George Takei Books

I believe gigantic kudos goes out to J.M. Dillard for making The Final Frontier a GREAT deal more entertaining that the absolutely dreadful film written and directed by William Shatner. For those who MUST read all the Trek novels available, certainly you will enjoy this more than you could ever hope to like the film version, but while it is light years ahead, you can only polish up this story so much.

And what about *the story*? Without question, Trek V has the most ridiculously contrived and laughable plot of ANY Trek story, either in written form, on TV or on the big screen. I was 100% caught up the the hype that the previews created before the film was released...I gotta hand it to whoever edited them together, because they actually made the movie look exciting and very worthwhile to look forward to...unfortunately the end result was just pure drivel.

So Spock has a brother who has abandoned all Logic and has embraced the lawless and violent traditions of the Vulcan past before the supression of emotions helped save their race. Moreover, he is a devout believer in the Almighty, too (I know, not only does it SOUND like a stretch, but they never pulled it off--not even remotely in the film). So Sybok (Spock's emotionally disturbed Bro) is determinded to not just embrace his emotions and belief in God, but he is hell-bent on Proving His existence, as well. Not an easy task in a Galaxy full of Athiests. The story just becomes even more silly as it continues. Word has it that after Leonard Nimoy's triumphant success co-writing and directing Trek IV (arguably one of the all-time best films in the ENTIRE franchise history) Shatner flatly refused to do another movie unless he was given the chance to write and direct as well...and unfortunately, the Final Frontier is the end result. One wonders how Paramount managed to Green Light the fantastic Undiscovered Country after such a disaster? At least they ended on a great high note.

One interesting side note: while Shatners writing of this movie is abysmal to say the least, he has shown unexpected finesse in writing later novels set in the Trek Universe, some of which can be viewed as the best in print (this is in part largely due to his co-writers who are easily the best Trek authors writing today IMO).

J.M. Dillard should once again be credited for taking such a horrible script and turning it into a MUCH better story than it otherwise would have been -- but you can only do so much with a crappy story, and Dillard did more than I felt would normally have been considered possible based on what was there to work with in the first place.

Yeah, so what they said. The movie was a bomb, and the book tells the story the way it should have been.

Trek books are a tricky thing. Novelizations are a tricky thing. This particular Trek novelization does everything it should, and more. The only problem is that an artist is only as her subject matter, and Find God in the Center of the Galaxy still remains a hokey premise.

But let's focus on the good things. Every major Trek player gets a focus in this novel, including Sulu, who had a big part in all of McIntyre's novelizations. I was glad to see Dillard continue his story in the same vein. We get to see his and Scotty's "secret pain", as well as several other characters in the movie who got left out.

All the characters have depth -- the three delegates, the Klingons, Sybok himself, even the funky-toothed guy drilling holes in the opening shot. Every one is three-dimensional. Example: Klaa (Klingon captain) is no longer a chip-shouldered upstart with delusions of grandeur. He's a Klingon worthy of Klingons, and his motives in pursuing Kirk are revealed as devious and calculating, rather than dumb and bumbling as they appeared in the film.

This novel ties the movie into the others. Star Trek II-V form one continuous tale, without a whole lot of break in between. Yet they still make very little reference one to another. In this novel, we see a Kirk who was re-rejected by a dear love only months before, who lost his son very recently, and who is still coping with Spock's death and resurrection.

I have nothing but praise for the work of J.M. Dillard thus far. And this is no exception. If you, like me, consider Star Trek V the red-headed stepchild of the Star Trek series (no offense to all you red-headed stepchildren), then please read this novelization. Give it a shot. You'll like it. Or I'll buy you a Twinkie. (not really though)

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier arguably had the silliest of plot concepts, and the touches of buffoonish humor did not help the movie much either.

Sybok, a renegade Vulcan from Spock's past, has managed to seize Nimbus III, the 'Planet of Intergalatic Peace'. But it is a ruse, what he really needs is a starship to take him to the center of the galaxy. Once there, Sybok believes he will meet God.

Dillard attempts to fill in the many character gaps in Shatner's Kirk centered story, giving each brainwashed member of the crew a chance to have center stage and a moment to shine. Thus it is more of an ensemble piece than the film. Dillard also clarifies some of the fuzzy plot points, making the hijacking and trip to God a tad easier to believe. There is also an honorable attempt to fit the concept of Nimbus III into the Trek Mythos rather than having it just be a gimmick jumping off point for the story. But despite all this hard work this novel is worthwhile reading only for those who would like to see a silly story told in a more well thought out manner. Strictly for Trek buffs.

The movie version of "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier" was an unutterable turkey, totally unconvincing on a number of levels. This book, while remaining true to the movie in most major plot points, varying only in minor detail, nonetheless manages to be a great deal more plausible and internally consistent, both with itself and with the established Star trek universe as a whole. The characterization is better, the plot flows more smoothly and makes more sense, and several details that were completely implausible in the movie are at least arguable here, if not completely acceptable. The book is quite enjoyable on a simple action-story level, and on deeper levels it is at least as good as most Star Trek stories, better than some if also not as good as others.

Definitely recommended for any "Trek" fans who would like to see the movie version turned into a viable story, and if you actually liked the movie, there's nothing here not to like.

Star Trek V, the Novel, is much better than the movie. There is so much more depth and adventure that the movie really shows that it was cut up pretty badly in post production. Even though this is one of the weakest of the Star Trek movies, it is still great reading!

I do not want this to be a case of one-upmanship but I cannot resist pointing out that the authors' descriptions of Toru Matsumoto on pages 12, 43, and 97 are factually incorrect.
The authors say on page 12 that Toru Matsumoto emigrated to the U.S. in the 1920s. However, it was in 1935 that Toru Matsumoto first visited the United States. Moreover, he did not emigrate to the U.S. then but just visited the country to attend the 2nd U.S.- Japaese Students Conference.
On page 43, the authors state that Toru landed in San Francisco. It is incorrect; he landed in Seattle. And it was his brother Tsuyoshi, not a friend, that arranged for him to meet Jay and Mary.
On page 97, the authors write that Toru Matsumoto was living in New York city with his American wife Emma. Emma was not an American but a Japanese citizen then.
Lastly, Toru Matsumoto was never an American citizen throughout his life. He came back to Japan in the wake of WWII and remained in Japan until his untimely death in 1979.
For further details, please consult my Between Two Worlds: Matsumoto Toru and His Age (M.A. Thesis: Zimmerman Library, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM).
Otherwise, the book is a good introduction to the subject.

This book is one of the few that actually tries to tackle the long story of struggle and assimilation by Japanese Americans into American society. It starts off with an intro by George Takei and then dives into the history of emigration, era of laborers in Calif and Hawaii, settlement by families, the concentration camp experience, and the post war assimilation. The best part of the book is the numerous pictures and quotes from books/newspapers from famous figures in Japanese American lore: Yoshiko Uchida, Daniel Inouye, Isamu Noguchi, Ellison Onizuka, etc.. For somebody looking for easy reading material (without the philosophical discussion of racism that you may find in Takaki's books), I recommend it highly.

listened to audiobook... very poor story... boring.. annoying sound effects. almost trashed it after 10 minutes... and entire book is only about an hour.

This is in review of the Audio version (1 Cassette, 1 hour run time). I was, overall, disappointed in this story. The thought of Captain Sulu crawling around on hands and knees through ductwork was humerous (although Kirk did it at least once). Takai sounds wooden in his acting role, and is at times drowned out by the sound effects (at least when listening in an automobile). I did enjoy the story, but it jumps around a bit, and the thought of a Star Base or base of any kind easily being taken over is ludicrous.

The writers and producers of ST Envoy had a great story idea in mind. It does present a philosophical question, though in my opinion it is not explored nearly enough. The story takes a back seat to the sound and music, which I personally do not like. Not only is the story too little explored, the production itself is as corny as anything I've ever heard. The sound designers intended this to be a splended 3-Dimentional sound performance, which it was. However, the sound effects are in some cases a distraction, which prevents the listener from being able to hear some of the dialogue without blasting their eardrums in the process. The alien languages were created with good intention, and in some cases they're not bad, such as the singing of the Pod, but in most cases, especially where there are several of them talking at once, it sounds like a mental institution gone wrong. It sounds terrible, but it is also laughable. The acting is tolerable. The head Admiral reminds me of one of my elementary school teachers who I absolutely hated because she was exactly like a drill sargeant, but that's just my opinion. Sulu is the only truely great performer in this production. If you want a good laugh and can handle a little bit of childish, embarrassing acting it's a nice buy, but I would recommend buying another book in most cases because they are usually better than this.

I should have known it was crap, but ever the optimist I decided to give it a try. It was not just bad; it stunk: `Star Trek: Envoy' was garbage from the word go. The CD had one (1) track, and my cars CD player only lets you skip tracks (no fast forward - but it does hold 6 CD's). Instead of reading the story, these morons added sound effects, background noise, and had different people reading different parts. I got through about 10 minutes before I went to the next CD. It was loud, pointless, annoying, and endlessly repetitive - pure crap! I didn't even get to any of George Takei's dialog.

Some years ago, George Takei, a.k.a. Captain Hikaru Sulu took the opportunity to capitalize on his character becoming the captain of the USS Excelsior in "Star Trek VI The Undiscovered Country." Star Trek "Envoy" a Captain Sulu adventure is one of those ventures.

Overall, the entire premise of the story and the all out production for this audio CD is well worth the price and the time. The only downside to the entire adventure is that in its attempt to create a realistic atmosphere, they use alien language in the background while Sulu listens to the universal translator. Thankfully, this isn't used too often in any of the episodes because it provides a major distraction to what's important, the story.

While it has been the rare L.A. Graf story that I've been enthralled with over the years, this story is quite good for this writing team.

The premise:

Captain Sulu is ordered away from the Excelsior in a shuttle craft on a mission to act as the Federation's envoy between two warring races, the Krikiki and the Den-Kai. Captain Sulu finds himself in a grave moral dilemma as he is to deliver a young Krikiki prince over to Den-Kai as a peace offering, but that prince will have to undergo isolation and physical mutilation.

What follows from there is a fairly interesting story that I would recommend to any and all fans of Star Trek fiction as it makes for a great hour or so while driving down the highway. {ssintrepid}