If I remember right, J.M. Dillard also mentions that Sulu is still waiting to take command of Excelsior in the novelization of Star Trek V. Although we've also got someone else commanding it in ST III and no mention of Sulu's promotion in that film.
Star Trek The Wrath of Khan Book Club
- Thread starter Tallguy
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It's been a long time since I read TFF. I'm not sure I ever finished it. I did read TUC.
No, there is no indication in the film of TSFS that Sulu was meant to be Excelsior's captain just as there is no indication that Saavik was half-Romulan. But (spoilers) McIntyre doesn't let the scene with Sulu go and builds a whole subplot off of it. Which continues into TVH and the trial.
If Dillard included it in TFF I would guess that it had more to do with VM's novels than with any knowledge of the deleted scene in TWOK. These books live in the heads of a lot of fans of the era even if they are forgotten curios now.
IIRC, it was pretty common knowledge at the time that there was a deleted scene of Sulu getting a captaincy. Novelizations weren't our only source of information -- we had SF magazines, conventions, and the like.
This might be why I'm thinking that Dillard mentions it in the ST V novelization. I suppose I could go look to see if I can find it . . . or, I can just wait three years until we get to that novelization!
This should have been part of the TMP book discussion, but all this talk about rushing out the untested Enterprise to confront V'Ger and I'm reminded of the battleship HMS Prince of Wales being pushed into service in order to confront the Bismark.
She left port with construction crew still onboard and her main armament untested, leading to frequent gun jams during the battle.
She never had her main guns fully operational during her short service, and was plagued by mechanical problems up until the time of her sinking by the Japanese.
She never had the chance to be pulled from service to be fixed.
The crew that served on her called her an unlucky ship.
She left port with construction crew still onboard and her main armament untested, leading to frequent gun jams during the battle.
She never had her main guns fully operational during her short service, and was plagued by mechanical problems up until the time of her sinking by the Japanese.
She never had the chance to be pulled from service to be fixed.
The crew that served on her called her an unlucky ship.
Vonda was one of my writing instructors at the Clarion West SFF Writing Workshop, which is still held in Seattle every summer, as was Norman Spinrad, who wrote "The Doomsday Machine" for TOS back in the day. I like to think of myself as very much a second-generation Trek writer.
I believe Vonda left her literary estate to the Clarion West as well.
CW '84 was also where I first met David Hartwell, the legendary SF editor who launched the Star Trek book line at Pocket Books back in the day. It was David who actually encouraged me move from Seattle to NYC to pursue a career in publishing.
The phrase "wasting your life in Seattle" may have been used.
(At the time, I was doing the starving-writer thing, washing dishes and bussing tables at Sea-Tac Airport while selling the occasional short story to Amazing Stories and such.)
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