All of the mixed feelings around Trek’s “inability” to hit a home run with the serialized format begs a different type of question: Would it be interesting to see an outright adaptation of some Trek literature…like a novel or series of novels? Many have observed that shows like GOT or Expanse are great serialized efforts, but primarily because they are based on books. Thoughts? Are there Treklit efforts that could feasibly be adapted that you’d like to see?
I think "feasibly" is the part where things get complicated. How can a DS9 novel feasibly be adapted at this point without recasting? Sure, I'd love to see the Destiny trilogy on film, but it would never happen, and if it did, it might be a bad effort, and I'd rather they not try than do a bad job of it.
I’ve wondered if, with use of some existing casting and new casting, that you couldn’t adapt David Goodman’s “Autobiography James T. Kirk” You also have the New Frontier book series (which I haven’t read)
What can be adapted for live action besides the Vanguard series, the Stargazer series, and a handful of The Lost Era novels? The Romulan War/Rise of the Federation series, Titan series, Department of Temporal Investigations series and IKS Gorkon series could be adapted too, if there was any interest in animation.
They could go the Doctor Who route and adapt some stories to other crews ie ""Jubilee" to "Dalek", "Human Nature" "Human Nature/Family of Blood." TNG tried it with "The Wounded Sky" for "Where No One Has Gone Before" which was a TOS story to TNG. SNW, Lower Decks, Picard, and Discovery could all have a go at "Invasion!" SNW could do "Q-Squared" and bring in Kelvin timeline. Two Spocks instead of three Datas? Or have Peck also play Mirror Spock or Simon Grayson. Discovery could do Voyager "Echoes." Marvel has mined it's stories for a while and shown it can be done, no matter what the finished product is like, well I guess any film adaptation of a book has shown it can be done really. There's novel writers involved with live action production but is there still like a disconnect, like for a long while the divide between TV and film? And is it rights/fees issues? The villain of Discovery Season 2 started as a novel villain though, right? Hmmm.
Well, it's not that TNG's makers sought out the novel for adaptation, just that Diane Duane and Michael Reaves chose to pitch them a story based on Duane's novel. Indeed, TNG's staff rewrote it so heavily that it bore almost no resemblance to the novel. Similarly, Dennis Bailey & David Bischoff adapted their non-Trek science fiction novel Tin Woodman into the episode "Tin Man." And of course, in the animated series, Larry Niven adapted his Known Space novella "The Soft Weapon" as "The Slaver Weapon." No, Trek novels are work-for-hire. Everything we write is completely owned by the studio, since we're contractors working on their behalf when we write it. So they can use whatever concepts or characters they want. It's just that they have plenty of ideas of their own already and don't need to turn to the novels or comics for material. It's more like the villain of DSC season 2 was loosely inspired by the idea of the novel villain. According to David Mack, creator of the novel version:
I hope the idea of Control taking on a life of its own was intentional phrasing on Mr. Mack's part, but it's nice phrasing either way.
Here's another idea. Take the mirror universe trilogy - Glass Empires ,Obsidian Alliances, & Shards and Shadows – and pair them with the Dark Passions duology series. And include the novel Rise Like Lions, DIS comic series Succession, the New Frontier comic series Turnaround, TNG comic series Mirror Broken, and the VOY comic Mirrors & Smoke, and there’s a new animated series right there involving characters from the first six live action series. It could be called Tales of the Terran Empire.
What if there was a Nan Bacco miniseries, for those that want a West Wing style series? A Time for War, A Time for Peace, Articles of the Federation, & Coda all exist as source material. Although Coda is more for a splinter timeline. I know that Lower Decks is dealing with the 2380s decade, but for those that prefer live action, maybe a Nan Bacco 10-part miniseres could fill the void. and offer a different take on the events between VOY/NEM and PIC.