Spoilers TTN: Sight Unseen by James Swallow Review Thread

[Christopher]

Also, the Elachi/Vertians/Shroomies technically were introduced into the STO universe before appearing in Rise of the Federation, but only by a month, so it was probably too late to rename them anway.

It would've made absolutely no sense to give them a name like "Elachi," because they don't talk! They make no sound of any kind! I mean, they were introduced in an episode called "Silent Enemy," for Pete's sake. Silence is their defining trait. So how could they have a phonetic name for themselves? (For that matter, how can the Horta? And how do the names "Chewbacca" and "Wookiee" and "Kazhyyyk" exist when there are no K or B sounds in Wookie speech? These things always bug me.)

Logically, the only viable name for a species that can't pronounce human-style phonetics is a name given them by humans or some other species, either as a location-based demonym (such as "Vertian" from Gamma Vertis) or as a descriptive term of some sort (like "Groundskeepers" for Species 8472). I'm always careful of that distinction in my fiction, only giving alien-language names to species that can actually produce phonetic speech. So I'm glad nobody tried to compel me to use the Elachi name. I would've had to concoct some handwave that it was, like, the Andorian word for their star system or something.

 

[Jinn]

It would've made absolutely no sense to give them a name like "Elachi," because they don't talk! They make no sound of any kind! I mean, they were introduced in an episode called "Silent Enemy," for Pete's sake. Silence is their defining trait. So how could they have a phonetic name for themselves?

It's been some time since I've played STO stuff in which Elachi appeared but didn't they talk there? I may be misremembering; @thribs probably knows. Even if the Elachi don't talk in STO them having a name makes sense, as they were a servitor race to the Iconians; so either they were specifically created by them or enslaved. Either way the Iconians would have named the Elachi.

 

[Christopher]

It's been some time since I've played STO stuff in which Elachi appeared but didn't they talk there?

If so, that's completely warping them away from their original concept. "Silent Enemy." It's right there in the title. The whole intent behind the episode was to play up the sense of novice space explorers encountering beings that were truly alien and incomprehensible, to emphasize the sense of mystery and the unknown that was largely lost in the 24th-century shows. That was one of the most admirable things about ENT's first season, that emphasis of the idea of space as a mysterious, alien realm that humans had to struggle to comprehend and cope with. That alienness was what drew me to feature the species in A Choice of Futures, and I tried to remain true to it, to explain who the Vertians were and why they did what they did without losing their profound difference from humanity, their very alien way of thinking and engaging with the universe. And that included their very alien and nonverbal way of communicating.

The problem with STO is that its makers chose to do it as a combat game and so it has to force all the species it uses into the mold of being bad guys and bosses. It requires distorting a lot of things to fit that narrow set of requirements, e.g. making many species more generic and interchangeable in the game than they were onscreen. Though I suppose some of that is just so that the same behavior algorithms and game mechanics can be used for all the aliens, just with different skins put on them. Either way, STO just has very specific parameters it needs to follow, and they're very different from what works well in prose or onscreen. I prefer it to remain separate.

 

[Jinn]

If so, that's completely warping them away from their original concept. "Silent Enemy." It's right there in the title. The whole intent behind the episode was to play up the sense of novice space explorers encountering beings that were truly alien and incomprehensible, to emphasize the sense of mystery and the unknown that was largely lost in the 24th-century shows. That was one of the most admirable things about ENT's first season, that emphasis of the idea of space as a mysterious, alien realm that humans had to struggle to comprehend and cope with. That alienness was what drew me to feature the species in A Choice of Futures, and I tried to remain true to it, to explain who the Vertians were and why they did what they did without losing their profound difference from humanity, their very alien way of thinking and engaging with the universe. And that included their very alien and nonverbal way of communicating.

The problem with STO is that its makers chose to do it as a combat game and so it has to force all the species it uses into the mold of being bad guys and bosses. It requires distorting a lot of things to fit that narrow set of requirements, e.g. making many species more generic and interchangeable in the game than they were onscreen. Though I suppose some of that is just so that the same behavior algorithms and game mechanics can be used for all the aliens, just with different skins put on them. Either way, STO just has very specific parameters it needs to follow, and they're very different from what works well in prose or onscreen. I prefer it to remain separate.

I've been doing some googling and I've likely been wrong. The STO Wiki doens't list any voice actors on the Elachi page and their Voice Acting page doesn't mention the Elachi at all; so I was probably just misremembering.

 

[Jakks]

Voted Outstanding. I have come to really enjoy Swallow's writing style. The story was great and moved along well. I liked the change in mission for the Titan and Riker's new command.

I also liked the shout out on page 147 to a 'great-great-great-aunt' of Rager's who must be Space Above & Beyond's Lt. Vanessa Damphousse...who was played by the same actress...Lanei Chapman. Very Cool.

 

[James Swallow]

Voted Outstanding. I have come to really enjoy Swallow's writing style. The story was great and moved along well. I liked the change in mission for the Titan and Riker's new command.
I also liked the shout out on page 147 to a 'great-great-great-aunt' of Rager's who must be Space Above & Beyond's Lt. Vanessa Damphousse...who was played by the same actress...Lanei Chapman. Very Cool.

Thanks! And well spotted!

 

[Enterprise1701]

I really really love Chapter IX of this book!

Troi requesting the EMH to be copied to maximum iterations and then using solid-light abilities physically is exactly the technological trick I wish so many sci-fi writers and characters would think to use!