Where the heck do I start with ST books?

[Idran]

What's an "Arrowverse"?

The DC-comics-based shared universe on the CW that started with the show Arrow and has since expanded to include Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, and as an alternate-universe-but-occasional-crossovers-through-dimensional-travel companion piece (because it started out on CBS and moved to CW in its second season), Supergirl.

I'm actually getting a little tired of how virtually every Arrowverse episode needs to end with a cliffhanger setup for the next episode, even if it's an unrelated story. That's the sort of thing that I think should be saved for when it really matters.

Oh, that's an annoying approach to it, yeah. I'm still about a season behind, I think, and I must not have reached them doing that sort of thing yet.

 

[JD]

SMD was good science fiction, and it was even fair ST. Especially for its day. S:M was good science fiction, but lousy ST, because it involved, in effect, techno-telepathy at a distance. Both were lousy in terms of continuity, but then again, that was typical of that era, when the very idea of ST returning in any form other than prose was beyond most people's wildest dreams.

Even today, continuity is really only of concern to geeks like us, except in special cases like soap operas, or miniseries, or in JMS's 5-year miniseries, Babylon 5. And of course, there are series that deliberately thumb their noses at continuity, regularly killing off characters only to have them reappear unharmed the very next week (my understanding is that South Park does so, although I've never actually seen it, and that The Simpsons also does so, although I'm not sure I've seen even a single episode all the way through).

Like Idran says below me, serialization is at an all time high in TV right. I honestly can't think of a single show that doesn't have at least a level of continuity.
As for South Park, it's sounds like you're think of the "Oh my god, they killed Kenny, you bastard" gag, which they actually stopped a while back.
The Simpsons actually does have a bit of continuity, as far as I know whenever a characters has been dead at the end of an episode, they've stayed dead, well outiside of the Treehouse of Horror episodes. They also do make occasional references back to previous episodes, like listing all of the jobs Homer has had or places the family visited. Future episodes also tend to reflect changes made in an episode, like when one of Marge's sisters came out or when one of them adopted a baby.

 

[Cap'n Calhoun]

What's an "Arrowverse"?

The DC comics TV universe that includes Arrow, Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, Vixen (animated webseries), Constantine (retroactively, plus the upcoming animated webseries).

If you include the broader multiverse of TV shows that cross together but are different "universes", Supergirl and (possibly)

Spoiler: arguable old spoiler

the 1990 version of The Flash

are among the 52 universes in that multiverse. (But not, say, Gotham or Powerless, though with the multiverse concept they could always decide to integrate them later.)

Aren't you glad you asked?

 

[Cap'n Calhoun]

The Simpsons actually does have a bit of continuity, as far as I know whenever a characters has been dead at the end of an episode, they've stayed dead

Except possibly for Dr. Nick.

 

[Christopher]

The DC comics TV universe that includes Arrow, Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, Vixen (animated webseries), Constantine (retroactively, plus the upcoming animated webseries)... Supergirl

Also another upcoming animated webseries, Freedom Fighters: The Ray.

 

[Cap'n Calhoun]

Also another upcoming animated webseries, Freedom Fighters: The Ray.

Oh, totally forgot that was going to be a thing. Also probably throw in probably Black Lightning, though I don't think it's been officially confirmed. With it coming from Berlanti and the CW, I'd be surprised if it wasn't in the main Arrowverse and shocked if it wasn't in at least one of the universes.

 

[Destructor]

Hello all. Been wanting to get into the ST "expanded universe" for awhile now. However... I really have no idea where to start, with so many different books out.

Any advice? I would rate my interest in ST time/story periods, from most interesting to least- DS9, followed by TNG, then TOS, then ENT, and lastly, VOY.

Thanks for any advice!

I would start with the 'Avatar' two-parter and move forward from there.

 

[TheSublimeGoose]

I would start with the 'Avatar' two-parter and move forward from there.

I'm on an Amazon -fueled ST book ordering spree tonight- I'll add them to my list!

 

[JD]

Except possibly for Dr. Nick.

I didn't know he had died.

Also another upcoming animated webseries, Freedom Fighters: The Ray.

Don't forget that Constantine was also retroactively added to it, and he'll be getting an animated webseries that will also be part of it.

 

[Christopher]

^Constantine was already mentioned in Cap'n Calhoun's post.

 

[Cap'n Calhoun]

I didn't know he had died.

In the movie.

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"Bye, everybody!"

I guess they've retconned it since then. Apparently the same thing happened for Marvin Monroe, though his original death was off-screen.

 

[JD]

I actually just watched the movie a few months ago, and I completely forgot about that. But since that was just that was just a quick gag, rather than a whole story of it's own, like Ned's wife's death, I can see ignoring it. I never came across the stuff with Monroe, but that is quite a retcon. Wasn't he "killed" because Shearer couldn't handle doing the voice?

^Constantine was already mentioned in Cap'n Calhoun's post.

Oh, I didn't see that when I was reading his post. Sorry.

 

[DimesDan]

I actually just watched the movie a few months ago,

How can you have just watched it if you watched it a few months ago? That is a very strange way of putting it.

If I had just watched something, I have literally not long watched it (a matter of hours) where as if it was longer than a day, I would put yesterday, last week, last month etc, or put that I watched it a few months ago like you did with the Simpsons Movie.

 

[Jinn]

How can you have just watched it if you watched it a few months ago? That is a very strange way of putting it.

If I had just watched something, I have literally not long watched it (a matter of hours) where as if it was longer than a day, I would put yesterday, last week, last month etc, or put that I watched it a few months ago like you did with the Simpsons Movie.

Maybe JD is an ancient being that has been around as long as the universe itself, so a month or a year or a day doesn't make much of a difference to them.

Or maybe it was just a mistake.

 

[DimesDan]

Or maybe it was just a mistake.

I've noticed he and others have the same quirk when talking about things they did a while ago and saying they just did it.

 

[Idran]

I've noticed he and others have the same quirk when talking about things they did a while ago and saying they just did it.

I think it's more a comparative thing? That the time at which it was seen or otherwise engaged in was close to today relative to when a person thinks most people would have rather than in an absolute sense. "It came out 10 years ago but I just saw it a few months ago," for this particular example. Used to highlight the fact that it was relatively recent in order to clarify or highlight that it happened much closer to today than a person might otherwise think.

That's how I tend to see "just" used when talking about something like this; I only really see the word "just" used in an absolute proximity sense when it comes to something that doesn't have something akin to a release date or date something was big in the zeitgeist or whatever. Like, JD's usage doesn't seem odd to me, but if someone said "I just saw my friend a few months ago", that would.

 

[ryan123450]

But I can see saying that if you hadn't seen someone for many years. Then someone else mentions them a few months later, someone else who hasnt seen them for years.

 

[JD]

I think it's more a comparative thing? That the time at which it was seen or otherwise engaged in was close to today relative to when a person thinks most people would have rather than in an absolute sense. "It came out 10 years ago but I just saw it a few months ago," for this particular example. Used to highlight the fact that it was relatively recent in order to clarify or highlight that it happened much closer to today than a person might otherwise think.

This is what I meant. I said just because it was a lot more recently than when it originally came out.

 

[Saul]

If I was starting off with Star Trek books I would pick something that's stand alone and free from the continuity of other books. Also start with a story or Trek series/character that interests you.