Legal situation concerning the new TV series

[Relayer1]

Tie ins must adhere to on screen continuity, but there's some 'wrinkles' with Trek. As I see it :

They can't directly portray the 'Prime Universe' part of ST 2009.

They can't portray events in the JJverse either.

If the new show is set in the JJverse, the novels will remain, as they are currently, unaffected.

If the new show is set in a new continuity, the novels should be similarly unaffected.

If the new show is set in the 'Prime Universe‘ between Enterprise and TOS, the novels will need to adhere to this. However, as the periods before and after the show are already detailed on screen, there might not be too many surprises or big changes. Christopher may get the opportinity (!) for a clever retcon or two in his current Rise of the Federation series.

If the new show is set in the 'Prime Universe' but in another era or eras, it could be awkward.

Does that sound about right ?

 

[JoeZhang]

What if the new series starts with some CGI footage of the Enterprise-E being destroyed over Bajor after crashing into the USS Voyager causing a chain reaction that blows up DS9, Bajor and wipes out the wormhole?

 

[Avro Arrow]

And making the compound eyes lenses was a good call, those things never looked organic.

I always liked the compound eyes. The meshing of something we think of as insect-like into what appeared to be a type of lizard really helped to make the Gorn look more "alien".

 

[Christopher]

I always liked the compound eyes. The meshing of something we think of as insect-like into what appeared to be a type of lizard really helped to make the Gorn look more "alien".

I agree in principle -- there's no reason to assume that alien taxonomy would break down along the exact same lines as it has on Earth, with reptiles and mammals and birds and so forth, any more than one would expect alien planets to have the same continents as Earth. But compound eyes in particular are not a very reasonable trait for a large organism to have, because their resolution is too low. So in this particular case, I'm actually more comfortable with the idea that the Gorn's eyes were some kind of cybernetic implants or eye shields.

 

[Relayer1]

What if the new series starts with some CGI footage of the Enterprise-E being destroyed over Bajor after crashing into the USS Voyager causing a chain reaction that blows up DS9, Bajor and wipes out the wormhole?

Comes under the 'Awkward' category...

 

[JD]

Tie ins must adhere to on screen continuity, but there's some 'wrinkles' with Trek. As I see it :

They can't directly portray the 'Prime Universe' part of ST 2009.

I'm not sure if this is entirely right. I know we haven't seen the destruction of Romulus, but I'm pretty sure there have been elements of the Abramsverse that would crossover included in the books. I'm pretty sure if they couldn't use the Prime Universe elements of ST'09 that would probably include everything in the movie, not just those specific events.

 

[20fridge]

Tie ins must adhere to on screen continuity, but there's some 'wrinkles' with Trek. As I see it :

They can't directly portray the 'Prime Universe' part of ST 2009.

They can't portray events in the JJverse either.

I wouldn't be surprised if these are temporary restrictions. I remember Big Finish saying for years that their Doctor Who range would probably never cover the Time War. Now they have a series of audios devoted to the adventures of the War Doctor. Heck, just this year CBS allowed Supergirl and the Flash to have a crossover episode, despite the fact at the beginning of this year they said it probably wouldn't happen. I've seen licensing can shift behind the scenes without much warning. I bet those restrictions will change at some point.

 

[JoeZhang]

Comes under the 'Awkward' category...

Everyone gets really confused when all the current TNG-Era books shift to characters nobody has heard of and there are no references to previous books.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I wouldn't be surprised if these are temporary restrictions. I remember Big Finish saying for years that their Doctor Who range would probably never cover the Time War. Now they have a series of audios devoted to the adventures of the War Doctor. Heck, just this year CBS allowed Supergirl and the Flash to have a crossover episode, despite the fact at the beginning of this year they said it probably wouldn't happen. I've seen licensing can shift behind the scenes without much warning. I bet those restrictions will change at some point.

I know this is all Bad Robot's doing (they also refuse to allow any Abramsverse novels), I'm just wanting an explanation as to WHY they would do this.

 

[The Wormhole]

I'm curious, are you guys saying that once this new Trek comes out that pocket will no longer be doing any novels set in TOS universe?

No one has said that at all. For starters, no one knows anything about what will happen with the new series, when it's set or anything. If the new show is in the Prime Universe in the latter part of the 24th century, then it will override Pocket's current 24th century continuity and thus will see the end of the Typhon Pact storyline and everything else post-Nemesis. However, the rest of the Prime Universe should be okay. TOS novels will likely continue on as planned, though with TNG, DS9 and Voyager you'd likely see a return to TV series-era novels for them. Enterprise should be able to continue the Birth of the Federation series. For the novel-only series, again anything post-Nemesis would be off the table, but I imagine The Seekers or The Lost Era would be fine.

Of course, none of this may come to pass at all. If the new show is set in the Abramsverse, it shouldn't change anything for the novels at all. If it's set in a whole new universe, than the only impact it could have on the novels is they might have to make room in the annual line-up for a tie-in novel to the show.

Seems pretty clear that they were completely unaware of the Gorn's appearance in In a Mirror Darkly and the fact that the Gorn Hegemony was mentioned in Bound.

Maybe they just didn't watch Enterprise? Not a lot of people did.

 

[Idran]

Maybe they just didn't watch Enterprise? Not a lot of people did.

The entire team, though? You'd think that the guy in charge of lore for a Star Trek MMO would make sure that for every series there was at least someone on the lore team that had watched that series. You can't really use "oh I never watched that" as your excuse; it'd be like no one on the WoW lore team having played Warcraft 2 and so getting some lore element from Warcraft 2 wrong.

 

[Relayer1]

If it comes down to a 'worst case scenario' and the new show is set between Nemesis and the beginning of ST'09, it's either going to require some fast and fancy retconning to get the novelverse back into line with on screen continuity OR it's just going to start over. I'd prefer a retcon, even if it is a bit tenuous.

If it is set several decades after Spock is lost, there's always a chance that the novelverse could work towards fitting in with the new show over time...

 

[Christopher]

^Again, though, the time frame wouldn't make any difference if the show established something about history or the nature of an alien species that contradicted the novels, like when TNG's Klingons and Romulans proved different from Ford's Klingons and Duane's Rihannsu. Even Rise of the Federation wouldn't be safe if the new show portrayed, say, the Rigelians or the Saurians in a way different from my version.

 

[Relayer1]

^Again, though, the time frame wouldn't make any difference if the show established something about history or the nature of an alien species that contradicted the novels, like when TNG's Klingons and Romulans proved different from Ford's Klingons and Duane's Rihannsu. Even Rise of the Federation wouldn't be safe if the new show portrayed, say, the Rigelians or the Saurians in a way different from my version.

At that point it comes down to how desperate / tenuous you are prepared to be with retconning - time travelling to change the development of a species, interference from the preservers, futureguy etc.

I'd rather expect you to stay on the credible / tasteful side of things ! Or come up with a really (REALLY) clever curveball

 

[Christopher]

Look at it this way: The current novelverse wouldn't exist if the '80s novelverse hadn't been overwritten and a bunch of new canon hadn't been established for us to build on. Yes, if the current novelverse has to end, that'll be a pity -- but the plus side is that we'll be getting juicy new Trek canon that new novels can be based on in the future. Who knows? It might be fun for us novelists to set aside the canvas we've been painting on for the past 15 or so years and start painting on a fresh canvas. I certainly enjoyed the challenge and the fresh experience of writing a novel set in the Abramsverse, back when we thought that was going to be a thing we could do.

 

[Extrocomp]

The entire team, though? You'd think that the guy in charge of lore for a Star Trek MMO would make sure that for every series there was at least someone on the lore team that had watched that series.

The 2013 Star Trek game is not an MMO. You're confusing it with Star Trek Online.

 

[Idran]

The 2013 Star Trek game is not an MMO. You're confusing it with Star Trek Online.

Oh, I'm sorry, I was. My mistake!

 

[RandyS]

No one has said that at all. For starters, no one knows anything about what will happen with the new series, when it's set or anything. If the new show is in the Prime Universe in the latter part of the 24th century, then it will override Pocket's current 24th century continuity and thus will see the end of the Typhon Pact storyline and everything else post-Nemesis. However, the rest of the Prime Universe should be okay. TOS novels will likely continue on as planned, though with TNG, DS9 and Voyager you'd likely see a return to TV series-era novels for them. Enterprise should be able to continue the Birth of the Federation series. For the novel-only series, again anything post-Nemesis would be off the table, but I imagine The Seekers or The Lost Era would be fine.

Exactly the outcome I'm hoping for, but don't expect.

 

[The Wormhole]

The entire team, though? You'd think that the guy in charge of lore for a Star Trek MMO would make sure that for every series there was at least someone on the lore team that had watched that series. You can't really use "oh I never watched that" as your excuse; it'd be like no one on the WoW lore team having played Warcraft 2 and so getting some lore element from Warcraft 2 wrong.

Thing is the two references you mention are:
-A brief throwaway line in one episode which otherwise has nothing to do with the Gorn.
-An episode set in the MU, so was probably deemed irrelevant to the game.

And so what if they conveniently forgot this? People who have worked on the shows have made similar mistakes, novels have too. Mistakes happen, and even people working on Star Trek forget how nitpicky the fans are.

 

[Idran]

Thing is the two references you mention are:
-A brief throwaway line in one episode which otherwise has nothing to do with the Gorn.
-An episode set in the MU, so was probably deemed irrelevant to the game.

And so what if they conveniently forgot this? People who have worked on the shows have made similar mistakes, novels have too. Mistakes happen, and even people working on Star Trek forget how nitpicky the fans are.

You're responding to something I wasn't saying. I wasn't arguing that they couldn't have missed it in Enterprise. I was saying that the idea you mentioned that simply no one on the lore team for STO had even watched Enterprise (thinking as I did at the time that you were referring to STO and not the 2013 Star Trek game) didn't make sense.