Episodes that would've made good novels...

[Greg Cox]

Personally, "Catspaw" looks like it would have been a lot of fun to novelize. A haunted castle, "zombies," wizards and witches--and I could have made the giant cat scenes a lot more convincing in prose!

I'd be tempted to get rid of DeSalle, though, and put Uhura in command of the ship.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I'd be tempted to get rid of DeSalle, though, and put Uhura in command of the ship.

He chose the fish option for dinner.

 

[Greg Cox]

I'd be tempted to get rid of DeSalle, though, and put Uhura in command of the ship.

He chose the fish option for dinner.

Surely you must be joking . . . .

 

[WarsTrek1993]

Mr. Cox, thank you for your comments! I think DS9-Dr. Bashir, I Presume? would've been good for you to tackle!

 

[SicOne]

Yesterday's Enterprise (TNG) by Christopher Bennett or David Mack.

 

[Christopher]

I don't think I'd really care to do "Yesterday's Enterprise," not unless I could change/eliminate two things:

1) Guinan's magic we're-in-the-wrong-universe sense. It was a lazy plot device to make the characters aware of the change in history, a deus-ex-machina gimmick. Instead I would've had Garrett decide that if they could go back in time, they could prevent this dark future, and have her convince Picard to let her go rather than the other way around. (And I wouldn't kill her off before the ending.)

2) The concept that Tasha's original death was "meaningless." Armus's decision to kill her was meaningless, but Tasha put her life on the line in an effort to rescue her crewmates, and that's very meaningful and admirable. "Skin of Evil" had the guts to show that death isn't some well-behaved, sanitized thing but a real danger that can strike anyone arbitrarily; that was mature and honest and helped create a stronger sense of the risks the characters were taking. "Yesterday's Enterprise" threw all that out the window -- and worse, it led to the totally pointless creation of the Sela character, a concept that was never handled well and just kind of fizzled out.

 

[WarsTrek1993]

Mr. Bennett, I can why you'd disagree to writing a novelization of YE. That'd be fitting if written by Friedman or Mack.
And that whole scenario with Sela just felt iffy. "Future Imperfect", on the other hand, I can imagine you writing.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Surely you must be joking . . .

Aaaaand... that's exactly the line I've been waiting for. And don't call me Shirley.

Armus's decision to kill her was meaningless, but Tasha put her life on the line in an effort to rescue her crewmates, and that's very meaningful and admirable. "Skin of Evil" had the guts to show that death isn't some well-behaved, sanitized thing but a real danger that can strike anyone arbitrarily.

Totally agree.

 

[SicOne]

I don't think I'd really care to do "Yesterday's Enterprise," not unless I could change/eliminate two things:

1) Guinan's magic we're-in-the-wrong-universe sense. It was a lazy plot device to make the characters aware of the change in history, a deus-ex-machina gimmick. Instead I would've had Garrett decide that if they could go back in time, they could prevent this dark future, and have her convince Picard to let her go rather than the other way around. (And I wouldn't kill her off before the ending.)

2) The concept that Tasha's original death was "meaningless." Armus's decision to kill her was meaningless, but Tasha put her life on the line in an effort to rescue her crewmates, and that's very meaningful and admirable. "Skin of Evil" had the guts to show that death isn't some well-behaved, sanitized thing but a real danger that can strike anyone arbitrarily; that was mature and honest and helped create a stronger sense of the risks the characters were taking. "Yesterday's Enterprise" threw all that out the window -- and worse, it led to the totally pointless creation of the Sela character, a concept that was never handled well and just kind of fizzled out.

Both good explanations.

I'd add a third one, to overcome Picard's refusal to arm Enterprise-C with more advanced weaponry from Enterprise-D, to help make more likely a victory over the four Romulan warbirds. If you're gonna do this, if the stakes are that high, give the C every edge that you can.

Hell, toss in a fourth. Have a little postscript at the end where the tension between the UFP and the Klingon Empire that has them on the brink of war in 2344 is resolved and leads to the relationship they had in the beginning of TNG. Has that tension in 2344 been addressed in Trek literature?

 

[Christopher]

I'd add a third one, to overcome Picard's refusal to arm Enterprise-C with more advanced weaponry from Enterprise-D, to help make more likely a victory over the four Romulan warbirds. If you're gonna do this, if the stakes are that high, give the C every edge that you can.

On the other hand, the E-D needed what weapons it had to defend the E-C long enough to get through. Also, Picard had no guarantee this would actually change anything, so he had to keep his ship effectively armed just in case his history didn't change and he still had a war to wage.

Hell, toss in a fourth. Have a little postscript at the end where the tension between the UFP and the Klingon Empire that has them on the brink of war in 2344 is resolved and leads to the relationship they had in the beginning of TNG. Has that tension in 2344 been addressed in Trek literature?

I think that was implicit in the episode we got. And that timeframe is covered in Vulcan's Heart (the Narendra incident itself) and I believe in The Art of the Impossible (the surrounding period).

 

[SicOne]

^ I haven't read either of those books...thanks for the nod towards them.

 

[Rush Limborg]

I'm actually quite astonished that, amid all the novelisations of the TNG two-parters--"Encounter At Farpoint"*, "Unification", "Descent", "All Good Things..."*--we somehow didn't get a novelization of "Best Of Both Worlds", at that time.

Still--perhaps it was a blessing in disguise. After all...any novelization now would almost certainly have an appearence, however brief, of the Borg Queen....



*(Yes, I know these two technically weren't "two-parters", when they'd first come out. They've become that in syndication.)


Now...while we're on the subject of who writes what--I think KRAD's a no-brainer for "Birthright". Especially considering Toq. I can just imagine his writting the scenes where Worf takes the kid on The Hunt...showing us the moment Toq refers to in the ep, when Worf taught him the meaning of the song...

And of course, Toq's Errol Flynn moment, where he lays the slain beast before Tokath--and leads the Klingons in song.

You up for it, KRAD? Perhaps as a prequel to the Gorkon/Klingon Empire series...?

 

[Lonemagpie]

Since nobody's suggested anything for me, I'll say I'd have fancied doing Time's Arrow (period setting - anyone who knows my Dr Who stuff knows that's very me) or Our Man Bashir (a 60s spy pastiche, yay. It'd be the next best thing to some actual Man From UNCLE... Come on, Bashir as Solo, Garak as Kuryakin...) and making it properly globe-hopping (albeit within the holodeck)

 

[Christopher]

^You mean "Our Man Bashir," right? "Dr. Bashir, I Presume" was the one with Dr. Zimmerman and the exposure of Bashir's genetic enhancements.

 

[Lonemagpie]

^You mean "Our Man Bashir," right? "Dr. Bashir, I Presume" was the one with Dr. Zimmerman and the exposure of Bashir's genetic enhancements.

Yeah, I forgot there were two with his name in the title.

 

[PKS8304]

Since nobody's suggested anything for me, I'll say I'd have fancied doing Time's Arrow (period setting - anyone who knows my Dr Who stuff knows that's very me) or Our Man Bashir (a 60s spy pastiche, yay. It'd be the next best thing to some actual Man From UNCLE... Come on, Bashir as Solo, Garak as Kuryakin...) and making it properly globe-hopping (albeit within the holodeck)

First off, I just finished Indistinguishable From Magic and I enjoyed it, Geordi is my favorite character so thank you!

Secondly, I think you would do a good job writing a novelization of Time Squared from Season 2 of TNG.

The one with the space anomaly and the Picard and the shuttle from the future.

Originally it was intended to be a 2 parter, the next episode was Q Who and it they were going to reveal that the anomaly was a "test" by Q, but they opted to make them 2 episodes instead, which left the anomaly's nature and the resolution ambiguous.

Coming off Inistinguishable From Magic I could see you having some fun with that episode.

 

[Sho]

So who do we make novelize Threshold, complete with viewpoint sequences for the lizards and graphic detail?

 

[Sho]

Feverish visions of a future review:

... and so, in the end, Threshold amounts to nothing more than a missed opportunity and perhaps a cautionary tale about a writer's ego run amuk. Instead of remaining faithful to the episode's place in the legacy of the franchise and fan expectations of a written adaptation, the author could not help himself but vainly inject qualities such as a compelling narrative and appropriate characterization into the original story. The fact that I did not even groan once during the read, nor was able to pry myself away from the book until I had completed it in a single sitting says it all: Threshold this is not. Forever will we wonder what could have been in the hands of a less capable author.

 

[Yevetha]

The Chute

 

[Deranged Nasat]

Feverish visions of a future review:

... and so, in the end, Threshold amounts to nothing more than a missed opportunity and perhaps a cautionary tale about a writer's ego run amuk. Instead of remaining faithful to the episode's place in the legacy of the franchise and fan expectations of a written adaptation, the author could not help himself but vainly inject qualities such as a compelling narrative and appropriate characterization into the original story. The fact that I did not even groan once during the read, nor was able to pry myself away from the book until I had completed it in a single sitting says it all: Threshold this is not. Forever will we wonder what could have been in the hands of a less capable author.

Well played, Sho!