Star Trek spin-off fiction
The Star Trek franchise has produced a large number of novels, comic books, video games, and other materials, which are generally considered non-canon.
Continuity
Star Trek spin-off fiction frequently fills in "gaps" within the televised show, often making use of backstage information or
Much fiction is set in a second five-year mission of Kirk's Enterprise, which the Okuda chronology dates after Star Trek: The Motion Picture (although novels often placed it before). Backstories and fates of characters are often elaborated on, an example being Leonard McCoy's divorced status, and his daughter, Joanna, originally intended to appear in what became the TOS episode "The Way to Eden".
Several original series characters are established as still being alive in the TNG era, including McCoy, Spock, and Scotty. In the books written by
Spin-off fiction will often use re-use characters who appeared only once or twice in the actual show.
The spin-off fiction has also engaged in
Technical and reference manuals
A large range of fictional reference books have been produced over the years. More recent books of this sort have been by production staff and, whilst not binding on the series, nonetheless reflect the thinking of the production office, and are used as sourcebooks by writers.
- The Star Trek Star Fleet Technical Manual (Franz Joseph, 1975)
- Star Trek Spaceflight Chronology (Fred & Stan Goldstein, with Rick Sternbach, 1980)
- The Klingon Dictionary (Marc Okrand, 1985 (1st ed.), 1992 (2nd ed.))
- Shane Johnson, 1987)
- Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual (Michael Okuda and Rick Sternbach, 1991)
- Star Trek Chronology(Michael & Denise Okuda, 1993, 1996)
- Star Trek Encyclopedia(Michael & Denise Okuda, Debbie Mirek, 1994, 1996, 1999)
- Herman Zimmerman, Doug Drexler, 1998)
- Star Trek Star Charts (Geoffrey Mandel, 2002)
Similar material has also been published in the
Prose fiction
Since 1967, hundreds of original novels, short stories, and television and movie adaptations have been published. The first original Star Trek novel to be published was Mission to Horatius by Mack Reynolds, which was published in hardcover by Whitman Books in 1968. Geared for younger readers, the novel became a collectible and in the 1990s, Pocket Books issued a facsimile edition.
The first publisher of Star Trek fiction aimed at adult readers was Bantam Books, which initially produced a bestselling series of novelizations of the original 79 episodes by James Blish that began in 1967. Later adaptations were done by Blish's wife, J. A. Lawrence, some of these were credited to Blish with others appearing under Lawrence's name. In 1970, Blish wrote the first original novel published by Bantam, Spock Must Die!, although subsequent novels did not appear until 1976.
From 1974, Ballantine Books published a 10-volume series of novelizations based upon episodes of Star Trek: The Animated Series, all written by Alan Dean Foster. Bantam also published a number of fotonovels based on episodes. In the late 1970s, Bantam published a number of original Star Trek novels, including two written by noted science fiction author Joe Haldeman, and one by original series scriptwriter David Gerrold.
Pocket Books began publishing Star Trek fiction in 1979, starting with a novelization of Star Trek: The Motion Picture by Gene Roddenberry himself, although the company's second Trek novel did not appear until 1981 due to Bantam being allowed to complete its publishing contract first. Eventually, Pocket Books would publish novels based upon every Trek series.
From around 1987 and with the debut of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Paramount took a closer role in supervising the books, disallowing story elements that were said to conflict with Gene Roddenberry's idea of Star Trek. In particular, recurring characters between books were discouraged, as was the use of concepts introduced in The Animated Series. This era saw disputes between authors and the Star Trek production office – specifically Roddenberry's "assistant", Richard Arnold – with many novels being rejected for not focusing directly on the main TOS cast. Some novels were, in lieu of rejection, heavily edited, resulting in being disowned publicly by their authors, such as with the novel Probe by Margaret Wander Bonanno.[3]
A change of personnel at the Star Trek offices in the early 1990s – specifically the firing of Arnold immediately following the death of Gene Roddenberry in 1991 – led to a relaxation of policies regarding tie-in novels. Under editor John J. Ordover, many authors including Bonanno returned as Star Trek novelists in the 2000s after encouragement from fans, which continued under later editor Marco Palmieri, who has admitted being unaware of any prior blacklisting of authors resulting from the period of interference from Richard Arnold.[3]
Prolific Star Trek novelists include
None of the Star Trek novels are considered "canon", meaning that producers of the television series feel free to contradict events and facts from the novels (although Pocket Books coordinates with the Star Trek offices to minimize the chances of this happening).[4] Paula Block, director of CBS Consumer Products, is quoted in Voyages of the Imagination as saying, "Jeri Taylor's books were considered quasi-canon for a while because our licensees really wanted some sort of background structure".[3]
New series
Starting from the mid-1990s, several ranges of books were created based upon original continuing characters and situations set in the Star Trek universe. The first of these, Star Trek: New Frontier by Peter David, focuses on the crew of the starship Excalibur. Some characters in this series were guest stars from episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, while others were from previous Star Trek titles by the same author, and still others were created originally for the series. New Frontier takes place in Sector 221-G, where the Excalibur is dispatched to help with the chaos created by the crumbling Thallonian Empire.
Michael Jan Friedman's Stargazer series features the adventures of Captain Picard on the Stargazer, and reuses characters he established in his 1992 TNG novel Reunion.
Another series, Star Trek: Challenger, created by Pocket editor John J. Ordover and writer Diane Carey, was planned as a continuation of the six-book storyline Star Trek: New Earth. Thus far only one book in the series has been published, Chainmail, part of the Gateways crossover series.
The
From 2005 to 2012, a Star Trek: Vanguard series ran, set on Starbase 47, known as "Vanguard". It is set during The Original Series, and attempts to flesh out that particular period of fictional Star Trek history.
Relaunch series
Pocket Books has also depicted events after the end of television series, allowing greater freedom in storytelling.
The
The Star Trek: Voyager relaunch series, written by Christie Golden, is set after the end of the Voyager series. In the final episode of the series, "Endgame", the characters return home, and the books deal with their homecoming and further adventures.
After the release of the movie
The Enterprise series was also relaunched (see
Nine Star Trek novels, in the form of three thematic trilogies, have been written by
Crossover events
The Star Trek book ranges have since the mid-1990s featured various crossover events, with books published in multiple series. The first of these was the Invasion! series, published in 1996, featuring entries from The Original Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager series.
1997's event was the Day of Honor, with novels in all four series. In a rare example of a novel concept being adopted into the TV series, the Voyager episode "Day of Honor" tied into this.
1998 saw six books published in the Star Trek: The Captain's Table crossover, including the four regular series, as well as one from Star Trek: New Frontier and another based on Captain Pike, the captain from the original Star Trek pilot episode, "The Cage". An anthology, entitled Tales from the Captain's Table, was published in 2005 following up the concept, with tales from new captains.
1999's Double Helix was a six-book series, nominally part of the numbered TNG book range, featuring characters from TNG, DS9, TOS, Voyager, New Frontier, and Stargazer.
The Star Trek: Gateways crossover was published in 2001, featuring entries from TOS, Challenger, TNG, DS9, Voyager, and New Frontier. These stories all end in a single finale anthology, What Lay Beyond. 2001's Star Trek: Section 31 was a thematic crossover, with each of the four books (TOS, TNG, DS9, and Voyager) featuring Section 31. Later in 2014, Section 31 became a standalone DS9 spinoff series of its own with the novel Disavowed.
In 2003, Star Trek: The Lost Era began exploring the underutilized part of the Star Trek timeline between Kirk's death in Star Trek Generations and the start of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Short story collections
Various collections of Star Trek short stories have been published by Pocket Books. The Strange New Worlds competition, open to entries from the public, runs annually, and results in the publication of an anthology featuring the winning short stories.
Pocket has also published themed original short story anthologies, including:
- Dax)
- Enterprise Logs (2000, a collection of stories about various captains of ships named Enterprise)
- No Limits (2002, a New Frontier anthology, featuring the first stories to focus on NF characters that were not written by Peter David)
- Prophecy and Change (2003, a 10th anniversary DS9 anthology)
- Tales of the Dominion War (2004, featuring various characters and the Dominion War)
- Tales from The Captain's Table (2005, featuring stories by new captains from the Captain's Table)
- Distant Shores (2005, a 10th anniversary Voyager anthology)
- Constellations (2006, a 40th anniversary TOS anthology)
- The Sky's the Limit, (2007, a 20th anniversary TNG anthology)
Status
A small but vocal minority of fans consider the novels to be
Comics
Almost continuously since 1967, a number of companies have published comic book series based on Star Trek and its spin-off series.
Whitman 1967–1979
Gold Key
The initial publisher of Star Trek comic adaptations and tie-in comics was Gold Key, part of Whitman Publishing. The series ran for 61 issues between July 1967 until March 1979, and is noted for the first nine issues of the series being published with photo covers, made up from promotional photographs supplied by Paramount, some of which were taken from various episodes of the original series.
Although Gold Key never gave creative credits in the pages of their comics,
Gold Key and Whitman ceased publishing in 1979, with Star Trek No. 61 being one of the last comics produced by the company, and one issue in pre-production that never saw print.[13]
Enterprise Log Series
Dan Curtis
In 1974, Dan Curtis produced a set of nine 6 in × 3 in (152 mm × 76 mm), 22-page color miniature comics. These were intended to be sold with bubble gum, like baseball cards, and each comic reprinted a story from one of the Gold Key comics. The set has been listed since 1977 as "Dan Curtis Reprints" in the "Giveaway Comics" section of Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide.
Dynabrite
Whitman also produced a series of 16 different comic reprints between 1978 and 1979 under the Dynabrite banner. These were 10" x 7-1/8" reprints of several of the Gold Key issues, with cardboard covers with blank inside covers.
Gold Key Reprints
In 2004, Checker Book Publishing Group was granted license from Paramount to reprint the Gold Key Star Trek comics in volumes under the name Star Trek: The Key Collection. Note that these new reprint editions do not contain the new material that was created especially for the previous Enterprise Log reprint editions, such as the Psycho-Files or Scotty's Diary. As of May 2007, seven editions have been printed, with the eighth edition expected in 2010 but as of this writing had not been scheduled.
UK newspaper strip
A weekly strip ran in the United Kingdom from 1969 to 1973 in the pages of
Marvel 1979–1982
In 1979, with the launch of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Marvel started publishing Star Trek comics, starting with an adaptation of that movie by Marv Wolfman and Dave Cockrum. Through a misunderstanding between Paramount and Marvel, the writers had been misinformed that they could not use any previously used characters from the TV series or the movie except for the main crew of the Enterprise. The series only lasted a total of 18 issues, ending in 1981 with Marvel choosing not to renew the license.
Newspaper strip 1979–1983
A newspaper strip, initially written and illustrated by
DC Comics 1984–1996
After the release of
DC also published
Malibu 1993–1995
Beginning in 1993, Malibu Comics published an ongoing series based upon Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.[19][20] Before DC Comics' relinquishing the license, Malibu and DC worked together to publish a DS9/TNG crossover comic. In addition, Malibu also published an annual and several one-shot special issues of the DS9 comic, and reportedly was preparing a Star Trek: Voyager comic that later saw print after the merger with Marvel Comics in 1996.
Marvel 1996–1998
As part of the merger with Malibu Comics in 1996, Marvel obtained the Star Trek license, publishing comics under the "Marvel Paramount Comics" banner. Helping to launch the franchise were the comic adaptation of the film Star Trek: First Contact and the one-shot crossover Star Trek/X-Men. The quarterly Star Trek Unlimited series covered TOS and TNG.[21] Marvel published monthly comics based upon Deep Space Nine and Voyager.[22][23] They also introduced two new series, Star Trek: Early Voyages which dealt with Captain Pike's adventures as captain of the Enterprise (as depicted in the rejected TOS pilot "The Cage") and Star Trek: Starfleet Academy which dealt with a group of cadets, including Deep Space Nine's Ferengi, Nog. Finally, a five-issue limited series, Star Trek: Untold Voyages, followed Kirk on his second five-year mission following the events of Star Trek: The Motion Picture (similarly to the first Marvel series, but ignoring the original comics' stories). The ongoing series were canceled in 1998 due to sales being below expectations, with Early Voyages leaving an unresolved story by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning.[24][25]
Wildstorm 1999–2002
Wildstorm were the next licensee. Wildstorm decided to not do an ongoing series, but instead a series of miniseries and
Tokyopop 2004–
In October 2004, Tokyopop announced plans to publish an anthology of Next Generation-based stories presented in the style of Japanese manga.[32] Since then, the company has produced several anthologies of Star Trek manga stories starting in 2006 with Shinsei Shinsei. The first two books contained five manga stories and a prose short story from a recently released anthology by Pocket Books, with Pocket printing a manga story in the respective anthology to cross promote both companies products. The third book featured four, slightly longer, manga stories and an extra from a recent Pocket anthology of short novels.
Tokyopop originally planned their first book to be a collection of tales in the Star Trek: The Next Generation era but at the bequest of Paramount they chose to develop a Star Trek: The Original Series book instead, to be released for The Original Series' 40th Anniversary. After publishing their third TOS manga book the company announced plans for two TNG anthologies in late 2008 and early 2009.[33] The first TNG book was delayed and saw publication in April 2009.
IDW Publishing
On November 9, 2006, IDW Publishing announced that they had secured the publishing rights to Star Trek from CBS Consumer Products.[34]
IDW's first title was the six-issue miniseries, The Space Between, written by David Tischman and drawn by Casey Maloney.[35] IDW followed up with the series Star Trek: Klingons: Blood Will Tell, along with other mini-series and one-shots, and is still regularly publishing new Star Trek-based material.[36]
Games
Star Fleet Universe
Developed over the last two decades and more as an expansive development of the background as supplied in the
This universe lives and thrives in the range of works from
SFU games include:
- Federation and Empire (1986)
- Federation Commander (2005)
- Prime Directive, 1993,
- GURPS Prime Directive, 2002,
Based on Prime Directive, but with the GURPS ruleset. - D20 Prime Directive, 2005
Based on Prime Directive, but with the D20 ruleset. - Star Fleet Battles (1979)
- Star Fleet Battle Force
The following computer games used elements from both the Paramount and ADB universes:
- Starfleet Command (1999)
- Starfleet Command II: Empires at War
- Starfleet Command: Orion Pirates
Other games
Other Star Trek games include role-playing games, board games, card games, computer games, arcade games, and pinball games:
- Board and card games
- Star Trek Customizable Card Game (1994)
- FASA: a struggle inside the Klingonempire for the emperor's throne.
- Star Trek III, 1985: three Star Trek-themed solitaire games: The Sherwood Syndrome, The Kobayashi Maru and Free Enterpri$e.
- Franklin Mint)
- FASA
- Star Trek: The Next Generation Role-playing Game, 1998, Last Unicorn Games
- Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Role-Playing Game, 1999, Last Unicorn Games
- Star Trek: The Original Series Role-playing Game, 1999, Last Unicorn Games
- Star Trek Roleplaying Game, 2002, Decipher, Inc.
Computer or video games
- University Mainframe Computer Games
- Star Trek (text game) (1971), on PDP-10computers
- Star Trek (Script Game)(1972), on PDP-10 computers
- Computer games
- Star Trek: Strategic Operations Simulator(SEGA) (home computer/console conversion of arcade game)
- Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1982, Vectrex Arcade System)
- Star Trek: The Promethean Prophecy (Simon & Schuster Interactive) (1986)
- Star Trek: The Kobayashi Alternative (Simon & Schuster Interactive) (1987)
- Star Trek: First Contact (video game) (Simon & Schuster Interactive) (1988)
- Star Trek: 25th Anniversary (Interplay) (1991)
- Star Trek: 25th Anniversary (video game) (Konami, 1991)
- Star Trek: Judgment Rites (1994)
- Starfleet Academy (Interplay, 1994/1995)
- Spectrum Holobyte) (1995)
- Star Trek: Klingon (1996)
- Star Trek: Borg (1996)
- Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Harbinger(1996)
- Star Trek Generations(1997)
- Star Trek: The Next Generation: Birth of the Federation(1999)
- Star Trek: Hidden Evil (1999)
- Star Trek: Klingon Academy (2000)
- Star Trek: Away Team (2001)
- Star Trek: Federation Compilation
- Star Trek: Armada (Activision) (2000)
- Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: The Fallen (2000)
- Star Trek: Voyager – Elite Force (2000)
- Star Trek: Armada II (Activision) (2001)
- Starfleet Command III(2002)
- Star Trek: Bridge Commander (2002)
- Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - The Dominion Wars (2001)
- Star Trek: Elite Force II (2003)
- Star Trek: Shattered Universe (2004)
- Star Trek: Legacy (2006)
- Star Trek Online (2010)
- Pinball machines
- Star Trek (Bally, 1978)
- Star Trek (Data East, 1991)
- Star Trek: The Next Generation (Williams (Midway Games), 1993)
Theme parks
Star Trek Adventure, Universal Studios Hollywood, 1988
- The Universal Studios Hollywood theme park featured a Star Trek-themed attraction.[37]The attraction regularly selected 10 volunteers from the audience and placed them into a Star Trek story line. The participants were dressed in Star Trek costumes and placed on sets, and coached to deliver scripted dialogue in several scenes. The scenes, which were recorded on video by Lilly, were quickly edited into a short film, the storyline of which was loosely based around material from the Star Trek films. The finished video was then shown to the audience, and the "actors" had the opportunity to purchase a copy of their video. This attraction closed after several years of operation. Several copies of these videos had been seen om YouTube.
Great American Adventure Amusement Park, Santa Clara near San Jose, Calif.
- In the '80's Paramount Pictures Inc. bought the theme park operating company, Great American Theme Parks.[38] After this corporate owner's change, the San Jose property added many major Star Trek elements to entertain the park's patrons. There were several costumed Star Trek characters entertaining patrons near the large Star Trek transplanted movie sets brought up from the studio. A Klingon starship command bridge and other interior set elements along with other Star Trek sets were delivered and installed in this property. There were costumed Star Trek characters 'meeting and greeting' the parks visitors.
Fan productions
Several fan-made or unofficial films have been produced, using Star Trek characters or settings. Notable examples include:
- Starship Exeter, made in the style of the 1960s original series and set on a sister ship of the Enterprise.
- Star Trek: Phase II, formerly known as Star Trek: New Voyages, which depicts the fourth year of Kirk's five-year mission. George Takei and Walter Koenig have made guest appearances, and D. C. Fontana, original series script editor and writer, has written an episode.
- Star Trek: Of Gods and Men, directed by Tim Russ and featuring many Star Trek actors, produced as a "gift" to the fans.
References
- ^ Bennett, Christopher L. "Star Trek: Ex Machina Annotations". Archived from the original on February 19, 2007. Retrieved December 20, 2006.
- DeCandido, Keith R.A. "Star Trek: I.K.S. Gorkon". Archived from the originalon September 30, 2007. Retrieved December 20, 2006.
- ^ ISBN 1-4165-0349-8.
- ^ For example, the character of Commander Shelby was effectively "reserved" for the New Frontier series, and after her name was dropped in a DS9 episode, producer Ronald D. Moore "sheepish[ly ...] explained" this to Pocket and Licensing. Ronald D. Moore. "Answers". Archived from the original on October 26, 2009.
- ^ Paul Simpson (January 2007). "The Ongoing Mission". Star Trek Magazine. Titan Magazines. p. 44.
- ^ "Voyages Continued". Star Trek Magazine. Titan Magazines. January 2007. p. 90.
- ^ "Shatner Still Doing Starfleet Academy Books... After Redstone Said No To A Series". The Trekmovie Report. August 8, 2006. Retrieved December 28, 2006.
- ISBN 978-1-4766-6853-6.
- ISBN 978-3-643-11086-2.
- ^ "Expanded Universe: Star Trek". Empire. Archived from the original on December 3, 2013. Retrieved September 20, 2022.
- ^ "Welcome to the STAR TREK Expanded Universe!". Fandom. Retrieved September 21, 2022.
STEU is an encyclopedia and database, like Memory Alpha or Memory Beta, except for Star Trek fanworks instead of canon or licensed works.
- ^ Curt Danhauser. "Guide to the Gold Key Star Trek Comics". Retrieved December 25, 2006.
- ^ Curt Danhauser. "Guide to the Gold Key Star Trek Comics". Retrieved May 13, 2010.
- ^ Rich Handley. "The Star Trek Comic Strips". Archived from the original on March 13, 2008. Retrieved December 25, 2006.
- ^ "Los Angeles Times Syndicate Star Trek newspaper comic strip". Retrieved December 25, 2006.
- ^ "Second Star Trek monthly series from DC Comics, 1989–1996". Retrieved December 25, 2006.
- ^ "Star Trek: The Next Generation mini-series from DC Comics, 1998". Retrieved December 25, 2006.
- ^ "Star Trek: The Next Generation monthly series from DC Comics, 1989–1996". Retrieved December 25, 2006.
- ^ "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine monthly series from Malibu Comics, 1993–1995". Retrieved December 25, 2006.
- ^ "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Celebrity Series from Malibu Comics, 1995". Retrieved December 25, 2006.
- ^ "Star Trek: Unlimited monthly series from Marvel Paramount Comics, 1996–1998". Retrieved December 29, 2006.
- ^ "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine monthly series from Marvel Comics, 1996–1998". Retrieved December 29, 2006.
- ^ "Star Trek: Voyager monthly series from Marvel Comics, 1996–1998". Retrieved December 29, 2006.
- ^ "Star Trek: Early Voyages monthly series from Marvel Comics, 1997–1998". Retrieved December 29, 2006.
- ^ "Star Trek: Starfleet Academy monthly series from Marvel Comics, 1996–1998". Retrieved December 29, 2006.
- ^ "Star Trek: Voyager – Planet Killer mini-series from Wildstorm Comics, 2001". Retrieved December 29, 2006.
- ^ "Star Trek: The Next Generation mini-series from Wildstorm, 2000". Retrieved December 29, 2006.
- ^ "Star Trek: The Next Generation mini-series from Wildstorm, 2000–2001". Retrieved December 29, 2006.
- ^ "Star Trek: The Next Generation graphic novels from Wildstorm, 2001–2002". Retrieved December 29, 2006.
- ^ "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – N-Vector mini-series from Wildstorm, 2000". Retrieved December 29, 2006.
- ^ "Star Trek: Divided We Fall mini-series from Wildstorm, 2001". Retrieved December 29, 2006.
- ^ "This site is under construction". Store.yahoo.com. Archived from the original on February 4, 2012. Retrieved October 25, 2011.
- ^ "TrekInk: Look Back (+ Exclusive Look Forward) At Trek Manga" (Press release). IDW Publishing. March 11, 2000. Retrieved May 15, 2010.
- ^ "Star Trek Comics Soar Again" (Press release). IDW Publishing. November 9, 2006. Archived from the original on October 25, 2006. Retrieved December 25, 2006.
- ^ "Star Trek Returns With All-New Comics Voyages". Spike: Asylum #4. IDW Publishing. December 2006.
- ^ "IDW News". IDW Publishing. December 18, 2006. Archived from the original on December 23, 2006. Retrieved December 25, 2006.
- ^ "Star Trek Adventure – Universal Studios Hollywood". the studiotour.com. Retrieved October 25, 2011.
- ^ "de beste bron van informatie over pga thrills". pgathrills.com. Retrieved October 25, 2011.