COLUMN: Star Trek in Print

Written for TrekWeb by Jacqueline Bundy

A larger number of Star Trek books than usual have been released this month. But before you moan about your bank account, the good news is that some are reprints. But there are also several new titles so let’s take a look at this months offerings.

*New Releases*

Following hot on the heels of the first two Star Trek Deep Space Nine-Mission: Gamma books, “Twilight” and “This Gray Spirit” is the third book “Cathedral” by Michael A. Martin and Andy Mangels. As hard as it is to believe, considering the overall excellence of the first two novels, this saga gets even better in the second half.

“Cathedral” continues the story of the Defiant’s exploration of the Gamma quadrant where Bashir, Ezri and Nog each find themselves severely affected by an encounter with a strange alien artifact. Meanwhile, on the station, the political maneuverings surrounding the admission of Bajor to the Federation continue to reverberate, as does Kira‘s release of the Ohula prophecies. This novel is dramatic and powerful and the overall plot lines of the series take some surprising twists and turns. An excerpt from “Cathedral” and also for the final Mission Gamma book “Lesser Evil” which is due in November can be found at Psi Phi.

A hardcover novelization of the two-part Enterprise episode “Shockwave” is heading for store shelves. Written by Paul Ruditis and based on the episode script, “Shockwave” does expand on the episode but it’s not really worth the price. Wait for the paperback.

The paperback edition of the conclusion to the Gateways series “What Lay Beyond” is now in stores. If you haven’t read the series of novels that leads up to WLB then don’t bother, as you would be totally lost. But good news for those who have been patiently waiting for the paperback edition--The timeline of Star Trek novels included in the hardback edition has also been included in the paperback. The timeline alone (for those readers who like this type of reference material) is worth buying the book for. It is meticulously researched and places every novel within an overall timeline of the Star Trek universe.

Fans of the ‘Shatnerverse’ novels, TOS stories written by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens based on initial story ideas from William Shatner, have been looking forward to “Captain’s Peril”. In stores now this edition is a hardcover and is also available as an audio book read by William Shatner. “Captain’s Peril” is set after the Dominion War and once again finds Kirk teaming up with Picard to save the universe. The story utilizes flashbacks to a very early TOS mission. The paperback edition of “Captain’s Peril” will be available late next year.

I personally found the story to be disappointing. It has its moments, but doesn’t quite manage to rise to the level of some of the earlier Shatner novels. “Captain’s Peril” is the first in a planned trilogy, and is meant to set up the events to come. The novel succeeds in doing that but failed to leave me wanting to know what happens next.

This months Starfleet Corps of Engineers e-book is “Enigma Ship” by J. Steven York and Christina F. York and finds the crew of the USS da Vinci on a search and rescue mission. “Enigma Ship” is a delightful story and is now available for download at the usual online booksellers.

An omnibus edition of the previously released “Double Helix” series becomes available in October. This crossover series features a wide variety of Star Trek characters from all the series including New Frontier. If you didn’t try this series when in was released in 1998 I highly recommend it. All six of the original novels are included in their entirety in one volume. If you like a good mystery, and books that incorporate tidbits about the history of the Trek universe it’s a great buy in this omnibus format.

Last but not least is a trade paperback title that’s created quite a buzz. “Star Charts: The Complete Atlas of Star Trek” by Geoffrey Mandel. Ever wondered just where the Klingon homeworld is? Or how close Vulcan is to Earth? "Star Charts" provides this information and more--including the routes of each of the ships featured in all the Star Trek series, from Archer's Enterprise to Janeway's Voyager to the latest TNG movie, Star Trek: Nemesis. The graphics are incredible in this book and no Star Trek library would be complete without it. If you don’t pick it up yourself, be sure to put this on your holiday wish list.

*Book News*

Congratulations to author David R. George III--his novel “Twilight” made it to USA Today’s bestseller list.

I have been able to confirm that author Greg Cox does plan to write another Khan novel. However, despite previous speculations by a number of people (myself included) the novel will not be a continuation of his two part “Eugenics Wars” story. It will be a stand-alone story. I’ll keep you updated as more information becomes available.

It’s not a Star Trek title but Armin Shimerman’s second novel featuring John Dee “Outrageous Fortune” is now available in paperback. These novels are a unique mix of historical fiction and science fiction. Sales have been strong so far; strong enough that Shimerman is hard at work on a third John Dee book.

After an extended downtime Peter David’s web site is back up and running at

The wonderful Deep Space Nine Avatar site, which is devoted to the post finale novels, has recently undergone extensive additions and updates. If you enjoy these books you won’t find a better source for information on them. Lovingly created by long time fan Tom Sharpe the site can be found at http://www.dsnine-avatar.cjb.net/.

There have been several recent announcements from Pocket Books: First, the Deep Space Nine hardcover “Unity“, written by S.D. Perry, has been re-scheduled from January to April 2003. Says editor Marco Palmieri, "This has been done to give the author more time to finish the book. My apologies to anyone disappointed by this delay."

And on the S.C.E. front editor and author Keith R.A. DeCandido recently announced two more titles have been added to those already planned for this series in 2003: “I can now announce with impunity the next two S.C.E. ebooks, which will be the last of the four ‘spotlight’ stories. Dayton Ward and Kevin Dilmore focus on Corsi and Stevens in #25: “Home Fires” in February and Scott Ciencin spotlights Abramowitz in #26: “Age of Unreason” in March. We'll have two more spotlights in April and May: #27: “Balance of Nature” by Heather Jarman. This tale from the author of DS9: “This Gray Spirit” will focus on P8 Blue and give us our first look at the Nasat homeworld. #28: “Breakdowns” by Keith R.A. DeCandido, S.C.E.'s co-developer spotlights the series stars David Gold and Sonya Gomez, as we finally meet Gold's wife and many of his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, and also meet Gomez's family. They'll be followed in June by the already-announced #29: “Aftermath” by Christopher L. Bennett, the O'Brien-teams-with-the-S.C.E. tale. Down the road, we've got tales from Michael A. Martin & Andy Mangels, Robert Greenberger, Glenn Hauman, and more. And, of course, the next two print compilations will be out in April and May.”

*Recommended Reading*

This is something new I wanted to try. Each month I will recommend an older Star Trek novel that is still readily available but that many fans may not have tried. There are numerous titles that long time Star Trek readers consider classics, and of course everyone has their own tastes and preferences, but the titles I will recommend are particular favorites of mine.

My recommendation this month is the classic Original Series novel “Yesterday’s Son” by A.C. Crispin. First published in 1983 this title was reissued in 1999. In “Yesterday’s Son” Spock learns that his brief encounter with Zarabeth (“All Our Yesterday’s”) resulted in a child. Spock is determined to rescue his child and accompanied by Captain Kirk and Doctor McCoy he travels back through the Guardian of Forever in an attempt to locate and rescue his son. If you’ve never read “Yesterday’s Son” give it a try. It is sure to delight any fan of TOS and fans of Spock in particular.

Well that’s it for this month’s installment of Star Trek in Print. Happy Reading Everyone!

FEATURE: Continuity Porn XXX: Ridged For Your Pleasure?

 Written by The Continuity Pornographers

Warning: This column contains adult innuendo and continually-explicit references to STAR TREK history and may not be appropriate for all readers. Discretion is advised.

Welcome to the first edition of TrekWeb’s The Continuity Pornographers, the column that explores the seedy side of STAR TREK’s sensually oiled underbelly and brings you more XXX action than the women from Draylax! We won’t decontaminate anything, laying bare the rawest examples of this arousing new STAR TREK phenomenon. In these columns we hope to give a good tongu[in-cheek]ing to a subject firmly within the province of a rare breed of Trekkers -- now known to the world as continuity pornographers, or continuphiles. The sensitive subject deals mostly with STAR TREK's latest television series, ENTERPRISE, which has so far proven ripe with cross-series continuity errors for the plucking, due in large part to its prequel premise. With amateurs in mind for this first installment, we’ve chosen a long-time favorite (and of course, very sensual) continuity topic that's been thrown around ever since the first STAR TREK feature film, THE MOTION PICTURE: what the hell happened to the Klingons?

But first, a brief history of continuity porn is in order. You might say continuity porn has been around ever since the first time a fan noticed one piece of dialogue, a special effect or even a change in make-up that rubbed up against the flesh of something else that had been previously established in TREK canon. An important requirement for a mishap of canon to fall under the sordid domain of continuity porn is moaning and complaining by viewers. While the origin of the terms “continuity pornographer” and “continuphile” is nebulous and perhaps best left under the sheets, the terms came into regular use after ENTERPRISE co-creator and executive producer Brannon Braga used the former to describe those fans who are most intolerant and obsessive about these trysts of tangled scriptwriting. Although Brannon refused to take credit for coining the phrase, the firestorm set off by these and similar remarks by the exec certainly make it appropriate that we deem him the Father of Continuity Porn. He’s certainly keeping the continuphiles turned on, and it’s with his inspiration that we set off to chart the XXX in STAR TREK!

One of ENTERPRISE's sexiest continuity errors was also one of it's earliest. When Klaang, the Klingon who crash-landed on a farm in the pilot episode “Broken Bow,” was shown to have forehead ridges, the interest of countless fans was piqued. Little did they know that this was the culmination of years of nitpicking that would eventually climax into what we know today as continuity porn. Klingons didn't have forehead ridges until over one-hundred years after the events of “Broken Bow” because they didn't have any in THE ORIGINAL SERIES. In fact, the first example of this occurred over twenty years ago when STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE depicted Klingons with forehead ridges. Kruge, Captain Kirk's rival in STAR TREK III: THE SEARCH FOR SPOCK also possessed a ridged forehead. While myth has it that STAR TREK creator Gene Roddenberry only realized his initial vision for the famous alien race with this startling change, one couldn’t help but be turned on by the sheer implausibility of such a radical physiological change over such a brief period of time (between TOS and TMP).

Kor, a Klingon from an episode of THE ORIGINAL SERIES based almost twenty years before Kirk’s encounter with Kruge, had a smooth forehead. Imagine the ecstasy of continuphiles everywhere when Klaang appeared on ENTERPRISE, set one-hundred years before Kirk met Kor on Organia. Klaang is the first Klingon ever seen by humans but his forehead is covered in ridges – an impossibility that has been fetishized by fans ever since. Is this just improved make-up becoming possible with larger budgets and better technology? To the untrained eye, it might appear so. But in the DEEP SPACE NINE episode “Trials and Tribble-ations,” the fluidic space only thickened. Chief O'Brien, Doctor Bashir, and Odo see the ORIGINAL SERIES variety of Klingons and question Worf, their resident Klingon, about the mysterious difference. Worf answers that his people do not discuss it with outsiders, telling us that some change must have happened to Klingon geneology within the TREK canon during the time between when THE ORIGINAL SERIES was based and when THE MOTION PICTURE was based. But how does that explain Klaang's forehead ridges? That's what makes this subject so sexy! Were the writers of DS9 intentionally seeking to arouse continuity pornographers worldwide with such explicit dialogue?

Forehead ridges aren't the only issue that differentiates TOS Klingons from those seen in the prequel series. The original Klingons were not concerned with honor or glory and bore little resemblance to the 24th Century-like Klingons we've seen in Enterprise thus far. The original Klingons were intelligent, cunning and sly Imperial conquerors who didn't show any concern for honor or glory, a continugraphically-explicit point acknowledged recently by ENTERPRISE staff writer Mike Sussman, who might just be the first continuphile on the staff of ENTERPRISE. The TOS Klingons seemed interested only in conquest and plunder and it didn't matter whether or not the opponent was unable to defend itself.

The Klingons from the two first spin-off series THE NEXT GENERATION and DEEP SPACE NINE, in contrast, showed a less intelligent and more honor-driven race that refused to attack helpless adversaries, produced few scientists and was bound by the mythological teaching of the ancient Klingon warrior Kahless. Episodes like TNG's “Sins of the Father,” “Redemption” and “Reunion” as well as many episodes from DS9's fourth season depict the Klingons as honor-bound and non-treacherous. In fact, one particular bone of distinction between Klingons of the TNG era and their blood enemies, the Romulans, was the fact that the former are honorable and the latter devious. There were still Klingons like those from TOS in later series, however, like Duras and his sisters Lursa and B'Etor. But in ENTERPRISE it seems that all intelligence in Klingons has been utterly lost and there seems little evidence, other than their seemingly advanced technological capabilities, that these 22nd Century Klingons are in any way related to their 23rd Century counterparts we saw in episodes like “The Trouble With Tribbles.”

Perhaps due in part to the voyeuristic gaze of continuphiles like Sussman, ENTEPRISE in season two may be trying to rectify this situation. In the upcoming episode "Marauders," a colony of alien miners is persistently pestered by a group of petulant Klingons lead by Korok. According to the scant plot information, Korok and his gang steal the colonists' deuterium reserves repeatedly -- at least until our intrepid explores intervene. This turn of events reveals that continuity porn is open to policing from within and may sometimes act to clean up its own image before the nagging whip of continuity fetishists everywhere suck the collective toes of the writing staff down to the nubs.

But can the slutty situation of the Klingons ever be legitimately cleansed? There’ll be nothing easy about it, as the ribbed forehead isn’t the only targ barking up the wrong tree. The series premiere and subsequent Klingon episodes of ENTERPRISE also ambiguously established that human first contact with the race was not as disastrous as statements in other series had maintained; nor is their homeworld as distant as the fact that Earth hasn’t yet been conquered might suggest. Out of a total possible three X’s, the Continuity Pornographers give the Klingons a full XXX rating. The ridged foreheads are just enough of a turn-on to keep us lusting, but a full-on resolution of the issue within STAR TREK’s canon would absolutely send us through the roof, and cleaning up the mess of proper time-period characterizations might go a long way toward satisfaction.

If you have an idea for the Continuity Pornographers, don’t be ashamed! Turn us on any time!

TV Listings

ENTERPRISE on UPN:

10/23/02 032 (R) "Shockwave, Part II" (8 PM)
10/30/02 032 "Marauders" (8 PM)
11/06/02 033 "The Seventh" (8 PM)
11/13/02 034 "The Communicator" (8 PM)
11/20/02 035 "Singularity" (8 PM)
11/27/02 036 "Vanishing Point" (8 PM)
12/04/02 037 "Precious Cargo" (8 PM)
01/??/03 038 "The Catwalk" (8 PM)

ENTERPRISE in the United Kingdom on Channel 4

10/20/02 018 "Rogue Planet" (6:35 PM)
10/26/02 018 "Rogue Planet" (4:40 PM)
10/27/02 018 "Rogue Planet" (6:35 PM)

ENTERPRISE in the United Kingdom on S4C

10/20/02 017 "Fusion" (11:05 AM)

Find more UK listings for STAR TREK, ST:TNG, ST: DS9 and ST: VOY on Sky One, the BBC and other channels at myDigiGuide Search "Star Trek."

ENTERPRISE on Imparja in Australia:

10/15/02 025 "Two Days and Two Nights" (11:00 PM)
10/22/02 026 "Shockwave" (11:00 PM)

ENTERPRISE on cable channel AXN in Brazil:

Friday 10/18: 9:00 PM "Breaking the Ice"
Saturday 10/19: 3:00 AM "Breaking the Ice"
Sunday 10/20: 3:00 PM "Breaking the Ice"
Monday 10/21: 2:00 PM "Breaking The Ice"
Friday 10/25: 9:00 PM "Civilization"
Saturday 10/26: 03:00 AM "Civilization"
Sunday 10/27: 3:00 PM "Civilization"
Monday 10/28: 2:00 PM "Civilization"

VOYAGER in U.S. syndication:

October 17 "Resistance"
October 18 "Prototype"
October 19 "Alliances"
October 22 "Threshold"
October 23 "Meld"
October 24 "Dreadnought"
October 25 "Death Wish"
October 26 "Lifesigns"
October 29 "Investigations"
October 30 "Deadlock"
October 31 "Innocence"

THE NEXT GENERATION on TNN weeknights:

Oct 17 2002 8:00PM 077 - Brothers
Oct 17 2002 10:00PM 041 - Pen Pals 
Oct 17 2002 11:00PM 094 - Qpid
Oct 18 2002 8:00PM 078 - Suddenly Human
Oct 18 2002 9:00PM 005 - Last Outpost, The
Oct 18 2002 10:00PM 148 - Suspicions
Oct 18 2002 11:00PM 095 - Drumhead, The
Oct 20 2002 2:00PM 097 - Host, The
Oct 20 2002 3:00PM 104 - Silicon Avatar
Oct 20 2002 4:00PM 113 - Masterpiece Society,
Oct 20 2002 5:00PM 121 - Perfect Mate, The
Oct 20 2002 6:00PM 129 - Man of the People
Oct 20 2002 7:00PM 131 - Schisms
Oct 20 2002 8:00PM 145 - Lessons
Oct 21 2002 8:00PM 079 - Remember Me
Oct 22 2002 8:00PM 080 - Legacy
Oct 22 2002 11:00PM 096 - Half a Life
Oct 23 2002 8:00PM 081 - Reunion
Oct 23 2002 11:00PM 097 - Host, The
Oct 24 2002 8:00PM 082 - Future Imperfect
Oct 24 2002 9:00PM 161 - Force of Nature
Oct 25 2002 8:00PM 083 - Final Mission
Oct 25 2002 9:00PM 166 - Sub Rosa
Oct 28 2002 8:00PM 084 - Loss, The

THE ORIGINAL SERIES on Sci-Fi Channel:

17-OCT-02 6:00 PM SPECTRE OF THE GUN
21-OCT-02 6:00 PM DAY OF THE DOVE
22-OCT-02 6:00 PM FOR THE WORLD IS HOLLOW AND I HAVE TOUCHED THE SKY
23-OCT-02 6:00 PM THE THOLIAN WEB
24-OCT-02 6:00 PM PLATO'S STEPCHILDREN
28-OCT-02 6:00 PM WINK OF AN EYE
29-OCT-02 6:00 PM CATSPAW
03-NOV-02 7:00 PM STAR TREK VI: THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY
04-NOV-02 6:00 PM THE EMPATH
05-NOV-02 6:00 PM ELAAN OF TROYIUS
06-NOV-02 6:00 PM WHOM GODS DESTROY
07-NOV-02 6:00 PM LET THAT BE YOUR BATTLEFIELD
11-NOV-02 7:00 AM STAR TREK CHAIN REACTION FRIDAY'S CHILD
11-NOV-02 8:00 AM STAR TREK CHAIN REACTION ELAAN OF TROYIUS
11-NOV-02 9:00 AM STAR TREK CHAIN REACTION DAY OF THE DOVE
11-NOV-02 10:00 AM STAR TREK CHAIN REACTION ERRAND OF MERCY
11-NOV-02 11:00 AM STAR TREK CHAIN REACTION AMOK TIME
11-NOV-02 12:00 PM STAR TREK CHAIN REACTION A PIECE OF THE ACTION
11-NOV-02 1:00 PM STAR TREK CHAIN REACTION BALANCE OF TERROR
11-NOV-02 2:00 PM STAR TREK CHAIN REACTION THE OMEGA GLORY
11-NOV-02 3:00 PM STAR TREK CHAIN REACTION THE TROUBLE WITH TRIBBLES
11-NOV-02 4:00 PM STAR TREK CHAIN REACTION THE ENTERPRISE INCIDENT
11-NOV-02 5:00 PM STAR TREK CHAIN REACTION SPACE SEED
11-NOV-02 6:00 PM CHAIN REACTION MIRROR, MIRROR
12-NOV-02 6:00 PM MARK OF GIDEON
13-NOV-02 6:00 PM THAT WHICH SURVIVORS
26-NOV-02 9:00 PM STAR TREK: GENERATIONS (LBX)
27-NOV-02 4:30 PM STAR TREK: GENERATIONS (LBX)

TREK IN CANADA