Just tore through first four New Frontier books
- Thread starter Danoz
- Start date
I liked Podkayne of Mars both times I read it, though admittedly I was also in my teens. And I checked it out of the library, haven't since so I don't know if I'd still like it now or not.
I read these when they first came out (I was probably around the young teen mark~) and loved 'em. However I will admit that I've gone off NF as I've got older for many of the same reasons as every one else. For me Calhoun becomes too much of a cowboy to believe he would ever wear a starfleet uniform (or even exist in the same universe).
Still love the jail cell scene though.
"No this is the Starfleet embessay!" Though I admit that is probably flavoured by nostalgia
Still love the jail cell scene though.
"No this is the Starfleet embessay!" Though I admit that is probably flavoured by nostalgia
I wouldn't say my enjoyment of the books has shifted with age - they still remain incredibly enjoyable with great characters and plots. I guess I just 'get' David's writing style, he's one of the few authors who will get me picking up a Star Trek novel, pretty much regardless of what 'series' the book is about.
I read it many times as a teen and recently found a copy of it second hand.. took it home with great anticipation. Found it unreadable. Just reading the name "Podkayne" makes me want to try again though.
The great loves you have as a teenager don't come as often when you're older I find. You're just ready to love stuff (books, genres, movies, the opposite gender..) when you're a teen and it's all NEW and for the first time ever. I used to be in love with Harlan Ellison!! Geez..
Some Trek books enthralled me in the same way I fell in love with books as a teen and I'm forever grateful for that.
I was VERY disappointed with the first four, but the next several got slightly better....when you get up to the most recent five or six they are actually well worth it.
New Frontier books are a riot. I love Peter David's writing (even if he sometimes goes a bit too much over the top, I agree).
As for the casting in my head, the only one I've pictured as actors (beside the obvious ones like Dennehy, Plakson, Judd) were Calhoun as a young Adam Baldwin and Burgoyne as a young David Bowie
As for the casting in my head, the only one I've pictured as actors (beside the obvious ones like Dennehy, Plakson, Judd) were Calhoun as a young Adam Baldwin and Burgoyne as a young David Bowie
I'm one who greatly enjoys New Frontier and other Peter David Trek. I think what I enjoy so much about it is how ludicrous the plots and situations can be, along with the characters' reactions to them. They are a Trek spoof in many respects.
With all the deadly serious Trek lit out there (which I love as well), it's nice to see some lighter fare that you can just laugh at from time to time. Peter David doesn't take it as seriously and that's a good thing.
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I find the New Frontier books to be well worth my money, and I have since they started coming out in 1997. People have said that the series doesn't take itself too seriously, which is one of the reasons they like it so much, but that's not exactly how I perceive it.
The books do have a certain level of humor, which PAD is well known for incorporating into his stories, and I love this about it, but for me the series is about a cowboy in the center seat doing what he knows to be right. Calhoun is the kind of Captain who asks for forgiveness (maybe) and not permission, and this makes for some very interesting and fun stories. Kind of like the way I always think about the first 2 seasons of the Original Series. It's not a perfect comparrison, but I always thought of Calhoun as kind of a successor to Kirk. Not the same character, but in some ways at least, they are somewhat alike...
The books do have a certain level of humor, which PAD is well known for incorporating into his stories, and I love this about it, but for me the series is about a cowboy in the center seat doing what he knows to be right. Calhoun is the kind of Captain who asks for forgiveness (maybe) and not permission, and this makes for some very interesting and fun stories. Kind of like the way I always think about the first 2 seasons of the Original Series. It's not a perfect comparrison, but I always thought of Calhoun as kind of a successor to Kirk. Not the same character, but in some ways at least, they are somewhat alike...
And here I thought that I was the only one to do that.
