The TV thread

I've got a lot of Star Trek novels, but I lost much of my interest since the newer movies made it unclear what is supposed to be canon and what isn't. Picard definitely isn't in the same universe as the books I've read. In those, there was a final war with the Borg that devastated a significant part of the Federation. The destruction of Romulus wasn't a part of those stories. Instead of retiring, Picard remained on the Enterprise and married Beverly Crusher. They gave him much more of a happy ending, including having a son.

 

Books unless explicitly stated are not canon. When they decided not to do any more next generation movies, they gave Simon and Schuster the rights for their writers to write whatever they wanted with the Next Generation characters. So that's part of the issue here. I'm having a lot of problems with Discovery right now because they've introduced Spock, and he's not Spock. I like Zachary Quinto's Spock, even if it was the Kelvin timeline, but this dude on Discovery? So far he's not spock at all.

 

I know just what you mean with regard to the different/new universes, and having to keep them straight and follow them, and not being sure what it should all be following, and maybe not liking some of the changes/differences, too.

But...

I think you're missing out if you've skipped a lot of the more recent novels, including almost any by Una McCormack and Kirsten Beyer, who has a hand in CBS All-Access's "Picard," and is very active in the "Discovery" franchise, as well. Both of these authors are among my favorites in the Stark Trek world(s).

For what it's worth, I've not watched any of the "Discovery" series (yet), but I've read all of the books and liked all but one of them very much. They've tended to be very character-driven, and because they're new and the books have been well-written, it has been interesting to be finding out about and investing in these new people. It has, indeed, expanded the Star Trek universe, and franchise, in ways that I think are good.

I've gotten around any hang-ups with timelines, plot differences, etc. probably just because I'm a big enough fan -- and because the books are usually genuinely enjoyable. So now, I just judge the books by the actual stories themselves -- whatever they are. And I've found a lot of them to be quite good.

 

Yeah, Una and Kirsten are the best writers going. Christopher Bennett is OK, but I find a lot of the books driven by people like Peter David and Dayton Ward are just too gritty and grim. I fucking hate Section 31.

 

I read almost all of the Picard marries Crusher books. They’re really good. I just pretend they’re fantasy. The non-canon doesn’t bug me.

i think Discovery is OK. Its better than Enterprise, not nearly as good as Voyager or DS9. They keep saying “season 3 soon” so if it debuts before I’m done with this and Picard maybe I’ll keep access. More likely it gets the ax and I’ll catch up if/when theres more Picard

Havent gotten to a lot of the Spock business yet. Seems like a completely unnecessary thing to have a main charatcer as an adopted sibling of Spocks when none ever existed. Were they trying to draw in casual fans by saying “look a spock connection”?!? Is there any such thing as a casual trek fan? Gene didn’t throw Kirk’s son as first officer of the Enterprise D....

 

I've also tended to like most of the books by David R. George III and David Mack, whose stuff is often a little bit lighter, and an easy read.

With regard to Section 31, I can see how you might not like it, per se. But the books are all pretty darned good. I've really liked almost all of them. They had a series of them for a while, with each focused around a main character from each of the different Star Trek series, and I found them great -- sometimes complex, but also interesting, character-driven, and not necessarily just-as-expected.

 

I am with Jimmy in really liking those books. They fit if you followed Star Trek movies and television only up to the reboot. I did enjoy the first of the reboot movies and the second wasn't bad. I also really enjoyed Picard. I'm just not sure how much I want to dig into that version of the universe in the novels. I prefer the other one, though even that got really dark. I was an am a big fan of Articles of the Federation, which is a sort of West Wing set in the Star Trek universe. I didn't love how they went on to wipe out those characters in service of digging into Section 31 and the corruption in the Federation, but I thought the stories were still interesting.

 

Back from the tangent to television, my wife and I finished Little Fires Everywhere today. It's a bit heavy handed with the white privilege and tries very, very hard to make us root for one outcome that I couldn't get behind at all. The performances are strong and most of the adults are kind of awful. I'm still processing, but it's probably worth a watch if you have Hulu.

 

Burnt through season one and two of Schitt's Creek with the fiancee - awesome stuff. It's also surprisingly great with a very small cast through the two seasons. I was expecting to see a lot more guest shots from their friends in comedy, since I imagine the Levys have them, but they keep the chuckles coming with a very stable and small group.

 

The wife decided that she wanted to do The Wire finally, and has the hook sunk deep in her jaw. We're getting toward the end of season two, we've gotten Omar and Bunk at the station ("A man must have a code" "Oh, no doubt.") and Omar testifying against Bird. She's righteously pissed that Dee was killed. So fun to watch her watch it as it's an all time fave of mine.

 

Anybody watch the Homeland finale?

 

Fantastic show.
It’s equal parts 90210, Bloodline, Ferris Bueller, Point Break and Ozark.