Should novels set in the JJVerse rectify the film's plot holes?

[Bishop76]

I think they were truly, purposely trying to find someone who DIDN'T have a history with the franchise to bring a fresh take to it. In my opinion, it needed that fresh take very badly. Berman, Braga, Moore, etc, etc were getting pretty stale by the end of their run and frankly, they really needed to be replaced.

 

[Nerys Myk]

I just wish they'd use a director who knew something about the subject matter, unlike Abrams or Baird.

Like Wise or Meyer? The guys who wrote it were fans. Abrams and the rest of the "Supreme Court" were fans of varying degrees. I think they had "something about the subject matter" covered.

 

[Christopher]

I'm wondering... how long has it been since anyone in this thread has mentioned, you know, novels?

 

[kkozoriz1]

Has there ever been a reason given why the novels set in the JJverse were pulled from the schedule? Did it ever come out who pulled them? Was it a choice by Pocket or did Paramount or Abrams make the request?

I can't imagine too many authors are working on novels in the new setting if they're not sure when the novels will be published.

I'm assuming the the authors of the four delayed novels got their advances. Hopefully they'll get published relatively soon so they might make some royalties too.

That said, I think the best thing for them to do is ignore, for the most part, the gaping holes in the movie, and simply tell a stand alone story.

 

[JD]

Sorry to get back on the movie, but I really think it's worth pointing out that Damon Lindelof is cowriting XII and he's repeated stated that he's a huge Trek fan. I've read several interviews were he's talked about how Trek was big influence on Lost. He's even said that The Constant, which is one of the shows most popular episodes was based on a Trek episode I can't remember.

 

[Bishop76]

^ "The Constant" was based on "All Good Things..."

 

[JD]

Ok, thanks.

 

[Captain Robert April]

I just wish they'd use a director who knew something about the subject matter, unlike Abrams or Baird.

Like Wise or Meyer? The guys who wrote it were fans. Abrams and the rest of the "Supreme Court" were fans of varying degrees. I think they had "something about the subject matter" covered.

TNG fans, not TOS fans.

And TNG fans have a tendency, when looking at TOS, to focus on the "cheesier" elements and overlook the underlying story premises.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I just wish they'd use a director who knew something about the subject matter, unlike Abrams or Baird.

What did Robert Wise, Harve Bennett or Nicholas Meyer know about Star Trek before taking on a ST movie?

As for JJ Abrams, he was at the premiere of ST:TMP at the Smithsonian, with his Dad, and thus his early perceptions as to what worked and what didn't work in Star Trek movies were being formulated then.

TNG fans, not TOS fans.

They may have liked TNG more, but then so do many ST fans. And one of JJ's writers used to read TOS novels for recreational reading!

Did it ever come out who pulled them? Was it a choice by Pocket or did Paramount or Abrams make the request?

Not yet, but Pocket's editorial staff said they were holding them back because it was decided to give the film's producers more time to flesh out their universe before tie-in sequels came into the mix.

Given that Pocket had to pay four authors for manuscripts completed, they certainly didn't hold the books back lightly.

I can't imagine too many authors are working on novels in the new setting if they're not sure when the novels will be published.

Two prequel "Academy" novels for young adults are coming and there has already been two prequel comic mini-series from IDW and a promotional piece in "Wired".

 

[Captain Robert April]

Has there ever been a reason given why the novels set in the JJverse were pulled from the schedule? Did it ever come out who pulled them? Was it a choice by Pocket or did Paramount or Abrams make the request?

I can't imagine too many authors are working on novels in the new setting if they're not sure when the novels will be published.

I'm assuming the the authors of the four delayed novels got their advances. Hopefully they'll get published relatively soon so they might make some royalties too.

That said, I think the best thing for them to do is ignore, for the most part, the gaping holes in the movie, and simply tell a stand alone story.

It wasn't Pocket. It's safe to assume that whoever it was that did pull the plug got an earful from Pocket about how, in the world of publishing, you can't just yank an announced product at the last freaking minute and not have it result in major problems for the publisher and the rest of the schedule.

And, yes, everyone got paid.

 

[Captain Robert April]

As for JJ Abrams, he was at the premiere of ST:TMP at the Smithsonian, with his Dad, and thus his early perceptions as to what worked and what didn't work in Star Trek movies were being formulated then.

That explains a lot. Li'l JJ, hardcore Star Wars fan who just couldn't get into TOS because it was too talky, gets taken to see TMP.

No wonder we got a TMP/Star Wars mashup...

 

[Therin of Andor]

It's safe to assume that whoever it was that did pull the plug got an earful from Pocket about how, in the world of publishing, you can't just yank an announced product at the last freaking minute

"The War Virus"

"Probe"

"The Star Trek Coffee Table Book"

"The Star Trek That Never Was"

"The God-Thing"...

"The Yesterday Saga" sequel trilogy

and many, many others. There's nothing new about ST tie-ins being canceled or postponed (sometimes several times) at the last minute.

 

[kkozoriz1]

Did it ever come out who pulled them? Was it a choice by Pocket or did Paramount or Abrams make the request?

Not yet, but Pocket's editorial staff said they were holding them back because it was decided to give the film's producers more time to flesh out their universe before tie-in sequels came into the mix.

Given that Pocket had to pay four authors for manuscripts completed, they certainly didn't hold the books back lightly.

I can't imagine too many authors are working on novels in the new setting if they're not sure when the novels will be published.

Two prequel "Academy" novels for young adults are coming and there has already been two prequel comic mini-series from IDW and a promotional piece in "Wired".

I wonder why the YA novels are OK but the mainstream novels aren't. Or the comics for that matter. Why would the format matter? If they don't want someone "filling in the blanks" yet, why allow these ones? It just seems odd to me.

 

[F. King Daniel]

It's about the timeframe. The YA books and comics are prequels. The aborted novels were sequels.

Some idiot has decided that "only JJ Abrams can tell new Star Trek stories"
Thus the four novels set after STXI were cut.

I'm hoping for a USS Kelvin prequel novel(/novel series) at some point.

 

[Tyberius]

At least we wouldn't have lens flares and he wouldn't be tapping the camera all the time to create motion.

Hehehehe. You know, I've seen the film about twelve times now and there are still only about five instances where very obvious lens flares catch my attention. And the tapping technique doesn't annoy me at all. It seems very effective. I was amazed to see how it worked in the bonus features.

The only times I specifically noticed the lense flares was in my initial viewing at the theatre, where I thought it brought a certain kinetic realism to the film and showed a world where everything is not always in focus. The other time I noticed it was after watching the special features then while watching the commmentary. I have watched it several time since and once again just a few days ago, because of this thread, and do not notice them.

I have never seen the camera shaking particularly stand out.

I think both film techniques work quite well.

 

[Christopher]

Some idiot has decided that "only JJ Abrams can tell new Star Trek stories"

That's an entirely valid decision. The franchise is in their hands. We're just guests playing with their toys. It's our job to follow their lead; anything else would be a very small tail wagging a very large dog. If they feel they'd rather make sure the tie-ins stay as consistent as possible with the core body of work, rather than going in their own direction and being contradicted, then it's certainly their prerogative to do so. I mean, whether we did these novels or not, it would still have been the filmmakers who determined the actual future course of this new timeline, regardless of what we did.

True, it would've been nice if this had been settled on much earlier in the process -- then we might've been hired to do Kelvin books or other prequels, and wouldn't have had to deal with this postponement. But it's always easy to say what would've worked better in retrospect. There's a new team making the movies, a new relationship had to be developed with Pocket, and in such cases it can take time to sort things out.

 

[kkozoriz1]

But wouldn't prequels also run into the problem of contradicting something that comes up in later movies? It's not like we got a lot of background on most of the characters. Even NuKirk was touched on in two previous timeframes, one where he was fresh out of the womb.

We got to see Spock as a young child being taunted and as he turned down the VSA. Still lots that could be filled in there as well. I don't see how a prequel is that different that a sequel in this regard. It just makes the decision to postpone the sequel books as somewhat arbitrary.

 

[Greg Cox]

I can't imagine too many authors are working on novels in the new setting if they're not sure when the novels will be published.

.

A bit of a misconception there. That's not how it works. No one is going to start writing a nuTrek book until someone at Pocket Books asks them to.

 

[kkozoriz1]

I didn't mean actually writing them at this moment. I meant formulating ideas to pitch. Sort of a "once bitten, twice shy" sort of thing. I should have been clearer. I can't imagine how frustrating it must be to actually have it written and scheduled and the pulled at the last minute. And not once, but four times.

 

[Christopher]

I didn't mean actually writing them at this moment. I meant formulating ideas to pitch.

Which, again, we probably wouldn't do unless an editor invited us to. At least, not in any formalized way.