New Star Trek and Impact on Trek Lit

[rahullak]

The Discovery novels to date have been set prior to the show proper, both to minimize the contradictions (which still can happen, as the show will always prioritize on screen developments to a few lines in a tie-in) and because Discovery’s first season had little room to slot in additional adventures for the crew. So they’ve been focusing on character backgrounds over utilizing the characters actually serving on Discovery.

Thanks!

 

[Damian]

The Discovery novels to date have been set prior to the show proper, both to minimize the contradictions (which still can happen, as the show will always prioritize on screen developments to a few lines in a tie-in) and because Discovery’s first season had little room to slot in additional adventures for the crew. So they’ve been focusing on character backgrounds over utilizing the characters actually serving on Discovery.

The other thing I noticed, at least from what I've read about Discovery and the Discovery novels I've read, is there is more of an attempt with this show to try to keep a consistent storyline. In the past it always seemed the novel writers (and probably comic writers) were sort of left on their own. They had to respect on-screen canon, but there was little effort to do the reverse or to have any sort of collaborative relationship. I get a different feel for Discovery. I'm not saying there won't be future contradictions, but that it seems to me that they are trying to minimize it as much as possible.

I wouldn't be surprised if they followed a similar philosophy with future shows like the nu-TNG show. However, I believe existing continuities in the relaunch novels will probably be sacrificed. Particularly with TNG-DS9-Voy novels, there has been a lot of storylines developed. While I think there are ways they could do a nu-TNG show that has minimal impact on the existing novelverse (considering the new show will still be several years in the future from the most recent novels), I just don't believe they'll go to the trouble or care enough about existing continuities to do that. They'd have to be more focused on the present and future, less on the past, the Borg as we know them are gone, Picard and Crusher have a son, those sorts of things. One sentence about Picard fighting the Borg last year, him never being married and childless, the Enterprise-E being destroyed a year after Nemesis, etc. could completely negate the existing relaunches.