The second issue of my stint on “She-Hulk.” Plus it’s been a few weeks since my new STTNG, “Before Dishonor,” hit the stands, so here’s the place for folks to comment.
PAD
The second issue of my stint on “She-Hulk.” Plus it’s been a few weeks since my new STTNG, “Before Dishonor,” hit the stands, so here’s the place for folks to comment.
PAD
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The idea was initiated by editors at Pocket. It never would have occurred to me to approach them with a story that involves doing away with characters.
PAD
O.K. blew it with the LMD theory. Shoulda paid more attention to the ‘green’ clue in #22.
I liked “Before Dishonor”
The (Spoiler) Death was so unexpected to encounter in a Main Stream Star Trek novel that some of its impact was nullified, as I didn’t really believe it at the time.
I, for one, did not find the fact of the mutiny unbelievable, Picard has gotten away with way too much over the years. He flagrently flies in the face of rules and regulations and finds sucess, not by doing objectively wise things, but simply going on his gut and it is only the fickle finger of fate that whimsicly determines Picard’s life always has plot twists towards resolution and happy endings (unlike poor Data…) Anyway, if every Captain had an attitude like Picard, Kirk and Calhoon, then those who weren’t the main players in Fate’s Fickle Hand would cause universal destruction on a weekly (or quarterly) basis.
Where was I? Oh yeah, so the mutiny is really understandable, although I think the particular reasoning could have been more compelling T’lana seems like she would have mutinitied in Resitance, if she had the support, but this senario didn’t seem as strong (although the admirality intervening did help.)
I actually don’t have an issue with Kadohata mutinying against Picard, despite having served with him since the early days on the Enterprise-D; actually, I thought that lent strength to the mutiny plotline, since it meant that not only the newbies were in opposition to the captain; after all, just because someone has served with Picard for years doesn’t necessarily mean they automatically think he’s right. Do I wish the characters had been able to hew closer to those established in Q&A? Well, yeah, in an ideal world, that would have been nice. But they weren’t so different as to be unrecognizable, and in the end, the book was compelling and entertaining, so I’m hardly complaining (or, to use PAD’s word, pillorying him).
Hmmm. Since I did not see Q&A in the bookstores when I picked up RESISTANCE and BEFORE DISHONOR, I was not disturbed by any changes in the minor characters.
In fact, Kadohata joining up with the mutineers along with most of security does make sense. The Borg were attacking Earth. Think about it. Picard was gambling on a chance that a planet killer though dead could be reawakened. If I was on the Enterprise and had loved ones on Earth, I think that I might have been emotional enough to have joined the mutineers.
1She-Hulk has always been a flat secondary character wherever she appears (even in her own books), but with your first two installments as her scribe I am completely impressed and excited about the possibilities. It is not that the thought of using her as a bounty hunter is stellar, but I love the degree to which she is at odds with the facism of Tony Stark (the current Marvel antihero). The possibility of her being a major player in his eventual downfall is part of why I will stick around. The main reasons are moments like the Absorbing Man duplicating the powers of the shark, and the comment that while his eyesight should be poor his sense of smell will be accute. Attention to detail in an artform that generally writes with broad strokes of the pen is why I love your comic book work. Very excited about this book.
I still think that following Picard`s idea of trying to reactivate the planet killer makes much more sense than insisting to return to Earth and be one of many ships trying to stop the Borg in a direct confrontation. Picard had Spock and Seven with him. If someone could do it, it was them. To me the logic is so obvious: If it works, great! If not, they would return as quickly as possible.
Starfleet/the Federation should be glad that they have or had captains like Picard, like Kirk, like Calhoun – and others like them, people who are original thinkers, who have the instincts and skills to adapt quickly to new situations and are confident and brave enough to do what is right or what seems to be right at the time, no matter what Admirals who are sitting far away think.
I still think the mutiny story makes little sense. All this mistrust towards Picard and this “orders are orders, no matter what” talk, that the Admirals were not thinking “Let Picard try it. Who knows, it might even work”, first of all reminded me of episodes like “The Pegasus”, “Homefront”/”Paradise Lost” and “Valiant”. “Stone and Anvil” also shows how cadets are drilled from early on to follow orders without questioning them, that even older cadets are considered to be superior officers and even when they obviously misuse their authority, including bullying, cadets have to obey or get into trouble. I find that very disturbing and in that light, “Before Dishonor” also left a bad taste in my mouth.
Instead of blaming Picard, I think it is about time Starfleet`s Admirals learn to be more flexible and trust captains more to do their jobs.
I’ll let you know how I like them once my download finishes.
ARRRGGGHHH, MATEY!
I really enjoyed Before Dishonor and admit I did not see the death coming. I was pleasantly surprised that this was a follow up wo Vendetta, a novel I very much enjoyed.
My only complaint, if you want to call it that, is that the Starfleet of the novels seem to have forgotten how to enjoy themselves. They all seem so dour and grim all the time (NF being the exception to this). I miss seeing these people who were hëll bent on exploring the galaxy. I’d love to see more stand alone novels that get us back out there where no one has gone before.
Haven’t been to the comicshop yet, but She Hulk is on my ‘to buy’ list.
Bobby
The only real contradiction of events between “Q&A” and “Before Dishonor” was Geordi needing to explain to Kadohata about the events of “Vendetta” because she supposedly wasn’t with the crew then. However, KRAD established in “Q&A” that she had been with Picard since “Encounter At Farpoint”, which makes her participation in the mutiny — and Geordi needing to explain this particular aspect of the story to her– a bit puzzling. Maybe she was on leave… (-;
T’Lana was a character that I had high hopes for, but she’s been “Kennedy’d” to me. Like Kennedy in BtVS, she is beyond redemption now. Leybenzon, OTOH, I didn’t care for anyway.
BTW, PAD, over at the Trek BBS, author David Mack suggested actress Stephanie Chaves-Jacobsen, seen recently as Kendra Shaw in BSG:Razor for the role of Kadohata. (Also, What did Cowboy Pete think of “Razor”?). KRAD felt she was a good choice, and although I originally thought that she was a bit young, I’ve warmed to the idea since “Razor” aired.
Bobby Nash said…
“I’d love to see more stand alone novels that get us back out there where no one has gone before.”
Check out the “Star Trek: Titan” series. The first two boioks had to pick up from the events of “Nemesis”, but boldly going where no man has gone before is part of the series reason for existing.
OK, Spoiler Warning, even though it seems kind of pointless this far down the page…
I thoroughly enjoyed Before Dishonor. Unlike the Xindi arc on Enterprise, I really believed in the threat to Earth and all the characters. With the tone of your writing having become darker over the last few years, I figured if anyone was going to destroy Earth and/or kill off major characters, it was going to be you! But at the same time there were still some great humorous moments that broke the tension and had me laughing out loud as I was reading. It’s that balance of drama and humor that I’ve always loved about your work and have always kept me coming back.
I was also pleased to see interaction between the Borg and the Q again. I read an interview once (I think it was with Maurice Hurley ) where he said he always intended Q and the Borg to be constantly used together in stories, showing the opposite extremes of this unstoppable, unemotional cybernetic race on one side and this unstoppable, omnipotent to the point of apathetic race on the other side, with humanity in the middle trying to make it’s way without falling into the extremes of either. I thought Before Dishonor captured a bit of that feel again.
Thanks for a great read, Peter!
However, KRAD established in “Q&A” that she had been with Picard since “Encounter At Farpoint”, which makes her participation in the mutiny — and Geordi needing to explain this particular aspect of the story to her– a bit puzzling.
Kadohata was, per Q&A aboard the Enterprise-D during “Farpoint.” Per Q&A, she was off the Enterprise by “Data’s Day.” (See the bottom of page 68.) The question is… when did Kadohata transfer off?
The dates given in Q&A point to sometime during the fourth season. And in the front half. If meeting the Burrito, Mk. II happened in the back half of season four, Kadohata would have been gone by then.
Only about 30 or 40 pages into Before Dishonour. Assimilated Janeway & several unlucky Marvel editors who got sucked in (Wacker, etc.)? That’s just plain old mean!
Speaking of editor’s names, when you use friends/co-workers names on characters, do you ask before doing it?
I liked the first two issues of your run. This is the best the book has been in many issues. The artwork had become pretty awful recently and I was close to dropping it. Now, I think the sty and art have gone right back to the top. keep tis guy on pencils, chain him down or do whatever.
I liked the lego bit, I tried not to look too deeply in to it.
How about following up your Leader plot line from back when, given the fact Sterns has already shown up in the book it would be a great follow on. We all want to know about Omnibus, the mouse with a large head and all the multiple deaths that other people followed on with badly. Here’s your chance to do some house cleaning and put things in order….please???
Overall I enjoyed “Before Dishonor” but not as much as PAD’s previous Trek books. My problems with the book were totally mine, tho. I having not read the book(s?) that directly led into this one I felt a bit lost trying to catch up on what was going on. Plus, since I don’t read the non-PAD Treks I was expecting a NextGen book to have more of the classic Enterprise-D crew.
Again, totally my fault for not following the mainstream Trek series. New Frontier and (at least until the format change) Corps of Engineers are the only Trek books I keep up with.
I, too, was confused by the many references to more recent novels. It appears I’ll have to be checking out some more Star Trek novels to get the back story. I’ve seen several titles bandied about in this thread: Resistance and Q&A most prominently. Is there a good place to see a current novels timeline? Or could someone do me the favor of posting it here?
As far as the novel itself goes, I have to say that it was not one of my favorite Trek books. (Neither was Vendetta, BTW, despite by deep love of most of PAD’s work including much of his Trek work.) However, I absolutely loved every second of Spock’s appearance. Bravo, PAD.
Eric
Oh, BTW: On the back cover, it claims that “What is revealed is the thing that no one believed the Borg could do.”
What is “the thing”? How dumb am I for not having gotten it while reading?
Eric
My guess would be the whole “Borg Cube Eating Pluto, Its Moons, and Part of the Sun” thing. ::shrug::
Re: Before Dishonor
In the words of Bridget Jones: Oh. Holy. Jesus.
PAD, I’ve been reading your work for years, and you never cease to meet and exceed my expectations for storytelling and characterization in your novels. Before Dishonor, frankly, blew me away. I didn’t think anything new could be done with the Borg. They were sort of defanged and boring after the Voyager tv series got finished imbuing them with too much personality (make no mistake, I love Alice Krige and Susanna Thompson, but the reason the Borg were terrifying to start with is that there was no preliminary scenery chewing before they wiped the floor with whatever they came across and kept right on rolling like a juggernaut). Some of the stuff they were doing in this novel had my eyes out on stalks. They were horrifying and relentless and perfect. Using Janeway as a physical conduit with bits and snatches of her humanity trying to claw their way to the surface? Oh my gawd. Chilling. Absolutely chilling. When they ate Pluto, I had to put the book down for a few minutes and go get a cup of coffee to digest that. No pun intended.
I am also neverendingly grateful for the deft touch with which you handle relationships in the Trek universe. Would that the tv shows had been asking you for advice on that front all this time. The easy, familiar synergy of the TNG crew was a physical presence in the book. These people are a family, and that came through in every scene they inhabited. Picard and Crusher? About dámņ time. They are a perfectly-matched riot to watch. Even the characters who were absent because of other assignments or death were still quite present and alive in the memories of the crew. Some of the new characters were utterly annoying, but I suspect you intended that to be the case. But, oh… Kathryn Janeway and Seven of Nine. More on that in a minute.
On the subject of your past comments about not liking Voyager the series, I’m with you there. I don’t see any incompatibility though between not having thought much of the show while artfully writing two of its most prominent characters. I watched maybe four episodes of Voyager total when it was on first run. My attention wasn’t really caught by the show until long after the series was over when I saw an episode in rerun from the fourth or fifth season and was blasted in the face by the over-the-top, screen-crackling chemistry between Kate Mulgrew and Jeri Ryan. The rest of the episode was complete pants, but the scenes between Janeway and Seven of Nine were a revelation. When on earth did this happen, I wondered, and went digging around online. To my delight, I discovered that I was not, in fact, hallucinating in a vacuum and that lots and lots of other people had seen something interesting going on there as well. Hmmm!
So, fast-forward back to Before Dishonor, the level of subtlety you brought to this particular relationship was dead on for the layered, complex, conflicted thing that has seemingly existed between Janeway and Seven since the series. Lady Q’s taunts were telling as was Seven’s insistence upon rescuing Janeway personally or dying with her. Oh, and nuances of the salvation/destruction/completion of the metaphorical consummation at the end where everything came full circle. Brilliant.
The very last was heartrending. Love. Loss. Emotional shutdown. Enshrining a fallen hero. And then a little sparkle of hope.
What a ride. I’m looking forward to the next chapter in this story. I only hope that the next writer in the series continues on with the same care, attention, and insight that you have brought to it.
Well done.
Now, perhaps since I just finished up my studies I can come back from the place of being unable to refrain from critically analyzing Star Trek novels (and everything else). 😉
Before Dishonor: Best movie I’ve read all year. Couldn’t put it down.
I’ll always pick up a Trek book by PAD and I’m never let down. It’s a constant in my universe.
Thanks, PAD!
Before Dishonor: I enjoyed it, however I am aware people seem to like nitpicking it, so let me reveal my feelings pn the notpick subjects and one or two of my own.
T’Lana: I would not be surprised if her parents were old enough to have mocked Spock when they were children because he was a “half-breed”. She seems to be from the old school as seen from Enterprise that Vulcans are great because they are the most logical species, and therefore must be right. I think that this shows the lesson that being right sometimes does not mean that one is superior to others. I haven’t read resistence or Q and A yet so as far as I am concerned, if thee was a character regression it was only because T’Lana ironically was aggrandizing herself.
Voyager Characters: Seven was spot-on, I always felt that Jeri Ryan was given a disservice by not being more emotional on Voyager. I didn’t see every episode, but that dámņ monotone was driving me insane. Janeway, however, I disagree with some of the critics in that what she did was in character and yet perhaps since she had “assimilation/plot device” written on her forehead that it soured some of the other readers.
Starfleet: First, I think once it was proven that Seven was not crazy that Picard should have requested that Jellico rescind the order to come back to Earth at which time Jellico could say that they still needed to return to Earth. I say this because for purposes of Starfleet Records Picard could argue if this thing did end up going to a board of inquiry that the basis to return was to return Seven, because she was deemed nuts and/or insubordinate, then Starfleet had not changed its reasoning for the orders and rather expanding them to include the threat, in which case picard could argue the order to return was flawed.
I also felt that while it was fun to see PAD reference Nechayev’s disdain for Picard’s decision to not let Hugh be the carrier for Endgame, she sould let it go because as Picard said in Descent, Part 1, he “went through [the subject] with Admiral Brooks” which means that if Starfleet had a problem, Brooks would have let him know AND that if Nechayev has a proble with it she should have taken it up with Brooks.
The Mutiny: You need a dramatic twist to create tension, so no, no stupid officers. Besides Kadohata had been off the Enterprise for at least 10 years and so would have had some loyalty to Picard, hence her early hesitation and torment about the decision to mutiny afterwards.
So Yeah, I liked it. There were no moments that made me extemely frustrated with Star Trek, like the time when the producers decided to do the Demomte-O’Brien-from-Full-Lieutenant-to-noncom-just-because-of-some-throwaway-line-that-Michael-Piller-came-up-with-for-Theodore-Bikel-in-“Family”-because-as-far-as-career-motivation-goes-for-Miles-being-on DS9-we-got-nothing!