Novels with Spock in command of the Enterprise?

[Whofan]

Spock of course was captain of the Enterprise in Star Trek II, however we're never really told how long he's been in charge. The novel Deep Domain implies that he began his captaincy when the ship became a training ship and so does some of II's dialogue ("As a teacher on a training mission I am content to command the Enterprise").

However are there other novels that take a different POV and show Spock as captain-and not just as the starfleet academy teacher-between I-II?

 

[TigerBait]

pandora principle maybe, hmm, good question

 

[Christopher]

Mere Anarchy: The Darkness Drops Again, by yours truly, established that after Kirk got re-promoted to admiral and made Academy commandant, he arranged to have the Enterprise assigned as his personal flagship with Spock as its captain. Occasionally Kirk would take it out on special missions, commanding the mission while Spock commanded the vessel (and often gathering various other members of his old crew as their availability permitted), and in between it would serve as a training vessel, testbed for experimental technologies, or the like, still under Spock's command. TDDA also shows a mission during Kirk's 2-year retirement pre-TWOK (as established in Generations -- the time he was living with Antonia) in which Spock is commanding the Enterprise on a diplomatic mission.

 

[Therin of Andor]

However are there other novels that take a different POV and show Spock as captain-and not just as the starfleet academy teacher-between I-II?

If you're into comics, the post-ST III Spock has his mental fogginess restored by Mirror Spock in the first DC Comics' run. He commands the USS Surak, in several standalone and Excelsior team-ups, until a deadly virus unravels his brain again, taking the action up to to what unfolds in ST IV.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Strangers From the Sky has Spock in command of the Enterprise during the ship's Academy training days, post-Deep Domain and pre-Star Trek II.

I'd also look at The Pandora Principle, which is pretty close to what you want (Spock commands a mission of the refit Enterprise that takes it into the Neutral Zone).

Also, if you want Spock in command, Vulcan's Forge.

 

[F. King Daniel]

So in a vague, unified Trek universe, Spock's commanded the Enterprise and and two Oberth-class science ships, the Surak and the Intrepid II. His adventures on the USS Surak are covered in the comics, but is anyone (else) curious what he accomplished in command of the Intrepid II, other than what we saw during the events of Vulcan's Forge? I can't imagine Spock having an unremarkable tour of duty.

 

[21Spike65]

However are there other novels that take a different POV and show Spock as captain-and not just as the starfleet academy teacher-between I-II?

If you're into comics, the post-ST III Spock has his mental fogginess restored by Mirror Spock in the first DC Comics' run. He commands the USS Surak, in several standalone and Excelsior team-ups, until a deadly virus unravels his brain again, taking the action up to to what unfolds in ST IV.

All of this was supposed to have happened between Star Trek III and IV?

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Is anyone (else) curious what he accomplished in command of the Intrepid II, other than what we saw during the events of Vulcan's Forge? I can't imagine Spock having an unremarkable tour of duty.

Oh, no, you're not the only one. One of the story pitches I made for Constellations was a Spock/Intrepid II pitch. Sort of. Mostly.

 

[Therin of Andor]

All of this was supposed to have happened between Star Trek III and IV?

Yep. And Kirk and his old Enterprise crew zipping around on Excelsior, with Styles plotting to get his ship back, and Rand working for Admiral Cartwright on Earth.

 

[David cgc]

All of this was supposed to have happened between Star Trek III and IV?

Remember, these comics were actually written between Star Trek III and IV, so they had no idea what would happen when the next film came out. They weren't a Lost Era-type story filling in an established, finite gap in the lore, and they had to actually scramble to get everything back the way it was at the end of TSFS when TVH came out. It's a bit like the current situation in 24th century TrekLit, where the books are free to develop pretty much however they want since there's no weekly TV show with a status quo for them contradict, except I figure the comic writers knew it was a foregone conclusion that there'd be another Star Trek movie and they'd have to reset-button all their storylines to be consistent with it when the time came.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I figure the comic writers knew it was a foregone conclusion that there'd be another Star Trek movie and they'd have to reset-button all their storylines to be consistent with it when the time came.

Yep. ST IV might have not bothered to show Spock retraining his mind, in which case the catastrophic virus that hit the Surak and blanked Spock's mind again might not have been required.

 

[Christopher]

...except I figure the comic writers knew it was a foregone conclusion that there'd be another Star Trek movie and they'd have to reset-button all their storylines to be consistent with it when the time came.

Yes, which is why they had Spock off on a separate ship -- to maintain the status quo of the crew being without him -- and why they had the main crew on the Excelsior -- to maintain the status quo of there not being an Enterprise. There were certain things that Paramount required them to avoid exploring or changing.

Unfortunately, the storyline that reset things to the post-ST III status quo to lead into ST IV was kind of sloppily handled. In particular, the Klingon Bird of Prey -- which had been clearly (and accurately) shown to be large enough that it needed to be docked/towed on the Excelsior's underside -- was now alleged to have been so tiny that it had been stored inside the Excelsior's shuttlebay the whole time. This is because the two storylines were written by different authors -- Mike Barr did the early post-ST III issues, and the ones leading into ST IV were by Len Wein, with a period in between where there was no regular writer.

 

[Therin of Andor]

the Klingon Bird of Prey -- which had been clearly (and accurately) shown to be large enough that it needed to be docked/towed on the Excelsior's underside -- was now alleged to have been so tiny that it had been stored inside the Excelsior's shuttlebay the whole time.

"The Great Experiment" - Transwarp drive and a Tardis-effect shuttlebay.

 

[DorkBoy [TM]]

Not to mention that they unceremoniously killed off the entire crew of the Surak, after building them up for several issues.

You can imagine how that might have pissed off some comics fans. It'd be like if they needed Riker again for a new Star Trek movie, so to tie things up quickly they just killed off the entire crew of the Titan in the final novel. (Not that Pocket would ever do that to us, or feel the need to, but they're not on a tight regular publishing schedule like a comic.)

There were also a number of issues written between Star Trek II and Star Trek III, where Spock is dead, and Saavik is the science officer in his place. They bragged at the time (in the editorial column) that they were the only ones doing "current" stories, since Spock was dead.

So they had to similarly scramble and reset button when Star Trek III came out.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

There were also a number of issues written between Star Trek II and Star Trek III, where Spock is dead, and Saavik is the science officer in his place. They bragged at the time (in the editorial column) that they were the only ones doing "current" stories, since Spock was dead.

So they had to similarly scramble and reset button when Star Trek III came out.

I'd hesitate to call "The Origin of Saavik" a reset button, though. It didn't send things back to the status quo at the end of Star Trek II. It just got Saavik off the Enterprise and reintroduced David Marcus so they would be in the right place for Star Trek III.

In retrospect, I think the lead-in to Star Trek III in the comics should have flowed out of the Klingon War plot, since that's what the previous six issues had been about (four for the war itself, plus two aftermath stories), and Kruge's adventurism would have logically been an extension of that; if the Klingons couldn't gain an advantage over the Federation militarily, they could attempt to do so by subterfuge.

 

[Christopher]

Not to mention that they unceremoniously killed off the entire crew of the Surak, after building them up for several issues.

Well, that didn't bother me too much, since the two solo Surak fill-ins were among the weakest issues of the series.

What bugged me more was that Sutton & Villagran forgot how to draw the Surak. It was supposed to be the class we now know as Oberth-class, like the Grissom from TSFS, but in most of the panels of "The Doomsday Bug" part 1, it was drawn like a mini-Excelsior.

There were also a number of issues written between Star Trek II and Star Trek III, where Spock is dead, and Saavik is the science officer in his place. They bragged at the time (in the editorial column) that they were the only ones doing "current" stories, since Spock was dead.

So they had to similarly scramble and reset button when Star Trek III came out.

They didn't have to "scramble" nearly as much, because there wasn't anything they had to undo. There were only 8 issues set between TWOK and TSFS, and only four distinct stories (or five if you count the opening 4 issues as two linked 2-parters), without any significant changes in the status quo. All they had to do was establish that Saavik would be joining David aboard the Grissom, hint that McCoy was starting to experience some strange mental effects, and get the Enterprise into a battle in order to explain its damaged state in the third movie (and that actually helps resolve a continuity error in the movies, because the ship inexplicably has far more battle damage at the start of TSFS than at the end of TWOK).

Really, the only significant problem they didn't address was the timing. TSFS is pretty clearly soon after TWOK; the regenerating Spock is still quite young, and the cadet played by Phil Morris asks Kirk if there will be a ceremony when they get home, implying they haven't been home since the events of TWOK, when in the comic they started out back on Earth.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

What bugged me more was that Sutton & Villagran forgot how to draw the Surak. It was supposed to be the class we now know as Oberth-class, like the Grissom from TSFS, but in most of the panels of "The Doomsday Bug" part 1, it was drawn like a mini-Excelsior.

In other issues, it looks a bit like a Romulan Bird-of-Prey; it's lost its sensor pod underneath. My explanation for that --

The time travel adventure immediately prior to "The Doomsday Bug" rips itself apart because of the Enterprise overshooting its return to the 23rd-century in "Tomorrow is Yesterday." While the television-era and movie-era crews manage to restore time, it's not restored perfectly, and thus in the restored timeline the Surak isn't an Oberth-class.

Really, the only significant problem they didn't address was the timing. TSFS is pretty clearly soon after TWOK; the regenerating Spock is still quite young, and the cadet played by Phil Morris asks Kirk if there will be a ceremony when they get home, implying they haven't been home since the events of TWOK, when in the comic they started out back on Earth.

Or Phil Morris could be asking if they'll receive a ceremony for their actions during the Klingon War.

 

[Avro Arrow]

What bugged me more was that Sutton & Villagran forgot how to draw the Surak. It was supposed to be the class we now know as Oberth-class, like the Grissom from TSFS, but in most of the panels of "The Doomsday Bug" part 1, it was drawn like a mini-Excelsior.

In other issues, it looks a bit like a Romulan Bird-of-Prey; it's lost its sensor pod underneath.

This is just going from memory (which is admittedly quite fallible), but didn't one issue actually depict the Surak as the warp-capable shuttle of the same name from TMP?

 

[Christopher]

Trying to go through all the Surak's appearances that I know of...

#16 (debut): Oberth-class (though too many windows, suggesting larger ship)
Annual 1: Oberth
#21: Oberth
#26: Weird appearance not matching any known class -- flat, somewhat keyhole-shaped, festooned with radar dishes, seemingly huge
#33: TMP Vulcan shuttle/warp sled
#34 (destroyed): Variously as Oberth, mini-Excelsior, or cross between both
#35 (flashback panel): Full-size Excelsior
Who's Who in Star Trek #2: Miranda-class

I don't find any examples where it looks like a Bird of Prey or an Oberth minus its sensor pod, although its design in #26 could be interpreted as a variation of the top portion of an Oberth class, if it were really stretched out and made much bigger and busier.

The sad thing is that all of those except the last two were by the same art team, Tom Sutton and Ricardo Villagran. I guess after a while they just forgot what it was supposed to look like. (#35 was illustrated by Gray Morrow, and the USS Surak entry in Who's Who was illustrated by, believe it or not, Todd McFarlane and Al Gordon.)

 

[Julio Angel Ortiz]

#16 (debut): Oberth-class (though too many windows, suggesting larger ship)
Annual 1: Oberth
#21: Oberth
#26: Weird appearance not matching any known class -- flat, somewhat keyhole-shaped, festooned with radar dishes, seemingly huge
#33: TMP Vulcan shuttle/warp sled
#34 (destroyed): Variously as Oberth, mini-Excelsior, or cross between both
#35 (flashback panel): Full-size Excelsior
Who's Who in Star Trek #2: Miranda-class

Wha??!!

That's not forgetfulness, that's just being lazy. And where was the editor during this stint?