Customer Reviews

Assignment: Eternity (Star Trek: The Original Series)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is more 1960s than anything written or aired in the '60s. It's a pop-culture mavin's dream. Cox livens his story up with so many '60s touches, it'll really tickle your fancy if you grew up then - and probably if you didn't. Its numerous references include events from contemporaneous T.V. and movie fare such as James Bond, The Avengers, The Prisoner and Stanley Kubrick's 2001. There's even a backstory incident dropped in from another failed Gene Roddenberry pilot of the early 1970s, The Questar Tapes.

Picking up the ball T.V. dropped in 1968, Cox takes the characters from the original series' "Assignment: Earth" and gives them a whole new story to play in. That episode was intended as a pilot for a series all its own, and of course that pilot never took off. With any luck, Cox will continue more adventures with extraterrestrial secret agent Gary Seven and his Greenwich Village hippy-chick assistant, Roberta Lincoln - and Seven's other "female" sidekick, Isis the cat - and spin them off into the series they should have been on T.V. If so, he couldn't have gotten off to a better start than this entry in the Star Trek book series.

This time around, Seven's future colleague, Septos, sends a cry for help from his base deep undercover in Romulan space, where an especially vicious Romulan secret policewoman commander named Dellas has appropriated much of his superior alien technology for an attempt on the life of Mr. Spock that will destroy the future reunification of the Romulans and the Vulcans. In order to prevent this catastrophe, Seven, Roberta and Isis teleport into the Enterprise's time, taking Captain Kirk and his crew to Romulan space - where, if they're not careful, they'll end up causing an interplanetary war even without Dellas' clandestine machinations.

The characters are all brilliantly written, Seven and Roberta especially, without a false note to be found in the bunch. In addition to Cox's many pop-culture references are as many from not only the original Star Trek episodes, but several from the '80s and '90s movies and even The Next Generation.

Unbelievably, this gem is out of print. Hunt it down. Especially since Cox is taking the characters further now, with his Eugenics War series - tying Seven into the origin of Khan Noonien Singh.

A real feast for Trekkies and '60s kids, and even non-series fans will probably enjoy it.

Gary Seven, after all, was the James Bond of the TREK Universe. If "Assignment: Earth" had become a series, it would have joined so many other great Bond clones such as THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E., I SPY, THE PRISONER, and MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE, some of which are referred to in the novel ASSIGNMENT: ETERNITY. It's a great read and perfectly captures the feel and trends of the '60s. Bring on more Gary Seven adventures and this TREK fan will be eternally grateful.

This book was absolutely fantastic. It was written extremely well, and I thought the characters were portrayed well. In a lot of other reviews, people critisised Kirk's treatment of Gary Seven. Let's consider this, he was attempting to save the population of an entire Federation colony but Seven interfered, Seven has proved to be mildly trustworthy in the past, and he threw the Enterprise into the heart of the Romulan Empire! I mean, wouldn't you be just as paranoid of Seven if you were in command? Anyway, I found the book excellent. Originally I didn't want to buy it, but I really wanted something to read and that was all the book shop had. I will say now it was one of the best books I ever bought, no regrets at all. The mission Captain Kirk and Seven went on was written very well, and the situation with the Romulan supervisor was done very well. Treknically it was excellent, no real errors. Another good thing about this book was they way Cox referred to other episodes, and to other series. Refrences to Dr. Soran, Voyager were all pretty good, and there's lots more I cna't remember. For all Star Trek fans, this is one book that is 'One of the best'.

I was drawn to this book by the author, having read his earlier books and really enjoyed them. For myself the character from the TOS show really didn't have a lot offer. Greg Cox turned, for me, an uninteresting character into an extremely well thought out and compelling story. If you're a fan of the Star Trek books and haven't read this, you really need to. Greg Cox is a true fan that knows what's been done and how to write a new trek novel. I'm looking forward to getting to the Eugenics Wars. Thank you Greg Cox for, in my opinion, one of the top five Trek books ever!

Gary Seven was the one spin-off that for whatever reason never took place.(remember Spock mentioning that Gary was in for many exciting adventures ahead per history). He was an interesting combination of Napoleon Solo/James Bond. He is brought back brilliantly in this novel which marvelously captures the feel of the original series. I hope the author tries his hand at more Mr. Seven stories!

For whatever reason, Kirk doesn't seem to trust Gary Seven. I found this surprising since Kirk already knew what Seven's life was about.

The author, Greg Cox, has done a wonderful service to loyal original series fans by bringing back Gary Seven and his associates. Like many Star Trek fans, I have always been intrigued by the mysterious Mr. Seven. Cox skillfully exposes much more of Gary Seven's character to his readers but continues to maintain the air of secretcy and mystery that surounds this man and his "empoyers". My favorite element of this novel however was not Seven, but his associate, "Roberta". I felt as if I was transported back into the sixties when Robert made references to "Fresca", "The Girl From Uncle", and other nostalgic references. I love Teri Garr, and I could visualize her acting in the very manner that Cox described. For me, Cox's characterzation of Roberta stole the show and made a very good Star Trek Novel even better! My only misgiving concerning the novel was that I felt Cox made Kirk a little too paranoid concerning Seven. I understand the attempt was made to create dramatic friction bewtween the characters, but I missed Kirk's ability to have "insight" into an individual's character and intuitively trust them. It would have been more fun to have watched Kirk and Seven "team up" and work together more against a common foe. Instead, Kirk spent the whole adventure "watching his back".

Gary Seven was one of the more memorable guest characters on the original "Star Trek" series, appearing in and episode of Star Trek The Original Series - The Complete Second Season called "Assignment: Earth". Now he's back in this book, and it's a decent return.

Seven and Roberta Lincoln, his female sidekick, a prequisite for people such as him (for example, the Doctor in "Doctor Who" who almost always has a female companion), travel into their future and visit Kirk and crew on the Enterprise, trying to prevent the assassination of Spock at the end of Star Trek VI - The Undiscovered Country (Two-Disc Special Collector's Edition).

The book is full of several sly "Wold Newton"-style references to other shows airing during the 1960's, including The Prisoner - Complete Series Megaset (40th Anniversary Edition) and The Avengers - The Complete Emma Peel Megaset (2006 Collector's Edition). Greg Cox really goes over-the-top with these references in his subsequent series, The Eugenics Wars Vol I: The Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh (Star Trek), but they're a little more subtle here. Just as much fun, though, playing "spot the reference!"

Really, if you're a Trek fan you'll probably enjoy this book. If you're not, you'll likely be totaly at sea. Not much more to say, really.

Unlike most others it would seem, I was rather disappointed with the conclusion of STAR TREK - ASSIGNMENT: ETERNITY after it got off to a great start. For about the first two-thirds of the book I thought Cox set up a very good mystery of what Gary Seven was up to, and he handled the writing and characterizations well too. The "classic" Star Trek episode that was the inspiration for this book, "Assignment: Earth," is one of my favorites of the series, so I was very glad to be in the company again of Gary Seven and his sidekicks Roberta Lincoln and the cat Isis. All the 1960s and Trek references were fun too (though he got Neil Armstrong's "one small step" speech wrong!!).

But the last third or so of this novel didn't work as well as the beginning. For me, the main letdown was that the big mystery turned out to be a rather mundane variation on other Trek stories. It remained a decent story, just not as interesting as I had thought it would be. And Cox's writing style declined in this ending section too, with the shootouts and cliffhangers becoming quite tedious, and all of it less believeable than the first part of the book. For instance, the Romulan character Dellas would have been more believeable if she had been fleshed out more, and not so much a stock villain. However, I did find the novel enjoyable overall, especially if you're a fan of the Trek episode it's based on. But for other people I would say it's not that urgent a read.

And I've read a lot. This book is much better than the later books by Cox featuring Gary Seven, "The Eugenics Wars", because it is a premise not constrained by the extremely difficult concept of trying to fit Star Trek "future history" into what is now real history, and trying to make it fit. Those books were very well-written, and managed an almost impossible task better than could reasonably be expected, but it still was a handicap to be working under, one which does not apply here.

Definitely a must-read for any fan of Star Trek, or any fan of time-travel stories.

This is the book for those of us who were, well . . . confused by ST:TOS episode "Assignment: Earth." Of course, it was quite an odd episode, the reason being that it was an intended pilot for a new Gene Roddenberry series. Writing pilots, by the way, was Roddenberry's hobby and second job. Hew was not quite successful, but when he was successful.

This story fleshes out Gary Seven, Roberta Lincoln, Isis, and knots TOS with TNG and the films. Love when novelist unified the several series (Q-Squared is a good example of this). Being an anthology, come up with good ideas that were not really explored--the Organinans' relation to Trelaine and the Metrons, not to mention the Continuum. And who actually did build the Doomsday Machine? The Zentraedi?

Roberta Lincoln is the point of view character, assuming a role similar to Holmes's Watson. But seems to have shifted from a smart and fashionably dresses secretary, to no-brainer hippy. (What is this auto-genuflective obsession with Woodstock?). Then the mind-meld thickens the plot. . . .

The easetr-eggs were a blast: The Monkees - Greatest Hits, The Beatles 1, The Prisoner - Complete Series Megaset (40th Anniversary Edition), James Bond Ultimate Edition Boxed Sets Bundle, etc., are all mentioned in passing. A lot of fun for people who saw these shows, even if on reruns.

*

Gary & Roberta also appears in the Eugenics Wars novels, with a heavy suggestion that he is involved with ST:ENT's Temporal Cold War, but the question is how the Guardian of Forever fits into this is not explained.

Overall, you get a good story well told. There are some flaws, such as Sulu and Checkov's odd disappearance, the story arc being a sharp drop-off, and the shopworn "Grandfather Paradox" as the plot. But laying this aside, I think it was well worth the read, an above average expanded universe tale.