Next Titan novel announced
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So - the andorians join the typhon pact a few months after leaving an already weakened federation. As if the federation wasn't trampled upon enough in the last few years worth of books.
And a new big bad appears, 'wreaking havoc across the galaxy'.
Dystopian, doom and gloom storytelling remains star trek lit's standard. Rather disappointing.
Next month, on "Staaaaaaar Trek", Dr Crusher starts tapestry classes and Geordi files his nails.
Better?
I don't know how doom and gloom it is. Yes, the Federation was devastated by the Borg in Destiny, but they fought back and persevered in the face of annihilation. I mean, this was the Borg, and this type of confrontation was long overdue. And in the end, it was the Federation's core values of exploration and seeking new life- in the form of Titan's mission and finding the Caeliar- that lead to its salvation.
Yes, the Federation is rebuilding, and they now have a rival superpower in the form of the Typhon Pact, but I like that idea. A political cold war sounds more interesting than an actual war, and as the Typhon Pact mini-series gave us some interesting scenarios exploring that.
But doom and gloom? The Federation continues. Voyager has them reaching out into the Delta quadrant; Titan and the other Luna class ships continue their mandate of deep space exploration, the very core of Trek's tenants to seek out new life and new civilizations; Picard and the Enterprise render assistance and diplomacy just as they always have done; and DS9 continues to do whatever DS9 decides to do. There have been struggles, but that's fiction. As Therin commented, if it was all about dance classes and fingernail filing, we wouldn't have any books.
I think there is a very rich narrative landscape to explore in current 24th Century TrekLit. It's up to the editors and authors to capitalize on it.
Crusher giving Data dancing lessons and Geordi building a model ship were both interesting character moments. Not every story has to deal with the ship firing it's weapons. Nobody is suggesting a story that doesn't involve conflict but conflict doesn't have to involve shooting and destruction and death.
I wonder how many episodes don't involve the ship shooting something?
I wonder how many episodes don't involve the ship shooting something?
Julio Angel Ortiz
The borg killed 60+ BILLIONS in a trilogy that reveled in death and destruction (a few pages at the end don't even come close to compensating the unrelenting darkness of those books).
Then the federation was kicked in the balls repeatedly by the typhon pact - and was revealed as incompetent/treacherous.
Which summarises the last few years of trek lit.
The fact that the federation survived doesn't change the dystopian tone of the trek lit line - much like the fact of Galactica's fleet survival + the series' characters' struggle for survival doesn't change the tone of that series.
And now, we have more of the same - just with different players - as this interview makes clear.
The borg killed 60+ BILLIONS in a trilogy that reveled in death and destruction (a few pages at the end don't even come close to compensating the unrelenting darkness of those books).
Then the federation was kicked in the balls repeatedly by the typhon pact - and was revealed as incompetent/treacherous.
Which summarises the last few years of trek lit.
The fact that the federation survived doesn't change the dystopian tone of the trek lit line - much like the fact of Galactica's fleet survival + the series' characters' struggle for survival doesn't change the tone of that series.
And now, we have more of the same - just with different players - as this interview makes clear.
The Federation continues? Just because someone or something survives doesn't make it opitmistic. have you ever seen the movie Threads?
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090163/
Just surviving isn't enough, at least not all the time. Keep kicking the Federation each time it attemps to get back up and it may not collapse but it's not going to rise above where it was before.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090163/
Just surviving isn't enough, at least not all the time. Keep kicking the Federation each time it attemps to get back up and it may not collapse but it's not going to rise above where it was before.
I'm sure they'll Rise Like Lions!
But wasn't it those same core values that led to the creation of the Borg in the first place. Seems like a wash to me and sixty billion were dead to boot.
Oh boy, this is going to turn into one of those threads. 
First off, I get everyone has their opinion, so I'm not trying to come off argumentative or anything.
Reveled? I think that's pretty inaccurate assessment. I wouldn't say the trilogy (or the author, by extension) took pleasure or delight in offing those (fictional) 60 billion.
I mean, how realistic would you think the Federation could withstand an all-out assault from the Borg? I always found their defeat of a single Borg cube in the movie First Contact was pretty unrealistic, but suspended my disbelief. But against thousands of Borg cubes? What, the Borg would never retaliate against the Federation for their losses, and that the Federation would easily stand against that large a force? I saw Destiny as a natural conclusion to the Borg story.
Funny thing is, I've barely watched any BSG. And sure, the Federation is having a tough time right now, but as Trek itself has shown us, things could always be worse.
I'll have to check that movie out, thanks for the tip.
There's always that.
I disagree. IIRC, those officers / MACOs defied their commanding officer and staged a breakout, which lead to a chain reaction of events that lead to the creation of the Borg. That was a decision of a few officers, not the entire Federation.
First off, I get everyone has their opinion, so I'm not trying to come off argumentative or anything.
Reveled? I think that's pretty inaccurate assessment. I wouldn't say the trilogy (or the author, by extension) took pleasure or delight in offing those (fictional) 60 billion.
I mean, how realistic would you think the Federation could withstand an all-out assault from the Borg? I always found their defeat of a single Borg cube in the movie First Contact was pretty unrealistic, but suspended my disbelief. But against thousands of Borg cubes? What, the Borg would never retaliate against the Federation for their losses, and that the Federation would easily stand against that large a force? I saw Destiny as a natural conclusion to the Borg story.
Funny thing is, I've barely watched any BSG. And sure, the Federation is having a tough time right now, but as Trek itself has shown us, things could always be worse.
I'll have to check that movie out, thanks for the tip.
There's always that.
I disagree. IIRC, those officers / MACOs defied their commanding officer and staged a breakout, which lead to a chain reaction of events that lead to the creation of the Borg. That was a decision of a few officers, not the entire Federation.
Star Trek:Things Could Always be Worse hardly sounds opitmistic.
"The future is bright, almost 0.0000005% of humanity wasn't killed in the invasion and they survive on the farms of the Zorgons. But, at least they're not dead"
Yeah, sounds like the sort of thing to really life your spirits and make you look forward to tomorrow.
There is room in Trek for a variety of stories. TOS and TNG were great in how they got out of many situations through wits. In DS9, we saw how paradise faired when faced with an inevitable war.
There have been some great action stories out there. But look at Vanguard, it is largely an action series but it is also filled with dramatic character development and an incredible, original alien race.
Titan as well has original situations. Take "Torrent Sea" where they explored a planet where live evolved completely without land where an a species' entire technolgy was based upon genetic and evolutionary manipulation. It was a great concept based upon a scientific paper that made us think about different forms of life and challenged a reader's ethical values.
Exploration may be nothing new. But as long as the concepts they discover are different, than it can still be refreshing and exciting. And most of the writers have done a good job keeping the literature fresh and engaging.
There have been some great action stories out there. But look at Vanguard, it is largely an action series but it is also filled with dramatic character development and an incredible, original alien race.
Titan as well has original situations. Take "Torrent Sea" where they explored a planet where live evolved completely without land where an a species' entire technolgy was based upon genetic and evolutionary manipulation. It was a great concept based upon a scientific paper that made us think about different forms of life and challenged a reader's ethical values.
Exploration may be nothing new. But as long as the concepts they discover are different, than it can still be refreshing and exciting. And most of the writers have done a good job keeping the literature fresh and engaging.
Uh, no. The "value" that led to the creation of the Borg in the first place was the belief of Sedin, a Caeliar, that survival justifies everything, including enslaving people to her will and keeping yourself alive even when your mind has severely degraded.
ETA:
Seems to me that a lot of people just don't like the fact that sometimes bad things happen to the Federation.
Canadian MACOs. Blame Canada.
Which is ALSO not a Federation value, and not an expression of the Federation's value of exploration as important.
Though the idea that those MACOs bear responsibility for Sedin's actions is quite silly.
They're responsible for their decision to attack the Caeliar, nothing more. The Time-Dispalced-Caeliar are responsible for their decision to maintain the predestination paradox that created them and displaced the one Caeliar city-ship with the MACOs aboard into the Delta Quadrant of the distant past. And Sedin is responsible for her decision to murder her fellow surviving Caeliar and enslave the surviving Humans.
And to go further: The Caeliar gestalt is responsible for its decision to imprison the Columbia crew. Captain Hernandez is responsible for her decision to travel to Erigol. And the Romulans are responsible for their decision to start the Earth-Romulus War and attack the Columbia. But not a one of them are responsible for the creation of the Borg other than Sedin.
Never said it was a Federation Value, in fact I was rebutting that...
And the time-travel paradox came about because the MACOs wanted to go back in time...
I know, the Ancient Race Caeliar and Sedin are Novus Actus Interveniens which break the chain of causation, but the initial act was still the MACOs
Which, again, does not mean the MACOs are responsible for the Borg. If Karl Marx hadn't written The Communist Manifesto, Lenin would not have overthrown the Tsar, the Soviet Union would not have been established, the Soviets would not have invaded Afghanistan, Congressman Charlie Wilson wouldn't have gotten the CIA and Congress and Reagan administration to arm the mujahadeen, the mujahadeen would not have defeated the Soviets, some of their members would not have then formed al Qaeda with left-over American weapons, and al Qaeda would not have destroyed attacked the United States on 9/11. Yet that doesn't mean that Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, Charlie Wilson, Ronald Reagan, and the CIA are responsible for 9/11.
You just can't start pushing back chains of responsibility like that. It becomes completely unreasonable. The only person responsible for the Borg is Sedin -- period.
