The Captain's Daughter
- Thread starter Smiley
- Start date
Finished the (re?)-read.
- I think this book was marketed wrong. It apparently did not sell very well. I do think it should 100% have had Jacqueline Kim's likeness on the cover, and likely Alan Ruck's as well, and probably should not have been part of the normal numbered line which, to me at least, suggests a classic Enterprise adventure. Give readers a better idea what to expect by putting the right stuff on the cover, y'know.
- Ultimately, this whole book is a retcon, which is one of PAD's specialties. In 1994 Sulu went from having no daughter that we knew of to having an adult daughter at the helm of the new Enterprise, and this whole book is an answer to Kirk's question: "When did Sulu have time to have a daughter?" So the frame story takes place shortly after Generations with sections set right after the five-year mission as well as in the period between The Motion Picture and the crew's exoneration following The Voyage Home.
- For a book called The Captain's Daughter, I think too much of this book is from the perspective of the captain and not enough from the perspective of his daughter. Also the uncomfortable male gaze stuff I noted at the halfway point persisted.
- I think the antagonists in this book are really terrible and unnecessary. (And also some kind of Avengers pun? Rogers and Thor?) The book didn't really need them at all, and this story of love and loss and grief certainly didn't need Saturday morning cartoon villains spouting garbage like, "Hey boss, I like murder and torture as much as the next guy but why are we doing this?"
- Ultimately I think this book should have been, like, half Demora's perspective at least, maybe more, with a good deal less Hikaru's perspective. And I think the core story of them figuring out their relationship and their family (and Harriman figuring out his relationship with his family and recent history) would have been more than sufficient to carry this story without the ridiculous villain in the background.
Also, this book came shortly after the audio Captain Sulu Adventures, one of them penned by Peter David. Has anyone listened to these? Worth seeking out?
- I think this book was marketed wrong. It apparently did not sell very well. I do think it should 100% have had Jacqueline Kim's likeness on the cover, and likely Alan Ruck's as well, and probably should not have been part of the normal numbered line which, to me at least, suggests a classic Enterprise adventure. Give readers a better idea what to expect by putting the right stuff on the cover, y'know.
- Ultimately, this whole book is a retcon, which is one of PAD's specialties. In 1994 Sulu went from having no daughter that we knew of to having an adult daughter at the helm of the new Enterprise, and this whole book is an answer to Kirk's question: "When did Sulu have time to have a daughter?" So the frame story takes place shortly after Generations with sections set right after the five-year mission as well as in the period between The Motion Picture and the crew's exoneration following The Voyage Home.
- For a book called The Captain's Daughter, I think too much of this book is from the perspective of the captain and not enough from the perspective of his daughter. Also the uncomfortable male gaze stuff I noted at the halfway point persisted.
- I think the antagonists in this book are really terrible and unnecessary. (And also some kind of Avengers pun? Rogers and Thor?) The book didn't really need them at all, and this story of love and loss and grief certainly didn't need Saturday morning cartoon villains spouting garbage like, "Hey boss, I like murder and torture as much as the next guy but why are we doing this?"
- Ultimately I think this book should have been, like, half Demora's perspective at least, maybe more, with a good deal less Hikaru's perspective. And I think the core story of them figuring out their relationship and their family (and Harriman figuring out his relationship with his family and recent history) would have been more than sufficient to carry this story without the ridiculous villain in the background.
Also, this book came shortly after the audio Captain Sulu Adventures, one of them penned by Peter David. Has anyone listened to these? Worth seeking out?
I enjoyed the book. PAD figured out a clever way to fit Demora's backstory in with the continuity of the movies and yet still have Hikaru Sulu be a responsible parent. It was a good call to have a Trek author who's the father of three daughters write this novel. It certainly added something.
It took me YEARS to notice the Frasier in-joke.
It took me YEARS to notice the Frasier in-joke.
One "Captain Sulu Adventure" original audio was promoted as being by Peter David, but when it arrived, the author was called JJ Molloy? It has never been confirmed whether this was a pseudonym for PAD or a last-minute replacement writer. "Cacophony" is actually the hardest one to listen to, since it really is an audible cacophony. I did like the other two. Get the CDs, which work very well with headphones. The "3D sound" effect is less effective on cassette.
∗ "Transformations: A Captain Sulu Adventure" by Dave Stern, performed by George Takei, Dana Ivey and Daniel Gerroll, 1994, 70 min. (3-D sound.)
∗ "Cacophony: A Captain Sulu Adventure" by J.J. Molloy, performed by George Takei, Simon Jones, Maryann Plunkett, Lynne Thigpen and Lee Wilkof, 1994, 70 min. (3-D sound.)
∗ "Envoy: A Captain Sulu Adventure" by L.A. Graf with additional dialogue by George Truett, performed by George Takei, Essene R., Jenifer Lewis, Nan Martin, Howard McGillan and Meredith Monk, 1995, 70 min. (3-D sound.)
Therin, it cracks me up that in the year 2021, you make sure to advise someone to not get the cassettes!
Maybe an old paragraph that he cut and pasted?
Whoops. PAD confirms apparently that he wrote the first few drafts but that it was rewritten by Molloy to exaggerate the sound effects and ended up so poorly that PAD had his name removed.
Hey, vintage is in. Just watch. Any day now we’ll get the complete Betamax collection, I’m sure of it!
I have seen them on eBay. I do know plenty of people still using cassettes. (And most of my own Trek audios are from the cassette days.) Mainly, I found it curious that the then-new "3D sound" worked amazingly well on CD but unimpressively on cassette.
Nah, just an afterthought from the last time the topic came up.
Ah! Thank you. That is the first time I have seen an explanation. (I am sure I even once emailed PAD to ask him.) PAD was credited in all the pre-publicity. The sound FX are quite bizarre on this one. A good utilization of the 3D sound, but yeah, the story did not engage me.
I couldn't stand to listen to Cacophony on headphones because the ever-shifting stereo voices put my startle reflex on overdrive.
I don't have the cassette, but I think the cassettes I have were processed with Dolby B noise reduction. I wonder if that maybe interfered with the "3D sound". It might've worked better with Dolby S noise reduction, as Dolby S claimed to offer CD quality sound reproduction.
I originally bought the first Sulu audio on cassette, to match the rest of my collection. Then I found references to the "3D sound" being more effective with headphones. I could only find the next one on CD and realised how amazing the "3D sound" actually was. So I refought the first on on CD and gave the cassette version to a friend.
The delay of the ninth and final Shatnerverse novel meant that it came out on CD only, once again messing with my shelving arrangements, and my mind.
