Question from Enterprise: The First Adventure

[Endgame]

I am reading "Enterprise: The First Adventure" by Vonda N. McIntyre (1986) and on page 193 I came across the word "pheodanthis" as perhaps a kind of martial art, exercise, or leisure activity. Or perhaps a kind of teacher of a class.

I googled it and only got referred back to this book and it does not seem to be on Memory Alpha or Beta. Am I being too literal about this, or, because I am not socialized by mass media have I missed something common, or, is it a neologism? I also checked encyclopedia, dictionary, and martial arts encyclopedia.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Pheo = Dusky, gray, or dun.

 

[F. King Daniel]

I have no idea about your question, but I have fond memories of this book. I loved the crew's backstories. I thought Sulu not even wanting to be there (expanded upon in The Entropy Effect) was inspired.

Insignificant continuity glitches aside (Rand's age etc), this is, IMO, how the TOS crew got together. They missed an oppertunity by not re-releasing this alongside the STXI novelization, along with a little intro saying that this is how the old crew may have gotten together prior to Nero's trip to the past.

 

[Lonemagpie]

i guess it may be a reference of sorts to pheobanthis, a species of flower in the southern USA (VNM is from Kentucky, IIRC) with a letter changed to make it sound more exotic...

 

[Christopher]

Well, several letters changed -- the flower is called phoebanthus, from the Greek for "shining flower." Same root as the name Phoebe.

 

[Rush Limborg]

I have no idea about your question, but I have fond memories of this book. I loved the crew's backstories. I thought Sulu not even wanting to be there (expanded upon in The Entropy Effect) was inspired.

Insignificant continuity glitches aside (Rand's age etc), this is, IMO, how the TOS crew got together. They missed an oppertunity by not re-releasing this alongside the STXI novelization, along with a little intro saying that this is how the old crew may have gotten together prior to Nero's trip to the past.

It's funny--I've often said that Kirk's age of 29 in the novel sets this book in 2262 (around the time the Chronology has him take command of the Enterprise).

Taking Rand's age in the book, it means she's legally 24 in the TOS first season (confirmed, so to speak, by James Blish's "novelisation" of "Miri")--and actually 21.

I agree, BTW--this was a darn good tale on how the crew came together...although the main plot was somewhat forgettable. The "origin story" element, however, more than makes up for it.

I liked the idea of a bully (Roswind) harrasing Rand--and finally getting "pwned" by Uhura. I wonder what happened to that girl. Expendable red shirt, likely as not. Of course, for all we know, she eventually had to serve under Rand's command. It would certainly serve her right.

 

[Christopher]

Actually the Chronology gives a 2263 date for Kirk taking command, which (like McIntyre's assertion of 29 for his age) probably draws on his The Making of Star Trek biography which said he was 34 and had commanded the ship for over four years. But if Rand was 16 in E:TFA as was claimed, she'd then only be 19 in the first season. Which doesn't make sense considering how "Charlie X" painted her as being inappropriately old for the 17-year-old Charlie Evans.

 

[JWolf]

There's a good thread about this so-so book.

http://www.trekbbs.com/showthread.php?t=43944

 

[Rush Limborg]

Actually the Chronology gives a 2263 date for Kirk taking command,

I'm aware of that. Hence, "around".

However, that date is admitted to be conjecture. That book also has Pike stepping down, as it were...I believe in '61. Thus, a date of '62 isn't that controversial.

which (like McIntyre's assertion of 29 for his age) probably draws on his The Making of Star Trek biography which said he was 34 and had commanded the ship for over four years.

I recall "The Deadly Years" has him flat-out give his age as 34.

But if Rand was 16 in E:TFA as was claimed, she'd then only be 19 in the first season. Which doesn't make sense considering how "Charlie X" painted her as being inappropriately old for the 17-year-old Charlie Evans.

Technically, she confides to Uhura that "I'm almost 17." If her 17th/20th birthday is in '62, that makes her 21/24 in "Charlie X". And as far as 20th standards are concerned, Charlie's a minor. Even if we assume that the writers didn't have that in mind--still, Rand is 4 to 7 years older than Charlie. That, plus the fact that she's an adult, and he is not, easily justifies the age issue.

Also, I recall the only one who directly brings up the age issue is Kirk, who then follows up with a cryptic, "And there are...other things...."

 

[Endgame]

I checked out the thread from 2008 and shall attempt to read the rest of the book now. In a book about Murphy's Law there is a corollary to the law given (among many): "When opening a can of worms, it must be recanned in a larger can." Worms, like novel characters, are such feisty little critters.

 

[iguana_tonante]

Is it the one with the vaudeville tour, the pegasus, and everybody hating everybody else? Because I thought it was atrocious.

 

[Destructor]

Is it the one with the vaudeville tour, the pegasus, and everybody hating everybody else? Because I thought it was atrocious.

+1, I gave up about a third of the way in, if I recall- and I can count books I've started but not finished on one hand.

 

[Stoek]

Personally I rather liked it. I felt that the author got the characters voices right, and it made logical sense in light of the sense of tension between Kirk and Spock in "Where No Man Has Gone Before". Personally I think that the powers that be missed a bet by not making a big deal of re-issuing key novels that either were drawn on by the people making Nu-Trek, or that those who liked it might like.

 

[Pauln6]

Actually the Chronology gives a 2263 date for Kirk taking command,

I'm aware of that. Hence, "around".

However, that date is admitted to be conjecture. That book also has Pike stepping down, as it were...I believe in '61. Thus, a date of '62 isn't that controversial.

which (like McIntyre's assertion of 29 for his age) probably draws on his The Making of Star Trek biography which said he was 34 and had commanded the ship for over four years.

I recall "The Deadly Years" has him flat-out give his age as 34.

But if Rand was 16 in E:TFA as was claimed, she'd then only be 19 in the first season. Which doesn't make sense considering how "Charlie X" painted her as being inappropriately old for the 17-year-old Charlie Evans.

Technically, she confides to Uhura that "I'm almost 17." If her 17th/20th birthday is in '62, that makes her 21/24 in "Charlie X". And as far as 20th standards are concerned, Charlie's a minor. Even if we assume that the writers didn't have that in mind--still, Rand is 4 to 7 years older than Charlie. That, plus the fact that she's an adult, and he is not, easily justifies the age issue.

I think the only ages that TOS specifically dealt with were Kirk (who was 34 in 2267) and Chekov (22 in 2267). And McCoy was what, 138 in Farpoint? However, I believe that in most cases the actors' real ages were formally adopted and are sometimes confirmed on computer screens later on. Apparently, Rand's age was stated as 24 in 2266 (Miri) but the line was removed from the script, which would roughly tally. However, I believe that in Flashback they formally adopted an age more in keeping with Grace Lee Whitney's real age, which would have made her about 35 in 2266, I think. Personally, I prefer her as a more mature woman, and it tallies with her being a senior non-commisioned officer by the time of TMP, where she would have been about 41?

 

[F. King Daniel]

I've seen "Flashback" half a dozen times and I've never caught Rand's age. Is it really visible in the episode, or just an "In a Mirror, Darkly" style easter egg, requiring HD, pausing and zooming in?

 

[Pauln6]

I've seen "Flashback" half a dozen times and I've never caught Rand's age. Is it really visible in the episode, or just an "In a Mirror, Darkly" style easter egg, requiring HD, pausing and zooming in?

I haven't watched the episode for years and I never noticed it either. I'd guess it requires a pause, zoom, and obsessive personality. Or maybe it's an urban legend...

 

[JWolf]

Is it the one with the vaudeville tour, the pegasus, and everybody hating everybody else? Because I thought it was atrocious.

Come on now. That's not fair. You know it wasn't that good.

 

[timothy]

I am reading "Enterprise: The First Adventure" by Vonda N. McIntyre (1986) and on page 193 I came across the word "pheodanthis" as perhaps a kind of martial art, exercise, or leisure activity. Or perhaps a kind of teacher of a class.

I love this book I just wished this book would be on the nook in epub form and not audio.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I haven't watched the episode for years and I never noticed it either. I'd guess it requires a pause, zoom, and obsessive personality. Or maybe it's an urban legend...

Supposedly it is on a viewer screen somewhere. But then, Clare Raymond's family tree (TNG) was full of famous TV identities we never knew were related.

As for "Enterprise: The First Adventure", I wanted to love it so much, having thoroughly enjoyed McIntyre's "The Entropy Effect" and her two novelizations. My biggest complaint with E:TFA was that, even though DC Comics and Pocket had been cross-pollinating factoids, this "anniversary" novel and DC's "All Those Years Ago..." (Annual 1, Series I), released at about the same time, diverged in such irreconcilable directions.

I wasn't too keen on Spock's cousin, the smiling blond Vulcan juggler, Steven. (I often wondered, when ST V was being mulled over, if the idea of a Vulcan toying with emotions didn't permeate fanon enough over the years that Sybok might have sprung from a similar gene pool.) I hated the first contact stuff, although that seems to come across so much better in the audio adaptation. Once the bickering circus performers are relegated to the background, the new aliens seem more interesting.

I used to wonder with Rand: if someone suggested to McIntyre that a timewarp travel incident, such as happened to Rand, wasn't originally conceived to go the other way: that Rand is chronologically younger than she looks in TOS, but that she doesn't make it known?

 

[DimesDan]

There's a good thread about this so-so book.

http://www.trekbbs.com/showthread.php?t=43944

Which was created by you and last posted in over three years ago, not really a surprise that it wasn't found or resurrected now is it?

Oh and for the OP, I have no idea, never read the book.