Why No "Captains' Table" Story For Spock?

[BritishSeaPower]

I'd be very happy to - someday - get a Spock Captain's Table story. I'm a big fan of the Spock-as-Captain concept and haven't gotten nearly enough of it. One of the reasons I'm really enjoying The Sorrows of Empire is Spock in Kirk's shoes plot.

I'd welcome a Reyes or Shran story, too.

Perhaps a Captain's Table e-book series? Hint, hint Pocket!

 

[Markonian]

Another installment of The Captain's Table I'd like to read very much. Imho, a two-parter anthology could be a good idea to confront it.

Here's why:
Produce an anthology featuring several captains not represented before. If it sells well, produce the second book with the rest. Hm, it sounded more convincing in my mind, before I wrote it down.

So, do we have a definitive list of captains? IIrc, some Klingon Empire characters were captains, too, by A Singular Destiny. However, I'm not sure whether they are memorable enough to have a short story of their own.

The list, so far:
Spock
Geordi La Forge
Montgomery Scott
Ezri Dax
Sonya Gomez
Hravishran th'Zoarhi
former IKS Gorkon crewmembers

I'd exclude Diego Reyes because we already knew him as post-Captain character and there was a story with him as captain already.

If you don't mind an off-topic question: Why did Kirk become an Admiral directly after Captain, and not a Commodore?

 

[Christopher]

If you don't mind an off-topic question: Why did Kirk become an Admiral directly after Captain, and not a Commodore?

Because the commodore rank was apparently phased out around that time. In real life, the US Navy stopped using the commodore rank in 1947, replacing it with rear admiral (although since the '80s commodore has been used as a title for senior captains in certain positions), and apparently the makers of TMP and later Trek productions decided to follow that precedent, perhaps feeling the commodore rank was too old-fashioned. TMP did include a reference to "Commodore Probert" in background dialogue recorded for the Epsilon 9 sequence, but that was just filler dialogue that wasn't meant to be clearly audible. There are also screen graphics listing commodores in TNG: "Conspiracy," but again those probably weren't meant to be clearly legible, and aside from that there are no references to Starfleet commodores at any point after TMP.

 

[F. King Daniel]

A Captain's Table Captain Robau book would be awesome (but unlikely)

I'd also like a Captain April story, Diane Carey version. Although that presents several problems regarding Carey's old pre-TOS concepets having been trampled by subsequent canon. I'd just lift the characters and put them in a current canon compliant (TM) version of the era, with any references to events from Final Frontier and Best Destiny kept vague.

 

[Christopher]

I'd also like a Captain April story, Diane Carey version.

There is one -- "Though Hell Should Bar the Way" in Enterprise Logs, by our very own Greg Cox. It's not a Captain's Table story, but it is very much about Carey's version of April and his crew.

If you want stories focused on captains, then you really need to get Enterprise Logs as well as The Captain's Table. They overlap pretty well. True, only one story in EL is in the Captain's Table format with the captain narrating a story to the bar patrons, but then, a number of the stories in Tales from the Captain's Table didn't fit that format either, except for brief framing passages.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Thanks! I remember now Greg's Carey-style April story being mentioned here before, but I'd totally forgotten about it. I've got to hunt down a copy of Enterprise Logs...

 

[Markonian]

Re: Why No "Captains' Table" Story For Robau?

To include Captain Robau is a gorgeous idea!

And you can include him without troubling the Alternate Universe, simply by setting the story firmly in the main timeline, i.e. with the Kelvin at Earth in 2233 (so Kirk's mother can beam down to Iowa in time) and not being destroyed.

I like the idea because it sheds light on the early lost era 2161-2245. I know there is a fan fic Star Trek: Kelvin, nevertheless I'd like to read an official version.

Others pro's include that we could learn more about the two cool aliens aboard Kelvin (the helmsman and the Cygnian(?) doctor).

/my two cents

 

[Therin of Andor]

Re: Why No "Captains' Table" Story For Robau?

we could learn more about the two cool aliens aboard Kelvin (the helmsman

Alnschloss K'Bentayr of Monchezke by Therin of Andor, on Flickr

... and the Cygnian(?) doctor).

Yeah, people have speculated she is a TAS Cygnian:


Cygnian from TAS by Therin of Andor, on Flickr


Alien doctor from Star Trek (2009) by Therin of Andor, on Flickr

 

[Turd Ferguson]

Re: Why No "Captains' Table" Story For Robau?

Until I get my stories starring Captain J.T. Esteban and Captain Styles, I REFUSE to spend any of my hard earned money on ANY Captain's Table stories

 

[F. King Daniel]

Re: Why No "Captains' Table" Story For Robau?

To include Captain Robau is a gorgeous idea!

And you can include him without troubling the Alternate Universe, simply by setting the story firmly in the main timeline, i.e. with the Kelvin at Earth in 2233 (so Kirk's mother can beam down to Iowa in time) and not being destroyed.

Yeah, but whatever timeline they're in, the Kelvin characters are still Bad Robot's creations, so I doubt it'll happen without the same oversight the IDW comics and S&S YA novels are getting.

 

[Markonian]

Re: Why No "Captains' Table" Story For Robau?

Yeah, but whatever timeline they're in, the Kelvin characters are still Bad Robot's creations, so I doubt it'll happen without the same oversight the IDW comics and S&S YA novels are getting.

I see. Too bad, because it is a perfect opportunity to flesh out that era. Even if/when one of our authors writes about the 2230s again, s/he won't be able to use the most iconic characters from that era.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Re: Why No "Captains' Table" Story For Robau?

I see. Too bad, because it is a perfect opportunity to flesh out that era. Even if/when one of our authors writes about the 2230s again, s/he won't be able to use the most iconic characters from that era.

It won't be a "forever" ban. Be patient.

Who are you counting as "iconic", apart from Robau? 'Cos George Sr and Winona Kirk have appeared in several ST novels.

 

[Markonian]

Re: Why No "Captains' Table" Story For Robau?

It won't be a "forever" ban. Be patient.

Who are you counting as "iconic", apart from Robau? 'Cos George Sr and Winona Kirk have appeared in several ST novels.

No forever ban? Hopefully...

And with 'iconic characters', I count the ship (because ships are valuable characters, too) and, to a lesser, extent, the cool aliens. Will President Bacco ever address an Monchezkean during Council session? Or Keenser's people?

I like species consistency. Where species don't just exist for one novel/episode but are part of the universe (positive example: Zaldans). Even though the timelines are separate, these species must exist in both.

 

[F. King Daniel]

We've had plenty of little easter egg-like references to the last movie in recent novels. But they're staying away from blantantly featuring anything from it.

Spoiler: nuTrek reference list

-Icy Delta Vega mentioned in "Paths of Disharmony"
-Red Matter seen but not named in "Watching the Clock"
-The black hole/alternate universe thing explained in "Watching the Clock"
-Mention of Uhura having an Orion academy roommate in "The Rings of Time" (I think? Haven't read it yet but I'm sure someone said it here)
-Cardassian Sunrise drink in "Indistinguishable From Magic"
-Red haired Orion in "Paths of Disharmony"
-"It's been done before" on the beam-out in "Zero Sum Game"

...and several more that elude me at this moment.

 

[Admiral_Sisko]

Re: Why No "Captains' Table" Story For Robau?

Until I get my stories starring Captain J.T. Esteban and Captain Styles, I REFUSE to spend any of my hard earned money on ANY Captain's Table stories

Styles was an ass.

An Esteban story seems interesting, as I'd like to see what he was like on a daily basis. He seemed extremely conservative during The Search for Spock, but it's hard to know if that was due to his command style or the sensitive nature of Grissom's mission. Esteban was, apparently, a close friend of both Kirk and Spock, though this was never stated on screen.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Re: Why No "Captains' Table" Story For Robau?

Will President Bacco ever address an Monchezkean during Council session?

Depends on the authors, and how sharp the people scrutinizing at CBS Licensing are, if there's a problem. There's no ban on referencing the new movie and Monchezkea wasn't actually mentioned onscreen in the last movie so it's not "canonical". What scrutineer is going to red pencil the term and add a note, "Please choose another planet name; Star Trek has not established that this planet exists in the 24th century universe of Star Trek." Richard Arnold doesn't scrutineer the manuscripts any more.

Peter David used to love slipping things past RA!

Or Keenser's people?

Hard to reference a race without a name. But... his origins are due to be explored in the next comic! (I actually thought he looked a bit like the desert dwellers of "Nemesis", where the B-4 parts were retrieved.)

I like species consistency. Where species don't just exist for one novel/episode but are part of the universe (positive example: Zaldans). Even though the timelines are separate, these species must exist in both.

Sure and it'll happen. We didn't see many of the ST III bar aliens ever resurface because no one ever named them. Arex and M'Ress's species names came from a Lincoln Enterprise's mini-biographies and Alan Dean Foster's episode adaptations of TAS. TMP's alien races were named by Robert Fletcher, the costume designer, and ST IV's aliens were named by FASA's RPG sourcebook for ST IV (and a lone photo caption by Kirk Thatcher of an Efrosian on an official publicity still, preserving the Mel Efros homage).

When/if the JJ aliens end up with species/planet names, it's easier for the book authors to acknowledge those aliens.

 

[JD]

Re: Why No "Captains' Table" Story For Robau?

Hard to reference a race without a name. But... his [Keenser] origins are due to be explored in the next comic! (I actually thought he looked a bit like the desert dwellers of "Nemesis", where the B-4 parts were retrieved.)

Kolarans.

 

[Markonian]

Re: Why No "Captains' Table" Story For Robau?

We've had plenty of little easter egg-like references to the last movie in recent novels. But they're staying away from blantantly featuring anything from it.

When/if the JJ aliens end up with species/planet names, it's easier for the book authors to acknowledge those aliens.

Thanks for the explanations! That makes sense and I'm glad the universes are not destined to shun each other (at least, concerning tidbits like species, etc.).

I've hear of the Keenser comic and look forward to it.

BTW, how about a story by Captain Braxton?

 

[Turtletrekker]

Thanks! I remember now Greg's Carey-style April story being mentioned here before, but I'd totally forgotten about it. I've got to hunt down a copy of Enterprise Logs...

As of this writing, retailers at the Amazon Marketplace are selling used copies for ONE CENT!

Essentially, you just have to pay the S&H.

 

[JD]

It's also available as both a Kindle and a Nook E-book.