Customer Reviews

Mission to Horatius (Star Trek: The Original Series)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

First, let's get one thing straight. Mission To Horatius _is_ a children's book. As such, it must be reviewed and discussed in that context - to criticize it for not appealing to adults is simply unfair.

I don't know any children who have read the book recently - I do remember that my own reactions, back in 1970 at the age of 7, were quite positive. The book has a well developed plot, and Reynolds was smart enough to realize that he could throw in some good subplots without losing his young readers. The main situation is plausible enough within the world of the original Star Trek: the Federation has received a distress call from a solar system in an unexplored part of the galaxy, and the Enterprise goes there to find out what is going on. Along the way, the captain and crew encounter three different cultures, various perils and dangers, etc.

Some sacrifices must be made when writing a children's tale, and characterization suffers somewhat here. Readers will search in vain here for any explorations of Spock's Vulcan heritage, Kirk's legendary love life, as well as more fundamental aspects of Trek culture (Klingons, Romulans, etc). I don't know what Reynolds' personal background is, but I suspect that he was in the armed forces at some point - the characters act considerably more "military" than in the TV series (e.g., Kirk's manner toward junior officers).

Adults may find parts of the book unintentionally hilarious - the idea of using LSD as a tranquilizer, for instance. On the other hand, there are parts which are clever even by adult standards - the perilous situation in which the chief shaman places the crew is particularly so.

Which brings up another point - Reynolds, even though writing for children, is not afraid to use words like "shaman", "Teutonic", "theocracy", etc. He trusts his readers to either know what these mean, or to get a dictionary or ask an adult, or to simply figure out their meaning from the context. He's right to do so, of course.

If you're an adult considering reading Mission To Horatius, you'll probably find it a pleasant enough trip down memory lane, if you were a fan of the original Trek series as I was; but in all honesty, you probably won't get terribly excited about the book unless you read it already as a child and want to revisit it. If you haven't figured it out yet, though, I'd highly recommend this book for kids.

As "Mission to Horatius" was the very first Star Trek "tie-in" novel, this sturdy little hardback reprint is worth checking out for historical interest alone. But if you cut it a bit of slack and forgive some of the overly broad plotting and comedy, it actually does a fair job of providing a few hours of genuine entertainment. It certainly delivers the flavor of the original show, before countless Trek novels had added layers of subtle characterization and other levels of sophistication to the original mythos. Not that those latter improvements are bad, but it was nice to read a story that, aside from the longer length, felt just like an original Trek episode. Fun, and worth seeking out.

This reprint of the first official Star Trek novel (originally published in 1968) is not exactly what you -- or anyone else -- would call a classic, but it is potentially of interest for hardcore Trek fans.

Published while the series was still on the air (the only one that was, in fact), the novel is extremely weak in terms of characterization: McCoy is fairly close, as is Spock, but the others seem like different characters altogether. This is understandable -- the series had not yet becmoe a classic, after all -- but it's also distracting and impossible to overlook.

Interestingly, the plot revolves partially around humans who have emigrated from Earth to alien worlds in order to create their own type of society. This is somethig that almost totally jars with the "Trek philosophy" of Gene Roddenberry, who wassort of insistent that in Earth's future, humans pretty much ALL got along, with any obstacles coming from elsewhere in the galaxy. This element of the novel isn't taken too far, but it is still an interesting peek into a different type of Star Trek.

And ultimately, that's the value of the novel: its status as a historical document that shows what the Star Trek universe was like circa 1968. That universe was far from fully formed, and this novel is very much worth reading from that standpoint.

On the level of plot, prose, dialogue, and character, though . . . not so much. Although I will admit to very much liking the way the story is resolved.

All in all, you probably know already if this is the kind of thing you'll enjoy.

One final note: the book itself is very handsome, a nice reprint of the original. The hardback binding is in the style of '60s novels for teenagers, and it's cool that Pocket decided to replicate that form, rather than just churn out a mass-market paperback.

Produced in 1968, this novel was written before Star Trek became the incredible phenomenon of the movies, novels and subsequent series. It also lacks the polish of the sequence of novels that began approximately a decade later. Written for young people, it nevertheless is of interest to all people with a passion for Star Trek.
The premise is that the Enterprise has been in space for a long time and the crew is in dire need of some R & R. Some of the crew have been showing signs of cafard, which is a space sickness generated by long stretches in space without relief or suitable activities of interest. Dr. McCoy is adamant that the Enterprise must stand down soon before the entire crew becomes susceptible to cafard. It is a dangerous illness, in other ships it caused the crew to go mad and kill each other with their bare hands.
When the Federation receives a distress signal from the Horatius sun system the Enterprise is ordered to investigate. Many years before, three planets in that system were colonized by three widely different human groups. The first was by a group of people who wanted to throw off what they considered to be the yokes of technology and once again become a species of hunter-gatherers. The second group consisted of people who were searching for religious freedom. Even though Earth was a planet of religious tolerance, they considered themselves persecuted, so they left searching for a place where they could freely practice their religion. The third was settled by a group of political non-conformists who believed that they were subject to political persecution.
When the Enterprise arrives at the first planet, it is immediately clear that it could not be the source of the distress signal. The colonists have completely disposed of all technology and have nothing more sophisticated than a bow and arrow. They are attacked by a youth named Grang who counts coup on the Enterprise landing party. Kirk and his group eventually make contact with the tribal leaders and learn that interplanetary raiding parties have been taking people from their planet. In a violation of Kirk's direct orders, Zulu and Chekhov allow Grang to be beamed aboard the Enterprise.
When the Enterprise arrives at the second planet, they find it governed by a strict theocracy that keeps the vast majority of the population in a continuous state of drugged bliss. The religious leaders live in opulent splendor while the masses are killed for the slightest religious transgression. Once Kirk ascertains that this planet was not the source of the distress signal, he orders the Enterprise to depart. However, not before they transmit an antidote to the drug into the water supply of the capitol city.
As soon as the Enterprise arrives at the third planet, they discover that it is ruled as a Nazi-like military camp. Furthermore, they discover that the size of the planetary population is far greater than it should be given the life of the colony. Once the planetary leader orders a futile attack on the Enterprise, he contacts them and asks for their surrender terms. Kirk and the landing party beam down and after some unusual battles, they learn the source of the distress signal. The planetary rulers have been using transporters to create pseudo-people, which explains the size of the planetary population. They have also been conducting raids on the other planets and they are obviously moving in an expansionist direction. By destroying key technical facilities, Kirk and company render the pseudo-people inoperable and destroy the militaristic government.
This story is a weak one, with many significant holes in the plot. The primary features of each of the three planets were taken from episodes in the original series. This book is typical of the books in the 1960's that were spin-offs of a television series. Relying more on the popularity of the series than the development of a sensible plot, they often seemed to be cobbled together rather than structured. Nevertheless, I still found the story interesting from an historical perspective. It is another volume in the entire Star Trek phenomenon, and that fact alone makes it of interest to many.

When I saw that this book was again in print I had a feeling of both gladness and nostalgia. I still have my original copy purchased many years ago. I agree with one other reviewer who stated that the author must have been in the military as it surely does show in this book. And if you stop to think about it, the idea of cloning as far as a science fiction topic has been around a lot longer than some realize as this work clearly shows. This work also presents some very "adult" ideas. One of it's very obvious messages is the ugliness of political divisivness combined with a statement aganst racial oppresion. If this is "only" a kid's book then I am glad that I as a kid read (and enjoyed) it and would like my kids (and now my grandkids) to read it as well. Lessons about moral courage and being true to one's convictions are sorely needed and this work presents these ideals very well.

This is a fast read though it is 210 pages with some full page drawings similar to the original Gold Key comic book. I gave it a "5" because it is by Mack Reynolds, a popular science fiction author, and even though I'm in my 50's, I thought it was a good Star Trek story, very similar in tone to an episode of the original Trek which thrilled me when I was a teenager, and they went to the edge of explored space AND visited 3 planets which was enough action and ideas in it for 4 of the TV shows. It was well done though on a young teen level of writing, but then, weren't the TV shows also? Reynolds was off some on the ways of Star Trek - Spock fighting with karate chops instead of nerve pinches - but IF you are looking to read a story VERY MUCH like the first TV series that catches the spirit and adventure of the show, you should enjoy this. I've seen it written this is the FIRST book adaption of STAR TREK, so that in itself makes this a worthy read.

As was already stated, this isn't anything really new. The plot twist involving the rat was the only really original idea I can remember.

Things they did in this book SEEM like they would be a violation of the Prime Directive. But I guess not since all the planets they visited were products of early Earth colonizations.

Overall, it was a nice change of pace to be able to read an entire Star Trek book this quickly. (But technically I think this falls under the Star Trek "Young Adventures" books. Thus...written for early teens.)

I really only read it because I try to read all of the Original series books. And I HAD to read the first one in that series.

This was worth reading for historical value if you're a fan of Star Trek books.

As a final note, I kinda wish they would have printed all Star Trek books in this hardcover format with the picture printed right onto the hard binding. (No dust jacket I mean.) I have the original first edition of this book and it looks better than some of my paperback books that I bought 2 months ago.

This is a reprinting of the first Star Trek novel. The writing level is definitely geared more towards kids and teens than adults. This was one of my first Amazon purchases about 8-9 years ago. My recommendation for long time fans would be to get a copy as a keepsake, and another one for your kids or grand kids to read.

A fun read for younger fans and nostalgia buffs alike. It's exciting that the very first Trek book is available again.

Produced in 1968, this novel was written before Star Trek became the incredible phenomenon of the movies, novels and subsequent series. It also lacks the polish of the sequence of novels that began approximately a decade later. Written for young people, it nevertheless is of interest to all people with a passion for Star Trek.
The premise is that the Enterprise has been in space for a long time and the crew is in dire need of some R & R. Some of the crew have been showing signs of cafard, which is a space sickness generated by long stretches in space without relief or suitable activities of interest. Dr. McCoy is adamant that the Enterprise must stand down soon before the entire crew becomes susceptible to cafard. It is a dangerous illness, in other ships it caused the crew to go mad and kill each other with their bare hands.
When the Federation receives a distress signal from the Horatius sun system the Enterprise is ordered to investigate. Many years before, three planets in that system were colonized by three widely different human groups. The first was by a group of people who wanted to throw off what they considered to be the yokes of technology and once again become a species of hunter-gatherers. The second group consisted of people who were searching for religious freedom. Even though Earth was a planet of religious tolerance, they considered themselves persecuted, so they left searching for a place where they could freely practice their religion. The third was settled by a group of political non-conformists who believed that they were subject to political persecution.
When the Enterprise arrives at the first planet, it is immediately clear that it could not be the source of the distress signal. The colonists have completely disposed of all technology and have nothing more sophisticated than a bow and arrow. They are attacked by a youth named Grang who counts coup on the Enterprise landing party. Kirk and his group eventually make contact with the tribal leaders and learn that interplanetary raiding parties have been taking people from their planet. In a violation of Kirk's direct orders, Zulu and Chekhov allow Grang to be beamed aboard the Enterprise.
When the Enterprise arrives at the second planet, they find it governed by a strict theocracy that keeps the vast majority of the population in a continuous state of drugged bliss. The religious leaders live in opulent splendor while the masses are killed for the slightest religious transgression. Once Kirk ascertains that this planet was not the source of the distress signal, he orders the Enterprise to depart. However, not before they transmit an antidote to the drug into the water supply of the capitol city.
As soon as the Enterprise arrives at the third planet, they discover that it is ruled as a Nazi-like military camp. Furthermore, they discover that the size of the planetary population is far greater than it should be given the life of the colony. Once the planetary leader orders a futile attack on the Enterprise, he contacts them and asks for their surrender terms. Kirk and the landing party beam down and after some unusual battles, they learn the source of the distress signal. The planetary rulers have been using transporters to create pseudo-people, which explains the size of the planetary population. They have also been conducting raids on the other planets and they are obviously moving in an expansionist direction. By destroying key technical facilities, Kirk and company render the pseudo-people inoperable and destroy the militaristic government.
This story is a weak one, with many significant holes in the plot. The primary features of each of the three planets were taken from episodes in the original series. This book is typical of the books in the 1960's that were spin-offs of a television series. Relying more on the popularity of the series than the development of a sensible plot, they often seemed to be cobbled together rather than structured. Nevertheless, I still found the story interesting from an historical perspective. It is another volume in the entire Star Trek phenomenon, and that fact alone makes it of interest to many.