Peter David's "Vendetta" Would've Made Great ST:TNG Episode

[Dayton3]

I always felt that Peter David's novel "Vendetta" would've made a great two or three part episode followup to "The Best of Both Worlds".

For practical reasons I would've dropped the Delcara subplot and the female Borg subplot and made it more focused on the action and the tension between Picard and Captain Korsmo.

And dropped the "Ferengi Borg" subplot as well.

I wouldn't have been a real budget breaker I don't think.

The Enteprise, Borg Cubes, and two starships would've been existing models. Only the revised Doomsday Machine would've been new.

Three minor and two major action sequences to me seem perfectly doable

What say you?

 

[Smiley]

If you're dropping all those subplots, then you're losing a lot of what makes the book stand out from the pack. We got enough Borg action shows as it was, so I'm happy to leave Vendetta as "merely" a great book.

 

[DonIago]

I'm inclined to agree with Merry. Also, much like with the Harry Potter movies...or for that matter the earlier Star Trek movies...I feel there would have been a certain element of disappointment regarding the filmed version in comparison to the literary version.

If they were going to televise "Vendetta", I _want_ the sub-plots. The conflict between Picard and Korsmo never particularly held my interest in any case.

 

[Dayton3]

Actually, not a single Borg action episode (or movie) was worth anything after The Best of Both Worlds.

 

[DonIago]

I would say some of the later Borg episodes both on TNG and VOY had merit, though BoBW really was stand-out.

 

[Forbin]

Re: Peter David's "Vendetta" Would've Made Great ST:TNG Epis

I think the female Borg subplot was an infinitely better example of attempts at "deborgifying" and its consequences than Hugh or Seven ever was.

 

[Dayton3]

Re: Peter David's "Vendetta" Would've Made Great ST:TNG Epis

Forbin said:
I think the female Borg subplot was an infinitely better example of attempts at "deborgifying" and its consequences than Hugh or Seven ever was.

Perhaps.

But the Delcara and Guinan stuff has got to go.

But in general, I am 1000% against "deborgifiying".

If I was resetting ST:TNG, it would be to completely eliminate giving ANY Borg an individual identity after Locutus.

 

[The Doctor]

Re: Peter David's "Vendetta" Would've Made Great ST:TNG Epis

The 'Delcara and Guinan stuff,' as you put it, is core to the story. Without that, 'Vendetta' doesn't offer anything novel or interesting.

 

[Dayton3]

Re: Peter David's "Vendetta" Would've Made Great ST:TNG Epis

The Stig said:
The 'Delcara and Guinan stuff,' as you put it, is core to the story. Without that, 'Vendetta' doesn't offer anything novel or interesting.

I don't see it that way.

Sure, you had to have someone retrieve the Doomsday Machine, but making it an adopted "sister" of Guinan AND an apparition that had appeared to Picard as an Academy cadet....................all too much.

I'll be honest I never could stand Whoopi Goldberg and her character of Guinan in the first place.

Her appearances on ST:TNG always struck me as "cringe worthy".

 

[Forbin]

Re: Peter David's "Vendetta" Would've Made Great ST:TNG Epis

The Stig said:
The 'Delcara and Guinan stuff,' as you put it, is core to the story. Without that, 'Vendetta' doesn't offer anything novel or interesting.

Like MOST Peter David novels.

 

[BolianAuthor]

Re: Peter David's "Vendetta" Would've Made Great ST:TNG Epis

I say that "Vendetta" could have, should have, and still has the potenital, to make the very best trek feature film ever. Period. That book was simply perfect.

 

[Turbo]

Re: Peter David's "Vendetta" Would've Made Great ST:TNG Epis

Ok...so you take out the Reannon subplot and the Delcara subplot and what are you left with? A generic Picard vs. Typical Obstinate Officer episode with a large number of action sequences.

In a word, boring. Taking out the subplots rips the heart and soul out of the book.

 

[euphorik]

Re: Peter David's "Vendetta" Would've Made Great ST:TNG Epis

peter david is probably the most overrated star trek writer ever. it's neck-and-neck between him and jean lorrah. i couldn't ever finish anything by either.

 

[WillsBabe]

Re: Peter David's "Vendetta" Would've Made Great ST:TNG Epis

I've liked a lot of Peter David's other stuff, but I recall not being very impressed with Vendetta. I haven't read it since in was published and I remember vividly trying to get hold of it, then reading it and being majorly unimpressed. I still have the book somewhere and maybe I'll find it and read it again.

 

[CDP]

Re: Peter David's "Vendetta" Would've Made Great ST:TNG Epis

Personally, I think it one of the best TNG novel written at the time. PAD captured the mood and the characterisations perfecxtly, and you could almost 'hear' the characters speaking. it flowed very well, and was IMO, the natural sequel to BOBW.

 

[cardinal biggles]

Re: Peter David's "Vendetta" Would've Made Great ST:TNG Epis

Damn. I saw the thread title and thought that hell was about to freeze over, and I was going to agree with Dayton3 about something. Fortunately, his ideas about how to "adapt" Vendetta are so thoroughly awful, I'm happy to report that hell is still maintaining a nice, roasty toasty temperature.

All you're doing is cherry-picking the stuff you liked and throwing away the heart and soul of the story. I agree with Smiley -- if this is how it should be adapted, leave it as a book so we can imagine better adaptations ourselves.

 

[Forbin]

Re: Peter David's "Vendetta" Would've Made Great ST:TNG Epis

I remember loving the book, and I know I liked other Peter David books. But the last few I read, his writing style was driving me crazy. Maybe my tastes have changed between his early work and his latest stuff.

 

[cardinal biggles]

Re: Peter David's "Vendetta" Would've Made Great ST:TNG Epis

^The New Frontier books are sort of comic book-ish in story and characters, and while I like the series as a whole, I don't think it's as good as his TOS and TNG work in the 1990s -- A Rock and a Hard Place, Vendetta, The Rift, Q-in-Law, Imzadi, Q-Squared, and The Captain's Daughter. I'm interested in reading his new TNG Relaunch book, just to see if it's closer to the old style.

 

[The Doctor]

Re: Peter David's "Vendetta" Would've Made Great ST:TNG Epis

I haven't kept up with Trek fiction aside from the occasional 'Shatnerverse' novel before they got too ridiculous, but I do remember Vendetta and Stargazer being two TNG novels that still stick out to this day as being exceptionally good at capturing the voice of the series. The sequence at the end of Vendetta in particular always used to give me chills, as Delcara gets lost in the infinite speed of Warp 10 and is doomed to live out her dying seconds for eternity.

Trek novels are generally pulpy, popcorn fare, but the characterizations really rose above in Vendetta, at least for me. To strip the story bare of these great elements and simply leave another Borg shoot-em-up makes no sense. We got that ad-nauseam with Voyager and on the big screen in First Contact. Surely that's enough mindless Borg action for anyone.

 

[nx1701g]

Re: Peter David's "Vendetta" Would've Made Great ST:TNG Epis

santa biggles said:
I'm interested in reading his new TNG Relaunch book, just to see if it's closer to the old style.

It's not that great. It seemed - as you put it - comicbookish in comparison to the first two.

Spoiler

Come on the Borg build a new cube that absorbs people, the crew of the Enterprise mutinies because Picard (who is pretty much an expert on the Borg) doesn't go to Earth in pursuit of an alternative that could defeat the Borg. Starfleet believes that the Borg want peace and are willing to turn over Picard and Seven for assimilation believing they'll be left alone. And, most interestingly, the Borg absorb Pluto completely obliterating it.