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Trek Lit. references in Trek shows, movies?

DarKush

Rear Admiral
Rear Admiral
Have there been any Trek Lit. characters, ships, aliens, storylines, etc. that have found their way into onscreen Trek ? I know that the animated Trek series has been mined for references occasionally, but I was wondering if the same has been done for the Trek novels, comics, and/or other written material? Or what about video game references being used in onscreen Trek?
 
Well, famously, Sulu and Uhura's first names originated in the novels before being adopted as canon by the movies.
 
On the technical side...

Diagrams from Franz Joseph's old Star Trek Technical Manual and Constitution-class Booklet of General Plans were used as background graphics in the early Trek movies.

The designs of the USS Kelvin and STXI spacedock are clearly influenced by the old Tech Manual.

A smaller version of Vanguard station appears briefly in TOS-R's "The Ultimate Computer"

A few ship designs from FASA's RPG supplements were used as graphics in TNG, whenever Data would do his super-fast computing. I've seen FASA's Lotus Flower class (their Kobayashi Maru design) and a FASA Orion ship.

STXI's USS Newton is based on a Starfleet battleship design from the old Starfleet Command PC games, albeit with only a half-saucer.

And here are some references to fandom...

The STXI USS Kobayashi Maru design is based on old fan-made blueprints from the 80's. See Doug Drexler's blog for more.

Enterprise's 22nd century Intrepid looks suspiciously like the Akyazi-class from Ships of the Star Fleet, volume 2.
 
George and Winona Kirk are from Diane Carey's Final Frontier and Best Destiny.

No, the given names George and Winona originated in Enterprise: The First Adventure by Vonda N. McIntyre and were then picked up on by Carey. So between these and Hikaru, McIntyre is responsible for three of the four given names that originated in the books before being canonized in film (the other, Nyota, was coined by William Rotsler).


This one could be coincidence, but the planet name Endicor was used by Peter David in a couple of DC Trek comics from 1988, and then showed up in TNG: "Time Squared" in 1989.
 
Klingon Day of Honour from the VGR episode was taken from the novels 'Day of Honour' which was done in collaboration with Pocket.
 
Can't think of any specifics, but I'm sure some tidbits from the Jeri Taylor novels worked their way into the early/mid days of Voyager.
 
A wall chart of alien life in Keiko's classroom (DS9) featured drawings from "Star Trek Starfleet Medical Reference Manual" and TNG featured a map of the galaxy based upon "Star Trek Maps", featuring many star systems shown in that.
 
Can't think of any specifics, but I'm sure some tidbits from the Jeri Taylor novels worked their way into the early/mid days of Voyager.

"Coda" incorporated elements of Janeway's backstory from Mosaic; otherwise, I can't think of a definite example. A lot of stuff from post-Taylor VGR ended up contradicting Pathways.


Another borderline case: Several modern Trek shows have referenced "Edosian orchids" and other Edosian life forms, a nod to "Edos," the name given to Mr. Arex's homeworld in Alan Dean Foster's TAS novelizations (although in those, the possessive form was "Edoan").
 
Elements of the excellent "Legends of the Ferengi" made it into DS9, like the Lytasians, Shmun and T'Lana from Vulcan Love Slave and Eelwasser and Slug-o-Cola.
 
George and Winona Kirk are from Diane Carey's Final Frontier and Best Destiny.

No, the given names George and Winona originated in Enterprise: The First Adventure by Vonda N. McIntyre and were then picked up on by Carey. So between these and Hikaru, McIntyre is responsible for three of the four given names that originated in the books before being canonized in film (the other, Nyota, was coined by William Rotsler).

Although McIntyre named the character, it was Carey who made him a Starfleet lieutenant and first officer (albeit of April's Enterprise... which goes back to the early draft rumour where the Kelvin was the old Enterprise)


FWIW, in the early STXI script at IMSDB, Spock Prime mentions "Cthia", from Spock's World.

Best Destiny is supposedly where the writers got the concept of a reckless young Kirk from.
 
A DS9 screen graphic (in Keiko's classroom?) depicts Zefram Cochrane's warp prototype as it appeared in the 1994 Star Trek Chronology. When First Contact arrived in 1996, it used a different design for the Phoenix.
 
Elements of the excellent "Legends of the Ferengi" made it into DS9, like the Lytasians, Shmun and T'Lana from Vulcan Love Slave and Eelwasser and Slug-o-Cola.

Several of the Rules of Acquisition from Legends of the Ferengi and The Ferengi Rules of Acquisition also made it into DS9 episodes. I also think that Grand Nagus Gint was first mentioned in the latter.
 
Among the Clans inspired a number of elements in Enterprise's later Andorian episodes.
 
^IIRC, "Vulcan's Forge" actually dates back to fanfic from the late 60's/early 70's. I have no idea which one(s).


At Epsilon 9 station, near the start of TMP, a list of ship names and numbers are heard in radio chatter. They're from FJ's Technical Manual.
 
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^ A number of ships from that book also appeared on background screens in the early movies.
 
The name "Vulcan's Forge" is from the TAS episode "Yesteryear" by D. C. Fontana.

http://www.chakoteya.net/StarTrek/TAS003.htm
SAREK: Soon you will undergo your test of adulthood in the desert. To survive for ten days without food, water or weapon on Vulcan's Forge will demand more of you than anything ever has. To fail once is not a disgrace for others. If you fail, there will be those who will call you a coward all your life. I do not expect you to fail.
 
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