Customer Reviews

The Good That Men Do (Star Trek: Enterprise)

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Like many fans of this show, I considered the final episode so poorly written and produced that I was completely baffled as to the possible motive of the studio in releasing it. Fortunately Andy Mangels and Michael Martin do a far better job at creativity with "The Good That Men Do...", not only cleaning up the mess left by the series' ending (not an easy job in itself) but providing a worthwhile read for those who appreciate the ST genre.

Encompassing the merits and faults of the book's entire plot line in the space of an Amazon review has been done to great effect elsewhere in this forum, so I won't attempt to add any paltry contributions to those. Instead I'd like to address a few of the details of the series' repair job accomplished so well by the authors.

****** POSSIBLE SPOILER WARNING ********************

I've been careful with the wording of what follows, but any interested fans of the series who haven't seen the last episode and who somehow haven't heard about the fallout may want to exercise a little caution before continuing.

First and foremost, there is the issue of the controversial death of a major character in the closing scenes. It was done in schlock TV fashion: rushed, out of context, seemingly pointless - that is, unless the writers thought they were invoking some sort of "drama" without having any better idea of exactly how to be creative for a change. Furthermore, what the character does just as he is being wheeled into a "cellular regeneration chamber" (apologies to the purists on the wording) is puzzling. The mortally wounded man raises his head, nods, smiles, and winks. Huh? Was that an add-on in the holographic replay of those events? Was it supposed to be assurance to the other characters? Whatever it was, it translated to a badly-timed game of Charades.

Mangels and Martin took this sequence and ran with it, providing a believable workaround using an existing element of ST lore ("Section 31"). Furthermore, his addendum was free of the silliness that plagued many of the ST movies and TV series. He invoked no ridiculous reincarnations, nor did he call upon seldom-used Vulcan "miracle talents" to keep the character's identity (soul, personality, whatever) in cold storage in another brain somewhere. Section 31 did not pull a rabbit out of a hat. It was a refreshing change, one that Enterprise badly needed.

"The Good That Men Do..." handily resolves other conundrums. Much controversy surrounds the emotional characterizations of Vulcans in the Enterprise series. The suggestion is that the Vulcans hadn't quite perfected the art of self control in the early days of the Federation. Of course this is yet more of the silliness and inconsistency endemic to TV and movies. The culture of logic was just too old to justify such indiscipline at that point. T'Pol was a special case because she often demonstrated even less control than others of the species. The series' explanation for her behavior was of course unsatisfactory. A Vulcan neurological disorder was invented - T'Pol was infected during a mind-meld-rape of some sort. Later, the condition was exacerbated by an addiction to another invention, "Trellium-D", which she had been self-administering to control the emotional symptoms of the disorder. Too many contrived inventions of this sort only added to the overall ST silliness. Once again the authors created a succinct repair using a well-established ST element: a Romulan was figured in as the missing father of T'Pol. This change went a long way towards explaining T'Pol's character throughout the series.

Lastly, there are some suggestions that the transitions between the show's finale and this book were already in place for a fifth season of the series. This may or may not be so; thus far, no one in connection with the production of the show has come forward to verify any part of this conjecture. In my opinion (and mine alone of course), such a thematic changeover would be wholly inconsistent with the pretentious events in past ST movies and TV. I may have to eat crow on this one in the event that future Enterprise movies or episodes do not repeat the mistakes of the past. I doubt it.

Once the foregoing repairs were made along with many others, the authors turned their talents to expanding on the "Section 31" concept and adding a level of detail and adventure that provided an excellent standalone ST novel. See the other reviews for appreciations of that portion of the book.

The bottom line: "The Good That Men Do (Star Trek Enterprise)" does the series justice, provides excellent closure, and presents a great read.

Thanks to anyone who took the time to read this!

UpRight Ape

This novel takes up where the last episode of Enterprise leaves off and tells us what "really" happened to Trip. This book is fast paced and doesnt seem as though its over 400 pages in length. Be prepared to pull an all-nighter to read it you will not want to put it down once you start. The characterizations are dead on accurate. Our friends in Section 31 show up again and we see intrigue involving the Romulans. I look forwrd to seeing more Enterprise novels.

I'll be honest with you...after the horror that was "These are the Voyages...", they could have written that Trip and Archer set up a Tiki bar on Regulus Prime with T'Pol waitressing and I would have been happy. As is, I'm ecstatic with this novel. As a die-hard shipper, I would have liked a little more closure at the end, but I realize that not everyone likes a little romance in their scifi. What everyone will like, however, was how seamless this book takes up after the series. Every fault was turned into a logical course of action, and the storyline is solid and fits into the Trek universe with ease and without the formulaic Baywatch-like nonsense that has been forced upon fans for the majority of the series.

This corrected the dismal failure that was the last episode of Enterprise. A well written and well thought out book.

I'm a little hesitant to review this book after reading a couple of the highly depressing arguments that have plagued the comments on the last coupel reviews, but I just loved this book so much I have to look past it and try to bring something positive here. Like so many others, I adore the fact that this novel came along to "fix" the most unsatisfying series finale imaginable. (with the possible exception of the X-Files finale) I remember when that abysmal episode aired, and right away people on the internet were saying "Well, since it all took place on the holodeck that might not be what really happened." It was a nice thought, but I doubted it would ever lead to anything. I should've known I could count on the fine Star Trek authors who rarely let me down these days.

Taking back "These Are The Voyages" and telling what "really" happened fulfilled one wish of mine. But they didn't stop there. Another wish was fulfilled regarding the Andorian species. Some recent Deep Space Nine novels gave us a richly detailed view of Andorians as a race with 4 distinct sexes long before Enterprise introduced us to the Aenar subspecies. When Enterprise came and did its thing I feared the worst, that the Trek novel writers wouldn't be allowed to continue with their take on Andorians because they weren't allowed to contradict the series. But this book made it happen, blending the two very different takes on the species seamlessly, as if it had always been intended that way.

Thanks you for this fantastic book and I eagerly look forward to the follow up.

Without giving away the ending, this one reads like an episode starting the fifth season. It remains consistant with all the story lines in Enterprise. Trip for one is portrayed the way he should be. With a lot of depth and emotion unlike the last episode. If you forget how badly the last show was written, it covers all bases. It's a rebound to the slap in the face we got for watching Enterprise for four years!

I was sorely disappointed when "Enterprise" ended after a short four season span. The show was picking up a great deal of steam since the Xindi story arc. But more regrettable than Trek's departure from television was the way in which "Enterprise" was ended. "These Are the Voyages..." had a plot that felt thrown together, far-fetched, and ultimately dissatisfying. Trip's death, a fan favorite character, seemed more than unnecessary; Riker and Troi's presence were equally gratuitous. Ending the show in the time period just a year prior to the Earth-Romulan War--which would have made an excellent fifth season--always felt to me a great blunder on the part of the studio. Considering all my misgivings, I was more than eager to pick up a copy of "The Good That Men Do"--a reinterpretation of the show's finale. Unfortunately, while the plot brings together some of my favorite aliens and characters from the show, it was even harder to believe than the show's frustrating conclusion.
Perhaps the greatest weakness of the book is its exceptionally maudlin way of storytelling. Absolutely every character is either on the verge of sobbing, already crying, or explaining why they aren't crying. Even T'pol undergoes numerous bouts of outright bawling. More than once, characters as hardened as Archer, inwardly proclaim how much they long for a hug. This sentimentality extends to each character in such a way that it becomes incredibly tiring and completely unbelievable. Most of the dialogue suffers from similar mawkishness. Many of the characters, especially Archer, sound like overgrown boyscouts. Trip's narration is equally cheesy and seems more befitting for a 12 year old. At one point, Trip even "giggles--"very few of the characters are rendered especially well and most of them are far softer than they were on the show.
An additional fault is the writing itself. I admire the two authors for trying to bring Trip back, but the storyline was nearly a weak recycling of what Enterprise fans have already seen in the three part Romulan/Aenar story arch. This familiarity might be more tolerable if the characters were written to be more compelling or depicted more authentically. Additionally, many of the show's television episodes, wether they be relevant or not, are repeatedly mentioned in protracted and often sappy passages. Similarly, any alien phrase used is promptly explained in more detail than is truly needed, ruining the effect of using it in the first place. Continuing the trend of superfluous story telling, Mangels and Martin repeat the same explanations of their sparse plot time and time again. The introduction of Christianity and the change of making Trip's straight brother gay were only further clumsy additions; such details added nothing.
Ultimately, the novel was a let-down. I can only hope that Mangels and Martin streamline their writing and present their next installments less as pulp fiction and more like science fiction.

Excellently written. Couldn't put the book down. I would hope that there is more coming. It seems as at the end of the book Nog and Jake Sisko are about to view the rest of the story.

From page one I was hooked, couldn't put it down, packed it with me, stayed up late to read until my eyes refused to work properly, and got up early to read some more. I like the direction the story is heading and can see all sorts of little plots that can lead to more. The romance was perfect, not heavy or sappy, just sort of promising.

That the Vulcans didn't know they are related to the Romulans is an interesting angle. I never picked up on that before. I am eagerly waiting for more.

This book really saved the day as far as rewriting that awful last episode that ST: Enterprise had. By itself, the book is OK. But the fact that they can pull this one off with such a bad last TV episode says a lot about these guys. You can count me in for the next book in the series.