I purchased it and it is legit. It comes on two regular CDs.
Thank you both!
The benefits of procrastination... I never actually got around to buying the digital download. I figured it couldn't really run out of stock, so what's the rush?
Spoilers PIC: No Man's Land by Kirsten Beyer & Mike Johnson Review Thread
- Thread starter Avro Arrow
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Thank you both!
The benefits of procrastination... I never actually got around to buying the digital download. I figured it couldn't really run out of stock, so what's the rush?
And the ironic thing is that I'd expected to get to the audio play long before I actually did. Ended up not making it through all the reading material I'd packed for my vacation.
I think, with the patch cord, and at least two (I think I made a "coaster" as well) CD-Rs encoded to work in an audio CR-R machine, I probably came out more-or-less even.
I think, with the patch cord, and at least two (I think I made a "coaster" as well) CD-Rs encoded to work in an audio CR-R machine, I probably came out more-or-less even.
(Copy of review I just posted to my Facebook page.) Just got done listening to Star Trek: Picard: No Man’s Land (2022) full cast audio drama, written by Kirsten Beyer and Mike Johnson, and performed by Michelle Hurd and Jeri Ryan (“Raffi” and “Seven” actresses) and a number of other actors. Its run time is 1 hour 39 minutes. It is available on Amazon, Audible, and OverDrive (which your local public library might give you access to check it out from, as I did).
This is the equivalent of a short story though it is not an audio adaptation of a print release, this was written and produced specifically for the full cast audio drama format (there is no print version).
The story takes place between seasons one and two of “Star Trek: Picard”, the streaming television series that ran on CBS All Access for season one and Paramount+ for seasons two and (in 2023) season three. The focus is entirely on Raffi Musiker and Seven of Nine, picking up on the very brief moment at the end of the “Picard” season one finale episode that indicated that they might be starting a relationship with each other and where the characters later are picked up with at the start of season two.
The story here is good if a bit predictable, especially the sub-plot about an old professor who has lost his wife many years ago and is still expecting to return to her eventually, and why he is so important to a Romulan warlord. Seven, in her role as one of the Fenris Rangers, is called upon to try to save the population and cultural artifacts secreted on the planet the professor is also on before the Romulan warlord can get there, and Raffi goes along with her to assist (and also because the two of them are still trying to determine what the extent of their relationship will actually be).
The main draw here is having Hurd and Ryan here to reprise their characters. I love full cast audio dramas (more so than single reader/narrator audiobooks) but I don’t tend to listen to them very much these days as I’m usually listening to podcasts while driving in the car or working out. I need to eventually get back to listening to more of them again.
I gave Star Trek: Picard: No Man’s Land four out of five stars on GoodReads.
(Oh, and for those not aware, author Kirsten Beyer is not only the author of numerous Star Trek tie-in novels, including many of the post tv series “Star Trek: Voyager” ones, she is also co-creator and executive producer on the “Star Trek: Picard” tv series and a staff writer on “Star Trek: Discovery”. Mike Johnson is the writer of oodles of Star Trek comic book series, everything from classic Star Trek to the J.J. Abrams “Kelvin Timeline” version and the current “Star Trek: Discovery” and “Star Trek: Picard”, all for comics publisher, IDW.)
—David Young
This is the equivalent of a short story though it is not an audio adaptation of a print release, this was written and produced specifically for the full cast audio drama format (there is no print version).
The story takes place between seasons one and two of “Star Trek: Picard”, the streaming television series that ran on CBS All Access for season one and Paramount+ for seasons two and (in 2023) season three. The focus is entirely on Raffi Musiker and Seven of Nine, picking up on the very brief moment at the end of the “Picard” season one finale episode that indicated that they might be starting a relationship with each other and where the characters later are picked up with at the start of season two.
The story here is good if a bit predictable, especially the sub-plot about an old professor who has lost his wife many years ago and is still expecting to return to her eventually, and why he is so important to a Romulan warlord. Seven, in her role as one of the Fenris Rangers, is called upon to try to save the population and cultural artifacts secreted on the planet the professor is also on before the Romulan warlord can get there, and Raffi goes along with her to assist (and also because the two of them are still trying to determine what the extent of their relationship will actually be).
The main draw here is having Hurd and Ryan here to reprise their characters. I love full cast audio dramas (more so than single reader/narrator audiobooks) but I don’t tend to listen to them very much these days as I’m usually listening to podcasts while driving in the car or working out. I need to eventually get back to listening to more of them again.
I gave Star Trek: Picard: No Man’s Land four out of five stars on GoodReads.
(Oh, and for those not aware, author Kirsten Beyer is not only the author of numerous Star Trek tie-in novels, including many of the post tv series “Star Trek: Voyager” ones, she is also co-creator and executive producer on the “Star Trek: Picard” tv series and a staff writer on “Star Trek: Discovery”. Mike Johnson is the writer of oodles of Star Trek comic book series, everything from classic Star Trek to the J.J. Abrams “Kelvin Timeline” version and the current “Star Trek: Discovery” and “Star Trek: Picard”, all for comics publisher, IDW.)
—David Young
I found this available for download from the library, and I just listened to it. It was pretty good. The MacGuffin was something of a cliche and the villain pursuing it a bit one-note, but the character work was otherwise good, and it was nice to get a close look at Raffi and Seven's relationship and at the Fenris Rangers. Hyro was kind of fun (the actor's voice reminded me of John Kielty, who plays Alex Reading in my Tangent Knights audio dramas), but I found his gimmick of getting words wrong unconvincing, given that he had otherwise mastered English grammar and pronunciation.
For Trek's first proper audio drama, it worked pretty well. It was generally pretty clear what was going on without narration, and it largely avoided stilted expository dialogue, although I'm on the fence about Seven talking to herself during the space battle, which doesn't seem quite in character.
I should've looked up the credits before I started listening, instead of doing the dishes first. I'd half-convinced myself that Professor Gillin was Peter McNicol, until I looked it up and saw he was John Kassir.
Seven saying that Raffi's place is in the middle of nowhere just makes me regret even more that the show explicitly captioned it as Vasquez Rocks. That's not the middle of nowhere, it's a state park and popular tourist site less than half a mile from a small community.
For Trek's first proper audio drama, it worked pretty well. It was generally pretty clear what was going on without narration, and it largely avoided stilted expository dialogue, although I'm on the fence about Seven talking to herself during the space battle, which doesn't seem quite in character.
I should've looked up the credits before I started listening, instead of doing the dishes first. I'd half-convinced myself that Professor Gillin was Peter McNicol, until I looked it up and saw he was John Kassir.
Seven saying that Raffi's place is in the middle of nowhere just makes me regret even more that the show explicitly captioned it as Vasquez Rocks. That's not the middle of nowhere, it's a state park and popular tourist site less than half a mile from a small community.
Yup. Another digital only product I won't be getting.
Ah, that explains the alien Hiro in the Star Trek: Picard: Stargazer comics. He's just there without explanation. I was unaware Hiro originated in No Man's Land. Is his species established?
Yup. Another digital only product I won't be getting.
Pretty sure it actually was later released physically.
At the very least it's definitely available physically on Amazon.
Oh really? Cool. I'll look into that.
Cool. Better late than never.
The physical release was discussed earlier in this very thread.
Is the CD a legit S&S release or a bootleg? Looks like CDRs with a bad laser printer label. The Simon & Schuster logo is especially rough looking.
It’s a legit release. Look at the posts in this thread from mid-June. Blackstone may be making them cheaply, but they’re legally entitled to do so.
Ah. Still looks cheap as hell, but I hope they at least had access to quality versions of the audio files.
It's a legit release. It's just that "CDR with a bad laser printer label" is how S&S Audio is releasing its content on CD these days. The back cover says "This book is packaged and distributed by Blackstone Audio." I think they're primarily aiming hard copies at the library market. But some sneak onto Amazon for consumers. Because I've been bit by format changes for e-content in the past (E-books from the turn of the millennium in no-longer-functional formats) I like to have content on a format that isn't going away. And that I can easily back up. Like CDs.
I finished it last week. I bought CDs from Amazon. I thought this was good for the most part, but the story was too slight. I liked the focus on Seven and Raffi's relationship, which got short shrift in the second season. I would rather they have beefed up this story and used it for season two instead of the story/stories they went with.
I did have some quibbles. I thought there needed to be more description in the story because it was hard sometimes to imagine what the characters looked like. I also thought there were some big leaps toward the end regarding a Federation starship, and I wondered if they had to rush to finish the story or something. The compressed time also didn't do the villain any favors, even though I liked the villain and he came across better than the television big bads.
I did have some quibbles. I thought there needed to be more description in the story because it was hard sometimes to imagine what the characters looked like. I also thought there were some big leaps toward the end regarding a Federation starship, and I wondered if they had to rush to finish the story or something. The compressed time also didn't do the villain any favors, even though I liked the villain and he came across better than the television big bads.
Agreed. I like what's there. Heck- I like it more than the television season it promotes and leads into; I just wanted more meat on the bones.
I actually really liked season 2, and even I have to agree.
