Trek Novel Cover Art

[c0rnedfr0g]

Will TOS-era Trek novel cover art depict the original actors or the recasted ones?

Probably a mixture, but how much of each? I assume that novels pre-S1 TOS will predominantly feature the recasted crew, while post S1-TOS novels will predominantly feature the older crew. I then suspect the trend to drift more and more towards using the recasted crew in the novels (depending on movie reception and potential timeline changes, of course).


Thoughts?

 

[JNG]

I believe it really only depends on whether or not the movie is a hit. If it does Nemesis numbers, you aren't likely to see those actors "suited up" anywhere but the toy clearance aisle.

 

[Herbert1]

I believe that the choice would really depend on the time period in which the events of the novel occurs and whether the new film is a success and popular with audiences.

But the original cast is so beloved by fans, I just don't see the likenesses of the original cast disappearing on the covers of novels set in the Star Trek literary world. I don't believe that they will age progress likenesses of Chris Pine etc.

 

[Blip]

I suppose they could always go down the route of the various Star Wars novels, where they morphed Jake Lloyd's Anakin Skywalker in stages until he looked like Hayden Christensen's (and IIRC they did a similar thing with Ewan McGregor and Sir Alec Guinness).

How do you morph Chris Pine's blue eyes into William Shatner's brown ones though? o_O

 

[Ptrope]

I hear that one of the post-Abrams novels will be all about Kirk's unfortunate lazik adventure, which not only turned his eyes brown, but also set in force the events which made brow ridges form on the Romulans. There will be a significant sub-plot about how Scotty lost part of his finger, as well.

 

[SGCSG1]

I hope so. I certainly want book adventures in the new continuity. I'm done with the old series. DONE. FINITO. OVER. JUMPING JUDAS, TAKE THAT CRAP OUT OF HERE. You get my point, I think.

 

[Vektor]

My supposition at this point is that the new movie is going to establish a permanently altered timeline. I would expect that any novels set in the new timeline would feature likenesses of Pine, Quinto et al, while novels set in the old timeline would continue to show the likenesses of Shatner, Nimoy and the other original TOS actors. The real question is, how much "legacy support" are Paramount and Pocketbooks going to give to the old timeline, if any? My guess is that, if the new movie is a success, the answer is not much. I don't think they're going to start pulling existing novels or DVDs from store shelves or anything like that, but I think they will want any new materials to focus on the "new" Star Trek, not the old.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

The real question is, how much "legacy support" are Paramount and Pocketbooks going to give to the old timeline, if any? My guess is that, if the new movie is a success, the answer is not much.

I dunno; they may identify a big enough customer base that would prefer the older version to make it worthwhile to provide an alternative to the movie.

 

[Ethros]

I suppose they could always go down the route of the various Star Wars novels, where they morphed Jake Lloyd's Anakin Skywalker in stages until he looked like Hayden Christensen's (and IIRC they did a similar thing with Ewan McGregor and Sir Alec Guinness).

As I don't read Star Wars novels can you give me some examples? I'd be interested in seeing the said covers

 

[David cgc]

My guess is that, if the new movie is a success, the answer is not much. I don't think they're going to start pulling existing novels or DVDs from store shelves or anything like that, but I think they will want any new materials to focus on the "new" Star Trek, not the old.

Well, it depends on more of the novels' success than the movie's. I mean, they do seem to be doing pretty well as-is, and it may be difficult to differentiate nuTrek from Trek Prime enough that a casual browser will be able to tell which books are from old, stodgy Trek, and which are from new, hip Trek, and preferentially buy the nuTrek ones.

I imagine, though, that they'd maintain parallel lines, at least for the foreseeable future. They've got a lot of energy invested from the past four years of written Trek being the only Trek (eight, if we're counting the 24th century). I'm not sure what how they'd do it, since nuTrek's logo isn't really different from TOS's (by design), but they'll find a way.

Incidentally, I'd really love if "Trek Prime" became the term for the orthodox version, so use it with all your friends!

 

[USS Jack Riley]

I suppose they could always go down the route of the various Star Wars novels, where they morphed Jake Lloyd's Anakin Skywalker in stages until he looked like Hayden Christensen's (and IIRC they did a similar thing with Ewan McGregor and Sir Alec Guinness).

As I don't read Star Wars novels can you give me some examples? I'd be interested in seeing the said covers

It was a Young Readers novel series called Jedi Quest (my son loved them). On the back of the first book in the series (there were 10 in all, IIRC) there was a progression of pictures as described by Blip.

You can go to Amazon.com and look up the book, "The Way of the Apprentice," click on the book cover (it has the "Look Inside" feature) and then click on the "Back Cover" to see the picture. Of course you could always click here and go to the site directly:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0439339170/ref=sib_dp_pt#reader-link

Not a bad job actually.

I don't rememer one for Ewan McGregor to Sir Alec Guiness, but that doesn't mean that it does not exist.

 

[starburst]

I think its going to depend on the author of the novel in question and what the publisher wants to put out there.

There isnt going to be a complete clean slate when it comes to novels as some of the older writers will continue to write sequals to their own work, some may choose to dabbel in whatever universe the movie sets up and new comers to Trek novels will end up choosing whichever they have an idea for.

People should calm down a little.

 

[Ethros]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0439339170/ref=sib_dp_pt#reader-link

Cool. That's pretty good yet pretty freaky at the same time

 

[c0rnedfr0g]

People should calm down a little.

this is no time to think rationally