Novels that would make great movies

[Captain Clark Terrell]

^I saw the TOS films before I saw the TV series, so the ridged Klingons were my introduction to the species. I was surprised when the Klingons of the TV series didn’t have ridges, but I always figured it was makeup/budget issue and never let it bother me. I mean, if we’re going to throw a fit about Klingon makeup, then why not take Shatner to task for his numerous hairpieces? His hair in TFF looked ridiculous.

 

[Valenti]

My mother could never watch Star Trek because of the disfigured people, plain and simple. People like seeing beautiful things. The bumpy/turtle head thing was another big mistake, IMO.
Also as far as TMP went, the bridge design and the uniforms were ugly as well.

 

[trampledamage]

My mother could never watch Star Trek because of the disfigured people, plain and simple. People like seeing beautiful things. The bumpy/turtle head thing was another big mistake, IMO.
Also as far as TMP went, the bridge design and the uniforms were ugly as well.

Please try not to make generalised statements about what "people" like. It's especially problematic if you are comparing "beautiful" that "people" like against "disfigured" that "people" don't like.

There are many forms of beauty, Klingons included.

It's not against the BBS rules or anything, it's just a personal request from me to help keep the community experience a pleasant one.

 

[Captain Clark Terrell]

My mother could never watch Star Trek because of the disfigured people, plain and simple. People like seeing beautiful things. The bumpy/turtle head thing was another big mistake, IMO.
Also as far as TMP went, the bridge design and the uniforms were ugly as well.

I don’t think “disfigured” is an accurate descriptor for the appearances of the alien races on Star Trek. If forehead or nose ridges are a normal part of someone’s anatomy, then they aren’t a disfigurement. Moreover, some of the most beautiful characters on Star Trek were non-humans (e.g., The Female Romulan Commander, Jadzia Dax, B’Elanna Torres). Your mother may not have approved, but that doesn’t mean others don’t or shouldn’t.

 

[Damian]

^I saw the TOS films before I saw the TV series, so the ridged Klingons were my introduction to the species. I was surprised when the Klingons of the TV series didn’t have ridges, but I always figured it was makeup/budget issue and never let it bother me. I mean, if we’re going to throw a fit about Klingon makeup, then why not take Shatner to task for his numerous hairpieces? His hair in TFF looked ridiculous.

Yeah, it was just when I saw my first Klingon, at first I was like, where, I don't see any. He's not a Klingon?!? ("Friday's Child" was my first exposure to an original series Klingon, and not only did he not have ridges, he didn't even have a goatee and he was going bald).

Also as far as TMP went, the bridge design and the uniforms were ugly as well

I actually liked the bridge set. The refit Enterprise was one of my favorites. I loved TMP, but I can't disagree about the uniforms. Robert Fletcher should be glad he was retained for TWOK after that design (I did think he redeemed himself, I guess we all make mistakes).

But yeah, I too figured they wanted to make the Klingons look more alien and even more intimidating for the movies. I read something in one of the novels in the 80's that speculated it was something genetic if I remember correctly (was it Final Reflection, or another novel maybe) and of course we did learn it was genetic related in Enterprise. It's nice to have an in universe explanation of course, but I figured the real world reason was probably to update their look.

 

[Timewalker]

Although who knows? Maybe the Klingon thing in TMP might have bothered me more If I'd been twelve at the time. As a twenty-year-old college student, I was already "sophisticated" enough to chalk up any makeup changes to a bigger budget and changing audience expectations. Post STAR WARS and PLANET OF THE APES, the old TOS makeups weren't going to impress the "modern" audiences of 1979 . . . which seemed obvious enough to me at the time.

I was 16 when TMP was first released in the theatres, and that's where I first saw it.

I'm more impressed by story and characterization than by special effects and changes "just because we can."

And, in my own immediate circle of fan friends, I dimly recall some debate about whether they should have changed the Klingon's look, but I don't remember anyone arguing that the new Klingons proved that it was a different timeline or not "real" STAR TREK or whatever. (Outside of Sherlock Holmes fandom, "canon" was not really part of our fannish vocabulary back then.) The movie was clearly a sequel to the TV show, set a few years later, and that was that . ....

The "canon" arguments weren't a thing for me either, back then... mainly because I hadn't really heard of the term, but also because I had so few people to discuss Star Trek with in the first place.

I hadn't even heard of the term "retcon" then, either; it's something I didn't encounter until many years later.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

He may not have needed to know the specifics of why a small group of people was living on Ceti Alpha V, but his knowing that they were there at all would have averted disaster for him, his ship and crew, the science team on Regula I and the training crew aboard the Enterprise.

Yeah. The real villain in the Star Trek movies might be Starfleet bureaucracy.

My rationalization is that the Genesis Project was also Top-Secret, as was that long-ago incident with Khan, so that, in this case, Starfleet's top-secret left hand didn't know what its top-secret right hand was doing.

This is absolutely the simplest and most believable explanation.

As to why Chekov didn't say anything about Khan being (supposedly) one planet over . . . well, I had to tap dance around that in my book!

Yeah, as others have said, I think he legitimately just forgot the name of the planet until he saw the "Botany Bay" name on the seat belt.

Terrell was certainly a more laid-back commander than Kirk, but that doesn’t mean he or his crew was sloppy. Keep in mind that Terrell gave his own life so that he wouldn’t kill Kirk.

And don't forget that Terrell was doing this for a man he'd never even met before. That's pretty fucking awesome. Committing suicide rather than kill a near-stranger while under mind control? That's one hell of a moral code Terrell had.

Don't you think people would have liked to see an original timeline origins story, just for the hell of it, instead of an alternate one? Who wants to see an alternate TOS?

More people than wanted to see literally any other Star Trek movie:

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/franchises/chart/?id=startrek.htm

The order was to find a world that was completely lifeless - not even a microbe - so when they detected life signs on Ceti Alpha, they should have just gone on to the next world.

Terrell thought that the scanner was malfunctioning, so they did the prudent thing and checked it out.

Would I have loved to see a true prequel? Of course. I'm a Trekkie going back to the original series. I'd love to see a true representation of Kirk taking command of the Enterprise with the characters we mostly saw, Dr Piper, Lt. Alden, Gary Mitchell (wonder what happened to him in the alternate timeline BTW) on a set that looked like WNMHGB. A lot of us would have gotten a kick out of it.

You should really read "All Those Years Ago..." in the first DC Comics Star Trek annual if you haven't already. It has everything you're asking for except for Lt. Alden.

And a Kelvinverse version of Gary Mitchell featured in the first two issues of IDW's Star Trek comic series.

because, you know, it's a TV show. It's not a historical document, let alone Holy Writ.

Right. The historical document is Galaxy Quest.

Nor was this without precedent. The PLANET OF THE APES tv series in 1974 had played kinda fast and loose with the movie continuity. Ditto the LOGAN'S RUN tv series. I think there was less of an expectation in those days that everything had to fit into one seamless "canon" or continuity.

And since those shows were made in a pre-home video and pre-internet era, it was a lot easier to play it fast & loose with continuity. Viewers didn't have the ability to go back and double check details immediately. They had to rely on vague memories or wait until a movie or TV show was repeated.

Heck, that isn't even limited to science fiction. The M*A*S*H TV show is pretty definitively an alternate continuity from the movie. The movie ends with Hawkeye & Duke getting shipped home and Trapper John and Spearchucker staying in the camp. The TV show had Trapper shipping home before Hawkeye, dropped the Spearchucker character within the first half-dozen episodes, and never used the Duke Forrest character at all. Both versions of Frank Burns get a Section Eight, though.

The play and movie version of The Odd Couple end with CBS news writer Felix Ungar moving out of Oscar Madison's apartment after a few weeks, determined to make a new life for himself as a single man after the end of his marriage to his wife Frances. The TV version has photographer Felix Unger moving out years later when he gets back together with his ex-wife Gloria. The various versions couldn't even agree when Felix's wife threw him out, with the play and the movie taking place during a summer heat wave and the opening narration of the TV show saying that Felix was tossed out of his home on November 13th.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

I hadn't even heard of the term "retcon" then, either; it's something I didn't encounter until many years later.

The term "retcon" wasn't invented until the 1980s. It originated in the letter column of the comic book All-Star Squadron as "retroactive continuity," referring to writer Roy Thomas' penchant for writing his stories around the continuity of 1940s issues of All-Star Comics.

 

[Timewalker]

The term "retcon" wasn't invented until the 1980s. It originated in the letter column of the comic book All-Star Squadron as "retroactive continuity," referring to writer Roy Thomas' penchant for writing his stories around the continuity of 1940s issues of All-Star Comics.

I learned of it in the context of soap operas, which I got into in a serious way in the late '80s. It's a staple of that genre. Back in the '60s, when my mom and grandmother and I watched The Edge of Night, nobody really thought of such things... since the episodes were shown live and any mistakes just had to be dealt with on the spot. There were no re-takes.

 

[JD]

My mother could never watch Star Trek because of the disfigured people, plain and simple. People like seeing beautiful things. The bumpy/turtle head thing was another big mistake, IMO.
.

First of all, I don't think the aliens in Trek count as disfigured since they all look like that from birth.
And as a supporter of things like the Paralympics, and more representation of the disabled in the media this kind of attitude just plain pisses me off. Just because someone is "disfigured" or disabled doesn't make them any less deserving of respect or the opportunities given to able bodies people. I'm glad that the media seems to getting over this attitude with the Paralympics getting more media coverage, and shows like Switched at Birth, which features several deaf and hard of hearing cast members in both it's regular and recurring cast, and Gotham, which features Anthony Carrigan, who has Alopecia, in a recurring role as Victor Szasz.

 

[Valenti]

I watch the gay Olympics.

 

[JD]

Gay olympics?

 

[Captain Clark Terrell]

I'm glad that the media seems to getting over this attitude with the Paralympics getting more media coverage, and shows like Switched at Birth, which features several deaf and hard of hearing cast members in both it's regular and recurring cast, and Gotham, which features Anthony Carrigan, who has Alopecia, in a recurring role as Victor Szasz.

Star Trek has done this, as well. Michael Berryman (Captain Rixx from “Conspiracy”) has ectodermal dysplasia, which prevents the normal development of hair, teeth, fingernails and sweat glands, and has appeared in several horror films over the course of his career. Star Trek gave him a chance to play a “good guy”, whom I wish had appeared again, whether in TNG or DS9.

Getting back on topic, Once Burned would probably make a great film. Lots of action, drama, and angst. I’d like to see Art of the Impossible as a miniseries. The scene in which Kurn throws his food would have to be included, of course.

 

[JD]

I didn't know that about the guy who played Rixx, that is really cool.

 

[JD]

I watch the gay Olympics.

I'm sorry to go back to this post again, but I honestly can't tell if you're serious or mocking me.

 

[Captain Clark Terrell]

I didn't know that about the guy who played Rixx, that is really cool.

I don’t know that he was casted solely for that reason, but it’s cool the way things worked out.

 

[David cgc]

Getting back on topic, Once Burned would probably make a great film. Lots of action, drama, and angst. I’d like to see Art of the Impossible as a miniseries. The scene in which Kurn throws his food would have to be included, of course.

I feel like if they ever did get around to making some kind of Star Trek anthology show, Once Burned would be exactly the sort of story they should do. A mad captain story, except the Enterprise never shows up to set things right. In fact, that'd probably be a good guiding light for such a series "Star Trek, except the people with the problem of the week have to deal with it by themselves."

 

[trampledamage]

I watch the gay Olympics.

I can't decide if you're just spamming nonsense or deliberately trolling to pick a fight. Either way, they are against the rules and you've earned a warning.

Any comments or questions on this from anyone, please send me a direct message - do not discuss it in this thread.

 

[Captain Clark Terrell]

I feel like if they ever did get around to making some kind of Star Trek anthology show, Once Burned would be exactly the sort of story they should do. A mad captain story, except the Enterprise never shows up to set things right. In fact, that'd probably be a good guiding light for such a series "Star Trek, except the people with the problem of the week have to deal with it by themselves."

You’ve touched on the main thing I like about so many of the novels: the idea that other crews were capable of undertaking dangerous missions. All too often, we’re made to believe that Kirk/Picard and company can venture into deep space and survive.

 

[JD]

I can't decide if you're just spamming nonsense or deliberately trolling to pick a fight. Either way, they are against the rules and you've earned a warning.

Any comments or questions on this from anyone, please send me a direct message - do not discuss it in this thread.

So he was mocking me then?