Star Trek spin-off fiction

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The Star Trek franchise has produced a large number of novels, comic books, video games, and other materials, which are generally considered non-canon.

Contents

[edit] The Animated Series

Main article: Star Trek: The Animated Series

A 22-episode set of animated adventures of the Enterprise crew, which aired originally on NBC from 1973-1974. This series is no longer officially recognized as canon by Paramount, for reasons that have never been made absolutely clear. Although one episode entitled "Yesteryear" is only considered canon is because it serves as a sequel to "The City on the Edge of Forever." It featured the reappearance of popular characters from the original series, including Harry Mudd and Cyrano Jones.

Some Star Trek novels and comics have utilized characters that were only ever seen in the animated series, most notably Arex and M'Ress. It has been suggested by fans that these stories took place during the fourth and fifth year of Kirk's original "five-year mission." Arguably the most-debated element of TAS is the introduction of Robert April as the first captain of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701), which has yet to be made officially canon by Paramount.

[edit] Continuity

Star Trek spin-off fiction frequently fills in "gaps" within the televised show, often making use of backstage information or popular fan belief. Although officially licensed spin-off material will often maintain continuity within itself (particularly within books by the same authors), elements often contradict each other irreconcilably. For example, the end of Kirk's five-year mission has been depicted in a number of different incompatible ways.[1]

Much fiction is set in a second five-year mission of Kirk's Enterprise, which the Okuda chronology dates after Star Trek: The Motion Picture (although novels often placed it before). Backstories and fates of characters are often elaborated on, an example being Leonard McCoy's divorced status, and his daughter, Joanna, originally intended to appear in what became the TOS episode "The Way to Eden".

Several original series characters are established as still being alive in the TNG era, including McCoy, Spock, and Scotty. In the books written by William Shatner, these are joined by a revived Captain Kirk. Several novels depict the careers of the younger members of the Enterprise crew after Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. Captain Sulu and his daughter Demora Sulu appear in Peter David's novel The Captain's Daughter. In the novel The Sundered, Chekov serves as Sulu's first officer on the USS Excelsior. The novel Federation has Chekov eventually becoming an admiral. Uhura is shown, in the novel Catalyst of Sorrows, to be Chief of Starfleet Intelligence in 2360. The 2006 novel Vulcan's Soul: Exiles has an Admiral Pavel Chekov, and Uhura is still serving as head of Starfleet Intelligence in 2377, at the age of 138. Peter David's novel Imzadi explores the backstory between Riker and Troi, and its sequel Triangle: Imzadi II covers the cooling of the Worf/Troi relationship, which was left unexplained on screen.

Spin-off fiction will often use re-use characters who appeared only once or twice in the actual show. Dr. Selar has appeared in more TNG novels than television episodes, and she and Elizabeth Shelby, who appeared in the two-part episode "The Best of Both Worlds" are major characters in the Star Trek: New Frontier series. The cast of the Starfleet Corps of Engineers series largely comes from such guest parts. Similarly, the IKS Gorkon series features Klingon characters drawn from a variety of TNG and DS9 episodes.[2]

The spin-off fiction has also engaged in world building. Novels in the 1980s by Diane Duane and John M. Ford established a complex backstory and culture for the Romulans (Rihannsu) and Klingons respectively, which were later not taken up by TNG.

[edit] Technical manuals

A large range of fictional reference books have been produced over the years. More recent books of this sort have been by production staff and, whilst not binding on the series, nonetheless reflect the thinking of the production office, and are used as sourcebooks by writers.

Similar material has also been published in the Star Trek Fact Files and the Star Trek Magazine.

[edit] Prose fiction

See also: List of Star Trek novels

Since 1967, hundreds of original novels, short stories, and television and movie adaptations have been published. The very first original Star Trek novel to be published was Mission to Horatius by Mack Reynolds, which was published in hardcover by Whitman Books in 1968. Geared for younger readers, the novel became a collectible and in the 1990s, Pocket Books issued a facsimile edition.

The first publisher of Star Trek fiction aimed at adult readers was Bantam Books, which initially produced a bestselling series of novelizations of the original 79 episodes by James Blish that began in 1967. Later adaptions were done by Blish's wife, J. A. Lawrence, under Blish's name. In 1970, Blish wrote the first original novel published by Bantam, Spock Must Die!, although subsequent novels did not appear until 1976.

From 1974, Ballantine Books published a 10-volume series of novelizations based upon episodes of Star Trek: The Animated Series, all written by Alan Dean Foster. Bantam also published a number of fotonovels based on episodes. In the late 1970s, Bantam published a number of original Star Trek novels, including two written by noted science fiction author Joe Haldeman, and one by original series scriptwriter David Gerrold.

Pocket Books began publishing Star Trek fiction in 1979, starting with a novelization of Star Trek: The Motion Picture by Gene Roddenberry himself, although the company's second Trek novel did not appear until 1981 due to Bantam being allowed to complete its publishing contract first. Eventually, Pocket Books would publish novels based upon every Trek series.

From around 1987 and with the debut of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Paramount took a closer role in supervising the books, disallowing story elements that were said to conflict with Gene Roddenberry's idea of Star Trek. In particular, recurring characters between books were discouraged, as was the use of concepts introduced in The Animated Series. This era saw disputes between authors and the Star Trek production office, culminating in the novel Probe being disowned by its credited author, Margaret Wander Bonanno.[3]

A change of personnel at the Star Trek offices in the early 1990s led to a relaxation of policy, under editor John J. Ordover. Bonanno returned as a Star Trek novelist in the 2000s after encouragement from fans, the then-editor Marco Palmieri being unaware of any blacklist of authors.[3]

Prolific Star Trek novelists include Peter David, Diane Carey, Keith R.A. DeCandido, J.M. Dillard, Diane Duane, Michael Jan Friedman, and Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens. Several actors and writers from the television series have written books: William Shatner has written a series with the Reeves-Stevenses featuring a revived Captain Kirk in the 24th century, and John de Lancie, Andrew J. Robinson, J. G. Hertzler, and Armin Shimerman have written or co-written books featuring their respective characters. Voyager producer Jeri Taylor wrote two novels featuring backstory for Voyager characters, and screen authors David Gerrold, D. C. Fontana, and Melinda Snodgrass have also penned books. The Reeves-Stevenses were later hired as writers for Enterprise.

None of the Star Trek novels are considered "canon", meaning that producers of the television series feel free to contradict events and facts from the novels (although Pocket Books coordinates with the Star Trek offices to minimise the chances of this happening)[4]. Paula Block, director of CBS Consumer Products, is quoted in Voyages of the Imagination as saying, "Jeri Taylor's books were considered quasi-canon for a while because our licensees really wanted some sort of background structure".[3]

[edit] New series

Starting from the mid-1990s, several ranges of books were created based upon original continuing characters and situations set in the Star Trek universe. The first of these, Star Trek: New Frontier by Peter David, focuses on the crew of the starship Excalibur. Some characters in this series were guest stars from episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, while others were from previous Star Trek titles by the same author, and still others were created originally for the series. New Frontier takes place in Sector 221-G, where the Excalibur is dispatched to help with the chaos created by the crumbling Thallonian Empire.

Michael Jan Friedman's Stargazer series features the adventures of Captain Picard on the Stargazer, and reuses characters he established in his 1992 TNG novel Reunion.

Another series, Star Trek: Challenger, created by Pocket editor John J. Ordover and writer Diane Carey, was planned as a continuation of the six-book storyline Star Trek: New Earth. Thus far only one book in the series has been published, Chainmail, part of the Gateways crossover series.

The Starfleet Corps of Engineers series is an expanding series of eBooks by various authors, set in the same general time frame as the Next Generation series. This series features a group of highly-trained engineers stationed aboard the USS da Vinci (NCC-81623) and their adventures on various planets. The eBooks are eventually released in paperback collections.

In 2005, a Star Trek: Vanguard series launched, set on Starbase 47, known as "Vanguard". It is set during The Original Series, and attempts to flesh out that particular period of fictional Star Trek history.

I.K.S. Gorkon is a series of novels by Keith R. A. DeCandido, the first Star Trek novel series to feature the Klingons instead of Starfleet. This series tells of the adventures of an all-new Chancellor-class war cruiser, on a mission to conquer new planets for the Klingon Empire. The series has grown from DeCandido's Ambassador Worf novel Diplomatic Implausibility.

[edit] Relaunch series

Pocket Books has also depicted events after the end of TV series, allowing greater freedom in storytelling.

The Deep Space Nine relaunch takes place after the end of the series. New characters have been added to compensate for the loss of those who left at the end of the show. (Some books published after the end of the series, but before the official relaunch stories began, have been retroactively added to the relaunch, including the anthology The Lives of Dax and the novel A Stitch in Time).

The Star Trek: Voyager relaunch series, written by Christie Golden, is set after the end of the Voyager series. In the final episode of the show, "Endgame", the characters return home, and the books deal with their homecoming and further adventures.

After the release of the movie Star Trek Nemesis, which sees William Riker about to take command of a new ship, the USS Titan, the Star Trek: Titan series was launched, depicting these adventures. As of 2008, several books have been set post-Nemesis, including several books dealing with The Borg.

The Enterprise series was also relaunched, starting with the novel The Good That Men Do. The Enterprise novel Last Full Measure retcons the death of Trip, recounted in "These are the Voyages...". Trip's death is shown in a holodeck program in the time frame of the TNG episode "The Pegasus", and The Good That Men Do establishes that the historical record has been altered.[5]

Nine Star Trek novels, in the form of three thematic trilogies, have been written by William Shatner with Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens. These novels, starting with the second book, feature a Captain Kirk revived after Star Trek Generations. A fourth Shatner/Reeves-Stevens trilogy, focusing on Kirk's time at Starfleet Academy and based on an idea pitched to Paramount for a TV series was launched in October 2007.[6][7]

[edit] Crossover events

The Star Trek book ranges have since the mid-1990s featured various crossover events, with books published in multiple series. The first of these was the Invasion! series, published in 1996, featuring entries from The Original Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and Voyager series.

1997's event was the Day of Honor, with novels in all four series. In a rare example of a novel concept being adopted into the TV series, the Voyager episode "Day of Honor" tied into this.

1998 saw six books published in the Star Trek: The Captain's Table crossover, including the four regular series, as well as one from Star Trek: New Frontier and another based on Captain Pike, the captain from the original Star Trek pilot episode, "The Cage". An anthology, entitled Tales from the Captain's Table, was published in 2005 following up the concept, with tales from new captains.

1999's Double Helix was a six-book series, nominally part of the numbered TNG book range, featuring characters from TNG, DS9, TOS, Voyager, New Frontier, and Stargazer.

The Star Trek: Gateways crossover was published in 2001, featuring entries from TOS, Challenger, TNG, DS9, Voyager, and New Frontier. These stories all end in a single finale volume, What Lay Beyond. 2001's Star Trek: Section 31 was a thematic crossover, with each of the four books (TOS, TNG, DS9, and Voyager) featuring Section 31.

In 2003 and 2004, six books were published as Star Trek: The Lost Era, exploring the underutilised part of the Star Trek timeline between Kirk's death in Star Trek Generations and the start of Star Trek: The Next Generation. This spawned the Star Trek: Excelsior series of books.

[edit] Short story collections

Various collections of Star Trek short stories have been published by Pocket Books. The Strange New Worlds competition, open to entries from the public, runs annually, and results in the publication of an anthology featuring the winning short stories.

Pocket has also published themed original short story anthologies, including:

  • The Lives of Dax (1999, stories for each incarnation of Dax)
  • Enterprise Logs (2000, a collection of stories about various captains of ships named Enterprise)
  • No Limits (2002, a New Frontier anthology, featuring the first stories to focus on NF characters that were not written by Peter David)
  • Prophecy and Change (2003, a 10th anniversary DS9 anthology)
  • Tales of the Dominion War (2004, featuring various characters and the Dominion War)
  • Tales From The Captain's Table (2005, featuring stories by new captains from the Captain's Table)
  • Distant Shores (2005, a 10th anniversary Voyager anthology)
  • Constellations (2006, a 40th anniversary TOS anthology)
  • The Sky's The Limit, (2007, a 20th anniversary TNG anthology)

[edit] Status

Some fans consider the novels to be fan fiction, although, being publications authorized by Paramount Pictures, they do not fit the general definition.[citation needed] A number of novels have been written or co-written by series actors, such as John de Lancie, J.G. Hertzler, Andrew J. Robinson, William Shatner, and Armin Shimerman. There have also been many unlicensed, privately published works which do fit the definition of fan fiction, such as The Doctor and the Enterprise by Jean Airey which merged the universes of Star Trek and Doctor Who.

[edit] Comics

Main article: Star Trek comics

Almost continuously since 1967, a number of companies have published comic book series based on Star Trek and its spin off series.

The initial publisher was Gold Key, who published Star Trek comic books from 1967 to 1978.[8] A weekly strip ran in the United Kingdom from 1969 to 1973.[9]

In 1979, with the launch of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Marvel started publishing Star Trek comics, starting with an adaption of that movie. The series lasted a total of 18 issues, ending in 1981. A newspaper strip ran from 1979 to 1983, syndicated by the Los Angeles Times Mirror Syndicate.[10]

After the release of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, DC Comics became the Star Trek comic licensee, publishing stories from 1984 set in the movie era (see Star Trek DC comics). In 1988, the series ended when Paramount withdrew its license. After a year's hiatus DC's second Star Trek series began with an adaptation of Star Trek V. Original stories took place in the large gap between Star Trek V and Star Trek VI, but did not continue on from the previous series, so storylines from that series were either ignored or rewritten. Although more limited in scope than the first series due to restrictions from Paramount (which included a prohibition on creating non-series-related ongoing characters), the series lasted 80 issues and fleshed out some of the changes between V and VI, such as Sulu's promotion to captain of the Excelsior. The series was mainly written by Peter David and Howard Weinstein, who are also Star Trek novelists.[11]

DC also published Star Trek: The Next Generation comics, starting with a mini-series in 1988.[12] An ongoing monthly series was launched from October 1989, and was mainly written by Star Trek: The Next Generation novelist Michael Jan Friedman. The series would run until 1996.[13]

Beginning in 1993, Malibu published an ongoing series based upon Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.[14][15] Malibu joined forces with DC to print a DS9/TNG crossover comic.

Marvel obtained the Star Trek license from 1996. The quarterly Star Trek Unlimited series covered TOS and TNG.[16] Marvel published monthly comics based upon Deep Space Nine and Voyager.[17][18] They also introduced two new series, Star Trek: Early Voyages which dealt with Captain Pike's adventures as captain of the Enterprise (as depicted in the rejected TOS pilot "The Cage") and Star Trek: Starfleet Academy which dealt with a group of cadets, including Deep Space Nine's Ferengi, Nog. The series were terminated in 1998, with Early Voyages leaving an unresolved story.[19][20]

Wildstorm were the next licensee. Wildstorm decided to not do an ongoing series, but instead a series of miniseries and trade paperback graphic novels from 1999 onwards. Writers included Nathan Archer, Kristine Kathryn Rusch and Dean Wesley Smith,[21], Keith R.A. DeCandido.[22], Scott Ciencin[23], Kevin J. Anderson[24], K. W. Jeter[25], John Ordover and David Mack.[26] Their license expired in 2002.

In October 2004, Tokyopop announced plans to publish an anthology of Next Generation-based stories presented in the style of Japanese manga. No publication date has been announced as of October 2005. Another project by Tokyopop, based upon the original series, has also been announced. The new comic, produced by Joshua Ortega, has a release date of September 5, 2006. Five manga artists and five manga writers team up to present five new stories based on the original series. [1]

On November 9, 2006, IDW Publishing announced that they had secured the publishing rights to Star Trek from CBS Consumer Products.[27]

IDW's first title will be a six-issue miniseries, The Space Between, set during the first year of Star Trek: The Next Generation and will debut in January 2007. The Space Between will be written by David Tischman and drawn by Casey Maloney.[28] The second series Star Trek: Klingons: Blood Will Tell, will launch in April, and will be set during the original series era, focusing on the Klingons.[29]

[edit] Fan productions

Main article: Star Trek fan productions

Several fan-made or unofficial films have been produced, using Star Trek characters or settings. Notable examples include

[edit] Games

[edit] Star Fleet Universe

Main article: Star Fleet Universe

Developed over the last two decades and more as an expansive development of the background as supplied in the Original Series as well as in The Star Trek Star Fleet Technical Manual, the Star Fleet Universe introduces a range of new races and storylines (such as the Interstellar Concordium and the General War) as well as drawing from the Animated Series for inspiration - a modified version of the Kzinti are a major part of the SFU, for example - unlike the Paramount universe.

This universe lives and thrives in the range of works from Amarillo Design Bureau Inc. and (formerly) Task Force Games, as well as providing a fount for the unique merging of Star Trek continuities seen in the Star Fleet Command series of PC games.

SFU games include:

The following computer games used elements from both the Paramount and ADB universes:

[edit] Other games

They were not the only games to continue the vast Star Trek universe however. There were role-playing games, board games, card games, computer games, even arcade games and pinball games. Other games include the following:

Board and card games
Role-playing games

[edit] Computer or video games

Arcade games
University Mainframe Computer Games
Computer games
Pinball machines

[edit] Theme parks

'Star Trek Adventure, Universal Studios Hollywood, 1988'

The Universal Studios Hollywood theme park featured a Star Trek-themed attraction.[2] The attraction regularly selected 10 volunteers from the audience and placed them into a Star Trek story line. The participants were dressed in Star Trek costumes and placed on sets, and coached to deliver scripted dialogue in several scenes. The scenes, which were recorded on video by Lilly, were quickly edited into a short film, the storyline of which was loosely based around material from the Star Trek films. The finished video was then shown to the audience, and the "actors" had the opportunity to purchase a copy of their video. This attraction closed after several years of operation. Several copies of these videos had been seen YouTube.

Great American Adventure Amusement Park, Santa Clara near San Jose, Calif.

In the '80's Paramount Pictures Inc. bought the theme park operating company, Great American Theme Parks. [3]After this corporate owner's change, the San Jose property added many major Star Trek elements to entertain the park's patrons. There were several costumed Star Trek characters entertaining patrons near the large Star Trek transplanted movie sets brought up from the studio. A Klingon starship command bridge and other interior set elements along with other Star Trek sets were delivered and installed in this property. There were costumed Star Trek characters 'meeting and greeting' the parks visitors.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Bennett, Christopher L.. Star Trek: Ex Machina Annotations. Retrieved on 2006-12-20.
  2. ^ DeCandido, Keith R.A.. Star Trek: I.K.S. Gorkon. Retrieved on 2006-12-20.
  3. ^ a b c Ayers, Jeff (2006). Voyages of the Imagination: The Star Trek Fiction Companion. Pocket Books. ISBN 1416503498. 
  4. ^ For example, the character of Commander Shelby was effectively "reserved" for the New Frontier series, and after her name was dropped in a DS9 episode, producer Ronald D. Moore "sheepish[ly ...] explained" this to Pocket and Licensing. Ronald D. Moore. Answers.
  5. ^ Paul Simpson. "The Ongoing Mission", Star Trek Magazine, Titan Magazines, January 2007, p. 44. 
  6. ^ "Voyages Continued", Star Trek Magazine, Titan Magazines, January 2007, p. 90. 
  7. ^ "Shatner Still Doing Starfleet Academy Books... After Redstone Said No To A Series", The Trekmovie Report, August 8, 2006. Retrieved on 2006-12-28. 
  8. ^ Curt Danhauser. Guide to the Gold Key Star Trek Comics. Retrieved on 2006-12-25.
  9. ^ Rich Handley. The Star Trek Comic Strips. Retrieved on 2006-12-25.
  10. ^ Los Angeles Times Syndicate Star Trek newspaper comic strip. Retrieved on 2006-12-25.
  11. ^ Second Star Trek monthly series from DC Comics, 1989-1996. Retrieved on 2006-12-25.
  12. ^ Star Trek: The Next Generation mini-series from DC Comics, 1998. Retrieved on 2006-12-25.
  13. ^ Star Trek: The Next Generation monthly series from DC Comics, 1989-1996. Retrieved on 2006-12-25.
  14. ^ Star Trek: Deep Space Nine monthly series from Malibu Comics, 1993-1995. Retrieved on 2006-12-25.
  15. ^ Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Celebrity Series from Malibu Comics, 1995. Retrieved on 2006-12-25.
  16. ^ Star Trek: Unlimited monthly series from Marvel Paramount Comics, 1996-1998. Retrieved on 2006-12-29.
  17. ^ Star Trek: Deep Space Nine monthly series from Marvel Comics, 1996-1998. Retrieved on 2006-12-29.
  18. ^ Star Trek: Voyager monthly series from Marvel Comics, 1996-1998. Retrieved on 2006-12-29.
  19. ^ Star Trek: Early Voyages monthly series from Marvel Comics, 1997-1998. Retrieved on 2006-12-29.
  20. ^ Star Trek: Starfleet Academy monthly series from Marvel Comics, 1996-1998. Retrieved on 2006-12-29.
  21. ^ Star Trek: Voyager - Planet Killer mini-series from Wildstorm Comics, 2001. Retrieved on 2006-12-29.
  22. ^ Star Trek: The Next Generation mini-series from Wildstorm, 2000. Retrieved on 2006-12-29.
  23. ^ Star Trek: The Next Generation mini-series from Wildstorm, 2000-2001. Retrieved on 2006-12-29.
  24. ^ Star Trek: The Next Generation graphic novels from Wildstorm, 2001-2002. Retrieved on 2006-12-29.
  25. ^ Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - N-Vector mini-series from Wildstorm, 2000. Retrieved on 2006-12-29.
  26. ^ Star Trek: Divided We Fall mini-series from Wildstorm, 2001. Retrieved on 2006-12-29.
  27. ^ IDW Publishing (November 9, 2006). "Star Trek Comics Soar Again". Press release. Retrieved on 2006-12-25.
  28. ^ "Star Trek Returns With All-New Comics Voyages", Spike: Asylum #4, IDW Publishing, December 2006. 
  29. ^ IDW News. IDW Publishing (December 18, 2006). Retrieved on 2006-12-25.

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