Semi-OT: Star Trek novels timeline wiped out

[Kevin M.]

I typically buy maybe one or two Trek novels every couple of years… I’m overdue if I’m honest. As the author of this article points out, the books are/were nice to have around when genuine Star Trek stories were lacking on both the big and small screens. Since roughly the “lost era” novels, the books have maintained a continuity distinct from the TV shows and movies, developing characters and creating new characters unique to the books. The most recent trio of novels revealed the novel universe was, in fact, an alternate universe… the result of actions taken by the Borg during the brief period in the movie “First Contact” when the timeline had been altered and the Borg had appropriated Earth. Long story short, this trilogy ended the novel timeline… all the characters and stories never existed… any future novels will be built on the existing canonical setup of the various TV shows and movies. I suppose it is akin to DC rebooting all their comic book characters, but Trek very specifically/deliberately set up the ending to wipe out/eliminate all of what happened in the books from time and space… no possibility of a parallel universe or continuation of events in the books. It’s their intellectual property, and I admire the writers chosen to write the final novels, but it seems rude to the fans, the authors, and the characters. The Star Wars films sent the characters on different paths than their series of novels and video games, but they didn’t take the drastic step that Trek has taken. I can’t help but wonder why it was done. 

https://blog.trekcore.com/2021/12/review-star-trek-coda-oblivions-gate/

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Kevin M. (RPCV)

[David Bruggeman]

I was under the impression Disney did do something similar with Star Wars and it's 'Expanded Universe' soon after Lucas sold the rights.  The Expanded Universe was no longer considered canon, or at least a part of the continuity of the Star Wars stories.  Though I don't think they wrote such a deliberate change into the novels and other written properties.

Having not kept up with the growth and expansion of the Star Trek novels, I am not as invested in this change as I might have been 20 years ago.  I appreciated that the books often tried to tackle stories that weren't just book-length versions of a typical episode.  I didn't like all of the stories or directions they took, but that's more often than not a matter of my taste.

I also find this action unnecessary (though I might enjoy the books where it played out), as it seemed pretty well understood that most, if not all Star Trek fiction books are not considered canon, except maybe the novelizations of films and the occasional television episodes.  Even those would diverge from what appeared on screen as the books were typically written well in advance of broadcast/theatrical premiere and could not account for late script changes and would often go beyond what was shown on screen to fill the space required for a mass-market book.

I guess it comes down in some quarters to a question of how intermingled various entertainment forms can or should be.  Maybe it's just a power move by CBS (or Disney), or maybe they think their work needs to be produced like the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  For as much as Marvel seems to be an example of single integrated narratives, there are still plenty of different universes at play when you include Marvel's comic and animated properties in addition to the film and TV work.

David

[Kevin M.]

Just a head’s up, today for my podcast I spoke with David Mack, the author in question who personally murdered all the beloved Trek heroes in a novel last year. For whatever it is worth, having read the novel and spoken with the man, I understand and accept why he did it, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. But it was good to hear his rationale. Though he seemed to push back against my analogy of his novel that the characters basically were fighting in The Alamo. I’ll share the podcast episode once I’ve posted it. It’s a good listen. 

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Kevin M. (RPCV)

[Kevin M.]

As promised, here’s my conversation with the author who killed off all your favorite Star Trek characters

https://on.soundcloud.com/kuLUiEdoJBBbfAbW6

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Kevin M. (RPCV)