The Library of Star Treks That Never Were - Book cover designs
- Thread starter Ptrope
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I freaking love this thread. Fantastic work, everyone.
For my part, thanks!
I hope to have a couple more up some time soon.
Just having a little fun with this one. I've had the idea for awhile....anyway, enjoy!
Yeah. Helen Noel is just so gorgeous!
I found a picture with her, Kirk and Spock that almost felt like a promo pic and for some reason there was this flash that popped through my head "Kirk, Spock and McCoy". Like what if McCoy had been a female? Would've been an interesting dynamic.
I know TNG tried a female McCoy, but she came off as mean because Data was so child like. If McCoy had been played by this actress as Noel was played, I think it would've been a great dynamic (sans romance with Kirk stuff) and she would've come off as caring, but strong.
I'll take a look. If it's interesting, and if it fits with what I'm doing, and if I have the time, I may give it a shot. Although 50's and 60's era are more my speciality. 70's and up is more Ptrope and Arcas. (see Ptrope's wonderful covers upthread....it's like they fell through a timewarp
)
Thanks, The Lensman!
And it's time to 'publish' another! "A Piece of Forever" is the sequel to, obviously, "The City on the Edge of Forever," but in this story, Kirk and his handful of Enterprise officers were unable to return to their own time. With their knowledge of the future, their personal experience and knowledge of the technology of their ship, and recordings that Spock is able to recover of the decades ahead, they work in secret to find a way back into space, and back to the Guardian.
(This cover was created for Klaus's September/October challenge, "The Alternative Factor"; the Enterprise in the image is based on Axeman3D's "Metaluna saucer" from the movie This Island Earth)
And it's time to 'publish' another! "A Piece of Forever" is the sequel to, obviously, "The City on the Edge of Forever," but in this story, Kirk and his handful of Enterprise officers were unable to return to their own time. With their knowledge of the future, their personal experience and knowledge of the technology of their ship, and recordings that Spock is able to recover of the decades ahead, they work in secret to find a way back into space, and back to the Guardian.
(This cover was created for Klaus's September/October challenge, "The Alternative Factor"; the Enterprise in the image is based on Axeman3D's "Metaluna saucer" from the movie This Island Earth)
A very fascinating idea!
I've always wondered what a Starfleet crew might do if they were trapped in the past, and this idea was almost hinted at in First Contact (before Data eventually helped to ultimately kick the Borg to the curb). What if Picard had not given or rescinded the order for the crew to live in late 21st century, and if the crew had instead attempted to use their knowledge to return the the 24th century? That might have been the best way to stay out of history's way.
I've always wondered what a Starfleet crew might do if they were trapped in the past, and this idea was almost hinted at in First Contact (before Data eventually helped to ultimately kick the Borg to the curb). What if Picard had not given or rescinded the order for the crew to live in late 21st century, and if the crew had instead attempted to use their knowledge to return the the 24th century? That might have been the best way to stay out of history's way.
Love the design, but my only nerdish nitpick is the green lines sorta make the ship look like it is hanging on a model.
Sir Rhosis
Sir Rhosis
Thanks! Sorry about the lines; I've never seen them that way - they're part of the composition of the classic Blish Trek covers, and I was trying to emulate that. Just takes a different eye, I guess 
Love this thread as well. Would love to see a few books written by Benny Russell & gang or Captain Proton. Would try it but dont have the patients or talent to do these.
One book you'll never see is Kirk, Spock and McCoy stuck in Earth's past because they failed to allow Edith Keeler's death to happen as it did in the original history. I'd sure like to see that one. (Of course, the reason that it'll never happen is because the story of McCoy being stuck in the past by himself has already been published as part of the "Crucible" trilogy.)
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Of all covers, this one really mirrors the layout of an early 1970s novel cover. Well done!
Isn't what's depicted in this fictional story against what the Federation believes? It brings up images of Blade Runner quite a bit.
Well, it should - after all, Blade Runner was the movie of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? 
I think we've seen many things in Trek that go against what the Federation claims to believe and/or practice - Section 31 immediately comes to mind. Although I'm not sure that 'Sheep' is one of those things; how much have we seen - explicitly - that addresses the Federation's attitude toward robots/androids? Sure, Kirk killed just about every robot or AI he ever encountered, from Ruk to Landru to Rayna to Norman, but it's my general recollection (and I could be very wrong) that robotics has been more ignored, in general, than ever really addressed in the context of the Federation, with the main exception being Data and his creator, Soong. And a Trek version of 'Sheep' would obviously be very different from the published novel, I would expect - the description on the cover only says that they were created to do the dangerous jobs and that they revolted, but it doesn't say they were intentionally abused; I don't know why the Federation would consider them anything other than devices to improve the quality of life of its members, and even in "Measure of a Man," the apparent intent was to do so, oblivious to the rights and desires of the AI, in this case Data.
I think we've seen many things in Trek that go against what the Federation claims to believe and/or practice - Section 31 immediately comes to mind. Although I'm not sure that 'Sheep' is one of those things; how much have we seen - explicitly - that addresses the Federation's attitude toward robots/androids? Sure, Kirk killed just about every robot or AI he ever encountered, from Ruk to Landru to Rayna to Norman, but it's my general recollection (and I could be very wrong
) that robotics has been more ignored, in general, than ever really addressed in the context of the Federation, with the main exception being Data and his creator, Soong. And a Trek version of 'Sheep' would obviously be very different from the published novel, I would expect - the description on the cover only says that they were created to do the dangerous jobs and that they revolted, but it doesn't say they were intentionally abused; I don't know why the Federation would consider them anything other than devices to improve the quality of life of its members, and even in "Measure of a Man," the apparent intent was to do so, oblivious to the rights and desires of the AI, in this case Data.
^ Absolutely. I'd expect a Trek version of Sheep to have had as much in common with Dick's original Sheep as Blade Runner did, which, with the sheer fact that it could have been quite interesting, is exactly what made that book cover so plausible to begin with.
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