Episode follow up stories

[Christopher]

I’ve never sat down and looked it over, but it certainly feels like every TOS episode has been followed up in one form or another at this point.

I think there are a few, if we go by Laura's definition that it has to be a direct continuation of a specific plot or character thread from the episode, rather than just the reuse of a concept. Let's see...

"The Enemy Within" wasn't something that really could be followed up directly. The closest thing is the fan story "Ni Var" reprinted in edited form in Star Trek: The New Voyages, in which a scientist developed a variation on the transporter-splitting effect to split Spock into human and Vulcan halves. That's maybe a borderline case.

"The Man Trap," as discussed, has had no major followup, just passing allusions. "The Naked Time" had a canonical sequel but no prose or comics sequels I can think of. I'm not sure if "Dagger of the Mind" has had a direct followup, though I think there was a comics story involving a modification of the neural neutralizer.

"The Galileo Seven" is a borderline case; Boma reappeared in Dreadnought!, IIRC, and there was a reference to the events of TG7, but it's a peripheral link. Beyond passing references, I don't think we've had significant followup to "Catspaw," "The Immunity Syndrome," "Patterns of Force" (unless there's a John Gill prequel story I'm forgetting), "Spectre of the Gun," "Spock's Brain," "Plato's Stepchildren" (I've always wanted to bring back Alexander but haven't had the opportunity), "Wink of an Eye," or "Turnabout Intruder."

You could probably add a fair number of TAS episodes, but I'm tired.

With Picard season 3 now complete, there’s been a lot of discussion about it being too much fan service, etc. I think Star Trek on TV/film has been much more reserved when it comes to follow ups or overindulging in nostalgia versus Trek literature and comics. As a reader of the post Nemesis books, there’s initially a reaction of ‘oh really, the Borg, Picard and Seven again?’ but for the overwhelming majority of the audience these are concepts and characters that haven’t really been addressed in decades (Picard season two notwithstanding).

I think there's a fundamental difference there, though. Tie-in novels' express purpose is to tie in, to support, to follow the lead of canon and elaborate on what it established. We're supposed to be derivative. Canon's job is to take the lead, to set the course, to introduce the new ideas that we tie-in authors elaborate on. If the canon ends up just elaborating on its own past instead of establishing new ideas, that's a sign of stagnation. A franchise that becomes nothing more than fanfic for its own past is no longer moving forward. Which is why I think we need less Trek like Picard seasons 2-3 and more like Discovery and Prodigy. And Lower Decks and Strange New Worlds, which do rely heavily on nostalgia but manage to balance it with original characters and stories, as well as proving that episodic storytelling is still worthwhile.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Novels don't have to re-cast old characters or redecorate sets - we can picture them as the same versions we knew and loved (albeit older, wiser, or in some cases, younger, more foolish, better, worse, etc). And anything new is colored by our view of the show/film's aesthetic.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

Yes, Boma did indeed reappear in either Dreadnought! or Battlestations! (He reappeared with a doctorate and a serious grudge against Spock.)

And now that you mention it, I think there was some piece of TrekLit about John Gill. Although I don't see any specifics in Memory Beta.

 

[Greg Cox]

"Spock's Brain" has never gotten one, has it? I'd be interested in seeing that story get a rehab and continuation.

"Don't even think about it, Greg," I was once told.

They know me too well.

I once came dangerously close to getting a "Catspaw" sequel on the schedule, before saner heads prevailed.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

What's the thinking there? Is the episode that bad? Or is no writer that good?

 

[I am not Herbert]

I wrote an (unpublished) manuscript for a sequel to the Way to Eden. (No songs, alas.) But I don't believe that there has been any published sequel/follow-up.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Irina Galliulin has an alternate reality counterpart in the IDW Kelvinverse comics. That Irina is in Starfleet still.

Prime Irina and Chekov try a couple of times to make a go of it.

Tongo Rad appears in a comic.

 

[STMSTS]

"The Galileo Seven" is a borderline case; Boma reappeared in Dreadnought!, IIRC, and there was a reference to the events of TG7, but it's a peripheral link. Beyond passing references, I don't think we've had significant followup to "Catspaw," "The Immunity Syndrome," "Patterns of Force" (unless there's a John Gill prequel story I'm forgetting), "Spectre of the Gun," "Spock's Brain," "Plato's Stepchildren" (I've always wanted to bring back Alexander but haven't had the opportunity), "Wink of an Eye," or "Turnabout Intruder.".

I wouldn’t consider a case of a character reappearing a sequel/follow up unless they’re in a key protagonist/antagonist role. For example, “Nth Degree” is a follow up to “Hollow Pursuits” but Star Trek First Contact isn’t as Barclay or the events of the episode aren’t central to the story.

I think there's a fundamental difference there, though. Tie-in novels' express purpose is to tie in, to support, to follow the lead of canon and elaborate on what it established. We're supposed to be derivative. Canon's job is to take the lead, to set the course, to introduce the new ideas that we tie-in authors elaborate on. If the canon ends up just elaborating on its own past instead of establishing new ideas, that's a sign of stagnation. A franchise that becomes nothing more than fanfic for its own past is no longer moving forward. Which is why I think we need less Trek like Picard seasons 2-3 and more like Discovery and Prodigy. And Lower Decks and Strange New Worlds, which do rely heavily on nostalgia but manage to balance it with original characters and stories, as well as proving that episodic storytelling is still worthwhile.

I agree with the central premise, that tie-ins should be there to support/enhance/elaborate canon (I’m not sure Discovery completely fits the criteria as the lead is a direct relative of an existing character and the series began life as a prequel which was anything but hesitant to play with pre standing characters and concepts) but it doesn’t always have to be derivative beyond the core premise/characters. With the focus on a continuing narrative in most of the novel line in recent years (which seems to have ended with Picard’s arrival) I do think the tie-ins lost a little of bit of one of their key strengths that other media don’t have when it comes to nostalgia which is the ability to transport you back in time. You can read/write a novel that takes you back to the fifth year of the Enterprise-Ds mission, with Captain Picard tugging at his uniform as he sits on the bridge dealing with some new life forms or new civilizations, and still go deeper than what we could have seen on television.

While the ‘90s ‘running in place’ novels were criticized at the time, particularly in relation to what Star Wars had the freedom to do, I have a greater fondness for them now as I did then, another adventure with characters I enjoy (particularly the one written after the series were more established and the characters ring truer to their on screen counterparts).

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

I like seeing time capsule stories, too - relics of prior moments in characters' lives and careers, in between productions, not continuing from the last known one.

 

[STMSTS]

"Spock's Brain" has never gotten one, has it? I'd be interested in seeing that story get a rehab and continuation.

“Spock’s Brain” might not have gotten a follow up or sequel, but it sure got a (presumably unintentional) remake - “Caretaker”.

 

[Christopher]

Novels don't have to re-cast old characters or redecorate sets - we can picture them as the same versions we knew and loved (albeit older, wiser, or in some cases, younger, more foolish, better, worse, etc). And anything new is colored by our view of the show/film's aesthetic.

But by the same token, we can recast characters if we want to. These days, I can't imagine reading a Pike novel without putting Anson Mount in the role, and before that I went with Bruce Greenwood.

I wouldn’t consider a case of a character reappearing a sequel/follow up unless they’re in a key protagonist/antagonist role.

Boma is a secondary antagonist in Dreadnought!, holding a grudge against the Enterprise crew and working for the main villain because he was court-martialed for insubordination after the events of TG7. The novel as a whole isn't a sequel, but Boma's part in it is a direct consequence of the episode's events, so that fits the definition of a follow-up.

I agree with the central premise, that tie-ins should be there to support/enhance/elaborate canon (I’m not sure Discovery completely fits the criteria as the lead is a direct relative of an existing character and the series began life as a prequel which was anything but hesitant to play with pre standing characters and concepts) but it doesn’t always have to be derivative beyond the core premise/characters.

First, I'm not saying that being derivative is the only thing tie-ins can do; I'm saying it shouldn't be the only thing canon does.

Second, I'm talking about where Discovery is now, from season 3 onward. I thought of going back to edit in that clarification, but I thought it was implicit. Clearly it wasn't.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

But by the same token, we can recast characters if we want to.

I just mean we can imagine whatever we want.

 

[Therin of Andor]

“Spock’s Brain” might not have gotten a follow up or sequel, but it sure got a (presumably unintentional) remake - “Caretaker”.

Not to mention the episode we used to call “Neelix’s Lungs”, the VGR episode, “Phage”.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Speaking of stolen organs, Voyager briefly mentions the "stolen kidney" urban legend in "Fury". I've tried on two separate occasions to get snopes to update their article with this sighting of the story, to no avail.

 

[Extrocomp]

I once came dangerously close to getting a "Catspaw" sequel on the schedule, before saner heads prevailed.

The aliens from Catspaw reappear in a Halloween-themed Star Trek Online mission with the Devidians as antagonists.

 

[Greg Cox]

I remember the thought jumping out in particular reading No Time Like the Past, which if I recall correctly, follows up on three TOS episodes.

"The Apple," "All Our Yesterdays," and "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield," to be exact.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

What other sequels have publishers rejected besides sequels to Spock's Brain and Catspaw?

 

[Greg Cox]

What other sequels have publishers rejected besides sequels to Spock's Brain and Catspaw?

To be clear, not griping here, not is there any thing particularly remarkable about book, stories, proposals, and pitches getting rejected. It's just business as usual.

Heck, when I was a full-time editor at Tor, I rejected books and proposals every day. And any working writer accepts rejections as a routine part of the job.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

I meant to say, sequels to which other episodes would be considered taboo?

 

[Greg Cox]

I meant to say, sequels to which other episodes would be considered taboo?

As far as I know, no episode is officially taboo. It's just that, obviously, some episodes are more highly-regarded than others, so pitching a sequel to something as unpopular as "Spock's Brain" is obviously going to be an uphill climb: "the long-awaited sequel to that ep nobody likes!"