Excelsior: Forged in Fire
In the eternal debate between Star Wars and Star Trek, I always come down firmly on the side of Star Trek. It's not that I don't love Star Wars; I do. But Trek is in my blood. It's what my mom watched when I refused to sleep as an infant. The Next Generation was a constant background in my childhood. It infiltrated every aspect of my life, from my preference for Earl Grey tea to my strong belief that the world is improving and will continue to do so.
Despite that, I've only every considered myself a casual fan at best. I'd only ever seen parts of any of the television shows. I've seen exactly one of the movies. I don't have an encyclopedic knowledge of the minutiae of the Star Trek universe. I never sought out fan fiction or the novelizations of the series (though I do have my preferred ships). I certainly don't speak Klingon.
For the past year and a half (ish) I've set about diving deeper into the show. I sat down and watched the first two seasons of The Original Series (I got bored before the final one). I've been making my way through The Next Generation, which has been a weird mix of surprises and strong memories, sometimes in a single episode. And now I'm starting Deep Space Nine, which I have only the vaguest memories of (I remember loving Odo and Jadzia Dax, but that's about all).
Last Christmas, Kevin gave me one of the novelizations, and I've been putting off reading it. I don't know all that much about the original crew, especially since I still haven't seen the movies (I mean, I could tell you the plot of Wrath of Khan and Search for Spock, but I've never seen a single scene of either one). But I finally decided to give it a go.
I was surprised, both by how much I liked the book and by how familiar I was with this universe. The book follows Captain Sulu as the first officer on board the USS Excelsior, right at the beginning of peace talks between the Federation and the Klingon Empire. It's something of a continuation of events in Trouble for Tribbles, one of the best episodes, in that it goes a long way to explaining why the klingons in that episode look so different from the ones in later series (beyond the budgetary reasons, that is). I also had fun spotting a passing reference to Dr Phloxx and seeing a young Curzon Dax (Jadzia Dax's predecessor) in action. And it was nice to see expanded roles for Rand and Chapel.
The book wasn't perfect. I struggled to piece together the timeline, because the book uses three different calendars and jumps back and forth in time a lot. The ending drags on longer than it really needs to. And I found some of it clunky and repetitive.
I won't be seeking out any more novelizations of the Star Trek universe. Fan fiction is free on the internet, after all. But it was fun to read one of them and be reminded of how vast this universe really is. I'm glad this book exceeded my (admittedly very low) expectations.
Despite that, I've only every considered myself a casual fan at best. I'd only ever seen parts of any of the television shows. I've seen exactly one of the movies. I don't have an encyclopedic knowledge of the minutiae of the Star Trek universe. I never sought out fan fiction or the novelizations of the series (though I do have my preferred ships). I certainly don't speak Klingon.
For the past year and a half (ish) I've set about diving deeper into the show. I sat down and watched the first two seasons of The Original Series (I got bored before the final one). I've been making my way through The Next Generation, which has been a weird mix of surprises and strong memories, sometimes in a single episode. And now I'm starting Deep Space Nine, which I have only the vaguest memories of (I remember loving Odo and Jadzia Dax, but that's about all).
Last Christmas, Kevin gave me one of the novelizations, and I've been putting off reading it. I don't know all that much about the original crew, especially since I still haven't seen the movies (I mean, I could tell you the plot of Wrath of Khan and Search for Spock, but I've never seen a single scene of either one). But I finally decided to give it a go.
I was surprised, both by how much I liked the book and by how familiar I was with this universe. The book follows Captain Sulu as the first officer on board the USS Excelsior, right at the beginning of peace talks between the Federation and the Klingon Empire. It's something of a continuation of events in Trouble for Tribbles, one of the best episodes, in that it goes a long way to explaining why the klingons in that episode look so different from the ones in later series (beyond the budgetary reasons, that is). I also had fun spotting a passing reference to Dr Phloxx and seeing a young Curzon Dax (Jadzia Dax's predecessor) in action. And it was nice to see expanded roles for Rand and Chapel.
The book wasn't perfect. I struggled to piece together the timeline, because the book uses three different calendars and jumps back and forth in time a lot. The ending drags on longer than it really needs to. And I found some of it clunky and repetitive.
I won't be seeking out any more novelizations of the Star Trek universe. Fan fiction is free on the internet, after all. But it was fun to read one of them and be reminded of how vast this universe really is. I'm glad this book exceeded my (admittedly very low) expectations.
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