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How many continuities are there in Trek Literature?

JonnyQuest037 said:
I agree. I personally would love to see a few more stories filling in the gaps between TMP and TWOK (and even a few between TWOK and TSFS).
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Is there really enough time between The Wrath of Kahn and The Search for Spock for more stories? I know the DC comics series set several years worth in that period but that was kind of a weird case since they were coming out between the movies. But going just by the movies, I had always assumed TSFS was pretty much directly after TWOK. In my mind as soon after the last shot in TWOK they set course for Earth, and then TSFS starts with them arriving. I guess you could possible squeeze a story or two in there if you really wanted, but it would have to be a tight squeeze.
 
JD said:
Is there really enough time between The Wrath of Kahn and The Search for Spock for more stories? I know the DC comics series set several years worth in that period but that was kind of a weird case since they were coming out between the movies.
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Since DC's series didn't start until '84, they only did 8 issues set between TWOK and TSFS, comprising four distinct storylines (in fact, the comics adaptation of TSFS came out in between the two parts of the story spanning issues 7-8). So that's probably only a couple of months' worth of events.


But going just by the movies, I had always assumed TSFS was pretty much directly after TWOK. In my mind as soon after the last shot in TWOK they set course for Earth, and then TSFS starts with them arriving. I guess you could possible squeeze a story or two in there if you really wanted, but it would have to be a tight squeeze.
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In one respect, it seems there should be something in between, because the Enterprise has significantly more hull damage at the start of TSFS than it had at the end of TWOK. The story in issues 7-8 does involve the ship getting banged up by torpedoes, although it doesn't explain how the new battle damage includes some of the exact same scars inflicted in TWOK.

Other than that, the most significant inconsistency is the bit at the start of TSFS where Phil Morris's character asks if there will be a memorial service for Spock. I could buy issues 7-8 (dealing with Saavik's pon farr) getting Kirk preoccupied with Spock's death again, but it's hard to believe there wouldn't have been a memorial before then.

Still, it's better than DC's attempt to fit The Voyage Home into their continuity. They managed to reset things pretty well for the most part, but the transitional storyline asserted that the captured Bird of Prey had been in the Excelsior's shuttlebay the whole time, even though the issues set just after TSFS correctly showed that the BoP was far too big for that and needed to be towed behind the Excelsior, tucked under its fantail.
 
Jinn said:
Also was Excelsior: Forged in Fire by an chance meant to be the "pilot" for an Escelsior series, but didn't do well enough?
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Actually, as I understand it plans for an Excelsior series were scuttled because of the cutback from two novels a month to just one. Forged in Fire was in the pipe for a few years before it eventually got written and published.
 
Christopher said:
Since DC's series didn't start until '84, they only did 8 issues set between TWOK and TSFS, comprising four distinct storylines (in fact, the comics adaptation of TSFS came out in between the two parts of the story spanning issues 7-8). So that's probably only a couple of months' worth of events.
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Yes. In my mind, there's a gap of a few months between the two movies. YMMV.

Christopher said:
In one respect, it seems there should be something in between, because the Enterprise has significantly more hull damage at the start of TSFS than it had at the end of TWOK. The story in issues 7-8 does involve the ship getting banged up by torpedoes, although it doesn't explain how the new battle damage includes some of the exact same scars inflicted in TWOK.
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Incorporating the initial DC stories into the chronology allows for the additional damage to the Enterprise to be explained (photon torpedoes and a trip to the Galactic Barrier), lets Kirk be officially (re-)assigned to her as Captain, allows more time for Kirk and David to bond as father & son, lets the Enterprise cadets be transferred to other assignments, and allows for Saavik to actually graduate from the Academy (or Command School, whichever one she was attending). Don't forget that she goes from the red cadet undershirt to the white undershirt of command.

So for my money, it makes sense to have a bit of time in there for all of that stuff to happen. 2-3 months ought to cover it, IMO.

Christopher said:
Other than that, the most significant inconsistency is the bit at the start of TSFS where Phil Morris's character asks if there will be a memorial service for Spock.
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He wasn't asking about a memorial service for Spock (and that would be a strange question anyway, since they'd already had one aboard ship). He was asking if there was going to be any sort of official welcome home reception for the ship ("A hero's welcome, son? Is that what you'd like?").
 
JD said:
Is there really enough time between The Wrath of Kahn and The Search for Spock for more stories? I know the DC comics series set several years worth in that period but that was kind of a weird case since they were coming out between the movies. But going just by the movies, I had always assumed TSFS was pretty much directly after TWOK. In my mind as soon after the last shot in TWOK they set course for Earth, and then TSFS starts with them arriving. I guess you could possible squeeze a story or two in there if you really wanted, but it would have to be a tight squeeze.
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Or you can go read Vonda McIntyre's novel of TSFS. The movie doesn't even start until half way through the book!

Her novels of TWOK and TSFS are both wondrous. (Her adaptation of TVH is a little too straightforward by comparison.)
 
Tallguy said:
Or you can go read Vonda McIntyre's novel of TSFS. The movie doesn't even start until half way through the book!
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And yet the novel puts the beginning of TSFS only 3 days after TWOK (days which are depicted in some detail in the early chapters of the novel). I would've thought it would take at least a couple of weeks for the Enterprise to limp back home, the Grissom expedition to be assembled, Saavik to graduate (since she switches from cadet red to command white between movies), etc.
 
I think Saavik was reassigned by Admiral Plot Expediency. And did the Grissom crew seem overly prepared to you?
 
Christopher said:
And yet the novel puts the beginning of TSFS only 3 days after TWOK (days which are depicted in some detail in the early chapters of the novel). I would've thought it would take at least a couple of weeks for the Enterprise to limp back home, the Grissom expedition to be assembled, Saavik to graduate (since she switches from cadet red to command white between movies), etc.
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Honestly, while I did figure there had to be some sort of timeskip somewhere to cover the Grissom expedition, I kind of chalked that up to being between Morrow telling Kirk the Enterprise was to be decommissioned and the first Grissom scene, not between the end of TWOK and TSFS. I never really thought about travel time and Saavik's graduation, though; those are good points, I might want to see about bumping things around in my own timeline.
 
Idran said:
Honestly, while I did figure there had to be some sort of timeskip somewhere to cover the Grissom expedition, I kind of chalked that up to being between Morrow telling Kirk the Enterprise was to be decommissioned and the first Grissom scene, not between the end of TWOK and TSFS.
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As it happens, the first Grissom scene was originally scripted to come first, and it does come first in the novel and comic adaptations. Kirk's log entry was supposed to say "The news of Spock's tube has shaken me" rather than "The death of Spock is like an open wound." (Which fits nicely with the comics, because it explains why Spock is suddenly on his mind again. I forgot that in my earlier post.) Come to think of it, I'm surprised that they ended up inverting the scenes and leading with the Enterprise. It feels like walking to the plot -- starting with a fairly quiet scene where nothing much is happening instead of getting right into the story.
 
Tallguy said:
Or you can go read Vonda McIntyre's novel of TSFS. The movie doesn't even start until half way through the book!
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I just double-checked my copy of The Best of Trek #13, and according to his article on writing tie-in fiction, William Rotsler placed two short stories during the gap between TWOK and TSFS. One where the Enterprise suffers a mid-flight breakdown while travelling back to dry dock in Earth orbit, and one while the ship is in dry dock. He had to write these stories before having access to the STIII script, so the Enterprise heading back to dry dock was pure supposition on his part.

Christopher said:
And yet the novel puts the beginning of TSFS only 3 days after TWOK (days which are depicted in some detail in the early chapters of the novel). I would've thought it would take at least a couple of weeks for the Enterprise to limp back home, the Grissom expedition to be assembled, Saavik to graduate (since she switches from cadet red to command white between movies), etc.
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I agree. Three days does seem a little tight for all of that. Three weeks seems more reasonable, IMO.

Christopher said:
As it happens, the first Grissom scene was originally scripted to come first, and it does come first in the novel and comic adaptations. Kirk's log entry was supposed to say "The news of Spock's tube has shaken me" rather than "The death of Spock is like an open wound." (Which fits nicely with the comics, because it explains why Spock is suddenly on his mind again. I forgot that in my earlier post.) Come to think of it, I'm surprised that they ended up inverting the scenes and leading with the Enterprise. It feels like walking to the plot -- starting with a fairly quiet scene where nothing much is happening instead of getting right into the story.
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The next time I watch TSFS, I think I'll try watching the scenes in the originally scripted order and see how the movie plays that way.
 
Christopher said:
Kirk's log entry was supposed to say "The news of Spock's tube has shaken me" rather than "The death of Spock is like an open wound."
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To be fair, the latter is a better line, and has less of a chance of causing unintended giggles from the K/S'ers in the audience. :rommie:

TC
 
Back on the original topic (multiple portrayals of something)... what was Kirk's earliest encounter with Klingons? Unless I'm mistaken versions have been depicted in both Crossroads and My Brother's Keeper: Enterprise... are there others?
 
lawman said:
Back on the original topic (multiple portrayals of something)... what was Kirk's earliest encounter with Klingons? Unless I'm mistaken versions have been depicted in both Crossroads and My Brother's Keeper: Enterprise... are there others?
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Crossroad is a novel that takes place near the end of the five-year mission. Do you mean something else?

There are Klingons in Enterprise: The First Adventure.
 
Christopher said:
As it happens, the first Grissom scene was originally scripted to come first, and it does come first in the novel and comic adaptations. Kirk's log entry was supposed to say "The news of Spock's tube has shaken me" rather than "The death of Spock is like an open wound." (Which fits nicely with the comics, because it explains why Spock is suddenly on his mind again. I forgot that in my earlier post.) Come to think of it, I'm surprised that they ended up inverting the scenes and leading with the Enterprise. It feels like walking to the plot -- starting with a fairly quiet scene where nothing much is happening instead of getting right into the story.
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STIII is the only TOS movie that opens with Kirk on the bridge of the Enterprise.
 
Tallguy said:
STIII is the only TOS movie that opens with Kirk on the bridge of the Enterprise.
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Well, technically it begins with a recap of Spock's death and funeral scenes from TWOK. Which would make it the only TOS movie to open with a TV-style "Previously, on..." montage, except that the international edition of TVH opens with a TSFS recap.
 
Christopher said:
Well, technically it begins with a recap of Spock's death and funeral scenes from TWOK. Which would make it the only TOS movie to open with a TV-style "Previously, on..." montage, except that the international edition of TVH opens with a TSFS recap.
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I don't know why, but I still love that TSFS montage. It's also the only Star Trek movie where the first (post credits) shot is the Enterprise! No, I'm not counting Generations. But even if I do, that means that in 13 movies we open on the hero ship TWICE.

It's like the James Bond movies. We usually open with The Threat and then we catch up with The Hero(s).
 
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