Poll: Bring Janeway back?

[Gates]

wait... this book isn't out yet?

March 31 in the States and sometime in May elsewhere.

 

[Trent Roman]

Do bear in mind that no characters regardless of rank, are simply interchangeable. Perhaps my previous post implied that we could have used Janeway just as easily as Admiral Batiste since they are both admirals, and once Batiste became part of the story I actually did ask myself that question. (...) And no, Trent, just because the storyline wanted a member of the admiralty, that doesn't mean automatically that Janeway was the right admiral to put in that position.

Sorry; I had interpreted this in your earlier post...

Finally....as the question has now been raised about why...if an Admiral was going to be part of the ongoing story it could not have been Admiral Janeway....the truth is that the Admiral character was not conceived until after Before Dishonor was in print. Prior to that, the story, as it had been developed to that point, did not include an admiral, so there was never a chance for anyone to raise their hand and say...Hey, don't kill Janeway...we need an admiral here. Sorry.

...as an indication that Janeway would have been useable for the admiral character, were she still alive. Obviously, if Janeway could never have fitted the role for whatever reason, then even if the want for an admiral-ranked character had been apparent before Before Dishonor, it wouldn't have impacted the decision on whether she lived or died.

Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman

 

[Kirsten Beyer]

Kirsten, to you I apologize for my part in this flurry of spoilers. I should have minded my own business. Guess I just got caught up in the excitement of anticipating the book's release.

Don't worry. I'm actually flattered that people are taking the time to sift through random pages on Amazon to find out some of what is to come. I know I've never done that with an unreleased book. I only worry that people will read the spoilers and think they know the story. Some of the spoilers so far are misleading and some are simply false. In most cases I get why people are leaping to those conclusions but really, none of this will hang together for you until you see the whole book. I'm glad you're excited. Please don't let me diminish that for you in any way.

Best,
Kirsten Beyer

 

[JoeZhang]

To be honest, the misleading spoilers seem to be coming from people who *haven't* searched amazon and are misunderstanding what is being said. I'm amazed that amazon provides such a facility.

 

[Kirsten Beyer]

Sorry; I had interpreted this in your earlier post...as an indication that Janeway would have been useable for the admiral character, were she still alive. Obviously, if Janeway could never have fitted the role for whatever reason, then even if the want for an admiral-ranked character had been apparent before Before Dishonor, it wouldn't have impacted the decision on whether she lived or died.

Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman

No worries. After I re-read the post in light of your and other comments I realized where the confusion was and that I had inadvertantly caused it.

Kirsten Beyer

 

[Brit]

One thing a Voyager story without Janeway, and the rest of the crew isn't a Voyager story it's a ship story. So tell me why we should care about this. Voyager was always about the characters and not the ship. Who are these people and why should we care about them?

A better thought would be to simply take off the Voyager name and get another ship and send it to the Delta Quadrant. Trek was never about the ships, it was about people.

Brit

 

[Thrawn]

And as Kirsten said, the ratio of canon characters to non-canon characters is still high.

Sure, if Janeway being gone is a dealbreaker, then it's a dealbreaker, whatever. But no one in charge is saying that it's only about the ship, especially not Kirsten, who just posted as much on this very page.

 

[USS Triumphant]

Those of us who write, even when, as in my case, it is just fan fiction we never let anyone see , can tell you that it is almost never a matter of a pinch of this character here, a dash of another character there, and so on. Casts are designed as ensembles. Maybe they could have used Janeway in the new relaunch - but she almost certainly wouldn't have been written to balance the new captain, and for all we know, there may be something about another new character that just wouldn't have "worked" with Kathy there. Might have seemed redundant, or might have had to give Kathy a response to the character that just wouldn't have seemed right from her in order to generate a needed story conflict that would seem natural with Batiste.

And I want to make two other points:

1. Some of those of you who say you "love" the Voyager characters don't seem to care very much about what they would want. A lot of the crew would want never to see that ship again after thinking they would be stuck on it for the rest of their lives. Kim deserves a promotion, finally. Chakotay, possibly his own ship. Tuvok hasn't had any in waaaay too long, and needs to go spend some time on Vulcan. The Paris's might want to settle down to raise their family. But all you care about is what you want them to do. Feh.

2. I'll make no secret that after the Year of Hell, I pretty much despise Janeway. But I'm capable of leaving that to one side for a moment, and still objectively I'm left asking this question: Does it really seem right that Janeway would be promoted to Admiral over other officers that fought in the Dominion War? Bearing in mind that Picard was offered a promotion to Admiral during the TNG series, some time before Janeway took command of Voyager - her first starship command, I believe - does it seem right that she would now be an Admiral dressing him down for anything? Kathy jumped the shark, and for that reason even if no other, she had to die.

 

[BillJ]

Do bear in mind that no characters regardless of rank, are simply interchangeable. Perhaps my previous post implied that we could have used Janeway just as easily as Admiral Batiste since they are both admirals, and once Batiste became part of the story I actually did ask myself that question.

The reality is, however, that Batiste is not part of the story just because we needed an admiral. He's part of the story because of who he is and what he wants and needs. He is not a replacement for Kathryn Janeway. Janeway could never have played his part in upcoming events, either in Full Circle or beyond. He is there because he is integral to the story, and would be whether Janeway were still alive or not.

I apologize if my earlier comment led anyone to believe otherwise.

It simply occured to me that once people learned that there was a new character who was an admiral that soon enough - and before they'd read Full Circle - they would immediately use this development as further evidence that the choice to kill Janeway was stupid and pointless and that my editor and I are idiots. Whew....glad I had nothing to worry about on that front.

In other words...no, Gorf, we didn't shoot ourselves in the foot. No, MilitantJaneway, there was not a role for Janeway after all unless we were telling a completely different story which we're not. Janeway and Batiste are not the same people. And your concerns for Chakotay are way premature. And no, Trent, just because the storyline wanted a member of the admiralty, that doesn't mean automatically that Janeway was the right admiral to put in that position. That this was a wasted opportunity may end up being a valid opinion but again, until you've read the book, you can't know that. To say that any character "should" have had those positions is not something you can credibly speculate about right now.

Kirsten Beyer

Kirsten, thanks for the time in replying to my questions. Always interested in the behind-the-scenes work in creating these books.

 

[AuntKate]

Who wants to read a Voyager story that doesn't have the characters we love in it? Write a great book, put it in the Delta Quadrant, use Voyager as one of the ships. It's not Voyager without the characters. Period.

 

[Thrawn]

The problem with that statement, AuntKate, is that so much of TrekLit shows it to be false. The DS9 relaunch is barely half TV show regulars, and it's (depending on who you ask) either the best or near the best treklit series being written.

Why would that be different from Voyager? The Voyager relaunch has a better percentage of canon characters than that series did from the beginning.

In case you missed the numbers: 8 Voyager regulars made it home. ALL 8 are featured in Full Circle. Of those 8, we know two (Janeway through dying, Tuvok through moving to Titan) leave. That leaves 6 main characters.

Did you quit watching when Kes left? Did you not watch the finale because Neelix got off? What's your cutoff line? What number of characters counts as "Voyager", and how many doesn't?

 

[BillJ]

Who wants to read a Voyager story that doesn't have the characters we love in it? Write a great book, put it in the Delta Quadrant, use Voyager as one of the ships. It's not Voyager without the characters. Period.

If it doesn't have Tuvix in it I'm gonna stomp my feet and go home!!!

 

[Dark Gilligan]

Who wants to read a Voyager story that doesn't have the characters we love in it?

Take the above false premise to its logical starting point: Who wants to read a Star Trek story that doesn't have Kirk, Spock, and McCoy in it?

Doesn't work, does it. Period.

 

[AuntKate]

Who wants to read a Voyager story that doesn't have the characters we love in it? Write a great book, put it in the Delta Quadrant, use Voyager as one of the ships. It's not Voyager without the characters. Period.

If it doesn't have Tuvix in it I'm gonna stomp my feet and go home!!!

cya

 

[BillJ]

Who wants to read a Voyager story that doesn't have the characters we love in it?

Take the above false premise to its logical starting point: Who wants to read a Star Trek story that doesn't have Kirk, Spock, and McCoy in it?

Doesn't work, does it. Period.

Logic... the deadliest of weapons.

 

[Turtletrekker]

Who wants to read a Voyager story that doesn't have the characters we love in it?

I read DS9 novels without Sisko, O'Brien, Odo, Worf or Jadzia in them, and enjoyed them immensly, thank you very much.

 

[JustKate]

For me, a Voyager book (or a book concerning any of the other shows, for that matter) wouldn't have to have all the characters from the show, or even mostly the characters from the show, but it really does need some - a mix of old and new characters would be ideal.

I recently read a Trek novel (not Voyager-oriented) in which there was only one familiar character, and that was pretty disappointing. I read the books for escape and for the adventure, but also to find out what happens "after" to the characters I'm interested in.

So if there's a mix of old (for long-time fans like me) and new (to keep the novels and the franchise fresh), that is what I'm after. Didn't get much of that this time, that's for sure.

 

[Thrawn]

And a mix of old and new is exactly what you'll get with this next one, so that's fantastic.

 

[JustKate]

^ Woo-hoo!

The complication for me is that I don't normally read many of the novels - mostly the shows are enough for me. My usual time to get one, when I do so, is when I'm going to be away from home so I'll have a nice easy read when I'm stuck in some hotel somewhere. So to finally break down, buy one and read it and not get what I paid for...eh, oh well. It's only money.

 

[Thrawn]

Which one did you get?