Posted:
07:57:11 on July 03 2001
By: Steve Krutzler
Dept: TrekWeb Features
Review: "Endgame" Novelization
Written for TrekWeb by Bill Williams
Edited by Steve Krutzler
Most literary adaptations of motion pictures and television episodes are
typically dry and bare bones print versions of the filmed production, in
most cases taken from the production's available shooting script. In
these instances what appears in print is sometimes different from what
appears in the final film version, chief among them the novelization of
the original "Star Wars" by Alan Dean Foster and the first printing of
Jeanne M. Dillard's adaptation of "Star Trek: Generations" with the
original controversial ending. When judged against both the shooting
script and the final product, a number of these adaptations are unable
to replace the filmed versions.
The "Star Trek" books are no exception. Since the first novelizations of
the original series episodes by James Blish in the 1960's to today, both
the television adventures from all four series - the original series,
"The Next Generation", "Deep Space Nine", and "Voyager" - and the nine
motion pictures have seen novelizations of many of the Star Trek
adventures. Only a handful of these novelizations have managed to exceed
the filmed product to take on a life of their own. Among the most
exceptional of these novelizations are Gene Roddenberry's adaptation of
"Star Trek: The Motion Picture", Vonda McIntyre's takes on "The Wrath of
Khan", "The Search For Spock", and "The Voyage Home", Jeri Taylor's
cover of the Next Generation episode "Relics", and Steven Barnes'
excellent adaptation of DS9's "Far Beyond the Stars". In each of these
cases, the writer successfully transcended the boundaries of both the
shooting script and the final product and breathed new life and new
aspects into the Star Trek legacy, including new and intriguing subplots
and equally excellent characterizations that bring further depth to the
story.
With the latest of these adaptations to have been released from Pocket
Books - the novelization of the Voyager series finale "Endgame" by Diane
Carey - this new novelization falls into the former category as a dry
adaptation. The book is actually divided into two parts - Carey's
adaptation of "Endgame" and a 44-page preview of the upcoming novel
"Homecoming" by Christie Golden, which reveals for the first time the
lost epilogue to the Voyager finale that was desperately needed to
finish the series but was sadly neglected by the writers and producers.
The "Endgame" novelization itself is pretty much a perfunctory, standard
adaptation of the finale, with a few exceptions along the way. Missing
from an early chapter of the novelization is the brief scene where the
future Admiral Janeway chides a Starfleet cadet that she prefer not to
discuss Seven of Nine. This is the only real omission I noticed in the
book. The other scenes that are included are brief character moments
interspersed along the way of the story. Among them are two
conversations between Tom and B'Elanna going between their quarters and
Sickbay, an extended dialogue in which Janeway expresses her concerns to
Chakotay about children on Voyager (echoing Picard's reluctance to have
children on the Enterprise-D in "Encounter at Farpoint"), an extended
scene of Chakotay and Seven's picnic date, a conversation between
B'Elanna and Seven, Chakotay's humorous dinner conversation with the two
Janeways, and some additional bridge dialogue from the finale. Other
than that, the story is pretty straightforward from the episode.
Now I happen to enjoy Diane Carey's Star Trek work, don't get me wrong.
In her books from "Dreadnought" and "Battlestations" to the excellent
"Best Destiny" she mixes action and adventure with true character
studies. Here, this is pretty much a paint-by-the-numbers adaptation
with very little room for any additions. And at 182 pages - one of the
slimmest novelizations ever for a Star Trek novelizaton in recent memory
- it's not one of her better efforts.
The more interesting part of the book comes in the 44-page preview of
Christie Golden's upcoming novel "Homecoming". Set just after the end of
"Endgame", Golden explores the missing events that transpired after
Voyager's return. Having thoroughly enjoyed the final episode, I felt
that it was sorely lacking in some sort of character and story
resolution. I wanted to know what happened with the crew after their
return: Were the Maquis thrown in prison or absolved of their crimes?
What happened with each of the main crewmembers once they returned to
their families? Many questions that remained unanswered are initially
explored in the "Homecoming" preview, along with a hint of things to
come soon in the eventual novel's release. I won't spoil anything about
the preview, but I will say this - when I read it, it reminded me of the
final episode of "M*A*S*H" when the doctors and nurses of the 4077th
said their farewells. It was funny, sweet, even bittersweet. So is this
preview, and I'm sure the eventual full novel will be just the same.
Overall, this paperback's strictly for the completists. If you're
wanting to read on about Voyager's return home to Earth, I would
recommend waiting until the full story of "Homecoming" is released from
Pocket Books. The adaptation of "Endgame", however, could have been much
better explored--and written.
Visit Bill's homepage at:
http://home.talkcity.com/SpiritCir/withyouforever1/index.html.
