Trek novels impove the movies. Agree?

[Johnhead99]

I just watched all 4 Next Gen movies basically in a row while drinking a bottle of wine. Ah yes, living the good life.

My point to the thread though is that the novels make the movies better. First time I saw Nemesis, I thought it was average. This time, after reading all the post nemesis material, I thought it was excellent. The ending still made me emotional (could have been the bottle of Lambrusco) and the whole romulan senate made a whole lot more sense. Commander Donotra has to be one of my favorites. And the line "It appears to be a robotic arm" ---- "Very astute of you" ..... Classic.

Thank you to all the authors who allow me to enjoy the little things in life.

 

[DGCatAniSiri]

Sure it wasn't just the wine that made them better?

(I'm kidding, of course - I do think the movies as a whole had, even in my least favorite of the bunch, something that made them in some way enjoyable for a time.)

 

[Ktrek]

I have owned all the movies for many years. Starting with VHS, then DVD, and soon to upgrade to Blu-Ray in May. My wife and I watch them all in order at least once a year and I always get more out of them with subsequent viewings. The books do help also because there are details that are brought out in the books that help me make more sense of some scenes in the movies, but also the opposite is true in that having seen the movies so many time enhances the enjoyment of the books.

Kevin

 

[Trent Roman]

Yes, except "Insurrection". But then, I don't think there's been much INS-related fiction actually produced; the best so far was a relatively minor point of Abyss that implied that Section 31 was behind the alliance with the Son'a.

Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman

 

[captcalhoun]

the books certainly improve Nemesis. i don't think there's much to do to FC to improve it. it was pretty damn good in the first place.

 

[RonG]

I think that as far as TNG movies are concerned, only Nemesis really benefitted from a TrekLit background and overall context.

Generations and First Contact were (AFAIK) mostly "dealt with" by the first Shatnerverse novels. Insurrection was pretty much left alone (I didn't remember the S31 part from Abyss...).

I think that up until NEM, TNG was supposed to have a vast film presence, which would undoubtedly come into conflict with the novels (as seen in the case of FC and Federation). Once NEM was shown to be the "final" TNG film, the literary continuity shifted gears to provide the "official" new adventures in the TNG (post-NEM) era -as had been done with DS9 once the series ended - and I think that with that in mind, NEM is certainly enhanced by the preceding (ATT) and subsequent novels.


As far as the TOS novels go, I think that they have been dealt with in the novels for years (with varying degrees of success), and for the most part, the movies are better upon further viewing because of the novels (case in point - Ex Machina and TMP, Eugenics Wars and TWoK).

 

[JD]

Yeah, I've got to agree here, the novels definitely helped Nem. I think that we were actually able to get most of the plot holes filled in over the years with all of the different books and stories based around it. While it's not enough to improve the overall quality of the movie, it does help some.

 

[donners22]

I loved Nemesis as a film, but the book added a bit to it. Insurrection gave a bit more background to the admiral. All I can remember about FC is a couple of words in the dialogue being different. The VI novel was very disappointing for me, particularly the mindmeld scene.

 

[Johnhead99]

Yeah, I've got to agree here, the novels definitely helped Nem. I think that we were actually able to get most of the plot holes filled in over the years with all of the different books and stories based around it. While it's not enough to improve the overall quality of the movie, it does help some.

This is the exact same thought I had. Everyone has more of a purpose in the movie after reading the books.

 

[GodThingFormerly]

Gene Roddenberry's ST:TMP novelization - beyond serving as absolutely first class whacking material for this eight year old boy - was my very first exposure to a bunch of techno-sociological speculations such as Atlantropa, the noosphere, planetary subways, museum cities, contract marriages, solar power satellites, nanotechnology and other concepts that GR cherry picked from existing sources.

TGT

 

[JoeZhang]

Yes, except "Insurrection". But then, I don't think there's been much INS-related fiction actually produced; the best so far was a relatively minor point of Abyss that implied that Section 31 was behind the alliance with the Son'a.

Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman

Now I saw INS once and that was a long time ago - he had a romance in that film didn't he? wasn't it ever picked up on?

 

[Baerbel Haddrell]

Especially with Nemesis, my opinion is that the Star Trek book authors and editors did the best possible with the bad material they had to deal with. That is impressive but doesn`t improve the movie or movies in any way.

 

[Turbo]

Yes, except "Insurrection". But then, I don't think there's been much INS-related fiction actually produced; the best so far was a relatively minor point of Abyss that implied that Section 31 was behind the alliance with the Son'a.

Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman

Now I saw INS once and that was a long time ago - he had a romance in that film didn't he? wasn't it ever picked up on?

It was referenced in Q&A recently.