So name a Star Trek moment that you just didn't "get".

[Orphalesion]

On other hand, one of my editors had the theory that the more confusing the movie, the better the novelization sold!

Well yeah...because people want to freaking know what's going on.

 

[kirkfan]

On other hand, one of my editors had the theory that the more confusing the movie, the better the novelization sold!

Well yeah...because people want to freaking know what's going on.

Sure, but you don't want to go too far in the confusion, because there is a point at which people say: "The hell with it!"

 

[Greg Cox]

On other hand, one of my editors had the theory that the more confusing the movie, the better the novelization sold!

Well yeah...because people want to freaking know what's going on.

Sure, but you don't want to go too far in the confusion, because there is a point at which people say: "The hell with it!"

I doubt that anyone has ever deliberately made a movie confusing to increase sales of the novelization!

It just works out that way sometimes . . .

Heck, it works with "real" novels, too. I remember seeing THE HOTEL NEW HAMPSHIRE and rushing to find the original novel by John Irving just to figure out what the heck I'd just watched. . . .

("Huh? Jodie Foster is sleeping with her brother, and Nastasia Kinski is a lesbian in a bear suit?")

 

[JonnyQuest037]

Absolutely. You shouldn't have to read the the novelizations, or the press materials, or the movie website, or the comic book tie-ins, to understand the actual movie or TV show.

In the books, we have room to flesh things out a bit and maybe spend more time on exposition, but the movies need to stand on their own.

I could not agree with this more. It drive me nuts when certain fans say, "Oh, well this all makes sense if you just read the novelization/previous mini-series/watch the previous five seasons leading up to this point."

I shouldn't have to do homework to understand your story if you're doing your job right. If you have an explanation that you want people to get, put it in your story, not in the ancillary materials.

 

[Greg Cox]

Absolutely. You shouldn't have to read the the novelizations, or the press materials, or the movie website, or the comic book tie-ins, to understand the actual movie or TV show.

In the books, we have room to flesh things out a bit and maybe spend more time on exposition, but the movies need to stand on their own.

I could not agree with this more. It drive me nuts when certain fans say, "Oh, well this all makes sense if you just read the novelization/previous mini-series/watch the previous five seasons leading up to this point."

I shouldn't have to do homework to understand your story if you're doing your job right. If you have an explanation that you want people to get, put it in your story, not in the ancillary materials.

But you do need to watch the webisodes.

 

[Taelon]

So you don't think going blind or deaf is a crippling disability?

Not if everyone else is already deaf or blind.

Exactly!

What a horrible and offensive attitude.

 

[trekshark]

Maybe using two transporters when in port is part of security protocol. No unauthorized personnel transport out, and personnel transporting aboard have been cleared.

Then there's the thing with the possibility of materializing inside a bulkhead, a deck, that kind of stuff. Safety first.

I can buy that, and also the thought that it's normally safer to go pad to pad* even though pad to site or site to pad, or even site to site without materializing on the pad in between is possible

*but in those cases where one of the pads is malfunctioning you're really screwed because since the transporters sync up one being broken causes you to be unrecoverable

 

[The Wormhole]

My "huh" moments are mostly just moral disagreements with the show: things like Riker murdering a child through inaction to make a point in "Hide and Q";

"Murdering" is very inaccurate. The child was already dead when Riker arrived on the scene, the dilemma was should he use his Q abilities to resurrect her. He chose not to, a decision Picard supported.

Now, you're more than welcome to still call this a "huh" moment and to disagree with it, but it's not murder, even through inaction.

 

[T'Girl]

"Murdering" is very inaccurate.

I wonder what the term would be for a doctor in a emergency room having the means to resuscitate someone (in fact easily do so), but to make the deliberate decision not to.

Hmmm, is there a word for that?

 

[Taelon]

"Murdering" is very inaccurate.

I wonder what the term would be for a doctor in a emergency room having the means to resuscitate someone (in fact easily do so), but to make the deliberate decision not to.

Hmmm, is there a word for that?

I think the technical term is "A-hole douchebaggery".

 

[kirkfan]

"Murdering" is very inaccurate.

I wonder what the term would be for a doctor in a emergency room having the means to resuscitate someone (in fact easily do so), but to make the deliberate decision not to.

Hmmm, is there a word for that?

I think the technical term is "A-hole douchebaggery".

"Douchebaggery" is not a crime. This is.

 

[tafkats]

I don't get why Geordi made a joke he did one time early on.

The punchline: "The clown can stay, but the Ferengi in the gorilla suit has to go"


That joke always bothered me, from the first time I heard it.

Just over 300 years ago that joke would have been told like this: "The clown can stay, but the negro in the gorilla suit has to go"


It just seems like a bad joke for him, or quite frankly any Starfleet officer on the Flagship of the Federation, to make.

I had no idea it was based on a real joke. Sometimes these punchlines are written without anything in mind.

I don't think tharpdevenport meant it was based on a real joke, just that it would be equivalent to a joke with that as a punchline, and that it's surprising a Starfleet officer would make a joke that has a strong likelihood of being ethnically insensitive.

 

[The Wormhole]

"Murdering" is very inaccurate.

I wonder what the term would be for a doctor in a emergency room having the means to resuscitate someone (in fact easily do so), but to make the deliberate decision not to.

Hmmm, is there a word for that?

Malpractice.

 

[T'Girl]

I could not agree with this more. It drive me nuts when certain fans say, "Oh, well this all makes sense if you just read the novelization/previous mini-series/watch the previous five seasons leading up to this point."

I shouldn't have to do homework to understand your story if you're doing your job right.

Question of accessibility. If someone was a general science fiction fan, but (somehow) knew absolutely nothing about Star Trek, would they be able to pickup a resent novel and enjoy it, or would a basic knowledge of Star Trek be required?

Malpractice.

We don't know the exact wording of the oath Riker most likely took as a young officer, but if Riker had the (new) ability to resuscitate a small child, wouldn't it be expected of him to use it?

We have seen non-Human Starfleet officers use non-Human abilities to perform their duties.

 

[Greg Cox]

I could not agree with this more. It drive me nuts when certain fans say, "Oh, well this all makes sense if you just read the novelization/previous mini-series/watch the previous five seasons leading up to this point."

I shouldn't have to do homework to understand your story if you're doing your job right.

Question of accessibility. If someone was a general science fiction fan, but (somehow) knew absolutely nothing about Star Trek, would they be able to pickup a resent novel and enjoy it, or would a basic knowledge of Star Trek be required?

Honest answer: Depends on the book.

I try to make my own books more or less accessible to the casual reader, within reason. At this late date, it's probably not necessary to describe the bridge of the Enterprise in detail or mention that Spock has pointed ears, so I guess I assume a casual working knowledge of the basics.

But I try not to assume that every reader remembers every episode of every series. For example, when I brought back Lenore Karidian in Foul Deeds Will Rise, I made an effort to recap the plot of "Conscience of the King" and to explain who Lenore is and what her history with Kirk was.

It's always a balancing act.

I remember getting completely opposite responses to one of my 4400 novels. One reader complained that I spent too much time explaining stuff that 4400 fans already knew, while another reader told me that he enjoyed the novel even though he'd never seen a single episode of the TV series. (I think he'd picked it up at random at an airport somewhere.)

It can be hard to strike the right balance.

(The same applies to superhero stuff, btw. I assume the casual reader knows who Batman or Wonder Woman are, but I don't assume that they've read the last twenty-seven issues of Justice League.)

 

[Shawnster]

"Murdering" is very inaccurate.

I wonder what the term would be for a doctor in a emergency room having the means to resuscitate someone (in fact easily do so), but to make the deliberate decision not to.

Hmmm, is there a word for that?

Malpractice.

Do not resuscitate.

 

[kirkfan]

I wonder what the term would be for a doctor in a emergency room having the means to resuscitate someone (in fact easily do so), but to make the deliberate decision not to.

Hmmm, is there a word for that?

Malpractice.

Do not resuscitate.

Wow, they'd better not make a mistake on that one. Like if two guys have almost the same name. Oops, we let the wrong guy die...

 

[Silvercrest]

I don't get why Geordi made a joke he did one time early on.

The punchline: "The clown can stay, but the Ferengi in the gorilla suit has to go"


That joke always bothered me, from the first time I heard it.

Just over 300 years ago that joke would have been told like this: "The clown can stay, but the negro in the gorilla suit has to go"


It just seems like a bad joke for him, or quite frankly any Starfleet officer on the Flagship of the Federation, to make.

I had no idea it was based on a real joke. Sometimes these punchlines are written without anything in mind.

I don't think tharpdevenport meant it was based on a real joke, just that it would be equivalent to a joke with that as a punchline, and that it's surprising a Starfleet officer would make a joke that has a strong likelihood of being ethnically insensitive.

They were warned about the Ferengi at the Academy.

 

[urbandefault]

I could not agree with this more. It drive me nuts when certain fans say, "Oh, well this all makes sense if you just read the novelization/previous mini-series/watch the previous five seasons leading up to this point."

I shouldn't have to do homework to understand your story if you're doing your job right.

Question of accessibility. If someone was a general science fiction fan, but (somehow) knew absolutely nothing about Star Trek, would they be able to pickup a resent novel and enjoy it, or would a basic knowledge of Star Trek be required?

Honest answer: Depends on the book.

I try to make my own books more or less accessible to the casual reader, within reason. At this late date, it's probably not necessary to describe the bridge of the Enterprise in detail or mention that Spock has pointed ears, so I guess I assume a casual working knowledge of the basics.

But I try not to assume that every reader remembers every episode of every series. For example, when I brought back Lenore Karidian in Foul Deeds Will Rise, I made an effort to recap the plot of "Conscience of the King" and to explain who Lenore is and what her history with Kirk was.

It's always a balancing act.

I remember getting completely opposite responses to one of my 4400 novels. One reader complained that I spent too much time explaining stuff that 4400 fans already knew, while another reader told me that he enjoyed the novel even though he'd never seen a single episode of the TV series. (I think he'd picked it up at random at an airport somewhere.)

It can be hard to strike the right balance.

(The same applies to superhero stuff, btw. I assume the casual reader knows who Batman or Wonder Woman are, but I don't assume that they've read the last twenty-seven issues of Justice League.)

I always appreciate the effort.

Even for someone who knows the material, a little refresher can't hurt. Especially in a franchise like Trek, with hundreds of hours of tv and movies, and thousands(?) of novels, comics, etc. No one can be expected to remember every plot point, so every little bit helps.

 

[kirkfan]

I had no idea it was based on a real joke. Sometimes these punchlines are written without anything in mind.

I don't think tharpdevenport meant it was based on a real joke, just that it would be equivalent to a joke with that as a punchline, and that it's surprising a Starfleet officer would make a joke that has a strong likelihood of being ethnically insensitive.

They were warned about the Ferengi at the Academy.

For all the good it did Kim, he almost bought Quark's entire stock of worthless stones.