#star trek book review

[sirellas]

Left Hand of Destiny (1&2) stream of consciousness review

Overall thoughts: I really liked this book! Or technically 2 books but the second is just the continuation of the first so in my head it was just one long book (~500 pages all in all). This is only the second trek book I've read and also the second written by the actor who played the character in ds9 (shoutout to ASIT, though this one has a non-actor co-writer as well), but even beyond the star trekking of TLHOD, this was a really good read in terms of writing style, pace, emotion. It was very action and character focused which I enjoyed, and especially the characterization of Martok was so great and obviously JG Hertzler had a lot of thoughts about the character he played that translated really well on page.

The memory alpha article on TLHOD says this but I didn't really start to see it until the last half of book 2, but this is very much a King Arthur story (btw don't look at that memory alpha page unless you don't care about major spoilers lol). Down to a lady in the lake handing out mythical swords. That instance was a little heavy handed in my opinion, but I did like all of the prophetic dreams and talk of glorious purpose.

That's something to note though: if you don't like dream sequences, this is not the book for you. There are A LOT of dreams. In fact the opening scene is a dream, but it's now my new favorite opening line in a book because it jumps right in by telling you who this guy is and what his deal is:

I personally am a big fan of overt symbolism like this (even a well done cliché or two), myths and repeating cycles of heroism etc etc. And I think this book melded Arthurian drama with Klingon drama well. The Klingon-ness of this book was great. What better way to get to the heart of Klingon culture in a story but by focusing on the guy chosen to lead his people and getting it ripped out from beneath his feet and having to decide that he actually wants to be chancellor. In a lot of ways this is a story of outcasts finding their way back to where they belong, which isn't always what they expect or want in the beginning. Which leads me to...

The supporting characters really made this book. Without Pharh the Ferengi who got bullied for being as ugly as a Klingon as a child and now runs a landfill on Qo'noS, there would be no book. He's my favorite (little buddy coded to the extreme) but most of the major side characters are really well explored in terms of motivation and actions. Worf, Sirella, Ezri, Darok, Kahless, Alexander, to name a few. Alexander and Kahless were two of my other surprise standouts. And because no one who hasn't read this book knows about my new favorite guy Pharh, I will now include a couple passages I highlighted to spread the word about how great he is:

Wide array of well developed side characters aside, this book is awful for women. Yes the main antagonist is Martok's insane ex, but her character is kind of too outlandish to really have much depth. Ezri shows up at the end of book 1 and plays a big part in book 2 but honestly I'm not sure why she was even there (apart from loyalty etc, but I mean story-wise she didn't add all that much to keep the action moving ((anyone else could have been subbed in for her 9 out of 10 times and it would've made more sense tbh)) except to be another explainer of Klingon things to the reader). Sirella has a few great scenes, but not nearly enough and she wasn't allowed to do much either in terms of agency and impact on plot. Martok's two daughters are barely afterthoughts.

The main plot is that a usurper attacks Qo'noS (and specifically goes after Martok), swaying the Klingon people to their side through a combo of bioengineered charisma and the people's growing resentment toward progressive ideas that Martok (and Worf) represents. That's really only the problem in book 1, while book 2 deals more with Martok accepting the hand fate has dealt and deciding to win so they can save the decaying Klingon heart and so on. But even with the kind of cheesy setup, it rarely felt overwrought or unearned with the emotional beats. The antagonist lady is, yeah, she's a bit over the top. And before 2016 I would've said the quick flip to xenophobia and Make Klingons Great Again (I'm pretty sure they use that phrase almost exactly) in the general public was unrealistic but hey, cycles of destiny and evil constantly shifting and repeating, am I right??

There were... quite a few deaths. I guess I should've expected that, being a Klingon setting and all, but some of them hit me hard. And a few I don't think really needed to happen and kind of weakened the narrative.... maybe I'll put a spoiler section below a cut at the bottom of this to discuss those 🤪

This paragraph will haunt me for a while I think... 😀 sorry for inflicting it on others now but hey that's show business

Even with some hiccups (see spoiler section below), I loved the book pretty much. Shocker: tumblr user girlmartok loves the Martok book, but it was better than I had hoped even. The Martok focus was so good and the side characters just made it even better. Much more of a heroic fantasy than most star trek settings, which fit really well and also was refreshing. It's long! But I would recommend it if you have any interest in Klingons and/or fun little guys who go on adventures and think a lot about death.

SPOILERS ⬇️

Okay ripping the bandaid off. The way Sirella died was not chill. I mean even having her die was not something I would have included, because the story really didn't dive all that deep into her and Martok's relationship. But ramming an enemy ship so Martok could flee near the beginning of book 2... and she doesn't even kill any major bad guys doing it?? It just served no point narratively (the bad guys still outnumbered them, still caught up to them not long after) and it didn't even really affect Martok all that much beyond like one paragraph where he wants to turn around and go on a murder spree in her name... He doesn't even get to go on a murder spree in her name!!!

Bandaid rip #2: PHARH MY LITTLE BABY BOY DIES???? I was glad I had forewarning about this one because I would've been mad otherwise. I am not exaggerating saying he was my second favorite character in this book after Martok. The humor he added, yes, but also just his role as an outsider who's seen as weak by both Ferengi and Klingon, and he befriends the chancellor of the Klingon Empire, HOLDS ONTO THE CHANCELLOR'S RING FOR MOST OF THE BOOK AND BECOMES HIS SQUIRE BASICALLY 🫠💔 I don't know how anyone wouldn't fall in love with him. At least his death was done well, even though I don't think it should have happened. He at least got a murderous rampage in his name 😤 and Martok basically adopted him so he could get into Sto'vo'kor 🥺

Those were my main two criticisms of the book, and really ties into why this wasn't as great a story as ASIT, for example. A lot of things happen to Martok, but some things don't get the resolution they would need to influence him on this character journey he's going on. One of Martok's defining characteristics in ds9 is that he's a wife guy and his wife doesn't take bullshit. But then his wife dies suddenly and he's upset but he's not Upset upset, if you know what I mean. It didn't feel earned and it didn't feel necessary. Literally the first and only time it did feel like a reasonable plot device was at the very end when Worf tells him that people love a tragic victor even more than a victory. The problem is just that Martok doesn't ever explore what that tragedy really means to him.

Justice for Shen and Lazhna, Martok's daughters, who in addition to dying off screen are only brought up to highlight how shitty of a dad Martok has been. He just thinks of them (and his son Drex too but he gets more characterization solely by virtue of appearing in the narrative) in terms of himself and his love for them is more on the side of pity rather than real emotional attachment. Sirella should've been way meaner to him about that tbh.

Non character death related but a big focus of the first book was Martok losing public opinion pretty much immediately. Old friends turn against him and that really shakes him. But then in the second book... that's not really brought up again? The whole second book takes place away from Qo'noS, and yeah they mention that people will probably become less affected by the dumb bioengineered charisma after time, but I cannot stress enough how much the entire planet hated him. So he won the big battle against his foes etc etc, came back to Qo'noS and... just told everyone all that?? That goes along with the lack of fully exploring the consequences of some of these bad things that happen to Martok. It felt like a little too much piled on him and not enough resolution.

[batvilletv]

If Todd Phillips really is done with DC Universe after Joker 2... what a disappointment of a film. Where will this Joker character go from here? A cliffhanger like The Sopranos. That's it, you just sopranos joker. But shitier.

[anewstartrekfan]

Finally finished Enterprise: The First Adventure and it was fun but unfortunately and likely accidentally, it made Kirk a creep

SPOILERS

Okay so unfortunately there is a massive elephant in the room regarding this book. For, what I can only guess was a ploy to sell other Star Trek books so this could get developed more, they decided to give Janice Rand a tragic backstory. In this tragic backstory, her family was traveling on a ship, and due to a warp drive/core issue, they accidentally time traveled 3 years into the future.

This happened when she was a child, but due to the aftermath and Janice herself hiding the truth so she could support her younger brothers, the records never got corrected. So at the time the book takes place, she is legally 19, but physically 16.

No one knows the truth besides Uhura, but the book ends with Janice promising to tell Jim everything.

Which means if she does tell him, in that first half of s1 of TOS, Jim Kirk is knowing crushing on a teenager.

I guess it should also be noted that Jim is mostly annoyed with Janice more than anything else in this. He doesn’t think he should need an assistant as he’s never had one before but is forced to admit he does and instead of picking one just asks the whoever is in charge of the yeoman’s to send him someone. So they send Rand and she is meek and nervous and oh my god what happened to her? This was not Rand in the tv show. But big picture is it’s never implied he’s attracted to her in this book.

Which would be fine if I didn’t have a tv series that suggested otherwise.

There are a lot of things in this book I think would make for a fun live action episode, but good god do we not need this.

Please.

Get this away from me.

God why is this even here?

[tazaryoot]

Star Trek Novel Review

Black Fire by Sonni Cooper (1983)

Hi there, this is my first review of a Star Trek novel! I’ve recently begun collecting them, and figured I’d share my thoughts and post excerpts which I find interesting. There’s not a whole lot of information on these novels online, so I hope my summaries are sufficient. Please forgive any poor description or bad photo. I don’t know how often or how many I’ll do of these reviews, but my local used book store has a pretty large collection which I occasionally buy from, so they’ll be as I read and collect more.

Summary :

After an explosion on the bridge that left the Enterprise crew in critical condition, Spock sets out to investigate what he thinks was a planned attack by an unknown enemy force. Spock pursuades Scotty to accompany him on a discreet mission to track down a lead they found while searching the crime scene- leading them to be captured by the tenacious Tomarii who had baited them and two other ships, one Romulan and one Klingon. Spock and Scotty are imprisoned and put through inhumane trials to further the Tomarii’s development and must make allies of their fellow prisoners. Spock befriends Romulan Commander Julina, who cares for Spock while he is still recovering from wounds inflicted by the explosion. Jealousy over Julina’s feelings for Spock causes their Tomarii capturor IIsa to kill Julina. Spock is then forced to endure the cruel punishment and enslavement from Begum IIsa until the Enterprise come to their rescue. Spock and Scotty are up for trial due to illegally seizing a starship for their discreet mission, and Spock for having notifying the Romulans of the Tomarii threat- a last wish of Julina’s he had promised to fulfill upon her death. Spock and Scotty face court martialling and are sentenced; Scotty to a year of service on a starbase and a loss of rank, and Spock to 5 years in prison for treason and theft and complete stripping of his recruitment at Starfleet. Spock then arrives in prison and makes fast friends with his Romulan cellmate Desus after an altercation with a violent prisoner. They both manage to escape prison, and Desus invites Spock to live among his band of pirates on a hidden planet. Spock is eventually forced to join up with Desus, and become notorious pirates, with Spock adopting the nickname “Black Fire”, for his attire of clothes made with a special translusive black fabric and jeweled earring. After saving two women from becoming victims of a rival pirate, Black Fire gains celebrity as a Casanova type criminal with fans and devoted poetry being written about him. (Yes, where are we going with all this?) A brief run in with the Enterprise occurs, where Kirk recognises Spock as the Black Fire, but Spock is quickly rescued by Desus, who then takes him to Romulus. Desus exposes himself as Supreme Commander of a ship under the Romulan Empire, and offers Spock a role as his first officer. Spock agrees, and finds himself becoming closer and closer to Desus, resembling a similar relationship to his and Kirk’s. Eventually things come to a head when the Tomarii threat returns and they run into the Enterprise. Spock then convinces Desus and Kirk to ally in order to defeat the Tomarii together- much to the discomfort and heartbreak of Kirk and the Enterprise crew, seeing Spock now on the enemy side. Together, the two ships take down the Tomarii and Spock attempts to instigate a peace agreement between the Federation and Romulan Empire. This proves to be a ruse and Spock returns in a shuttlecraft on his own, urging Kirk to take the Enterpise out of the current territory because he deciphered code that indicated a planned Romulan attack on them. Kirk hesitantly takes his warning, still distrusting of Spock’s alliegance to the Romulan Empire. Spock senses an issue with the Enterprise, which is quickly disregarded by Kirk, only for his intuition to be true. Kirk releases Spock to repair the issue, much to the dismay of the new replacement officers. Once all is settled, Spock reveals he had never intentionally been a traitor and that this whole escapade was a secret undercover mission assigned to him by Starfleet. Both him and Scotty were dropped of all charges and everything is back to normal. Yippie! The story ends with McCoy teasing Spock about a romantic poetry book written about the “Black Fire”, and Spock removing his earring to give it to McCoy as a memento.

Review :

(CW For mentions of Self Harm, Suicide)

This is the first Star Trek novel I have ever completed (I’m also reading Revenant by Alex White at the moment). I picked it up sometime last year purely based upon the pulp-y cover art, and ended up finishing it in about just two days. The plot was a bit of a head scratcher at times for how out of character a lot of it was and the reveal at the end (though expected), was kind of frustrating. A good majority of this book was rather unpleasant, drawn out Spock torture à la Tomarii capturors and inhumane prison conditions. Not fun, Spock nearly starves to death and attempts suicide via stabbing only 1/3 of the way in and routinely gets attacked and beaten. It gets pretty grim for a Star Trek book. There is some very nice comraderie between Scotty and Spock though, which is pretty cool to see since they are rarely given time together onscreen. The novel almost treads the line of a romance between Spock and the imprisoned Romulan Commander Julina, but its pretty one sided on her half and Spock seems to just respect and care for her well being. Julina dies pretty soon after anyways. The book also mentions a previous, perhaps romantic(?) run in between Spock and a different Romulan officer, but then she gets blown up and dies too. I’m sensing a pattern here…

Now, for the part more people probably care about,

The Spirk review :

At the beginning Kirk is lying unconsious after a major surgery and Spock angrily forces the nurses out of the room so he can mind meld with Kirk in private and ease his pain.

While Spock and Scotty are held captive, Starfleet assigns new officers to a very hesitant Kirk. Over the course of the novel Kirk struggles to befriend his new first officer, who at one point goes to McCoy for help. McCoy bluntly tells him its no use because he isn’t Spock.

Kirk spends most of the book worrying about Spock and feeling hurt. One particular moment while he’s lying in bed has him thinking deeply about their relationship:

And another where he’s reminded of Spock while speaking to his new first officer :

K/S’s last convo before Spock is sent to jail :

Kirk also visits Spock while he’s in jail…

The strange thing about this novel is Spock’s budding friendship with Desus, which he repeatedly relates to his feelings for Kirk. This seems like the most out of character aspect of Spock here, it’s hard to conceive of anything rivaling his feelings for Kirk. In the book it’s explained away by their Vulcan/Romulan similarities.

While meeting on opposing sides, Kirk is fraught with heart break, which McCoy acknowledges and even gets angry at Spock for.

Kirk has another moment to himself while hearing Spock speaking over intercoms.

A bit later Kirk and Spock get a moment to speak alone while still on opposite sides. Kirk speaks with the cattiness of someone who was cheated on.

I was expecting a much grander consolation at the end for Kirk, but it wrapped up too quickly for much exchange. He does make a comment about how Spock looks fit in a Romulan uniform though.

Conclusion:

Well, all in all I find the novel a bit hard to place on any scale or rating. It was entertaining despite some annoyances- like being Spock torture simulator and the undeserved ‘It was planned all along’ ending. In any case, Spock was wearing a dangly bejewelled earring for much of the book so I can’t complain…

[admiralgiggles]

Lal is stalking “Daddy” (Brent Spiner), and all kinds of weird, dark hilarity ensue. You don't necessarily need to be a fan of Star Trek, either. He does explain who Lal is for those like myself who've never seen the episode.

*Do not come for me. 💀

[quarkspeed]

Reading Killing Time now!!! Three chapters in and I honest to God wondered if I wasn’t just reading some juicy ass Spirk fanfic. It’s fantastic.

[mysticmayhem1337]

Dear Supporter,

I hope this message finds you and your family in good health. My name is Eman Zaqout from Gaza. I am reaching you out to seek your urgent help in spreading the word about our fundraiser. I lost both my home and my job due to the ongoing genocide in Gaza and we are facing catastrophic living conditions. 💔

I kindly ask you to visit my campaign. Your support, whether through donating or sharing, will help us reach more people who can make a difference. Thank you for your continued support for the Palestinian cause. Your dedication brings us closer to freedom. 🙏🕊

Note: Verified by several people as 90-ghost and aces-and-angels. ☑

I don't know how far my reach goes, but as my mother says, 1% is better than 0%.

This woman from Gaza is a scientist. She also has a husband and two kids, a 12-year-old son and a 10-year-old daughter. She seems like a brilliant woman to me, having already done life-saving work inside and outside of Gaza. With help, I hope she will do even more.

TV, film, books and video games have taught me many things, but the one lesson that always stands out to me is that we must look after our fellow person. My blog may be primarily film reviews, but films are political, they contain morals and they reflect the time in which they are made.

I personally, am not in a position to donate to these causes. I understand if you can't either. I ask that if you come across this post, you consider interacting in any way so that you can boost its reach. It just might find someone who can donate.

Because of recent world events, tough times are ahead. As difficult as it may seem, we have to hold onto hope. We are always stronger than we think and braver than we realise.

[youngpettyqueen]

oh I havent been posting about it but the Trek reading journey has been continuing! I switched gears into TOS for this one, because I got a copy of The Price of the Phoenix at a book sale a while back so ive been reading that one! this one has been much slower going because ive been underlining a lot and I havent had as much time/energy to read this last week

that all said. this book is gay as hell

[alanjporterwriter]

Books Read in 2024 #65 - “ Star Trek DS9: Vengeance ” by Dafydd ap Hugh.

An almost deserted Deep Space Nine is invaded and captured by a group of rogue Klingons while most of the command crew are off on a mission. Leaving a small group of Bashir, O’Brien, Garak, Quark, Ron and Jake Sisko to take back the station while also trying to figure out which side Worf is on.

There’s no deep philosophical discussion or character development here. It is instead a straightforward fun adventure romp set around the events of the 5th season of DS9 so it’s helpful to have some familiarity of that to appreciate the background context of who’s who.

[inconvenienttrekkie04]

Just read the graphic novel Star Trek The Q Conflict, all i got to say is why the fuck is it so short? I wanted to see more character interactions what was the point in mixing all the crews if they barely fucking talk to eachother?! Like great concept but less great execution. I will not be recommending this book because close to nothing happens really and honestly the art is one of the only redeeming qualities of this book overall a 4.5 maybe 5 out of 10

[shadowwingtronix]

Chapter by Chapter> Star Trek: The Vulcan Academy Murders chapters 3 & 4

BW Media Spotlight's Chapter by Chapter breaks out two short chapters for this part of Star Trek: The Vulcan Academy Murders chapters 3 & 4

Chapter By Chapter (usually) features me reading one chapter of the selected book at a time and reviewing it as if I were reviewing an episode of a TV show or an issue of a comic. There will be spoilers if you haven’t read to the point I have, and if you’ve read further I ask that you don’t spoil anything further into the book. Think of it as a read-along book club. Yes, two chapters this week…

[bookwyrmshoard]

Phasers on Stun!: How the Making (and Remaking) of Star Trek Changed the World, by Ryan Britt

Informative, entertaining, and delightful

As a lifelong Star Trek fan, I found Phasers on Stun!: How the Making (and Remaking) of Star Trek Changed the World both very informative and highly entertaining. The book covered things I already knew (for example, how Martin Luther King, Jr., told Nichelle Nichols that she had to remain on the show) , but also went into depth on things I hadn’t known (like the extent to which Nichols was instrumental in getting NASA to diversify the astronaut program, and her subsequent recruiting on NASA’s behalf.)

Like me (and my husband, Mr. Bookwyrm), Ryan Britt is a fan not only of Trek in its many iterations, but also of the ideals and underlying beliefs of Star Trek: its optimism; its vision of a future where all intelligent beings are respected and included regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or even species; and its preference for diplomatic resolution of conflicts (although Starfleet is willing to fight to defend its member planets when necessary.) Britt looks at how those ideals have been represented throughout the various series of Star Trek, from the original series (TOS) to Strange New Worlds. The shows haven’t always lived up to those ideals—it wasn’t until Discovery that a Star Trek series featured openly LGBTQIA+ characters as regulars, for instance—but from the beginning, the Enterprise crew, and by extension Starfleet and Star Trek itself, was diverse in terms of race, gender, and species. (I suspect the original Enterprise crew would have included more alien crew members if the show could have afforded them.) And while Star Trek’s example of embracing diversity is very much aligned with the liberal and Quaker values with which I was raised, TOS and ST:TNG both had a profound effect in shaping my worldview.

In telling the history of the shows and how they impacted and interacted with popular culture and real-world events, Britt includes quotes and stories from a number of Star Trek luminaries, from writers and showrunners to actors. Some of these are drawn from interviews conducted for various articles Britt (a sci-fi and pop-culture journalist) has written over the years; other interviews took place specifically for this book. The interviews and quotes give an insight into the experiences and motivations of the people who made and remade Star Trek, and continue to do so to this day.

Whether you grew up watching one of the Star Trek shows, came to the fandom as an adult, or simply want to understand the wide appeal of the Star Trek universe, I recommend reading or listening to Phasers on Stun! It’s a warm, loving, but not uncritical look at a pop-culture phenomenon that, at over 50 years old, is still relevant, influential, and dynamic.

[episodicnostalgia]

Spider-man: The Animated Series, 109 (May 6, 1995) - “The Alien Costume, Part Two”

Written by: Brynne Stephens (as Brynne Chandler Reaves) Directed by: Bob Richardson

LAST TIME… On Spider-man:

You can read my review for part one HERE (if you haven’t already), but there was one subplot involving Eddie Brock that I didn’t really get into because my post was already running long.  Basically Eddie was still sore at Spider-man over that time he got fired for being bad at his job.  Consequently, he decides to sell Jonah pictures that make it look like Spider-man stole the Promethium X [*dangerous radioactive space McGuffin] from John Jameson’s space shuttle, instead of correctly laying the blame on Rhino, whom Eddie both witnessed and photographed (that bastard).  As a result, Jonah has bounty placed on Spider-man’s head, and Eddie’s sittin’ pretty with his old job back.

AND NOW… The continuation

The Breakdown

Despite the constant barrage of bounty hunters trying to take him down, Spidey is doing pretty well at staying the-fuck-outta dodge thanks to his enhanced strength (courtesy of the new suit), indeed he seems virtually untouchable.  Still the inconvenience of constantly being attacked is getting on the web-head’s last nerve, leading to an all out confrontation with Jonah that… doesn’t exactly go well (the wall crawler uncharacteristically loses his shit and trashes Jonah’s office), but it does lead Jonah to discovering the truth about Eddie’s deception regarding the Rhino.  And so, Jonah must face humiliation by releasing yet another retraction to Brock’s latest and-most-brazen fuck-up (which of course prompts his immediate re-firing).

MEANWHILE… Wilson Fisk is still on about that whole Promethium X thing (trying to sell it to terrorists or some-such).  The Problem is, Eddie Brock’s public humiliation makes him liability to Fisk since he holds the only photographic evidence of Rhino’s involvement (who I guess can be linked to Fisk through payroll statements or something?). So Fisk sends his latest super-minion, THE SHOCKER, to deal with it using murder.  But of course, just as the Shocker shows up to vibrate Brock to death (Kinky), our less-friendly neighbourhood Wall Crawler arrives on the scene to save the day [also because he wanted to bully Eddie a bit himself, almost as if… SOMEthing is making him more behave more aggressively?  But WHAT, I wonder?].  The ensuing fight ends up with Spidey buried in rubble just long enough for Shocker to think he’s won, and for Eddie to make his escape.

Chuffed at his supposed victory, Shocker rushes to Allistair Smythe’s hideout so he can boast about it, but of course Spider-man just follows him there.  Another fight leads to Spidey stealing back the Promethium X so he can run some tests on it back at his place. Of course this naturally escalates things even further, and Allistair sets another trap with the Shocker using John Jameson as bait (kidnapped straight out of the hospital, no less.  Poor guy is having a rough time).  The deal is simple, Spider-man and Jonah are to meet Allistair at an old church building, where John will be returned to his father in exchange for the Promethium X.

Spider-man may be a little more violent than usual, but he’s still Spider-man, so he willingly hands over the Promethium in exchange for John, which is when Shocker shows up to spring the trap.  While Allistair makes good his escape (as well as the Jamesons), Spidey and his foe have at it, and it does NOT go well for Shocker. 

Like, Spider-man is UNHINGED you guys; it’s truly some meme worthy stuff. 

Eventually Shocker [SHOOOOOCKKKEEEEEERRR!!!!!] gets chased to the top of the building where the belltower is located (oh yeah there’s a bell tower. Now you know), and proceeds to get the living tar beat out of him [YOOUU CAN’T ESCAPE MEEEEEE!!!].  But Just as Spider-man is about to drop the ol’ Shockster to his untimely demise [I’LL CHASE YOU TO THE ENDS OF THE EEEAARTH!!!], he remembers that Uncle Ben used to have a whole speech about Responsibility (I won’t get into it here, but it involves great power) and resolves not to klll his hapless foe.  Except… the suit has other ideas and autonomously produces a tentacle to force the issue by shoving Shocker off the tower against our hero’s wishes.  Thankfully, the suit still respects Spider-man’s impulse to shoot a life-saving web line, thus sparing Shocker from death-by-impact.

Having finally accepted that the suit is responsible for his new bloodthirsty attitude, Spider-man attempts to remove it, only then realizing that IT has other plans (even though Doc Conners totally warned him about this in an earlier scene). While thrashing around in a fruitless attempt to take his ‘costume’ off, the massive tower-bell starts ringing at such a volume as to drive the suit utterly BANANAS. It’s at this point that Spider-man figures out that sound is the suit’s weakness, after correlating this incident with a bounty hunter’s sonic weapon from earlier.  Considering he has no other viable options, Spidey pretty much just hangs out nearby the ringing bell until the suit gives up and separates from him.  From there it eventually succumbs into a puddle and slithers off into a crack, NEVER TO BE HEARD FROM AGAIN.

[Oh and I don’t know if it’s worth mentioning, but Eddie Brock followed Jonah to the church, where he tried his level best to kill Spider-man while was distracted with the Shocker.  Of course he failed even more miserably than he did at his job, and Spider-man easily wrapped him up into a web cocoon, and strung him up inside the tower chamber beneath the bell.]

Anyways, with the alien symbiote out of the way Spider-man completely forgets to check in on Eddie who is still literally hanging out in the church tower.  At the same time, it turns out the alien symbiote is still very much alive after all (which Spider-man probably should have double checked) and in need of a new host. Since Brock is available for a rebound (not to mention unable resist), the Symbiote helps itself.  Eddie quickly goes from being terrified, to WAY TOO into it, and while we don’t yet see the end result of this new unholy alliance, it seems unlikely that it’ll be good. 

I bet they're gonna be Venom now though.  I just have an instinct about these things.

TO BE CONTINUED!

The Verdict

Man these episodes are fun.  On the one hand, this show takes a fairly complicated piece of Spider-man’s lore, and streamlines it nicely for children’s television.  On the other hand, it’s still AN OBSCENELY convoluted 20 minutes of unrestrained structured chaos.  I’ve talked about this before in my other posts, but watching this show as an adult is leaves me both constantly impressed and confounded at the same time.  Every choice the characters make are so hilariously unhinged, and yet somehow it all works perfectly within the context of what the show is trying to be.

One element that continues to work especially well, is Spider-man’s transition towards insanity as a consequence of wearing the suit.  The original comics really didn’t lean into this idea as comprehensively back when the symbiote was introduced, mainly because the writers were still figuring it out as they went, and Venom himself was still some years away from even being conceptualized. But It’s telling that virtually every version of the character since this specific adaptation has incorporated the symbiote’s tendency to alter, dominate, and/or consume the host.  It’s a story telling choice that makes sense, and one that this series deserves credit for bringing to the mainstream.

I also feel compelled to give Christopher Daniel Barnes a shout-out for this episode.  Spider-man losing his shit over Shocker is (unintentionally) so funny to me.  Shocker has always been a C-list villain at most, and up against the Symbiote-Spider-man he amounts to little more than a mild inconvenience, so the idea that Spider-man JUST HATES this guy to the point of flying into a murderous rage, cracks me up (even though I realize the suit is responsible).  At the same time, Barnes really commits to the role here and, hilarious or otherwise, Spider-man is believably psychotic.  Gotta love it.

3.5 stars (out of 5)

Additional Observations

There’s a scene where Spider-Man pays Dr. Curt Conners (aka the Lizard) a visit to help him figure out the mystery surrounding his fancy new extra-terrestrial duds.  In order to run his tests Conners tries to take a sample of the organism, only for it to retreat from his grasp when he reaches out with a pair of scissors.  Spider-man helps out by stretching out (pictured above) some of the suit with one hand so the Doc can cut it, which does work, but that still leaves the freshly cut piece of alien ‘material’ loose INSIDE Spider-man’s palm, which is also notably enclosed within the symbiote.  As a kid it always bothered me that the symbiote wouldn’t have just reabsorbed the freshly cut piece back into itself before Peter could hand it over to Conners. Thankfully I’m a well adjusted adult now, so I’ve moved on from such petty concerns.  Haha.  Ha. …ha.

The Promethium x subplot is officially resolved in this chapter, and it’s obvious the writers barely cared about that thread more than I did.  It turns out the substance has a short half life, before becoming inert, thus foiling the Kingpin’s plans and leaving Part 3 with more time to focus on Venom.

Spider-man’s personal microscope and PC must be incredibly advanced!  Within seconds he’s able to determine the Promethium X’s density, structure, and molecular weight, all with sharp colour-coded images rendered directly to his computer in real time!  Remarkable!

Responsibility Count – 2: Uncle Ben’s famous line returns!  I’m actually surprised that it’s been used as infrequently as it has been up to this point.  In my memory, future seasons would start to abuse the “power and responsibility” spiel with increasing regularity.  I suppose we’ll find out as we go.

Spider-man really needs to keep better tabs on his enemies after defeating them. Last episode he just leaves Rhino unrestrained in a military facility that carries sensitive technologies, and in this episode both Shocker AND Brock are just webbed up left behind. A few episodes back (in the Mysterio episode) it’s established that Spider-man’s webbing eventually dissolves, which means Eddie probably would have fallen to his death if the Symbiote hadn’t found him.  Oh well, I guess it all worked out.  Besides, what are the odds of something crazy happening like all three characters returning in the very next episode? Amright!?

[tazaryoot]

Star Trek Novel Review #2

Pawns and Symbols by Majliss Larson (1985)

Hello all, starting on my second Star Trek novel review. I recently was able to acquire a huge haul of new (old) novels from a book fair; including two copies of the notorious Killing Time (a censored and original copy), Star Trek: The New Voyages 2, and a whole lot of the James Blish Star Trek novelizations. The jury is out on whether any of it’s good or not, but nevertheless I’m a devoted Trekkie who enjoys just about anything, so tonnes more to read! My aim is to give more in depth summaries and reviews of a pretty untapped niche of canon, so I apologise if my writing is poor or my photos are bad. Thanks for reading, and LLAP 🖖

Summary :

Scientist Jean Czerny is taken captive by a Klingon battleship after the outpost where she was stationed is destroyed by an earthquake. The Klingons plan to use her as a pawn to get the upper-hand over Kirk and also appropriate the agricultural research she’d been doing. Aernath, a Klingon scientist, begins visiting her- eventually building solidarity enough to discuss her research. Her research of the Quadrotriticale grain is what the Klingons are after.

Back on the Enterprise, Kirk contemplates how to deal with the Klingon threat and retrieve Czerny. Kirk sends a relief party to the station to collect information and possibly learn the whereabouts of the Klingon outpost. Meanwhile, Czerny has been brought to Kang’s homeplanet. There, she sees the effects of a large scale famine on the Klingon people and realises why she’d been captured. Jean continues her research on the Quadrotriticale grain on the homeplanet with Aernath after it’s revealed that it is the only sustainable food source left. Eventually, the Quadrotriticale successfully yields, and Czerny and Aernath are reassigned to Kang’s ship to continue farming the grain on another planet.

Back with the Enterprise, Kirk, Spock, and McCoy investigate the crash site of a Romulan ship to recover survivors and end up taking aboard a bomb along with them. After inspection, the crew finds out that the bomb can only be disarmed by a Romulan. They decide to do a mind meld on one of the surviving Romulans named Reena in order to have her disarm the bomb. Kirk and Spock track down the cause of the Romulan ship’s crash to the Klingons…

On the next planetary assignment, Czerny and Aernath find themselves in prison-like conditions. Czerny adopts a young Klingon girl to save her from the harsh conditions and oppressive government. We quickly find that Kang is attempting to use Czerny and her research to trade for the imprisonment of Mara, his estranged wife, for leaving him and becoming pro federation.

On the next planet, Aernath and Czerny are captured by Mara, where it’s then revealed that Aernath was an agent of hers gathering info on Kang all along. Mara reveals she had given birth to a son unbeknowst to Kang, who she wants to be raised in the Federation. She sends Czerny and Aernath to a faraway planet to tutor him in hiding. There, Czerny and Aernath are tracked down by Spock in disguise, who establishes a temporary mind-meld with them both to gain information. Czerny is recaptured by enemy forces soon after.

Spock returns with Aernath to Federation space on no other than Cyrano Jones’ ship! Wow, they’re bringing everybody aboard. Following a bit of tribble trouble, Aernath and Mara’s son stay aboard the Enterprise. Mara’s plan works, and Kirk and Kang agree to meet on Sherman’s planet to negotiate an agreement.

Midway through the negotiation talks, Czerny suddenly recalls (She apparently had some memory gaps due to injuries from the earthquake at the beginning) her mission on Sherman’s planet was to group up with Mara’s pro-Federation resistance all along! Mara’s plan works, and Kang agrees to the negotiations in return for meeting his son. He frees Jean and Aernath. The book wraps up with a lighthearted epilogue scene where Scotty gifts Spock a pet ngkatha…?

Review and Tidbits :

CW for SA, Attempted Rape

I must admit I purchased this book for its nicely painted cover art. It turned out to be a pretty tough read. It focused very solely on Czerny and Commander Kang, and is more about them than it is about the Enterprise or any main characters. Czerny herself is tenacious and pretty heroic despite for her extremely unfortunate situation.

There’s some fluff between the crew while they’re at the station, including some welcomed inclusion of side characters like our very own singing ensign Riley and ensign Tamura. Uhura also sings a cute little song about Cyrano Jones.

Pawns and Symbols has lot of inside descriptions of Klingon life and culture, particularly wildlife. It introduces lots of interesting Klingon words but was most likely written before the standardised language was created, so unfortunately a lot of them aren’t translateable to modern lore.

Through Czerny’s treatment, the oppressive misogynist regime of Klingon culture is made repeatedly clear; to a frustrating point. Czerny goes through a LOT.

Kang is pretty gross and abusive in this and attempts to force himself on Czerny multiple times. They still try to play a ‘deep down he actually cares about her’ and ‘She finds him attractive tho’ thing despite this which is incredibly aggravating. Czerny eventually gives in to his advances, attempting to use it to her advantage (Hardly though). She’s forced to play a pretty demeaning role to Kang here. Yuck. These books get much more risque than you’d expect Star Trek to be.

Czerny’s memory gaps were only mentioned at the end of the book, so when she recalls them it’s just… It’s another quick resolution like the previous book I read (Black Fire by Sonni Cooper) where they pull a “And it was all an undercover act all along guys!” that just rushes the ending to an unsatisfactory completion.

Spirk Review:

Yeah, not much considering they’re in less than half of the book. There’s this little throwaway though, before Spock is sent off to the Romulan Commander.

Conclusion:

Sadly, the interesting protagonist and detailed Klingon lore doesn’t exactly save Pawns and Symbols from being kind of a drag. At the end of the day I’m reading a Star Trek book for more content of the Enterprise crew, so this much of a distance from the main cast makes it seem a bit unimportant. (Especially with how Czerny’s situation is not treated with much dire attention by Kirk or the others until the very end…)

All in all, if you were interested in doing like me and attempting to read every Star Trek novel you can get your hands on, perhaps this one is an okay pass.

[annafromuni]

Cosy Sci-Fi with Becky Chambers The Long Way To A Small, Angry Planet

With cosy fantasy becoming more popular and sought after, I have started to label things as “cosy” within their respective genres. Becky Chambers’s The Long Way To A Small, Angry Planet is one of those books that radiates good vibes and feels like a cosy sci-fi – something I find very difficult to pull off. If you’re a fan of Star Trek, Firefly, or any space-based adventure series full of…

[dragons-in-spaceee]

I may get sad but at least Pale Blue Eyes (the velvet underground) still exists :,) 👍