TOS characters status in TNG era?

[bionicbob]

Just returning to reading Trek Lit after many years away. With the exception of the SHANTERVERSE (which I loved) I have not read many other Trek adventures in a very long time. Just finished the first book in the DESTINY trilogy and loved it. It was great seeing all the different series together in one storyline. It got me wondering though about Trek Lit continuity and the status of various TOS characters in the TNG era?

My understanding from a previous thread, and please correct me if I am wrong, the various Trek titles follow a "loose" continuity depending on the warrants of the story?

For example, the SHATNERVERSE is clearly outside regular book series continuity. What about the Spock novels by Sherman & Shwartz?

I was wondering what the opinion of the current writers/editors of Trek Lit (Mack, KRAD, Bennett, and many other talented writers) of the present status (if it has even been established yet.... as I said before I am way behind in my Trek reading) of past classic characters?

KIRK still dead, I assume. I heard Spock is married to Saavik, is this true? Are McCoy and Scotty still kicking around? I believe I remember reading in a NF book, Uhura is still alive and is in charge of Starfleet Intellegence??? What about Sulu and Checkov?

 

[Trent Roman]

All the regulars from TOS have been established as still being alive as of fairly either on the shows (McCoy, Scotty, Spock) and confirmed still kicking as of recently in the books, or through the book line's own initiative (Uhura, Chekhov, Saavik), except Kirk (who died in Generations, of course, though as you know lives on in the Shatnerverse), and Sulu, whose status is unclear.

Creditorly yours, the Rent Woman

 

[JD]

The Sherman/Shwartz books are part of the main Treklit continuity. I think that was pretty much the most recent appearance of the TOS characters, except Spock who's appeared in some of the newer books that take place a three or four years later.

Edit: Is there a reason why we haven't seen Sulu in any of the 24th century stuff? Is his fate being left open for future Excelsior books or something?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

The Sherman/Shwartz books are part of the main Treklit continuity. I think that was pretty much the most recent appearance of the TOS characters, except Spock who's appeared in some of the newer books that take place a three or four years later.

Edit: Is there a reason why we haven't seen Sulu in any of the 24th century stuff? Is his fate being left open for future Excelsior books or something?

Maybe Sulu is the one TOS regular who will actually DIE as opposed to being some kind of immortal.

 

[Brendan Moody]

David R. George III's Enterprise-B stories with Demora Sulu had been leaving her father's status as of the early 23rd century vague for a couple years; more recently, Burning Dreams confirmed that he was still alive and commanding Excelsior in 2320.

 

[Christopher]

The DS9 novel Day of Honor: Armageddon Sky, set in 2372, features an anonymous Starfleet veteran, an elderly Asian man who's a master pilot and who goes by the name "George," because he's so famous and legendary that he can't reveal who he actually is in the context of the story. It's implicitly Sulu.

 

[bionicbob]

All the regulars from TOS have been established as still being alive as of fairly either on the shows (McCoy, Scotty, Spock) and confirmed still kicking as of recently in the books, or through the book line's own initiative (Uhura, Chekhov, Saavik), except Kirk (who died in Generations, of course, though as you know lives on in the Shatnerverse), and Sulu, whose status is unclear.

Creditorly yours, the Rent Woman

Interesting....

Is it possible to get a quick run down on what each character is currently doing in the TNG era? Are they all still serving in Starfleet?

Also, wasn't Sulu mentioned once in a Voyager episode? Not flashback episode, but the one about Chackotay's (can never remember how to spell his name) childhood and entering Starfleet.....

 

[bionicbob]

The DS9 novel Day of Honor: Armageddon Sky, set in 2372, features an anonymous Starfleet veteran, an elderly Asian man who's a master pilot and who goes by the name "George," because he's so famous and legendary that he can't reveal who he actually is in the context of the story. It's implicitly Sulu.

Is there any editorial mandates or rules for writers on using TOS characters in the TNG era novels? Do certain series or writers have greater freedom using TOS characters than others?

For example, from the little I have read and heard, Peter David seems to love filling his novels and NF series with what is I believe called Trek Porn... connecting the dots between various series and using TOS characters.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Is it possible to get a quick run down on what each character is currently doing in the TNG era? Are they all still serving in Starfleet?

Look up each character on Memory Beta:
http://startrek.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page

wasn't Sulu mentioned once in a Voyager episode? Not flashback episode, but the one about Chackotay's (can never remember how to spell his name) childhood and entering Starfleet.....

There was a reference to a "Captain Sulu" sponsoring Chakotay into Starfleet, but various licensed stories have suggested this was either Demora, or Demora's son.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Is there any editorial mandates or rules for writers on using TOS characters in the TNG era novels? Do certain series or writers have greater freedom using TOS characters than others?

It would seem that if you can get an in-joke/reference past your editor and Paula Block (of CBS Consumer Products) you can do it, and so long as you don't breach canonical events. Many references have been rejected, I assume.

Some authors have chatted about in-jokes they were asked to change, and others they were allowed to leave in. "Voyages of Imagination: The ST Fiction Companion" by Jeff Ayers, and the various author websites, have examples.

 

[bionicbob]

Just curious, how do you guys (readers and writers) feel about mixing up TOS characters with TNG era? Should TOS stay in their respective time period?

Personally, if well written, I love cross overs, seeing the old meet the new.

Any favorite must-read cross overs or TOS cameos to suggest? Or better yet, to avoid?

 

[Therin of Andor]

Just curious, how do you guys (readers and writers) feel about mixing up TOS characters with TNG era?

Well, of course, the first one, with McCoy in "Encounter at Farpoint", was wonderful, but it was inevitable that people would start asking, "If he's still alive, then who else?" And so we got Sarek, Spock, Scotty, Kirk, and so on...

Eventually, when the episodes, comics, movies and novels all did their own little 24th century salutes to TOS (and even TAS), we're left wondering about the fates of people like Kyle and Palmer.

It's understandable that we eventually learned about almost everyone. But some of these events have led to great stories.

 

[Stevil2001]

Personally, I want to know what happened to Mr. Leslie.

 

[Trent Roman]

Just curious, how do you guys (readers and writers) feel about mixing up TOS characters with TNG era? Should TOS stay in their respective time period?

I was never a fan of the original series or their characters, so there's no real 'gee whiz' factor for me, to offset the small universe syndrome that such a crossover often provokes. The key is balancing the fact that these are individuals with storied careers and reputations without degenerating into hero worship whenever they set foot on the modern stage, or worse yet having them swoop in to save the fumbling younger generation.

As for specific instances, I've mentioned in the past that I think it violates the extent to which I'm willing to suspend disbelief to have all these characters still alive and active one hundred years later; given the dangerous nature of the careers they lead, versimilitude suggests more than just Kirk (and possibly Sulu) haven't managed to outwit death for the last century. Also, for a man supposedly leading an underground movement in enemy territory, Spock shows up way too often.

Creditorly yours, the Rent Woman

 

[Rush Limborg]

Personally, I want to know what happened to Mr. Leslie.

YES!

I tell ya, the man was invincible. Mr. Leslie's got to be the Rio Grande of TOS--the one red-shirt who survives the entire show.

Case in point: In "Obsession", Mr. Leslie was supposedly killed by the cloud creature. His blood was drained, for cryin' out loud!

A couple of episodes later, he's ALIVE AND KICKIN'!

So... if he could survive that, SURELY he'd be hardy enough to live on to the TNG-DS9-VGR era!

(I wonder if he fought in the Dominion War....)

 

[Therin of Andor]

I tell ya, the man was invincible. Mr. Leslie's got to be the Rio Grande of TOS--the one red-shirt who survives the entire show.

http://therinofandor.blogspot.com/2006/12/send-in-clones-leslie-triplets-and.html

 

[Rush Limborg]

^Hmm. Nice food for thought. Thanks, Therin!

 

[Christopher]

wasn't Sulu mentioned once in a Voyager episode? Not flashback episode, but the one about Chackotay's (can never remember how to spell his name) childhood and entering Starfleet.....

There was a reference to a "Captain Sulu" sponsoring Chakotay into Starfleet, but various licensed stories have suggested this was either Demora, or Demora's son.

Specifically, Jeri Taylor's Pathways identified Chakotay's sponsor as Captain Hiromi Sulu, grandson of Hikaru Sulu, while Christie Golden's "Seduced" establishes it as Demora (requiring a bit of handwaving to get around Chakotay's onscreen reference to Captain Sulu as "he").

Just curious, how do you guys (readers and writers) feel about mixing up TOS characters with TNG era? Should TOS stay in their respective time period?

I prefer to avoid small-universe syndrome. Surely there are many other Starfleet officers who accomplished noteworthy things and who survived into the next century; the whole universe can't revolve exclusively around people who served on ships named Enterprise (or Defiant or Voyager).

I tell ya, the man was invincible. Mr. Leslie's got to be the Rio Grande of TOS--the one red-shirt who survives the entire show.

Well, not the entire show; he stopped appearing about a third of the way through season three: http://hometown.aol.com/led4acs/LeslieGuide.html

However, there's no indication that any harm came to him, and he does return alive and well in the 2279 portion of Mere Anarchy Book 4.

 

[KRAD]

However, there's no indication that any harm came to him, and he does return alive and well in the 2279 portion of Mere Anarchy Book 4.

When you first sent me the manuscript for that, I laughed out loud when you had Spock admiring his pan-discipline approach to his career, even though it meant sacrificing advancement, an entertaining handwave for his status as extra-of-the-week.

 

[Christopher]

When you first sent me the manuscript for that, I laughed out loud when you had Spock admiring his pan-discipline approach to his career, even though it meant sacrificing advancement, an entertaining handwave for his status as extra-of-the-week.

Good to know. I also alluded to his skill at blending into a crowd...