Gene Roddenberry Books

Ive heard bad things about some of the previous E:FC books but this one was the first I decided read. I must say it was very well done. The premise was very Season 1' ish for those of you dislike subsequent seasons of the show. Although Boone is absent in this one the story features Auger and Da'an heavily and Dr. Bellman makes a cameo as well which was a nice touch. I dont want to get into the details too heavily but Ill say that this would make a great episode of E:FC and leave it at that. There were a couple of inconsistancies but nothing important. Overall an excellent read and E:FC fans will enjoy it. I hope Heritage is half as good.

I know zilch about the series Earth: Final Conflict, but I immensely enjoyed this book. It isn't at all confusing, and there's a lot of suspense, action, and fun. The main character, Cecilia, is a middle-aged teacher in Los Angeles. Her serene life is shattered to pieces when she receives an ominous summons to speak with a Taelon official (the Taelons are a race of highly advanced aliens who are quietly taking over Earth). Cecilia runs, seeking shelter from a resistance group to which one of her former students belongs. Cecilia doesn't like the Taelons, but when the rebels ask her to assassinate the Taelon leader Zo'or, she refuses--only to be locked up. Hours later she's sprung by Augur, a member of *another* resistance group, and they go on the run together. The plot quickly blossoms into complexity, with mysterious attacks, would-be assassins, sinister plots, and teenage hackers. This book is a romping adventure anyone can enjoy, and which I highly recommend. Buy it, read it, and then go check out some of Sherwood Smith's other books.

Reading this book knocked Gene Roddenberry off the pedestal that I had put him on for so many years -- and that's why it's such an important book for anyone interested in the history of Star Trek. Basing his research primarily on interviews, firsthand accounts, studio memos and other source materials, author Joel Engels dares to go where no biographer had gone before. He gives Gene credit where credit is due, but does not shrink from reporting the less-than-savory sides of his life, too. The result is a book that, as the title says, explores both the Myth and the man.

It was in this unauthorized bio that I first learned of Roddenberry's lifelong abuse of alcohol and other substances, his deep insecurities about his writing career, the origins of his animosity toward religion, his inappropriate fixation on sex, and the fact that he did not single-handedly create Star Trek. In short, he was a fallible human being with some serious character flaws. But, as the Myth grew, Gene felt that he had to mold his public image into the "Star Trek Creator" that the fans expected him to be. Unfortunately, in the process, he often failed to give credit where credit was due, and ended up alienating many of the actors, writers, and producers who had also contributed to the group effort that became the Star Trek universe.

One of the most interesting chapters in this book is about a project for a film called "The Nine," in which Roddenberry was hired to write a script about a skeptic who was investigating a group of psychics that channeled New-Age type messages from UFO aliens. (No, I'm not making this up -- it's in the book!) As part of the research for this movie, Gene actually attended a spiritualist retreat for a while, and even got a past-life reading about what purported to be his previous incarnations. The script itself was never produced, but one gets the feeling that Gene had his mind stretched a bit on paranormal issues. But, oddly, there is no mention of "The Nine" in the official biography (Star Trek Creator), except to list it as an unproduced script in his writing credits. Which is why, if you are interested in a balanced understanding of the life of Gene Roddenberry, you should read BOTH the authorized version and this one.

Well written and well researched Joel Engel's book on Gene Roddenberry provides a unique glimpse into the man who created the most durable franchise in the history of science fiction. Following Roddenberry from his earliest beginnings in the police force through to his work on "Have Gun Will Travel" and, of course, "Trek". We discover that "the Great Bird of the Galaxy" feared that "Trek" would be seen as a fluke and struggled with creating something comparable throughout his career as a writer. We also learn that Roddenberry could be generous to a fault but also a glory hound taking credit for what others did on "Trek".

Engel's done a pretty thorough job of interviewing both admirers and critics of Roddenberry (and the Harlan Ellison issue with "City on the Edge of Forever" gets revisited although it isn't the sole focus of the book). Many of Roddenberry's peers including Samuel Peeples (who wrote the pivotal "Where No Man Has Gone Before" which sold "Trek" when Roddenberry's pilot "The Cage" failed to garner support because it was thought to be too intellectual)laud Roddenberry for his insight, his ability to see the problems with a script and fix them the first time around while critics like Ellison suggest that he "could barely write". Everybody has their own ax to grind and it's pretty apparent from the interviews.

Engel also documents Roddenberry's descent into drug and alcohol abuse as well as his erratic behavior after the series of strokes that incapacitated him. While Roddenberry might not have been a writer on the level of the best of the day he truly was a visionary that believed and could see his future like no one else. Unfortunately he couldn't be part of it as the typical flaws of human nature controlled his life just as much as any one elses. This book is a nice companion piece to the preening book written in cooperation with Roddenberry and his estate. Engel's book often isn't pretty but it does contain a warts and all portrait of a complex, driven man that wanted recognition for his contribution even if that meant sometimes not recognizing others.

I had high hopes for this book to fill out the background on the shows main characters, other than Dylan, but found it rather lacking. If you want to know more about Beka, Tyr and Rev. Bem, the book does a fairly good job but hardly expends any effort on Trance and Harper who have great potential for interesting story lines. In fact, there is far more expansion upon a tertiary character who is barely memorable from the first episode than for Trance and Harper put together. In addition, if you're a Trance fan, you likely won't care much for the less than flattering descriptions. Anyway, it's not a bad story but could have been a lot better.

Oh, the beauty of the backstory, the prequel, the whatEVER you want to call it, especially when it comes to novel vs. television. It gives a writer a goodly amount of space to supply the characters with all the depth and strange habits that make for meaty personalities - something TV viewers might have to wait a long time to see, if they *ever* get to. And, as has been the case with pretty much every one of Keith DeCandido's novels, the man doesn't disappoint, providing us an excellent and plausible look at how it came to be that Beka Valentine should rescue Dylan Hunt in the pilot episode of "Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda." Of course, now I really wanna go back and watch that pilot again, armed with this new information. Nice job, oh Great Hairy One.

I found this book rather enjoyable but, despite the great details, still somewhat lacking. A lot of effort was put into giving great insight into the characters of Beka, Tyr, and to a lesser extent Rev Bem, but Harper and Trance (my two favourite characters) get rather short shrift. I had high hopes that there would be more about Harper and his life while on earth, but there was more detail on the thoughts and history of a tertiary character that I barely remember from the first episode. In addition, it is plain that the Author doesn't care much for the character of Trance, as displayed by his repeated less than flattering descriptions. Given all this I'm rather surprised that I even gave it a 3! However, I am an Andromeda fan and the book definitely gave a better insight into where Beka, Tyr, and to a lesser extent the rest of the crew, were coming from.
So, if you like Beka, buy the book and you won't be disappointed. For everybody else.... you most likely will be.

Consistent with the Andromeda universe, and it was interesting to learn what took place before the Andromeda Ascendent was taken out of the blackhole. However, as with all Andromeda books; far too much profanity. It's not necessary to the story line and doesn't make it more real. Show me more drama in place of the profanity.

Man, I can't believe it's come to this: that I'm writing reviews of novels based on "Andromeda". My mother begged me to become a doctor, but instead I decided to go into the highly exciting world of Betamax sales, and now I'm reduced to this. Look for me to cough up a review of a "Red Dwarf" episode guide soon or something.

Anyway. This novel is by Keith DeCandido and is the first published volume of "Andromeda" fiction. It's a prequel to the show's pilot episode and establishes backstories for Tyr and for how Trance (her happy and guileless purple version, not the later enigmatic and secretive gold version) hooked up with Beka and stuff. DeCandido does a good job of capturing the flavor of the show's first season (by far the best out of the four that have aired thus far), and even throws in cryptic citations and sayings as chapter headers, just like the actual TV episodes do. Lot of Nietzschean maneuverings and plots. The bits about Tyr and his ilk are really nice. The biggest bonus, though, is that Dylan only appears in about five pages. Yay! 'Cuz he is just terrible.

This is better than a lot of the recent episodes and is worth reading if for no other reason that that DeCandido wrote it. He's done a lot of excellent Trek work and if you like reading this sort of thing, I would highly recommend that you pick up his efforts. He shows a great deal more imagination than most authors in these series and does some real nice character work. If you've got some time to blow and you want a taste of "Andromeda" in its "almost good" period, give this book a try.

A good book, which copies the TV episode closely, with a few additional scenes. A good book to start with for all TNG newbies, if there is such a thing.

It's a good book, you get the chance to read what was going through some characters's minds but in this case, it is better just to watch the Episode. It's a classical... where it all begun.

I remember watching "Encounter at Farpoint" when it first aired with several high school friends, and the great groans of derision we all uttered when Deanna cried out, "I sense joy, Captain! Great joy!" The rest of the premier episode was hardly encouraging. It wasn't *terrible*, but it did not inspire great hopes, either.

David Gerrold took a generally weak episode and fleshed it out as best as anyone could do, but not even Shakespeare could have turned "Encounter at Farpoint" into a gripping read. There are, of course, a few problems with changed premises (for example, William "call me Bill" Riker and Picard's obsession with some woman named "Celeste"), but one can hardly blame Gerrold for that.

This book was very good. If you're interested in learning some new information about the crew of the Enterprise-D, this is the place to start. I have been a trekkie for about 6 years, and I have read many books, but David Gerrold did a great job with this novelization. There are extra scenes and more information that in the TV episode.

Overall, this is a great book. A recommendation to anyone who wants a good read.

David Gerrold did a wonderful job with the novelization of the episode that started The Next Generation! After purchasing the first season of TNG on DVD and watching Encounter at Farpoint I thought it would be interesting to go back and read this book again. If you want to get the few details of episode that weren't in it, read this. This is the Genesis of Star Trek The Next Generation!

Augur, a sexy character already, has a very sexy conflict with Kate, Boone's wife, while Boone is chasing down bad guys. Tight action, great humor, and some nifty computer wizardry make this a must read for all science fiction fans.

A potentially imaginative project has been cranked out with no fire, no magic. Very dry and uninspired writing ruins an otherwise fascinating Roddenberry treasure. Really disappointing. Critics or English teachers might have done a better job of breathing life into this one.

The writing doesn't have a pulse. The series seems to have fallen victim to drone writing assignments.

This is one of the best books I have ever read.The human nature and spiritual exploring the novle expresses can deeply move the readers.And the background--a science fiction world--supplies such a wonderful,broad environment to set in the very story about humans and talons.The whole story is so complex and mysterious that it makes me take an interest in it.I am very glad to learn that 'Ma'El and 'Da'An are almost the same person,both have elegant behaviour and are much more intellectual than orther Talons.The tow represent a noble spirit and possibility of friendship between humans and talons.But it doesn't come ture in the end.For me,a big fan of 'Da'An,it is a pity.By the way,the TV show is rather good.

I'm not impressed with this one. It was supposed to give the readers (fans of E:FC) a glimpse into Boone's past, chronicle his first meeting with Augur, etc., etc. I didn't learn anything about Boone I didn't already know. The "first meeting" was trite. The book's one saving grace was the development of Kate, Boone's wife, a data wrangler of some considerable skill.

So many things were glossed over, Kate's participation in the mysterious project, the "Octopus," the arrival of the Taelons, etc. It became very frustrating. Frankly, this book read like a "backstory sketch" meant to provide other writers with a little background information in order to write more detailed books of their own. I'm sorry I bought it.

Hello everyone,

Don't get me wrong... Gene Roddenberry is a great guy and I think we're all very greatful to him for creating Star Trek. My belief is that this book came up extremely short of the standard of Star Trek novels, and novelizations especially. Granted, this book was written almost 25 years ago, but still, it was not all that good.

Admiral Lori Ciani, Kirk's wife? Where did this come from? It comes out of thin air. Nobody knows anything about this woman. And apparently they were "married" during Kirk's stint on Earth. Not a necessary part of the book.

In my opinion, this could have been a lot better.

The five year mission has ended, the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise has moved on to other assignments and been promoted. Life has moved on. Then, from the depths of space, comes a huge cloud with incredibly destructive powers, and it is on a course for Earth. Once again James T. Kirk, now an Admiral, must lead the U.S.S. Enterprise on an incredible adventure.

This novelization of the plodding movie that detractors call Star Trek - The Motionless Picture was ghostwritten for Roddenberry by Alan Dean Foster, the man who penned the unoriginal concept story the script was based on. Although little more than the script in narrative form, Foster gives the tale a sense of urgency and tension that the film sorely lacked. It also reads better than it plays. Still it's strictly for Trek buffs.

I haven't seen the movie in about fifteen years, but this book is adequate. That's about all I can say about that.

This book is a must for every fan of the movie. It actually starts some time before the movie scenario, showing Kirk pursuing the command of the Enterprise at Starfleet. It reveals the identities of the 2 people caught in the transporter accident and their connection to Kirk, along with more backstory on Spock's adventures. And it cuts out the long boring trip through V'jer's special effects cloud. Can't beat that!

I agree with Joe's comments. This book has changed my life so much, that I find myself helping all men. I was once a conservative, this book transformed me into a liberal, for it shows all men as they should be -- working together for the Common Good. I joined the Peace Corps and I wear V-Neck jump-suits made of spandex. I have my own personal pleasure room. Just like Spock..... Thank you Gene, I hope when we meet in the future, we can have some of those experiences you always dreamed about.

Loved it 5 stars all the way. Loved the story line. It gripped me from the start to the finish. I highly recomend this book.

Jenny

This is a surprisingly good entry in the Andromeda tie-in series.

While it reads much like two sequential episodes from the series, it is nonetheless tightly plotted, and takes advantage of some of the untapped potential of the complex universe the Andromeda inhabits. This is a Trace-centric book, but nonetheless all the characters are given their moments in the spotlight. More importantly, McDonald took care to have a sustained, believable, rich plot.

This is one I'll re-read.

This is a very enjoyable read. The story is fast paced and all of the characters have their opportunities to shine. The story is primarily centered around Trance who is experiencing quantum leaps of reality and living other potential time lines while the crew of the Andromeda are desperately trying to find a way to repair the ship and a dark secret awaits them on the 'abandoned' Waystation.... pretty good stuff! I definitely recommend this book.

I began WAYSTATION without high expectations, since spin-off novels from video series or films are rarely masterpieces. I was pleasantly surprised. The novel shows some surprising quality in places. It really had me turning pages and enjoying myself. Too bad that, overall, it lacked a satisfying ending and -- at the end -- just sort of twittered out into limbo.

At first I was a bit put off by the constant flip banter between the characters. However, this constant banter became more familiar by the second chapter and I started to flow with it. Perhaps because I came to enjoy the characters. I have seen the Andromeda TV show and expected the characters to be cardboard cut-outs from the show, but the author did a surprisingly good job of bringing them to life. The best developed character by far was Trance Gemini, that peculiar little elfin woman whose role I never understood in the TV series. She becomes the focus of this book, and carries it. I need to give Mr. McDonald a gold star for developing her into an interesting character for the reader, given that I am not sure the TV show provided him with much to work with in this regard.

The novel also helped me to understand some riddles of the TV series that never made sense to me. Like, why there are TWO Andromedas -- one a hologram and one an android. Turns out they are two different characters. At times they even begin to argue with one another.

The plot started so well. The ship Andromeda Ascendant has been badly shot up in a battle with defense forces of the planet Kantar; she escapes, limping, into Slipstream drive, but is forced to drop out of hyperspace when systems fail. The ship thus defaults into a very bad location, a quadrant with little but empty vacuum. No planets, no moons, no asteroids. However, by good fortune Andromeda's star charts reveal an old waystation, built centuries earlier to service starships in the early days of exploration. The plot centers on a desperate effort to (1) travel to the waystation, (2) find materials necessary to effect repairs on the Andromeda Ascendant, and (3) return.

Here's where the book runs into major problems. At least three-quarters of the book (roughly 200 pages) has concluded before members of Hunt's crew even REACH the waystation. Thus the author has only about 65 pages to roll out most of the plot and wrap up the book. Scene follows scene in a rush, blurring past the reader as the author tries to tie everything up in a few tens of pages. Even with all this haste and compression, a lot is left hanging as the book ends.

Perhaps the author might have had more room to conclude the book if he did not devote so many pages to Trance Gemini's dimension doors and encounters with quantum alternates of herself. While this element worked well for a while, and was genuinely interesting when first introduced, it eventually got to be very repetitious and overworked. I kept asking, "oh, no, not again -- haven't we been there before-- like four times at least?" A sub-plot that got out of control?

To wrap this up -- this novel had many elements I liked a lot. The characters, plenty of drama, great sense of humor, and a fast-moving action plot that takes us to about page 200. At that point structure seems to break down. The ending is compressed, cursory, and disappointing.

This book is too good to pan, but too weak to praise.

The last remaining High Guard Starship from the defunct Systems Commonwealth, the Andromeda Ascendant, heads to Kantar on the outer rim of the galaxy in their quest to rebuild galactic society. However, instead of a friendly welcome, hostile fire batters the Andromeda forcing the crew to flee the planet in a crippled vessel.

Desperately in need of repair, but near nothing except a three century abandoned Waystation, Captain Dylan Hunt lands on the frozen orb over the warnings of time traveling crew member Trance Gemini. The Captain will find his belief system, already shaken to the core, further wrecked on this tundra as the so-called empty station has a creature stalking the crew with a different justice system than the corrupt Commonwealth had.

WAYSTATION is a fine fast-paced entry in Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda universe that is clearly targeted for fans of the series though newcomers will enjoy the unique cast, the moral question of what is justice, and the outer space action. Trance steals the show, but she is a two edged humanoid like heroine as she is an intriguing distinctive protagonist, but her time travels can become quite confusing when the audience tries to follow her non-linear movements especially when she argues with herself at loci when "two" of her converge (will need more than a scorecard to keep track). The Roddenberry faithful will especially take delight with Steven E. McDonald's entry in this long running space opera.

Harriet Klausner

I very much enjoyed this book. Why?

Lots of detail: the writer unearthed old documents and interviewed aging witnesses to put together a portrait of Roddenberry which starts from before his birth to the moment of his death.

Is it hagiographic? No. Why?

The author clearly, and repeatedly, reveals Roddenberry's tendency to be a womanizer and does not directly excuse him for this. He merely reports it.
The writer also reveals at least one episode of outright gratuitous cruelty on the part of Roddenberry.

Is it fully satisfying? Not quite. Why?

I wish there was more material on Roddenberry's home life with his first wife and their children. I also wish there were more material about Roddenberry's non-professional interests, hobbies, if any, etc. However, I forgive this lack because I know that a larger and longer book might not have been economically viable. And, after all, it is Roddenberry's role as the creator of Star Trek that we care about.

What about the controversies regarding other peoples' contributions to Star Trek?

This book, and indeed every other book I have ever read about Star Trek over the past 30 years including interviews with Roddenberry, make it very clear that MANY people contributed to Star Trek. But, the concept was Roddenberry's and he was the necessary and unique filter through which everybody else's ideas had to pass. This has been obvious to me for decades and I was happy to see that this book touched on this as well. There is really no basis for controversy.

I see Roddenberry as a loving and creative man who allowed himself a great deal af latitude in matters of sex (hardly a capital crime, and hardly unique), did abuse substances to some extent (which probably contributed to his death, but again, hardly unique especially in the culture of Hollywood), and occasionally was involved in wrangles about creative priorities, responsibilities and credit (again, very garden-variety stuff in the business culture he was a part of). It would be nice if he could have risen completely above such things, but I feel he did the best he could while, at the same time, producing something of lasting humanitarian and entertainment value to the world. Only he could have done it in that way with that degree of success.

Without putting him on a pedestal, he is a heroic figure. And one the world sorely needs again.

Offers a different treatment of Star Trek. Contains many documents Roddenberry wrote to promote the idea of ST. Gives interesting insight of Gene's early life with the Los Angeles Police Department and his conversion to TV. There are many ups and downs. I know him better due to this book. ST is the biggest thing in TV, the hottest property, an expansive franchise, and it almost didn't happen at all. Not many TV shows reach from 1966 to beyond our lifetimes. Star Trek will.

The other reviewer was overly harsh. This book was a wonderful telling of Gene Rodenburry's life. Was it perfect? No, but I do feel that I have a greater appreciation for the man and his life. I have a much better understanding of what motivated him and his ideas. This book is so cheap that you can't lose.

1) This is a hagiography written by a friend, not an objective biography. Roddenberry's character flaws (and there were many) are barely touched upon or completely glossed over. (The one-sided, multi-page attempt to discredit detractor David Gerrold is embarrassingly silly, for example.)

2) For a book written by someone who was supposedly Robbenberry's friend, precious little of the story comes from the man himself. Nearly half the book (and almost all of the latter sections) consists of transcripts of memos and letters written by Roddenberry.

3) The editing is sloppy; typos abound, most frequently in people's names. Usually they're just annoying, but when you see uncorrected misspellings such as "Harland Ellison" and "Leslie Nielson," you have to wonder just how well the author knew the details of what he was writing about, and whether he was simply parroting material given to him by others.

I'd recommend sticking with Joel Engel's biography of Roddenberry as an antidote. It too has its slant, but it's nonetheless a far more rounded effort than this volume.

I enjoy this book because its like a bible of the 'inside information' on the specs and technical info about the Enterprise and the Federation. I enjoy writing fan-fiction, so this is a treasure chest of info.

If you are a fan of Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda,then you will want to add this small book to your collection of Andromeda memorabilia! Lots of great facts and good websites,although some no longer exist,but for the most part,I found it to be a most interesting book!