Star Trek: Perry's Planet by Jack Haldeman II (1980)

[Damian]

I just completed this novel, which was released towards the end of Bantam's contract with Paramount. I found it to be mostly average, if not underwhelming book. It's not a book I really heard anything about in the past. Probably because it's not good enough to be remembered fondly by fans nor bad enough to earn a reputation.

The Enterprise is ordered to a colony planet named for the captain of the expedition, Captain Perry. The colony had set out about 300 years earlier (this was before there was a firm understanding of when Star Trek took place). When they arrive they find a colony that has a total lack of any violence. The planet has a council but it is truly led by what we learn is a holographic construct of Captain Perry himself. They express a desire to join the Federation. They grant the ship shore leave priveleges, as the crew was exhausted and was looking forward to some R&R before being diverted to the colony, and the ships dilithium crystals are losing power. But while on the planet different crewmembers start losing consciousness whenever they begin to engage in any sort of violence. This starts to move throughout the ship as well and eventually Kirk, Spock and McCoy learn this is some sort of infection, or virus, created by the computer that controls the planet (and is basically manifested as Perry). Apparently Perry, as a result of a disease he had, had some delusions and one of them was to eliminate violence from the galaxy. The problem for the Enterprise, however, is that a Klingon commander, with a blood oath against Kirk for killing his brother, has decided to attack the Enterprise at that moment. However, he inexplicably decided to wait for a period of time before carrying out his oath and during that time Scotty, who is in command of the Enterprise while Kirk and Spock are on the planet, beams over to the Klingon ship to 'infect' them with the pacifist virus so they are unable to carry out the commander's blood oath. He has to do this because the Enterprise shields are failing due to the failing crystals. On the planet Kirk and Spock find underground caverns where they believe the nerve center of the computer to be. While on their way there they find colonists who are immune to the pacifist virus, and the 'infected' colonists, possibly due to their inability to engage in any violence, fail to recognize or even see the 'immunes' as they are called. Then there is actually a third set of colonists, those that are immune but recognize themselves as such and try to control their emotions so they are not recognized and become outcasts themselves. Anyway Kirk and Spock eventually find the nerve center of the computer and discover and incredibly old and barely alive Perry that is connected to the computer. However due to his illness and the fact that his mind was going the computer acts erratically and illogically. The computer decides it likes Spock's mind and wants to interface with Spock. While interfacing Spock finds Perry's true self which is in pain and exhausted from his disease.

It seems to pull ideas from a number of Star Trek episodes. It reminded me a bit of "The Return of the Archons" with elements of the Perry construct reminding me of Landru. It also reminds me a bit of "The Apple" as well with a computer controlling a planet and forcing it's own vision of how a planet should be run on the inhabitants (in this case a lack of violence). And like both episodes the book features a civilization that is failing to progress because of a mad computer (though since this is a human colony there are no PD issues here). It also features a bit of Kirk trying to outsmart a mad computer, similar to those episodes I mentioned and "The Ultimate Computer". The author uses a bit of a twist in having Spock be the one that ultimately overcomes the computer in this case. It was also a bit reminiscent of the prior book I just read "Devil World" with a human interfacing with a mad computer and the control center under the planet in a maze of tunnels.

The book does show the Klingons with a hint of an honor code, as the commander is trying to avenge his brother's death and feels it is a matter of honor. It also includes a Klingon priest on the ship, who is critical of the commander and believes he is acting with cowardice.

This was the first novel published after TMP was released and was one of the last 3 published by Bantam. Pocketbooks had been granted a license to publish future books once Bantam had completed their contract. I have a first edition copy and the cover of that copy has an image of a very old Perry tied to a computer, and if you look carefully at the Starfleet Officer in the background, he appears wearing a short sleeve version of TMP uniform, the only Bantam novel to show anything post TMP.

I found the novel to be a bit formulaic though. It seems to draw inspiration from a number of Star Trek episodes, and even previous Bantam novels. But it really doesn't seem to break new ground. It introduces an interesting concept at the beginning, as the colony takes up a referendum to decide if it will join the Federation. The Council indicates all important colony decisions are made in this fashion, sort of like a true democracy. But this is quickly dropped and we learn the real control lies with the Perry construct. It also has an interesting depiction of the Klingons, with a rudimentary sense of honor and Klingon priests, though we don't learn much more about the Klingons beyond that.

Like a number of Bantam novels, it does bring in some interesting ideas, but just fails to develop them. And the story doesn't really break any new ground as a result.

 

[Christopher]

The colony had set out about 300 years earlier (this was before there was a firm understanding of when Star Trek took place).

I wouldn't say that. The Making of Star Trek and the Blish adaptations had established a 23rd-century setting for the show by 1968, and fans back in the '70s were heavily influenced by those books because there wasn't really much else out there. And episodes like "Space Seed" and "Metamorphosis" (and "The Infinite Vulcan" if you knew TAS) implied a similar time frame. So a space colony expedition 300 years before TOS would always have been a stretch, though not entirely inconsistent with things like the Botany Bay leaving for deep space in 1996 (though that was said to be closer to 200 years before).

The author uses a bit of a twist in having Spock be the one that ultimately overcomes the computer in this case.

Is that even a twist? Okay, the usual meme is that Kirk is the computer-slayer, but having Spock be the only one who can save the day was an overused trope in Trek even back then.

The book does show the Klingons with a hint of an honor code, as the commander is trying to avenge his brother's death and feels it is a matter of honor. It also includes a Klingon priest on the ship, who is critical of the commander and believes he is acting with cowardice.

Oh yeah, I think I remember the Klingon priest. It was an interesting look at an alternative version of Klingon culture. I guess I assumed that was in World Without End, which also had insights into Klingon culture, so I conflate the two in my head.

 

[Damian]

I wouldn't say that. The Making of Star Trek and the Blish adaptations had established a 23rd-century setting for the show by 1968, and fans back in the '70s were heavily influenced by those books because there wasn't really much else out there.

I seem to recall another Bantam novel seemed to indicate some ambiguity about when Star Trek took place, though I can't recall which book. I'm assuming Haldeman either didn't read "The Making of Star Trek" or didn't recall it noted the timeframe was the 23rd century. If you only relied on what was on screen at the time, without reading "The Making Of...", the timeframe was a bit ambiguous. The biggest hint to me was "Miri", assuming Miri's planet paralleled our own in every way, including the timeframe (I assume it did since it would seem odd that it paralleled Earth in every way except one).

Okay, the usual meme is that Kirk is the computer-slayer, but having Spock be the only one who can save the day was an overused trope in Trek even back then.

Yeah, I was referring to Spock being the computer-slayer this time. Kirk tried in the book to "outsmart" the computer but he failed and Spock had to take on the computer instead. I admit, it's not much of a twist, except that Kirk failed in his attempt this go around.

Like so many Bantam books I read, this one started with some promise, but just failed to deliver in many areas. It was ok, but I doubt in 5 years that I will remember much of it. It did kind of bug me a bit that it even seemed to follow a similar formula to "Devil World" with the secret underground caverns and a computer needing a human (or living being) to be tied to. As I was reading the end of the book I just kept thinking this all is very familiar .

 

[Christopher]

I seem to recall another Bantam novel seemed to indicate some ambiguity about when Star Trek took place, though I can't recall which book. I'm assuming Haldeman either didn't read "The Making of Star Trek" or didn't recall it noted the timeframe was the 23rd century.

Or he was assuming, as TOS itself did, that interstellar sublight travel might begin as early as the late 20th century. That wasn't an uncommon assumption in the SF of the '60s and '70s. Lost in Space had an Alpha Centauri colony mission in 1997. Heck, even Blade Runner as late as 1982 postulated that Earth would somehow have interstellar colonies established well before 2019. (Although of course other SF was more conservative, e.g. Forbidden Planet assuming we wouldn't even reach the Moon until the end of the 21st century.)

Yeah, I was referring to Spock being the computer-slayer this time. Kirk tried in the book to "outsmart" the computer but he failed and Spock had to take on the computer instead. I admit, it's not much of a twist, except that Kirk failed in his attempt this go around.

I just don't see that as defying a cliche so much as the "Spock saves the day" cliche outweighing the "Kirk beats computers" cliche. In TOS, Spock was the breakout star, but Roddenberry and Shatner fought to keep him from overshadowing Kirk, so they ended up being about equal. In season 3, after Roddenberry stepped back, you could see Spock taking over more as the network wanted. And he tended to dominate in a lot of the tie-in fiction too, as evidenced by the fact that the first two original Bantam Trek novels both have titles that begin with "Spock" and end with an exclamation point.

 

[Damian]

Or he was assuming, as TOS itself did, that interstellar sublight travel might begin as early as the late 20th century. That wasn't an uncommon assumption in the SF of the '60s and '70s.

Hmm. I guess that could be it as well. He pushed the timeframe to the limit, and it might not be exactly 300 years, but close to 300 years as well. I think the major point he wanted to make there was that Perry's 'real' body was incredibly old. You know, come to think of it that reminds me of another novel I read not too long ago that features and incredibly long lived human, TNG's "The Forgotten War". Though in that case he was kept basically in suspended animation except when they needed him to make some big decision.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Perry's Planet cover art by Ian McLean, on Flickr

It's hard to detect in this scan, but if you check this cover up close, the silhouette is of Kirk, wearing his T-shirt-style shirt from TMP, complete with a Perscan device.

 

[Damian]

Perry's Planet cover art by Ian McLean, on Flickr

It's hard to detect in this scan, but if you check this cover up close, the silhouette is of Kirk, wearing his T-shirt-style shirt from TMP, complete with a Perscan device.

Yeah, I read somewhere this was the only Bantam novel to feature anything post-TMP. Of course I believe only one more Bantam Star Trek book was released after this one, but still.

 

[Christopher]

Yeah, I read somewhere this was the only Bantam novel to feature anything post-TMP. Of course I believe only one more Bantam Star Trek book was released after this one, but still.

Two -- The Galactic Whirlpool and Death's Angel.

 

[Damian]

Two -- The Galactic Whirlpool and Death's Angel.

Oops. I thought TGW was before

 

[Christopher]

Oops. I thought TGW was before

Nope, 8 months later.

 

[E-DUB]

It's been a long time since I've read this one but, not to speak ill of the deadm Jack was never the writer that his brother Joe is.

 

[E-DUB]

Given a little time, I realize that I was perhaps a little harsh in my earlier post. I think that the Trek books under the Bantam label were simply written to a different standard than the later books that we have become accustomed to. Some of them, notably "Entropy Effect" managed to rise above that but it was, as the saying goes, what it was.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Some of them, notably "Entropy Effect" managed to rise above that but it was, as the saying goes, what it was.

"The Entropy Effect" was the (excellent) first Pocket Books original novel tie-in (#2, because TMP's novelisation was #1 when the retro numbering was applied a few years later). It was the one that Pocket had to delay due to the last Bantam's in train that had to be published after TMP.

Yeah, I read somewhere this was the only Bantam novel to feature anything post-TMP.

But "Perry's Planet" (despite the cover art), "The Galactic Whirlpool" and "Death's Angel" were still set in the 5YM.

 

[Christopher]

But "Perry's Planet" (despite the cover art), "The Galactic Whirlpool" and "Death's Angel" were still set in the 5YM.

As, indeed, were most of the early Pocket novels, despite their cover art. There were only a few that were meant to be post-TMP -- The Covenant of the Crown, The Prometheus Design, Triangle, and Dwellers in the Crucible were the only ones in the first five years that were set after the movie (although some, like Black Fire, The Wounded Sky, and My Enemy, My Ally were set in some sort of vaguely defined transitional phase between the series and movie versions of the Enterprise).

 

[Damian]

But "Perry's Planet" (despite the cover art), "The Galactic Whirlpool" and "Death's Angel" were still set in the 5YM.

Yeah. I'm not even sure why the Perry's Planet cover depicted a uniform from TMP. It's hard to even see all that well.

But in fairness a lot of the early Pocketbooks weren't always the best at depicting the correct time period on the cover. Sometimes they put original series uniforms with the refit Enterprise from TMP. Part of that is probably some ambiguity at the time about whether there was another pre-TMP 5 year (or extended period mission). Some of that may be because the books at the time weren't always clear when the novel took place (sometimes you could tell by the ranks of the officers. And sometimes the novels themselves just seemed inconsistent as to the time frame and maybe the cover artists were just trying to cover all their bases. I'm certainly glad the modern novels over the last 20 years or so have been much better at depicting cover art more consistent with what's inside.

I think that the Trek books under the Bantam label were simply written to a different standard than the later books that we have become accustomed to.

Yeah, the Bantam books definitely seemed to have a different standard. I tried to avoid judging them by today's standards because it seemed Paramount at the time didn't exercise as much control at the time it seemed, and the novel writers at the time were frequently more generally science fiction writers. A few even acknowledged not seeing the entire TV series, which is all there was at the time. But the stories seemed to follow a similar pattern. The Enterprise stumbles on something they don't understand and the crew seem to not get what's going on until the end. And I noticed some similarities between this book and a "Devil World" as I noted earlier. And there were a couple just downright bad Bantam books like "Price of the Phoenix" and "Fate of the Phoenix", the latter of which seemed to meander around and I got to the point I stopped caring how it would end.

Perry's Planet was just ok I thought. It was readable but not all that memorable. Funny in a way because I'll probably always remember the Phoenix novels because they were so bad.

 

[Damian]

As, indeed, were most of the early Pocket novels, despite their cover art. There were only a few that were meant to be post-TMP -- The Covenant of the Crown, The Prometheus Design, Triangle, and Dwellers in the Crucible were the only ones in the first five years that were set after the movie (although some, like Black Fire, The Wounded Sky, and My Enemy, My Ally were set in some sort of vaguely defined transitional phase between the series and movie versions of the Enterprise).

I remember at the time when I read those novels I found that a bit confusing. I thought I was reading a post-TMP book based on the cover yet the story seemed like it was during the 5YM (and of course hybrid covers with some TMP and some TV series art made that even worse). And of course there was no Memory-Alpha or Beta to help.

I checked Memory Alpha and they place "Black Fire" and "My Enemy, My Ally" now in 2270, and "The Wounded Sky" in 2275. While Memory Beta places "My Enemy, My Ally" in 2275 (the other 2 books agree). So I guess take your pick on that one. I read "The Wounded Sky" most recently of the 3, probably about 10 or 15 years ago...I do recall that did feel a bit more post-TMP'ish then 5YM, though it wasn't a perfect fit. I only vaguely remember "My Enemy, My Ally" and I don't remember "Black Fire" at all though I know I read it. All reasons once I finish the last of my Bantam Books I plan on re-reading some of the early Pocketbooks again. I hear a lot of good things about "The Entropy Effect" from people here and I honestly can't recall most of that story either. So it'll definitely be worth revisiting some of those.

EDIT: I just looked at the Memory Beta articles for all 3 books and they noted their year is based on the Pocketbooks chronology---though all 3 noted there is some ambiguity because of varying reasons. For 2 it notes the descriptions of the uniforms are more in line with the original series and it noted on "Black Fire" that there was a new bridge module placed and some other things that make the timing difficult to place.

 

[Christopher]

Yeah. I'm not even sure why the Perry's Planet cover depicted a uniform from TMP. It's hard to even see all that well.

It seems self-evident to me why any Star Trek product coming out in 1979-80 would want to tie into the newest, most prominent release in the ST franchise. The purpose of cover art is to attract the eye and get people interested in buying the product, not to be strictly accurate about content or continuity.

Heck, ask Greg Cox about all the times he re-released a classic novel with a cover photo from the latest feature-film adaptation, even when that adaptation changed the story beyond recognition. If there's a movie generating hype, you tie into it any way you can.

It is weird that they made the uniform almost unseeable, though. Maybe someone at Bantam had second thoughts and asked the artist to obscure the details, leave things more ambiguous.

But in fairness a lot of the early Pocketbooks weren't always the best at depicting the correct time period on the cover. Sometimes they put original series uniforms with the refit Enterprise from TMP. Part of that is probably some ambiguity at the time about whether there was another pre-TMP 5 year (or extended period mission). Some of that may be because the books at the time weren't always clear when the novel took place (sometimes you could tell by the ranks of the officers. And sometimes the novels themselves just seemed inconsistent as to the time frame and maybe the cover artists were just trying to cover all their bases.

Nope. Strictly about hype and making the sale. The general public is nowhere near as obsessed with continuity details as hardcore fans are. They don't worry about what color the uniforms are, just about whether it's a story about Kirk and Spock.

I checked Memory Alpha and they place "Black Fire" and "My Enemy, My Ally" now in 2270, and "The Wounded Sky" in 2275. While Memory Beta places "My Enemy, My Ally" in 2275 (the other 2 books agree). So I guess take your pick on that one.

Retcons decades after the fact, having nothing to do with authorial intent. At the time the books came out, the decade in which TOS took place hadn't even been settled on yet; there were conflicting opinions about whether it was the 2200s or the 2260s. (The Final Reflection and Final Frontier both use the Spaceflight Chronology scheme putting TOS in around 2207-10, give or take.) The only real chronological data points in Duane's novels were that The Romulan Way took place eight years after "The Enterprise Incident" and a year after My Enemy, My Ally. However, TWS and ME,MA are explicitly pre-TMP in the ranks of Sulu and Uhura (though they do promote Chekov to lieutenant). ME,MA and TRW were re-edited upon their re-release in The Bloodwing Voyages to conform them to a post-TMP setting.

And it makes no sense whatsoever for Memory Alpha to put TWS 5 years after ME,MA, because ME,MA is explicitly one month after TWS. That's just massively wrong. There's no real way to fit the Duane novels into the modern timeline, because it did not exist when they were written.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I'm not even sure why the Perry's Planet cover depicted a uniform from TMP. It's hard to even see all that well.

I can't remember who first pointed out the TMP costume references on the cover. Perhaps Richard Arnold at a convention? I couldn't wait to get home and check what I had always assumed was a silhouette and was amazed that, once you knew what to look for, there was no doubt. I guess it was the cover artist tossing in his own homage to TMP, but was cautious in case the new uniforms were not approved for Bantam to use?

But in fairness a lot of the early Pocketbooks weren't always the best at depicting the correct time period on the cover.

But it was a great way to cash in on the free publicity generated by the movies. New fans of TMP woulfd have been attracted to TMP uniform covers. "The Entropy Effect" was serialised in "Starlog" and the "Death of Kirk" caused much consternation at the time (perhaps also setting the precident for fan outrage about the "Death of Spock" in ST II?). We were reassured that the story took place before TMP, even though the uniforms on the cover art suggested a sequel.

One amusing cover is "Yesterday's Son". Spock in his "The Wrath of Khan"-style uniform, but in blue. Something to catch the attention of fans old and new?

It seems self-evident to me why any Star Trek product coming out in 1979-80 would want to tie into the newest, most prominent release in the ST franchise. The purpose of cover art is to attract the eye and get people interested in buying the product, not to be strictly accurate about content or continuity.

Definitely.

And it makes no sense whatsoever for Memory Alpha to put TWS 5 years after ME,MA, because ME,MA is explicitly one month after TWS. That's just massively wrong.

Yep. I guess "The Wounded Sky" and "Spock's World" become more problematic after Duane's first two "Rihannsu" novels were tweaked to comply with the later tales in that series, but "The Wounded Sky" and "Spock's World" were never tweaked in the same way. T'Pau's death (in SW) was also reversed as a mere rumour in books set much later.

 

[Christopher]

One amusing cover is "Yesterday's Son". Spock in his "Wrath of Khan"-style uniform, but in blue. Something to catch the attention of fans old and new?

I'd guess that Boris Vallejo was using a black-and-white movie photo for reference and assumed it was colored like the TOS uniform. Back in those days, it wasn't as easy to get extensive photo reference for Star Trek as it is today with all the home video and wikis and screencap sites. That's why some of the covers mix and match TV and movie elements. There was no master plan behind it, just a case of the artists making do with what references they could find and not always knowing the series well enough to know the difference between TV and movie images. Sometimes the artists scrounged up references that weren't even from Star Trek, like the Battlestar Galactica Vipers strafing McCoy and Arrhae on the cover of The Romulan Way.

 

[Damian]

It is weird that they made the uniform almost unseeable, though. Maybe someone at Bantam had second thoughts and asked the artist to obscure the details, leave things more ambiguous.

Yeah, that's what I meant. I actually didn't catch that detail until I read about it on Memory Beta before posting the thread. I thought it was unusual they would decide to tie into TMP that way but in such a way you could barely see it. But I'm not surprised they tried to cash in on the then released TMP. Just that they did it in such a way that you almost miss it.

And it makes no sense whatsoever for Memory Alpha to put TWS 5 years after ME,MA, because ME,MA is explicitly one month after TWS. That's just massively wrong. There's no real way to fit the Duane novels into the modern timeline, because it did not exist when they were written.

Well, in fairness at least on Memory Beta it does state the years are based on Pocketbook's own chronology and the articles on the books at the bottom under background information do note some of those inconsistencies. I sort of take that to mean what Memory Beta is saying is that is the year Pocketbooks gives it, but it doesn't jive all that well with the books themselves so take it with a grain of salt. And it's one of the few times Memory Beta notes that. Usually it just notes the year without any other information, presumably because in those cases it's consistent with the information in the book (if not noted in the 'historians note' in novels themselves). The other times I've seen them do that was for the "New Earth" series...but in that case the narrative better supports the later date Memory Beta gives with current information.

One amusing cover is "Yesterday's Son". Spock in his "The Wrath of Khan"-style uniform, but in blue. Something to catch the attention of fans old and new?

There was no master plan behind it, just a case of the artists making do with what references they could find and not always knowing the series well enough to know the difference between TV and movie images.

Honestly, I did like some of those early Pocketbook covers, even if they sometimes lead to confusion. Some of the detail was pretty good. I love covers depicting the various ships on the covers and I'm glad some of the recent novels have gone back to that. Some of the covers about 10 years ago were getting a bit generic I thought but they've gotten much better recently. I really liked the cover for "The Antares Maelstrom" "The Captain's Oath" and "Available Light" for instance.