Spoilers TOS: The Eugenics Wars: The Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh Volume 1 By Greg Cox

[Christopher]

I definitely see your point. It's not that I'd prefer a nuclear WWIII be written out because it's a low point for humanity in the franchise--the notion that things get worse but they get better too is something I'm a fan of also. I'd just prefer that the future low point better reflect present-day concerns, and the kind of mutually assured destruction of WWIII isn't as ever present a threat as it was in the 60s and 80s.

Good point. That's one more dated idea that could use updating -- the assumption that a global nuclear conflict between East and West is still a likely threat.

I think it'll happen at some point (and indeed has happened to some degree already, though we're still well short of a full reboot). Of course, this hypothetical future iteration of Trek will no doubt be seen as being full of outdated ideas and tropes from whenever it was made eventually.

Which is why it could then be reinvented yet again, just like Sherlock Holmes and Batman and so many other concepts have been periodically reinvented for new generations and new sensibilities.

 

[JD]

Sorry to revive such an old thread, but I just found out about a fun little Easter Egg I wasn't aware of when I read the book. StarTrek.com posted an article about Teri Garr's best non-Trek roles, and one of them is Veronica "Ronnie" Neary from Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Veronica "Ronnie" Neary was the alias that Roberta used when she infiltrated the group that created Khan and the other Augments in the book.

 

[Greg Cox]

Sorry to revive such an old thread, but I just found out about a fun little Easter Egg I wasn't aware of when I read the book. StarTrek.com posted an article about Teri Garr's best non-Trek roles, and one of them is Veronica "Ronnie" Neary from Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Veronica "Ronnie" Neary was the alias that Roberta used when she infiltrated the group that created Khan and the other Augments in the book.

My goodness! What an amazing coincidence.

 

[JD]

Now I can't help but wonder what other references like that I missed.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

I think every alias that Roberta uses in the book is another Teri Garr role, IIRC.

 

[Defcon]

Now I can't help but wonder what other references like that I missed.

Since it felt like 90% of the first two Khan books consisted of references of some sort probably a lot.

I really like Greg's books usually, but I really disliked this duology, in large parts because of how much all the references annoyed me. A healthy dose of those are fine, but Greg really overdosed significantly here IMHO.

 

[stardream]

I just did a read through of the first book and it was well written. Cox can write (he's probably my favorite TOS author) but it really should have been titled 'The Adventures of Gary Seven and Roberta' or whatever. (Similar to that Golden Voyager book, Seven of Nine. It should have been called 'Sing a Song of Sixpence') Even though I understand why he used them, the pop references did get old after a while and I lived during that time. For the record, I don't remember the word Latino being used much back in that day. I think back then people of South American and Mexican descent were called 'Chicano' but somewhere along the line it shifted. I also think it was 'Afro-American' instead of African-American but that might well have been a regional thing. Apart from that, it was a good story, I just think the title was misleading. Looking forward to seeing what he does with the story in the second book.

 

[Greg Cox]

. Apart from that, it was a good story, I just think the title was misleading. Looking forward to seeing what he does with the story in the second book.

True story: my original title was ASSIGNMENT: ARMAGEDDON, stressing the Gary Seven thing, but we ultimately decided to play up the Khan connection instead. Indeed, at one point, the book was simply going to be titled KHAN. (I still have a mockup of the cover with that title.)

Be curious to see what you think of Book 2 . ..