Worst Covers

[CaseyF]

Yes, but I don't think that means that Over a Torrent Sea necessarily had a bad cover. It's a matter of personal opinion, certainly, but just because some people find a particular image offensive due to their personal belief system, that doesn't a bad cover make. I actually thought it was quite a striking cover, and it's one of my favorites. (After all, some people might find a simple image of a woman in a public place without her face covered offensive due to their beliefs.)

 

[JB2005]

Soul Key
Battle of Betazed
Hollow Men

I rather liked the battle of betazed one, but the other two i'll agree with

 

[Man of Steel]

Another vote for The Soul Key. Lazy, lazy job. I'd be curious to see what other possible cover ideas were considered before they settled on this.

Losing the Peace has one of the worst, most awkward photoshop blends for Picard and Worf. It looks like amateur work. The overall concept and design for the cover is fine. I just can't wrap my head around why anyone would approve the characters' composition and poses. The heads and the bodies don't match up AT ALL.

The photoshop job on Before Dishonor was fairly lazy, too, in the sense that it was just a photo of Seven layered over an image of a Borg cube. I could do that in two minutes with photoshop. It didn't look bad, per se. Just wasn't very original. The real offense is the presence of a VOY character on the cover of a TNG novel.

I don't care much for novels that just re-use publicity photos without adding anything interesting to the covers. I also don't like covers that don't really tell you anything about the story. VOY's Homecoming and The Farther Shore come to mind.

I've always hated the design for the A Time To... novels. They weren't labeled as TNG. The only visual images were the small banner at the top and the little square with a character's head in it. It just looked all wrong to me. It didn't make the novels seem interesting.

I understand the reason as to why The Soul Key cover is the way it is but couldn't you stress the point without the hand and feature just the bracelet?

As it is, it's kind of spooky the way it is.

 

[William Leisner]

Over A Torrent Sea comes to mind. I had people tell me they were offended by the cover or how it was inappropriate in certain places.

[*snip*]

Well, at the time, I was in Israel and I was away for the weekend in a very religious house (ultra) and well, they didn't think it was something a orthodox person should be reading let alone out in the open.

And when exactly did "worst cover" become synonymous with "cover some people I know didn't approve of"?

 

[Christopher]

I've always hated the design for the A Time To... novels. They weren't labeled as TNG.

Then again, neither were the TNG movies. The ATT... books were just following their lead (and using their logo).


As for Ex Machina, I initially thought it was kind of bland (I was hoping for something colorful like the TMP movie poster), but then I came to appreciate how striking it is in its stark, subtle way. A shiny silver monochrome book cover is definitely something that would stand out, and it fits the look of TMP better than something more colorful -- though I like that there is a subtle colors-of-the-spectrum effect suggesting the TMP poster. Also, I like the incorporation of the Oracle's starburst from "For the World is Hollow." And I really like how the composition of the cover suggests the original '60s publicity poster used as the cover of Blish's Star Trek 1. It was implicitly saying "This is a new start, the beginning of a new mission," and that fits with what I wanted it to be (though unfortunately it didn't quite turn out that way). I really appreciate the thought that went into its design.

 

[disasterprone]

I didnt even notice the breasts on the "Over A Torrent Sea" cover! How bad is that?!

Regarding all these covers that look like lazy photoshops, anyone fancy taking a stab at doing a better one? I'm all curious now... lol

 

[ronny]

Also, you'd be surprised what people find offensive these days.

I wouldn't. Just read the user reviews of movies on christiananswers.net and you'll be convinced there are droves of people who go through life just looking for things to be offended at.

Bits and pieces from Galaxy Quest reviews:

I must say though, the most offensive thing to me was the ridiculous way Sigourney Weaver's shirt is ripped half way off of her and she finishes the movie with half of her bra and cleavage totally exposed. Talk about demeaning to women! The stupidity of it was embarrassing to me as a women, and I certainly wouldn't want my teenage son to think of women in such a way. Too bad Hollywood always seems to ruin a nice little movie. My Ratings: [2½/4]
—Joanne, age 46

Very funny and the only problem I saw was that they showed a lot of cleavage on Sigourney Weaver. Other than that it was very clean. A good movie that you don't have to feel uncomfortable watching. My Ratings: [3/4]
—Christa K., age 24

This is a well written and funny movie and if I wasn't a Christian, I would have loved it. There was more than one instance of cleavage… actually more than eight instances of cleavage. There is an instance where Tim Allen's pants are off and the illusion of nudity is given. The lewd comments and sexual innuendos were also quite evident throughout. Without all this and the very loud G.D. exclamatory, this would've been a great movie. I got a good laugh… but the other inputs I got weren't worth the laugh. My Ratings: [2½/4]
—JR Lightstein, age 26

 

[Therin of Andor]

They watched, they enjoyed - and yet were offended!

And they probably watched it again to catalog the bad bits for their reviews.

 

[Arpy]

Therin, I just want to chime in to say I like the Andorian your avatar. What a cool subtle exoskeleton.

Have a great day.

 

[MNM]

I quite disagree. It's not a pretty cover, but it's not a pretty story, which makes the cover rather fitting, IMO.

There's nothing wrong with the idea behind the cover concept of Loosing the Peace, but I dont think it was executed that well when put together. The images of both Worf and Picard jar at how awkardly they are fitted on for one thing.

Again, I don't think "jarring" is a bad thing for this book.

Certainly, however, at least to me, the image doesnt strike me as jarring in that way, it strikes me as Worf and Picard stuck onto an image badly, everything about them seems out of place and wrong sized for the background image.

 

[TenLubak]

Over A Torrent Sea comes to mind. I had people tell me they were offended by the cover or how it was inappropriate in certain places.

Why are they offended? It a beautiful cover I thought.

Now the Captain's Honor. Floating heads, and a sword. I don't really like that one.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Therin, I just want to chime in to say I like the Andorian your avatar. What a cool subtle exoskeleton.

Thanks!

The artwork is from my first ever fanfic, way back in 1980, and the editor of the zine it went into commissioned another club member to do some Andorian artwork for it. My story assumed that the Andorians had exoskeletons, as mentioned in the "Starfleet Medical Reference Manual", so Kamu even drew the exoskeleton to be visible through the uniforms!

 

[Greg Cox]

Exactly...if you're in someone's house and not in public, it's that household that has every right to enforce the rules they see fit, whether or not you like them.

Reminds me of the time my mother asked me not to bring my SON OF SATAN comics to grandma's house . . . .

Probably a reasonable request!

 

[Tino]

Losing the Peace's cover is among the most memorably bad.

Funny. To me it's one of the best - if you're able to ignore the many mistakes. It has a great style to it.

 

[Kirks_Flying_Wig]

I quite like the Losing the Peace cover. I was one of the people who figuratively tore it to bits when the hi-res art was posted on here a few months ago but when the book was actually in my hands, most of the errors and weird things (tiny reverse Enterprise nacelle, enormous Worf hands, enormous Picard penis) were either gone or didn't stand out as much as I thought they would.

And I understood the metaphor!

 

[Thrawn]

...enormous Picard penis...

Well, you know what they say about Patrick Stewart...

 

[Man of Steel]

A lot of you like this cover but for some reason I hate this and I don't know why. Ready??

WARPATH.

I'm sure if asked, I can come up with some reason..

 

[Therin of Andor]

for some reason I hate this and I don't know why.

Reminds you that you forgot to pick up some Clearasil on the way home?