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Discuss this article by @Thande here
It is a measure of the cultural impact of a film or book how many parodies are made of its title, and there were A LOT for Four Weddings and a Funeral, and not only in the UK either."Harry Enfield also did this joke"
Kevin & Perry Boldly Go Large
Ah, that is a good comparison. I forgot to mention how one thing the author does is have the aliens constantly quoting the scriptures whose tampering with is part of the backstory, which makes it feel like solider worldbuilding and not something that only comes up for the plot twist.Agreed on Objective: Bajor, without the Star Trek elements, feeling like some lost mid-century science fiction tale. Or, for something more recent, the works of Liu Cixin right down to the long explanation of the aliens' history as a denounment.
Yeah, I personally would've been fine with them saying "this is set in between (episode) and (episode)" but authors tended to be averse to this, I think there was a stigma about it. (The comics, especially the DC ones, were better about this). So you ended up with this odd, handwavy 'pretend this is now even though it's not' compromise. The problem IMO is that this worked really well for TNG, which was pretty stable after season 3 at the latest, but not for DS9.As far as the frequent complaints about timescale, don't most of these come from an assumption that of course comics and novels must take place concurrently with the television stories that were airing during their release? Not sure if this was ever given as an indication on the covers, but I just wouldn't assume that. Albeit, that's coming from two novel spin-off series I was interested in more than Star Trek both coming after the main work had ended (or so it seemed): Star Wars and Doctor Who.
It's one of those problems that could easily have been solved if those involved had the inclination... moving along.Yeah, I personally would've been fine with them saying "this is set in between (episode) and (episode)" but authors tended to be averse to this, I think there was a stigma about it. (The comics, especially the DC ones, were better about this). So you ended up with this odd, handwavy 'pretend this is now even though it's not' compromise. The problem IMO is that this worked really well for TNG, which was pretty stable after season 3 at the latest, but not for DS9.
Yes, I was reminded of that while researching this. The narrative you got from season 2 DS9, "Preemptive Strike" in TNG and all the pre-release leaks and rumours about VGR were "the Maquis are the Big New Thing and the Way we're going to make Star Trek More Morally Grey, because a load of them are ex-Starfleet officers and now they're having to fight their old comrades and what is right and wrong etc. etc." and then...no. Not surprising the spinoff writers ran with that narrative, especially their obsession with Ro being in the Maquis (because, TBF, that is what the show had implied would be a big deal rather than never mentioned again).This is perhaps not a new take (and might have come up elsewhere) - but I find it interesting just how "big" the Maquis were in sort of, Trek lore/canon at this time - as demonstrated by constantly showing up in spinoffs.
"This is really going to matter" - "oh no, it doesn't."
Pining for the alternate universe episode where a Cardassian from one of the colonies that ended up on the Federation side of the line graduates from the Academy and gets posted to her first assignment on DS9 by the third-worst computer glitch in Starfleet history.One thing I found weak is that the Maquis are said to be terrorists but only manage to hit Cardassian military targets (IIRC one thing that seemed civilian wasn't) and we never hear about anything happening to the Cardassian colonists in either newly-Starfleet colonies or who've moved (except for how they're brutalising humans). The Maquis generally end up being bad because they're making life difficult for Sisko.
Would you think someone who makes life difficult for Sisko is in any way good?The Maquis generally end up being bad because they're making life difficult for Sisko.
Would you think someone who makes life difficult for Sisko is in any way good?
Ro Laren's last episode in particular... But after Michelle Forbes turned down DS9*, we never got a Maquis protagonist again. Chakotay was very much exMaquis, and we never got to see Eddington's real (as opposed to assumed) values and thoughts.Yes, I was reminded of that while researching this. The narrative you got from season 2 DS9, "Preemptive Strike" in TNG and all the pre-release leaks and rumours about VGR were "the Maquis are the Big New Thing and the Way we're going to make Star Trek More Morally Grey, because a load of them are ex-Starfleet officers and now they're having to fight their old comrades and what is right and wrong etc. etc." and then...no. Not surprising the spinoff writers ran with that narrative, especially their obsession with Ro being in the Maquis (because, TBF, that is what the show had implied would be a big deal rather than never mentioned again).
How exactly would it have worked with the Hive as the Borg? Seems like that would be a totally different plot.I had the pleasure this weekend of getting to interview and spend a bit of time beyond panels with John Peel at the Doctor Who convention I’m involved with. We got to talking about Objective: Bajor and he confirmed a nugget of a rumor I’d found online: the Hive were originally meant to be the Borg. A suggestion that Paramount turned down because of a vague idea that the Borg might appear on DS9 which, of course never happened.
Something else Peel talked about was that because the novel was coming out ahead of the introduction of the Defiant on the series, Paramount asked (via his editor) that he include its introduction in the novel as a preamble to its appearing on-screen. As such, he got sent the script for the season opener MONTHS ahead of its airing with warnings not to reveal its contents to anyone beyond what he could use in the novel!
Oh, it would have been. Thankfully, it happened at the pitching stage and Peel was told by his editor that Paramount was almost certain not to let it happen (which proved to be correct). As Peel himself acknowledged, the fact that he had to create the Hive instead meant that a better story came out of it by having to think outside the box and create an original alien culture. He also revealed that the only reason he got into writing Star Trek to begin with was because he was commissioned to do Alien Nation, with the TV series and book range being canceled at the same time. Trek was offered as a sort of apology commission, but something that Peel enjoyed doing as he deliberately went for things he felt they wouldn't have been able to do on TV.How exactly would it have worked with the Hive as the Borg? Seems like that would be a totally different plot.