He is intelligent, but not experienced. His pattern indicates two dimensional thinking.
Spoilers TOS: The Higher Frontier, by Christopher L. Bennett - review thread
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He is intelligent, but not experienced. His pattern indicates two dimensional thinking.
I just completed this novel and rated it as outstanding.
I think most of the major plot points have been covered so I won't belabor that here. I have to admit for a few pages I almost thought Christopher was going to give us some Hitchcockian plot twist and we were going to suddenly find out the Naazh were somehow really the good guys or something along that line and we had it all wrong (though after the Aenar massacre that'd be a hard sell).
But no, nothing like that. However, it is more complex than simply good guys vs. bad guys, which I liked about the story. The Naazh are the bad guys. There's no doubt about that. Despite my momentary thought that there was going to be some twist, at the end of the day they were bad. However, the Spectres, while the good guys, aren't totally innocent. They did involuntarily hang out in the minds of mortals. Their reasoning can be understandable, however it doesn't change the fact that some of the individuals they camped out in felt violated. I also always liked follow up stories, in this case a follow up to "Is There in Truth No Beauty?" as well as to the animated episode "Yesteryear".
Also, I always like continuity building novels. Christopher is always pretty good with that. He along with Greg Cox to some extent are two guys I like to call the continuity fix-it guys. In "The Higher Frontier" Christopher does a good job of tying together TMP and TWOK, along with some episodes of the original series as well, including the Enterprise's various encounters with the galactic barrier. He has the ability sometimes to make a square block fit in a round hole. I liked getting to see some more Captain Spock in command time. And he alluded to it in his Mere Anarchy story and covers Kirk's second promotion in more detail here, particularly the how and why, and how he manages to answer McCoy's objections at least to some extent. He also explains how Spock was convinced to take a promotion. And we get to see more Captain Terrell and the Reliant here, and it ties in his backstory from the Vanguard series.
Also he even incorporates information from other novels. Obviously he references some of his own novels like "The Captain's Oath", his Mere Anarchy story, "Ex Machina" and "Forgotten History". And as promised he incorporates "The More Things Change," and in that case it's not just a passing reference, he fully adopts that story into his continuity. He also references "The Captains Daughter" with Sulu taking on the responsibility of raising Demora after her mother's death, and the various Enterprise relaunch novels, the Vanguard/Seekers novels and a bit of foreshadowing of the later 24th century relaunch novels (that I had previously noted).
There's a Discovery reference as well, noting about how Section 31 had gone dormant. And in a way you can argue that's even consistent with the relaunch novels. And in a way it's something you could argue is consistent with Section 31 between the novels and Discovery. That is Section 31 going dormant for a period of time. In the Enterprise novels we know Section 31 has gone underground, and in Discovery the same thing has happened and we know it will reappear at some point in the 24th century.
I always like movie era books, particularly between TMP and TWOK, and between TFF and TUC. Those are two eras with a number of years between them that is ripe for storytelling. And "The Higher Frontier" manages to cover a lot of ground, yet at the same time there is plenty of space/time for other stories. I think of something like the "New Earth" series for instance (partly because I recently read that series and partly because that series too covers a lot of ground). There's no reason New Earth couldn't co-exist with the "Ex Machina" timeline (I'll call it for simplicity sake). Perhaps not to the last detail of course, but in general. And the same goes for a number of other post-TMP novels (though not all). In short he covers a lot between those years, but doesn't monopolize that era at the same time. There are more than 10 years between those movies I believe, so plenty of time for other stories to fill in.
I think most of the major plot points have been covered so I won't belabor that here. I have to admit for a few pages I almost thought Christopher was going to give us some Hitchcockian plot twist and we were going to suddenly find out the Naazh were somehow really the good guys or something along that line and we had it all wrong (though after the Aenar massacre that'd be a hard sell).
But no, nothing like that. However, it is more complex than simply good guys vs. bad guys, which I liked about the story. The Naazh are the bad guys. There's no doubt about that. Despite my momentary thought that there was going to be some twist, at the end of the day they were bad. However, the Spectres, while the good guys, aren't totally innocent. They did involuntarily hang out in the minds of mortals. Their reasoning can be understandable, however it doesn't change the fact that some of the individuals they camped out in felt violated. I also always liked follow up stories, in this case a follow up to "Is There in Truth No Beauty?" as well as to the animated episode "Yesteryear".
Also, I always like continuity building novels. Christopher is always pretty good with that. He along with Greg Cox to some extent are two guys I like to call the continuity fix-it guys. In "The Higher Frontier" Christopher does a good job of tying together TMP and TWOK, along with some episodes of the original series as well, including the Enterprise's various encounters with the galactic barrier. He has the ability sometimes to make a square block fit in a round hole. I liked getting to see some more Captain Spock in command time. And he alluded to it in his Mere Anarchy story and covers Kirk's second promotion in more detail here, particularly the how and why, and how he manages to answer McCoy's objections at least to some extent. He also explains how Spock was convinced to take a promotion. And we get to see more Captain Terrell and the Reliant here, and it ties in his backstory from the Vanguard series.
Also he even incorporates information from other novels. Obviously he references some of his own novels like "The Captain's Oath", his Mere Anarchy story, "Ex Machina" and "Forgotten History". And as promised he incorporates "The More Things Change," and in that case it's not just a passing reference, he fully adopts that story into his continuity. He also references "The Captains Daughter" with Sulu taking on the responsibility of raising Demora after her mother's death, and the various Enterprise relaunch novels, the Vanguard/Seekers novels and a bit of foreshadowing of the later 24th century relaunch novels (that I had previously noted).
There's a Discovery reference as well, noting about how Section 31 had gone dormant. And in a way you can argue that's even consistent with the relaunch novels. And in a way it's something you could argue is consistent with Section 31 between the novels and Discovery. That is Section 31 going dormant for a period of time. In the Enterprise novels we know Section 31 has gone underground, and in Discovery the same thing has happened and we know it will reappear at some point in the 24th century.
I always like movie era books, particularly between TMP and TWOK, and between TFF and TUC. Those are two eras with a number of years between them that is ripe for storytelling. And "The Higher Frontier" manages to cover a lot of ground, yet at the same time there is plenty of space/time for other stories. I think of something like the "New Earth" series for instance (partly because I recently read that series and partly because that series too covers a lot of ground). There's no reason New Earth couldn't co-exist with the "Ex Machina" timeline (I'll call it for simplicity sake). Perhaps not to the last detail of course, but in general. And the same goes for a number of other post-TMP novels (though not all). In short he covers a lot between those years, but doesn't monopolize that era at the same time. There are more than 10 years between those movies I believe, so plenty of time for other stories to fill in.
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I have to give editor Margaret Clark credit for that aspect, since in my initial outline I didn't really think through the problematical consent issues with the Spectres (I was more focused on coming up with an explanation for human psi powers and why they don't seem to be around any longer by the TNG era), and she pushed me to explore it more.
This was partially Margaret too, though more indirectly. My first draft came out short, so I asked if she had any ideas for what I might add to expand it some, and she suggested exploring Spock trying to help Miranda out after her trauma. Around the same time, I finally got the opportunity to read The More Things Change, and I decided fleshing out that part would give me an opportunity to add some business for Chapel and include a reference to that novella (to repay Scott for referencing ExM in it).
I'm glad you have a good editor to work with. I imagine like anything you have good editors and perhaps not so good. But it sounds like most of the Star Trek editors over the years have been decent judging by various author comments.
I'm also glad someone finally tackled the story of Kirk's 2nd promotion and Spock's promotion, along with joining TMP and TWOK together in a story that makes sense.
The only thing I think that wasn't touched on was how the science station ended up on the side of the bridge instead of the back-- (just kidding--it's a stupid bugaboo of mine
I don't know why that bugs me). You also tackled Kirk's 1st mission in "The Captain's Oath" which I enjoyed as well. It always seemed other authors were reluctant to override "Enterprise: The First Adventure"--I've noted before Friedman's "MBK: Enterprise" came very close but even he avoided commenting directly on that first mission. I'm not sure if other authors didn't want to replace E:TFA for some reason or if it was a directive of some sort but it was nice to see a new take on that finally. Ok. I'm off the rails a bit here but just wanted to bring that up again.
The only thing I think that wasn't touched on was how the science station ended up on the side of the bridge instead of the back-- (just kidding--it's a stupid bugaboo of mine
I think I already touched on that in The Darkness Drops Again, or maybe one of my other post-TMP books. I figure it makes more sense off to the side because it's easier for the captain to turn to look at his science officer. He doesn't have to pivot all the way around.
Hmm, I missed that I guess. It does make more sense for Kirk since he relies so much on Spock. It's probably a hassle for him to always have to turn completely around. From a storytelling perspective it probably made more sense in TWOK for the production designers to place the science station where they did. In story I guess you could say Captain Decker wanted the bridge configuration the way you saw it in TMP and when Kirk took over he had it re-designed to fit his needs. And of course some other stations needed to be shifted as well.
I know, it's a small thing. I liked some of your other explanations for other redesigns as well, such as to engineering and the torpedo bay--and even incorporating it into the training program was pretty clever. The manual loading of torpedoes for instance. I remember reading somewhere that the production designer I think it was thought it was a bit ridiculous--but you managed to provide a reasonable explanation for why that could be.
I also remember reading Herman Zimmerman trying to tell Shatner in TFF that the Enterprise-A only had X number of decks (I forget exactly how many) and it made no sense in the turboshaft scene how the decks were numbered--but alas to no avail. Directors get the final say (if they ever do a TFF upgrade of effects that is one scene I'd love to see fixed---and as an aside I continue to live in hope of one day seeing the Directors Edition of TMP released on Blu-Ray--I've held off buying TMP on Blu-Ray for that reason--come on Paramount, you gave us one for TWOK, how bout some love for TMP).
Never crossed my mind. I don't pay attention to cult beliefs.
Understood. There's a few similarities that stood out so that's why I asked. Damn good novel though
Just picked up my copy of the book and am about a quarter of the way through. I was a big fan of EX MACHINA and the discovery this is kind of a sequel taking place after the movie and dealing with some of the aftereffects of V'Ger was something that really increased my interest. While I think I still prefer the Bureau of Temporal Affairs books, I think this and DM may pass Rise of the Federation for my favorite of his series.
Also, kudos for the Discovery references. I always liked the logic extremists.
I got the impression of Space Hippies like in "The Way To Eden", especially given the implied extracurricular sex that the locals were spying on and shaming when poor Starfleet is called to the Terrebellum colony midway through the book.
Also, kudos for the Discovery references. I always liked the logic extremists.
I got the impression of Space Hippies like in "The Way To Eden", especially given the implied extracurricular sex that the locals were spying on and shaming when poor Starfleet is called to the Terrebellum colony midway through the book.
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Just finished the book:
CT Phipps' Review
THE HIGHER FRONTIER is an excellent "Movie Era" The Original Series novel and I very much enjoyed it as a sequel to EX MACHINA, which is written by the same author. Christopher Bennett has the true Trekkie hardcore fan's love of continuity and effortlessly weaves together hundreds of references as well as continuity nods without actually needing to know what's being referred to in order to enjoy the story. Your enjoyment is enriched by knowing who Miranda Jones, the Medusans, the Aenar, and other things are but not reduced if you only happen to be passingly familiar.
Indeed, much of the book's "continuity humor" for me is based around the fact that this seems to be a large-scale homage to the novelization of Star Trek: The Motion Picture's opening, which is something I only know because the book was in my high school library. It talked about a different sort of Federation than was shown on screen where "New Humans" were space hippies engaged in nudism, vegetarianism, group consciousness, and other New Age beliefs that left Kirk's generation as a bunch of dinosaurs. Roddenberry imagining the development to TNG being a free love as well as more Vulcan-like (albeit hornier) future.
The chief subject of this book is psychic powers in the Star Trek universe. Circa 1960s, they were considered to be more than pseudoscience, but have (as much as anything can be) proven to be nonexistent. This seems to bother the author, justifiably so, and he creates an elaborate and fascinating plot that deals with subjects like Gary Mitchell as well as other human-based "espers" within the Federation. I would have accepted the "humans mutated post-WW3" theory that was thrown out earlier but this proves to be a much more interesting as well as elaborate plot than that. I also won't spoil.
I admit, my favorite part of the book was actually the problem the New Humans have with fitting in with normal humans who hate as well as fear their new powers. Well, hate may be a strong word, as this isn't the X-men. Some do feel that way but most are just strongly annoyed and off-put by the New Humans' seemingly bizarre behavior. It doesn't help the New Humans are snooty and disdainful of regular humanity. If you claim to be the next step in evolution, don't be surprised if people act like you're claiming you're better than them.
There's also a really great moment where Uhura, Checov, and Sulu watch what is implied to be Star Trek: The Original Series and make jokes about the bad special effects as well as Checov's hair. It's a nice little nod to the fact Roddenberry himself said TOS was a "simulation" of the real thing. It also nicely references a bunch of side-material that is apparently "mostly made up." Given I feel like people who complain about Klingon appearances and the fact the Enterprise in DISCOVERY isn't made of cardboard, I felt that was a very good line.
Much of the book is based around the idea that a second five-year-mission followed the events of ST:TMP with Admiral Kirk being demoted from Chief of Naval Operations to Captain again followed by being bumped up back to Admiral in order to be Starfleet Academy Commandant. Which we know will result in him being demoted AGAIN to Captain after the events of The Search for Spock. I feel that's a bit of a convoluted answer but I don't think it's a bad one either. Certainly, it sets up the events of The Wrath of Khan.
I really enjoyed this book and while I kind of wish that the ending hadn't "wrapped up" the New Humans and their inability to fit in among normal humans so effectively, I don't blame the author for choosing that path. I've always been a bigger fan of the more complicated sociological elements of Star Trek and it's a book with a lot of that.
4 1/2 stars out of 5
CT Phipps' Review
THE HIGHER FRONTIER is an excellent "Movie Era" The Original Series novel and I very much enjoyed it as a sequel to EX MACHINA, which is written by the same author. Christopher Bennett has the true Trekkie hardcore fan's love of continuity and effortlessly weaves together hundreds of references as well as continuity nods without actually needing to know what's being referred to in order to enjoy the story. Your enjoyment is enriched by knowing who Miranda Jones, the Medusans, the Aenar, and other things are but not reduced if you only happen to be passingly familiar.
Indeed, much of the book's "continuity humor" for me is based around the fact that this seems to be a large-scale homage to the novelization of Star Trek: The Motion Picture's opening, which is something I only know because the book was in my high school library. It talked about a different sort of Federation than was shown on screen where "New Humans" were space hippies engaged in nudism, vegetarianism, group consciousness, and other New Age beliefs that left Kirk's generation as a bunch of dinosaurs. Roddenberry imagining the development to TNG being a free love as well as more Vulcan-like (albeit hornier) future.
The chief subject of this book is psychic powers in the Star Trek universe. Circa 1960s, they were considered to be more than pseudoscience, but have (as much as anything can be) proven to be nonexistent. This seems to bother the author, justifiably so, and he creates an elaborate and fascinating plot that deals with subjects like Gary Mitchell as well as other human-based "espers" within the Federation. I would have accepted the "humans mutated post-WW3" theory that was thrown out earlier but this proves to be a much more interesting as well as elaborate plot than that. I also won't spoil.
I admit, my favorite part of the book was actually the problem the New Humans have with fitting in with normal humans who hate as well as fear their new powers. Well, hate may be a strong word, as this isn't the X-men. Some do feel that way but most are just strongly annoyed and off-put by the New Humans' seemingly bizarre behavior. It doesn't help the New Humans are snooty and disdainful of regular humanity. If you claim to be the next step in evolution, don't be surprised if people act like you're claiming you're better than them.
There's also a really great moment where Uhura, Checov, and Sulu watch what is implied to be Star Trek: The Original Series and make jokes about the bad special effects as well as Checov's hair. It's a nice little nod to the fact Roddenberry himself said TOS was a "simulation" of the real thing. It also nicely references a bunch of side-material that is apparently "mostly made up." Given I feel like people who complain about Klingon appearances and the fact the Enterprise in DISCOVERY isn't made of cardboard, I felt that was a very good line.
Much of the book is based around the idea that a second five-year-mission followed the events of ST:TMP with Admiral Kirk being demoted from Chief of Naval Operations to Captain again followed by being bumped up back to Admiral in order to be Starfleet Academy Commandant. Which we know will result in him being demoted AGAIN to Captain after the events of The Search for Spock. I feel that's a bit of a convoluted answer but I don't think it's a bad one either. Certainly, it sets up the events of The Wrath of Khan.
I really enjoyed this book and while I kind of wish that the ending hadn't "wrapped up" the New Humans and their inability to fit in among normal humans so effectively, I don't blame the author for choosing that path. I've always been a bigger fan of the more complicated sociological elements of Star Trek and it's a book with a lot of that.
4 1/2 stars out of 5
^Thanks for the nice review!
Now I'm wondering if Commander Ransom from Lower Decks is one of the New Humans who stayed bonded or their descendants.
At least in the Bennetverse.
At least in the Bennetverse.
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My intent was that there aren't any of those left in the Federation, since we've never heard of any human telepaths in post-TOS series (though I left open the option of human-alien hybrids who identify as human and have telepathy, which would be necessary to explain one or two novelverse characters). Despite the episode's references to Gary Mitchell, it seems unlikely that Ransom's powers came from an identical source, given that a) there's no indication he has any esper abilities and b) his powers came on instantly rather than through a slow exponential increase over days. And since the real source of Mitchell & Dehner's powers was classified at the end of the novel, the Cerritos computers probably don't have that information, reconciling the discrepancy between the episode and the novel.
Reread:
I will say that Kyle's comic relief line near the end about relative vs. absolute is a tad silly, given that absolute as in "absolute power" has about as much to do with absolute as in "absolute zero" as it does with absolute as in "absolute music."
Then again, at that point in the story, a bit of silliness is exactly what's called for.
I will also note (assuming that I hadn't mentioned it before) that CLB's take on the "New Human" movement is at least a slight improvement over how most other authors have handled it, and a VAST improvement over how Marshak & Culbreath handled it in Triangle.
I will say that Kyle's comic relief line near the end about relative vs. absolute is a tad silly, given that absolute as in "absolute power" has about as much to do with absolute as in "absolute zero" as it does with absolute as in "absolute music."
Then again, at that point in the story, a bit of silliness is exactly what's called for.
I will also note (assuming that I hadn't mentioned it before) that CLB's take on the "New Human" movement is at least a slight improvement over how most other authors have handled it, and a VAST improvement over how Marshak & Culbreath handled it in Triangle.
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I've just skimmed back over this thread and I've seen several people mention multiple New Human references, but as far as I know, Triangle was the only book prior to The Higher Frontier that ever picked up on the "new human" idea from the TMP novelization, and nobody's mentioned any other specific works that did so.
I could have sworn that there were others, but I can't cite any specifics either, and MemoryBeta lists none. So to quote the title of the final chapter of Blish's Spock Must Die, "You may be right."
Although at any rate, your take on New Humans is indeed a vast improvement over M&C, but then again, they set the bar very low. Please rest assured that it is not my intention to "damn with faint praise."
Although at any rate, your take on New Humans is indeed a vast improvement over M&C, but then again, they set the bar very low. Please rest assured that it is not my intention to "damn with faint praise."
Re-reading, I also found vague memories of Japanese and Japanese-inspired children's morphing superheroes coming to mind unbidden. Having never actually seen an episode, it wasn't until today, almost a week after finishing the re-read, that I remembered "Power Rangers." And alas, I've had even less exposure to the "Kamen Rider" franchise.
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