JOURNEY TO BABEL THE SEQUEL

 

Name: Death’s Angel

Author: Kathleen Sky

Publication Date: 4/1981

Publisher: Bantam Books

Page Number: 211

Historian’s Note:  Sometime between The Counter-clock Incident and 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 Commander Greg Collier                   Lieutenant  Hikaru Sulu              Lieutenant Nyota Uhura              Lieutenant Kyle                Lieutenant Angela Mendoza          Lieutenant Jeff Williams                    Dr. Joseph M'Benga               Dr. Ruth Rigel             Nurse Christine Chapel          Ensign Pavel Chekov      Security Officer First Class Jamison       Security Officer First Class Matthews               Security Officer First Class Bobby Robinson              Medical Technician Second Class Miriam Raymond             Crewman Grace Temple          Colonel Elizabeth Schaeffer                 Colonel Alexis Schaeffer            Lieutenant Colonel Derek Gleason         Ambassador Sarek       Ambassador Agnatha of Jezero                Ambassador Damu of Chiroptera           Ambassador Edentata of Tandenborstel                       Ambassador Hotep of Djoser              Ambassador Karhu of Hanaja             Ambassador Naja of Dalzell              Ambassador Neko of Gyuunyuu         Ambassador Rovar of Hemiptera              Ambassador Sirenia of Cetacea               Ambassador Si-s-s-s(click) of Gavialian          Ambassador Spiracles          Ambassador Telson of Manteiga

Starships and/or Starbases: USS Enterprise NCC-1701, XK Needle, Détente Station One

Planets: Delta Gamma IV

My Spoiler filled summary and review: The story begins with a mission that went haywire.  The crew of the Enterprise were exploring an uninhabited planet for potential colonization. Delta Gamma IV had a planet species that shoots spores into the local indigenous slug-like creatures.  Thus, the creatures go into a dream sleep and telepathically move the spores. (I think that was how it worked.)  Unfortunately, if you were not one of that species the spores would mess you up real bad.  That is what happened to the landing party of the Enterprise.   Three crewmembers died and the everyone else was in a coma including the Captain and First Officer.  McCoy desperately seeks an answer on the planet, Scotty gives him a deadline before they will have to report to Starbase and try to solve things there.  One by one, however, the landing party wakes up.  Spock seems to recover the easiest although he is not interested in talking.  Kirk notes that he has a hard time telling if he is awake or still dreaming.  Time goes on and the surviving landing party passed all tests allowing them to return to active duty.

Spores of death

As things get back to normal the Enterprise is giving a new assignment.  The Romulan Star Empire wants to talk.  The Federation’s oldest enemy wants to negotiate and end hostilities.  The Enterprise is tasked with transporting ambassadors to the conference.  Leading the delegation is Spock’s father, Ambassador Sarek.  The Ambassadors to this conference show the diversity of the United Federation of Planets.  They are big and small, one looks like a vampire, one looks like a rock, one looks like a lobster, and another looks like a cat.  Everyone likes the lobster, and everyone hates the cat.  In the opening meeting the cat and the lobster nearly got in a fight.  This is not off to a great start.

Sarek is back

It gets even worse.  Soon an ambassador is dead followed by another.  Both murdered ambassadors in the anti-détente camp.  Some of the ambassadors believe they have seen an angel of death when their fellow ambassadors were killed.  At the request of one of the still living ambassadors, Kirk contacts the Special Security Division.  The SSD is an ultra-militarized section of the Federation.  They investigate all sorts of crime and threats to the Federation’s security.  To most of Starfleet they are “outsiders”, and they typically have cold relations.  The SSD officer arrives in a little one-person shuttle, and the first thing Kirk notices is she is very beautiful.  Her name is Colonel Elizabeth Schaeffer, and she is considered to be one of the finer SSD investigators. 

Ambassadors keep disappearing 

At this point the story shifts into mostly Col. Schaeffer’s point of view.  We learn she is married to another SSD colonel, but their marriage is on the rocks and set to expire. She is a little ahead on the career path than her husband.  They have the same rank, but she got it first.  He is also possessive and throughout the book he tries to contact her and asks her to shorten her investigation in order to be with him.  The first thing the Colonel does is she orders the ship to be put in quarantine and to pull out of warp until the killer is caught.  When Kirk objects she points out to him that she has an explosive on her ship and if necessary to prevent this killer from getting loose a the Starbase she will destroy the Enterprise and all aboard her.  Kirk decides it’s best to defer to her investigation.

Schaeffer’s decides to spend the night with one ambassador who like the murdered two against becoming friendly with the Romulans.  During the night the ambassador died of natural causes, so the Colonel was confident he wasn’t murdered.  In between being harassed by her husband, Schaeffer also finds herself being courted by Captain Kirk.  She finds Kirk very attractive and appealing, so interest is two ways. 

The Federation has many groups of people

Ambassador S-s-s-s (click) is very helpful and offers to help the Colonel with her investigation.  Together they host a tea party with other ambassadors.  Instead of tea they mostly drink booze. Since the cat was one of those killed, the other ambassadors don’t seem to care about finding the killer because they think the cat deserved it.  One goes so far to say whoever the killer was deserves a reward for his hard work getting rid of the nasty cat.  Schaeffer doesn’t get any closer to finding the killer, but she does get drunk.  Then while she is alone with her friendly ambassador, he shows off his shape-shifting powers leading the reader to thing for a moment that he is the killer.

However, we quickly learn that he can’t because another murder occurs while the party is going on.  Kirk is upset that Schaeffer was off drinking when someone was getting murdered, but he quickly gets over it.  This new murder seems to be the Mary Jane Kelly of this killer.  The Death Angel is getting more viscous having literally just ripped apart his latest victim. While this is going on Kirk, realizing Schaeffer’s marriage will soon end, proposes to her himself. She tells him she won’t think about it until after her marriage expires.  Kirk then tells her about Delta Gamma IV, and the weird dreams he has been having.  In his dream he was following another woman he had been hitting on, he decided to go back and tripped on rock and woke up.  Schaeffer’s investigation reveals that Kirk was following her, and the “rock” he tripped on was an ambassador who claims Kirk then disappeared. It appears Kirk can now astral project because of the spore contract. 

Schaeffer then checks with Spock who also was having dreams become astral projections form from his dreams.  Spock is ashamed to admit that in a dream state he cannot control his emotions and as result his dream self seeks out sex with a female crewmember and they have sex in her dreams.  However, Spock makes clear its consensual and his sex partner was more than willing, but he is still ashamed of his conduct.

Schaeffer’s husband uses his authority to remove the quarantine of the Enterprise and have Starfleet Command order her to resume mission.  He does this because he wants his wife to end the investigation so she can hang out with him.  Later Dr. McCoy goes on with one of his famous tirades against the détente with the Romulans.  He basically says that since the opposition has been targeted it should now be supported.  Schaeffer stands guard in McCoy’s quarters.  The Angel shows up and it turns out to be the astral projection of Dr. Joseph M'Benga.  In his subconscious with his desire for peace, he targeted all those who stood against it.  Schaeffer tries to stop him but is unable due to his power.  Kirk and Spock manage to break in and use their connection to the spores to stop the out-of-control doctor.

All is well that ends well.  The spores are finally out of everyone.  No one blames M’Benga and he will be getting treatment for his condition.  The husband Alexis Schaeffer is demoted to lieutenant colonel for his actions.  Colonel Elizabeth Schaeffer expands her reputation for solving the case. The remaining Ambassadors go on to their discussions with the Romulans.    

Additional thoughts: The dramatic ending saved some of this story for me, up into the last few chapters I was going to label this story a “2,” the exciting pace towards the end made a “3.” The whole book had a very “Journey to Babel” feel.  There is an important conference, the Enterprise is required to transport ambassadors there, the ambassadors represent the vast diversity of life in the United Federation of Planets, and some ambassadors are murdered making finding the killer a priority.  The author used the advantage of the print medium to expand on what the episode started.  Since there is no television budget nor limited graphics and make-up the reader is treated to some of the strangest species the Federation has to offer.  Unfortunately, that is also a drawback.  There are so many characters who have extremely odd shapes and names that it is difficult to keep track of them all.  I would have to re-read certain pages when I suddenly remembered that the character in the scene was not a humanoid but a slug, and just misinterpreted everything that happened.

The Federation

Another issue with this story is when Colonel Elizabeth Schaeffer shows up, she starts to dominate the story at the expense of the title characters.  This reminds me a bit of “Assignment: Earth” (an episode a lot of fans love but that I never cared for) where the main cast turns into supporting characters to showcase Gary Seven.  In her last book the author introduced us to Dr. Katalya Tremain.  The two characters have a lot in common.  They are both women in the top of their fields, and they are both in a marriage that has gone stale, but their marriage contract is going to expire (an interesting concept in of itself) so they are just going to let it lapse, except Tremain’s husband died before that could happen.  However, Tremain is different in two important ways.  The first is Tremain is actually interesting.  She was a genius that a bigotry against Vulcans and yet she didn’t come off like a typical bigot.  Schaeffer is just boring.  The only thing interesting about her was she threatened to blow up the ship.  The threat was hard to take seriously, I kept waiting for her to reveal it as a bluff.  That never happened and I thought that was dumb.  “Someone is a murderer here and I intended to find them.  The ship can’t go anywhere because the killer could get loose.  So, in order to stop that I might have to kill the over four hundred people on this ship.”  That would make her the bigger villain.  I have to ignore that in order to make the story work.  The second way the two characters are different is Tremain spends most of her time with Dr. McCoy or Mr. Spock.  Schaeffer spends most of her time with Ambassador S-s-s-s (click), another character who means nothing to me.  When I read a “Star Trek” novel I expect the “Star Trek” characters to be at forefront.     

Who's show is this?

I did find the Special Security Division interesting.  A Federation police organization that’s run like the Army, as opposed to the Navy like Starfleet.  The two organizations are somewhat rivals.  I would like to know more about them.  I also thought there should have been a note in text to check out the appendix at the end of the book.

So, Kirk is confident in Sarek’s abilities.  I don’t see why considering how badly Sarek screwed up last time. I did enjoy the scene with Schaeffer telling Sarek how dumb he is being.  I also enjoyed Kirk’s apparent fear of vampires almost leads him to discriminate against one of the ambassadors.  He needs to remember what he told Stiles in “Balance of Terror.” Kirk should keep his bigotry in his quarters.

Kirk needs the same

Was the woman Spock was visiting in his ghost state Nurse Chapel?  That would make sense, Spock insisted that the person was “very willing.”  I wonder if Chapel even suspected her “happy dreams” were real.  Why is Kirk so interested in Schaeffer?  I kept thinking it was the spores.  I don’t mind him flirting but why go head over heels?  It’s the Rayna problem all over again. I did appreciate that McCoy was not surprised at the revelation.

Why does Kirk like her so much again?

Just like the last book keep mentioning the Klingons only to never have them show up it interesting that this book does that with the Romulans.  So, the guess the conference for better relations didn’t work out after all.  The Romulans are going to keep being a problem.

Should it be canon: I don’t know. Mainly I don’t like what happened to M'Benga.  I really feel the book and any other extended universe items should stay clear of making major life altering things to occur in the lives of the regular cast. Granted they said M'Benga was not responsible for what happened, and he would be treated.

Cover Art: The cover art is nice.  You have the figure of death with a skull under a good. Between the skull and the hood are stars and planets. The figure is holding an hourglass with the Enterprise trapped inside.

Final Grade: Final Grade 3 of 5

THE ENTERPRISE IS TRYING TO SAVE SOME LOST HUMANS FROM BEING RIPPED APART BY TWO BLACK HOLES!

 

Name: The Galactic Whirlpool

Author: David Gerrold

Publication Date: 10/1980

Publisher: Bantam Books

Page Number: 223

Historian’s Note:  At the very end of this book Kirk orders the ship to the K-7 Space Station.  This led me to believe that this episode was a prequel to The Trouble with Tribbles. However, earlier a character makes a tribble joke and there are characters only seen in Star Trek: The Animated Series.  Therefore, I would say this book takes place sometime between The Counter-Clock Incident and 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 Commander Lasker                       Lieutenant  Hikaru Sulu              Lieutenant Nyota Uhura              Lieutenant  Kevin Thomas Riley                   Lieutenant Arex                Lieutenant M’Ress                   Nurse Christine Chapel          Ensign Pavel Chekov                 Ensign Specks                   Ensign Susan Kelly              Crewman Munker             Crewman Mante N'Komo                Crewman Micah Omara                          Crewman Ussef Stokely            Katholin Arwen  AKA Katwen          Captain Frost                    Captain Jesus Garcia Gomez                    Marilyn Garcia                         Dr. Hobie                    

Starships and/or Starbases: USS Enterprise NCC-1701, The Wanderer

Planets: None

My Spoiler filled summary and review:  The Enterprise is exploring a region of space that is near the border with the Klingon Empire.  It is feared that the Klingons will become active in this region that is of great strategic importance.  The sensors pick up an unknown object.  Fearing it might be some Klingon ship or weapon, Captain Kirk orders that they investigate. 

What they find turns out to be a gigantic ship.  As they look closely, they discover it is a non-warp capable vessel.  Since it can only travel under light speed it becomes clear that if there is a crew then this vessel is most likely a generation ship.  The crew that launched knew they would not live to see their destination, and their immediate descendants for multiple generations would live and die on the ship.  As the Enterprise continues to observe this discovery, they find something not good. Large parts of the ship have been damaged.  Three out of four power plants aren’t operational.  Spock theorizes that at one point there may have been a civil war aboard the vessel.  Perhaps arising out of munity due to disagreement over their destination.

Enterprise finds something big

Lt. Riley leads a boarding team to the strange craft.  They enter through an outer hull and proceed through a secondary one.  When they get in a security team shows up to oppose them.  To everyone’s shock they are human beings both on clear appearance and tricorder readings. There is a brief phaser fight and one of the locals is stunned.  It is a young woman; Riley decides to bring her back to the ship. 

The fact that they are humans raises some interesting questions, such as when was this ship built and when did it leave Earth?  Scotty is adamant that Earth never built or launched a vessel such as this.  Spock points out that it is nevertheless here.  They consulted the ship’s historian, Ensign Specks, for his idea.  The reason Scotty didn’t remember this was it was originally not supposed to be a ship at all but rather an off-world colony that was to help produce energy and resources of the great Earth powers at the time, the first and second world countries. Called a LV, the colonists eventually sought and gained their independence.  They decided to leave Earth and its problems behind and set off for the stars.  McCoy is concerned that such isolation is going to lead to culture shock once they recounter the rest of humanity.

The woman that the boarding party brought back with them wakes up in the sickbay. We learn that her name is Katholin Arwen and she goes by Katwen.  She is considered to be a warrior in her culture and works as part of the ship’s security.  The ship is named the Wanderer and Katwen thinks she is still on it.  She is convinced that she is on the lower levels that are currently held by the mutinous rebels.  Convincing her that this is not the case is going to take some doing.  In any traditional Star Trek story this would be the time where Captain Kirk would turn on the sexiness and seduce the young Katwen to their way of thinking.  However, Kirk will not take the center seat for this part of the adventure.  That will be filled by Lt. Kevin Riley.  Lt. Riley is a good choice to turn on the sexiness because he feels a natural attraction to Katwen, as she wears her hair more loosely and really light on the makeup.  That last part is important because women shouldn’t look made up.  Riley shows Karwen the Enterprise inside and out.  He is able to convince her of the truth.

People on ship are humans

While Riley is turning up the sexiness, Ensign Chekov is stuck doing the unsexy science work normally done by Spock.  There Chekov discovers that the Wanderer is on course to hit the galactic whirlpool, basically two black holes orbiting each other ripping all sorts of space apart.  Unless the Wanderer changes course in less than two weeks then they are doomed. 

The information is given to Katwen and she decides to return with Riley to the Wanderer via transporter to try to get her people to cooperate.  When they beam over there, she tells Riley that before they try to see the Captain the will contract Dr. Hobie the Chief Science Officer.  The reason for this is Captain Frost is a religious zealot, who won’t believe them.  We learned earlier that the once 30,000 crew of the Wanderer has been waddled down to a few thousand people aboard.  The surviving population continued civil war has caused the government of the upper levels to become run by fanatics such as the current Captain.  By recruiting Hobie, she hopes he will be able to reach out to Frost.

This turns out to be a mistake.  Hobie, although sympathetic, is within the Captain’s clutches.  Both Reiley and Katwen are taken prisoner as spies for the rebellion.  They are repeatedly tortured but do not change their story.  The Captain decides to execute them but before that can be carried out the floor opens up beneath the two prisoners and they two slide down to the lower levels. 

torture!

Katwen is afraid of the lower level “savages”, but Rieley feels he has to try to reach out to someone.  Fortunately, these poor souls do listen more closely than those on the higher levels.  It could be because they are desperate everyone Riley sees is malnourished and no one is old.  They take him to the “true captain,” a man named Jesus Garcia Gomez.  Captain Gomez points out their situation that they have to take the upper levels to get to the control room and that having been denied a basic education, they don’t know how to fix the engines anyway.  Riley is able to connect Captain Gomez with Captain Kirk and the two negotiate an agreement about regime change on the Wanderer and the Enterprise lending its medical staff for the poor souls on the lower levels.   

A joint attack is carried out on the higher levels from all sides, personally led by Captain Kirk.  However, despite the technological edge the allied forces are driven back with experience and adapted battle tactics.  Kirk then conceives of a plan to turn all of the Wanderer’s interior lights on and magnified.  His own side uses special glasses to protect themselves and pushes on the attack.  Kirk himself has a showdown with Captain Frost on the bridge of the ancient ship.  It becomes anti-climatic with Frost vaporizing himself by accident.  Dr. Hobie surrenders as Captain Gomez convinced his former adversary that Captain Kirk can be trusted to do the right thing.

Kirk and Spock can be trusted to do the right thing!

Despite going past the deadline to save the ship, Chekov thought of a way out.  They can use the gravity of a nearby star to sling-shot the Wanderer to safety.  Since they are going sub-warp drive there is no time travel risk. Lt. Reilly has to do the traditional Star Trek good-bye to his lost love Katwen, the girl is nice, but he has a destiny with the stars.   

Additional thoughts: This was an enjoyable, well done story.  The premise of the story may be a little overused.  We have seen the “people on generation ship not understanding that they are on a ship or that other worlds exist”-thing before.  It is what the Enterprise encounter in the episode “For The World is Hollow and I Have Touched The Sky” and in the earlier Trek novel The Starless World by Gordon Eklund.  However, it is still different enough to remain interesting.  It also takes full advantage of the novel from allowing us to get into the heads of the important characters. 

There is something that I want to address: Julius Caesar was not a Roman Emperor; he was a Dictator.  The first Roman Emperor was Augustus.  This makes Tiberius the second Emperor not the third.  This can sometimes be confusing, but it is important.  The office that Caesar used was an extraordinary office of the Republic that had been used before.  Augustus created the Principate headed by the Princeps.  Princeps simply means “First Citizen.”  All the Roman Emperors until Diocletian held that office.

Augustus, Roman Emperor #1

My general rule on this blog is to review everything based on where the franchise was when it came out.  So, in this case I can only use elements of Star Trek that were around back in October 1980, when this book came out.  I am going to violate that rule slightly because there are some interesting things that I would like to note.  So, Captain Kirk was referred to Starfleet Academy by Admiral George LaForge.  LaForge, that sounds like a familiar name.  According to the book, the Admiral comes from a long line of Starfleet officers.  Hmm.  I wonder if there will be any more of them.  Also, they discovered that the original destination of the Wanderer is Wolf 359!  Okay I won’t say what is going to happen there in a future Star Trek episode but let’s just say it’s like reading about a person in the 1990s who got a brand-new job at the World Trade Center.

One part about this book that makes it fun is how the author will randomly dive into these little bits of untold history of the characters.  Some might criticize the book for these distractions from the main story, but I like the added depth.  Since the author is one of the writers of classic Star Trek it also feels more authentic coming from him.  The best one of these little trips down memory lane happens in Chapter 15.  I first read this book back in high school and this chapter was the part I remembered the most clearly as I re-read it this last week.  When you come to that chapter it is a gem.  

Lt. Kevin Riley returns in a major way.  It is ironic that he falls in love with a woman named Katholin.  Riley was a fun character, and it is nice to see him used.  This is the story his character has been waiting for.  In addition to Lt. Riley getting some time in the sun, Ensign Chekov shines in this episode as well.  In the book, Chekov is seen as a reliable officer and scientist.  He is noticeably absent of his traditional jokes.  At no point does he try to claim the Wanderer was a Russian design. He both discovers and solves the Wanderer’s deadly course heading.

Kevin Riley 

I thought it was weird that the author decided to give Kirk a personality quirk of repeating his middle name to himself. He didn’t do this show so what is the point of adding it? Also, at one point Kirk refers to Uhura as the fourth-in-command, but she isn’t, Sulu is, and after him is DeSalle. 

Lastly, I wonder why Kirk and his command crew just didn’t choose to abandon the Wanderer and just evacuate the population.  They were supposed to settle on planet anyway and I am sure there are plenty in the Federation that they could settle. Kirk should just ask Starfleet to send more ships and begin taking people out of there.  Take the people in the lower levels first, as they don’t want to be there, then focus on trying to convince those in the upper levels.  Without their adversaries they might start to become more willing not to knuckle under the leadership of Captain Frost anymore.  If you can somehow save the ship so you can stick it in a space museum that’s great but not important. Well, that probably would be a less exciting story, but it would have made more sense.  

Should it be canon: Given the author is David Gerrold, who is one of the original series writers I would say yes.  The history given maybe altered by later canon, but the timeline is flexible after all Khan and his crew were originally from the 1990s.

Cover Art: The cover art has Captain Kirk on the viewer’s left near the top talking on a communicator.  Uhura is on viewer’s right near the bottom with her normal earpiece.  On the top right is an image from the battle where the upper levelers were using gliders.   The cover is a bit of a lie as Uhura doesn’t really play much of a role in the story, the cover should have probably featured Kevin Riley.  

Final Grade: Final Grade 5 of 5

PEACE AS A DISEASE

 

Name: Perry’s Planet

Author: Jack C. Haldeman II

Publication Date: 2/1980

Publisher: Bantam Books

Page Number: 132

Historian’s Note:  Takes place sometime between The Counter-Clock Incident and 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 Martin Larousse                Nurse Christine Chapel          Ensign Pavel Chekov      Ensign Alan Huff              Ensign Wade Moody            Ensign Nason         Crewman Bischoff             Crewman Kukar                 Crewman Shaw                          Commodore Larry Propp              Dr. Kelly Davis                   Commander Karol                    Priest Kirl                    Captain Wayne Perry                          Ami                     Dawn                   Joan        Jon         Mika          Rus

Starships and/or Starbases: USS Enterprise NCC-1701, USS Potemkin NCC-1657, USS Phoenix NCC-625, one unnamed Klingon K't'inga-class ship

Planets: Tombstone, Waycross, Perry

My Spoiler filled summary and review: The Enterprise is delivering medical supplies and personnel to the planet Waycross.  They are long overdue for tune-up for the ship and leave for the crew. The dilithium crystals need to be swapped out and the crew is on edge.  McCoy is really concerned for the ship’s mental health.  So, this is the worst time for an attack and that is exactly what happens. Coming from seemingly nowhere, a Klingon warship attacks the Enterprise.  They manage to fight back and drive them off, but before the Klingons leave the two ships make contact and communicate with each other on screen.  The Klingon commander is named Karol, and he is here to avenge his dead brother, Khall.  Khall was killed by Kirk in a physical fight on unseen adventure.  Karol has sworn the Klingon Blood Oath.  This means he will stop at anything to get Kirk.  His likely hood of doing it is high with this new technology.  More than a cloaking device, this technology renders the ship undetectable to a Federation starship’s sensors until it is too late, and the attack has begun.  Kirk may have fought him off now but soon he will look to strike again. 

Attacked by the Klingons

Things go from bad to worse when a transporter accident causes an explosion on the ship.  Some are killed and several are injured.  Among the injured is Dr. Kelly Davis, a brilliant surgeon that was headed to help at Waycross.  Investigation reveals that it was Klingon sabotage, using their new technology they were able to get onboard without anyone knowing about it.  It also reveals that the crew should have caught the sabotage in time, but that overwork and exhaustion prevented it.

They bury their dead and get to Waycross to drop off supplies and personnel.  Dr. Davis is too injured to be moved from the ship’s sickbay so she will be staying.  The Enterprise is now looking to head to the nearest Starbase 6 for some needed repairs and R & R.  However, the USS Phoenix shows up with Commodore Propp in command, to deliver a message to Captain Kirk.  They have a new assignment, a colony that was established by a long-lost generation ship, has been found and they wish to join the Federation.  Starfleet wants its best man, and that is James Kirk, to handle the negotiations.  Kirk protests citing the needs of his ship.  The Commodore says they are aware of the problems that the Enterprise is facing, but this mission is far too important, so they are sending them there anyway.

You're too important, you have to go!

  

Kirk organizes a landing party consisting of himself, Spock, McCoy, and a few security officers.  When they arrive, they are greeted by local pages of the colony’s governing council.  No one, on a planet without transporter technology, seems the slightest bit surprised that a number of people just appeared out of thin air.  They are brought to the Council where it has a feeling of local town council and not a planetary government.  Everyone is on a first name basis.  Kirk explains what the Federation is all about, the Council receives it positively, let’s them know that the people will have to vote on it, before going to Captain Wayne Perry for final approval.  Captain Perry was the leader who led the generational ship from the Earth.  Conversation with Council makes it clear that this is same person not a descendant.  They are granted an audience with Captain Perry, who seems friendly enough, and he tells them that they have had the ability to monitor their communications but not to contact them.  Perry seems quite interested in joining the Federation.  However, as the leave Spock has some new information.  He has discovered that Captain Perry is not real.

Kirk meets council

 Despite the weirdness of Captain Perry, the planet is quiet, and the people are welcoming.  Kirk and McCoy decide it’s time for some shore leave and start sending down parties.  This planet doesn’t use money so everything is free for the crew to enjoy.  Dr. Kelly Davis, now recovered from her earlier injuries, makes friends with Lt. Uhura and the two explore the planet together.  They find the people nice if not a bit naïve.  For example, they think it’s perfectly normal for Captain Perry to have been alive for over 300 years, because he is their ruler and rulers are different.  They give off the impression of children whose parents keep replacing the family dog every time they lose one and telling the children that it is the same dog.  There are no law enforcement people because there is no violence at all.  There is one big exception, Uhura and Davis notice a woman being dragged away with force by a man.  Uhura wants to get help, but Davis thinks it might be an odd mating ritual, since no one around seems to be concerned.

Uhura gets captured!

Later Sulu gets into an intense argument with another crew member and faints.  When he recovers, he doesn’t even remember what happened.  And even though he was in a local place none of the natives were aware of what had happened to him.  When they get him back to the Enterprise they try to test him and when he faints and loses memory after another confrontation they know they have a serious problem.  Kirk goes to confront Perry.  Perry explains that violence is very bad, and they have worked to remove it from their society as its evil cannot be justified.  Kirk, who thinks sometimes you need to be a little violent after all it can be a nasty universe.  Elsewhere Uhura and Davis are kidnapped by an unknown group.

Sulu can't feel any negative emotion

The Klingons arrived in the sector, but they were targeting it for different reasons, resources, when they came upon the Enterprise.  Stunned to see Karol’s archnemesis, they attacked.  The Enterprise crew raised the shields and evaded, but neither Scotty nor anyone under his command could go near the weapon controls.  Kirk tries to use his communicator but finds he can’t give an offensive order.  He and Spock confront Perry, who now reveals his plan.  He created a society where only peace can exist.  Once exposed to this virus, of their creation, no one can be violent again.  Just has he created the prefect society here soon they will spread this nice disease.  Kirk points out that you are taking an important trait that makes them fully human, more immediately you are removing their ability to defend themselves and they are right now attacked by Klingons.  Perry says he knows that there will be sacrifices.  Spock then points out that his whole plan is flawed anyway because his virus isn’t perfect some are immune who have been shunned by your society and forced to live as outcasts.  However, they exist by preying on the settlement with impunity because there is nothing anyone can do to stop them.  When Perry tries to say they will go away Spock counters that mathematically the more the virus spreads the number of immunes will grow, with maybe entire species as immunes, this would make the infected easy prey for an aggressor.  Perry gets annoyed and leaves.  

As the one space battle rages, Scotty comes up with a plan that will earn him glory and humiliate the Klingons.  Feigning helplessness, as the Klingon ship goes in for the kill, Scotty lowers the shields and beams right on to the Klingon bridge.  They are now all infected with the nice virus and can no longer act aggressively without passing out.  This allows Scott to walk around their ship with the Klingons being able to do anything.  Scotty takes the new sensor-cloaking device so Starfleet can develop countermeasures and beams right back.

Enterprise under attack!

Kirk, Spock, and McCoy find the hideout of the immunes.  McCoy is able to knock one out—because in his head giving a hypo is treating not attacking so the nice virus can’t stop him—now with some of his DNA he can get back to the ship and try to develop a cure.  Uhura and Davis, having escaped from their confinement join up with the three other officers.  McCoy, Uhura, and Davis head back up to the Enterprise, with Davis providing an additional doctor brain to help find a cure.  

The narrative suddenly shifts, and we get the point of view of Rus, we learn from him there is a third group besides the Villagers and the Immune.  These people are immune but choose to keep their emotions under control and the fact that they can use violence a secret as they continue to live among the villagers.  A life with family and predictability is preferred to that of a raider.

Kirk and Spock explore the underground facility more and they discover the chamber that contains the ancient wheezing body of the real Captain Perry.  He has been hooked to this machine for most of the last three centuries.  The Perry they have been in conflict with is a composite of the original Perry and the ship’s computer.  The fake Perry shows up and armed with a phaser he uses this to blackmail Spock.  Perry threatens to kill Kirk unless Spock allows him to assimilate Spock’s mind into the machine, giving him access to Spock’s intelligence and reasoning.  Since they can’t go on offense Spock chooses to comply. This turns out to be a mistake for the fake Perry for once he has Spock hooked up to machine, Spock’s essence reaches out to the essence of the real Perry. 

Now Perry decides to kill Kirk, but he is stopped by Rus, who has now entered the room.  Attacked both internally and externally the fake Perry crumbles.  Spock is restored and the real Perry has now died after centuries of agony being hooked to the machine.  Returning to the ship, Kirk finds McCoy who is singing the praises of Davis for having cracked the cure.

Having been cured, Kirk beams onto the Klingon ship to tell Karol what a loser he thinks he is, and that his brother was way better Klingon. Kirk leaves and the Klingon Priest informs the Commander of the High Command’s decision to remove him for his disastrous failure.

The Federation is going to send professional help to the people of Perry’s Planet now that they are cured of the nice virus.   

Additional thoughts: At first this story reminded me a little of the first Star Trek novel Mission to Horatius, with the human colony ships that set up societies outside the Federation, all of which took a bizarre twist.  This book also shows what Star Trek novels can really do.  It’s a self-contained story where the crew encounters an alien civilization—even though its human—they go on adventure and at the end of the story all the main characters are back on the ship where they started.  However, unlike a traditional episode the omniscience narrator allows the reader to get inside the heads of the crew in a way live action could not.  An example would be Scotty’s internal monologue as he defeated the Klingons using the nice virus. 

It is also interesting that this is the first work published after the release of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, not counting the novelization.  The author probably had no idea what the movie was to be about when writing this, but it does show that fans were still interested in stories from that original five-year mission.  Another interesting aspect about this version is how it is the first to show us some of the warrior culture that classic series only hinted about.  Especially the concept of the “blood oath” that Klingons may swear to partake in to avenge a lost relation. 

I thought it was interesting the Kirk and the Enterprise were hurt because of Kirk’s reputation. The Enterprise is limping and running on fumes, while the crew are all about to collapse with exhaustion.  Starfleet knows about this but doesn’t care, because they have an important mission, and they want their best man on the job.  In worked out in this case, it was good to have Kirk and his crew here, but really Starfleet had to rethink its priorities.  On the face of it this was a small colony of humans thinking about joining the Federation, why do they need the Enterprise?  Given these original mission parameters this hardly justifies pulling a starship that was in desperate need of a tune up.   The Enterprise will never get a break at this rate, as Starfleet can’t tell the difference between a critical and non-critical assignment.  Kirk should have told the Commodore that he was in a ship not broken, so he should do it himself.  

So, the local villagers on Perry’s Planet have their scarves to identify what area of expertise their jobs are assigned.  The leadership wears gold and the scientists wear blue.  That seems very familiar.  It is interesting, separated culturally for 300 years different groups of humans came up with the same uniform color codes.  The Villagers appear at first like they will be great for the Federation: they are peaceful devoid of all conflict, and they don’t use money.  We’re still a few years and movies away from that becoming a Federation trait. (I say breaking my rule of never mentioning future Star Trek in my reviews.  This is the only exception I promise.)

Then there is the Immune culture.  Those who were the Immunes found themselves as outcasts for their ability to use violence.  They are forced to live outside the village but in a short time found themselves with the advantage of being able to go on offence and the Villagers can’t do anything about it.  If they want to eat something they steal food from a Villager, they want a coat, they take one off a Villager, and if they want sex, they rape a Villager.  The Villagers can’t defend themselves, can’t remember attacks on them, and can’t even see attacks on others.  To the Immunes the Villagers have become just objects for use.  The only exception to this is the Immunes who are able to hide themselves within the Villagers by suppressing their emotions.

Perry wanting to plug Spock into the system reminded me a lot “Spock’s Brain.” The only difference here is Spock told Perry right up front how stupid and dangerous his plan is.  Like the last time once Spock is in the system, he is able to turn the tables on his captor.   Captain Perry also reminded me of Landru from “The Return of the Archons.”  Like before, a computer program was created by an inventor to help their people.  However, that program assumed the creator’s identity and decided to directly rule the people under its ideas of a perfect society.  In both cases there was a section of society that was immune and could resist the directive.  The only difference is Fake Perry kept the real Perry alive, and Landru had figured out how to use a controlled release to get rid of bottled-up emotions.

Remember Landru!

McCoy was able to knock out an Immune with a hypo because he said that he views it as medical treatment and not an offensive attack.  I was wondering the whole time if you could somehow trick the virus into doing what you wanted it to do. My idea was to program the computer so that when you wanted to fire weapons you would see little hearts and sunflowers as opposed to phasers and photon torpedoes.  Therefore, you wouldn’t be going on offense you would be spreading love.

The best part of this book was Scotty getting his win over the Klingons.  Scotty might not want to be a captain, but he was a great one here. Using the virus against the Klingons was brilliant.  I thought that might be possible, but I thought it would require a surrender first, Scotty did in the middle of the fight.  He makes sure the shields are down before he beams over, and when he does Scotty the Klingons new weapon with him.

Should it be canon: Yes, I think this would a good one for Star Trek canon.  It is a complete story that doesn’t play into or contradict anything else in the franchise. 

Cover Art: The cover features both Kirk and Scotty’s faces looking forward.  The images imposed on top of another image of what I am assuming is the Klingon ship’s bridge or maybe it’s an underground laboratory.  So that is either Perry or Karol looking on the viewscreen.

Final Grade: Final Grade 4 of 5

THE MOTION PICTURE, THE BOOK

 

Name: The Motion Picture

Author: Gene Roddenberry

Publication Date: 12/1979

Publisher: Pocket Books (Star Trek #1)

Page Number: 252

Historian’s Note:  NA

Cast of Characters:  Rear Admiral James T. Kirk       Captain Willard Decker           Commander Spock              Dr. Leonard H. McCoy AKA “Bones”              Commander Montgomery Scott AKA “Scotty”       Lieutenant Commander Hikaru Sulu              Lieutenant Commander Nyota Uhura              Lieutenant Kyle                Lieutenant Radly Marcus             Dr. Christine Chapel          Lieutenant Pavel Chekov         Lieutenant Ilia        Lieutenant Janice Rand             Ensign Chavez                    Lieutenant Cleary         Commander Branch            Chief Petty Officer DiFalco             Chief Petty Officer Ross           Lieutenant  Commander Sonak      Grand Master T’Sai   Fleet Admiral Heihachiro Nogura                 Vice Admiral  Lori Ciana 

Starships and/or Starbases: USS Enterprise NCC-1701, Epsilon Nine, Space-drydock, IKS Amar, two unnamed Klingon K't'inga-class, Surak VS-5047-61192259584-5, various unnamed shuttlecraft

Planets:  Earth and Vulcan

My Spoiler filled summary and review: Since this is a review of the book version to the movie Star Trek: The Motion Picture, there is no need to provide a summary of the story as I already did that in my last review.  So, I am just going to focus on the differences between the book and the movie.

1)      The opening scene with the Klingons was actually seen by Kirk in his head.  This is because all high-ranking Starfleet officers have computer chips put into their head for instant communication.  It’s not perfect as they still have to check in for details.

Kirk is seeing this too!

2)      In the movie Kirk says to Sonak that his meeting with Nogura was going to last for a few minutes.  This gave the impression that the decision to swap Kirk in for Decker was already made, decided by higher ups, and Kirk simply agreed with it.  In the book, Kirk maneuvers his way in taking Decker’s command away from him.  This confirms Decker’s statements about Kirk.

Kirk a little more ruthless in the book!

3)      The dialogue is slightly different in most conversations.  Sometimes changing the meaning of the conversation while other times it is simply a character’s line being swapped with another’s. 

4)      The other officer killed in the transporter accident was Vice Admiral Lori Ciana.  She was Kirk’s CO and sometimes girlfriend.  She was coming aboard to join the crew with her own “temporary grade reduction.”

5)      We learn some details that we couldn’t know from the movie.  Ilia’s “vow of celibacy” is explained that Deltan sex is too much for humans who aren’t prepared so they take celibacy oaths to protect the lives of the crew.  We also learn that Kirk was told of the modification to run the phasers through the engines.  He had objected to it when it was made, and he thought the engineers had listened to him, turns out they didn’t, and he never checked.  It also shows that Scotty and Decker were working on an override.

Sorry Decker, no action for you!

6)      Ilia is not the only person to be taken by the V’ger energy probe, a security officer is taking as well.  Decker’s reaction is different, instead of getting mad at Kirk he orders communications to send life support information for Deltans and to let the unknown aliens (they hadn’t heard the V’ger name yet) that they have taken a lifeform.

7)      V’ger is spelled Vejer.

8)      Decker has sex with the Fake Ilia which causes the Ilia personality to come forth in the robot, then V’ger takes back control.   However, the robot still wants to hang around Decker.  Later Decker’s internal monologue states he would like to have sex with her again.

On second thought

9)      There is an entire chapter donated to V’ger’s point of view.

10)   The final confrontation when we learn that V’ger is Voyager 6 is more drawn out.  In this case they refer to V6 having been lost in the time stream and not some black hole.  The personality of Ilia reemerges and helps the landing party.  There is more discussion before Decker sacrifices himself.     

11)   Kirk denies Starfleet’s request for a debriefing so he can fly the Enterprise around. 

I am not going home I am too busy flying!

 

Additional thoughts: Something I forgot to mention in my review of the film.  It stated that Kirk’s job at Starfleet Command was Chief of Operations.  That must be a very different job in Starfleet than in the US Navy.  In the Navy, it is the post of the highest admiral.  While in Starfleet it seems to be a minor administrative post. 

                Now the book was an interesting take on these events, especially how it allowed us to get into the heads of some of the characters.  Although I felt it fell short in some parts as well.

                The most famous thing this book is known for is the first acknowledgement of the “Sprik” rumors.  Anyone who has read my other reviews know I take Spirk with a grain of salt and “live and let live attitude.”  I find the concept to be ridiculous but harmless especially if a gave a corner of the fandom joy.  It appears that Roddenberry decided to try to kill the rumor with this passage.

"I was never aware of this lovers rumor, although I have been told that Spock encountered it several times. Apparently he had always dismissed it with his characteristic lifting of his right eyebrow which usually connoted some combination of surprise, disbelief, and/or annoyance. As for myself, although I have no moral or other objections to physical love in any of its many Earthly, alien, and mixed forms, I have always found my best gratification in that creature woman. Also, I would dislike being thought of as so foolish that I would select a love partner who came into sexual heat only once every seven years." (pg.22)

                However, this didn’t affect that he wanted.  For the fans who wanted to believe in it the simply say the word “gratification” as the euphemism for sex.  “I have always found my best sex with women.” As opposed to the euphemism being the three words “my best gratification.” “I have always found sex with women.” Lesson being if you want to make point, it is best to be clear.

Spock would probably agree that clarity was best 

                The funny thing I find the most important level in the novelization is the fact that senior Starfleet officers all have these data chips implanted into their heads so they can have instant access to knowledge.  However, it still works imperfectly, and they still have to check in.  That makes me question things I have seen on screen a lot more than the Spock line.   

                Decker pulling Ilia’s personality out of the robot probe by having sex with her was interesting and certainly not in the movie.  The really funny part was in the chapter from V’ger’s point of view.  V’ger was confused by why the Decker-unit was “attacking” the probe, and when V’ger went to reassert control, to its surprise the Decker-unit kept “attacking.”  

                I commented on my review of the film that there should have been more made into the Decker/Kirk relationship, particularly involving the fate of Decker’s father in “The Doomsday Machine.”  Well, the book flops on this.  It acknowledges that Captain Decker is the son of Commodore Decker, but that is it.  It is never important; it is just randomly stated offhand in one paragraph.  You could remove the line and it doesn’t take way from what is being said at all.

Dad should have had greater influence on son's story.

In the end the book is a fun add-on but not much else.

Should it be canon: I prefer to think of what we saw on screen as the canon version of events and the book is just a clever “what if?”.

Cover Art: The cover is the same as the movie poster.

Final Grade: Final Grade 3 of 5