SOMETHING CRASHES INTO THE ENTERPRISE

 

Name: Star Trek: The New Voyages – Story 2 “Intersection Point”

Author: Juanita Coulson, with an introduction by James Doohan

Publication Date: 3/1976

Publisher: Bantam Books

Page Number: 20

Historian’s Note: Sometime after The Counter-Clock Incident and before The Motion Picture.   

Cast of Characters:  Captain James T. Kirk         Commander Spock              Dr. Leonard H. McCoy AKA “Bones”              Lieutenant Commander Montgomery Scott AKA “Scotty”        Lieutenant  Hikaru Sulu              Lieutenant Nyota Uhura          Lieutenant Jerry Dubois        Lieutenant Leslie         Nurse Christine Chapel          Ensign Pavel Chekov      Crewman Lissa Hart        

Starships: USS Enterprise NCC-1701

Planets: none

My Spoiler filled summary and review: The Enterprise is investigating a phenomenon in space that seems to be a great sphere of energy.  Suddenly that energy surges and the Enterprise tries to pull away. While pulling aways they appear to have suddenly collided with another ship.  The strange thing is the ship’s deflector shields should have protected them from such an occurrence, but according to their sensors there is nothing out there for them to run into.  As they continue to scan, they find some debris but what they find wasn’t what hit them but the remains of another Starfleet vessel, the USS Halcyon, that disappeared over a month ago.

The Enterprise

                The damage to the secondary hull is particularly bad because of where and what it hit.  The area damaged is causing interference with their ability to reroute energy to other areas of the ship.  Unless they fix it getting the Enterprise out of danger may not be possible.    It turns out that a particular power coupling is missing that is causing the power distribution problem.  It is located in a damaged area of the ship however.  In that area there seems to be some of the strange green energy has moved in and taken the form of a mist.  The strange mist has however allowed for an atmosphere that is actually breathable.  They need to get the power coupling and Lt. Dubois volunteers to go get it.

He kind of reminds me of the character who gets his mind wiped.

                The build a safety harness for the Lieutenant so they can pull him back when needed. However, as Lt. Uhura monitors his progress she screams and is unable to continue.  They pull Dubois back only to discover that he is alive but his mind has been destroyed and he is now a vegetable.  Spock notices the area of Dubois brain that was attacked functions differently for Vulcans. It is reasoned that Spock will have a better chance of success.  He attempts and succeeds.  Spock’s mental damage is small and quickly reversible as Kirk has him focus on the value of Pi.  According to Spock, there are intelligent creatures that lived in the space mist and it was those very creatures that found the power coupling and placed it in his hands.  As the damage their presence was doing was unintentional and they themselves were being threatened, they wanted to Spock to succeed for everyone’s sake.  

Spock a little damaged but not too much!

  

Additional thoughts: This was a nice little story.  Of course, with James Doohan writing the introduction I would have thought the story might have something to do with Scotty.  His introduction certainly made me think it would.  Scotty however has a very minor role in all of this.  His main purpose was to introduce two people from his department particularly the young hotshot Lt. Dubois. I was kind of wondering why the author just didn’t use DeSalle considering he is the assistant chief engineer.  However, considering the author was going to destroy the character’s mind maybe she felt she should do that with her own character not someone else’s.

Good news DeSalle you are not getting your brains fried.

Speaking of poor Dubois, maybe they should have Nurse Chapel see if she can help him.  She was able to work wonders with Lt. Uhura after her mind was wiped back during “The Changeling”, maybe she can do the same for him.  Lt. Uhura can also come down for some moral support and see if they can get Dubois back on his feet and mentally straight again.

If Uhura can do it, then maybe Dubois can too!

One of the things I really liked about this story is it pulls the classic Star Trek trick of “maybe the big scary thing that you think is a monster isn’t really a monster but rather another lifeform just trying to survive.”  The first real example of this came from the episode “Devil in the Dark.” In this episode, the Horta killed people, we later learned that was in self-defense as they were killing her children. The mist that the Enterprise collided into had intelligent life in it.  What happened to Dubois was unfortunate but not intentional and when given the opportunity they helped the Enterprise escape saving all involved.

Looks like a threat but maybe not!

             I did like the inclusion of other crew members besides the main cast.  After all, when some is the CHIEF engineer or the CHIEF Medical Officer there should be people seen who also work in that department.  I also give the author big credit for including dear Mr. Leslie.  A character with more appearances than Chekov deserves to be some books.

Good to see you Mr. Leslie

Should it be canon: Yes, like the last story in this volume I really liked it. I think this story would fits well with established Star Trek lore; this very easily could be an episode of the original series.  Its inclusion would enhance canon.

Cover Art: What I said last time. 

“The cover is beautiful.  You have the Enterprise flying in all its glory in the bottom center of the image.  Behind it looks like a space station built on an asteroid.  Flying above in the opposite direction is an unknown starship whose design I don’t recognize.”

  

Final Grade: Final Grade 3 of 5

 

A VULCAN SPOCK, A HUMAN SPOCK, IS EITHER SPOCK IS THE REAL SPOCK?

 

Name: Star Trek: The New Voyages – Story 1 “Ni Var”

Author: Claire Gabriel, with an introduction by Leonard Nimoy

Publication Date: 3/1976

Publisher: Bantam Books

Page Number: 36

Historian’s Note: Sometime after season three of classic Star Trek but before the first season of the Animated Series. I am assuming this because the events of “Infinite Vulcan” are never discussed. 

Cast of Characters:  Captain James T. Kirk         Commander Spock              Dr. Leonard H. McCoy AKA “Bones”              Lieutenant Commander Montgomery Scott AKA “Scotty”        Lieutenant  Hikaru Sulu              Lieutenant Nyota Uhura          Lieutenant Kyle        Nurse Christine Chapel          Ensign Pavel Chekov      Dr. Albar Exar         Dr. Shona             The “Twins”      

Starships and/or Starbases: USS Enterprise NCC-1701, Starbase 10

Planets: Fornax II

My Spoiler filled summary and review: The story begins with the Enterprise being diverted from their trip to Starbase 10.  They are sent to the planet Fornax II where a dying scientist, named Dr. Albar Exar, wants the Enterprise to deliver research an electronic copy of his research to be deposited in the main Starfleet commuter system at Starfleet headquarters.   Dr. Exar has requested that Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock come down to pick up his research alone. When they arrive Dr. Exar takes a strong interest in Mr. Spock, due to Mr. Spock being a Vulcan/human hybrid.  The Doctor even noted on how healthy he is for “a hybrid.”

Spock is healthy for a "hybrid"

                As a Fornaxian, Dr. Exar is 7-feet tall, has bright red skin, and a rectangular shaped head.  His wife, Dr. Shona, is a beautiful Andorian.  Spock is shocked to discover that they have twins, two boys with rectangular heads complete with Andorian antennae.  The reason Spock is shocked is because the couple was reported to have just one child. Exar claims that they had just the one, but he pointed out that most hybrids are unhealthy and his son was no exception.  Therefore, in order to save his son’s life, he created a device using the principles of the transporter to split him into two separate beings.  Despite the two boys looking exactly alike in physical appearance one is biologically Andorian while the other is Fornaxian. 

                Both Spock and Kirk are appalled.  Spock feels that they have denied their son a chance to be his true self.  Kirk is horrified because it brings back memories of his least favorite adventure, when the transporter split him into two different people.  According to Exar it was Spock’s write-up of that incident that jump started his research into splitting hybrids.  He only wishes he could complete his research before he dies.  

                Kirk is called away to take a communication from Starfleet Command leaving Spock behind to collect the research.  However, Exar wants to finish the research and Kirk has left him with his perfect subject.  Spock is knocked out with a phaser and an evil experiment is about to begin. 

Poor Spock

Kirk is notified twice when Spock returns to the ship, which makes him think Scotty forgot to tell Kyle that the he already informed the Captain of the First Officer’s arrival.   When Kirk first sees Spock after his return, the First Officer explains to both the Captain and Dr. McCoy that Exar has fallen into a coma and will soon be dead.  That Spock would just leave the soon-to-be widow and her two children by themselves, shocks the two other men.  Spock just explains that Andorian women are known to be strong and efficient in times of crisis and she didn’t need him.

                That is the first sign for the next few weeks Spock seems to be increasing his distance from the crew.  At one point asking the Captain for the crew to always identify each other by their rank titles at all times. It as if he lost all emotional connection to the ship and has recommitted himself to Vulcan philosophy multiple times over.  McCoy pointed out that they can’t write Spock up for “acting like a Vulcan” but he is concerned about Spock ignoring his physical.   

                However, in addition to Spock acting super-vulcanish there were also times where the exact opposite was occurring.  One example is Mr. Sulu caught Mr. Spock grinning from ear to ear while on duty.  It was like the only thing Vulcan about him was the pointed ears.  Given what he heard on the planet Fornax II Kirk goes to Spock’s quarters while he knew Spock was on the bridge.  When he got there, he was let in by Spock!

If Spock is smiling something is up!

                This Spock explains that they were split by the dying mad scientists, and they kept their situation a secret while they tried to decide what they would do.  The two new Spocks, one fully human and the other fully Vulcan, were not sure they wanted to be reunited.  As they have continued separately problems have emerged. The human Spock cannot control his emotions while the Vulcan Spock cannot connect with humans.  Kirk is puzzled why either would have such difficulty as humans control their emotions—just not to the same extent as Vulcans—and Vulcans don’t have a hard time connecting with humans, heck Spock’s father Sarek married Spock’s human mother Amanda.  The human Spock claims that both sides of him learned to depend on the other when they were one being.  His human side never had to learn any type of human control as the Vulcan side had always taken care of that.  Also, it was the human side that was able to connect to his fellow crew members with him never having to learn it the same way another Vulcan might.  As a single person this was never a big deal, but split into two separate entities each feels helpless.  The human to such an extent that he preferred to hide in his quarters and allow the Vulcan to deal with the outside world even with his new limits.  However sometimes it is necessary for him to act and that is why he was on the bridge.

                Kirk promises to keep his secret while the Spocks work on a device that will help them become on being again.  McCoy becomes suspicious and they take him into confidence. The device is finished at Starbase Ten, the Spocks walk in together with the Vulcan’s hand on the human—despite Vulcan’s not liking physical contact—as they look to be rejoined.

                The rejoining is successful.  Kirk and Spock have now both undergone a very similar experience, although Spock’s may have been better seeing as neither side was violent.  Although to be fair that may have been due to the separation process being done intentionally rather than accidentally.  Spock lets Kirk know that he is grateful and the expression comes from the “both of us.”      

Additional thoughts: This is the third story that involves a duplicated Spock.  The first was James Blish’s poorly named Spock Must Die and the second was the animated series episode “The Infinite Vulcan.” I like Mr. Spock too but I wonder what others see in him that makes them want to duplicate him so often.  One Spock is nice they say but why can’t we have two?  

Is two better than one?

                Of the three stories however this on is by far the best.  It is the story I thought I was getting when I first read Spock Must Die.  Spock’s dual nature of being half Vulcan/ half human is explored by separating the two.  It is interesting that Spock’s human half chose to hide in his quarters for as much as he could reflects Spock’s desire to be seen for his Vulcan traits.  We first saw this in “Journey to Babel” and I wrote about it here. Therefore, when split in two the decision is made to have the Vulcan be the one to represent the person upfront, it makes for a minimum change.

                I love how this story ties directly into “The Enemy Within.”  It has some direct consequences, someone learning about what happened and trying to duplicate it. It was really nice touch to have Spock’s own scientific paper that he wrote about the incident be used as the basis for the antagonist’s study.  In addition, we also see how the incident effected Captain Kirk in the long-term.  Even mentioning the incident creates pain.  His other self robbed McCoy, attempted to rape Yeoman Rand, and almost killed an entire away team.  One point the book misses however is Kirk’s perception of events. The author discusses how the memory causes him pain but I always wondered exactly how does he remember it?  Does he have dual perception of the events?

Kirk's nightmare!

                I did think it was odd that once Kirk figured out Spock’s situation that they didn’t involve Dr. McCoy right away.  Considering his relationship with both them he should be trusted not to mention his medical knowledge that could be very useful.  Yet McCoy must basically force himself into the fold by threatening Spock to report to his physical. Also shouldn't all the senior staff be made aware, you know in case it matters at one point if they know. 

Spock should want Captain Kirk to be in the know!

                There was also a strange side quest where the Spock twins had to work together to try to get Kirk not to go on a landing party on a particular mission they were assigned.  I didn’t understand what this had to do with the rest of the story as it did not lead to anything. Although it did contain a cool reference to the episode “Obsession.”

                Lastly one major thing the story lacks is a confrontation with those responsible for doing this to Mr. Spock.  Exar and Shona greatly violated Mr. Spock’s person and yet this is never mentioned thought the rest of the story. I understand Exar may have died, but his wife was helping him and was also responsible for what happened.  I don’t care if she is “the twins” only parent, being a parent doesn’t give you a right to go conducting involuntary illegal experiments on others.  Also, I would have liked Spock to talk about what has happened as a violation of his person.  With Kirk it had been an accident.

Should it be canon: Yes, I really like this story and I think it fits well with established Star Trek lore, this very easily could be an episode of the original series.  Its inclusion would enhance canon.

Cover Art: The cover is beautiful.  You have the Enterprise flying in all its glory in the bottom center of the image.  Behind it looks like a space station built on an asteroid.  Flying above in the opposite direction is an unknown starship whose design I don’t recognize.   

Final Grade: Final Grade 4 of 5

OUR FIRST TECHNICAL MANUAL

 

Name: Starfleet Technical Manual: Training Command Starfleet Academy  

Author: Franz Joseph

Publication Date: 11/1/1975

Publisher: Ballantine Books

Page Number: 192

Historian’s Note: sometime after The Counter-Clock Incident

Cast of Characters:  none

Starships and/or Starbases: USS Constitution NCC-1700, USS Saladin NCC-500, USS Hermes NCC-585, USS Ptolemy NCC-3801, USS Federation NCC-2100, unnamed starbases

Planets: none

My Spoiler filled summary and review: Starfleet Technical Manual pretends to be a printed copy of some of the important documents that are used for training of Starfleet cadets.  A copy that somehow was displaced in time and found on Earth in the year 1970.  So that is why people in the modern time can read it. 

The book begins with a printed copy of the Articles of Federation, which is basically the Constitution of the United Federation of Planets.  It explains its government set up, the Federation Council and other bodies.  It covers the rights and responsibilities of the member planets of the Federation. Most importantly, for fans, it covers the establishment of the Starfleet.  

After the Articles comes the peace treaties with the Romulans and the Klingons that lead to the establishment of the Neutral Zones.  The Romulan Treaty was part of history introduced in “Balance of Terror” and the Klingon treaty was made during the series following the episode “Errand of Mercy.” The written treaties follow the events and explanations in those episodes rather well.  

We then have the various flags.  The Federation flag and the flags of various member planets.  The manual moves on to describe Starfleet Headquarters and Starfleet Academy with maps and designs for rooms, recreational places, and training facilities.   The reader moves on to some organizational charts for everything in Starfleet.  Everything from the Federation Council to Starfleet Command to all the subagencies of Starfleet.  Each Fleet Command operation has their own organizational chart describing their functions.  Then we even have some Starfleet uniform designs and explanations of badge insignia.  On top of that there are also space maps showing where all the great powers are.

Constitution-class 

Of course, everyone’s favorite part of this book is off course the ship designs.  Not only do we get to see the Constitution-class design that gave us the USS Enterprise and a list of all the ships of that design. They also have a Destroyer (Saladin class) and Scout (Hermes class) ship designs as well. (To be honest I can’t tell the difference between those two.) There are also Transport Tugs (Ptolemy class) and the types of containers they haul. We also have the soon-to-be-built Federation-class Dreadnought with an exciting design that is also featured on the cover.  The reader then moves on to the shuttle craft design and the bridge designs.  The bridge designs are fun with each station being covered as well as the overall design.  There are also tricorder and phaser blueprints.  The end of the book is paper that the students are supposed to use on their lessons.

Hermes class

Additional thoughts: Well, this little gem hit book shelfs in the fall of 1975.  For Star Trek fans the classic series had been gone for six years now and the animated series went off the air just the year before.  There were rumors of a comeback in the air but nothing clear as of yet.  Then this little book arrives role playing itself to be an actual manual misplaced in time.  However, the back cover gives the indication that our Earth is one of the many “fake Earths” as first seen in “Miri.” That the Federation is actually out there right not and won’t interact with us due to the Prime Directive.  I thought that part was weird but it didn’t interfere with the main parts off the book. 

I do have some other issues with this book, things that over the years have rendered it very inaccurate. One of the biggest things that sticks out is one that seems like a complete miss and not because of later canon material.  That is Vulcan not listed as one of the Federation primary members.  It has the flags of all these other members I have never heard of “The Star Empire of Epsilon Indii,” but not Vulcan.  When I think of Federation planets the first one I think of is Earth and the second is Vulcan.  How the heck did Joseph miss this?  Where is the flag of Vulcan? 

Some other inaccuracies the main deflector dish is not a sensor. (Although I don’t blame the author for thinking that as they look like a type of antenna dish.)  Then United Federation of Planets has a President not a “Secretariat.” It is also clear that Franz is one of those Star Trek authors that has no clue what an “ensign” actually is.  Many writers think it’s sort of like an army private when it’s really the equivalent to a second lieutenant.  Joseph shows himself as one of them when on the ship’s designs it lists the crew complement as officers and crew of the “ensign grade.”  Also, as fun as these ship designs are I don’t think we ever see any of them used outside of this book.

Federation-class

Now on the bridge design there is apparently a restroom on the bridge located to the right of the screen if you looked at from the captain’s chair.  I suppose that is good in case someone has to go during bridge duty.  I myself think you should probably go before your bridge duty but I suppose there are always emergencies.  The thing is though I find this hilarious.  Imagine they are engaged in a great space battle during which some poor sap who was trying to pass a turd is knocked out of the rest room as ship is rocked from being blasted.  The poor guy comes flying out, pants and underwear down, and crashes into the navigation consul!  In addition to that the poor crewman’s turd flies around the bridge finally hitting the captain's head!  

A rest room disaster waiting to happen!

On a more serious note, Starfleet does not use “II” or any other numeral in the names of Starships. When they build a starship that has the same name as an earlier starship, they just give it a new registry number.  They don’t call it “Intrepid II.”  I do like that when I went through the ships’ registries that I didn’t see NCC-1864 nor NCC-2000 being used.

Should it be canon:  Unless they want to print a new addition with updated and corrected information than I would say no.  Too bad because the book is a lot of fun.

Cover Art: The cover art is very nice showing off what is the book’s strength: the Starship blueprints.  On the cover is the impressive looking Federation-class Dreadnought both front and side. You can also see part of a transport container.

Final Grade: 3 of 5