One way to save Star Trek

Rabid Star Trek fan that I am, I have railed on against the travesty that Star Trek: Enterprise has become over the past couple of years.


Show runners Rick Berman and Brannon Braga have decimated the Trek franchise with poor plotting and a hollow disregard of continuity, and to many there's no hope of revival.


To those that despair, I offer a glimmer of hope from the written page.


Star Trek: The Lost Era is a six novel series, set in the 70 year gap between the presumed death of Captain James Kirk aboard the Enterprise-B and the launch of Captain Jean-Luc Picard's Enterprise-D. The stories include characters from both Classic Trek as well as "modern" Trek (TNG, DS9, Voyager), and provide much insight as to what happend during the time gap.


"The Sundered" is a story of Captain Hikaru Sulu (yes, THAT Sulu), and his first officer, Commander Pavel Chekov (yes, THAT Chekov) aboard the USS Excelsior. Sulu and Chekov, along with their crew (peppered with familiar faces from both television and written Trek) are thrust into a conflict between the Tholians (a race not seen since Classic Trek) and the mysterious Neyel, who may have historic connections to humans and Earth itself.


Andy Mangels and Michael A. Martin's "The Sundered" has proven so popular that other novels featuring Sulu & Chekov's Excelsior crew have been commissioned, and will see print beginning in 2005.


David R. George III's "Serpents Among The Ruins" tells the story of the Tomed Incident, hinted at in multiple stories of Star Trek: The Next Generation. "Serpents Among The Ruins" ties together a Machiavellian plot involving the Federation's cold war with the Romulans, and the involvement of the Enterprise-B's Captain John Harriman and his first officer, Commander Demora Sulu.


"The Art of the Impossible" by Keith R.A. DeCandido, the undisputed chronicler of the Klingon Empire, tells the political saga of the Empire during the Lost Era timeframe, and details their path from being arch enemies of the Federation to becoming honorable allies. A great sidelight details the Khitomer attack that killed Worf's parents and the aftermath that brought him to Earth as a boy.


DeCandido's knowledge of Klingon culture is second to none, and his Klingon chronicles continue in his wildly popular Star Trek: IKS Gorkon series.


"Well of Souls" from Trek-newcomer Ilsa K. Bick looks at little known Enterprise-C Captain Rachel Garrett and details a struggle with organized crime rival organizations, the Asfar Qatala and the Orion Syndicate. A secondary story with Garrett's estranged family forces her into some heart-wrenching decisions as well.


Bick's tale leaves you wanting more about Garrett and her "legendary" journeys before her ill-fated mission to Khitomer, chronicled in the highly-regarded TNG teleplay, "Yesterday's Enterprise."


Jeff Mariotte's "Deny Thy Father" looks closer at the rift between then-Starfleet Cadet William Riker and his father, Kyle. The elder Riker is revealed to be as complex a man as his son will grow into as Captain Picard's first officer, and his pride shows.


Margaret Wander Bonanno returns to the Trek-writing fold after an absence of many years with the final Lost Era tome, "Catalyst of Sorrows." Starfleet Intelligence head, Admiral Nyota Uhura (yes, THAT Uhura) has to put together a covert team of operatives (all of which are familiar names of Trek lore from "future years") to find and stop a seemingly incurable biological weapon before it can be released on worlds across Federation space. With eerie parallels to the terrorist plots of today, Uhura's team led by then-Lieutenant Ben Sisko journeys to the source of the contagion with orders to stop it.


As far as I'm concerned, it wouldn't be a bad move for Paramount to turn over the Star Trek franchise to the authors and editors of the Star Trek book lines. The story lines are far more compelling and complex than anything that Berman and Braga have turned out for Enterprise or the poorly received Star Trek: Nemesis.

Article Author: Michael King

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