Do you think the upcoming anniversaries of TNG, etc, will whet appetites for more stories set in between episodes (like the 5YM TOS books are), instead of the continuing stories post-series/movie?
Show-set books for non-TOS
- Thread starter Laura Cynthia Chambers
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I think TV series era novels would be a great way to celebrate the anniversaries, though I'm not too sure it'll happen. Next year is TNG's 30th and e only have four novels left unannounced for the year's lineup. They could do a TV series era TNG novel, though I don't get the impression that's what's happening.
At the very least, more TV series era novels for all the series would be a good way of holding off the novel continuity from reaching 2387 and dealing with stuff they're not allowed to.
At the very least, more TV series era novels for all the series would be a good way of holding off the novel continuity from reaching 2387 and dealing with stuff they're not allowed to.
No. Maybe they'll do something that involves the old ship (they will very, very, very likely do something like that...) and maybe there'll be a few flashback scenes but not a whole novel that is in no way connected to the current novels.
On the other hand, if the novels DO hurry up and get to 2387 maybe they will then run out of post-series story and reset the novels back to their series time frames.
I don't expect it, but I have my fingers crossed. Here's hoping.
How much wiggle room is there to wedge a story in?
What do you mean?
How much unaccounted-for time is there to play with when an episode didn't take place, or, for that matter, an event which precedes/follows an episode happens?
Oh. I don't know, but I imagine that would be up to the writer.
What does it matter? The novels for TOS have squeezed about 15 years worth of stories into three years of the canonical five-year mission.
Infinite, because these events aren't real and so writers can fit any story they want literally anywhere they want; I can't imagine a story would ever be rejected because of something like that. It's up to overly bookkeeping-obsessed readers like us to worry about that.
Exactly. As I like to point out, this is just a conceit of series fiction. How many mysteries could the Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew really squeeze into their high school years? And yet the books are still coming out. How come Columbo stumbled onto an elaborate "perfect murder" mystery week after week for years? (And apparently the only homicides in his jurisdiction were committed by world-famous composers and scientists and chessmasters and such.) How many innocent people framed for murder could Perry Mason really represent in his career?
(Yes, clearly I watch too much MeTV.
)Heck, as far as I know, they're still publishing MURDER SHE WROTE novels!
Most of the time we're never really given a clear idea how much time passed between episodes, so I'm sure there are plenty of gaps to stick more stories if they want to.
Well, Columbo was part of a mystery "wheel" rotating with several other series, so in his original run he had an average of only 6 cases per year and a maximum of 8 per year, instead of the 24-26 cases per year that your typical weekly-series detective would have. In the ABC revival, he had 4 cases in the first season and 6 in the second, then two seasons with 3 each, and after that it was usually just one movie per season.
And I can buy that maybe Columbo got a reputation in the department for dealing effectively with homicides committed among the upper crust of society, so that maybe he was assigned to those cases on purpose. Although that doesn't track with the episode where the murderer was his own boss (Richard Kiley as Deputy Police Commissioner Halperin in "A Friend in Deed").
Up to a point, yes, but it gets tricky after a while. Seventy-eight or so adventures in three years comes out to about one every other week. The majority of those adventures take several days each; "The Paradise Syndrome" alone covers two months. A number of episodes specifically cite a previous or upcoming mission that's a specific number of days away. And then you have to allow for travel time between different parts of the galaxy, often requiring days or weeks between missions. Not to mention time for injuries to heal, damage to be repaired, systems to be refitted, personnel to go on leave, etc. Not to mention all the routine, uneventful missions that would presumably be going on in between the dangerous, dramatic ones. Even one dangerous mission every other week is implausible.
That's why I like series with fewer installments per year, like Columbo. They allow for a more realistic amount of downtime and routine.
On the other hand, if we want to (over)think it . . . how come nobody--including the killer of the week--ever recognized Columbo? These were all high-profile cases involving the rich and famous; they would have been headline news for weeks if not months--like the O.J. Trial. As the detective who broke the case, Columbo's name and face would have been all over the news.
And yet the whole schtick of the show was that, episode after episode, the smug upper-crust murderer fatally underestimates this unassuming, unimpressive schlub of a detective . . ..
And, beyond that, even assuming only six or so mysteries a year . . . how many brain-twisting, elaborately-constructed "perfect murder" schemes would the average homicide cop encounter in a lifetime, let alone a season?
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Exactly. As I like to point out, this is just a conceit of series fiction. How many mysteries could the Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew really squeeze into their high school years? And yet the books are still coming out. How come Columbo stumbled onto an elaborate "perfect murder" mystery week after week for years? (And apparently the only homicides in his jurisdiction were committed by world-famous composers and scientists and chessmasters and such.) How many innocent people framed for murder could Perry Mason really represent in his career?
(Yes, clearly I watch too much MeTV.
Heck, as far as I know, they're still publishing MURDER SHE WROTE novels!
Greg, is there really such a thing as too much MeTV?
Actually, now that I think about it, too much MeTV starts when you realize they've burned through all the episodes of (insert show here) and are now back on whatever season you started on.
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