NuTrek references in the novels

[Noddy]

Given that the current timeline of the Litverse is only about two years before the cataclysmic events Spock Prime and Nero describe in Star Trek (2009), what is the likelihood of seeing things and characters from the film? Will we, for example, see:

- Narada-type mining vessels?

- Jellyfish-type ships?

- Red matter?

- The beginning and/or aftermath of the supernova that destroyed Romulus?

 

[RoB]

Romulans with tattoos and without hair like Nero and his people appear in Typhon Pact: The Struggle Within.

 

[The Wormhole]

Wasn't there a vague mention to Red Matter in one of the DTI books?

Also, one of this year's TOS books, The Folded World mentions Kirk having an uncle Frank. Uncle Frank was supposed to be Kirk's stepfather in XI. Although The Folded World actually makes Frank the nameless uncle in Idaho who owned the horses in Generations. But then, I guess in the Prime Universe there was no reason for him to move to Iowa and help his sister raise his nephews.

 

[Lonemagpie]

IFM references the transwarp beaming from the 09 movie, specifically with the element about Scotty seeing that "if space is actually moving" which is a line from that movie

 

[F. King Daniel]

In addition to the above...

Paths of Disharmony mentions the icy Delta Vega.

Zero Sum Game mentions that beaming 3 people from two targets onto one pad has been "done before"

In addition to the Red Matter, DTI: Watching the Clock also goes into some (purely theoretical, since they shouldn't know about it) detail about black holes and branching timelines.

I haven't read it myself yet, but I think Rings of Time mentions Uhura having had an Orion roommate at the academy.


I love spotting nuTrek references in Prime-verse novels. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.

 

[Relayer1]

I think we are closing on the events of Star Trek '09 rather faster than some of the authors expected. I really hope the editing staff have a plan.

At the very least the Romulan political response to the reunification movement in general, and Spock in particular needs to be lined up.

 

[Christopher]

I think we are closing on the events of Star Trek '09 rather faster than some of the authors expected.

Indeed. Considering that it took the post-finale DS9 novels five years just to get through 2376, I'm surprised at how fast the novels have been jumping forward since Destiny.

 

[Relayer1]

I'm not saying that it needs a novel or series of novels all of its own. A subplot or theme in the upcoming titles would do it. As long as it's not an afterthought -

'Hey, has anyone seen Spock ? Or Romulus ?'

Besides, we're going to lose possibly Trek's most beloved character from the ongoing continuity soon. I'd like to see the most made of him while we've still got him.

 

[Mage]

Some fans have speculated that the 24th century events of Romulus being destroyed and such from Star Trek 09 are another alternate universe, not the one in which TNG/DS9/VOY have been set. So I suppose the novels don't have to see it as canon and make sure events lead up to it.

That being said......

I do see it as canon, and that it WAS the Prime Universe we have been following for all these years. So I do hope that soon, the first hints of the events will start taking place in the novels. But not a long build up to it. Basicly, we know what happens. I don't need 6 novels leading to the death of Romulus. What I want to read, is the aftermath. What will this do to the Typhon Pact, since the Romulans have been trying desperatly lately making sure things DON'T escalate between the TP and the Khitomer Alliance to much. Well, the Romulan government that is, other Romulans seem to have other ideas.

 

[JD]

I'm pretty sure that the official stance is that the 24th Century stuff from ST'09 happened in the Prime Universe, so we should see it in the books in some form. It will definitely be interesting to see what kind of an effect it has on the current story since they have been playing a pretty big role lately.

 

[Christopher]

Some fans have speculated that the 24th century events of Romulus being destroyed and such from Star Trek 09 are another alternate universe, not the one in which TNG/DS9/VOY have been set. So I suppose the novels don't have to see it as canon and make sure events lead up to it.

Except that "some fans' speculations" and "canon" are two things that have nothing whatsoever to do with each other. A few fans' opinions have no bearing whatsoever on the policies of Pocket Books and CBS Consumer Products.

As a rule, tie-ins are obligated to stay consistent with what's onscreen. Sometimes tie-ins aren't allowed to mention something from a given series or film if they don't have a license for it -- for instance, Marvel's 1980 Trek comic not having a license to include storylines or characters from TOS that weren't in TMP (although it managed to sneak in a ton of TOS references anyway), or IDW not having a license to do Voyager comics (although they managed to work Tuvok into The Last Generation anyway). But that still doesn't allow willfully contradicting what's onscreen.

Granted, on occasion, tie-ins have been permitted to reinterpret what was onscreen, to acknowledge what was shown but to offer an explanation for it that differs heavily from the original intent -- such as the way the novels retconned Trip Tucker's apparent death. The filmmakers' intent was clearly that Spock Prime is "our" Spock, a direct link from the old continuity to the new -- otherwise there would've been no reason to include him in the films or do the time-travel story at all. However, going strictly by the letter of the text, it might be possible to rationalize it as a Spock from a different timeline -- or to assert that the Prime timeline split in two sometime between Nemesis and 2387, with the supernova happening in one branch of the timeline but not in the other for some reason. So I suppose hypothetically something like that could be done. Whether it's likely to be done, whether CBS would approve it, is another matter. And whether it's desirable is very much open to debate.

 

[F. King Daniel]

^It's worth pointing out that a few fans similarly decided that The Motion Picture and/or The Wrath of Khan were different universes to the original Trek TV series, way back when. This is no different. Click!

 

[TJ Sinclair]

I think we are closing on the events of Star Trek '09 rather faster than some of the authors expected.

Indeed. Considering that it took the post-finale DS9 novels five years just to get through 2376, I'm surprised at how fast the novels have been jumping forward since Destiny.

I actually kind of assumed that it was editorial trying to "hurry up and get to the supernova."

 

[Therin of Andor]

Dave Stern suggests in the preface to "The Children of Kings" that his rendition of Pike was more informed by Bruce Greenwood's performance than Jeffrey Hunter's.

 

[Relayer1]

I think that our view on how things are and what they look like in Kirks era and before has to default to what we've seen in the JJverse UNLESS it has been established in TV or in novels to be otherwise. For instance London in the 23rd century...

I would say that as we have already established an actor for Pike on TV, the one in the novels is Hunter.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Dave Stern suggests in the preface to "The Children of Kings" that his rendition of Pike was more informed by Bruce Greenwood's performance than Jeffrey Hunter's.

I forgot about that one. I think Dave wrote it as something of an ENT/TOS/nuTrek mishmash. It used the new warp speed effect on the cover, gave Klingons cloaking devices long before the usual TOS-era assumption of a D7s-for-cloaks Klingon/Romulan exchange (thus fitting in neatly with decloaking Klingons during Kirk's Kobayashi Maru test) and described Klingon Warbirds as more heavily armed versions of the usual battlecruisers.

Although the first mission of the new Enterprise was to Vulcan in the '09 movie, so technically it shouldn't fit into that continuity. But where's the fun in that? I imagined it as TOS but with ultra modern graphics and effects.

 

[Christopher]

^I think the idea behind The Children of Kings, as expressed in the author's afterword, was that since we now had more than one timeline onscreen, the books didn't necessarily have to be bound to an existing timeline. Or something like that. Although from a more pragmatic standpoint, I think the book was most likely written before the movie came out, and things were still up in the air about which timeline(s) Pocket would be writing books about going forward. I recall that before Marco Palmieri was laid off, and before I was pegged to write one of the abortive Abramsverse novels, Marco had asked me to develop a TOS novel which could be tailored to either continuity depending on what Pocket ended up doing vis-a-vis the movies going forward. (In retrospect, given what happened with the Abrams novels, that seems like a safer idea than what we ended up doing.) Mine would presumably have been adjusted to fit either one continuity or the other before publication, but maybe TCoK was based on a similar idea, telling a story that wasn't clearly bound to either continuity.

As for TCoK being before the launch of the Enterprise in the movie, keep in mind that Countdown to Darkness established the existence of an earlier Enterprise that Robert April commanded until 2249. So maybe it could fit that continuity after all?

 

[TJ Sinclair]

Dave Stern suggests in the preface to "The Children of Kings" that his rendition of Pike was more informed by Bruce Greenwood's performance than Jeffrey Hunter's.

The Children of Kings was an unusual (weird?) case, in that it seemed to be intentionally written as a "mashup" of the two timelines. Not an approach I really want to see repeated, unless it's done exceptionally well and with a purpose.

ETA: Ah, missed some replies, sorry.

 

[The Wormhole]

Despite what Dave Stern had written, I just viewed The Children of Kings as straight Prime Universe anyway. Certainly the descriptions we get of the Enterprise (running water, bathtubs, paper printouts) seem more consistent with The Cage than they do the Abramsverse and it is Jeffrey Hunter used on the cover anyway.

But that's just my take.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Despite what Dave Stern had written, I just viewed The Children of Kings as straight Prime Universe anyway.

It was. Stern's rendition of Pike was more informed by Bruce Greenwood's performance than Jeffrey Hunter's.