• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Star Trek Q&A -- Appreciation Thread ****SPOILERS*****

Re: Q&A

Keith I think this is too vague. Implicitly, the Q continuum seemed to be separate from our Universe and most/all other ones. If this is true, Them live in another universe or are so powerful that they can exist independent of any space-time continuum?
 
Re: Q&A

Keith I think this is too vague. Implicitly, the Q continuum seemed to be separate from our Universe and most/all other ones.
I disagree with this entirely. The universe is a very very very very big place.
 
Re: Q&A

Substitude what we call Universe by Space-time continuum and
estimate how many different ones there could be, all decoupled from each other.
 
Re: Q&A

I thought it was a good book, chocked full of cameos and good inclusion of the larger Trek-universe (and it's always bothered me that the shows/movies didn't really do this). Nice to see that there's something more powerful than the Q, although if they're omnipotent, would it be possible to have something be more powerful?

One complaint -- in the Riding Club dinner scene, Jordan refers to Kadobata as the XO. Worf is the XO. I was a little confused by who was ordering what.

All-in-all, another job well done, Keith.
 
Re: Q&A

no, Worf is Number One aka First Officer. Kadohata is the Ops officer and Executive Officer. two different jobs. The XO is basically the night-shift's First Officer while the First Officer solely works day-shift. theoretically they are of equal rank. in practice the Number One sometimes out-ranks the XO.
 
Re: Q&A

^^The first officer is also called the executive officer, but second officer and ops aren't the same position. I mean, Harry Kim was ops on Voyager, but he wasn't the second officer; he was just an ensign. And on Titan, Tuvok is the second officer as well as the tactical officer (I think -- it's been a while). Data was both second officer and ops officer, and Kadohata is too, but the jobs don't automatically go together.
 
Re: Q&A

captcalhoun said:
no, Worf is Number One aka First Officer. Kadohata is the Ops officer and Executive Officer. two different jobs. The XO is basically the night-shift's First Officer while the First Officer solely works day-shift. theoretically they are of equal rank. in practice the Number One sometimes out-ranks the XO.

I don't think that scheme has actually been established anywhere but in the New Frontier novels. For the most part, second-in-command, first officer and executive officer are different ways of referring to the same post.

Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman
 
Re: Q&A

Probably coming to this a little late in the game, as the novel seems to have been out for a few months.

First, let me say I'm not big on Trek novels, I read a few back in the day circa TNG's end when I was 11 or 12. Even at that age, I thought they were pretty bad. I didn't pick up another one until two years ago with S.D. Perry's Unity. And while I thought it was a great book and it totally made me re-think Trek literature, it suffered from what felt like a 'best of' plot. The 'Conspiracy' stuff mixed with established Trill mythology I felt cheapened Sisko's return a little, which was totally why I picked it up, being a DS9 fan.

I enjoyed it but wasn't really in a hurry to pick up another Trek book after, for whatever reason. Then I stumbled upon a glowing review on Trekmovie.com in my search for other news and decided to check it out. And having seen KRAD around the board, it'd be worth my ten bucks if only to write a review in this thread ;)

In any event, this book kicked ass. I polished it off in four hours. I agree with just about everyone here in saying that Q was written pitch-perfectly. In other film-to-book adaptations I've had to actively imagine the actor delivering the lines in the book. Q's dialogue in Q&A seems as though it was whispered into KRAD's ear by Q himself.

The most pleasant surprise I had was that although this featured kind of a 'best of' story like Unity did, it seemed completely organic. The story was riddled with references to what has gone before and it never seemed disjointed or forced. Which, I would imagine would be an immense challenge. Not just making all the references tie in, but also making them seem organic to the narrative.

Q&A does this awesomely. For all its failings, Unity was a good read but this novel was an exceptional one.

Methinks I've sold Trek literature too short in recent years. I'm gonna have to get my shit together and read more than two every ten years, especially if Mr. DeCandido intends to keep writing them.

Thanks KRAD for the first thing that feels like a TNG fix since First Contact! :D
 
Re: Q&A

^ Thanks so much, DeafPoet. That kind of review just warms the cockles of my heart.





("Just what I need -- hot cockles....")




Seriously, though, thanks very much. I hope you'll check out my other Trek fiction, as well as that of my fellow scribes -- but, y'know, mostly mine.... :D
 
Re: Q&A

captcalhoun said:
no, Worf is Number One aka First Officer. Kadohata is the Ops officer and Executive Officer. two different jobs. The XO is basically the night-shift's First Officer while the First Officer solely works day-shift. theoretically they are of equal rank. in practice the Number One sometimes out-ranks the XO.
I'm afraid you are quite incorrect. The First Officer and the Executive Officer are one-in-the-same. XO is short for "Executive Officer." Kadohata is the Second Officer. There is no military shorthand that I am aware of for Second Officer.
 
Re: Q&A

i'm not. just because that doesn't jibe with the GODDAMN US NAVY doesn't mean it's wrong. it's how it was explained in NF Captain's Table: Once Burned and appears to be how things were in TNG.

Data is the XO and heads night-shift as seen in TNG 'Data's Day'.
 
Re: Q&A

captcalhoun said:
i'm not. just because that doesn't jibe with the GODDAMN US NAVY doesn't mean it's wrong. it's how it was explained in NF Captain's Table: Once Burned and appears to be how things were in TNG.

Data is the XO and heads night-shift as seen in TNG 'Data's Day'.
Data was absolutely never called the "executive officer" in any episode of TNG, ever.

Officers of the watch are not called executive officers, and in many cases watch officers are lieutenants and sometimes even ensigns. But the second officer is not necessarily a watch officer. The fact that Data stood the night watch does not change his rank or his billet.

The job title "first officer" is synonymous with executive officer and/or XO. In addition to being the second-in-command, the XO is responsible for the day-to-day operation of the ship and the status of its crew.

In TNG, a second officer has command-administrative duties in addition to whatever job responsibilities he/she fulfills on the ship. On some ships (e.g., Enterprise), the second officer is the operations officer; on other ships (e.g. Titan), the post is filled by the tactical officer, or even the science officer.

And the simple fact of the matter is that Peter David got it wrong in his New Frontier books. Yes, I said it: He made a mistake. (The villagers will now start lighting their torches....)
 
Re: Q&A

captcalhoun said:
no, Worf is Number One aka First Officer. Kadohata is the Ops officer and Executive Officer. two different jobs. The XO is basically the night-shift's First Officer while the First Officer solely works day-shift. theoretically they are of equal rank. in practice the Number One sometimes out-ranks the XO.

The only problem there is that we see Kadohata on duty at the same time as Worf. While Data may have never needed sleep and could be night watch officer and then sit at Ops as soon as the gamma shift ended, we can safely assume Kadohata would need more time off.
 
Re: Q&A

captcalhoun said:
no, Worf is Number One aka First Officer. Kadohata is the Ops officer and Executive Officer. two different jobs. The XO is basically the night-shift's First Officer while the First Officer solely works day-shift. theoretically they are of equal rank. in practice the Number One sometimes out-ranks the XO.

Fine, I guess, but think about that for a second: did you ever get the impression that Will Riker sometimes out-ranked Data? Of course not. He was Number One and everyone else falls in line. No theoretical equal rank in sight.

Granted, you guys are probably referring to a story I haven't read, but it seems weird to say that the first and second officers aren't ranked, within eachother.
 
Re: Q&A

David Mack said:
And the simple fact of the matter is that Peter David got it wrong in his New Frontier books. Yes, I said it: He made a mistake. (The villagers will now start lighting their torches....)

What, are the GUARDS! off duty this week?
 
Re: Q&A

David Mack said:
And the simple fact of the matter is that Peter David got it wrong in his New Frontier books. Yes, I said it: He made a mistake. (The villagers will now start lighting their torches....)

I wouldn't call it a mistake, since he expended nearly a page of exposition about the origin of the First Officer/XO split which occurred at some point in the misty history of Starfleet.
 
Re: Q&A

captcalhoun said:
i'm not. just because that doesn't jibe with the GODDAMN US NAVY doesn't mean it's wrong. it's how it was explained in NF Captain's Table: Once Burned and appears to be how things were in TNG.

Data is the XO and heads night-shift as seen in TNG 'Data's Day'.
Data was not the only one who took command during the night shift. Crusher did it, and an entire episode was devoted to Counselor Troi getting her bridge officer qualification just so she could take command during the night shift. And no where in Data's Day, or any other episode, was he referred to as the XO or Executive Officer. Data is the Second Officer of the Enterprise in the Operational Chain of Command. That is established on screen continuity.

XO means Executive Officer. Spock was the XO of the Enterprise on TOS, Riker was the XO of the Enterprise on TNG, Kira was the XO of DS9 on DS9, Worf was the XO of the Defiant on DS9, and Chakotay was the XO of Voyager on VOY.

Second Officer means third in command. This is consistent usage throughout the 24th Century Treks. Since XO was never used in reference to the Second Officer, it's safe to conclude that the term XO matches up with the US Navy, especially since Roddenberry tried to match ranks and terms up with them (right down to the elimination of the Commodore rank after the US Navy dropped it). Even BSG uses the term XO to refer to the Executive Officer. Colonel Tigh is often called "the XO," much like Picard calls his XO "Number One."

You remain quite incorrect.

BTW, Keith, have I mentioned that I really enjoyed the book? Q was right on the mark. I could hear John de Lancie everytime Q spoke, and I found the multiple Qs to be hilarious, just in trying to keep track of which Q was Q.
 
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top