Customer Reviews

Crossover

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Crossover is definitely one of Michael Jan Friedman's best Trek stories. Given that he is the most prolific of the many Trek authors, he has attained a level in writing these stories that is both fluid and highly intriguing. Taking cues from a few different Star Trek The Next Generation episodes, where Star Trek The Original Series characters are brought into the twenty fourth century, Michael Jan Friedman carefully crafts a well told STNG story around them.

The premise:

As fans of Star Trek The Next Generation learned in "Reunification part II" Ambassador Spock decided to stay on Romulus to help teach members of the Reunification movement the ways of Vulcans. While on a trip to one of the Romulan Star Empires outlying worlds to instruct Reunificationists in the ways of Surak, Spock is captured by that world's governor. Fortunately for Spock, the governor doesn't initially know who he has in his possession.

As Starfleet learns of Ambassador Spocks capture, they dispatch the Enterprise commanded by Captain Jean Luc Picard, to negotiate the release of the Reunificationists, while hopefully not revealing that Spock is among them. To help with this effort they send along Admiral McCoy, who has become quite the stodgy old curmudgeon. Listening in on this communiqué is Scotty. Scotty, with the help of the shuttlecraft gifted to him by Captain Picard, deftly swipes a Constitution class museum starship and heads off for the Romulan neutral zone himself.

What ensues is certainly one of the best Star Trek hardbacks with a solid plot that is both intriguing and enthralling. I highly recommend this novel to any and all Star Trek fans, especially since the author cleverly blends members of the twenty third century Original Series into a Star Trek The Next Generation story.

The abridged audio tape version, read by Jonathan Frakes is exceptional and well appreciated as it helps three hours go by quite quickly on the highway. Also to be appreciated is the cover art, which is better than a lot of others in this genre. {ssintrepid}

Croosover is one of those books that you can't put down. (I finished it in two days.) It was a page turner that kept you the edge of your pants and you never wanted it to stop. The story revoles around spock. He is working on his mission for Unifiing (sp) the Vulcans and the Romulans. He gets captured by the romulans and he find out that it was because of a spy. (I'm not going to tell you who because it would ruin the book for you.) Starfleet finds this out and sends the Enterprise-D to negotiate the Unificationist's release. They send a rep to help. That rep is Admiral Leonard H. McCoy. Meanwhile Scotty (Who is flying around in his shuttle) overhears the messege from Starfleet and he divises his own rescue plan. It is the various plotlines and characters the keep you reading. I grade it *Burns a five on to the side of a cow* A FIVE! By the way, if you were wondering what the best ST novel I have read. It is "Fallen Heroes" (ST: DS9 book no. 5)

I'm very choosy about what gets a five-star rating rather than a four; if I wasn't, this book would have been rated five stars. (Admittedly, if I was rating the layout and copyediting job done on the mass-market paperback edition, it would have been lucky to get two stars; I've rarely seen such a sloppy job. NUMEROUS lines throughout the book are missing their first (or, occasionally, last) letters; page fifty alone is missing five first letters out of 30 lines, and while most of the book isn't THAT bad, it isn't the only page that has a problem, but cutting down a rating of a story for sloppy layout is unfair; still, I'm loath to give a high rating to such a sloppy book without a disclaimer. Hopefully, later editions corrected the problem, but I wouldn't count on it.)

The characters were handled marvellously, especially Scotty, who is given his due in a way that he was NOT in the episode/book that brought him into the Next Generation world, "Relics"; the plot works well and makes sense, and the writing moves well and is enjoyable to read.

I have read plenty of Michael Jan Friedman stories to know that he LOVES Star Trek, but I can always count on him to give me a less than stellar story...I can't put my finger on it, but let's just say they never seem to end up being all they COULD have been...and 'Crossover' is another example of what I mean. The idea of Reunification isn't original, however the way Friedman presents it here IS...but it just didn't seem to have that Trek magic I look for. Peter David certainly has it in HIS books, and so does Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens, in fact these authors are TRUE serious Trek writers...but Friedman fails in his attempt to reach that 'something' that makes the story truly magical. It WAS an entertaining read, as are ALL of Friedman's Trek stories, but if you know what I'm talking about, they just lack something that makes them a little more special. But if you are looking for a Next Gen story that includes Spock, Scotty and a very old Admiral McCoy, then this story does seem to fit the bill. All in all, a good story (hence the 4-star rating) but not quite the cream of the crop.

Star Trek - The Next Generation Crossover written by Michael Jan Friedman is a combination book of characters from TOS and TNG. This character-driven book has twists and turns typical to some of the best TREK as the outcome of the story really hinges upon cooperation from the intermixed crew members.

The book revolves around Spock as he has been captured with a group of unificationists on Constanthus one of the Romulan Empire's outer worlds. Fearful that the Romulans might extract knowledge of the Federation, the plot thickens as the U.S.S. Enterprise and her crew get a call from Commodore Edrich informing Captain Jean-Luc Picard that the Enterprise and Picard specificly must secure the release of Spock and the hostages. Not to leave anything to chance, Commodore Edrich informs Picard that a consultant is on the way... someone who is still in Starfleet that knows Spock like the back of his hand.

Enter into the fray Admiral Leonard H. McCoy who is all of 145 and has slow down a little but he still has that razor-sharp mind and is hell-bent on getting Spock back to the Federation. Well, if McCoy isn't enough, Scotty is crusing around the Alpha Quadrant in a shuttle and over hears the message that Spock is in trouble.

Our favorite engineer has plans for a rescue of his own and purloins a one-hundred year old Constitution class starship from an archival exhibition and is on his way. Now, we know the McCoy can be a little short fused at times, as Picard wants to look at the situation for all angles, McCoy pulls rank and trys to negotiate with the Romulans. Of course, the Romulans won't have any part in the negotiations as we see both that it will take a combination of old and new crews to work together to spring Spock.

What is also interesting in this book is how Spock has been working the underground movement to reunite the two worlds of common ancestry. When you read this book you'll understand more of the "why" in Spock's effort to bring the Romulans and Vulcans closer together.

The book moves quickly and the plot lines are good. The character-driven narrative will captivate you as you read on to see what happens next.

Crossover was a good way to kill a lazy afternoon, but little else. The story was supposed to be a big event--Scotty, Spock, and mcCoy together with the NG crew. The story ranks as entrertaining, but implausible. McCoy has reached the unusual age of 145, and no one can stop talking about that.

Scotty steals a 100 year old working ship from a museum (that happens to have a cloaking device, no less) and enters Romulan space. Picard won't mount a rescue operation for Spock, but will for Scotty. It's a mess if you think about it too hard. I give it three stars only because of the intermittant discussions between Spock and his Romulan students regarding pacifism v. totalitarianism. Very inciteful and interesting in a novel that is otherwise brain candy.

I believe that this is a very good novel. This is because that Friedman did a spetacular job at combing that characters from TNG and TOS, Even though some of the characterization and events were a little over the top and some event would not happen if Star Trek was real. These included the bridge of the Enterprise on the Yorktown and McCoy believing he can solve the situation by pulling rank.

I was utterly disappointed with this novel. The inclusion of Scotty and McCoy was just contrived and implausible. You simply cannot believe the circumstances by which Scotty and McCoy are integrated into this story. They not only bungle up the overall book but they bungle up the mission which Starfleet is engaged in.

The main theme of the book is the Unification movement on Romulus which Spock is leading. This is a fascinating theme that was first introduced in the TNG TV series. I am sure there would be many Star Trek fans that would be eager to learn more on how the movement is developing and how Spock is faring. In Crossover there was scant development of this part of the Trek universe. All we have is the captured of Spock and some devotees of the unification movement and the subsequent attempt to rescue Spock.

I would love a decent, thorough novel covering the Unification movement. I would love some character development and description of Romulus. This book doesn't come close. Even as a mere action novel, which Star Trek books sometimes are, it fails due to the bungling inclusion of Scotty and McCoy.

My final conclusion is the people in charge of Star Trek books insisted that Scotty and McCoy be included merely for an increase in sales. This was done to the detriment of the story. It hurts to think that this is the case as Star Trek has held close to integrity and in so doing have created a wonderful universe. That they have 'sold out' is a little disheartening. I hope this is just a one-off stumble.

This review is for the abridged audio version (2 tapes, 3+ hours). Jonathan Frakes did a great job reading this, he has a good voice, and does a credible job in recreating all of the characters. The story itself was very engaging, but disconnected in a few places (not bad, but it was obvious that some things ended up on the cuttingroom floor). The sound affects were good, never drowning out the narrater. Overall a good purchase, and I recommend it.

This is one of my favorite audio tales, along with "Imzadi," "Q-Squared," and "The Devil's Heart." Jonathon Frakes acts out the a terrific story about the crew of the Enterprise-D, which involves the Romulans, the Unificationists, Mr. Spock, Dr. McCoy, and Capt. Scott.

Never a big fan of novels that force these two generations together, I found this one thoroughly enjoyable. THIS is what the movie "Star Trek Generations" should have been based on. Frakes does a great job differentiating the various characters with his take on Scotty particularly fun. Don't miss this one.