#in the beta canon of the tng novels

[universalcaffination]

My brain just clicked on this with something new, I barely remember generations' full plot but ooh well

Word vomit on mobile time yay 🖖

Sorren the antagonist of generations, is only so because he's trying to return to the nexus. The same nexus he was pulled out of the same day kirk fell into and was legally declared dead. His "I will do anything I can to reach this goal I dont care what damage I might leave in my wake" in his desperation to return makes him the antagonist that must be subdued.

He's not the leader of some planet or far off place place trying to destroy a different planet that would cause a war, or any of the extreme movie villan types. He's a dude that's ego and selfishness are hurting others, for no other reason than to return

And why?

He is a widower. A wife who died during childbirth along with the child if I remember correctly?

The nexus gives the people that go inside it anything they could ever dream of

And so the nexus gives him his wife

Not literally of course, it's all in the mind, but it's so vivid it might as well be. This is how he copes, and when he's torn away from that in the prolog in generations, it's like he's been torn away from his love all over again. No wonder he has to return, it might be the only part of her he has left

What does this have to do with the original post? Well...

Does "my partner has died and i must find a way to get her back no matter the cost" ring a bell?

That's why it would have been far more cinematocally engaging because the villains entire goal not only is similar to Kirk's past pursuits. Tng characters remarking something like "sorren stole a shuttle to get to the asteroid? Kirk stole the whole enterprise to run to genesis". but the end that they're reaching out for is the same, even if it was unintentional for kirk.

My partner has died (several times technically) and in my grief i try and find them (kirk is successful sorren doesnt). I fall into the nexus, which recognizes the fear of being torn away from my love like before, and gives me my dream life of a warm home, energetic pets, quiet peace, and my partner by my side for the rest of my days (which is actually quite a long time, since the nexus prevents or slows down aging iirc.

And technically this does happen, kirk is in his Will shatner cabin making breakfast, for a lady we don't see,, and only hear a few sentences about,,, specifically making her favorite meal so it cushions the news that he's going back to starfleet,,,,,,,, this is the memory he is reliving when picard meets him, and it's like.. . Even they both recognize how sad that is, that his history of having to choose between work and a love life and choosing the enterprise every time, is the memory that he is experiencing

I know mr nimoy didn't want to be in the movie (good on him), but I really feel like the scenes with kirk in the nexus are so out of character it's basically shatner acting as himself with the things he likes, but something related to starfleet or the enterprise or fuck, even just being with his friends and his son is alive and loves him or fucking anything that could have been a very emotionally compelling (and revealing) moment, if what Kirk's dream life was wasn't just shat being narcissistic

On the enterprise again with the crew, on the family farm in Iowa, his fucking brother and son and dead family are alive... or nestled in a log cabin making breakfast for your partner... who comes down stairs and greets you... with a sleepy rub to his eye and a delicate touch of two fingertips... moving to the kettle to make two cups of tea... who is your bonded th'ya'la and you've loved since you first met all those years ago

Picard easing kirk out of the nexus, able to make him recognize this wasn't real, but it could be, is what manages to pull him away from the siren song he fell prey to so long ago. Unlike sorren, who was ripped out of the nexus and told he wasn't allowed back into eden, who had no wife to be with in reality. Comparing the two and their similarities/differences could have made for a very cool plot, told from the picard/tng perspective so it's learning about both side by side

Or something along those lines

Thinking about if kirk actually was to fall into the nexus and picard found him and brought him back into reality 80 years later...

Picard seeing kirk's dream existence as living in a cosy home with his favorite dog while making breakfast while picard tries to talk to him, only for spock to come down the stairs in a cosy bedrobe like he just woke up, much to picards immense confusion. It's only then while kirk looks up with so much affection while spock makes a comment about them not expecting any visitors so far in the country - while greeting his jim with a little morning finger kiss - that picard notices the blend of vulcan and terran aesthetic decorating the house. Realizing then that Kirks dream life to live with spock in quiet peace...

Using that to his advantage to tell kirk this isn't real and that's not actually spock (to which he receives a raised vulcan brow), but if kirk comes back to reality with him to stop sorren he can be reunited with spock, the real spock, who has refused to believe kirk is dead and has been searching for him for 80 long years, and that leaving the nexus means they could find each other again and share in this vision in reality and together. That makes kirk pause and after some time finally agree to come back (even the nexus' version of spock informs him of the logic of returning to reality, because of course he would)

Kirk not actually fucking dying at the end of generations because I still refuse to believe they did something so dumb. Reuniting with his t'hy'la who is so overcome with emotion a tear actually escapes his eye as he cradles kirks head, which kirk gently wipes away with a finger before they kiss and embrace like on genesis when they found each other before.

Kirk not having aged for 80 years which actually lines up with the vulcan's longer lifespan so they're pretty close to the same page now and can grow old together in a way that would have been impossible otherwise

Spock telling picard he owes the man a life debt for discovering the half of his soul the universe had told him was extinguished

I just want these boys to find a happy ending okay...

[sallytwo]

@aceofwands sorry for how long this is you asked The Most annoying person on the planet about this subject. godbless.

basically what we see in prodigy is the “happy ending” for wes. he obviously wouldn’t have been happy with a future in starfleet, and even if the accident in first duty hadn’t been the catalyst leading him to quit then he would’ve still been miserable. and maybe he could’ve ignored that issue for longer but starfleet was what everyone else wanted for him, not what he actually wanted. and his mom and all his friends are in starfleet so no matter what he did there would’ve been some awkward disconnect there after he left.

and as much as he “deserved” a happy ending of just being some random guy in the federation living and ordinary life that was never really an option. like you take this 15 year old who gets to work on the bridge of starfleet flagship and gets promoted to a full ensign before even going to the academy and THEN being chosen for the special elite flight team when he was only a sophomore. he was never going to live an ordinary life because everyone always told him he was special and better than that. so of course he said yes when the traveler showed up and asked wesley to join him because he was Special and they’ve been watching him since he was a kid (and oh you have to leave your entire life behind but don’t mind that). especially since that offer came at a very emotionally volatile time, since he just quit starfleet. he’s spent his entire life living by the starfleet rules and ideals and suddenly another organization shows up that can offer that same structure to fill the gaping hole in his life. there wasn’t really a choice!

so then there’s 1) already a disconnect since everyone he knows is in starfleet and he’s Not 2) his departure from starfleet was already very upsetting and shameful and he doesn’t want to relive that and 3) as a traveler he’s very far away from everything he knows and he’s not even really a human anymore and he can’t explain the things he’s seen to the people from his old life. it makes sense why he doesn’t go back. and then as the years go by it gets harder and harder to reconnect because you can’t just show up after being a missing person for 10 years and expect everything to go back to normal. i think there’s a lot of guilt wrapped up in this, where he feels really really bad for not visiting his mom and thinks about her constantly but still. doesn’t go back.

⬆️⬆️⬆️ NOW IGNORE MY THREE PARAGRAPHS JUSTIFYING IT. BECAUSE NO MATTER WHAT POOR ME SOB STORY WESLEY HAS IGNORING HIS MOTHER FOR YEARS IS HORRIBLE. this is NOTTTT me making justifications on how he’s right it’s just my analysis of the situation. wesley was literally the only family bev had left and he just disappeared without a word. i could write another whole 5+ paragraph post about the fucked up dysfunctional crusher dynamics and how neither of them reallyyyy talk to each other but it fucking sucks!!! he should not have done that and it doesn’t matter what his excuse is. what my interpretation of the dynamic boils down to is that wesley is in a rut of self pity where he feels Really Really bad about not visiting his mom and that if he feels guilty enough that makes up for everything. and beverly is doing her best to pretend everything is fine and her son is not a missing person who may or may not be dead Please Don’t Mention Him Okay.

in summary. yes wesley not seeing any of his friends or family sucks but that’s kind of the best ending for him. and i think he does actually care about them but feels too guilty to go back.

[sopheadraws]

You don't see them very often - they're native to YouTube comment sections - but some of my favorite Tumblr users are the people who're *really nerdy* about some media, but don't have much experience engaging with other people in fandom, so they'll mosey into the replies/reblogs of Spirk fanart or whatever to earnestly explain that

"Actually, Kirk and Spock aren't in a romantic or sexual relationship in Star Trek. In TOS S3e14, Kirk describes Spock as his 'brother', and Spock describes Kirk as his 'friend' in TWOK. In fact, in the novelization of TMP, Gene Roddenberry explicitly states, through Kirk, that Kirk and Spock aren't romantically or sexually involved even though they're t'hy'la, which is Vulcan for 'friend, brother, or lover', in a footnote. Even though Kirk dies single in Generations, Spock eventually marries Saavik according to beta canon, and this is confirmed in TNG S3e23 when Picard says he 'went to [Sarek's] son's wedding'. He couldn't be describing Sybok's wedding because Sybok died in 2287, and Picard was born in 2305. Furthermore, Spock couldn't have married Kirk because Kirk died at 65 and was born in 2233. You are a very talented artist."

[simpletailoring]

Ok heart eyes emoji for new ds9 fans forever -- but now you're in the lurch and wanting more!! There were great comments about Stitch in Time and other post-canon works from cast members but I'd also highly recommend the post-canon DS9 novels in general beyond Stitch in Time. Memory Beta has very clear listings and some titles are available on Internet Archive.

For stuff beyond DS9, there's oodles of Star Treks (which I love) but if you want a space station I'd recommend trying Babylon 5 (you can skip to season 2). It's a different world -- more capitalistic, a lil more nasty -- and there was controversy over similarities between B5 and DS9, but the tones and settings feel radically different to me.

noted about the post-canon novels!! stitch in time was ABSOLUTELY already on my library holds waitlist, but that's great to know I can get some of them on internet archive...

and I've been eyeing babylon 5, I know Jessie Gender's been doing some watchthroughs of it. tbh tng was my home trek from years ago, and I think now that I've wrapped ds9 i wanna tackle voyager while I'm still in the groove so I can say I've done the tng/ds9/voy trilogy!!! plus I want to Lower Decks but I know since it's so predicated on references, there'll be even more to love if I do voy first!!

and hi ty for inbox sliding c:

[tigerexe]

so you seem like a saavik fans, maybe youll have an answer for this. whats her deal? i thought she was like spock adopted daughter, but did she actually sleep with him??? thats very weird

I'm THE Saavik fan and I will happily clear this up!

Saavik is kind of a schrödinger's cat situation depending on How Canon you decide certain things are, but here are the facts:

Heres what happens ON screen, not taking into account beta canon or scrapped/deleted scenes yet:

-Saavik is Spock's student/protege, their past is unknown but they speak vulcan when in private and seem pretty at ease with eachother and Saavik sheds tears openly at Spock's funeral

- Saavik and David find reincarnated baby Spock on the Genesis planet and take care of him as he matures rapildy

- when genesis Spock (for some fucking reason) starts going through ponn farr as a teenager Saavik does some vulcan hand stuff that calms him down, next scene theyre seen sleeping leaning on eachother

- when the enterprise crew leaves vulcan to go on their whale adventure, Saavik decides to stay on vulcan and is never seen again in canon

So yeah, not much to go on besides the TSFS ponn farr scene which of course carries implications but is almost completely off screen and kept PG, so it's kind of up for the viewers interpretation

Where things get interesting is when we look at beta canon and plot threads dropped from the movies:

-in a deleted TWOK scene, Spock says Saavik is half romulan, half vulcan, but its left at that

-this plot is picked up MY FAVOURITE star trek novel, The Pandora Principle, in which Saavik is born as essentially a genetic experiment on a romulan military base, lived as a starving feral child for 10 years until Spock finds her on a mission. Spock takes leave from the Enterprise and lives with 10 yo Saavik for at least a year and stays in almost daily contact once Saavik enters the starfleet academy. their familial bond is explored in the novel, but never referred to anything else besides student and teacher. Its also a very very good book i think everyone should read

-meanwhile back in dropped plots from the movies, it was planned for Saavik to become PREGNANT with Spock's child after the ponn farr scene in TSFS, which is why she stays on vulcan to take maternity leave in TVH 🤮🤮🤮 this was thankfully cut by Nimoy himself because he was really uncomfortable with it.

-in the last TOS movie, Spock has a new protege, a vulcan girlie named Valeris. She was originally going to be Saavik, but the actress was unavalible so they just made a new character. SPOILERS for star trek 6 but Valeris betrays the Federation and Spock in the process, and it is safe to assume if the character had remained as Saavik, she wouldve done the same thing in the script.

-jumping forward to TNG, Picard has the line "I met [Sarek] once, at his son's wedding." It is never elaborater on WHICH son or WHOMST the son was marrying, and when Spock actually appears in TNG no wife is ever seen or mentioned. But in the novel "a Vulcans Heart" the wedding was between Spock and Saavik. I have not read said novel and never will 😬 its apparently a series of novels as well

-misc. beta canon appearences happen in the comics as well, most of which i havent read, but at least a couple seemed to loosely follow the origins established in the Pandora Principle, i.e Saavik is half romulan and rescued by Spock as a child

Tl;dr

Canonically Saavik is Spock's student, anything else is up to viewer interpretation and what beta canon you prefer

PERSONALLY i fully subscribe to the canon the Pandora Principle weaves, and pick and choose my way when it comes to the movies (ignore the TSFS ponn farr scene entirely) and completely disregard anything else. I know its literally my own but I highly recommend this approach, Saavik is like my favourite Star Trek character because of it!

[cal-1maf]

I thought Starfleet got its antimatter from giant artificial production plants powered by also giant solar cells at Mercury or closer distances. Or is that fanon, beta canon, or from a different series completely?

Good question, and a fun rabbit hole to fall down! AFAIK there isn't any canon explanation for where Starfleet gets its antimatter, but there are a few beta canon sources that can tell us a bit more.

The bit I included about antimatter mining in interstellar space comes from the 1979 book Star Trek Spaceflight Chronology. The book is a bit clunky when you try to fit it to what we know on-screen: the probe that discovered interstellar antimatter, the U Thant, is apparently from the same line of probes as TOS's Nomad (Stellar Series probes). But in that episode they say Nomad is a prototype and the only one ever built. To raise even more questions, the Cerritos has a Stellar Series probe hanging out in a storage closet somewhere.

The TNG technical manual also shows a particle accelerator on the Enterprise-D, which can produce quantities of antimatter in small batches.

A bit of digging turned up a non-Trek novel called The Killing Star that has a Mercury setup similar to what you're describing. Personally, I think the Federation could stand to use more solar power because it seems to be an untapped resource and you really don't need a fusion reactor for everything.

If I were going to set up an antimatter refinery though I'd put it around a gas giant for easy access to deuterium.

[oblio-k]

examples.. of starfleet captains & cardassian men being love is love:

A classic: Dukats unrequited love w Captain Sisko, where they literally descend to gay superhell (bajoran fire caves) at the end of ds9.

Picard and Gul Macet having their whole conversation in Picard’s ready room in that one tng episode about how they both hate violence and love peace and vibed together

I don’t really remember Gul Lemec’s interactions with Picard in whatever tng episode he’s in but hes just got a toxic gay man vibe and i’m certain picard yelled at him, which we all know cardassians are into

What Garak and Sisko had going on during In The Pale Moonlight

Gul Madred literally had Captain Picard hanging naked in front of his desk. yes it was torture but like, dude. he didn’t have to be right there in front of him, or naked at all,

and now, beta canon/novel stuff:

WHATEVER Picard and Enabran Tain had going on in Stargazer: Oblivion. my god. Picard constantly thinks about how handsome n cool Tain is throughout the novel. They huddle for warmth while breaking into a prison cell together

Picard laying it on way too thick to Dr. Moset to gain his trust, and Dr. Moset immediately going ‘wow picard is my Friend’ and telling him absolutely everything about his latest medical war crimes.

Chakotay as Captain being captured by Dr. Moset & Literally. it is described as him ‘seducing him’ to gain his trust. Moset also injects Chakotay’s DNA into his genetic experiments he refers to as his children. strangely similar to how Seska stole Chakotay’s DNA to try to have a baby with him in voyager. shout out to crell and chakotay’s alien monster atrocity kids?

[opinions-about-tiaras]

It's an extended universe thing.

The debunking on this that I've read indicated that it comes primarily from the writer Diane Carey in her novels; she loved going to that well. This was picked up by the Reeves-Stevenses and a bunch of other people writing the books, and then it started making it into various sourcebooks and encyclopedias (man, remember how in the 90s EVERYTHING had a worldbook of some sort? Often more than one?) as a fact.

So this started in the late 80s and by the 90s it was everywhere, some variation of either "first Vulcan in Starfleet" or "first Vulcan through the Academy." It was always strictly Memory-Beta level stuff, but people THOUGHT it was canonical to TOS. Some sources cite the TOS episodes "Whom Gods Destroy" as a reference point but as near as I can tell it wasn't there.

It isn't even from the early extended universe; TNG was on the air by the time this started getting serious play.

Basically it got catapulted so deep into fan consciousness people thought it was sourced from the show itself, but much like Uhura's first name being Nyota (which didn't become canon until 2009 and didn't become canon to the non-shitty universe until SNW!) it was something made up that people thought was a thing.

Where did the idea that Spock was the first Vulcan in Starfleet come from? Was it a fan assumption or from the early EU? Bc the show never mentions it, and it doesn't really make sense given there's an entire Constitution class ship with an all-Vulcan crew, unless they all entered the Academy after Spock. I remember reading that when Enterprise was announced some fans were mad that T'Pol would violate the "canon" that Spock was the first Vulcan in Starfleet. I looked it up just now and found people saying SNW "breaks canon" by having Vulcans who may have been in Starfleet before Spock, but. It was never canon...?

[stra-tek]

Kobayashi Maru Deep Dive

Ever since 1982's Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan established an unwinnable test of character for potential starship captains, fans have been curious about the "real" Kobayashi Maru... if there ever was one. Fan publications and beta canon have provided plenty of contradictory answers over the years...

Rodger Sorenson's 1983 Kobayashi Maru - Neutronic Fuel Carrier blueprint pack version would go on to be the basis of canon versions of the Kobayashi Maru, from 2009 onwards. The pack would be sent to the Star Trek (2009) design team at ILM along with the cover of Julie Ecklar's novel seen further below to establish a "look" for the ship, which would be depicted on-screen for the first time when we see Kirk's third and final attempt.

David Nilsen's Book of S.S. Kobayashi Maru Plans blueprint pack was also published in 1983. His version of the S.S. Kobayashi Maru and her backstory was transplanted uptime to 2155 and featured in the 2008 ENT novel Kobayashi Maru by Andy Mangals and Michael A. Martin. It's a repurposed Klingon ship, and in the novel the Kobayashi Maru incident (which involved Klingon ships under Romulan control), was the final straw which led to the Earth/Romulan war. Also in the novel, Kojiro Vance was gay as hell and dressed like a pirate.

FASA's Lotus Flower-class carrier (from their Star Trek III Sourcebook Update, 1984) actually appeared VERY briefly on-screen in early TNG, as Data read through computer files crazy fast. In FASA lore, the Kobayashi Maru existed only as part of the infamous simulation, there was no "real" ship.

In 1989 Julia Ecklar's novel The Kobayashi Maru would be released, telling the story of Kirk, Scotty and Sulu's attempts at the Kobayashi Maru scenario. On the cover is a Tritium-class ship from the Goldstein's 1980 Star Trek Spaceflight Chronology (a class infamous for it's "insurmountable design flaws")

This is the U.S.S. Kobayashi Maru ECS-1022 as she appeared in Star Trek (2009), the first time we actually see the ship itself in canon.

The registry starting with ECS prefix is a reference to Star Trek: Enterprise, where cargo vessels had names proceeding with E.C.S., for "Earth Cargo Service"

Here's how she appears in Star Trek Online, based on early concept art for the 2009 movie version without the central hull

Star Trek Prodigy's 2022 version ("Kobayashi") is based on the Star Trek Online version which is based on concept art for the 2009 version which is based on a 1983 fan published blueprint set.

[traxanaxanos]

“Again, the short laugh. ‘You may simply call me Gres, Mr. Johnson. It is usually the best that human tongues can do with my name.’ His tone grew more wistful. ‘Samantha was the only human who was ever able to pronounce it properly.’“

-from Letting Go by Keith R. A. Decandido in Star Trek Voyager: Distant Shores, edited by Marco Palmieri 

I’m not sure if this is the originator for Greskrendtregk shortening his name to Gres in beta canon, or if this is following another beta canon novel’s decision to do it. I’ve also seen fic authors shorten his name this way - not sure if it’s because they’re following beta canon or that Greskrendtregk is a lot to type out.

But!

As a person with a long name that starts with a G that absolutely no monolingual English-speaker can get right on the first try I hate this decision. It’s not that humans physically can’t say Ktarian names - Samantha has obviously figured it out and can say it. So it’s more that awkward balking that happens when people just don’t want to try, that annoying little laugh of “oh haha, that’s quite a name/ I’ll never be able to keep that straight” or the immediate insistence of “Well I’m going to call you [nickname].” Greskrendtregk has clearly met that multiple times, and just decided its easier to forward an alternative, a nickname, a shorter version, which I get because its tiring! I have also made the decision of “I guess I will simply be a different person at work” after spending weeks correcting everyone. I get it but it doesn’t make me any less mad about the phenomenon.

The episodes with Ensign Ro fighting to get her name said correctly in TNG touch on this as well, the (because its sci-fi) human-centrism and, more importantly, the (because its sci-fi written by a specific make-up of people) English-language-centrism that casually strips people of their names and the personal and cultural import they have.

[getoutofmyjaneway]

Beta Cannon: the Pre Voyager Era of Kathryn Janeway | Mosaic v The Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway

This weekend, I got a copy of the Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway from a local book store. For how frequently we speak about Mosaic in the community (despite having some flaws) I was shocked that I had not heard a lot about this book and assumed it was a bad thing. And yeah in some regards it was (see @mia-cooper’s post on the subject). I have a lot of feelings (I’ll post a proper review at a later point) but one thing that did stick out to me is the divergence from what we have considered Beta Canon, aka, the extended universe of Star Treks told through novels, short stories, video games, etc. After completing the novel, I jumped right into my old standby copy of Mosaic, which has dictated a lot of Janeway’s back story since 96. Both of these novels cover the beginnings of Janeway’s life and how she was shaped into the woman we know. 

TLDR The Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway changes a lot of things for no reason. Some of these are for the good. Some for the bad. And some, for like no good reason at all, like it was fine as it was, and was accepted cannon for like 25 years, but sure fine whatever.

I will mention that, as Mosaic has been a book in my library and I have read it too many times, so of course, I do have a bias toward it. Additionally, I feel like it is fair to mention here that authors of Fanfiction have leaned on this as their bibles since 1996 as Mosaic is written by Jeri Taylor, one of the show-runners for Voyager. Because of its connection with a showrunner, Mosaic is also integrated into the canon of the show. It seems that most points that are taken from Mosaic in the Autobiography are only included because of their existence in cannon material.

Anyway, this review is going to focus on the characters that shape Kathryn and I will end with my final thoughts. This is long so to respect your dash, you are going to have to click keep reading. You’re welcome.

Obligatory Spoiler Warning for ALL of Mosaic, chapter 13 of Pathways, and chapters 1-7 of The Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway

Edward Janeway

In all media, I feel like we can safely say that Kathryn Janeway is in fact a daddy’s girl. Her relationship with her father is very important to her, so it is interesting to see how it is portrayed very differently in both novels. In Mosaic, a lot of the highlights of Janeway’s earlier years revolve around time spent with him. From giving her special attention after ‘Your Sister’ was born, to consoling her after her losing tennis match and subsequent walk home in the rain, and trips to Mars, Kathryn mentions great fondness of quality time spent. In the Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway he is more described as an absent father, one that she always wanted to see and please. When he was home, she wanted all of his attention and to impress him greatly. She wished to follow in his footsteps after gaining a love of flight and the stars with a plane ride and a telescope he gave her. He tried to prepare her by detaining the events of the current conflict with Cardassia and inviting Starfleet brass over for dinner. Overall, in her early childhood, it makes more sense for Edward to not be around often. There is not a lot of conflict between the sources, other than the details of the aforementioned tennis match and different childhood nicknames.  

Edward is in a crash aboard an experimental ship on Tau Ceti Prime which leads to his death. This is where the big differences begin. In Mosaic, Kathryn and her fiancé are also on board. In  Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway, Kathryn is still on the Al-Batani. The fall out of this event has a great effect on Kathryn of course in both novels. As this is a missive shaping event of Kathryn’s life, I felt it very jarring to be changed. This moment shaped Janeway and gives us good context for why she handles situations the way she does. I see this trauma and I understand her character better, for dealing with the loss of two of the most important people in her life all at once.

Gretchen Janeway

The Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway was good to Gretchen Janeway as her character is basically a blank slate. We know little about her from Mosaic as it mostly focuses on Kathryn’s relationship with her father (and other male influences in her life). It is nice to learn more things about Grechen as with Edward’s job, it is likely that Kathryn was mainly raised by her. Other than being an artist, she also wrote some of the Flotter holos and wrote a number of children’s stories about the people of Bajor during the occupation. She does a lot of humanitarian work with the refugees from Bajor during the occupation. She loves to garden and get her daughters involved. She has a close bond with Phoebe due to their overlapping interests, but you can tell that she strives to support her in what she does. Overall, I like getting know Gretchen to be someone of than Kathryn’s mother.

Phoebe Janeway

 I was shocked when researching Memory Alpha for this review, Phoebe is never named in any Cannon media up to this point (Star Trek Prodigy could very well change this). We know Janeway has a sister and she is an artist, but that is it. Both novels keep her very similar personality-wise. In both stories, Kathryn is not looking forward to being a big sister. They also both mourn the loss of their father together. In Mosaic, she is not mentioned much. Kathryn tells her she is not old enough on an off planet trip and Phoebe plays pranks on her. The Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway goes much more into depth. They don’t get along when they are younger. They fight a lot. I feel this is a very realistic portrayal of real siblings, vying for attention and approval, snapping when they don’t get their way.  They both excel at what they do, Kathryn in her studies and Phoebe through her art. They seem to need to one-up each other at every turn.  As they grow up, they grow closer together, as many siblings do. Points added for giving Phoebe a wife, something which has been included in a lot of fanfiction. Overall, there are no big conflicting points.

Mark Johnson

Kathryn’s fiance at the time of the Voyager’s disappearance, Mark is a very different part of Kathryn’s life in both novels. In Mosaic, he is a childhood friend and went by his middle name Hobbs. Seemingly always two steps behind Kathryn, he did a lot of the same activities that she did, tennis and swimming in the underground cave systems. He did these poorly, and this makes Kathryn always look down upon him. They reconnected after her father’s death and she fell head-over-heels for him. Personally, I always felt this was a little uncharacteristic of Kathryn, to run away from her responsibilities to be with a man. It just seems very out of character and has always bothered me. The  Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway takes a completely different approach. She meets Mark as a friend of Pheobe and her wife as a widower. They hit it off and they fall hard. You can see the conflict in Kathryn as she debates how to move forward with a relationship as they have different outlooks on life. She has a drive to explore but does not want to be an absent parent. She debates quitting, which I don’t think is something Janeway would have ever done. Overall she decides to accept Mark’s proposal just before taking command of Voyager. This makes the Dear John situation a lot more believable as it makes sense that he would want to move on with his life much quicker. Overall, I have to just ask, why? I know Mark doesn’t have a lot of character, but why change basically their whole relationship dynamic? 

Justin Tighe

Justin is a character I actually like for selfish reasons. This explains why I was very miffed that he was nowhere to be seen in the Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway. Justin is Kathryn’s first love, they were coworkers, engaged and in love, and dies in the same accident that takes her father. As a person who always wanted Chakotay and Janeway to get together, this incident perfectly gives the reason. She is afraid to get romantically involved with a crew member because of the nature of the job. This dynamic is seen between Picard and Nella Daren in TNG very well. Kathryn has learned the hard way that she can lose a person under her command and how it feels when you are in love with that person. In early Voyager, you can see she isolates herself from the crew and it takes time for her to get comfortable. And during Night she relapses to her old ways. This is the way I have always justified Janeway’s reluctance to have a romantic relationship during their time in the Delta Quadrant. By understanding her background, I have a lot of respect for that choice. Her relationship with Justin really shaped how she handles relationships and without the impact he had on her life, it actually makes her character weaker.

Owen Paris

Owen is Kathryn’s mentor. In Mosaic, they meet as he is reviewing her junior honors thesis advisor on massive compact halo objects. From here they gained a relationship built on respect and learning. It makes sense that, as he was her personal mentor, that she would be close with his family, and why she would seek out Tom as a person to bring with her to the Badlands mission. In the Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway, she does not meet him until she is on the Al-Batani. This doesn’t only weaken her relationship with Admiral Paris, but moreover weakens her relationship with Tom. If he was her superior officer, why would she develop such a ‘big sister’ mentality to Tom if she didn’t have as many opportunities to meet him?

Tuvok

Mosaic does not go too much in depth with Tuvok and Janeway’s relationship, but its sister novel Pathways does. In Pathways, Tuvok meets Janeway when he is an ensign under her command of the USS Bonestell. The Bonestell and the Billings, two ships that Janeway served on, tend to get confused a lot. Most sources have Janeway’s first command as the Voyager, Including Voyager itself -  “It doesn't seem like my first command is shaping up the way I expected,” Janeway Shattered. The Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway has her and Tuvok meet on the Al-Batani. I actually really like the dynamic between them, as they grow to respect each other over a much longer period of time. I also like that, though Janeway climbs through the ranks, it does not change their relationship dynamic as she still relies on him and asks him advice as if they were equals. I think giving them a longer time to build their relationship. Also would like to note that Janeway and Tuvok also had a friendship with the original CMO of Voyager, Dr. Fitzgerald. I always wanted to know more about the Pre-Caretaker crew and I would have loved to see this dynamic and how the grief of losing a close personal friend in the Caretaker incident would impact them both.

Also I feel obligated to shout out the Janeway and Tuvok story in Star Trek Waypoint One-Shot. I need to get around to doing a series retrospective, but this short story I have not seen anyone talk about and I love it so much. Please read Waypoint. Okay next.

Other characters

Cheb - Janeway’s boyfriend in Mosaic. He was kind of an asshole and got her into trouble. He is not in the Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway and I see no problem with this.

Boothby - “[he is the] head groundskeeper at Starfleet Academy. When I was a cadet, he used to give me fresh roses for my quarters,” Janeway Revulsion. Boothby is not in Mosaic. In the Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway, it is explained that her mother loved to garden and this was something that Boothby did as a gradian figure to make her feel at home and destress. Makes sense.

Aisha - A childhood friend of Katheryn’s. Only in the Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway. Mosaic has this weird thing about highlighting the relationships with only the men in her life, so it is nice to see her have some other female friends.

Nexa - Katheryn’s roommate at the Academy.  Only in the Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway. Nexa helps broaden Kathryn’s horizons by helping to learn about Exoliguisticts, first contact, and the Betazoid culture. Again nice to see her have other female friends.

Riker - Yes they go on a date in Mosaic. He is not mentioned in the  Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway. I know he is a gag character but I still liked it.

-----------------------

Final Thoughts

A lot of characters were changed between these two novels. There is a lot to like and a lot to hate. I really like what the Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway did with characters like Tuvok and Gretchen Janeway. Other characters were not so lucky (Justin, sweetie I’m so sorry that they would erase you like that, oh my god). It’s a mixed bag, but one thing I need say is... why?

We have had a good thing going here with the established canon as is. Mosaic (and Pathways) is the foundation of which the last 25 years of fanworks and the relaunch novels are based on. Why change history when it is already written?

Always, would love to hear your thoughts and thank you for reading my novel of a post. I will see you in the full review.

[aceofwands]

the worst offender I've seen is the Stargate wiki - they have legitimately renamed characters based on the novels

Todd redirects to "Guide", his "real" Wraith name according to the post-series novels

which are also treated as "episodes" instead of novels in their in-text citations, because that's not confusing at all 🙄

nothing drives me more insane than going to the wiki to get some facts for a fic, only to get thrown off by some nonsense that happens in a licensed novel - I too have been too spoiled by Memory Alpha and Memory Beta

and like, I know that clear delineation only comes from Paramount/CBS and their policy of only considering events on screen to be canon (which wasn't always the case, in the early 2000s they actually considered some of the official reference texts written by their production staff, like the TNG and DS9 Technical Manuals and the Star Trek Encyclopedia, to be canon)

and that, as someone in the replies mentioned, other fandoms do consider the multimedia texts to be part of their canon - but as far as I'm concerned if those written events are never confirmed or referenced on screen then it didn't happen - and post-television series licensed novels with dubious (imo) plotlines and events should absolutely not take precedence over on-screen details like the fucking name of characters ffs

stumbling back to the safety of the castle (star trek fandom) covered in blood from the front lines (the wiki of any other fandom that doesn't separate on-screen canon from random shit that happened in a novel once)

[oddthesungod]

Re: Bones/Kelly and AOS. I couldn't believe it but actually - accordingly to Memory Beta - we don't even have canon-non-canon (as books and comics material) mentions of Bones ever reacting/being around post second/real Kirk's death. Which is a crime? The only mentions of Bones being alive after that date is a TNG novel and, not surprisingly, Shatner's own books series (in which Bones and Kirk interact). Scotty should be around as well, now that we mention it, btw.

Huh..... I'd think there'd be more info on the fact that Bones lived a ridiculously long life, but alas....

[chimaerakitten]

I read somewhere that a reference snuck into beta-canon (probably in one of the novels written by fans) but it definitely should make it to alpha canon that would be awesome.

I’ve got this headcanon that it may or may not have originated with the TOS crew, but by the time of TNG it’s been going around starfleet for years with every crew customizing it to their commanding officers (this headcanon is inspired by the many banned from Argo spin-offs customizing it to other fandoms)

Mariner would probably know not just the TOS version but also versions for every other famous bridge crew in starfleet history 😂

Cursed question: do you think Banned From Argo exists within the Star Trek universe?

[cicaklah]

It hurts me to say this...

But Star Trek Discovery season 3 is a fucking mess. It's a mess that I am seriously struggling to be enthusiastic about watching. Its not the setting, its not the acting, its not even the characters really, although it is, but its because the writing has taken a tumble off the deep end. No one writing this show has an idea what they are doing. And none of them seem to give a shit. Disco is struggling with something that was a problem in Picard too - there being too many characters and too many plot threads. This is something that was coming since the show decided not to have a conventional cast and have the command crew be non-main characters. However, it ends up with a severe epidemic of idiot ballitis.

The command structure of the Disco makes no sense, and it never has. But now it makes even less sense, and it gave up a great opportunity to fix it, to promote some people to main characters, to build an ensemble cast that didn’t feel disparate, to have that found family vibes. They did none of it. They did the same thing they do EVERY SEASON, which is introduce some new characters and bloat the cast further. There’s no time for characterisation, there’s no time for anything, we’ve got HUGE OVERWHELMING MYSTERIES TO SOLVE!!!

Some characters have lost their entire personality, thinking specifically of Stamets here, but also Tilly... and then who other than Michael and Saru are there who is an original character who got actual screentime and development? Georgiou’s gone now, Culber probably should have stayed dead lbr, and the whole bridge crew are attractive ascended extras. As usual, Disco does what it does badly, introducing YET MORE new characters to join the ranks of the underused (Book, who is baffled to be there other than to be sexy and handsome and have a good cat) or there to advance the plot at great expense (Adira, who is better than everyone despite being a literal child and its not being used to highlight how out of time the characters are. But we get so far, an A plot and 2 B plots detailing Adira's backstory, which boils down to 'Trills aren't supposed to be in human bodies whoops' aka, a plot TNG did far more efficiently 30 years ago. Oh and as of episode ten, just saying nothing) I quipped in my post about the first episode that the plot was going to be climate change until they forget about it, but I didn’t expect it to happen so quickly. Instead, the plot seems to be THE BURN but also THE MUSIC but also THE FEDERATION MIGHT BE EVIL and now THE MIRROR UNIVERSE, but not the plot thread that was dangled by David Cronenberg about how the Terran empire fell after Spock gave them feelings, but a two parter of (enjoyable) overacting in old costumes that takes another 2 episodes away from THE BURN/THE MUSIC/THE FEDERATION and sets up a spinoff series that will likely actually be far better than it should be, because Disco isn’t allowed to be the flagship show, it must be the seed tray for the other ideas everyone would rather spend time on.

There are so many other things I have HATED this season (Gabrielle becoming a Romulan murder nun oh god the fLAMES ON THE SIDE OF MY FACE) but really the main, overriding, all consuming problem I have is with Saru. It’s such a good setup! Finally the captain, but obviously unprepared, with a crew who aren't cohesive, are traumatised, and a computer that somehow has a personality. He throws a dinner that ends badly. He takes the advice of a sentient computer and scores a win. Even though control happened 5 minutes ago, he is fine with this. Even though he has always had problems with fear and then now the absence of it, he now absolutely has no qualms about any of this. They're stranded in the future and need to find Starfleet, but it takes about a week and then they do. The starfleet of the future is kinda mean and very overstretched, but they have the solution to their problems! Future Starfleet is breaking a thousand laws and they’re now a dirty secret...so they future up the disco, but don’t give them new uniforms or use them, or seize their dilithium for their ships, nah, they just....do nothing.  He appoints Burnham as his 2IC, who then immediately soft mutinies against him so he fires her. He then appoints a 23 year old ensign (Burnham's best friend, protege and literal roommate) as his 2IC. No one has a problem with this. LITERALLY NO ONE HAS A PROBLEM WITH THIS. Not Stamets. Not Burnham. Not Detmer. Not anyone. Including, somehow, the future starfleet admiral?? Was I the only one who watched the 5 or so TNG/DS9 episodes where they hammered home the 'Being a captain takes a lot of experience' peg, into the 'prodigies are bad' hole??? SEE: Red Squad, Valiant, Wesley fucking Crusher??? So you've got an unprepared rookie captain, who by his own original character arc never got the captain training he wanted. He got a year being 2IC to Lorca, then a year of being co-captain with Pike, during which he went through a significant trauma and he and Pike weren’t exactly sharing captaining tips by the fire. He's visibly, obviously struggling...apart from the show doesn't think so. The writing doesn't think so. Am I supposed to be having a sense of dread about this? Have they all been possessed by brain worms? The ones that are the cousins of the Trill in the beta canon novels perhaps??? (drink)

He’s now obsessed with some dead Kelpien scientist even though admiral underused says that as far as he knows Kelpia is fine and a member of the federation, but instead of having an episode where Saru gets them to jump there, he just does...other dodgy, stupid, bullshit that feels incoherent, feels wrong, but no one but me seems to care. The writers don’t. Just, when Lorca was our morally dubious captain, we were supposed to think there was something hinky because the other characters responded to him. Saru hated him. Stamets hated him. Culber hated him. Cornwall was aghast at him. We're ten episodes into this season and we're in the past in the mirror universe I assumed at the behest of a Q but is actually some TOS proto-Q bullshit and I am JUST VERY TIRED AND ANGRY THAT THIS IS ALL HAPPENING.

The first episode of this season was SO STRONG. There were some GREAT ideas. Since then, Disco has become what its critics have said it was and it breaks my fucking heart.

[aion-rsa]

Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 2, Episode 2 Easter Egg and Reference

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Spoilers ahead for Star Trek: Lower Decks, Season 2, Episode 2, “Kayshon, His Eyes Open”

In The Next Generation episode “The Most Toys,” Kivas Fajo tried to keep Data forever. The idea that someone thought it was okay to “collect” was an oddly self-referential concept for Star Trek even in the 1990s. Just like now, the idea of a Star Trek collectible was a thing hardcore Star Trek fans thought about all the time. But, other than the fact that everyone would actually want to “collect” Data, “The Most Toys” wasn’t actually about Star Trek collectibles. 

But, the newest Star Trek: Lower Decks episode, kind of is? In “Kayshon, His Eyes Open,” the crew of the Cerritos encounters one of those famous collectors, while the crew of the Titan deal with some very familiar transporter clones. It’s almost like this is an episode that is filled with as many Easter eggs on purpose. Here’s everything we caught.

Beta Shift 

When Jet joins the Lower Deckers at the start of the episode, it’s implied they are on “Beta Shift.” This seems to check-out with Season 1, in which it was clear that the Cerritos was on a four-shift duty rotation, which included the night shift known as “Delta Shift.” (This idea was first introduced in the TNG episode “Chain of Command,” an episode Lower Decks LOVES to reference.)

Sonic Showers 

Although sonic showers are referenced a lot in Star Trek, we’ve only seen sonic showers a few times. The first time was in The Motion Picture, and since then we’ve only glimpsed the showers. The visual effect for the communal sonic showers here is very similar to TMP, but the idea of communal showering for the lower officers vaguely references the novelization of The Motion Picture, too. If you know, then you know.

Collectors

Again the idea of various “Collectors” in the galaxy references Kivas Fajo and “The Most Toys.” This is what Freeman means by “they all tried to collect Data.”

Dr. Migleemo

 Notably, the Cerritos’s counselor, the avian Dr. Migleemo returns in this episode, once again, voiced by Paul. F. Tompkins. Echoing Counselor Troi’s non-standard uniform, Migleemo appears to wear whatever he wants while on duty, even sitting on the bridge.

Items Owned By the Collector, Take 1

When the landing party for the Cerritos first boards the ship, just in the first room alone there are a ton of Easter eggs. Getting all of these is gonna be tricky, but we’re gonna give it a go. Here’s what you can spot when you pause the first couple of shots in the first room of the Collector’s Ship.

Captain Picard paper mache head from “Captain Picard Day” (TNG, “The Pegasus”)

The Game (TNG, “The Game”)

Baseball Bat and ball (Possible DS9 Sisko reference?)

Giant Unicorn (Possible Blade Runner reference?)

Marty McFly’s Shoes (Back to the Future)

Terran Empire Flag (TOS, “Mirror, Mirror) 

Khan’s Necklace (The Wrath of Khan)

Valiant flight recorder (TOS, “Where No Man Has Gone Before)

Gold TOS Uniform

Giant Pink Tribble (TAS, “More Tribbles, More Troubles)

M-113 lifeform (TOS, “The Man Trap.” Also, this is AT LEAST the third time the Salt Vampire has appeared on Lower Decks. And, having the M-113 lifeform as a collectible not only references “The Man Trap,” but also, “The Squire of Gothos,” in which your boy Trelane had an M-113 creature as a museum piece, too!)

Special Shout-Out: Betazoid Gift Box 

First appearing in TNG’s “Haven,” this was a talking box that was meant to “bond” with the person who got the gift. 

The existence of this artifact here is also possible a double reference to two other things: In “Haven,” the face of the Gift Box was played by Armin Shimmerman, more famous later as Quark on DS9. But, on top of that, back in 1994 the Star Trek: The Next Generation Collectible Card Game (published by Decipher Inc.) had a very powerful card based on the Betazoid Gift Box. If you played the game, you know this was a rare and useful card that was well…very collectible.

Special Shout-Out: Whose trombone is that?

We briefly see a trombone in one of the collector’s cases, which seems like an easy reference to Riker. But, which one? Because this episode also directly references “Second Chances,” and Will Riker’s duplicate Thomas Riker, it’s possible that this is the trombone that Will gave to Thomas at the end of that TNG episode. Briefly, here’s the case for that being Thomas Riker’s trombone: In the DS9 episode “Defiant” Thomas Riker tried to steal the Defiant, but was later arrested by Starfleet. Presumably, this would mean all of his stuff would have been confiscated, including his trombone! 

Keyshon is a Tamarian 

Tamarians or “the Children of Tama” originate in the TNG episode “Darmok.” In case you forgot, Picard cracked the case with this species by learning they spoke exclusively through metaphor and analogy. Mariner mocks this by pointing out all you have to do is listen for “context clues.”

Riker loves…Rogue Squadron?

Riker tells Boimler to use “attack pattern delta,” on the Pakled ship. This seems to be a reference to The Empire Strikes Back in which Luke tells the snowspeeders of Rogue Squadron, “Attack pattern delta, go now!” 

Items Owned By the Collector, Take 2

Here’s another go at seeing how many Easter eggs were jammed into like less than 2-minutes of screentime.

Kataan Probe (TNG, “The Inner Light”)

Vulcan lirpa weapon (TOS, “Amok Time,”)

Klingon bat’leth (TNG, DS9, Voyager et al.)

Andorian dueling weapon (Enterprise, “United.”)

Shark in a Tank (A reference to the real-life artist Damien Hirst, probably?)

Mars Rover 

Kadis-kot game set (Voyager)

Château Picard wine crate (Picard)

Isomagnetic disintegrator (Worf’s bazooka from Insurrection)

Tendi is later holding:

A trident scanner (Scotty loved this thing in TOS)

And…a Kurlan naiskos (TNG, “The Chase,” a very big episode for canon!)

Kahless’ fornication helmet 

Tendi says that this specific Klingon artifact is clearly something Kahless (the Klingon Jesus) wore while…well, the name speaks for itself. But which Kahless? Hmmm? The fake clone Kahless from “Rightful Heir?” or the real-deal Kahless from the 9th century? The Kahless reference gets doubly meta, because, as you’ll see later, Lower Decks eventually references the very first reference in canon to Kahless, too. 

Data’s Picasso-esque painting of Spot

Barely visible, just as Mariner and the gang are trying to escape, we see Data’s painting of his cat Spot, first seen in the TNG episode “Inheritance,” and later in the background in the movie Generations.

Boimler’s description of the Enterprise-D

Let’s combine two scenes here! In two pivotal moments in the episode, Boimler is defending the honor and relative coolness of the TNG adventures on the Enterprise-D, which he just calls “the D.” Here’s what it seems like he’s referencing.

“They went to other dimensions… (This seems to reference the idea that “The D” did go to another dimension in the episode “Where No One Has Gone Before.” It also could reference “Yesterday’s Enterprise,” but nobody would remember that.)

“They fought the Borg…” (This references “Q, Who,” “The Best of Both Worlds,” and “Descent.”

“They insurrected!” (This seems to reference Star Trek: Insurrection, which was not the Enterprise-D, but instead, the Enterprise-E! The Lower Decks writers surely know this. Why doesn’t Boimler know this? Maybe the game of telephone in the Federation is a little inaccurate? In LDS Season 1, the news of Data’s brother seemed to travel…very slowly?)

“They had a regular string quartet.” (This references several TNG episodes, notably “Sarek,” and again, “Inheritance,”) 

“Riker was jamming on the trombone” (A ton of TNG, including “The Next Phase,” “Future Imperfect,” and of course, “Second Chances.”)

“Catching love disease” (Probably TNG’s “The Naked Now”)

“Acting in plays” (This mostly references Riker acting in one of Crusher’s plays in TNG’s “Frame of Mind.”)

The remains of Spock Two?

In the spooky skeleton room, we see what appears to be a giant humanoid skeleton wearing a blue TOS–era Starfleet uniform. Who is this? The best guess? This is the giant Spock clone from The Animated Series episode “The Infinite Vulcan.”

Excalbian Bones and Abe Lincoln

Toward the end of the episode, the gang is trapped in a diorama that seems to have an alien and a skeleton of Abraham Lincoln. This references the TOS episode “The Savage Curtain” in which the Excalbians produced copies of Lincoln, along with Kahless and Surak. This episode was the first reference in Trek canon to both Kahless and Surak, and so, basically created the backstories of both Vulcan and Klingon cultures through historically inaccurate versions of those people. Funny, right? 

Transporter clone 

When Boimler beams the away team out through the distortion field, Riker says “oh, I’ve heard this tune before.” This references the TNG banger “Second Chances,” in which Riker’s transporter duplicate was discovered on a planet years after the fact. In this sense, Boimler’s transporter clone got off easy. Also, the idea that one of the transporter duplicates makes different decisions that the other also references “Second Chances,” in which “Thomas” Riker ends up being a different person than Will. The idea that both can’t serve on the Titan anymore might reference the idea that the TNG writing staff considered killing off the “first” Will Riker, and replacing him with his duplicate. This would have meant Data would have become the first officer in Season 6, and Riker, the operations officer. It didn’t happen, but from the point of view of the Titan crew, something like this basically DID just happen.

The Riker lean 

While talking to the Mr. Boimlers, Riker puts one foot up on a couch. Classic Riker lean. Classic. 

“Computer play Night Bird”

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Just before Boimler leaves the Ready Room, “William Boimler” and Riker are sharing some Romulan Ale. Riker says “computer, play ‘Night Bird.’” This also references “Second Chances,” in which Riker is unable to play the trombone solo for this song, which Troi teases him about endlessly. “Night Bird” also appears to be a made-up song. But who knows, maybe William Boimler will be able to master it? Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 2 airs on Paramount+ on Thursdays.

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