When/If Trek Lit reaches 2387

[Christopher]

The first two books described a Romulan empire only a century old, founded after the Carrizal's contact with the Romulans in the Eisn system and the subsequent Romulan War. The Romulans settled two dozen worlds within their sphere--what they called the Empire, what the Federation called the Romulan Neutral Zone--but not all of these colony worlds were successful, and the Romulan state was still substantially smaller than either the Federation or the Klingon Empire.

This changed. The Neutral Zone, for starters, was identified in TNG as a buffer zone between the spaces of the Star Empire and the Federation.

No, that's what it was defined as from the very beginning, in "Balance of Terror." That's what the term "neutral zone" always means -- a treaty-defined border zone between two hostile powers that neither of them controls and is therefore neutral (i.e. a demilitarized zone or buffer zone). BoT described it as "the neutral zone between planets Romulus and Remus and the rest of the galaxy," and the famous Neutral Zone map from that episode clearly shows the Neutral Zone as the thick dividing line between Earth space ("Federation" hadn't been coined yet) and the Romulan Star Empire. Nobody would call the empire itself "the Neutral Zone," because it isn't neutral.

What Duane and Peter Morwood actually wrote in The Romulan Way, p. 195 of the original edition:

The treaty established what came to be known as the Romulan Neutral Zone, an egg-shaped area of space about ninety lightyears long and forty wide, with 128 Trianguli at its center. The Zone itself was the "shell" of the egg, a buffer area all the way around, one lightyear thick, marked and guarded by defense/monitoring satellites of both sides. Everything inside the Zone was considered "the Romulan Star Empire," even though there was as yet no such thing.

This shift has led to a transformation in the depiction of the Romulans in the current universe. At one point, the Romulans were described as being substantially weaker than the Federation, at best trying to keep up, with a shorter history of starflight than the humans and many fewer and more fragile colonies. That's been reversed, most explicitly in the Romulan War novel: the Romulans have been starfaring much longer than humanity, and it takes multiple powers to keep the Romulans from conquering humanity (first the Haakonans in the rear area to keep the Romulans distracted, then an Andorian-Tellarite-Vulcan fleet at Cheron).

Well, it was Enterprise that canonically established the 22nd-century Romulans as a more advanced power than Earth. The Romulan War novels were following up on what the show established. And I doubt the show was following Duane's lead.

 

[rfmcdpei]

The first two books described a Romulan empire only a century old, founded after the Carrizal's contact with the Romulans in the Eisn system and the subsequent Romulan War. The Romulans settled two dozen worlds within their sphere--what they called the Empire, what the Federation called the Romulan Neutral Zone--but not all of these colony worlds were successful, and the Romulan state was still substantially smaller than either the Federation or the Klingon Empire.

This changed. The Neutral Zone, for starters, was identified in TNG as a buffer zone between the spaces of the Star Empire and the Federation.

No, that's what it was defined as from the very beginning, in "Balance of Terror." That's what the term "neutral zone" always means -- a treaty-defined border zone between two hostile powers that neither of them controls and is therefore neutral (i.e. a demilitarized zone or buffer zone). BoT described it as "the neutral zone between planets Romulus and Remus and the rest of the galaxy," and the famous Neutral Zone map from that episode clearly shows the Neutral Zone as the thick dividing line between Earth space ("Federation" hadn't been coined yet) and the Romulan Star Empire. Nobody would call the empire itself "the Neutral Zone," because it isn't neutral.

What Duane and Peter Morwood actually wrote in The Romulan Way, p. 195 of the original edition:

The treaty established what came to be known as the Romulan Neutral Zone, an egg-shaped area of space about ninety lightyears long and forty wide, with 128 Trianguli at its center. The Zone itself was the "shell" of the egg, a buffer area all the way around, one lightyear thick, marked and guarded by defense/monitoring satellites of both sides. Everything inside the Zone was considered "the Romulan Star Empire," even though there was as yet no such thing.

I stand corrected.

This shift has led to a transformation in the depiction of the Romulans in the current universe. At one point, the Romulans were described as being substantially weaker than the Federation, at best trying to keep up, with a shorter history of starflight than the humans and many fewer and more fragile colonies. That's been reversed, most explicitly in the Romulan War novel: the Romulans have been starfaring much longer than humanity, and it takes multiple powers to keep the Romulans from conquering humanity (first the Haakonans in the rear area to keep the Romulans distracted, then an Andorian-Tellarite-Vulcan fleet at Cheron).

Well, it was Enterprise that canonically established the 22nd-century Romulans as a more advanced power than Earth. The Romulan War novels were following up on what the show established. And I doubt the show was following Duane's lead.

[/QUOTE]

I doubt so, too. The depiction in TNG of the Romulans as a power apparently on par with the Klingons and the Federation, almost two decades earlier, was arguably the thing that made it impossible to sustain the initial Duane depiction of the Romulans as a power at a substantial disadvantage to the Federation. Hence Duane's revised depiction, starting in Swordhunt, of the Romulan empire as an entity substantially larger and older than in The Romulan Way, with plenty of mature colonies and at least some settlements going back centuries.

 

[Christopher]

^I was always kind of disappointed that the new Rihannsu books incorporated stuff established in TNG. I would've preferred them to stay true to the alternate version of the Trek universe that Duane created in the '80s.

 

[rfmcdpei]

^I was always kind of disappointed that the new Rihannsu books incorporated stuff established in TNG. I would've preferred them to stay true to the alternate version of the Trek universe that Duane created in the '80s.

The Rihannsu were a great creation, but I have to say that I prefer the current novelverse incarnation, insofar as it is a synthesis of everything Rihannsu that could be scavenged with the later televised canon.

I like the ideas of the Romulans being a peer or near-peer of the Federation, of being a more ancient starfaring culture than Earths not a relative novice, et cetera.

(Yes, I much prefer Duane's depiction of Remus as a class-M world co-orbiting Romulus that maintained a certain cultural independence from Romulus to the Nemesis depiction of Remus as a barely uninhabitable tidally-locked world populated by Nosferatu vampires. Too?)

 

[Christopher]

I think the NEM version of Remus was interesting. Normal class-M worlds are a dime a dozen in Trek. And it was refreshing to see the Romulan Empire given an actual subject race and looking like a real empire for once. I get so sick and tired of so-called alien "empires" that only have one species and culture within them.

I don't feel any need to put different interpretations of ST in competition with one another and pick a winner and a loser. They're all equally imaginary, after all. I like Duane's distinct version of the universe because it's different, because it has its own style and flavor, not because it's "better" than the interpretation devised by other creators.

 

[Lynx]

It's only unnecessary in the same way that everything in fiction is unnecessary. The destruction of Romulus motivated Nero's path of destruction which shaped the new universe for forthcoming Trek movies.

Which is another problem. I'm not too fond of this new universe. I preferred the good old one

That's what the novels are for! The old universe lives on.

I've been reading Trek most of my life, I've read a high percentage of whats out there. And I'm loving the current crop of novels. Some are up there with the best ever. Some suck, but some sucked back then also.

Remember, the Typhon Pact novels are written with the foreknowledge of Romulus' fate.

My luck that I haven't read those.

You're the one missing out. The post-Nemesis Romulan arc has been my favourite.

Well, it looks like our tastes are different when it comes to TrekLit. I really loved and still love the Voyager seasons 1-3 books and some older TNG and DS9 books as well but I don't like the current direction of the books with Janeway killed off and a lot of great characters missing. I'm not too fond of the current movie scenario either and all of that ruins the reading for me.

 

[Mike Winters]

The destruction of Romulus does not mean the end of the Romulan people, whether there are thousands left (for all-important symmetry with the Vulcans of the new universe) or millions. But, due to the highly centralized nature of the Romulan government, it may well mean the fall of the Romulan Empire. The film would seem to support this - "He called himself Nero, last of the Romulan Empire"

And he could have saved Romulus too if he hadn't been playing the fiddle...

Mike

 

[F. King Daniel]

Well, it looks like our tastes are different when it comes to TrekLit. I really loved and still love the Voyager seasons 1-3 books and some older TNG and DS9 books as well but I don't like the current direction of the books with Janeway killed off and a lot of great characters missing. I'm not too fond of the current movie scenario either and all of that ruins the reading for me.

Fair enough.

 

[Ben]

I just hope we get Data back in the books.

 

[Sci]

I just hope we get Data back in the books.

I hope we don't. I want the dead to stay dead.

 

[Rush Limborg]

^Spock will be pleased to hear that....

 

[Sci]

^Spock will be pleased to hear that....

It is true; had I been in charge of the Trek films in 1984 -- in some counterfactual history where I was not -1 that year -- Spock would never have been resurrected and Star Trek III would have entailed some other plot.

I'm not contesting that a resurrection can never be done well, but I view them as overused and greatly prefer that dead characters stay dead.

 

[Relayer1]

^Spock will be pleased to hear that....

It is true; had I been in charge of the Trek films in 1984 -- in some counterfactual history where I was not -1 that year -- Spock would never have been resurrected and Star Trek III would have entailed some other plot.

I'm not contesting that a resurrection can never be done well, but I view them as overused and greatly prefer that dead characters stay dead.

I am torn on this one. I certainly want the dead to stay dead, I've had enough of miraculous resurrections, but then again I'd like Data back, and it's not quite such a stretch with him.

Unrealistic as it would be (but, after all, this isn't real) it would be less hard to swallow if they just didn't kill off characters, thus avoiding the problem of how to bring them back.

It would undermine the sense of jeopardy rather badly though...

 

[FatherRob]

I don't feel any need to put different interpretations of ST in competition with one another and pick a winner and a loser. They're all equally imaginary, after all. I like Duane's distinct version of the universe because it's different, because it has its own style and flavor, not because it's "better" than the interpretation devised by other creators.

My favorite novels are those in the Duane Pocket Universe (no pun intended) in the mid 1980's. My Enemy, My Ally is an annual read for me. And yet, even then, I make subtle alterations.

For example, when I read ME, MA, no matter what the printed text says, I almost always envision the TMP Enterprise, the TOS uniforms, and I supplant the Ineau with the four nacelled Excelsior prototype model, suitably lengthened.

In short, I love her stories, moreso I love the setting, but even with my appreciation, I choose to revisit some of the details to suit my sense of style.

Of course, I am stairing at a model of the Constellation on my desk at work that looks like the TMP Enterprise, but has a hull number of 1017... and a teeny tiny Mike Walsh in the Captain's chair. No four nacelled beastie for me!

Anyway, as far as heading to 2387, my personal hopes...

-Data is still dead
-Janeway is still dead
-Picard Retires
-Worf commands the Enterprise
-Ro commands DS9
-Hobus supernova is given a 'plausable explanation'
-The RSE is shattered and takes stock of itself
-The RSE disaster shakes the Typhon Pact apart
-Recovery efforts from the Borg disaster are closing out
-Exploration again returns to the forefront for all of Starfleet

Rob+

 

[RPJOB]

I just hope we get Data back in the books.

I hope we don't. I want the dead to stay dead.

This is Star Trek. Good luck with that.

Heaven and Hell in the Trek universe are outfitted with revolving doors apparently.

 

[Nerys Myk]

The destruction of Romulus does not mean the end of the Romulan people, whether there are thousands left (for all-important symmetry with the Vulcans of the new universe) or millions. But, due to the highly centralized nature of the Romulan government, it may well mean the fall of the Romulan Empire. The film would seem to support this - "He called himself Nero, last of the Romulan Empire"

And he could have saved Romulus too if he hadn't been playing the fiddle...

Mike

Lyre

 

[Relayer1]

The destruction of Romulus does not mean the end of the Romulan people, whether there are thousands left (for all-important symmetry with the Vulcans of the new universe) or millions. But, due to the highly centralized nature of the Romulan government, it may well mean the fall of the Romulan Empire. The film would seem to support this - "He called himself Nero, last of the Romulan Empire"

And he could have saved Romulus too if he hadn't been playing the fiddle...

Mike

Lyre

No, it's true !

 

[Ronald Held]

Dats is back in STO so it could happen in the novels.

 

[zarkon]

I'd love to see Data back at some point. Ent-E feels a bit empty without him.

 

[Relayer1]

I'd love to see Data back at some point. Ent-E feels a bit empty without him.

It's going to need a captain soon...