Customer Reviews

Star Trek 6

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A few years after the original Star Trek series was cancelled, a phenomenon began. Once the series went into syndication it was a staple of the afternoon television fare and a publishing "enterprise" also began. The books where James Blish adapted episodes from the original series were the first steps in the development of what has become an enormous genre.
In this book, Blish adapts the episodes:

*) The Savage Curtain
*) The Lights of Zetar
*) The Apple
*) By Any Other Name
*) The Cloud Minders
*) The Mark of Gideon

None of these episodes even cracks the upper half of my rankings of episodes in the original series. However, Blish makes the paper expenditure worthwhile by engaging in some of his best writing in this series of books. He manages to capture a great deal of the tension and action of the episodes, something that can be especially difficult in a science fiction series. It is still a worthwhile book to read.

First published in 1972, these short stories are Blish's adaptations of the screenplays of various episodes from the original series. The episodes aren't sorted into books according to either chronological order or identity of screenwriter, and in this case the mix doesn't include any single episode of outstanding quality, so Blish hasn't got a lot of substance to work with.

Note: If you're interested in adaptations based on the animated STAR TREK series, see Alan Dean Foster's Star Trek Log books.

"The Savage Curtain"(episode 77, season 3, screenplay Gene Roddenberry and Arthur Heinemann). Encounter with vastly powerful aliens: the Excalbians, who arrange an experiment to explore the nature of the (to them) alien concepts of 'good' and 'evil' in a death-match competition. On the 'good' side, Kirk, Spock, Lincoln, and Surak of Vulcan (first introduction of the character, who established the Vulcans' pacifist philosophy; see Diane Duane's SPOCK'S WORLD). On the 'evil' side are Genghis Khan, Colonel Green (from Earth's near-future), Zora, and Kahless (who founded the Klingon way of life). (These aren't the real historical figures, but reconstructions based on Kirk's and Spock's perceptions, so history isn't in peril, only Kirk and Spock.)

"The Lights of Zetar" (episode 73, season 3, screenplay Jeremy Tarcher and Shari Lewis) En route to deliver specialist Mira Romaine to Memory Alpha - a respository of knowledge - ENTERPRISE is overtaken by a peculiar 'energy storm' in space causing odd symptoms in random crew members: loss of language, muttering in an unknown language, loss of manual dexterity. Mira (and as it turns out, the rest of the Memory Alpha team) are worst affected - of great concern to Scotty, who's taken with her.

"The Apple" (episode 38, season 2, screenplay Max Ehrlich and Gene L. Coon) The title refers to the apples of Eden: this is one of several episodes exploring the idea of an 'earthly paradise' - peaceful but stagnant. As the natives are long-lived, one of the prices they pay is an Edenlike innocence to keep their population at manageable levels - but who or what is doing the managing? (I appreciate the fact that Blish takes the trouble to address the problem of understanding the alien language without a universal translator cop-out.)

"By Any Other Name" (episode 50, season 2, screenplay Dorothy C. Fontana and Jerome Bixby). The galactic 'barrier' from 'Where No Man Has Gone Before' turns up again, having damaged a scout ship from the Andromeda galaxy beyond repair. The survivors, Rojan and Kalinda, are an advance party seeking to take over the Milky Way as a replacement for their own galaxy, which is becoming uninhabitable; they've taken humanlike form only for convenience in taking over the ENTERPRISE as a replacement for their own ship. However, taking human form has unforeseen consequences...

"The Cloud Minders" (episode 74, season 3, screenplay Margaret Armen, story by David Gerrold and Oliver Crawford) ENTERPRISE is sent to the planet Ardana for a mineral needed on Merak II to counter a devastating plague. The zenite, however, is obtained at great cost in human suffering by miners who never enjoy the fruits of their labor - that being reserved by the aristocrats who live in the cloud cities. Rebels among the miners delay the ENTERPRISE's mission - and upon looking into the matter, the mining conditions are even more dangerous than they seem.

"The Mark of Gideon" (episode 72, season 3, screenplay George F. Slavin and Stanley Adams) The planet Gideon, having previously refused contact, agrees to allow Kirk to beam down alone for treaty negotiations. From ENTERPRISE's point of view, Kirk disappears; from his own, he's lost a few minutes of his memory, and still seems to be aboard ship - an empty mock-up of the ENTERPRISE, containing only a single young woman, a total stranger, although he occasionally sees flashes of a vast crowd of strange faces. [Several plot holes, one being that the aliens' ultimate goal could have been achieved easily with a fair chance of *nobody* from the Federation finding out for quite awhile, if they'd gone about it intelligently. However, the problem is interesting.]