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Generations
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Generations_Novel
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1995-11-16
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79 lines
TF01
3,Generations - Novel Review
4,
STAR TREK: GENERATIONS - Written by J.M. Dillard, Original screenplay
by Brannon Braga and Ronald D. Moore
Tim Smith
-----------
Captain Picard faces a personal tragedy whilst he and his crew must
battle a mad scientist who is intent on returning to a mysterious
place known as the Nexus and is prepared to kill two hundred and
thirty million people to do so...
J.M. Dillard has written adaptations of both the two previous feature
films and the pilot to Deep Space Nine, "Emissary" so she brings a
certain skill to this adaptation. Leaving aside the story for a
moment, she has written in a very accessible style. It may not be
incredibly descriptive, but in a way I think the book benefits from
this. With fast paced action based plots, long passages describing
the characters thoughts and actions can really slow down the plot.
That certainly doesn't happen here! Another plus point is that is
that the usual padding that there always is in such booksis very
good, particularly the moments with original crew mourning Kirk's
apparent death.
So is everything sunny in the "Generations" garden? Far from it. I
have no problem with the book's style. Nor do I criticise the
inclusion of colour stills from the film and a forty pages behind the
scenes section. What I do object to is the fact that this behind the
scenes section accounts for almost fifteen percent of the book. The
actual story runs to only two hundred and forty pages. When you
consider that the average Trek novel is about two hundred and seventy
to three hundred pages long, it shows a distinct lack of plot.
That is where the book fell flat on its face. The plot is extremely
derrivative. Elements from from several previous Trek films as well
as television episodes can be seen throughout the plot. The whole
story seems to be nothing more than a number of set pieces strung
together by weak dialogue and the handling of Data's emotions is not
so much ham fisted as a whole herd of pigs fisted. They seem to only
be there for cheap laughs and nothing else. When added to pointless
inclusion of the crew of the Enterprise A, and the death of a major
character (something Roddenberry never wanted) to all adds up to the
weakest plot to a Trek movie since Star Trek: The Search for Spock,
and the most unsatisfying movie of the series.
For the style of the book: 7/10
For the plot of the book: 3/10
Marcus Priddey
----------------
J.M. Dillard will be a familiar name for those who read the Star Trek
books as her past works include writing the novel for Star Trek VI:
The Undiscovered Country as well as her own novels such as
Bloodthirst, Demons and The Lost Years to name a few.
Those of you who like Dillard's previous works will not be
disappointed with this as she has applied her usual skill in setting
the movie down in text. As is usual with a movie adaptation, there is
always the padding and in this instance the padding is very good,
including things like Kirk's memorial service (after the Nexus takes
him from the Enterprise B) and a scene on Sulu's ship, the Excelsior.
Included in the book are several photographs from the film, including
a couple from scenes cut from the movie. Also included is a forty
page "Behine the Scenes" look at how the film was made, written by
two other famous Trek authors Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens who
also wrote Prime Directive and Memory Prime.
On the whole, you can't go far wrong if you decide to purchase this
as £9.99 is very cheap for a hardback book, and this is a very good
read.