So, is "The Calling" not part of the ongoing DS9/whatever continuity?

[Thrawn]

EDIT: Just to clarify, I'm talking about the story written by Andrew J. Robinson in Prophecy & Change. Sorry for the unclear title. Anyway...



In The Never-Ending Sacrifice, Garak is ambassador to the UFP. In this story, he's arguing with a collapsing government about even the possibility of asking the Federation for help. And then, in Destiny, he's ambassador to the UFP again.

The Calling definitely takes place between the two, but doesn't seem reconcilable to me.

What do you think?

 

[Deranged Nasat]

Re: So, is "The Calling" not part of the ongoing DS9/whatever continui

In The Never-Ending Sacrifice, Garak is ambassador to the UFP. In this story, he's arguing with a collapsing government about even the possibility of asking the Federation for help. And then, in Destiny, he's ambassador to the UFP again.

The Calling definitely takes place between the two, but doesn't seem reconcilable to me.

What do you think?

I think it can be reconciled, if we assume Garak became ambassador under the Ghemor regime, returned to Cardassia after Ghemor was assassinated and the civil war began, and then was reappointed by the new castellan in the aftermath. After Ghemor's assassination and the start of the civil war, there probably wasn't a government for Garak to represent, so he may have had to return (and would argue for a resumption of close relations with the Federation). Then I suppose we have to assume he was given the job again when the new government got up and running.

There are still a few issues- the line about Garak's "previous visit" to Earth- but on the whole I think it still works. If not, we can always assume this is some alternate branch of the timeline accessed through the Vinculum.

 

[Technobuilder]

Re: So, is "The Calling" not part of the ongoing DS9/whatever continui

It'll all make sense once "The Dream Box" is released...

http://memory-beta.wikia.com/wiki/Andrew_J._Robinson

(Resumes waiting for eternity)

 

[Deranged Nasat]

Re: So, is "The Calling" not part of the ongoing DS9/whatever continui

It'll all make sense once "The Dream Box" is released...

http://memory-beta.wikia.com/wiki/Andrew_J._Robinson

(Resumes waiting for eternity)

The Fates are testing us, I'm sure. While we're on the subject, did Robinson ever publish that planned autobiography?

 

[Julio Angel Ortiz]

Re: So, is "The Calling" not part of the ongoing DS9/whatever continui

Am I the only one who thought of David Mack's original novel The Calling when seeing the subject of this thread?

 

[Thrawn]

Re: So, is "The Calling" not part of the ongoing DS9/whatever continui

In The Never-Ending Sacrifice, Garak is ambassador to the UFP. In this story, he's arguing with a collapsing government about even the possibility of asking the Federation for help. And then, in Destiny, he's ambassador to the UFP again.

The Calling definitely takes place between the two, but doesn't seem reconcilable to me.

What do you think?

I think it can be reconciled, if we assume Garak became ambassador under the Ghemor regime, returned to Cardassia after Ghemor was assassinated and the civil war began, and then was reappointed by the new castellan in the aftermath. After Ghemor's assassination and the start of the civil war, there probably wasn't a government for Garak to represent, so he may have had to return (and would argue for a resumption of close relations with the Federation). Then I suppose we have to assume he was given the job again when the new government got up and running.

There are still a few issues- the line about Garak's "previous visit" to Earth- but on the whole I think it still works. If not, we can always assume this is some alternate branch of the timeline accessed through the Vinculum.

Hm. I suppose. It just seems to be really different in tone from any of the other stories about the Cardassian reconstruction before or after. I wonder if the now-5-years-later DS9 books will address it at all.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Re: So, is "The Calling" not part of the ongoing DS9/whatever continui

It'll all make sense once "The Dream Box" is released...

I don't understand the ongoing trauma this play (remaining unpublished) causes people. Garak does refer back to some events that apparently occurred during the course of that play - yet another series of letters between Bashir and Garak - but it's not as if all manner of crucial events occurred in that play and have now been censored out of existence.

Novels use flash forwards and flashbacks all the time. We don't observe the actions of every character in every scene. Sometimes a new novel picks up the action days, weeks or months after the previous one. Some major events will occur off-page. If we need to know more, the novelist tells (or retells) us some more.

I'm betting that several Garak letters, read by Robinson at various conventions, did not make the cut for inclusion and/or expansion in "A Stitch in Time", but people aren't clamoring for Robinson to release those.

 

[William Leisner]

Re: So, is "The Calling" not part of the ongoing DS9/whatever continui

Am I the only one who thought of David Mack's original novel The Calling when seeing the subject of this thread?

Nope. I was fully expecting to find a post saying "I saw this title by Dave Mack on Amazon and was wondering..."

 

[Thrawn]

Re: So, is "The Calling" not part of the ongoing DS9/whatever continui

^ I actually tried to put some kind of clarifier in the title, but it was already too long. It wouldn't fit.

 

[Paris]

Re: So, is "The Calling" not part of the ongoing DS9/whatever continui

Am I the only one who thought of David Mack's original novel The Calling when seeing the subject of this thread?

Nope. I was fully expecting to find a post saying "I saw this title by Dave Mack on Amazon and was wondering..."

Me too. I was ready to say..."Um...well...no"

 

[Steve Roby]

Re: So, is "The Calling" not part of the ongoing DS9/whatever continui

It'll all make sense once "The Dream Box" is released...

I don't understand the ongoing trauma this play (remaining unpublished) causes people.

No one is experiencing or claiming to experience any trauma. Just mild frustration that some people have had the opportunity to experience something others haven't, something that helps a published Garak story make more sense. Just like some of us are intrigued by the restored version of Metropolis. It's really not that hard to understand.

 

[Technobuilder]

Re: So, is "The Calling" not part of the ongoing DS9/whatever continui

^Thank you.

(It was also kind of a joke. I don't really expect the play to be novelized, though I wouldn't mind reading it at least once.)

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

Re: So, is "The Calling" not part of the ongoing DS9/whatever continui

Exactly. Even seeing, say, footage of a performance, or reading the script, would be excellent.