Star Trek Insurrection by J.M. Dillard Review Thread (27th Anniversary)

[Admiral_Young]

True. Novelizations are written from non-final scripts (see Kirk getting shot in the back in the hardcover edition of the Generations novelization), and the studios in general became tighter on timelines and more restrictive on access. I feel like I've heard an account of a novelization that was written in a sealed room under lock and key, and even one where the author could read it on premises but not have it in front of him when he wrote so scenes had to be written from memory. I can't remember what I ate for dinner yesterday, so I'd be useless for a gig like that.

I wonder if that was Gregory Kynes for his excellent INTERSTELLAR novelization?

 

[Christopher]

I wonder if that was Gregory Kynes for his excellent INTERSTELLAR novelization?

I've heard Greg Cox tell that story about his novelization experiences more than once. But I gather it's pretty standard these days.

 

[JD]

In modern times, studios in general only want the novelizations to be a straight 1:1 adaptation of the script with no embellishments or deviations whatsoever. It's odd, particularly since embellishments are the one thing a novelization could have going for it in modern times, but it's what the studios want for some reason.

One of the rare examples are the Disney Star Wars movies, but that's like because they have the Lucas Story Group supervising things.

This approach seems really odd to me, the whole appeal of novelizations is getting extra scenes or at least new bits of backstory and worldbuilding that we didn't get onscreen. Getting rid of all of that really defeats the whole point of even doing a novelization.

 

[Christopher]

I gather that studios got complaints from some people who were upset that scenes they read in the novelizations were not in the actual movies, so the studios apparently got mad at novelizations for creating false expectations, or something like that, and started insisting that they not embellish the films.

Yes, the appeal of novelizations is what they add to the movies, but the people making the decision are the people in charge of the movies, and they only care about what serves the movies, seeing novelizations merely as merchandise to promote the movies. So they don't want the novels to raise expectations that the movies can't meet.