By BWilliams / 08:30, 26 October 2003 / Reviews - Books

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Not many novelizations of films and television episodes can truly expand upon the events of what is filmed and make the experience all the richer, with greater explorations of both plot and character. Some of them are churned-out "quickies", as was the case with James Blish's adaptations of the original STAR TREK series episodes and Diane Carey's adaptations of the VOYAGER series finale "Endgame" and the ENTERPRISE premiere "Broken Bow". Some of them, however, are outstanding. The novelizations of the first seven feature films and of Jeri Taylor's adaptation of the NEXT GENERATION episode "Relics", for example, take a life of their own. These are the ones that are most successful.

The latest novelization from Pocket Books, THE EXPANSE, adapted by J.M. Dillard, brings into print form the ENTERPRISE (or STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE, if you will) second season finale "The Expanse" and the third season premiere "The Xindi", as Captain Archer and the Enterprise crew set off into an uncharted area of space to bring to justice the Xindi responsible for the attack on Earth and the deaths of seven million people, among them "Trip" Tucker's sister. At 247 pages, there's ample room for Dillard to expand upon the original scripts from series creators Rick Berman and Brannon Braga.

The secret to a successful novelization is not just in the translation of a filmed story into print. Anyone can do that. The key to a solid novelization lies in the aforementioned ability to expand upon the footage and bring new perspectives, new plots, and new characters into the mix without jeopardizing or destroying the content of what has been filmed. Dillard, Vonda McIntyre, VOYAGER co-creator Jeri Taylor, and even the "Great Bird" himself, Gene Roddenberry, have proven it to be so in the past.

In THE EXPANSE, we are given a look behind the curtain at some of the events that could have been, or were not, filmed for the second season finale. The most significant new information comes at the beginning of the novelization, as we see the attack on Earth from both Elizabeth Tucker's point of view in the Florida Keys and from the Xindi soldier's point of view in space. The other moments amount to brief snippets and dialog exchanges between characters, mostly involving Archer's interaction with different characters. While each of these moments may not have lasted more than a moment or two on screen, the introduction is still visually gripping and difficult to get through, and Dillard admirably fleshes out those moments along with the story's action.

Dillard then turns her focus midway in the novelization to the Xindi Council. While we have thus far seen each member of the Xindi Council on screen for a couple of moments in the third season episodes to date, Dillard takes it further by defining each character and his background, revealing more and more of their motives in the coalition. As "The Expanse" and "The Xindi" attempt to spell out the opening chapters in this futuristic 9/11-derived parable, we begin to understand their motivations for their alliance and what drives their very personas. This is one of the stronger aspects of the EXPANSE novelization.

However, even with elements like these at the forefront, we're not given much of anything else that is new and original to the book. Much of the novel is standard novelization efforts of the two episodes, and in bringing this novel to print it mines little new gold. Aside from brief moments here and there involving the crew, the only real exceptions are a look at the attack on Earth, a more upbeat epilogue featuring the Enterprise crew, and the aforementioned look behind the curtain at the Xindi Council members.

I have to bring a couple of things to light about this latest novelization: Pocket Books refers to this book as a hardcover release, yet from its appearance it is clearly a trade paperback. Unless this was released in two separate hardcover and trade paperback releases, they should have clarified it clearly. Furthermore, in publicity releases for the novel it had been suggested that an original short story would be included to bridge the gap in the six weeks between the end of "The Expanse" and the start of "The Xindi". No new short story exists in this book, beyond the earlier new material I mentioned.

It is those few exceptions and Dillard's professionalism that brings THE EXPANSE a notch above the standard paint-by-the-numbers novelizations, but just barely. I've seen better from Dillard, specifically in her excellent adaptations of THE FINAL FRONTIER, THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY, and GENERATIONS, which offered real meat to chew on. But THE EXPANSE is definitely a far cry from some of the recent adaptations in the past couple of years.

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