Sunday, July 13, 2008

This is another entry about nothing more than a list of things that I enjoy. So anyone wondering what I'm up to can skip to the previous entry, which I wrote earlier today; not that long ago at all. This entry is about "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine"; my favorite of all the Treks so far.

Yes, I'm a huge Star Trek fan. I don't know how other fans would view me. For those that don't know there have been 6 Star Trek shows (not including the films). Here's how they rank in my mind.

06 Voyager
05 The Animated Series
04 Next Generation
03 Classic Trek (Remastered)
02 Enterprise
01 Deep Space Nine

I love all the Treks. I really do. Voyager has some truly outstanding episodes, but the series contradicts itself (and the other shows) so often that it sometimes hurts my head, which is why it's my least favorite of the bunch. The acting is great, and the visual effects are often still stunning; the production design is flawless, but the writing is sometimes...less so. Thankfully there are books, like the String Theory Trilogy, which help make sense of these contradictions.

But I'm not here to talk about all the Trek shows, though if I were I'd go on and on about how cool the remastered versions of the Classic Treks are, and how I'm aching for them on Blu-Ray!!! No. I'm here to talk about Deep Space Nine / DS9.

DS9 is different from all the other Star Treks in that it's not based on a starship, but on a Cardassian Space Station. Where the other shows feature the various crews solving problems on planets and then flying away, DS9 being stationary forced the show and it's characters to deal with almost all the consquences of their actions, leading to far more character developement than the other shows. The main cast of DS9 is supported by 30 or 40 recurring guest stars, many of which are more developed than the main casts of the other Treks. And all of this is development is played out in a crucible of politics, war, theology, faith, exploration...and all of it haunted by the recent history of the Cardassian Occupation of Bajor (think of the Cardassians as the Nazis - and the Bajorans as the Jews and you'll get an idea of what I'm talking about). Rich, complex stuff. That's what DS9 was. For 7 seasons. And the series could have easily played out those stories for several more, but you have to end at some point, and when the show did end...it didn't wrap up everything, but managed to end things well - in a 10 episode story arc, the grandest finale of any Trek so far. But...like I said...the final arc of the tv series, didn't wrap up everything. How could it? Why should it? Life doesn't wrap itself up. But what was left was a huge opportunity to continue the series in book form.

Now, Trek books up to this point played it pretty fast and loose with continuity, which is why I never really loved Trek books. There were fantastic Trek books! There were some that even referenced others. But they were the exception in my opinion, and certainly not the rule. And then something happened. The DS9 Relaunch. It was decided that DS9 would continue in book form as it had on the airwaves; in a series of continuity rich novels, with a grand story arc, character based, and intricate. Anything less couldn't help but disappoint fans craving the adventures of the DS9 crew to continue. It was a brave, risky attempt to give the fans what they wanted, and in the end they pulled it off admirably!

The DS9 Relaunch has given us a fantastic 8th Season of DS9. It's given us the start of an intriguing 9th Season. And it also seems to have inspired the other Trek books to start forming a massive continuity that up until that time seemed impossible. There are slips now and again, but these are honest mistakes, not out & out ignorance. DS9, for me at least, signifies the beginning of Trek's golden age. :-0)

Ok. So the relaunch currently includes 20 titles, with various offshoots that aren't considered Relaunch books, but really are, + 2 more titles are scheduled for next year. We also got 3 DS9 prequels this year, which tie into the Relaunch in subtle and surprising ways. The first 15 Relaunch titles cover Season 8. The most recent 5 are the start of Season 9. I'll list them all here, with a brief description. And those of you who are already bored, should bale out now. I won't think any less of you. lol

Below, I've listed the first 7 relaunch titles; I'll cover the other titles in 3 other posts to follow at a later time. The books are listed in chronological order, and I've included the Terok Nor books which now seem like important relaunch titles.

Terok Nor 2318-2328: Day of the Vipers

Terok Nor 2345-2357: Night of the Wolves

Terok Nor 2360-2369: Dawn of the Eagles

The above trilogy, which is really a stand alone volume, followed by a duology, documents the complex story of the Cardassian Occupation of Bajor - from mutliple points of view on both sides of the conflict. It's very DS9, in that both sides have heroes and villians, and no one is just one or the other. This 3 volume set, perfectly sets up the series, while filling in gaps in the story that's rewarding to fans of the series. It also has important ties to the relaunch, which makes perfect sense, as the relaunch is just another part of the continuing DS9 story. It's really quite amazing how all the pieces fit together. The books also dovetail nicely with Garak's later Relaunch volume. Fantastic.

The Left Hand of Destiny, Book One

The Left Hand of Destiny, Book Two

The above duology picks up right after the final DS9 episode, and follows Worf, Martok and eventually Ezri on their first, post-series adventures. Drex, Sirella, Alexander, Kahless, Kira, Admiral Ross, and other recurring characters are also included and referenced. It was an enjoyable read, though I'm not a huge Klingon fan. I may reread these someday, but I'm not in a rush to do so...though now that I think about it, I might enjoy these even more a 2nd time.

The adventures of Worf & company after this novel aren't considered relaunch titles, but Worf & Martok are DS9 characters, as are several other guests that turn up in their books, so I would consider them relaunch novels.

The Lives of Dax.

The above Dax anthology is a nice mix of stories. The framework is set a few weeks after the final DS9 episode, and features Ezri Dax remembering what it was like to be joined, giving us the full story of how Ezri really got the Dax sybiont, and how she was suddenly overcome with the memories of 8 previous hosts, each as a different story in this book. It's a neat concept, broken only by the Curzon entry, which is from Sisco's point of view. What seemed like a random entry in the relaunch became something altogether different as the Audrid & Joran stories become VERY important as the series continued, making this volume integral to the whole.

A Stitch in Time

I've read the above novel, written by the actor who portrayed Elim Garak in the series, more times than any other Trek novel. It's that good. But why is it that good? The book is simple, yet extremely complex, much like the character it's based on. It's both a sequel and a prequel to the series, giving us a good dose of post DS9 Garak, while laying bare his soul, and exposing the secrets of his life that would have spoiled many great episodes of the series, but now serve as a huge payoff to longtime fans. The book is written a letter to Doctor Bashir, and follows 3 main arcs: Garak's early life up until the beginning of DS9, his life in late Season 6 / and throughout Season 7, and finally his heartbreaking trials on the devastated post-DS9 Cardassia. Just about every Cardassian we've ever met turns up in the novel. Character revelations abound. And this is the book that actually introduced the Cardassian religion, which became so very important to the Relaunch titles. 5 out of 5 stars. A must have.

To Be Continued...

   posted by Bald Jason at 10:03 AM
   [Karma: 0 (+/-)] [1 Comments]