FIRST nuTREK NOVEL!!! Alan Dean Foster has announced the good news. Check it out: http://trekmovie.com/2009/07/02/alan-dean-foster-to-write-sequel-book-to-star-trek-movie/
Re: FIRST nuTREK NOVEL!!! I know--I just found out about it. (Nuts--guess Steve Roby beat me to the news. Ah, well....)
I've yet to read an Alan Dean Foster book I haven't thoroughly enjoyed. I'm glad to see him back doing Trek novels, and since I have no plans to see the movie, I will gladly substitute reading the novel instead. I flipped through it a couple of weeks ago at the bookstore and plan to get it when finances allow.
Splinter of the Mind's Eye, yes. It was based, in part, on some of the ideas from Lucas' early Star Wars scripts (the Plot MacGuffin of the book, the Kaiburr Crystal, came from there). Some elements of the book are weird to read now, in light of later revelations.
Well, the movie wasn't called A New Hope at the time, it was just called Star Wars. The "Episode IV" business and the subtitle were added retroactively in its 1981 rerelease. And Foster actually ghost-wrote the novelization of Star Wars under George Lucas's name. That was what got him the gig to write Splinter of the Mind's Eye under his own name. So he wrote the first two consecutive SW novels.
^Hmm...fascinating.... Wasn't there a rumor that Alan also ghost-wrote the ST:TMP novelization, under The Bird's name?
I hadn't heard this rumor, but I can say that whoever wrote the TMP novelization, it wasn't Alan Dean Foster. That novel is so unlike his writing style, it couldn't have been him.
The TMP novelization was written by Gene Roddenberry, exactly as it says on the tin. It's clearly the work of a first-time novelist, and has stylistic stamps that mark it as the work of someone whose writing experience is limited to TV scripts. It also reflects a mix of futurism and sexual preoccupation that's very Roddenberrian. The myth that Foster ghostwrote the novelization arises from two factors: one, confusion with the Star Wars novelization that he did ghostwrite, and two, the fact that a foreign (French?) edition of the book got the credits wrong and listed Foster, who wrote the screen story for the film, as the author of the book.
Yep. It accidentally omitted the line with the "based on a screenplay by Harold Livingston" bit, too. Also, because ADF's previous work for ST had been the ten-volume "Star Trek Logs" series, which adapted TAS episodes, and some of the Power record/comic sets. Susan Sackett's "The Making of ST:TMP" made frequent references to GR not being on the set as often, during the latter weeks of filming TMP, because he was usually at home trying to finish off the novelization.
I've been a longtime fan of ADF, but I was disappointed by his novelization of the new movie. It started off well, but seemed to become more and more rushed as it went on. Having said that, I'm looking forward to seeing what he can do on his own, with a little more time and without the shackles of a pre-existing script. - Mark