Is there any interest in a Lower Decks book?

[Leathco]

I might be in the minority here, but I would be interested in a novel length Trek tale that has a decent amount of humor. Lower Decks would be a great fit. I have a feeling if we get anything like that it will be more in line with a graphic novel instead of a regular book, but I can dream, right?

 

[JD]

I would be up for it, it would be an interesting experiment for Trek Lit.
Like you said though, I have a feeling a comic book series is a lot more likely.

 

[Twonkbot]

Considering David Mack is a consultant on Lower Decks (he’s in the end credits, but you have to look quickly!), I fully expect some kind of prose from the Lower Decks series at some point. It’s too good of an opportunity to pass up....

 

[Desert Kris]

They could always have tie-ins like with the original animated series, novelizations that are expanded on. More in the vein of 200-300 page book that spring-boards off a 20 minute story, that sort of thing. How long are the episodes? If they are longer, we'll want a much much higher page count, of course.

 

[dupersuper]

I nominate Peter David.

 

[tomswift2002]

I might be in the minority here, but I would be interested in a novel length Trek tale that has a decent amount of humor. Lower Decks would be a great fit. I have a feeling if we get anything like that it will be more in line with a graphic novel instead of a regular book, but I can dream, right?

Read “Q-In-Law” by Peter David. Or “How Much For Just The Planet?” By John Ford.

 

[The Wormhole]

Honestly, I don't see how it could have a novel. Just how many sitcoms have their own tie-in novel lines?

 

[Quinton]

I doubt I would personally be interested, but I do believe that it could work. The show is certainly ripe for comics, at least.

 

[thribs]

Keep Lower Decks in the novel verse and have it crossover with New Frontier. You can have fun there

 

[Christopher]

Honestly, I don't see how it could have a novel. Just how many sitcoms have their own tie-in novel lines?

Sitcom tie-in novels were actually pretty common in the '60s and '70s, though they were usually for the young-adult market. They're still common in the UK, aimed more at adult readers. There's some discussion of it here: https://www.tvobscurities.com/2009/09/most-recent-sitcom-tie-in-novel/

 

[Smiley]

Would the characters and humor come across well in prose form? If the answer is yes, then a book tie-in is a fine idea.

 

[Greg Cox]

Sitcom tie-in novels were actually pretty common in the '60s and '70s, though they were usually for the young-adult market. They're still common in the UK, aimed more at adult readers. There's some discussion of it here: https://www.tvobscurities.com/2009/09/most-recent-sitcom-tie-in-novel/

Dare I admit to rereading an old PARTRIDGE FAMILY tie-in just a few weeks ago? And I positively devoured the GET SMART novels when I was a kid.

LOWER DECKS would actually be easier to turn into a novel than the average family sitcom or workplace comedy because the set-up still involves exciting missions in space, strange missions, alien visitations, the ship in jeopardy, etc. You just have to put a slapstick spin on it while poking fun at the usual STAR TREK tropes -- and keeping the focus on the Lower Decks folks instead of the bridge crew (who can be dealing with some major crisis in the background).

 

[thribs]

Would the characters and humor come across well in prose form? If the answer is yes, then a book tie-in is a fine idea.

Comedy works really well in the books. Just read The New Frontier series. I would argue they are funnier than Lower Decks.

 

[Christopher]

LOWER DECKS would actually be easier to turn into a novel than the average family sitcom or workplace comedy because the set-up still involves exciting missions in space, strange missions, alien visitations, the ship in jeopardy, etc. You just have to put a slapstick spin on it while poking fun at the usual STAR TREK tropes -- and keeping the focus on the Lower Decks folks instead of the bridge crew (who can be dealing with some major crisis in the background).

Yup. Judging by the free pilot I watched on YouTube today, it may be a comedy, but it's still a Star Trek series, with the same potentials as any ST series.

And let's not forget that the first "lower decks" take on Trek was in the novels. Diane Carey's Dreadnought! and Battlestations! did essentially the same thing this show is doing, looking at Starfleet life from the perspective of a team of junior officers rather than the command crew, albeit with a more serious tone. Susan Wright's novel The Best and the Brightest (which was published as a TNG book for marketing purposes but was really a Starfleet Academy pilot) did something similar.

 

[Relayer1]

I would be up for it, it would be an interesting experiment for Trek Lit.

Your post made me reconsider my knee jerk response of not even being interested in a humorous show or cartoon, but...open mind. A good author could conjure something out of it.

Anyone in mind ?

I'd probably pick Greg Cox.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

I love both Stephen Goldin's Trek to Madworld and John Ford's How Much for Just the Planet. Although I suspect that being almost drowned in torrential flood of n'gaan-flavored milkshake would be a fate worse than death even before it turned rancid.

 

[casey]

Honestly, I don't see how it could have a novel. Just how many sitcoms have their own tie-in novel lines?

I don't know, but I'd read the hell out of a Golden Girls tie in novel. If David Mack were to write one I can only imagine how many cheesecakes would absolutely be slaughtered under the stygian darkness of the Miami night sky...

 

[thribs]

Red Dwarf has a few novels out there and that’s like THE comedy sci fi Show.

 

[casey]

I actually think a Lower Decks novel doesn't have to be a comedy to be successful. For example, a serious novel exploring Mariners backstory and service record would be very interesting. I would read any novel primarily for the characters and story, not for the laughs.

If a serious show like TNG can produce comedy like Q-in-Law then I think the reverse would be true.

 

[Christopher]

My thinking is that, since the conceit of the show is to focus on what the junior officers are doing while the command crew is involved in traditional Trek-style adventures, maybe you could do a book that was one of those traditional adventures told from the command crew's POV, with the ensigns having their own stuff going on in the background in an inversion of the show's format. So that way you get it from both perspectives.