Alternate History in Star Trek Part 8: Early TNG Comics and Novels

[Gary Oswald]

Discuss this article by @Thande here

 

[Charles EP M.]

matters like timescale and how the background of the setting had changed were kept vague

The novelisation of Farpoint's got some fun bits where we have some of the original ideas for Data that got dropped, a completley different peace with the Klingons and "combined Federation-Klingon Empire space", and for some reason the dates for the Post-Atomic Horror court are 2036 and not the on-screen 2070s (and it's not a lawless state of anarchy, we're told this is the post-war government!). Try fitting any of that in now.

 

[Thande]

The novelisation of Farpoint's got some fun bits where we have some of the original ideas for Data that got dropped, a completley different peace with the Klingons and "combined Federation-Klingon Empire space", and for some reason the dates for the Post-Atomic Horror court are 2036 and not the on-screen 2070s (and it's not a lawless state of anarchy, we're told this is the post-war government!). Try fitting any of that in now.

Novelisations often have this problem, because you almost have to give details on things that films can gloss over. Inner narratives and so on.

 

[varyar]

Another great article. I remember some of these books. Is Strike Zone the one where they manage to make Wesley even more annoying by giving him the nickname Orange Crush?

Q-in-Law was a lot of fun, as I recall. You're right, it's a shame Q and Lwaxana never met on the show. Just imagine how chaotic that would have been.

 

[Thande]

The novelisation of Farpoint's got some fun bits where we have some of the original ideas for Data that got dropped, a completley different peace with the Klingons and "combined Federation-Klingon Empire space", and for some reason the dates for the Post-Atomic Horror court are 2036 and not the on-screen 2070s (and it's not a lawless state of anarchy, we're told this is the post-war government!). Try fitting any of that in now.

I just read the Farpoint novelisation. Charles was correct about Data (built by aliens in memory of a failed human colony!) and 'combined Federation-Klingon Empire space' from Worf's inner monologue. However there isn't a date given at all for the Postatomic Horror court so you may have been thinking of something else. I was actually impressed at how closely the novelisation follows the episode, considering it was presumably based on an earlier version of the script(?) There are a few lines and scenes cut, e.g. Picard boards the ship aboard a shuttle - which would eventually be shown in "All Good Things"! - and, a wise cut, Riker encounters Data on the bridge and is cold towards him, and it's Picard who tells him to read up on Data's service record before joining him in the holodeck. The actual scene works much better in isolation. We also get to see Wesley and two other teenagers finding the holodeck programme in which the Riker-Data scene happens, and according to Wesley's inner monologue, he likes jungles due to growing up on the stories of Tarzan and John Carter of Mars!

Also Q is always given in italics and saucer separation is referred to as 'battle configuration'. Fun insight into the early days of the show.