Former Trek authors you'd like to see write a new adventure

[DarrenTR1970]

I know that in my M:I book, there are quite a few episodes that were made simply by someone walking up to the producers and pitching a one or two sentence description of the set up.
A couple of episodes were built around devices/equipment someone had seen at a lab and they went back to the producers and said, "Wouldn't it be great if we could build an episode around this device?"
The producers would then give that idea to the script editor who would work in conjunction with the individual who pitched the idea in order to flesh out the story and the beats.

 

[Christopher]

I know that in my M:I book, there are quite a few episodes that were made simply by someone walking up to the producers and pitching a one or two sentence description of the set up.

Yeah, that's basically how it's supposed to work, just a few quick elevator pitches, since producers' time is limited. Part of why I gave up on pitching was that I couldn't do that -- I wrote up detailed story outlines, and I never figured out how to trim them down to just a couple of sentences. My creative process is just too detail-driven.

A couple of episodes were built around devices/equipment someone had seen at a lab and they went back to the producers and said, "Wouldn't it be great if we could build an episode around this device?"
The producers would then give that idea to the script editor who would work in conjunction with the individual who pitched the idea in order to flesh out the story and the beats.

I would assume that the classic M:I episode "Submarine" was inspired by the producers gaining access to a submarine mockup set left over from a movie and writing an episode around it. (Does your book specify where the submarine mockup came from? I've always wondered.) There were some episodes that seemed to be written specifically to take advantage of certain locations, like the one where the climactic action revolved around a pair of cable cars.

In his series prospectus for Star Trek, Roddenberry suggested that the show could save money by writing episodes around leftover sets from just-wrapped movies, e.g. building a "parallel Earth" story around sets and costumes from a historical epic or something. It's a bit odd that they apparently never did that, just used the standard backlot sets or whatever historical props/costumes were in storage at Desilu. "A Piece of the Action" was written to recycle stuff from The Untouchables, but that show ended in 1963.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

If they can't do a full novel, how about contributing a short story to an anthology?

 

[DarrenTR1970]

I would assume that the classic M:I episode "Submarine" was inspired by the producers gaining access to a submarine mockup set left over from a movie and writing an episode around it. (Does your book specify where the submarine mockup came from? I've always wondered.) There were some episodes that seemed to be written specifically to take advantage of certain locations, like the one where the climactic action revolved around a pair of cable cars.

So, in order, these are the 'M:I' episodes that came from a pitch or a location
#35 - The Seal
#45 - The Counterfeiter
#46 - The Town
#50 - Recovery
#58 - The Cardinal
#68 - Doomsday
#79 - Mastermind
#84 - The Double Circle
#92 - Chico
#96 - Phantoms
#117 - The Hostage
#127 - The Bride
#131 - The Tram
#143 - Double Dead
#147 - Speed
#148 - Two Thousand
#151 - Break!
#166 - The Western

 

[KRAD]

If they can't do a full novel, how about contributing a short story to an anthology?

That was an option -- which I took advantage of -- when Star Trek Explorer was being published, but its cancellation kind of kills that avenue, since S&S hasn't published a Trek anthology in 15 years.

 

[ClayinCA]

Authors I'd like to see return:

Keith DeCandido
Howard Weinstein
Diane Duane
Barbara Hambly
Robert Greenberger
Christopher L. Bennett
Michael Jan Friedman

 

[Elwro]

Keith DeCandido, of course. Never a miss with KRAD. (Thanks for Alien:Isolation, too!)

G. Eklund. Let the guy have some fun in retirement[?]!

 

[somebuddyX]

Give me another Diane Carey novelisation of an Enterprise episode.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Definitely Diane Duane. When was the last time a woman wrote a Star Trek novel?

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

When was the last time a woman wrote a Star Trek novel?

About a year ago: Una McCormack's Asylum.

 

[F. King Daniel]

About a year ago: Una McCormack's Asylum.

A lot better than I feared!

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

A lot better than I feared!

And a much more pleasant read than her opus of a few years earlier, in which she was contractually obligated to write an unmitigated tragedy that ended in utter hopelessness. You know, the one with a title that seemed more appropriate for a B5 novel.

 

[Greg Cox]

Una has been quite busy in recent years, writing novels for DISCOVERY, PICARD, and STRANGE NEW WORLDS.

I loved her DISCO novel about Tilly, and was very impressed by the scope and ambition of her PICARD novel. Haven't read her SNW book yet.

 

[David Mack]

^ Una’s SNW book Asylum was very good, and quite deservedly won this year's Scribe Award for Best Original Novel, Speculative.