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skywaterblueHere's more on Russell T Davies planning on crossing Doctor Who over with Star Trek:
4. Yet another [idea for the 2009 Easter Special] was a kind of Star Trek pastiche – essentially “the Doctor on board the Enterprise, puncturing all that Starfleet pomposity with this sheer Doctor-ness”.
Sounds kind of like a Galaxy Quest thing, which I probably would have really enjoyed. (Also, as if 'Waters on Mars' weren't Trek pastiche enough, though I understand it's also a Troughton 'we're all doomed on a space base' episode.)
Though I have to say, the phrase 'Starfleet pomposity' gives me serious doubts. If you're going to do it, even as a pastiche, you should have a little respect, dare I say love, for the material. Though I guess pomposity also depends on which of the series, and which of the Captains you're most trying to play off... Picard and Archer and Janeway were pretty up their own asses from time to time. Kirk and Sisko would have slapped the shit out of the Tenth Doctor and not thought twice about it.
What I'm saying is: so I'm sad it didn't happen, but at least my brother and I didn't BREAK OUR TELEVISIONS IN RAGE.
In other crossover news, the awesome Una McCormack is writing a Doctor Who novel for the Tenth Doctor! It is called 'The King's Dragon', out in July. I think this is very new news, as I can't find a blurb or anything for this. Based on that title, I dream about a Merlin crossover which I am 100% sure isn't what it will be about, but girls can wish.
This reminded me that I have long-delayed posting about her last Star Trek: Deep Space Nine title, "The Never-Ending Sacrifice", literally a Star Trek book I was SO excited for that I almost pre-ordered on Amazon. It could only be a book about Cardassia with that title, and Una McCormack had previously distinguished herself by writing an excellent Garak.
The premise of "The Never-Ending Sacrifice" was not that it was the long awaited English translation of Garak's favorite Cardassian novel. Instead, it follows a teenaged character named Rugal, introduced in a barely memorable second season episode of DS9 called 'Cardassians'.
To whit: Rugal is one of many Cardassian orphans left behind on Bajor after the Occupation. Unlike most, he was adopted out to loving Bajoran parents - and even more unlikely, turned out to have a living father on Cardassia who thought he was dead. A weird interstellar custody battle ensued, with then-Commander Sisko whisking in to decide he'd be better off on Cardassia.
What follows in the book by McCormack is a great bildungsroman of teenaged Rugal growing up on Cardassia Prime while the various governments fall, rise, and go to war. What's so amazing about this book is the seamless way that McCormack incorporates all the background material without sacrificing Rugal's voice, making this an unusual Star Trek novel in many respects. If she had stripped the Star Trek elements, it would stand on its own - I dare say that anyone NOT familiar with DS9 could follow what happens in this story.
Meanwhile, the story is so much richer for you having a background in what happened on DS9, as Rugal's story is an on-the-ground experience of being a Cardassian civilian through events we only saw as backdrop. Or the fact that the book is in and of itself a responsa to the fictional version of 'The Never-Ending Sacrifice', a novel which the audience and narrator only knows a from a vague plot summary!
The only niggle I have about this delightful book is a court hearing at the very end, which struck me as ... incorrect based on what I know of those sort of court hearings in the real world. However, the delightful appearance of Garak at the end is like a little cherry on top of a very weird, very good Star Trek novel.
So you should pick that up if you like Star Trek. In fact, I'd pushselenak to read it, as I think she'd love it. I couldn't put it down.
In other DS9 news, we're getting an ongoing comic series from IDW! I picked up the first issue excitedly.
Perhaps to avoid conflicting with the novel line, which has firmly established its own post-series timeline, "Fool's Gold" is set in the middle of the show. There's an odd continuity fuck-up though, in that Sisko is bald with beard Captain Sisko, yet still in the Starfleet Ground Services/Black-with-Shoulder-Division-Colors uniform. That ties it to a pretty specific era of the show, one in which Nog and Jake were not nearly as young as they were drawn and written here. Alas. There's also one awkward typo of Jadzia's name.
Still, I enjoyed this a lot. I have the one with the lovely cover of bald!Sisko in the First Contact/Dominion War Starfleet Uniform with a striking white background. Sisko on the cover has a pretty good likeness - indeed, I think all the likenesses in this are actually pretty good, if you account for the artist (Fabio Mantovani) adding a touch of his own style to the characters. Particularly good are the Ferengi, where he has obviously endeavored to draw the makeup as actual alienness rather than forehead appliance, resulting in an immediate 'Oh, Quark!' factor with a bit of jolt.
He tries to do the same with Odo, to somewhat interesting effect - sometimes I think it's effective and sometimes I don't. The one Odo morph moment is definitely more fluid than the globby morphing effect on the show. It's a shame the colorist doesn't know that Odo's eyes are blue, not brown. (I think a somewhat understandable mistake, assuming the colorist never watched the series.)
The story: so far, Sisko has ignored a warning from Kira that a lot of weird travelers have arrived on the station and not left. This leads to trouble. For 22 pages, the story feels pretty lengthy - in part because the writers (Scott and David Tipton) treat this issue as our reintroduction to the station.
Which, may I say? If there is one thing to recommend this story, it's that Deep Space Nine has NEVER looked better in a comic. My god. The Tiptons have given Mantovani long walks-and-talks across the Promenade to illustrate, and not only did he provide, he went above and beyond the call of duty to make it look like the Promenade you miss, and all the things you would NEVER see on the television show. Ever wondered what the Promenade's ceiling looked like?
Anyway, that's shaping up to be a fun trip back to my favorite Star Trek. I hope you all pick it up so they continue to make more comics for meeeee.
4. Yet another [idea for the 2009 Easter Special] was a kind of Star Trek pastiche – essentially “the Doctor on board the Enterprise, puncturing all that Starfleet pomposity with this sheer Doctor-ness”.
Sounds kind of like a Galaxy Quest thing, which I probably would have really enjoyed. (Also, as if 'Waters on Mars' weren't Trek pastiche enough, though I understand it's also a Troughton 'we're all doomed on a space base' episode.)
Though I have to say, the phrase 'Starfleet pomposity' gives me serious doubts. If you're going to do it, even as a pastiche, you should have a little respect, dare I say love, for the material. Though I guess pomposity also depends on which of the series, and which of the Captains you're most trying to play off... Picard and Archer and Janeway were pretty up their own asses from time to time. Kirk and Sisko would have slapped the shit out of the Tenth Doctor and not thought twice about it.
What I'm saying is: so I'm sad it didn't happen, but at least my brother and I didn't BREAK OUR TELEVISIONS IN RAGE.
In other crossover news, the awesome Una McCormack is writing a Doctor Who novel for the Tenth Doctor! It is called 'The King's Dragon', out in July. I think this is very new news, as I can't find a blurb or anything for this. Based on that title, I dream about a Merlin crossover which I am 100% sure isn't what it will be about, but girls can wish.
This reminded me that I have long-delayed posting about her last Star Trek: Deep Space Nine title, "The Never-Ending Sacrifice", literally a Star Trek book I was SO excited for that I almost pre-ordered on Amazon. It could only be a book about Cardassia with that title, and Una McCormack had previously distinguished herself by writing an excellent Garak.
The premise of "The Never-Ending Sacrifice" was not that it was the long awaited English translation of Garak's favorite Cardassian novel. Instead, it follows a teenaged character named Rugal, introduced in a barely memorable second season episode of DS9 called 'Cardassians'.
To whit: Rugal is one of many Cardassian orphans left behind on Bajor after the Occupation. Unlike most, he was adopted out to loving Bajoran parents - and even more unlikely, turned out to have a living father on Cardassia who thought he was dead. A weird interstellar custody battle ensued, with then-Commander Sisko whisking in to decide he'd be better off on Cardassia.
What follows in the book by McCormack is a great bildungsroman of teenaged Rugal growing up on Cardassia Prime while the various governments fall, rise, and go to war. What's so amazing about this book is the seamless way that McCormack incorporates all the background material without sacrificing Rugal's voice, making this an unusual Star Trek novel in many respects. If she had stripped the Star Trek elements, it would stand on its own - I dare say that anyone NOT familiar with DS9 could follow what happens in this story.
Meanwhile, the story is so much richer for you having a background in what happened on DS9, as Rugal's story is an on-the-ground experience of being a Cardassian civilian through events we only saw as backdrop. Or the fact that the book is in and of itself a responsa to the fictional version of 'The Never-Ending Sacrifice', a novel which the audience and narrator only knows a from a vague plot summary!
The only niggle I have about this delightful book is a court hearing at the very end, which struck me as ... incorrect based on what I know of those sort of court hearings in the real world. However, the delightful appearance of Garak at the end is like a little cherry on top of a very weird, very good Star Trek novel.
So you should pick that up if you like Star Trek. In fact, I'd push
selenak to read it, as I think she'd love it. I couldn't put it down.In other DS9 news, we're getting an ongoing comic series from IDW! I picked up the first issue excitedly.
Perhaps to avoid conflicting with the novel line, which has firmly established its own post-series timeline, "Fool's Gold" is set in the middle of the show. There's an odd continuity fuck-up though, in that Sisko is bald with beard Captain Sisko, yet still in the Starfleet Ground Services/Black-with-Shoulder-Division-Colors uniform. That ties it to a pretty specific era of the show, one in which Nog and Jake were not nearly as young as they were drawn and written here. Alas. There's also one awkward typo of Jadzia's name.
Still, I enjoyed this a lot. I have the one with the lovely cover of bald!Sisko in the First Contact/Dominion War Starfleet Uniform with a striking white background. Sisko on the cover has a pretty good likeness - indeed, I think all the likenesses in this are actually pretty good, if you account for the artist (Fabio Mantovani) adding a touch of his own style to the characters. Particularly good are the Ferengi, where he has obviously endeavored to draw the makeup as actual alienness rather than forehead appliance, resulting in an immediate 'Oh, Quark!' factor with a bit of jolt.
He tries to do the same with Odo, to somewhat interesting effect - sometimes I think it's effective and sometimes I don't. The one Odo morph moment is definitely more fluid than the globby morphing effect on the show. It's a shame the colorist doesn't know that Odo's eyes are blue, not brown. (I think a somewhat understandable mistake, assuming the colorist never watched the series.)
The story: so far, Sisko has ignored a warning from Kira that a lot of weird travelers have arrived on the station and not left. This leads to trouble. For 22 pages, the story feels pretty lengthy - in part because the writers (Scott and David Tipton) treat this issue as our reintroduction to the station.
Which, may I say? If there is one thing to recommend this story, it's that Deep Space Nine has NEVER looked better in a comic. My god. The Tiptons have given Mantovani long walks-and-talks across the Promenade to illustrate, and not only did he provide, he went above and beyond the call of duty to make it look like the Promenade you miss, and all the things you would NEVER see on the television show. Ever wondered what the Promenade's ceiling looked like?
Anyway, that's shaping up to be a fun trip back to my favorite Star Trek. I hope you all pick it up so they continue to make more comics for meeeee.
