I really liked the cinematic quality of the graphic novel. I never read the book, but am I right in remembering that it was different? Or am I mixing that up with my memory of Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire, which seemed to be different whether you read the book, graphic novel, or listened to the audiobook. Seeing how the baddies viewed the Federation was interesting. They thought we were the barbarous ones. Part propaganda, part reality.
My recollection is that the graphic novel of The Ashes of Eden tells the same story as the novel, but heavily trimmed down, leaving out subplots and the like. I actually prefer the comic's tighter version of the story.
I once had the idea to CG animate some of the space scenes from Ashes using the comic as storyboards, and Shatner's narration from the audiobook, but all the lyrical sections of prose I looked for in the audiobook had been excised. I never listened to the whole thing, but for the segments I tried to find, my memory is that the abridgment was absolutely brutal (not to mention the wall-to-wall muzak and royalty-free sound effects). You'd expect the comic to be the no-frills version of the story, but the graphic novel version kept some moments to breathe from time to time (which I guess makes sense, pacing and balance between action and anticipation is a particularly critical element in that medium). It'd probably be easier just to pay someone who can do a good Shatner on Cameo or something to read the excerpts I wanted to use. Hey, that's a thought.... But if I was going to do that, I'd probably try it out first on getting someone who can imitate Orson Wells (or maybe Michael Ansara, for period accuracy as well as a Trek tie-in) to read the cast list of the KT films and do what Paramount should've done in 2016 and remade the TMP teaser as an ad for Star Trek Beyond.
I just finished the audio-visual presentation of The Ashes of Eden. Came out at just over 2 hours! I had no intention of bothering with the audiobook until I got the idea to make this video, was happy with the GN. Some scenes are faithful, some have snappier dialogue. Some are kind of the same but very much rewritten. The graphic novel is tighter, there were many scenes from the text that were cut or abridged further. There are some scenes cut from the audio too - I wanted more of Sulu, Spock and friends on the Excelsior but the scenes simply were cut from the audio. Plus the whole subplot of Chekov and Uhura's undercover mission is completely gone for timing reasons, and the ending is different.
Also reused by ST VI's Denny Martin Flinn for his paperback novel, "The Fearful Summons" (dated June 1995, same month as "The Ashes of Eden" hardcover).
I loved Ashes of Eden, it did feel like a perfect movie sequel and fit in nicely with canon. I liked the characters and main villain. It had old school starship battles that were clever rather than pew pew. Hard to believe that vid is almost 20 years old.
well, it was written before first contact. And the borg were much more terrifying in that book (I remember having nightmares as a kid after reading the borg battle on the assimilated colony). The comic was a great adaptation. By the way, in later books shatner if’s a couple of times on how to picard happened the same things that happened to Kirk, kinda implying they copied his first books.
It's life! BBK is over a decade old, incredibly. The Star Trek universe has moved on so much since then. There are deepfakes of Shatner and Nimoy's face over Pine and Quinto now. This one is particularly good Do people want to see Old Man Kirk? I feel I am the only person passionate about seeing Shatner in Trek one last time (apart from maybe @Khan 2.0 ) [although in my mind he probably looks how he did 15 years ago, I felt a bit crushed seeing him in that 2013 Oscars sketch tbh] Even the makers of the trailer told me the best way for their story to be developed is in a novelisation. Bill has just turned 90, he looks different to how he did in 1994 and his voice has aged. Plus story - would you want Kirk involved in Spock's mission and the destruction of Romulus? Or would that be too sad?