And still, I wanted more. In a time before VCR's how could a 12 year old Trek junkie get his fix? One word- books. Luckily, a British author named James Blish was tasked with writing collections of short stories based on Star Trek scripts.
Interestingly enough, the books were not based on what actually made it to the small screen, since he wrote them without seeing the final product. Therefore, there are frequently subtle differences between the stories based on the original script and what we saw on the t.v. This fact only made the books that much cooler.
Here are three of my books from my youth that I just yanked off of the bookcase in my den.
Here we have "Star Trek 1," "Star Trek 7," and "Star Trek 10." I have others, but these were the easiest to get my hands on. 7 and 10 are first edition paperbacks, but 1 was a re-release (from 1975). The stories in each are:
"Star Trek 1" (1967)
1. "Charlie's Law" (Charlie X)
2. "Dagger of the Mind"
3. "The Unreal McCoy" (The Man Trap)
4. "Balance of Terror"
5. "The Naked Time"
6. "Miri"
7. "The Conscience of the King"
"Star Trek 7" (1972)
1. "Who Mourns for Adonas?"
2. "The Changeling"
3. "The Paradise Syndrome"
4. "Metamorphosis"
5. "The Deadly Years"
6. "Elaan of Troyius"
"Star Trek 10" (1974)
1. "The Alternative Factor"
2. "The Empath"
3. "ThevGalileo Seven"
4. "Is There in Truth No Beauty?"
5. "A Private Little War"
6. "The Omega Glory"
These are, for the most part, very well written and exciting retellings of original series episodes. You can still find the collection (which goes through "Star Trek 12" with an additional book of Harry Mudd stories called "Mudd's Angels") easily and cheaply online. I highly recommend them for anyone who loved the original series!
Until next time, fly 'em fast and high!
I remember these well, along with the Star Trek Log series of Alan Dean Foster novelizations based on the animated series. I actually read several of the stories before I ever saw them on the screen, and remember being a little surprised at the differences.
ReplyDeleteThe days before VCRs...my kids have a hard time understanding that we couldn't watch whatever we wanted whenever we wanted. I can remember hearing about cancelled-and-not-in-syndication TV shows for years from my parents (I Spy, Combat!, Mission: Impossible, Laugh-In, , etc.) before ever managing to watch a single episode. In comparison, my son has seen every episode of ST:TOS, ST:TAS, ST:Enterprise, and a good chunk of ST:TNG without ever seeing one on broadcast TV. Netflix and instant gratification...
Great memories, Stu. Thanks!
Yeah, VCRs, DVDs, and streaming have totally changed the viewing experience. Although I wouldn't want to do without them, I sometimes long for the time when holiday specials really were special- and you had to catch them when they were on, or not at all! On second thought, maybe it wasn't that great, lol!
Delete