Well, I liked him.
These are the voyages of... what? Really? Who??? Who Cares????
- Thread starter Data Soong
- Start date
Well, I liked him.
That's one thing I've enjoyed - going back and watching something like ST II (which I've seen a million times) and keying in on Terrell bits and feeling like I know him a little more.
The same thing happened when they did the TOS books a few years ago that framed episodes - it made me watch those episodes again in a different way.
What makes you have a vested interest in the characters you do like?
I would like to see at least an occasional in-series novel for the non-TOS shows, if only because I'd love to go on one more adventure with all the old favorites, something new with them all back in the familiar locations, even if it's just like a 'once a year/every other year or so' kind of thing.
And, really, the problem that I find with making a connection with the new TNG and DS9 crew is that we haven't really had a lot of focus on them when they're not in the midst of a big, ongoing EVENT plot - Elfiki and Smrhova still feel like blank slates to me, even though they've been part of the Enterprise crew for some time now, and Ro, Blackmer, and Cenn are probably the only characters I'd qualify as having prominence on DS9 right now.
Like, I started off saying that I'd love some in-series novels on occasion, but I'd also like a few novels set further back in the post-Destiny timeline, just to give these characters something to DO other than stand around and 'yes sir!' Given the rotation of the Enterprise crew since Nemesis, introducing new senior staff in four or five different novels in the roughly... I think around twenty novels that heavily feature the Enterprise within that timeframe. And it's the same with DS9, the station's crew has changed and shifted since the events of The Soul Key, but really the only one of these new characters who's had a focus is Blackmer.
I'd really like it if, rather than trying to barrel ahead and try and make some kind of event tale regarding the fate of Romulus, the novels take their time to get there and tell a few stories that slot in before the most recent books in the timeline, things that may not make major changes in the few prominent characters of the Enterprise and DS9, but still allow us to have a clear idea of who the major characters are, as people, not as plot devices.
That would probably go a long way in making a connection to these people as well, making it so they aren't a bunch of blank slates, waiting for someone to write about them.
And, really, the problem that I find with making a connection with the new TNG and DS9 crew is that we haven't really had a lot of focus on them when they're not in the midst of a big, ongoing EVENT plot - Elfiki and Smrhova still feel like blank slates to me, even though they've been part of the Enterprise crew for some time now, and Ro, Blackmer, and Cenn are probably the only characters I'd qualify as having prominence on DS9 right now.
Like, I started off saying that I'd love some in-series novels on occasion, but I'd also like a few novels set further back in the post-Destiny timeline, just to give these characters something to DO other than stand around and 'yes sir!' Given the rotation of the Enterprise crew since Nemesis, introducing new senior staff in four or five different novels in the roughly... I think around twenty novels that heavily feature the Enterprise within that timeframe. And it's the same with DS9, the station's crew has changed and shifted since the events of The Soul Key, but really the only one of these new characters who's had a focus is Blackmer.
I'd really like it if, rather than trying to barrel ahead and try and make some kind of event tale regarding the fate of Romulus, the novels take their time to get there and tell a few stories that slot in before the most recent books in the timeline, things that may not make major changes in the few prominent characters of the Enterprise and DS9, but still allow us to have a clear idea of who the major characters are, as people, not as plot devices.
That would probably go a long way in making a connection to these people as well, making it so they aren't a bunch of blank slates, waiting for someone to write about them.
It's been 6 years since Nemesis and we've had very few stories on the enterprise. Perhaps 1 or 2 per year. Characters have moved on, but as far as the reader goes it's still in the first season of stories, and unlike S1 of TNG there aren't books dedicated to whoever the security chief is now. The pre destiny book characters were wiped out, then Choudry went. It does feel that new characters stick around for about 30 pages of time before vanishing.
Voyager has done well I think as circumstances conspired to keep almost all the crew together. DS9 started well, but only really has Quark left now. TNG has hung on to most of the main characters too which helps.
That said, people were very invested in Harry Potter characters, even minor ones, after just a few short books, so it is possoble. It's not going to be the same as viewing them 25 episodes a year. I could see an argument that there should be more books set in the 2371-2385 period -- that's 14 years, twice the length of 2364-2371, and that period gave us 170 episodes and about 50 books. We should be looking at about 300 post generations books, with half of them post nemesis, just for tng, to get the same coverage.
Voyager has done well I think as circumstances conspired to keep almost all the crew together. DS9 started well, but only really has Quark left now. TNG has hung on to most of the main characters too which helps.
That said, people were very invested in Harry Potter characters, even minor ones, after just a few short books, so it is possoble. It's not going to be the same as viewing them 25 episodes a year. I could see an argument that there should be more books set in the 2371-2385 period -- that's 14 years, twice the length of 2364-2371, and that period gave us 170 episodes and about 50 books. We should be looking at about 300 post generations books, with half of them post nemesis, just for tng, to get the same coverage.
I CARE.
If you don't want to read about them, then don't read them. Simple as that.
"Complaining about something without proposing a solution is called WHINING." -- Theodore Roosevelt
If you don't want to read about them, then don't read them. Simple as that.
"Complaining about something without proposing a solution is called WHINING." -- Theodore Roosevelt
He did propose a solution lol
Did you actually read his post through?
Truefact, I have now done this for TNG and am very close to having done this for TOS and DS9. Will be this year in any event.
To be fair, he did propose a solution: more new novels set during the runs of the original TV series.
EDIT: Oops. I missed that Zarkon beat me to the punch.
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Generally speaking in shared universe story telling there are two types of narratives that I find compelling. One is talking about what happens next. The other type is talking about what else happened.
I enjoy the post Nemesis era novels because they continue the narrative. My enjoyment of the TOS (both 5YM and movie eara) books is a bit more narrow and tends to depend either on really excellent execution, or on a novel approach. Some of my recent favorites have been Rings of TIme and From History's Shadow.
What is like catnip to me however are those books that manage to take part in both what else happened and what happened next. This is why I love the Seekers books. Because they are their own "show" the way Vanguard was, it is possible to have ongoing narrative threads involving these characters, most of whom we do not know their ultimate fate. The one major exception of course is Captain Terrell and the more I read of the man the more I hate Khan for what he has will done (fucking time travel fucking up the verb tenses). At the same time it is interesting getting to see stories taking place in other corners of the Trek universe while established events were going on.
I enjoy the post Nemesis era novels because they continue the narrative. My enjoyment of the TOS (both 5YM and movie eara) books is a bit more narrow and tends to depend either on really excellent execution, or on a novel approach. Some of my recent favorites have been Rings of TIme and From History's Shadow.
What is like catnip to me however are those books that manage to take part in both what else happened and what happened next. This is why I love the Seekers books. Because they are their own "show" the way Vanguard was, it is possible to have ongoing narrative threads involving these characters, most of whom we do not know their ultimate fate. The one major exception of course is Captain Terrell and the more I read of the man the more I hate Khan for what he has will done (fucking time travel fucking up the verb tenses). At the same time it is interesting getting to see stories taking place in other corners of the Trek universe while established events were going on.
Do you feel forced to read every Trek novel that comes out or do you only pick up books that interest you?
And then there are those like me who really don't give a fig about many of the characters from the shows, who have all had decades' worth of stories focused on them, both on television and in print. You can only squeeze so much juice out of something before it runs dry. The current novel line is smart to move things forward and mix in new characters to keep things fresh and interesting.