Thanks for screwing Star Trek, CBS...

[Therin of Andor]

And that's what makes the article suspect. CBS does sell both New and Old Trek and awards licenses to anyone willing to pay for either or both (Hasbro and Mattel currently both have toy licenses to produce products based off Old and New Trek).

They do now.

When the 2009 movie was announced, and the recasting was being promoted, though, there were speculations on the TrekLit board that all novel cover art might have to switch to Pine, Quinto and Urban's likenesses. Due to contractual arrangements with the new actors.

When Robin Curtis was recast as Saavik, the novels and comics were no longer allowed to use Kirstie Alley's likeness, even though she seemed to be a more popular Saavik. It was quite some time before Playmates and DST released Saavik action figures, and IDW did a comic adaptation - and by now an Alley likeness was permitted.

We also noted the sudden addition of "The Original Series" subtitle to all new TOS-based novels.

 

[C.E. Evans]

And that's what makes the article suspect. CBS does sell both New and Old Trek and awards licenses to anyone willing to pay for either or both (Hasbro and Mattel currently both have toy licenses to produce products based off Old and New Trek).

They do now.

They have since Star Trek XI was released. It was just an issue of who wanted to pay for the licenses for both. Some took one or the other, but IDW comics had a license for both from the start.

When the 2009 movie was announced, and the recasting was being promoted, though, there were speculations on the TrekLit board that all novel cover art might have to switch to Pine, Quinto and Urban's likenesses. Due to contractual arrangements with the new actors.

That's just the nature of doing business in Hollywood. When Marvel Comics had the license to make Star Trek comics in the '90s, they produced a title called Star Trek: Early Voyages dealing with Captain Pike's crew. Due to contractual problems with a couple of actors from the original The Cage pilot, they couldn't use their exact likenesses. Dynamite Comics experienced this too a decade later when they did a Battlestar Galactica comic based off the original '70s series.

When Robin Curtis was recast as Saavik, the novels and comics were no longer allowed to use Kirstie Alley's likeness, even though she seemed to be a more popular Saavik. It was quite some time before Playmates and DST released Saavik action figures, and IDW did a comic adaptation - and by now an Alley likeness was permitted.

Well, to be fair, it was quite some time before a Saavik figure was made at all. When Playmates finally got around to making one in the '90s, they used the Alley likeness.

We also noted the sudden addition of "The Original Series" subtitle to all new TOS-based novels.

I think that's solely for marketing purposes to specifically distinguish TOS novels. Books that don't exactly fit in a particular series--such as books set between TOS and TNG or ones that span multiple shows--are placed under the regular "Star Trek" umbrella (albeit with a different font than the classic one).