Favorite version of contradictory stories/ideas.

[DarthPipes]

When it comes to the final mission of the Enterprise's five year journey, I greatly prefer DC Comics Star Trek Annual The Final Voyage. It ties into so many elements of the original series (The Talosians, the Klingons), is big and epic, and sets up the first film nicely. Mission's End wasn't bad but it was no The Final Voyage.

 

[RookieBatman]

This is a good thread, but it's frustrating, because I know there a probably a bunch of contradictory situations that I've run across, but just can't recall at the moment.

When it comes to the final mission of the Enterprise's five year journey, I greatly prefer DC Comics Star Trek Annual The Final Voyage. It ties into so many elements of the original series (The Talosians, the Klingons), is big and epic, and sets up the first film nicely. Mission's End wasn't bad but it was no The Final Voyage.

In the interest of completeness, I'll mention that in addition to the two comics mentioned above, issue 75 of DC's second series also was set around that point (although, that was more about what happened after they got back).

I preferred The Lost Years' take on the subject. I did like "The Final Voyage," but in all of the comics, I thought that Kirk's decision to accept the admiralty was arrived at too hastily. I thought the idea of him being a "diplomatic troubleshooter" in TLY sounded like something he might actually go for.

 

[Sky]

I prefer Strangers from the Sky to First Contact, even though I really have nothing against First Contact - Strangers just has a better story. I have not yet read Federation.

I just started on the Rihannsu books so cannot comment on those either. But I never liked the ridged backstabbing Romulans much, so it can very well be that I prefer the Rihannsu storyline.

I somewhat enjoyed Enterprise - The First Adventure, although

Spoiler: spoiler

well, did not much care for the flying horse or the juggling Vulcan called Stephen

. I definitely found the story more enjoyable than the new film.

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

That was 'The Wake.'

Thanks!

 

[DarthPipes]

This is a good thread, but it's frustrating, because I know there a probably a bunch of contradictory situations that I've run across, but just can't recall at the moment.

When it comes to the final mission of the Enterprise's five year journey, I greatly prefer DC Comics Star Trek Annual The Final Voyage. It ties into so many elements of the original series (The Talosians, the Klingons), is big and epic, and sets up the first film nicely. Mission's End wasn't bad but it was no The Final Voyage.

In the interest of completeness, I'll mention that in addition to the two comics mentioned above, issue 75 of DC's second series also was set around that point (although, that was more about what happened after they got back).

I preferred The Lost Years' take on the subject. I did like "The Final Voyage," but in all of the comics, I thought that Kirk's decision to accept the admiralty was arrived at too hastily. I thought the idea of him being a "diplomatic troubleshooter" in TLY sounded like something he might actually go for.

Agreed. In The Final Voyage, he just accepts his promotion like nothing happened, despite his well-known dislike for a desk job. Mission's End was slightly better with him deciding to take the job to "clean up Starfleet." But the Lost Years has the best explanation for his decision to be kicked upstairs.

I liked Spock's reason for taking the Kolinar in The Final Voyage though.

 

[Christopher]

Agreed. In The Final Voyage, he just accepts his promotion like nothing happened, despite his well-known dislike for a desk job.

That gets me wondering. Was it ever really overtly stated in TOS that Kirk had a dislike for desk jobs? Yes, in "The Deadly Years" he showed disdain for a "chair-bound paper-pusher," but he wasn't quite himself at the time. And just because, as a line commander, he was often impatient with the decisions of the people back home giving him orders, that doesn't necessarily translate to an unwillingness to accept promotion to a position of greater authority. Lots of people grumble about their bosses but then accept promotion to the same positions when it comes their way.

I think that, like many "well-known" qualities ascribed to Kirk, this disdain may be something that was established more in the movies, after he'd been in a desk job and decided he didn't like it. And it was the novelization of TMP, not any canonical work, that introduced the idea that he had to be manipulated or tricked into taking a promotion.

I just did a keyword search through Chakoteya's TOS transcript site, and I find no instances in TOS of Kirk ever saying anything to the effect that he was unwilling to take a promotion or a desk job. The phrase "desk job" never appears in TOS at all.

So I don't think there's enough evidence in TOS per se to conclude that he would've been particularly resistant to taking a promotion to the admiralty or would've needed some special incentive for it. It could be that he simply didn't have a problem with taking a promotion at the time, that he was tired after five years out there and wanted a break, and that after a couple of years at a desk, he decided he'd made a terrible mistake and from then on had a problem with the idea of a desk job. So I think a "final mission" story that has Kirk just accepting the promotion without any special reason for it is just as valid as one that shows him resistant to promotion and needing a special reason. There's nothing in canon to rule out either approach.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

I still enjoy Starfleet: Year One even though all of Enterprise contradicts it. I like how it is completely different from the Starfleet of TNG but yet laid the seeds for what Starfleet became.

I've been hoping, for a long time, that Mike Friedman would write an Enterprise novel and bring in elements of Starfleet: Year One, to integrate the two.

 

[Christopher]

I've been hoping, for a long time, that Mike Friedman would write an Enterprise novel and bring in elements of Starfleet: Year One, to integrate the two.

I kinda got the impression reading Beneath the Raptor's Wing that it might be trying to nudge ENT continuity into the direction of compatibility with S:YO. At least, the way it showed

Spoiler: Beneath the Raptor's Wing

Starfleet's composition coming to rely more heavily on Daedalus-class ships with the NX-class ships systematically getting trashed

seemed to be pointing in that direction.

 

[Sci]

I've been hoping, for a long time, that Mike Friedman would write an Enterprise novel and bring in elements of Starfleet: Year One, to integrate the two.

I kinda got the impression reading Beneath the Raptor's Wing that it might be trying to nudge ENT continuity into the direction of compatibility with S:YO. At least, the way it showed

Spoiler: Beneath the Raptor's Wing

Starfleet's composition coming to rely more heavily on Daedalus-class ships with the NX-class ships systematically getting trashed

seemed to be pointing in that direction.

It also featured

Spoiler: Beneath the Raptor's Wing

Lydia Littlejohn, a Member of Parliament described as "up and coming," who first appeared in ST:YO as the President of United Earth

.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Final Frontier's launch of the (as yet unnamed) Enterprise under Robert April and George Kirk. I love that book. I.M. Pulse engines!
Actually, other than the pre-TOS tech, and George's fate (which contradicts Spock Prime's line in STXI) I don't think too much is "wrong" with it.

I liked Collision Course, and that contradicted everything (even the rest of the Shatnerverse)

Dark Mirror's version of the TNG-era mirror universe > DS9's.

I wasn't too impressed by Starfleet: Year One.

 

[RonG]

I loved Final Frontier (much more than Best Destiny, btw), but I never read any of the DC Comics' series (save for a few TOS and TNG issues in the mid-90's), so I don't know if that counts

I think Federation is *far* better than First Contact, when it comes to the depictions of Cochrane and 21C Earth.

In the case of Starfleet:Year One, I have to admit to liking the on-screen depictions of Enterprise's pre-UFP Starfleet (something about Year One just didn't sit righy IMO).

Last in TOS, I think Crucible:McCoy told a superior story of Bones' post-series and movies days, to some of the plots that have him show up to advise the TNG crew (only Crossover comes to mind right now, though..)

Going into the 24th Century, I thought Dark Mirror was better and more in line with the MU as it was conceived, than the DS9 episodes. I also think Vendetta was a better "sequel" to BOBW than the Borg episodes that followed (I, Borg and Descent, IIRC).Not that it contradicted anything, it was just a better Borg story...

... and finishing with the Borg in a way, I *much* prefer the Destiny Trilogy to the continuity of ST:O (Path to 2409), as regards to the Borg invasion and later events.

 

[RookieBatman]

I liked Spock's reason for taking the Kolinar in The Final Voyage though.

I didn't. In fact, it made me think so much that I started a thread about it.

...So I don't think there's enough evidence in TOS per se to conclude that he would've been particularly resistant to taking a promotion to the admiralty or would've needed some special incentive for it. It could be that he simply didn't have a problem with taking a promotion at the time, that he was tired after five years out there and wanted a break, and that after a couple of years at a desk, he decided he'd made a terrible mistake and from then on had a problem with the idea of a desk job. So I think a "final mission" story that has Kirk just accepting the promotion without any special reason for it is just as valid as one that shows him resistant to promotion and needing a special reason. There's nothing in canon to rule out either approach.

To an extent, I agree with you that the whole the of Kirk's aversion to desk jobs came after the movies. But I think more than a specific dislike of desk jobs, the reason Kirk would be resistant to taking such a position is that he loves being in command of a starship. Like Spock said, it's his "first, best destiny," and I think he was very much aware of that. He likes being in command; he likes being in the hot-seat. And I'm sure he wouldn't find nearly as much excitement as a desk-bound paper-pusher. That's the way I would think of it, and that's pretty much how Dillard approached it in TLY.

 

[Christopher]

^That's one way of looking at it, true. But as I said, it could be that he was fatigued and worn out and ready to try something new. People aren't always absolutely consistent in their behavior and wants. Sometimes they lose track of their goals. Sometimes they change their minds about things. Sometimes they make decisions that seem like a good idea at the time but later look back on them and wonder why they ever thought that way.

 

[Myasishchev]

Another example: The fate of Leonard McCoy
I definitely prefer the version in Crucible, where he dies peacefully in his sleep shortly after "Encounter at Farpoint", one of the most moving scenes I've ever read in a Trek-novel.

A similar fate is seen in one of Wildstorm's Trek anthology issues. In the story, the name of which escapes me, Scotty (now transplanted into the 24th century) visits the elderly McCoy. Scotty gives Bones a gift--a holocube photo of the entire bridge crew in their prime. During the visit, McCoy drifts asleep and it is left up to the reader to determine whether or not he died in that moment, the final panel focusing on the holocube photo.

I find it extraordinarily hard to believe that you just described a Star Trek comic that sounds good.

 

[RookieBatman]

^That's one way of looking at it, true. But as I said, it could be that he was fatigued and worn out and ready to try something new. People aren't always absolutely consistent in their behavior and wants. Sometimes they lose track of their goals. Sometimes they change their minds about things. Sometimes they make decisions that seem like a good idea at the time but later look back on them and wonder why they ever thought that way.

Yeah, it definitely could go either way. I think, as far as the real-world explanation, it does seem like Roddenberry (and whoever else may have worked it) took the approach that after such a trying thing as a five-year deep space mission, they were all just ready to go their separate ways and not be on a starship for a while. I haven't seen TMP in quite a while; was anyone assigned to deep space exploration at the beginning, before Kirk started gathering them all?

 

[Myasishchev]

^Iirc, Decker and the original crew less Spock and McCoy were on their way out, once the E-refit was completed. It may have only been an assumption I made, though.

 

[The Super Brando]

I don't know what happens in most of these novels you guys are referencing, but am very intrigued by the different versions of events. Maybe you guys could mention what exactly is different, instead of just listing the name of the novel?

 

[captcalhoun]

the Mirror Universe saga comics take place in an alt-MU where Spock didn't try to change anything. Instead, around the time of TVH, the Empire launchs a plot to invade the RU and hijinks ensue.

Dark Mirror takes place in an alt-MU where Spock was assassinated before completing his reforms and the Empire is extant in the 24th century and dominates much of the known galaxy and also plans to invade the RU.

 

[KLauderdale]

Then there's the three (that I can recall) ways that Kirk beat the Kobayashi Maru. In my version--"A Test of Character" (SNW VII)--Kirk’s tampering is "cheating without cheating," since Kirk merely creates a level playing-field, where success is not guaranteed. In Julia Ecklar's novel, The Kobayashi Maru, Kirk has the Klingon's fear him because he's already a kick-butt Starfleet Captain. In the 2009 film, Kirk takes down the Klingon's shields and nukes them with one shot.

 

[JD]

I don't know what happens in most of these novels you guys are referencing, but am very intrigued by the different versions of events. Maybe you guys could mention what exactly is different, instead of just listing the name of the novel?

In Strangers from the Sky, everyone believes that Earth's first contact with extraterrestrials was with people from Alpha Centauri. Through a complex series of events that I don't remember the TOS characters find out about a secret first contact with a Vulcan ship. It's been a while since I read it so I don't remember much about it. It's a great book, but it's hard to describe because it involves three different time periods and all sorts of time travel.