Nov 29 | A behind-the-scene video of the possible Star Trek movie set has been brought forward online. The short footage of the snowy set is said to be taken back in February when Fox Channel 11 Los Angeles sent one of their helicopters to fly over the movie set. In it, the Fox Channel reporter explains what is visible and where the set is taking place. You can watch the video here.
The galaxy is on the brink of interstellar war, and the only one who can prevent the war is Hoshi Sato.
Review: Filling in the gaps is always an interesting challenge, especially in cases that suggest either a controversial rewrite or a very interesting or believable explanation. ENTERPRISE has certainly had its share of both since the series' inception five years ago (has it really been that long?). In ROSETTA, the sixth and latest ENTERPRISE novel from Pocket Books, writer Dave Stern plants a few seeds that explores the possibilities behind the creation of the Universal Translator, though it's only briefly explored amid the framework of averting an interstellar conflict.Two weeks before a critical peace conference on Earth, Captain Jonathan Archer and the crew of the starship Enterprise find themselves the hear of space ruled by the Thelasian Trading Confederacy, who have had dealings with a mysterious alien race called the Antianna. The Thelasian leader, Governor Maxim Sen, is in the middle of organizing a war against the Antianna, to eliminate the threat they pose to the Confederacy's trading routes.Archer suspects Sen has other motives as well. He also suspects that there is a reason for the Antianna's seemingly hostile posture. But with the assembled races of an entire sector against him, he needs more tha just suspicions, he needs facts. And only one woman can give them to him: Hoshi. If she can translate the Antianna language, peace may just be possible. If not, a devastating sector-wide war will soon result.In his previous novels DAEDALUS and DAEDALUS' CHILDREN, Stern more than capably showcased his ability to craft an epic tale with a heart to its characters. Here, he gets back down to basics and suggests a hint of things to come in the TREK universe amid a tale of conflict and revenge. Almost everyone involved in Stern's tome has a beef against the Antianna and the Thelasians - Archer, Reed, Tucker, Hoshi, and Mayweather particularly, not to mention the different alien species attacked by the Antianna. The Enterprise crew has a further beef against the extremely suspicious Thelasians when Archer is believed killed during a diplomatic conference. The crew refuses to believe Archer's dead, and soon they have an investigation on their hands.Through the different myriad plots Stern balances the action and keeps things ably going over the 400-plus pages. While he doesn't devote more time to the exploration of the creation of the Universal Translator, Stern does nonetheless present Hoshi as a major player in this tale, the one who is able to unlock the mystery of the Antianna's attack on the different alien worlds, while suggesting a hint of things to come.Dave Stern delivers another solid enjoyable tale with ROSETTA and proves himself as one of the most capable ENTERPRISE novelists in the TREK stable. Balanced plotting and good characterization always makes for a good read, and Stern capably handles both with equal measure.
I'm only 3/4 of the way through the book, but I feel confident enough in my opinion of it to give some thoughts now.
I think the reviewer is being a little generous with his stars. I personally consider this to be one of the weaker Enterprise novels, and nowhere near as good as Stern's earlier work.
It's a very slow read, I'm finding. I can normally buzz through an Enterprise novel in a few days but it has taken 2 weeks and I'm still only at the 3/4 mark, which is never a good sign with books like these. It might also be the frustrating lack of involvement by the 3 main characters. Oh, they're there all right, but as the reviewer suggests, this is Hoshi's book, and Travis and Reed also play a major role. Unfortunately I never really considered Hoshi and Travis to be very interesting characters on their own. (I have the same issue with TOS books that focus on Sulu and Uhura; as part of a larger collective they're great characters, but on their own they're rather dull.)
I had this same criticism with By the Book, the first original ENT novel which also focused more on the "lower decks" characters.
But what makes things more annoying (and minor spoilers follow) is the fact that the book clearly indicates that it takes place immediately after "Bound" (as in the week following), yet there is no follow-up (at least up to the 3/4 mark) to the Trip/T'Pol relationship milestone reached in that episode -- in fact, at one point where you think there might be some sort of reference, the scene shifts back to the lower decks characters. The "historical note" also suggests the Orion women are still in captivity, but again as of the 3/4 mark there's no indication of this in the narrative - so why bother mentioning it? (To be fair they might play a part in the last 1/4 of the book.) There are elements of the storyline that are intended to set up the conference at the heart of the Demons/Terra Prime arc which follows, but remove those and this book could have taken place anytime within the 4th season.
I'm also spotting a few needless and gratuitous references that would have had people screaming had this been a televised episode, particularly the use of a particular style of calendar that isn't supposed to be introduced for about 100 years, and a throwaway reference to a species that isn't really supposed to be known by Starfleet for awhile yet, either.
And although I'm hardly one to demand political correctness, someone is bound to take Dave Stern to task when he indicates the "dominant race" on Earth is ... well, you have to read the book. But I'm personally wouldn't have gone there, particularly in the book where the lead characters are of Asian and African descent, unless his intent was to be ironic.
It's not a terrible book and there are some pretty good moments, including some of the humor that the 4th season (for all its quality) lacked. I like how he addresses one area the series avoided, and that's Hoshi's long-term reaction to being captured by the Xindi. But after 21 months without any new Enterprise fiction and 10 months since the last episode aired, I found myself asking "I waited that long for THIS?" a few times.
Hopefully Last Full Measure will be a better book. Luckily we won't have to wait another 21 months for it.
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