They did that in the comic Double Time where in the story they went back in time and when they returned to the "present" they overshot by 6 months to after the end of the war.
Star Trek: New Frontier--from the beginning
- Thread starter Damian
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I think time jump happened because there change in editors, and the new editor wanted all of the books lined up, and since at the time DS9 was years behind everyone else, the had to do the time jump to catch up.
Specifically, it happened because PAD was writing in "comic book time," where the story advances at its own pace, but references current events as they happen. Which meant that when one book came out just as the Dominion War was beginning and referenced that, then, three books of nearly-continuous action later, they referenced the war being over because, in the real world, it had been two years, that created a problem for all the timeliners. So the comic one-shot was done as a retcon where, between two books, they have a brief adventure that ends with them having skipped over almost the entire war.
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It was... okay. I enjoyed reading the first two books in the trilogy, Restoration far less so. Had that been the finale to the series, I would probably remember New Frontier more fondly. It lingered too far long.
I assumed the Excalibur-A would have been a Prometheus-class because, as far back as 1998, John Ordover was talking about replacing the Excalibur with a Prometheus-class ship.
It wasn't so much that it caused a problem "with the timeliners," but rather that it meant that Selar was pregnant for three years.........................
I'd have been happier with that, be interesting to see what the ship really could've done (other than just MVAM). I was never a huge fan of the Galaxy-Class, really far too big and misshaped to be a really good looking ship.
By contrast I was really excited to find out the Excalibur was a Galaxy class. I always felt they were underused in the Star Trek universe with the Enterprise being the only one of note (barring the one blown up by the Dominion). I was giddy with excitement when I first saw the Galaxy-class bridge in Bridge Commander and it lended a gravitas to Calhoun's missions just because he was flying around the same kind of vessel as Captain Picard.
In a very weird, entirely 14 year old me mindset, it was a way of illustrating he was in the big leagues.
I suspect this was my RPG mindset as West End Games Star Wars always used "Victory" Star Destroyers rather than "Imperial" Star Destroyers in their adventures as if they were saying you were in the Minors compared to Han, Luke, and Leia.
I never felt as strongly about the Sovereign class.
I thought stage five was "You mean he's still alive?" But sums it up...The nature of typecasting according to Ricardo Montalban (who I recall did SOMETHING in Star Trek) was that it was actually desirable to a point because it meant you had made an impression in the minds of executives that they thought of you for a role.
I also love his "five stages of an actor."
- Who is Ricardo Montalbán?
- Get me Ricardo Montalbán.
- Get me a Ricardo Montalbán type.
- Get me a young Ricardo Montalbán.
- Who is Ricardo Montalbán?
I liked all of the hero ships being classes, so I was a little annoyed when we ended up with two Galaxy classes in New Frontier.
I have some other thoughts after reading EXCALIBUR 1#:
1. I never much cared for Burgoyne/Selar's "romance" and think it is the part of the series that has aged poorest. Burgoyne consistently ignores Selar's requests for them to back off and ignores very direct orders to stay out of their lives. Rather than coming off as loving Selar, they come off as an aggressive stalker. I really wish Peter David had toned things down considerably.
2. I have mixed feelings about Soleta and her "father"'s relationship as well. I do admit it was clever of Peter David to have it seem like he'd undergone a redemptive arc and then, nope, he's just a low down dirty rapist still. I do think it's interesting that she focuses so much on "impure" Romulan blood when they're the same race, just divided by culture.
3. I loved the Men in Black/UFO abduction parody in this book.
4. I really did enjoy Shelby getting a dressing down from Soleta about how she didn't actually like the crew.
1. I never much cared for Burgoyne/Selar's "romance" and think it is the part of the series that has aged poorest. Burgoyne consistently ignores Selar's requests for them to back off and ignores very direct orders to stay out of their lives. Rather than coming off as loving Selar, they come off as an aggressive stalker. I really wish Peter David had toned things down considerably.
2. I have mixed feelings about Soleta and her "father"'s relationship as well. I do admit it was clever of Peter David to have it seem like he'd undergone a redemptive arc and then, nope, he's just a low down dirty rapist still. I do think it's interesting that she focuses so much on "impure" Romulan blood when they're the same race, just divided by culture.
3. I loved the Men in Black/UFO abduction parody in this book.
4. I really did enjoy Shelby getting a dressing down from Soleta about how she didn't actually like the crew.
I took a bit of a surprise vacay and decided to read book #7, "The Quiet Place".
This was an interesting book because I had forgotten a lot of it, so it was almost a new re-read. I vaguely recalled Kallinda having fake memories implanted and Xyon being the one that rescued her. I also vaguely recalled the Dogs of War. But all the details were very fuzzy. So it was nice to revisit this novel. As far as the Excalibur main characters (at least up to this point) it primarily focused on Si Cwan, Kebron and Soleta. Captain Calhoun appears briefly in the beginning and end, while the newly reunited Morgan Primus and Leffler appear in the beginning briefly. Burgoyne, Selar and McHenry do not appear at all while Shelby basically makes a cameo appearance at the end. But the book was well written and as is the case with a couple of NF novels, PD here decides to focus on certain select characters.
I also liked this early incarnation of Xyon. He is more like his father, Calhoun, then he'd probably like to admit. He has a gift for getting himself out of serious trouble, and he has a certain ethical code that makes him do 'the right thing'.
This is also the 2nd major appearance of the Redeemers. And the Dogs of War were an interesting villain here.
Ultimately Kallinda and Cwan are reunited and we see the beginning of the feud between Xyon-Calhoun along with Xyon-Cwan.
As for 'the quite place' both the Dogs and Redeemers are eager to find it, the Dogs believing it to be some sort of heavenly place. But, of course, all is not as it seems. All, along with Cwan's nemesis, Zoran, believe Cwan's sister has the answer to where it is. Once they do find it, a mysterious planet partially hidden (and at times totally hidden) by a nebula remind me a bit of the planet in the TNG episode "The Royale" in that there is a pocket of breathable air in an otherwise totally inhospitable planet. One of the Dogs even noted how he can see the atmosphere swirling silently above. There is also a rather gruesome transporter accident that killed 3 of the Dogs.
But otherwise, this was another in a good line of early NF novels. PD handles it with his usual sense of humor as well. There are many serious moments of course, but PD isn't afraid to have a little fun as well.
I'll read at least one more, "Dark Allies" probably sometimes next year during my next vacation. I'm not sure if I'll go beyond that in my re-reads of NF or not. I find 3 distinct periods in the NF history. The initial period, which is my favorite going through "Dark Allies". Then the post-Excalibur destruction novels. Still pretty good, but they lost a bit of that magic I though. Then the post time-jump books, when everything shifts ahead 3 years. Those were still pretty good books but for whatever reason, some of the luster wore off. Though I continue to hope that one day PD or someone else will pick up the thread and move it forward.
But, anyway, I'll have to give it some thought whether to read the "Excalibur" trilogy or not. I've read those within the last 10 years and remember much of what happened there, so I may decide to take a break for a while. We'll see.
This was an interesting book because I had forgotten a lot of it, so it was almost a new re-read. I vaguely recalled Kallinda having fake memories implanted and Xyon being the one that rescued her. I also vaguely recalled the Dogs of War. But all the details were very fuzzy. So it was nice to revisit this novel. As far as the Excalibur main characters (at least up to this point) it primarily focused on Si Cwan, Kebron and Soleta. Captain Calhoun appears briefly in the beginning and end, while the newly reunited Morgan Primus and Leffler appear in the beginning briefly. Burgoyne, Selar and McHenry do not appear at all while Shelby basically makes a cameo appearance at the end. But the book was well written and as is the case with a couple of NF novels, PD here decides to focus on certain select characters.
I also liked this early incarnation of Xyon. He is more like his father, Calhoun, then he'd probably like to admit. He has a gift for getting himself out of serious trouble, and he has a certain ethical code that makes him do 'the right thing'.
This is also the 2nd major appearance of the Redeemers. And the Dogs of War were an interesting villain here.
Ultimately Kallinda and Cwan are reunited and we see the beginning of the feud between Xyon-Calhoun along with Xyon-Cwan.
As for 'the quite place' both the Dogs and Redeemers are eager to find it, the Dogs believing it to be some sort of heavenly place. But, of course, all is not as it seems. All, along with Cwan's nemesis, Zoran, believe Cwan's sister has the answer to where it is. Once they do find it, a mysterious planet partially hidden (and at times totally hidden) by a nebula remind me a bit of the planet in the TNG episode "The Royale" in that there is a pocket of breathable air in an otherwise totally inhospitable planet. One of the Dogs even noted how he can see the atmosphere swirling silently above. There is also a rather gruesome transporter accident that killed 3 of the Dogs.
But otherwise, this was another in a good line of early NF novels. PD handles it with his usual sense of humor as well. There are many serious moments of course, but PD isn't afraid to have a little fun as well.
I'll read at least one more, "Dark Allies" probably sometimes next year during my next vacation. I'm not sure if I'll go beyond that in my re-reads of NF or not. I find 3 distinct periods in the NF history. The initial period, which is my favorite going through "Dark Allies". Then the post-Excalibur destruction novels. Still pretty good, but they lost a bit of that magic I though. Then the post time-jump books, when everything shifts ahead 3 years. Those were still pretty good books but for whatever reason, some of the luster wore off. Though I continue to hope that one day PD or someone else will pick up the thread and move it forward.
But, anyway, I'll have to give it some thought whether to read the "Excalibur" trilogy or not. I've read those within the last 10 years and remember much of what happened there, so I may decide to take a break for a while. We'll see.
I just completed Dark Allies (#8) on my vacation last week. In this novel the 'Black Mass' is threatening the home world of the Redeemers, a religiously fanatical race bent on 'converting' as many worlds to their worship of their god, Xant, as possible. Since the fall of the Thallonian Empire they are basically free to try to convert as many worlds as possible. If a world does not accede to their demands their civilization is wiped out. Also, the high priest sent to help convert the planet has the ability to wipe out the civilization if he is harmed or killed. The Redeemers seek Captain Calhoun's help to stop the Black Mass, but given what the Redeemers do, he is not all that inclined to help. That is until the he is told another world will be destoryed if he refuses to help. With the help of the Excalibur crew, they find a way to stop the Black Mass, but Calhoun has also sent one of his security officers to find the Redeemer on the hostage planet and after he is succesful Calhoun refuses to help further, only offering to give the Redeemers the method to stop it themselves. However, the leader of the Redeemers manages to quickly transport and kidnap Selar and Burgoyne, forcing Calhoun's cooperation. But their method fails until he learns of a nearby black hole, apparently the same one Xant had left through and promise to return. But the Black Mass is stopped and all seems well, until the Excalibur explodes at the end. Also in the novel Selar finally gives birth to her and Burgoyne's child. And their relationship up to that point is extremely strained. Also, we learn that Lefler has feelings for Si Cwan, and Si Cwan is incensed at his sister Kallinda's relationship with Xyon, Calhoun's son, and tries to find a way to manipulate them into separating. And Calhoun is trying to build some sort of relationship with Xyon, though Xyon is reluctant.
It's another good early New Frontiers novel by Peter David. This also marks the end of what I consider the first era of NF novels, those that take place on the first Excalibur. I personally thought the novels took a bit of a step down from this point on. The crew being separated makes some sense in a real world kind of view, but the relationships between the characters was one of the series strong points. And some of that was broken a bit when they are separated. The Redeemers also make an interesting foe. David, intentionally I believe, made them short in stature, but at the same time made them incredibly dangerous. And they all have bright red eyes that seem like they would be disconcerting.
I highly recommend the NF series to any fans of the novels. The earlier novels are definitely the best, but despite some of my comments, I thought the entire series was worth reading. It's disappointing to learn that the series is likely over. It would have been interesting to see the series continue. However, the series is loosely connected to the novelverse which was obliterated in the CODA trilogy. While not directly tied to the relaunches, there were some connections and I assume NF was wiped out as well by what happened there. Not to mention it appears for whatever reason David is no longer writing Star Trek novels. And I'm sure there are numerous other reasons that no new NF novels will be published by David or anyone else.
I'm debating on whether I'm going to re-read the trilogy of novels that follow this one. For now this will be it for my NF re-read.
It's another good early New Frontiers novel by Peter David. This also marks the end of what I consider the first era of NF novels, those that take place on the first Excalibur. I personally thought the novels took a bit of a step down from this point on. The crew being separated makes some sense in a real world kind of view, but the relationships between the characters was one of the series strong points. And some of that was broken a bit when they are separated. The Redeemers also make an interesting foe. David, intentionally I believe, made them short in stature, but at the same time made them incredibly dangerous. And they all have bright red eyes that seem like they would be disconcerting.
I highly recommend the NF series to any fans of the novels. The earlier novels are definitely the best, but despite some of my comments, I thought the entire series was worth reading. It's disappointing to learn that the series is likely over. It would have been interesting to see the series continue. However, the series is loosely connected to the novelverse which was obliterated in the CODA trilogy. While not directly tied to the relaunches, there were some connections and I assume NF was wiped out as well by what happened there. Not to mention it appears for whatever reason David is no longer writing Star Trek novels. And I'm sure there are numerous other reasons that no new NF novels will be published by David or anyone else.
I'm debating on whether I'm going to re-read the trilogy of novels that follow this one. For now this will be it for my NF re-read.
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