Review of "Star Trek the Next Generation: Relics," by Michael Jan Friedman

 Review of

Star Trek the Next Generation: Relics, by Michael Jan Friedman, ISBN 0671864769

Four out of five stars

Great story, Kane character unnecessary

 The “Relics” episode of “Star Trek The Next Generation” is my favorite non-Borg and non-Q episode. In a brilliant and “believable” plot device, Scotty from the original series is implanted in TNG. He was a passenger on the ship “Jenolen” and headed for his life after Star Fleet. The ship encounters a Dyson Sphere and crashes on the outer surface. One of only two survivors, no prospect of a timely rescue and not enough power and supplies for a prolonged stay, Scotty does one of his brilliant improvisations. He rigs the remaining power to the transporter and puts it into an infinite diagnostic loop. The two survivors then enter the transport buffer where they can survive for an extended period of time.

Seventy-five years later the new TNG “Enterprise” encounters the distress signal and beams aboard the “Jenolen.” They discover a severely damaged ship with the transporter still cycling through the diagnostic routines with the buffer still active. After cleverly fixing the transporter, Scotty materializes on the transporter pad. The pattern of the other survivor has degraded to the point where he could not be extracted.

 Scotty is thrilled to having been rescued by the “Enterprise,” but he is largely out of date and uncomfortable. After some trying scenes where he simply gets in the way, Captain Picard asks Geordi to go with Scotty to the wrecked “Jenolen” in order to extract the data files. While they are there, the “Enterprise” is pulled into the Dyson Sphere, where it is trapped.

 With no other possible hope of rescue, Scotty and Geordi revamp and repair the “Jenolen” so that it is once again capable of flight. Faced with the impossible, Scotty proves once again that he is a miracle worker, and they manage to execute a scheme where the “Enterprise” is rescued.

 This is a great story in the sense that the reader is able to see Scotty working his engineering magic once again. Unfortunately, Friedman introduces the character of Ensign Kane, an annoying irrelevancy. This story should be about Scotty and his life acter 75 years of inactivity and not about some emotionally immature Ensign. Kane’s presence and actions detract from what would otherwise be a great crossover story linking the original series with TNG.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review of "The Autumn Dead," by Ed Gorman

  Review of The Autumn Dead , by Ed Gorman, ISBN 0345356322 Four out of five stars An aging ex-cop is handed a case to retrieve a case   Jack Dwyer is an ex-cop that now works for a private security agency. Most of what he does is bust shoplifters and other petty criminals. He is a bit overweight and has few prospects to improve his situation. However, he has an interesting past that is focused on his high school years.   A woman that was a flame of his in high school and has retained her beauty suddenly pops back into his life. She offers Jack a significant amount of money to retrieve a suitcase from the house of a man she had been living with. Since she has a key and claims that the suitcase is really her property and she still has a significant sway over Jack, he agrees to take the job.   When he gets there he finds the owner unconscious from a blow on the back of the head. This is the first hint that the case is much more complex than Jack thought. Hi...
Read more

Review of "The Forty-Minute War," by Janet and Chris Morris

  Review of The Forty-Minute War , by Janet and Chris Morris, ISBN 0671559869 Three out of five stars Absurd initial premise and bad ending   This book begins with an absurd premise, not the event, but the context. A group of committed terrorists manage to acquire a nuclear weapon and a plane. The manage to fly it from Saudi Arabia to Washington D. C. where they detonate it. Distraught over the knowledge that his wife and family have been killed, the American President orders a nuclear strike against the Soviet Union. They retaliate and it is all over in 40 minutes. After ordering the strike, the American President takes a gun and kills himself.   There are two reasons why this premise is absurd, one major and the other minor. The major one is that the intelligence services of the United States were aware of the nuclear weapon and had an elite anti-terrorist team on the ground ready to take out the terrorists. However, the team was given a stand-down order. Whil...
Read more

Review of "Heat," by Mike Lupica

  Review of Heat , by Mike Lupica, ISBN 9780142407578 Five out of five stars More about life than sports   Satchel Paige is arguably the all-time best baseball pitcher. One of his teammates once said, “The good lord didn’t give Satchel an arm, he gave him a whip.” Michael Arroyo was also born with what his father said was, “the arm.” Even though he is still young enough to play Little League baseball, Michael can throw an 80-mph fastball and he has excellent control. His goal is to help his team move on to the Little League World Series.   While baseball is his joy, his life is complicated. His father brought Michael and his seventeen-year-old bother Carlos with him in an escape from Cuba and they now live in New York City. Their father died suddenly of a heart attack and the boys are terrified that social services will learn of their plight and either separate them into foster care or send them back to Cuba.   With the help of some kindly neighbors, the ...
Read more