NuTrek "Starfleet Academy" - The Delta Anomaly

[Mr Silver]

First of all, I've not fully read this book so I cannot comment too much on it. However I've read through bits of the novel and some summaries, reviews, etc and despite being a novel aimed at young adults, it includes an intriguing premise.

The thing that stands out for me is a new take on the Borg. A character known as The Doctor is heavily hinted as being a scout for the collective who infiltrates Earth to study the Human race. There is a more mysterious element to the Borg in this novel as it was originally when they were first introduced in "The Neutral Zone" (off screen of course, but their presence was technically revealed at this point).

What are everyone else's ideas on this new take and do you agree that it is more in keeping with the Borg as they were originally depicted on screen? (as a mysterious force with elements of suspense and horror)

 

[JarodRussell]

Again with the Borg?

 

[DS9forever]

I liked that novel and the ones that have been published since as they feature quite a lot of DS9 and TNG related information; even the Andorian genders from the DS9 relaunch are mentioned in one of the novels.

 

[Mr Silver]

I'm not keen on them covering old ground in the live action stuff. But I like the idea of the NuTrek novels creating a new take on previous stories and races.

 

[F. King Daniel]

I kinda enjoyed The Delta Anomaly, although I think their 23rd century San Fransisco was a little too contemporary (laptops, flash drives, trashy womens' magazines, rape gangs roaming San Fransisco) and much of the Trek trivia inside was flawed.

I liked their version of the Borg. An advanced scout sent to Earth, to aquire information but not assimilate the population. Acting in a very un-Borg-like manner. What would make them act in such a way?

It was nice to see the nanotechnology used differently. That's stuff has many more unpleasent applications than the TV/film Borg have ever made use of (although Before Dishonor made unique use it)

 

[JarodRussell]

I kinda enjoyed The Delta Anomaly, although I think their 23rd century San Fransisco was a little too contemporary (laptops, flash drives, trashy womens' magazines, rape gangs roaming San Fransisco) and much of the Trek trivia inside was flawed.

Rape gangs in San Francisco, wtf are they smoking?
Do they really need to trample on Roddenberry's ideas?

 

[Mr Silver]

It was nice to see the nanotechnology used differently. That's stuff has many more unpleasent applications than the TV/film Borg have ever made use of (although Before Dishonor made unique use it)

Indeed, in fact it reminded in places of the nanoswarm in Michael Crichton's Prey (which is one of my favourite novels).

Rape gangs in San Francisco, wtf are they smoking?
Do they really need to trample on Roddenberry's ideas?

Just because 99.9% of the population is a utopian society, doesn't mean to say that everyone is perfect. Humans, even in TOS still do bad things. Besides, NuTrek is set in a seperate continunity and alternate universe where not everything is the same. Does it have to be as perfect as the Prime?

 

[Sci]

It was nice to see the nanotechnology used differently. That's stuff has many more unpleasent applications than the TV/film Borg have ever made use of (although Before Dishonor made unique use it)

Indeed, in fact it reminded in places of the nanoswarm in Michael Crichton's Prey (which is one of my favourite novels).

Rape gangs in San Francisco, wtf are they smoking?
Do they really need to trample on Roddenberry's ideas?

Just because 99.9% of the population is a utopian society, doesn't mean to say that everyone is perfect. Humans, even in TOS still do bad things. Besides, NuTrek is set in a seperate continunity and alternate universe where not everything is the same. Does it have to be as perfect as the Prime?

Rape gangs? I'm sorry, but that's just horrific.

The Prime Universe was never perfect, but I think one of STAR TREK's most essential premises is that while things are not perfect, they are better. I don't think that STAR TREK, Prime or JJ, should ever depict Earth as being an absolute paradise; there will always be conflicts, always be problems. But those should be grounded in a firm sense that major, major progress has been made and that the world is much, much better than it is today. I'll withhold final judgment until I read it, but the idea that there are rape gangs on Earth itself, I suspect, goes a little too far from STAR TREK's optimism. Not utopianism -- optimism.

 

[Mr Silver]

It was nice to see the nanotechnology used differently. That's stuff has many more unpleasent applications than the TV/film Borg have ever made use of (although Before Dishonor made unique use it)

Indeed, in fact it reminded in places of the nanoswarm in Michael Crichton's Prey (which is one of my favourite novels).

Rape gangs in San Francisco, wtf are they smoking?
Do they really need to trample on Roddenberry's ideas?

Just because 99.9% of the population is a utopian society, doesn't mean to say that everyone is perfect. Humans, even in TOS still do bad things. Besides, NuTrek is set in a seperate continunity and alternate universe where not everything is the same. Does it have to be as perfect as the Prime?

Rape gangs? I'm sorry, but that's just horrific.

The Prime Universe was never perfect, but I think one of STAR TREK's most essential premises is that while things are not perfect, they are better. I don't think that STAR TREK, Prime or JJ, should ever depict Earth as being an absolute paradise; there will always be conflicts, always be problems. But those should be grounded in a firm sense that major, major progress has been made and that the world is much, much better than it is today. I'll withhold final judgment until I read it, but the idea that there are rape gangs on Earth itself, I suspect, goes a little too far from STAR TREK's optimism. Not utopianism -- optimism.

I don't personally agree with it either...But It doesn't bother me so much because there have been just as bad or even worse things carried out by enlightened Earth natives.

Murder (Janice Lester and numerous others)
Genocide (Kodos, Ronald Tracey and Section 31)
Assassination (Admiral Cartwright, Colonel West, Burke and Samno)

 

[Sci]

Indeed, in fact it reminded in places of the nanoswarm in Michael Crichton's Prey (which is one of my favourite novels).



Just because 99.9% of the population is a utopian society, doesn't mean to say that everyone is perfect. Humans, even in TOS still do bad things. Besides, NuTrek is set in a seperate continunity and alternate universe where not everything is the same. Does it have to be as perfect as the Prime?

Rape gangs? I'm sorry, but that's just horrific.

The Prime Universe was never perfect, but I think one of STAR TREK's most essential premises is that while things are not perfect, they are better. I don't think that STAR TREK, Prime or JJ, should ever depict Earth as being an absolute paradise; there will always be conflicts, always be problems. But those should be grounded in a firm sense that major, major progress has been made and that the world is much, much better than it is today. I'll withhold final judgment until I read it, but the idea that there are rape gangs on Earth itself, I suspect, goes a little too far from STAR TREK's optimism. Not utopianism -- optimism.

I don't personally agree with it either...But It doesn't bother me so much because there have been just as bad or even worse things carried out by enlightened Earth natives.

Murder (Janice Lester and numerous others)
Genocide (Kodos, Ronald Tracey and Section 31)
Assassination (Admiral Cartwright, Colonel West, Burke and Samno)

Actually, one of my biggest reasons for objecting to the idea of rape gangs in San Francisco is that it implies the existence of many other social problems beyond the immediate one.

Street gangs of that sort exist as a byproduct of the modern class system. We see violent street gangs because of socioeconomic stratification; when capitalism creates poverty, a certain percentage of the poor will inevitably begin to turn to crime in order to survive, and will tend to form street gangs to escape feelings of powerlessness and lack of a future, or just to obtain status and social identity. From there, social and economic pressures can push them further and further towards violence. (As Ben Sisko said in DS9's "Past Tense:" "If you treat a man like a dog, he'll bite you.")

If there are street gangs of any sort in San Francisco, that implies that the problem of socioeconomic stratification and poverty have not been truly solved -- it implies that the Earth and the Federation being depicted in that book are still societies marred by inequality and socioeconomic oppression. I have a major problem with that.

Further, if there are specifically rape gangs wandering the streets of San Francisco, that means that there's another major problem. It means that, not only is there still socioeconomic oppression, but that amongst the oppressed class(es), there is still a problem with misogyny. While other STAR TREK novels have implied that the general problem of sexism and socially-ordained gender roles still exists in a sublimated form, this would be the first TREK novel to depict an active misogynistic trend to exist within a significant strata of Human society. So not only would that imply the existence of socioeconomic oppression, it would imply the existence of sexual oppression as well.

The problem of rape gangs, in other words, is in real life a structural problem with the way an entire society is organized. It's more than just an aberration the way individual acts of murder are.

 

[Hartzilla2007]

rape gangs roaming San Fransisco

Um, aren't those suppost to be on a different planet in the 24th century?

 

[Stoek]

Rape gangs? I'm sorry, but that's just horrific.

The Prime Universe was never perfect, but I think one of STAR TREK's most essential premises is that while things are not perfect, they are better. I don't think that STAR TREK, Prime or JJ, should ever depict Earth as being an absolute paradise; there will always be conflicts, always be problems. But those should be grounded in a firm sense that major, major progress has been made and that the world is much, much better than it is today. I'll withhold final judgment until I read it, but the idea that there are rape gangs on Earth itself, I suspect, goes a little too far from STAR TREK's optimism. Not utopianism -- optimism.

Actually, one of my biggest reasons for objecting to the idea of rape gangs in San Francisco is that it implies the existence of many other social problems beyond the immediate one.

Street gangs of that sort exist as a byproduct of the modern class system. We see violent street gangs because of socioeconomic stratification; when capitalism creates poverty, a certain percentage of the poor will inevitably begin to turn to crime in order to survive, and will tend to form street gangs to escape feelings of powerlessness and lack of a future, or just to obtain status and social identity. From there, social and economic pressures can push them further and further towards violence. (As Ben Sisko said in DS9's "Past Tense:" "If you treat a man like a dog, he'll bite you.")

If there are street gangs of any sort in San Francisco, that implies that the problem of socioeconomic stratification and poverty have not been truly solved -- it implies that the Earth and the Federation being depicted in that book are still societies marred by inequality and socioeconomic oppression. I have a major problem with that.

Further, if there are specifically rape gangs wandering the streets of San Francisco, that means that there's another major problem. It means that, not only is there still socioeconomic oppression, but that amongst the oppressed class(es), there is still a problem with misogyny. While other STAR TREK novels have implied that the general problem of sexism and socially-ordained gender roles still exists in a sublimated form, this would be the first TREK novel to depict an active misogynistic trend to exist within a significant strata of Human society. So not only would that imply the existence of socioeconomic oppression, it would imply the existence of sexual oppression as well.

The problem of rape gangs, in other words, is in real life a structural problem with the way an entire society is organized. It's more than just an aberration the way individual acts of murder are.

The above is quoted for absolute truth. It's pretty much exactly how I view Trek. To the complaints that Sci enumerated allow me to add one he missed. The most central one of them all...

It's A Damned Young Adult Novel!

All I'm saying is that if I had a kid and they loved Trek as much as I do and they read this and I discovered RAPE GANGS in it? Well I'd be hunting some people down and that fucker would be getting inserted rectally. Sideways!

Seriously I am willing to accept a lot. The presence of rape gangs on earth of the post First Contact era would be hard enough to swallow in an "adult" Trek novel. But one aimed at the 'tween and teen crowd? That would be a Hell followed immediately by a No.

 

[Captain Robert April]

Is it now safe to say that JJTrek is pissing on Roddenberry's grave?

 

[JD]

It was nice to see the nanotechnology used differently. That's stuff has many more unpleasent applications than the TV/film Borg have ever made use of (although Before Dishonor made unique use it)

Indeed, in fact it reminded in places of the nanoswarm in Michael Crichton's Prey (which is one of my favourite novels).

Rape gangs in San Francisco, wtf are they smoking?
Do they really need to trample on Roddenberry's ideas?

Just because 99.9% of the population is a utopian society, doesn't mean to say that everyone is perfect. Humans, even in TOS still do bad things. Besides, NuTrek is set in a seperate continunity and alternate universe where not everything is the same. Does it have to be as perfect as the Prime?

Rape gangs? I'm sorry, but that's just horrific.

The Prime Universe was never perfect, but I think one of STAR TREK's most essential premises is that while things are not perfect, they are better. I don't think that STAR TREK, Prime or JJ, should ever depict Earth as being an absolute paradise; there will always be conflicts, always be problems. But those should be grounded in a firm sense that major, major progress has been made and that the world is much, much better than it is today. I'll withhold final judgment until I read it, but the idea that there are rape gangs on Earth itself, I suspect, goes a little too far from STAR TREK's optimism. Not utopianism -- optimism.

Rape gangs? I'm sorry, but that's just horrific.

The Prime Universe was never perfect, but I think one of STAR TREK's most essential premises is that while things are not perfect, they are better. I don't think that STAR TREK, Prime or JJ, should ever depict Earth as being an absolute paradise; there will always be conflicts, always be problems. But those should be grounded in a firm sense that major, major progress has been made and that the world is much, much better than it is today. I'll withhold final judgment until I read it, but the idea that there are rape gangs on Earth itself, I suspect, goes a little too far from STAR TREK's optimism. Not utopianism -- optimism.

I don't personally agree with it either...But It doesn't bother me so much because there have been just as bad or even worse things carried out by enlightened Earth natives.

Murder (Janice Lester and numerous others)
Genocide (Kodos, Ronald Tracey and Section 31)
Assassination (Admiral Cartwright, Colonel West, Burke and Samno)

Actually, one of my biggest reasons for objecting to the idea of rape gangs in San Francisco is that it implies the existence of many other social problems beyond the immediate one.

Street gangs of that sort exist as a byproduct of the modern class system. We see violent street gangs because of socioeconomic stratification; when capitalism creates poverty, a certain percentage of the poor will inevitably begin to turn to crime in order to survive, and will tend to form street gangs to escape feelings of powerlessness and lack of a future, or just to obtain status and social identity. From there, social and economic pressures can push them further and further towards violence. (As Ben Sisko said in DS9's "Past Tense:" "If you treat a man like a dog, he'll bite you.")

If there are street gangs of any sort in San Francisco, that implies that the problem of socioeconomic stratification and poverty have not been truly solved -- it implies that the Earth and the Federation being depicted in that book are still societies marred by inequality and socioeconomic oppression. I have a major problem with that.

Further, if there are specifically rape gangs wandering the streets of San Francisco, that means that there's another major problem. It means that, not only is there still socioeconomic oppression, but that amongst the oppressed class(es), there is still a problem with misogyny. While other STAR TREK novels have implied that the general problem of sexism and socially-ordained gender roles still exists in a sublimated form, this would be the first TREK novel to depict an active misogynistic trend to exist within a significant strata of Human society. So not only would that imply the existence of socioeconomic oppression, it would imply the existence of sexual oppression as well.

The problem of rape gangs, in other words, is in real life a structural problem with the way an entire society is organized. It's more than just an aberration the way individual acts of murder are.

Rape gangs? I'm sorry, but that's just horrific.

The Prime Universe was never perfect, but I think one of STAR TREK's most essential premises is that while things are not perfect, they are better. I don't think that STAR TREK, Prime or JJ, should ever depict Earth as being an absolute paradise; there will always be conflicts, always be problems. But those should be grounded in a firm sense that major, major progress has been made and that the world is much, much better than it is today. I'll withhold final judgment until I read it, but the idea that there are rape gangs on Earth itself, I suspect, goes a little too far from STAR TREK's optimism. Not utopianism -- optimism.

Actually, one of my biggest reasons for objecting to the idea of rape gangs in San Francisco is that it implies the existence of many other social problems beyond the immediate one.

Street gangs of that sort exist as a byproduct of the modern class system. We see violent street gangs because of socioeconomic stratification; when capitalism creates poverty, a certain percentage of the poor will inevitably begin to turn to crime in order to survive, and will tend to form street gangs to escape feelings of powerlessness and lack of a future, or just to obtain status and social identity. From there, social and economic pressures can push them further and further towards violence. (As Ben Sisko said in DS9's "Past Tense:" "If you treat a man like a dog, he'll bite you.")

If there are street gangs of any sort in San Francisco, that implies that the problem of socioeconomic stratification and poverty have not been truly solved -- it implies that the Earth and the Federation being depicted in that book are still societies marred by inequality and socioeconomic oppression. I have a major problem with that.

Further, if there are specifically rape gangs wandering the streets of San Francisco, that means that there's another major problem. It means that, not only is there still socioeconomic oppression, but that amongst the oppressed class(es), there is still a problem with misogyny. While other STAR TREK novels have implied that the general problem of sexism and socially-ordained gender roles still exists in a sublimated form, this would be the first TREK novel to depict an active misogynistic trend to exist within a significant strata of Human society. So not only would that imply the existence of socioeconomic oppression, it would imply the existence of sexual oppression as well.

The problem of rape gangs, in other words, is in real life a structural problem with the way an entire society is organized. It's more than just an aberration the way individual acts of murder are.

The above is quoted for absolute truth. It's pretty much exactly how I view Trek. To the complaints that Sci enumerated allow me to add one he missed. The most central one of them all...

It's A Damned Young Adult Novel!

All I'm saying is that if I had a kid and they loved Trek as much as I do and they read this and I discovered RAPE GANGS in it? Well I'd be hunting some people down and that fucker would be getting inserted rectally. Sideways!

Seriously I am willing to accept a lot. The presence of rape gangs on earth of the post First Contact era would be hard enough to swallow in an "adult" Trek novel. But one aimed at the 'tween and teen crowd? That would be a Hell followed immediately by a No.

I agree wholeheartedly with everything you guys said here. And TBH hearing about this pretty much kills any interest I had in ever reading this book.

 

[Captain Robert April]

Rape gangs are something you hear about in third world cesspools, like South African townships under apartheid (or, in the context of Star Trek, failed colonies where social order has completely broken down and folks can't get offworld fast enough). Considering that when anything approaching a "rape gang" crops up in the US today, it's so rare and patently offensive that it makes the national news and becomes the target of a major police task force, I find it pretty much impossible for something like this to happen in 24th Century San Francisco AT ALL, let alone become a common occurrence.

One more example of how JJ & Co. don't have a frakking clue what they're doing!

 

[Mr Silver]

I don't get the hostility about a minor feature of an otherwise good read. Sure, rape is wrong and I am particulary against sexual assault of any kind. But it still happens and even in the 24th century in an otherwise ideallic city you are going to have certain groups of bad people. Has anyone read Minority Report? Despite the fact that murders are completely under control and most of the population leads a comfortable existence, there are still bad people out there committing crimes and getting away with it.

What about the Orion Syndicate and Section 31. Both organisations have ties to Earth and more than likely a big presence. One organisation, despite the Federation having no use for money or material wealth contains the likes of Liam Bilby who are quite happy to engage in organised crime. The other organisation has no issues carrying out atrocities that they deem "necessary".

Need I also remind you that Starfleet Command ordered Sisko to get the Romulans into the war by whatever means necessary. There are still bad people from Earth in Star Trek and because of that it's not hard to imagine that there are still bad people on Earth. We've seen Starfleet blur the moral boundaries and even conspire or commit crimes to get things done. Humans have dramatically improved, but they are still a flawed race, even in Star Trek.

Besides, whilst I respect Roddenberry's vision and his creativity that spawned the franchise we all love...He did have some crazy ideas about how 23rd Century Earth should be. These ideas include Earth being a nudist paradise need I say more?

 

[Captain Robert April]

Rape gangs wandering San Francisco is not a minor feature, it tells the reader that not only is 24th Century Earth not that much better than today, in some ways it's horrifically worse.

If Roddenberry were alive, these twits wouldn't have made it past the pitch meeting.

 

[David cgc]

Can someone who's actually read the book provide a bit of context to this beyond "rape gang in San Francisco", or is everyone having too much fun leaping to conclusions?

 

[Mr Silver]

Rape gangs wandering San Francisco is not a minor feature, it tells the reader that not only is 24th Century Earth not that much better than today, in some ways it's horrifically worse.

If Roddenberry were alive, these twits wouldn't have made it past the pitch meeting.

23rd Century Earth, I think you mean.

Do you think that 200, 300 or even 1000 years is going to phase out bad people completely? It is much better, yes but it isn't so great that bad people don't exist. How many rape gangs are there in West Coast America today? Quite a few I'd imagine (rape gangs in the sense of "gang rapists"). Down to one by the 23rd Century is much better no?

 

[JD]

Yeah, I'm with Capt. April on this one. I don't see anyway that there could plausibly be something like that in the Federation Capital, I could see on other planets, but not anywhere on Earth.