Spoilers ENT: Broken Bow Novelization by Diane Carey Review Thread

[tomswift2002]

Broken Bow
Written by Diane Carey
Published: October 2001

I'm currently re-reading this book for the first time since 2002, when I first read it.

I'm up to Chapter 12 and I'm finding the book is better than the aired episode, and even the characters are stronger and more fleshed out than they were in the first 3 seasons. I'm also finding it interesting how Carey has given both Archer and Trip more of a racist look at Vulcans in the beginning (kind of like how, if she had written a novel set in the 1920's, she might've had two white characters go from being racist towards blacks in the beginning to where they either accept blacks or stand them more), but then towards the end, with a subplot that shows another motive from Ambassador Soval, the two come to accept T'Pol, and really adds to the scene where Archer asks but doesn't ask T'Pol To contact the Vulcans to request she remain on the Enterprise.

Plus I even forgot that Archer and Sato had some sort of history together. The aired episode seems to make it sound like Archer had selected Sato months earlier, and because the Enterprise wasn't expected to launch till possible after the current school semester was finished, had allowed Sato to remain in Brazil. In the book, Carey expands upon the relationship a little bit, but not in the more regular they'd been on a few romantic dates in the past...da...da...da...da., but that Archer had been friends with Sato for quite sometime (possible to where Sato's family had moved onto the Archer's block when Sato was a kid and Archer was a teen, and Archer had kept in contact with Sato through his and her Academy years) and their relationship on the Enterprise is more like a father-daughter. In the book Archer's two closest people onboard are Sato and Trip, with Reed and Mayweather being his next closest, and then Plox and finally T'Pol, who really has to work into Archer's trust.

Anyway, it is a great book and a lot better than the aired episode.

 

[JD]

Isn't this the one where Carey keeps insulting the script in the book?

 

[Dr. San Guinary]

^ Yep.

 

[tomswift2002]

Isn't this the one where Carey keeps insulting the script in the book?

Funny thing is, so far there's only been two instances that I've come across where it could be considered an insult, but I've found she used them to increase the dramatic tension of the story.

 

[Idran]

Isn't this the one where Carey keeps insulting the script in the book?

Funny thing is, so far there's only been two instances that I've come across where it could be considered an insult, but I've found she used them to increase the dramatic tension of the story.

Only two? I can think of four right off the top of my head, and I haven't read it in months: Archer ripping into Phlox's attitude in sickbay, Trip thinking about how ridiculous T'Pol's claim that Vulcan schoolchildren make sensors is, Malcolm thinking about how cliche it is that he and Mayweather ended up in a brothel, and Archer thinking about how he'd wish Hoshi would stop talking about how to solve a problem and just solve it. I honestly can't think of a single positive series of thoughts or positive offscreen dialogue any viewpoint character had at any point in the book.

I mean, agree with the expressed beliefs if you want, sure, but all of those were specifically pointed criticisms of aspects of the Broken Bow script even if you agree with them.

Edit: Remembered a fifth one; can't remember if it was Trip or Archer, but the mental eyerolls at how obviously Vulcans really did eat with their hands at times and how smug T'Pol's breadstick thing was. I'll count that as one more instead of two.

I'm honestly not even sure which two you're talking about, thinking on it; I can't think of any changes Carey made that increased dramatic tension. Increased tension between characters, maybe, but nothing that made the narrative more tense.

 

[Tosk]

^There's also the "a stupid idea" comment about the dancers eating butterflies.

 

[Idran]

^There's also the "a stupid idea" comment about the dancers eating butterflies.

Oh yeah, that was separate from Malcolm calling the place a cliche, wasn't it?

 

[Stevil2001]

Isn't this the one where Carey keeps insulting the script in the book?

Funny thing is, so far there's only been two instances that I've come across where it could be considered an insult, but I've found she used them to increase the dramatic tension of the story.

Only two? I can think of four right off the top of my head, and I haven't read it in months: Archer ripping into Phlox's attitude in sickbay, Trip thinking about how ridiculous T'Pol's claim that Vulcan schoolchildren make sensors is, Malcolm thinking about how cliche it is that he and Mayweather ended up in a brothel, and Archer thinking about how he'd wish Hoshi would stop talking about how to solve a problem and just solve it. I honestly can't think of a single positive series of thoughts or positive offscreen dialogue any viewpoint character had at any point in the book.

I mean, agree with the expressed beliefs if you want, sure, but all of those were specifically pointed criticisms of aspects of the Broken Bow script even if you agree with them.

Edit: Remembered a fifth one; can't remember if it was Trip or Archer, but the mental eyerolls at how obviously Vulcans really did eat with their hands at times and how smug T'Pol's breadstick thing was. I'll count that as one more instead of two.

I'm honestly not even sure which two you're talking about, thinking on it; I can't think of any changes Carey made that increased dramatic tension. Increased tension between characters, maybe, but nothing that made the narrative more tense.

Relevant thread: http://www.trekbbs.com/showthread.php?t=208597