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Book Review : William Shatner Prequel Novel The Academy Collision Course

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By GustavoLeao / 22:06, 6 October 2007 / Trek Books

Review by Jeff Ayers

Quote from two people while I was reading William Shatner's latest book on the bus.  "William Shatner wrote a book?"

 

The pretty cover does not illustrate the travesty of prose that is to follow.  It has always been my understanding that Kirk and Spock didn't meet until the day he took command of the Enterprise.  Apparently that is not the case, at least according to Shatner's new book, The Academy Collision Course (co-written with Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens). 

 

To further scare the reader, there is a paragraph at the front of the book that says: "The plot, story lines, and historical narrative presented in Star Trek: The Academy Collision Course constitute an imaginative work deriving solely from the author's unique personal vision."  So how does Shatner depict the first meeting of Kirk and Spock?  Kirk, hiding in a strip club after stealing a Starfleet vehicle and then trying to hide from the authorities, trips Spock, who was selling a stolen Vulcan artifact in the same club.  Yes, you read that right.

 

Kirk is still traumatized by the events that occurred on Tarsus IV and he still blames Starfleet for not coming to their rescue sooner.  His brother, Sam, steals equipment for money and is a basic lowlife.  Their father is a total drunk and loses his name of George halfway through the novel and becomes Joseph.  Kirk can't help but assist a beautiful cadet in proving her innocence of stealing dilithium and ends up being a hindrance to her career.  Meanwhile Spock is trying to learn Earth culture, deal with his Vulcan heritage, and investigate thefts from the Vulcan Embassy.  They of course team up and save the day.

 

The storyline is totally ludicrous from the start.  Kirk calls Spock "Stretch" throughout the novel. If this was really his nickname for Spock, like Bones for McCoy, you would think we would have heard it WAY before now.  The climax of the story goes so over the top and is so unbelievable that the reader is left laughing with the sheer lunacy and crying because you've wasted so much time reading this junk.  The idea that Starfleet could be this incompetent is inexcusable.  You might wonder how they end up in Starfleet-the answer is they must enlist or be sent to a penal colony.  Yes, you read that right.

 

A couple of the thousands of questions that pop in the reader's head include: If they were in the Academy at the same time, then why did Spock end up with Captain Pike for several years and develop such a loyalty to him that Kirk didn't realize?  Where is Gary Mitchell in all of this? 

 

The last page says: "Midshipman Jim Kirk will return in Star Trek The Academy Trial Run."  Run indeed.  Run far away.

 

* out of ****   (** if you imagine that Kirk and Spock are not the same characters we know and love while reading).

Reviewer Jeff Ayers is the author of Voyages of Imagination: The Star Trek Fiction Companion trade paperback, and webmaster of VoyagesOfImagination.com,



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RE: | Report this post to moderator
By: rassmguy (Odo's file, contact) @ 12:42:34 on Oct 08, 2007

Patti, if you have so much contempt for reviewers, why are you even reading reviews? You condemn review writers, saying they all write reviews to trash others who have "made it" instead of writing films themselves...so why, instead of trashing someone who has made it as a reviewer, don't you write some reviews yourself? Your post was not only rude and condescending, but generalistic and hypocritical, and the only person your comments made look baad was you.

--------

Rich Handley
Author, Timeline of the Planet of the Apes: The Definitive Chronology
Available now from Hasslein Books
www.hassleinbooks.com


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RE: Ouch! | Report this post to moderator
By: c.p. (Odo's file, contact) @ 12:43:47 on Oct 09, 2007

Quote: "Critics come off as all knowing but yet they never are able to deliver a product that is a "masterpiece" (ie film critics bash all the movies but yet they never write the ultimate screenplay). If a critic wants to impress people, they should put their money where their mouth is and write the "great American novel".


On the ladder of useful opinions, several rungs below the professional critic, lies the ever-critical amateur with a chip on her shoulder. I think you just made the best case for you shutting up.

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RE: Ouch! by Captain Patti @ 16:49:50 on Oct 09

RE: | Report this post to moderator
By: rassmguy (Odo's file, contact) @ 12:42:46 on Oct 08, 2007

Patti, if you have so much contempt for reviewers, why are you even reading reviews? You condemn review writers, saying they all write reviews to trash others who have "made it" instead of writing films themselves...so why, instead of trashing someone who has made it as a reviewer, don't you write some reviews yourself? Your post was not only rude and condescending, but generalistic and hypocritical, and the only person your comments made look baad was you.

--------

Rich Handley
Author, Timeline of the Planet of the Apes: The Definitive Chronology
Available now from Hasslein Books
www.hassleinbooks.com


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RE: by Captain Patti @ 16:09:32 on Oct 08

RE: Ouch! | Report this post to moderator
By: GustavoLeao (Odo's file, contact, web site) @ 05:42:02 on Oct 08, 2007

Patti, Jeff is a celebrated author himself and got a lot of respect for other authors like Judith and Gar. He is doing a big favor for us at TrekWeb for reviewing those books for us. No need to be rude to him, okay ?

Gustavo

--------

TrekWeb.com Supervising Editor

gl2000@uol.com.br

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RE: Ouch! by Captain Patti @ 16:02:52 on Oct 08
RE: Ouch! by Sam Cogley @ 13:31:43 on Oct 08
    RE: Ouch! by Captain Patti @ 16:11:53 on Oct 08
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