Book Discussion Moved from Malcolm Trip Frienship Thread

[Glory1863]

Malcolm wouldn't be upset because he knew Trip was alive.

The only problem with that is that Malcolm apparently was a Section 31 (or whatever Harris' group is) agent. He'd know that if he didn't show some response to his friend's "death" - even if it's just becoming cold and aloof behind his shields again - that he could help blow Trip's cover.

I've read two of the relaunch books - they're OK. I don't regret buying them. They seem to be trying to make more connections to TOS - something that perhaps the series should have done. It's fun to catch the references, but at the same time it seems a little forced or a little too late. You know, it's said that the first thing you have to do when you find yourself in a hole is to stop digging. I think they need to put down the shovel.

[Honeybee]

Margaret Clark fought long and hard to get a correction for TATV out there in some officially capacity, which she was only allowed to do if she didn't outright contradict TATV. Considering how much trouble she went through, and that she was laid off despite the success of the books (and they are successful) - I really appreciate the work she and M&M did. Are the books perfect? No. But they recognized the need for a correction of TATV and fought for it - an effort that should be appreciated with grace - whatever one thinks of the books.

I can't imagine having worked so hard on a true labor of love (unlike TATV) and having the very people you were trying so hard to please be as rude as some fans have to her, including celebrating the fact that the woman lost her job. I'm not saying you are rude, Glory, (far from it) but I've heard of her being called outright abominable names by so called fans who felt the books weren't up to snuff. She and M&M worked very hard under some pretty intense restrictions. So, I always compulsively stick up for the effort that those three made.

edited to add: Just checked my copy of TGTMD - the lack of grief in Malcolm, Phlox and Archer reconfirms that something's up to T'Pol, who sense Trip is not dead. So, at least they acknowledge that. Though I agree, Malcolm should have known better. But - perhaps he's not much of an actor - but rather a good spy because he doesn't show emotion. So, pretend crying wasn't his thing. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

[crystalswolf]

They seem to be trying to make more connections to TOS - something that perhaps the series should have done. It's fun to catch the references, but at the same time it seems a little forced or a little too late. You know, it's said that the first thing you have to do when you find yourself in a hole is to stop digging. I think they need to put down the shovel.

Season 4 seemed dedicated to tying the show to TOS (and to a lesser degree TNG) which, I agree, they should have done earlier. But I think the books just followed that last focus.

[Glory1863]

That's fair, Honeybee. I respect what you're saying. I guess my point is that for me the problems with Enterprise go beyond TATV - TATV was just the most egregious manifestation of the problems. I don't think the series itself tried hard enough to synch up with the original series. In fact, I think that sometimes it outright undermined it. As someone who saw the original series first run and really liked it, at the time and now, this is probably why I didn't much care for Enterprise when it was first run. The connections to Kobayashi Maru or A Piece of the Action or Balance of Terror could have - I think should have - been made in the series rather than waste time with the Temporal Cold War silliness, for example. To do it now and kind of cram them all in is just a day late and a dollar short for me. As I said, the books are OK. I don't regret buying them. I'll probably pick up the others. At the same time, I'm not remembering the ones I've read with the fondness that I do Diane Duane's Spock's World or Julia Echlar's The Kobayashi Maru or even Andrew Robinson's A Stitch in Time for DS9. Maybe the restrictions the relaunch authors are/were working under are/were too much. Maybe there are some things you just can't fix no matter how hard you try. That's the risk the writers took, but I can only give them about 2-1/2 stars for what I've read so far. I'm not going to call them names and I'm certainly not going to rejoice when anybody loses a job, but I'm also not going to say that the experience so far has been 4 stars for me just because it was there to be experienced. I don't do that for other series writers when I'm disappointed by their latest offering and, with respect, I'm not going to do it here, either.

[Honeybee]

No one's saying you've got to like the relaunch books, Glory - just respect that many people around these parts do and the fact that the three people involved worked very hard with their hands tied by TATV- and you're fine.

[Mistress Euclid]

The books do have their issues, including a lack of focus on the main cast in the last book.

Although, clearly there's an attempt to please fans of all series, which may be a fool's errand. I'm not a big fan of DS9 - so the many references to that series had to be explained to me.

Also, I am not one of those fans who needs to have every technical contradiction explained - such as the attempt to explain the look of TOS technology as envisioned in the 1960s. I felt the same about the Klingon makeup story with Phlox in the fourth season - but I do get that there is a large contingent of fans who crave those kinds of stories.

Still, a great deal of care went into those references and tying all of them together.

[Reanok]

I'd like to see an Enterprise novel that tells the backstory of how Malcolm joined section 31 and what type of missions he had to deal with before joining the Enterrpise crew.I think Phlox and Hoshi & Travis should get more storyarcs in the books.

[Aquarius]

That would be a good book!

[Honeybee]

That would make a great book, especially if it dovetailed into the Relaunch series and what we saw onscreen. A whole lot of potential was not realized with that whole Section 31 business in the 4th Season. That's for sure.

[Glory1863]

Now that's a book I'd be actively looking to buy (just so ya'll don't get the impression that I'm terminally negative on the subject).