The weirdest and most off putting thing in this novel is the idea that Janice Rand was a 16 year old. Huh? 
Enterprise : The First Adventure out of sync with canon
- Thread starter JWolf
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Jack Bauer said:
The weirdest and most off putting thing in this novel is the idea that Janice Rand was a 16 year old. Huh?
The one thing I did like about that was that it addressed relativistic speeds and time dilution in the Trek universe.
As regards Scotty and Uhura being aboard, there's plenty of time for that during the 11 years that Spock is aboard Pike's ship, after the Talos IV events. I know Fontana plays it differently for Scotty in Vulcan's Glory - but there's nothing to say Scotty wouldn't have been temporarily absent during "The Cage". (Aren't these temporary reassingments convenient?)
As for Spock or Mitchell being the XO, the dialogue of "Where No Man" doesn't actually label Spock as the science officer. Rather, when Kirk and his officers discuss what to do about Mitchell, the Captain points the accusing finger towards Dehner when saying that the Science Officer should inform the skipper of important things in a timely fashion. Spock has not been remiss in that respect - only Dehner has. So my XO vote goes for Spock...
I do like the idea that The First Adventure (as well as the book by that name) takes place well ahead of our first onscreen encounter with Kirk... Plenty of stuff can happen there before the opening shot of "Where No Man".
Also, I like the trick of sidetracking Mitchell from the plot. The relationship between Kirk and Mitchell seems to be on/off sort anyway; it would make plotwise sense for Mitchell to have gotten (back) aboard Kirk's ship only shortly before "Where No Man". The greater canon violation would come from the episode's implication that Spock and Mitchell were longtime colleagues...
Timo Saloniemi
As for Spock or Mitchell being the XO, the dialogue of "Where No Man" doesn't actually label Spock as the science officer. Rather, when Kirk and his officers discuss what to do about Mitchell, the Captain points the accusing finger towards Dehner when saying that the Science Officer should inform the skipper of important things in a timely fashion. Spock has not been remiss in that respect - only Dehner has. So my XO vote goes for Spock...
I do like the idea that The First Adventure (as well as the book by that name) takes place well ahead of our first onscreen encounter with Kirk... Plenty of stuff can happen there before the opening shot of "Where No Man".
Also, I like the trick of sidetracking Mitchell from the plot. The relationship between Kirk and Mitchell seems to be on/off sort anyway; it would make plotwise sense for Mitchell to have gotten (back) aboard Kirk's ship only shortly before "Where No Man". The greater canon violation would come from the episode's implication that Spock and Mitchell were longtime colleagues...
Timo Saloniemi
I believe McIntyre based her chronology on The Making of Star Trek. Written during the second season, that book asserted that Kirk was 34 years old (the age he gave in "The Deadly Years") and had been in command for four years at that point. (Meaning either that TOS began in year 3 of the 5-year mission -- as the Okudachron assumed -- or that Kirk had been in command of the ship for some time before the 5-year exploration assignment began. There's no reason a ship couldn't be assigned to tours of different lengths, depending on mission profile; indeed, the trip to and from the edge of the galaxy would take months in itself and so was probably a separate mission from the 5-year one in the series. Assuming the new movie doesn't scuttle that idea....) So McIntyre had Kirk be 29 going on 30 when he took command. Which would've made it 2263 at the latest.
...Indeed, we have never really heard of anybody but Kirk performing a five-year mission of exploration. He even markets that as a unique achievement in TMP.
I wonder what rank Kirk held at that tender age... I mean, yeah, even McIntyre calls him "Captain", but that's his title, not necessarily his rank.
The movie would have to explore massive chunks of Kirk's career to really discredit the little snapshots we get in the novels and in the episode backstories. And while the movie is likely to show more than one timeframe, I think we are relatively safe from major contradictions no matter how the movie turns out.
Timo Saloniemi
It would be easy for the movie to scuttle my proposal that Kirk and the E had shorter-duration missions before the 5YM began. All they'd have to do is show a scene where Kirk first becomes captain of the E and have his superior officer tell him (or have him announce to his crew) that his first mission will be a five-year mission to explore strange new worlds, etc. In fact, I'd be a little surprised if something like that didn't happen. They're giving us the familiar elements we expect, including Bones, Uhura, and Chekov, and the "5-year mission" is an iconic aspect of TOS.
Especially since Scotty was the one who turned on the television-- um, monitor for the court martial.
In the flashback Star Trek Annual, "All Those Years Ago...," Uhura appeared in a mini-skirt version of the "The Cage" and WNMHGB uniform.
People,
I remember this novel and liked it. Frankly, the so-called canon inconsistencies didn't bother me. As pointed out by others in this thread, there are simple explanations for the appearances, which I'll take a stab at. For example:
-Sulu's first appointment is as helm officer, so his subsequent appearance as astrophysics officer is temporary, part of his command training as a rotation to increase his proficiency in different departments -- maybe the regular astrophysics officer transferred to a science vessel and the position needed to be filled;
-Dr. McCoy is the real CMO, so Dr. Piper filled in for him later, maybe when McCoy was on a personal leave relating to either his ex-wife or his daughter, or maybe it had to do with McCoy's father -- we don't know when David McCoy died from his illness;
-Uhura is the senior communications officer, but was probably off-ship, leading to Alden temporarily replacing her -- I like to think she received some additional training at Starfleet Command, maybe brushing up on communication protocols;
-Lee Kelso was finishing another assignment on another ship, as it's probably likely that if Starfleet Command requests an officer for an assignment, their orders supersede a captain's;
-Author McIntyre had already figured a good way to have Chekov on board during Khan's first encounter with Kirk & Co. in the novel version of TWOK -- he was on the night shift -- so it made sense she'd have him on board again.
Agreed that the character of Marietta Cheung was a uselsess creation and it would have made more sense for Lee Kelso to be there instead.
Red Ranger
I remember this novel and liked it. Frankly, the so-called canon inconsistencies didn't bother me. As pointed out by others in this thread, there are simple explanations for the appearances, which I'll take a stab at. For example:
-Sulu's first appointment is as helm officer, so his subsequent appearance as astrophysics officer is temporary, part of his command training as a rotation to increase his proficiency in different departments -- maybe the regular astrophysics officer transferred to a science vessel and the position needed to be filled;
-Dr. McCoy is the real CMO, so Dr. Piper filled in for him later, maybe when McCoy was on a personal leave relating to either his ex-wife or his daughter, or maybe it had to do with McCoy's father -- we don't know when David McCoy died from his illness;
-Uhura is the senior communications officer, but was probably off-ship, leading to Alden temporarily replacing her -- I like to think she received some additional training at Starfleet Command, maybe brushing up on communication protocols;
-Lee Kelso was finishing another assignment on another ship, as it's probably likely that if Starfleet Command requests an officer for an assignment, their orders supersede a captain's;
-Author McIntyre had already figured a good way to have Chekov on board during Khan's first encounter with Kirk & Co. in the novel version of TWOK -- he was on the night shift -- so it made sense she'd have him on board again.
Agreed that the character of Marietta Cheung was a uselsess creation and it would have made more sense for Lee Kelso to be there instead.
Red Ranger
And yet there is a tradition of a roster of new faces in that seat, and sometimes they don't survive the episode. Or maybe Ms McIntyre felt the bridge was too male-dominated if Kelso was used instead?
Heck, there were several episodes where Uhura wasn't around and Palmer or someone else was manning comms. And there were plenty of episodes that Sulu wasn't in. There was no explanation offered for their absence; presumably duty assignments just shift sometimes.
However, even though it is explicable, I'd find it preferable if the command crew gradually evolved rather than having all the famous seven locked in place from the get-go. Although I guess that's probably what the movie's gonna give us.
Except the timing is wrong. McIntyre asserts that Kirk is 29 in the novel, close to 30. We know he was 34 in the second season, thanks to "The Deadly Years." Chekov said he was 22 in "Who Mourns for Adonais," which was just seven episodes before "Deadly Years" in production order, ten in airing order. So Chekov is between 11-12 years younger than Kirk. So if Kirk was 29 in the novel, Chekov would've been only 17-18, making him probably a first-year cadet. Okay, we do have some precedent (Nog) for second-year cadets being in active service, but first-year is pushing it. And I'm pretty sure the book depicted him as a full ensign, not a cadet.
Therin: Think you're right about that. As I recall, many of the female authors actively put more female characters in the novels to make up for the predominance of male characters. I still think Cheung was a bit boring, and as I recall, she was also a pretty high rank, lieutenant commander. Too bad she didn't make the navigator an Andorian! 
-- RR
-- RR[/QUOTE]
Not to mention a violation of Nichelle Nichols' preferences for the character. She was unhappy with the uniform trousers in TWOK and requested a return to the miniskirt for TSFS.
[/QUOTE]
Uh...
Noooo. The Cage, and Where No Man Starfleet female officers wore P A N T S.
Charlie X-The Counter Clock Incident, Starfleet female officers wore ^Minidresses*.
TMP-TWOK, Starfleet female officer wore P A N T S.
In TSFS, Uhura wore a knee length skirt. Not a miniskirt.
Remember, must follow The Canon tm.
Not to mention a violation of Nichelle Nichols' preferences for the character. She was unhappy with the uniform trousers in TWOK and requested a return to the miniskirt for TSFS.
[/QUOTE]
Uh...
Noooo. The Cage, and Where No Man Starfleet female officers wore P A N T S.
Charlie X-The Counter Clock Incident, Starfleet female officers wore ^Minidresses*.
TMP-TWOK, Starfleet female officer wore P A N T S.
In TSFS, Uhura wore a knee length skirt. Not a miniskirt.
Remember, must follow The Canon tm.
Holytomato said:
Remember, must follow The Canon tm.
And The Canon(tm) seems to say that women can wear pants or skirts. Wonderous things happen in the 23rd century...
And ironically the DC Comics Star Trek annual that chronicled the end of the Five Year Mission had Uhura complaining about having had to wear a mini-skirt for 5 years!
And ironically the DC Comics Star Trek annual that chronicled the end of the Five Year Mission had Uhura complaining about having had to wear a mini-skirt for 5 years!
[/QUOTE]
But in Ex Machina, I had Uhura lament the loss of the miniskirts. (Or mini-culottes, which I think is what they actually were.)
Anyway, if we have to drag "canon" into this, a number of early first-season episodes show background crewwomen in pants even when the rest are in skirts. Which is due to them having a limited costume budget and having to reuse stuff, but it still counts.
Ahh I had forgotten about that. One of the things I loved about Ex Machina was little touches like that. I've seen lesser authors whose attempts to ad tidbits like that are overdone and tend to detract from the actual plot of the book. I felt you hit a great balance & managed to write one of the few Trek novels that really felt like it was in the TMP era to me.
Thanks!
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