STV: The Final Frontier's novelization is way better than the actual movie.
Novelizations worth reading
- Thread starter Divine
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Also because of a typo on the title page of the first edition of the French MMPB. It accidentally left out most of the correct credits for the script and made it look like the novelization itself was written by Foster.
Foster got his TMP "story by..." gig (adapting "Robot's Return") on the strength of his TAS adaptations ("ST Logs") for Ballantine.
Was that not how the film portrayed it, though? It was meant to be a shocking, uncomfortable moment, and that was why it was so powerful and memorable.
The author presumably would not have had access to the scene, and cannot be criticised for not following it exactly, but as far as I am concerned, the film version is canon and was far more powerful.
I need to read something by Robert J. Sawyer now. That's some fantastic writing.
The nutritional information printed on a box of Fruity Peebles is way better than that movie...
Robert Sawyer does a great blend of social and hard science-fiction. I recommend the Neanderthal Parallax trilogy as some of his best work (though, as an anthropology grad, I'm biased towards the topic).
Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman
I've heard good things about those novels. I loved the anthropology class I took a few years ago and I actually read a lot of anthropology stuff for fun, so that would be right up my evolutionary alley.
Indeed. This was not only an outstanding novelization, but the other two books (TNG) that made up the four part set were very good too. The entire 4 book Dominion War series was perhaps some of the best Trek fiction of its time.
I still love the episode novelizations by James Blish, though, mainly for their differences from the show we got on screen.
Rob+
Gah, I can't stand Diane Carey's writing. Maybe it's because of her horrible Lieutenant Mary Sue-style novels Dreadnought! and Battlestations!
Back when I first got hooked on Star Trek, the Blish books were in their original publishing run (30+ years ago). The first two Star Trek books I ever owned were Star Trek 4 and Star Trek 6. Since it took many years for me to catch up on all 79 episodes, I was very glad the episode adaptations existed.
But Alan Dean Foster remains the best at adapting episodic Star Trek. The Log books are really good, and even the worst clunkers of the Animated Series get decent treatment. The final three were even expanded into novel-length stories, so Foster gave us some wonderful original Trek content.
I'm simply going to add that I absolutely loved the additional characterization we got in the novelizations of TWOK -- and I enjoyed the novel form of Search for Spock much more than the movie itself (Robin Curtiss did not do an adequate job of portraying Saavik).For some reason I thought there were rumors that Alan Dean Foster ghostwrote it, but I wasn't sure either way.That "direct input" would be that Roddenberry was the one to actually write it.
That's a good set, too.
In general, a novelization will always hold more material than the movie/episode it's based on...it just depends on the author (and the original story) on if it's good additions.
Back when I first got hooked on Star Trek, the Blish books were in their original publishing run (30+ years ago). The first two Star Trek books I ever owned were Star Trek 4 and Star Trek 6. Since it took many years for me to catch up on all 79 episodes, I was very glad the episode adaptations existed.
But Alan Dean Foster remains the best at adapting episodic Star Trek. The Log books are really good, and even the worst clunkers of the Animated Series get decent treatment. The final three were even expanded into novel-length stories, so Foster gave us some wonderful original Trek content.
I think I got lucky in that I read Final Frontier before those two books...which admittedly, were a bit too fangirly. Everything else she's written has been good as far as I've read.
Sadly, I must disagree with you. She also wrote the first TNG novel after Encounter at Farpoint. She had Beverly Crusher sashaying around the Bridge, showing how she was both feminine and a competent doctor at the same time... (this forum lacks an appropriate smiley to express my opinion of her writing)
Regarding the first two novels I mentioned: I can't vouch for it being 100% true, but I was told that the cover picture of Piper and her Vulcan friend (the character's name escapes me at the moment) were actually based on Diane Carey herself, and her husband. Can anyone here verify this?
Seconded... You have to commend JM Dillard for filling in some of those massive plot holes in ways that actually make sense both dramatically and from an in-universe tech perspective. My favorite is the bit about the giant head (The One?) telling Sybok how to modify the warp engines to reach the speed necessary to reach the center of the galaxy and how to breach the Great Barrier.
And Peter David's comic adaptation of the movie has some fun added humor and the cool line about Kirt losing two brothers but getting one back.
Carey was working from the TNG Bible, which described Crusher in rather sexualized terms, including the phrase "strip-tease queen." It's the same reason Riker is called "Bill" in the book; that's what the Bible said. There weren't any finished episodes when she was writing Ghost Ship, and the way characters were described ultimately didn't match up with the way they were portrayed. Is it awkward to read? Yes. Is it entirely her fault that the book feels off? No.
And perhaps not. Okay, 1998 doesn't look all that great in retrospect, but it was the year we got one of the best novelizations ever (Far Beyond the Stars), the very good Starfleet Academy novel The Best and the Brightest, a solid Captain Pike novel (Where Sea Meets Sky), the first volume of SNW, one of the best NF novels (Once Burned), and one of the best Voyager novels (Echoes).
The TNG books in the Dominion War tetralogy weren't bad, and their use of Ro Laren, one of my favourite characters, certainly kept me interested. But the DS9 novelizations were, imho, not good. Not only does Carey have no real feel for DS9's characters or the setting (or the English language), her added material significantly changes the meaning of what happened in the episodes being adapted.
But Alan Dean Foster remains the best at adapting episodic Star Trek. The Log books are really good, and even the worst clunkers of the Animated Series get decent treatment. The final three were even expanded into novel-length stories, so Foster gave us some wonderful original Trek content.
The final four, actually.
I like the Domion war Tng & Deep space nine crossover books . I thought it was good they filled in the missing scenes we didn't get to see on the ds9 series when Jadzia had missions behind the line. Sisko and Martok doing intell work to get Admiral Ross in on the action. And Sisko's friend Captain Charlie Reynolds and his crew that were lost during thr war.. Also the Dominion war book about Deanna Troi on Betazed with Vaughn and the Betazed resiatance to defeat the Dominion troops.
I love Rob Sawyer's stuff... In the past week, I've read his two most recent books, 'Rollback' and 'Mindscan'. I find what draws me to Sawyer's stuff is the same as what draws me to Christopher Bennett's. I always feel like I've educated myself in some way, as well as the work causing me to think hard about morality. Plus, it's fun reading Science Fiction that takes place in my home town. I was reading it on the way to work (on the Toronto Islands) and lo and behold, the main character was going on a date to the place that I worked at! Or I'd be reading, walking down the street, and a major scene would be taking place in the hotel right across the street from where I was.
I'm curious, Christopher, have you read any of Sawyer's books? What do you think of them?
Far Beyond the Stars is not only the best novelization in the Star Trek line, but the best novelization I've ever read. I read it years before I saw the episode, and I prefer it-- over half of the novel is original material! I'd like to see Barnes write an original Trek novel, though honestly his Star Wars novel was fairly so-so.
I wonder, though, if the Assassin's Creed incident may have turned off Barnes on tie-in fiction.
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