Spoilers TOS: No Time Like the Past by Greg Cox Review Thread

[Deranged Nasat]

I always used to be confused by "A stitch in time saves nine," but now I know it means that it's better to fix a small tear with one stitch than to wait until it's big enough to need ten stitches. So if you stitch the tear "in time," you save an additional nine stitches. In other words, it's better to address a problem while it's small and easy to fix than to neglect it until it becomes harder to fix.

I can see the connection to "Better safe than sorry," though, because that means it's better to take action against a possible problem than to neglect it. That's more about whether you address it at all than whether you put it off for later, but I guess they overlap.

I don´t know if it has anything to do with Garak´s "A stitch in time".

Cardassia didn't address its problems in time, and now it's left trying to repair the mess. Garak himself left all his wounds and tears unaddressed until he had to confront his entire life in the aftermath of disaster. Now he has to make sense of it and piece it all together, just as Cardassia must repair itself.

Lots of stitches needed now.

 

[Jarvisimo]

Cardassia didn't address its problems in time, and now it's left trying to repair the mess. Garak himself left all his wounds and tears unaddressed until he had to confront his entire life in the aftermath of disaster. Now he has to make sense of it and piece it all together, just as Cardassia must repair itself.

Lots of stitches needed now.

But what a tailor to be stitching it back together again!

(PS one of the things i loved most about The Crimson Tide was how much of Garak's journey in that novel was about confronting - and being confronted by reactions to - the shadows of his past work)

 

[Kilana2]

Speaking of time.... I forgot to adjust the time of this forum to my German time. There was a time delay of two hours, especially after the switch to local summer time.
I have fixed it ("now or never"). Being two hours ahead did't feel right after all.

 

[thribs]

This is probably my favourite Star Trek I've read so far. I went into this thinking that the crossover was just going to be something brief at the very end but it was the whole story. It was also fun going back into old adventures and adding a bit more depth to them; especially the White/Black people (their name escapes me). I always thought that episode was a rather silly. The message of it was way too on the nose and the idea that they wiped each other out so completely was rather far fetched but this book gave a plausible reason as to how it happened.
I also liked that the author didn't fall into the trap of knowing that the events of the story would be undone by the end by killing key characters or doing something just as catastrophic which would give it away. At least Kirk remembers it all.

So when does the sequel with Kirk coming to Voyager coming?

 

[TheUsualSuspect]

There's a Strange New Worlds story where that happens.
(To add to the fun, it also includes Q and THE END OF EVERYTHING!)

 

[Charles Phipps]

NO TIME LIKE THE PAST has a unique and ridiculous premise: What if Voyager's Seven of Nine met Captain Kirk? Seven of Nine remains an ensemble darkhorse from that series and, like the Doctor, has shown up in unexpected places but this seems to be going further than normal. Even so, it was an effective crossover as it convinced me to buy this book over many other Star Trek books I could have been reading instead.

The basic premise is Seven finds a massive monument to Captain Kirk in the Voy's present, curious about this (given she's in the Delta Quadrant), investigates. This results in her being transported across the galaxy as well as time into the Five Year Mission, Seven manages to save Kirk's life and decides she has to go on a scavenger hunt for parts that will lead her to be able to return home.

Some interesting issues are brought up like using Seven's knowledge against the Klingons, the Orions (which were always underused), and revisiting some worlds that were underepresented in the series. Yes, that includes "Let This Be Our Last Battlefield" that hasn't aged well at all and is still sadly as one-dimensional as it was before. Which to say purely driven by hatred between its two societies (and really that's the point so you can't really get around it). Still, I'm glad for its inclusion as we at least get to see how their race met its end.

Really, I actually give credit for Greg Cox fixing an issue with the original episode at least in a small way. Portraying the two societies as moral equals doesn't really correspond with the issue they were addressing in the Sixties. Really, history has sort of told on which one of them had the high ground morally. Here, the Cheron elite (half-black, half-white) planning a genocide that backfired and the Cheron oppressed (half-white, half black) just got caught up in the events.

I am going to admit, one element I really expected to at least be addressed but am kind of glad wasn't that I assumed at least someone would comment that they thought Kirk would be attracted to Seven (she being a brainy blonde--i.e. his historical type). Not that he'd actually make a pass or anything but just it would get an acknowledgement as a possibility or shipboard gossip.

While Tendi will never forgive me, I liked the depiction of the Orion as merciless scumbags and pirates because the Orion Syndicates ARE just a bunch of murderous criminals. It's a weird pet peeve of mine when races are coalated with the criminals in races. Archer is furious with the spacers who attack Nausicaan ships but these Nausicaans are pirates and should be treated as pirates. You do the crime, you do the time. Then again, I like pulpy adventure Trek where some characters are just plain evil rather than misunderstood (rare as that may be).