I finished this book a week ago (just in time to get Win Tie or Wrangle from the library), and I meant to write a review immediately after. But then I forgot. Woopsie!
Here are the basics: the USS Enterprise D, while exploring a really boring area of space in the outer reaches of the galaxy, gets pulled (sucked?) into the Mirror Universe. If you're unfamiliar with the Mirror Universe at all, it would behoove you to do some reading before continuing on with this review.
To be honest, if you want to enjoy this book, be prepared to do a lot of waiting. The beginning of the book takes a long time to get going, talking about nigh-uncomprehensible things like "hyperstrings" and some dolphin-like alien which makes very little sense whatsoever. Seriously, Diane Duane, why not pick an alien species we're more familiar with? All I could picture from the descriptions was a super-happy dolphin floating around in a space suit with robotic arms. The scenes without him were much better.
Once we get into the meat of the story - which, to me, is when Picard beams over to the Mirror!Enterprise and help LaForge and Troi with their mission (which is to get them out of the mirror universe). Once we get to this point, the plot moves around at a very good pace and the action is fun. And then, where the novel should have ended, we get a chapter of the crew enjoying some sort of opera on the holodeck. Uh...maybe that would work as a coda in the TV show, but it is utterly boring here (and I skipped it outright).
I only have two main beefs with this book.
1) The characterization seems a little off. They talk completely different from how they would in the TV series. This brought me out of the story a couple of times.*
2) The Mirror Universe is the same as we saw in the TOS episode Mirror, Mirror. This is a beef for me, because the extrapolation of the MU's history seen in the Deep Space Nine episode Crossover is much more believable than what we get here.**
Other than that, I felt that the characters' actions were much more realistic than what we see on the TV show. It feels like they're actually military officers (sorry, explorers) operating aboard a very complex starship. I don't know how to describe it, but I guess it doesn't really feel like these guys are on the bridge 100% of the time. Don't you find it odd in the TV show that we see the same bridge crew every episode?***
Anyway, it was an interesting enough read. Three out of Five stars. ALSO! This ties in directly to a new creative project I'm working on. Head over to http://tngxmen.tumblr.com/ for more details!
* - Granted, their personalities were almost bang-on for all the characters. They just didn't talk properly.
** - I will grant that perhaps the mirror universe we see in this novel is a branch of the mirror universe we've seen on TV - where in this particular universe, Spock's efforts to bring civility to humans doesn't work and they remain as they were. I think I'll take that explanation over the fact that they're the same universe as on TV.
*** - I think both TNG and Voyager have attempted to address this; the only episode that comes in mind is Data's Day and I think there's one episode on Voyager that puts Ensign Kim in command of the night watch or something.
Showing posts with label ST:TNG. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ST:TNG. Show all posts
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Friday, March 25, 2011
You know what I miss?
I miss:
being a part of things like Mulder & Scully's Bogus Journey (thank-you very much Wayback Machine)
the long-defunct star wars rpg the Bounty Hunters' Guild
in short: being a part of a like-minded community. Sure, I'm a member of a few forums here and there but they are largely non-specific beyond one common thing (i.e. Notebook in Hand's common theme is Creativity - but that is a very broad connecting theme. Not complaining a lot, mind you, it's a fun community!). However I don't think there's anything out there right now that I can jump into. No fandom that I'd like to join.
Perhaps though, that might change if I can be on the ground floor of that Blood & Chrome series comes out, I can get into that. Although to be honest, I'd rather it be something like a new Star Trek or Star Wars series, or something. As much as I like the Battlestar Galactica franchise, it feels like something with a concrete end, rather than something open* like those other two franchises (or even Stargate - and I tried and horribly failed to get into THAT community when Universe was launching).
I really didn't have a grand point to make in this post, except that I think my lack of a community to participate in amongst peers is leading me to try and fill that void by becoming Internet-Famous; I'm constantly trying to think of cool ideas to pull off after seeing something particularly neat that someone else has done. And then I remember I need actual artistic skills to become "Internet-Famous". I'd much prefer being the second kind of "Internet-Famous":
Obscure around the globe, but at least well-liked by members of a like-minded community. Is that so much to ask?
* Pardon my stealing of your trademark asterisks, Sarah, but you touched on this very topic a while ago so I thought it was fitting. I can't find it, but I assure any outside readers that it exists in some form on http://srkriger.com/.
being a part of things like Mulder & Scully's Bogus Journey (thank-you very much Wayback Machine)
the long-defunct star wars rpg the Bounty Hunters' Guild
in short: being a part of a like-minded community. Sure, I'm a member of a few forums here and there but they are largely non-specific beyond one common thing (i.e. Notebook in Hand's common theme is Creativity - but that is a very broad connecting theme. Not complaining a lot, mind you, it's a fun community!). However I don't think there's anything out there right now that I can jump into. No fandom that I'd like to join.
Perhaps though, that might change if I can be on the ground floor of that Blood & Chrome series comes out, I can get into that. Although to be honest, I'd rather it be something like a new Star Trek or Star Wars series, or something. As much as I like the Battlestar Galactica franchise, it feels like something with a concrete end, rather than something open* like those other two franchises (or even Stargate - and I tried and horribly failed to get into THAT community when Universe was launching).
I really didn't have a grand point to make in this post, except that I think my lack of a community to participate in amongst peers is leading me to try and fill that void by becoming Internet-Famous; I'm constantly trying to think of cool ideas to pull off after seeing something particularly neat that someone else has done. And then I remember I need actual artistic skills to become "Internet-Famous". I'd much prefer being the second kind of "Internet-Famous":
Obscure around the globe, but at least well-liked by members of a like-minded community. Is that so much to ask?
* Pardon my stealing of your trademark asterisks, Sarah, but you touched on this very topic a while ago so I thought it was fitting. I can't find it, but I assure any outside readers that it exists in some form on http://srkriger.com/.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Wil Wheaton is (maybe) my muse
I think what got me excited about the whole aspect of self-publishing and getting something out there was always Wil Wheaton (yes, THAT Wil Wheaton) and his attitude about the Internet and just putting things out there because we can. So of course leave it to Wil to inspire me AGAIN to get back to working on my writing project.
He's just released a new sci-fi short story (which I will read & review when I get the chance) called Hunter. It's a pay-what-you-want type of release, meaning you can download it to your heart's content and pay nothing, or you can spread the good karma and donate. This story is DRM-free in multiple formats, so you can do whatever you want with it - up to and including sharing it with others.
I'm currently struggling to figure out how I can load it onto my Blackberry Kobo app, but sadly I think that app is pretty well locked down. I have a PDF saved on my Dropbox (sorry, not in my public folder - I donated to the Wil Wheaton fund to get my copy of Hunter), so I think I can at least read the PDF on my phone.
I personally donated $1.00, based on this little bit from the page for Hunter:
tl;dr - this is making me want to release my short story compilation as a pay-what-you-want thing. I was considering it anyway, but this has finalized that decision.
He's just released a new sci-fi short story (which I will read & review when I get the chance) called Hunter. It's a pay-what-you-want type of release, meaning you can download it to your heart's content and pay nothing, or you can spread the good karma and donate. This story is DRM-free in multiple formats, so you can do whatever you want with it - up to and including sharing it with others.
I'm currently struggling to figure out how I can load it onto my Blackberry Kobo app, but sadly I think that app is pretty well locked down. I have a PDF saved on my Dropbox (sorry, not in my public folder - I donated to the Wil Wheaton fund to get my copy of Hunter), so I think I can at least read the PDF on my phone.
I personally donated $1.00, based on this little bit from the page for Hunter:
If I sold it to a magazine, I'd probably get around $125 or so (assuming I could get the SFWA professional rate of five cents a word. I figure that at least 125 people will want to read this, so if all of them donated a dollar, I'd feel really good about this, and I'd be able to do it again in the future.Essentially, I've taken my fair share of free stuff from the web and I want to start giving something back. In this case, it's a small donation for a short story. I've since heard that people are donating $2.00 on average, but $1.00 is still a respectable contribution.
tl;dr - this is making me want to release my short story compilation as a pay-what-you-want thing. I was considering it anyway, but this has finalized that decision.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Star Trek: The Next Generation
I realize that TNG is a show that's been off the air for 16 years now, and their run in the theatres is done now as well. Nevertheless, I have a good reason for talking about this classic show.
TNG is a perfect show. I mean, it has a LOT going for it to support this claim. I'm going to go through some of them.
1) Episode Quality Goes UP rather than DOWN
Most shows these days tend to be really well written right out of the gate, but eventually falter as the show goes on. This only makes sense - there's a lot of pressure on show runners to get their series picked up by networks, and then loved by audiences. For the most part, the writers seem to push out the quality stuff from the get-go, and then the super awesome creativity eventually wanes.
TNG had the advantage that they knew they were going to last. I mean yeah, the original Trek was cancelled, but TNG came into existence based on strong fan support. No one was going to cancel TNG - so the show had the opportunity to test the waters and make mistakes (and boy, did they make mistakes!). They got most of their kinks out, and we had 7 great years of Trek. There were even some really great shows in the first two seasons, and this was despite a 1988 writers' strike!
2) We love the characters
While TNG was episodic in nature, it was very much a show about the relationship between the characters. We watched them grow from season to season and learned about what makes them tick. This is what Deep Space Nine improved upon later, incidentally, which is part of what makes DS9 my favourite Trek series of all-time.
We love to laugh at Data's antics in his quest to become human (fun fact: did you know that in The Schizoid Man, there was a cut scene where Data imitates Picard's bald head?). We love it when Troi's mom makes passes on Picard, and in one episode forces him to proclaim his undying love for her, thus making him uber uncomfortable. Some people might even have shed a tear when Worf was discommendated - I don't know.
The point is, the show made us care about what happens to these characters, even if we knew they were ultimately going to be safe at the end of the episode.
3) We can watch the episodes over and over again
This really speaks about the quality of the episodes again - that they're good enough to watch them over and over. It's like Seinfeld (almost) - no matter how many times you watch the episode, you can always come back for more. The reason I mention the "replayability" is because there are a lot of GOOD shows out there that are just simply unwatchable to me after I've seen them.
Take Dexter for example. I've seen all 4 available seasons now, and for a time I considered purchasing it on DVD. But then I realized that I don't want to watch them over again - the nature of the show makes it hard to just sit down and watch a show. I think the difference here is that Dexter has a focused timeline that it's following - all episodes build on the previous show.
Whereas TNG, while all episodes happen in the same universe and are sometimes referenced, stand alone. You can watch an episode of TNG and not know anything about what happened in previous seasons, and you'd be fine. Well, except for the episode "Family" which directly references "The Best of Both Worlds". But that doesn't count.
Those are just three reasons why I keep going back for more TNG. And three reasons why I think it is the perfect show. I have yet to find a show that measures up in the same way - Deep Space Nine is a close second; Voyager has too many flaws to be considered; the closest I've found is Stargate Atlantis, and I'm still on the fence about that one.
TNG is a perfect show. I mean, it has a LOT going for it to support this claim. I'm going to go through some of them.
1) Episode Quality Goes UP rather than DOWN
Most shows these days tend to be really well written right out of the gate, but eventually falter as the show goes on. This only makes sense - there's a lot of pressure on show runners to get their series picked up by networks, and then loved by audiences. For the most part, the writers seem to push out the quality stuff from the get-go, and then the super awesome creativity eventually wanes.
TNG had the advantage that they knew they were going to last. I mean yeah, the original Trek was cancelled, but TNG came into existence based on strong fan support. No one was going to cancel TNG - so the show had the opportunity to test the waters and make mistakes (and boy, did they make mistakes!). They got most of their kinks out, and we had 7 great years of Trek. There were even some really great shows in the first two seasons, and this was despite a 1988 writers' strike!
2) We love the characters
While TNG was episodic in nature, it was very much a show about the relationship between the characters. We watched them grow from season to season and learned about what makes them tick. This is what Deep Space Nine improved upon later, incidentally, which is part of what makes DS9 my favourite Trek series of all-time.
We love to laugh at Data's antics in his quest to become human (fun fact: did you know that in The Schizoid Man, there was a cut scene where Data imitates Picard's bald head?). We love it when Troi's mom makes passes on Picard, and in one episode forces him to proclaim his undying love for her, thus making him uber uncomfortable. Some people might even have shed a tear when Worf was discommendated - I don't know.
The point is, the show made us care about what happens to these characters, even if we knew they were ultimately going to be safe at the end of the episode.
3) We can watch the episodes over and over again
This really speaks about the quality of the episodes again - that they're good enough to watch them over and over. It's like Seinfeld (almost) - no matter how many times you watch the episode, you can always come back for more. The reason I mention the "replayability" is because there are a lot of GOOD shows out there that are just simply unwatchable to me after I've seen them.
Take Dexter for example. I've seen all 4 available seasons now, and for a time I considered purchasing it on DVD. But then I realized that I don't want to watch them over again - the nature of the show makes it hard to just sit down and watch a show. I think the difference here is that Dexter has a focused timeline that it's following - all episodes build on the previous show.
Whereas TNG, while all episodes happen in the same universe and are sometimes referenced, stand alone. You can watch an episode of TNG and not know anything about what happened in previous seasons, and you'd be fine. Well, except for the episode "Family" which directly references "The Best of Both Worlds". But that doesn't count.
Those are just three reasons why I keep going back for more TNG. And three reasons why I think it is the perfect show. I have yet to find a show that measures up in the same way - Deep Space Nine is a close second; Voyager has too many flaws to be considered; the closest I've found is Stargate Atlantis, and I'm still on the fence about that one.
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