Thread starter F. King Daniel
- Start date
what did Archer do?
He failed the Kobayashi Maru
Which just happens to be a freighter that looks like the one Mayweather's family owns and operates.
^No it wasn't. The Enterprise version of the Kobayashi Maru was a repurposed old Klingon ship, based on ultra-obscure fan blueprints from the 80's.
A J-class ship would have made a lot more sense, but I would have loved to see the old Tritium-class Kobayahi Maru from the 80's TOS novel cover and the Spaceflight Chronology (but I'm sure the author of the old Kobayahi Maru blueprints was over the moon to have their stuff used)
A J-class ship would have made a lot more sense, but I would have loved to see the old Tritium-class Kobayahi Maru from the 80's TOS novel cover and the Spaceflight Chronology (but I'm sure the author of the old Kobayahi Maru blueprints was over the moon to have their stuff used)
^Well, the point is not what the ship looks like, it's the fact that it's the same type of ship as Travis's in terms of the niche it fills, the type of people who live on it, etc. So Travis had reason to identify with the crew of the Kobayashi Maru, to think of them as his own people. And so he couldn't accept Archer's decision regarding the freighter's fate.
Ironic, really, since the KM crew were about the most unlikable bunch of jerks I have ever seen in a long time in Trek. Especially Kojiro Vance - what a bastard. Why Travis would ever identify with them... 
Just because they're a freighter crew? That man's got issues.
he didn't pull a Calhoun and blow the ship up did he?
SPOILER!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
No, but he wasn't able to save it without getting Enterprise snared by the Romulans and unleashing a hijacked NX-class starship upon the Coalition.
So, he saves the Kobayashi Maru...but gets Enterprise captured, and the Kobayashi Maru probably gets destroyed just 'cuz. Or he abandons the Kobayashi Maru, and gets it and its important cargo (for a Vulcan spy outpost or something. The cargo doesn't really matter, except that it's important, and that Enterprise has been specifically tasked with keeping it safe) destroyed, and goes home in shame and embarrassment, the symbol/icon of the new Coalition of Planets, a starship whose missions will be remembered in history (
)having been unable to defend a civilian freighter from harm during what should have been a simple cargo hauling mission, casting doubt and fear to be sown in the Coalition, which can ultimately be just as if not more effective at pushing the Coalition towards dissolution and inability to respond to Romulan aggression.
No matter which choice you make, you still lose.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
No, but he wasn't able to save it without getting Enterprise snared by the Romulans and unleashing a hijacked NX-class starship upon the Coalition.
So, he saves the Kobayashi Maru...but gets Enterprise captured, and the Kobayashi Maru probably gets destroyed just 'cuz. Or he abandons the Kobayashi Maru, and gets it and its important cargo (for a Vulcan spy outpost or something. The cargo doesn't really matter, except that it's important, and that Enterprise has been specifically tasked with keeping it safe) destroyed, and goes home in shame and embarrassment, the symbol/icon of the new Coalition of Planets, a starship whose missions will be remembered in history (
)having been unable to defend a civilian freighter from harm during what should have been a simple cargo hauling mission, casting doubt and fear to be sown in the Coalition, which can ultimately be just as if not more effective at pushing the Coalition towards dissolution and inability to respond to Romulan aggression.No matter which choice you make, you still lose.
Re: Star trek Fact Files and Collector's Edition magazine.
Oh I know.
But can you explain how the ECS is using an old Klingon ship when humans supposedly only found out who the "Klingots" were 4 years earlier?
Malcolm and co had no idea about Klingon tech or what they were doing when they boarded that Klingon Raptor stuck in a gas giant - and we're supposed to believe humans are using Klingon ships elsewhere?
The Kobayashi Maru would have been hauled to Earth and dissected.
Oh I know.
But can you explain how the ECS is using an old Klingon ship when humans supposedly only found out who the "Klingots" were 4 years earlier?
Malcolm and co had no idea about Klingon tech or what they were doing when they boarded that Klingon Raptor stuck in a gas giant - and we're supposed to believe humans are using Klingon ships elsewhere?
The Kobayashi Maru would have been hauled to Earth and dissected.
Re: Star trek Fact Files and Collector's Edition magazine.
^It's a big galaxy. And NX-01 was the first Warp 5 ship, so communication among various human colonies and Space-Boomer populations would've been slow and intermittent. It is thus entirely credible to me that a group of Boomers on the frontier could've been familiar with an alien technology that the government of Earth had not yet become acquainted with. It's a mistake to talk about when "humans" found out about something in a context where humans are spread out across dozens of light-years with only slow ships and extremely intermittent subspace communications to connect them, and where the Boomers who actually make a lot of the first contacts are used to being independent and probably don't feel any great need to report all their findings back to the government on Earth.
^It's a big galaxy. And NX-01 was the first Warp 5 ship, so communication among various human colonies and Space-Boomer populations would've been slow and intermittent. It is thus entirely credible to me that a group of Boomers on the frontier could've been familiar with an alien technology that the government of Earth had not yet become acquainted with. It's a mistake to talk about when "humans" found out about something in a context where humans are spread out across dozens of light-years with only slow ships and extremely intermittent subspace communications to connect them, and where the Boomers who actually make a lot of the first contacts are used to being independent and probably don't feel any great need to report all their findings back to the government on Earth.
dumb and bizarre novel moments:
Klingon Empire: A Burning House, page 38. Kurak tells Leskit she never ate Vulcan food before. Page 42, she tells him she never said she'd never had it and knows what to order in a Vulcan restaurant.
same book: Martok fails to recognise Leskit who served with him on the Rotarran in Soldiers of teh Empire.
Klingon Empire: A Burning House, page 38. Kurak tells Leskit she never ate Vulcan food before. Page 42, she tells him she never said she'd never had it and knows what to order in a Vulcan restaurant.
same book: Martok fails to recognise Leskit who served with him on the Rotarran in Soldiers of teh Empire.
Travis's reaction is also tied to the Horizon being missing-presumed-lost (actually destroyed), and feeling if Archer would screw over the Kobiyashi Maru, in a similar situation he would do the same to the Horizon.
No, but he wasn't able to save it without getting Enterprise snared by the Romulans and unleashing a hijacked NX-class starship upon the Coalition.
So, he saves the Kobayashi Maru...but gets Enterprise captured, and the Kobayashi Maru probably gets destroyed just 'cuz. Or he abandons the Kobayashi Maru, and gets it and its important cargo (for a Vulcan spy outpost or something. The cargo doesn't really matter, except that it's important, and that Enterprise has been specifically tasked with keeping it safe) destroyed, and goes home in shame and embarrassment, the symbol/icon of the new Coalition of Planets, a starship whose missions will be remembered in history (
No matter which choice you make, you still lose.
What tops the list of dumb Trek novel moments for me is whenever it becomes bloody obvious that Mangels and/or Martin is trying to force their political views into the story. I'm all for social commentary, because that's what Star Trek is good at, but not the way they do it.
When I was very young my Mom taught me not to do that. You don't dedicate novels to people at the center of contemporary political and social issues and you don't make specific references to specific people and their policies, either to praise or condemn them.
They didn't on television
I mean think about it. In "Let That Be Your Battlefield" they didn't once specifically mention anyone even vaguely connected to the Civil Rights Movement in either opposition or support. They constructed a brilliant work of subtle social commentary and let it stand for itself.
Or, to use an example from Enterprise, in "Chosen Realm" they didn't make specific references to the current War on Terror's situation at the time. They created the social commentary and let it stand on it's own.
When I was very young my Mom taught me not to do that. You don't dedicate novels to people at the center of contemporary political and social issues and you don't make specific references to specific people and their policies, either to praise or condemn them.
They didn't on television
I mean think about it. In "Let That Be Your Battlefield" they didn't once specifically mention anyone even vaguely connected to the Civil Rights Movement in either opposition or support. They constructed a brilliant work of subtle social commentary and let it stand for itself.
Or, to use an example from Enterprise, in "Chosen Realm" they didn't make specific references to the current War on Terror's situation at the time. They created the social commentary and let it stand on it's own.
Your mother actually taught you about book dedications when you were a kid? I'm impressed. I can't say my parents spent much time discussing the finer points of publishing with me . . .
Seriously, I don't think book dedications count as a faulty Trek moment. As an editor, I don't think I've ever asked an author to change a dedication in a book. That's their business. It has nothing to do with the quality of the book.
As long as it's will-written and the story is compelling, they can dedicate it to their dog, their ex-girlfriend, or God . . . .
Okay, maybe she didn't talk about ook dedications, but when I was twelve and first started getting interested in writing, even if it's only fanfiction so far, she cautioned me not to force that type of social commentary into my stories.
But that's not my point, to me it seems they go out of their way to force their political views and take on contemporary issues into the stories themselves, in ways that our completely outside the norm for Star Trek.
But that's not my point, to me it seems they go out of their way to force their political views and take on contemporary issues into the stories themselves, in ways that our completely outside the norm for Star Trek.
Your mother actually taught you about book dedications when you were a kid? I'm impressed. I can't say my parents spent much time discussing the finer points of publishing with me . . .
Seriously, I don't think book dedications count as a faulty Trek moment. As an editor, I don't think I've ever asked an author to change a dedication in a book. That's their business. It has nothing to do with the quality of the book.
As long as it's will-written and the story is compelling, they can dedicate it to their dog, their ex-girlfriend, or God . . . .
I think he meant something else with "dedicate". Not the dedication "Thanks to..." at the beginning, but the dedication of the whole thing to something/someone. Like writing a Trek novel about a Federation President who got famous for his "Yes we can" speeches.
Actually I was talking about the opening dedication to Last Full Measure,in which they did exactly that.
I have my issues with that book anyway, particularly how the MACOs were portrayed. Which I mentioned in an earlier post in this thread.
On another note, I wouldn't name a repair facility after a contemporary political figure who was alive and still in office at the time it was written, no matter how much I believed in him and his policies.
-Gray
I have my issues with that book anyway, particularly how the MACOs were portrayed. Which I mentioned in an earlier post in this thread.
On another note, I wouldn't name a repair facility after a contemporary political figure who was alive and still in office at the time it was written, no matter how much I believed in him and his policies.
-Gray
Well, that's your decision. Just like that was M&M and their editor's decision.
Star Trek Online: The Needs of the Many
Kai Kira. A lot can happen in 30+ years, but...
(I would have said the same about Londo and Vir at the start of Babylon 5, though, so I guess I can cope)
Picard and Beverly's kid Rene marrying Riker and Troi's kid Tasha.
The Gorn and the Klingons settling their differences and delaying a war with a baseball game. My new all-time dumbest TrekLit moment. Ever. I almost drove my palm through my face.
Poor Wolf Dulmer being locked up because he's the only one in the galaxy who remembers all the continuity errors in Star Trek! (I loved that chapter so much!
)
Kai Kira. A lot can happen in 30+ years, but...
(I would have said the same about Londo and Vir at the start of Babylon 5, though, so I guess I can cope)Picard and Beverly's kid Rene marrying Riker and Troi's kid Tasha.
The Gorn and the Klingons settling their differences and delaying a war with a baseball game. My new all-time dumbest TrekLit moment. Ever. I almost drove my palm through my face.
Poor Wolf Dulmer being locked up because he's the only one in the galaxy who remembers all the continuity errors in Star Trek! (I loved that chapter so much!
)
"Let That Be Your Last Battlefield" is many things, but subtle isn't one of them. Ditto "The Way To Eden" and any number of sledgehammer parables found in the original series.
Star Trek is a series of little morality plays told in a space opera format. At least, that's what I always thought it was. Why is this controversial now, 45 years on?
Star Trek Online: The Needs of the Many
Kai Kira. A lot can happen in 30+ years, but...
Picard and Beverly's kid Rene marrying Riker and Troi's kid Tasha.
The Gorn and the Klingons settling their differences and delaying a war with a baseball game. My new all-time dumbest TrekLit moment. Ever. I almost drove my palm through my face.
Poor Wolf Dulmer being locked up because he's the only one in the galaxy who remembers all the continuity errors in Star Trek! (I loved that chapter so much!
Huh? KAI Kira? No way. I don't see the big deal with Picard's kid marrying Riker's kid, though. Baseball, eh? That's interesting. And by interesting I mean moronic. And that's just mean to morons.
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