Spoilers TNG: The Light Fantastic by Jeffrey Lang Review Thread
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^ Dr. Tamala Harstad.
My bad. Fixed!
Absolutely loved this book. Wish I could vote higher than "Outstanding."
Engaging main story, interesting sub-plot with Alice, the non-linear structure hopping from place to place and time to time, and a strong narrative throughout that just pulls you along. This was definitely hard to put down.
Everything I love in a Jeffery Lang ST novel was here:
+Wonderful original characters (Albert Lee, Alice mostly)
+Humor (Data doing the Sheldon Cooper knock was awesome!)
+Some of THE best character interactions in Treklit (Alice and Lal, Lal and the Countess, Data and Geordi, Shakti and everybody)
+High quality continuity porn (the IFM patch, DS9, VOY, TOS, a Mojo-verse Mudd!!!)
Also loved the Easter eggs of Tom Servo (How odd...) and, what I presume to be, the decaptitated head of the robot from Lost in Space.
Marvelous book, Mr. Lang. Hope to hear an announcement on your follow-up to this novel soon. From Immortal Coil to the Cold Equations trilogy to now Light Fantastic, the Data Saga is shaping up to be the most consistently well-written series in Treklit.
Engaging main story, interesting sub-plot with Alice, the non-linear structure hopping from place to place and time to time, and a strong narrative throughout that just pulls you along. This was definitely hard to put down.
Everything I love in a Jeffery Lang ST novel was here:
+Wonderful original characters (Albert Lee, Alice mostly)
+Humor (Data doing the Sheldon Cooper knock was awesome!)
+Some of THE best character interactions in Treklit (Alice and Lal, Lal and the Countess, Data and Geordi, Shakti and everybody)
+High quality continuity porn (the IFM patch, DS9, VOY, TOS, a Mojo-verse Mudd!!!)
Also loved the Easter eggs of Tom Servo (How odd...) and, what I presume to be, the decaptitated head of the robot from Lost in Space.
Marvelous book, Mr. Lang. Hope to hear an announcement on your follow-up to this novel soon. From Immortal Coil to the Cold Equations trilogy to now Light Fantastic, the Data Saga is shaping up to be the most consistently well-written series in Treklit.
Ha ha, of course that was Tom Servo. I couldn't nail down that last one. I did catch the others - the first was the severed T-800 arm.
I didn't catch the Terminator arm but now that you mention it...
Anyone find other eggs beyond those mentioned?
Glad to hear you're picking up on the Easter eggs. The Robot dome was a bit corny, I know, but I couldn't resist.
If anyone thinks that was too corny, they should just repeat to themselves, "It's just a book. I should really just relax."
Oh, just wait till they see some of the Easter eggs in DTI: The Collectors...
I don't know if this was mentioned or not but if it was, my apologies. Anyway, my thoughts on why Data resigned his commission was because of Lal. If he remained in Starfleet, he may not have had the luxury of a daughter. That, or he didn't want to go through that whole trial again even though that Starfleet's changed since then as has Data and he would rather have a "daughter" then go through that ordeal again.
Just my two cents. I could be wrong.
Just my two cents. I could be wrong.
Fantastic read!! Far more enjoyable then I thought it was going to be, since I'm not the biggest Data fan, but this really shows have amazing TrekLit can be without huge galaxy-threatening events, worlds dying, massive political uprisings and whatnot.
I was skeptical that a Data/Geordi novel could work, I was skeptical about Moriarty being believable. I was skeptibal about the first novel set after The Fall not dealing with some of the leftovers of that series and how it set up a new era for TrekLit.
I was wrong. I was amazend, thrilled and taken along a great ride in what was simply a bloody good read!! I only really have one point...
Personally, I would prefer Geordi with Tamala, but that's just me. Never really liked Leah that much. I liked Geordi and Tamala.
Oh, little question.... Bruce Maddox was refered to as a Commander in this one, but wasn't he established as a Captain already?
And please, for the love of God..... leave Data out of Starfleet. He's still getting to know who he is, he should take his time for now. Maybe in a few decades or so, but for now, let him actually have a life that's about exploring humanity, something he always wanted do and finally is doing, if you ask me.
I was skeptical that a Data/Geordi novel could work, I was skeptical about Moriarty being believable. I was skeptibal about the first novel set after The Fall not dealing with some of the leftovers of that series and how it set up a new era for TrekLit.
I was wrong. I was amazend, thrilled and taken along a great ride in what was simply a bloody good read!! I only really have one point...
Personally, I would prefer Geordi with Tamala, but that's just me. Never really liked Leah that much. I liked Geordi and Tamala.
Oh, little question.... Bruce Maddox was refered to as a Commander in this one, but wasn't he established as a Captain already?
And please, for the love of God..... leave Data out of Starfleet. He's still getting to know who he is, he should take his time for now. Maybe in a few decades or so, but for now, let him actually have a life that's about exploring humanity, something he always wanted do and finally is doing, if you ask me.
Suppose Star Trek finally comes back to TV with a new show set in a later century. Would they want to bring back Data? Brent Spiner feels that he has outgrown the appearance of Data, but as an android character Data has so many uses.
The thing is, Data doesn't age. Technically, he should still look like he did in season 1 of TNG. Unless they decide to do something similair to what happened in Cold Equations, and give him a body like he has now, which he can alter to look older if need be.
^Or they could just recast the role. Plenty of Trek characters have been recast -- Saavik, Cochrane, Ziyal, and now the entire TOS cast -- without any effort made to explain the change in appearance, or with the pretext being made that they still look the same in-story. But in Data's case a change would be easy to explain because he's an android and he could've altered his appearance by choice.
It was Geordi in "Inheritance" who mentioned Julianna Tainer having an aging program like Data's, a throwaway reference to explain Spiner's aging since TNG began. But then Insurrection contradicted that by having Data claim he was physically unchanged from the moment he was first brought online.
Did he say that he did chose to age or merely that he had the capacity to age?
The entirety of the line was, "It's part of her aging program. Not only does she age in appearance like Data, her vital signs change too." As I said, it was a throwaway reference, not a detailed discussion. But the assertion was that Data actually did age in appearance. Which, of course, is a demonstrable fact if you compare Brent Spiner's appearance in season 7 to his appearance in season 1. The line was an attempt to rationalize that fact that was already becoming evident to viewers.
