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Star Trek #7
Star Trek 7
Seventh volume in a series of Star Trek: The Original Series episode adaptations, written by James Blish and published by Bantam Books.
Includes six stories: Who Mourns for Adonais?, The Changeling, The Paradise Syndrome, Metamorphosis, The Deadly Years, Elaan Of Troyius
(from the back cover)
Join up! Board the Enterprise and journey with her crew to far-off worlds, where you will find:
-Greek gods and American Indians
- men who can live forever and other men who die of old age at twenty-nine
- a machine with the power to raise the dead and a woman whose tears can topple empires.
Includes six stories: Who Mourns for Adonais?, The Changeling, The Paradise Syndrome, Metamorphosis, The Deadly Years, Elaan Of Troyius
(from the back cover)
Join up! Board the Enterprise and journey with her crew to far-off worlds, where you will find:
-Greek gods and American Indians
- men who can live forever and other men who die of old age at twenty-nine
- a machine with the power to raise the dead and a woman whose tears can topple empires.
155 pages
First published July 1, 1972
8 people are currently reading
407 people want to read
About the author
James Blish
454 books327 followersJames Benjamin Blish was an American author of fantasy and science fiction. Blish also wrote literary criticism of science fiction using the pen-name William Atheling Jr.
In the late 1930's to the early 1940's, Blish was a member of the Futurians.
Blish trained as a biologist at Rutgers and Columbia University, and spent 1942–1944 as a medical technician in the U.S. Army. After the war he became the science editor for the Pfizer pharmaceutical company. His first published story appeared in 1940, and his writing career progressed until he gave up his job to become a professional writer.
He is credited with coining the term gas giant, in the story "Solar Plexus" as it appeared in the anthology Beyond Human Ken, edited by Judith Merril. (The story was originally published in 1941, but that version did not contain the term; Blish apparently added it in a rewrite done for the anthology, which was first published in 1952.)
Blish was married to the literary agent Virginia Kidd from 1947 to 1963.
From 1962 to 1968, he worked for the Tobacco Institute.
Between 1967 and his death from lung cancer in 1975, Blish became the first author to write short story collections based upon the classic TV series Star Trek. In total, Blish wrote 11 volumes of short stories adapted from episodes of the 1960s TV series, as well as an original novel, Spock Must Die! in 1970 — the first original novel for adult readers based upon the series (since then hundreds more have been published). He died midway through writing Star Trek 12; his wife, J.A. Lawrence, completed the book, and later completed the adaptations in the volume Mudd's Angels.
Blish lived in Milford, Pennsylvania at Arrowhead until the mid-1960s. In 1968, Blish emigrated to England, and lived in Oxford until his death in 1975. He is buried in Holywell Cemetery, Oxford, near the grave of Kenneth Grahame.
His name in Greek is Τζέημς Μπλις"
In the late 1930's to the early 1940's, Blish was a member of the Futurians.
Blish trained as a biologist at Rutgers and Columbia University, and spent 1942–1944 as a medical technician in the U.S. Army. After the war he became the science editor for the Pfizer pharmaceutical company. His first published story appeared in 1940, and his writing career progressed until he gave up his job to become a professional writer.
He is credited with coining the term gas giant, in the story "Solar Plexus" as it appeared in the anthology Beyond Human Ken, edited by Judith Merril. (The story was originally published in 1941, but that version did not contain the term; Blish apparently added it in a rewrite done for the anthology, which was first published in 1952.)
Blish was married to the literary agent Virginia Kidd from 1947 to 1963.
From 1962 to 1968, he worked for the Tobacco Institute.
Between 1967 and his death from lung cancer in 1975, Blish became the first author to write short story collections based upon the classic TV series Star Trek. In total, Blish wrote 11 volumes of short stories adapted from episodes of the 1960s TV series, as well as an original novel, Spock Must Die! in 1970 — the first original novel for adult readers based upon the series (since then hundreds more have been published). He died midway through writing Star Trek 12; his wife, J.A. Lawrence, completed the book, and later completed the adaptations in the volume Mudd's Angels.
Blish lived in Milford, Pennsylvania at Arrowhead until the mid-1960s. In 1968, Blish emigrated to England, and lived in Oxford until his death in 1975. He is buried in Holywell Cemetery, Oxford, near the grave of Kenneth Grahame.
His name in Greek is Τζέημς Μπλις"
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
January 9, 2024
This is the seventh volume in Blish's adaptations of original series Star Trek screenplays to short story form. This is the third of four volumes that appeared in 1972 and does not have a table of contents or any introductory commentary from the author. Blish had suffered failing health for some time, and it's believed that this book was written in uncredited collaboration with his wife and her mother (both also accomplished writers), J.A. Lawrence and Muriel Bodkin Lawrence. It includes a selection of six episodes: Elaan of Troyius, The Deadly Years, Metamorphosis, The Paradise Syndrome, The Changeling, and Who Mourns for Adonais? I believe that most of the more popular and easily adaptable scripts had been used for earlier books in the series, but they did a good job of translating the stories to the prose medium with care and clarity. None of these were among my favorite episodes, and several show signs of racism and sexism due to their age, but you have to remember the bad with the good to get the true picture.
August 28, 2019
This continues the upward trend started by the previous book. The writing has definitely improved over the earlier volumes.
June 27, 2011
More fun, more or less frivolous adventures with Kirk and the crew, adapted by Blish. I was disappointed to find no preface from Blish in this one; Blish talking about almost anything is interesting, including Star Trek fan mail. Heaps of these books were sold (millions) so I wonder if they made him more money than his other work (combined)?
I am once again impressed by the number of tragic amours Kirk manages to involve himself in.
I am once again impressed by the number of tragic amours Kirk manages to involve himself in.
April 9, 2017
"On your planet, Mr. Spock, females are logical. No other planet in the galaxy can make that claim."
Enjoyable collection of a half-dozen adaptations of episodes of the television series. I wasn't previously familiar with these particular stories, so I don't know how much Blish embellished. I'm guessing not much as there are points at which things seem to be glossed over due to time constraints, but they read pretty well overall.
"Who Mourns for Adonais?": The Enterprise is pulled to an Earthlike planet and held captive by an entity claiming to be the Greek god Apollo.
"The Changeling": A human-made space probe returns from its long journey, much altered.
"The Paradise Syndrome": Kirk is separated from the rest of the crew and begins a new life on a planet populated by the descendants of native Americans.
"Metamorphosis": Kirk and company discover what happened to a missing scientist long believed dead, but who hasn't aged in over a century.
"The Deadly Years": Accelerated aging plagues the crew after they arrive on a planet that has just experienced an unusual astronomical event.
"Elaan of Troyius": The Federation is employed to act as the facilitator to an ill-conceived diplomatic effort.
Enjoyable collection of a half-dozen adaptations of episodes of the television series. I wasn't previously familiar with these particular stories, so I don't know how much Blish embellished. I'm guessing not much as there are points at which things seem to be glossed over due to time constraints, but they read pretty well overall.
"Who Mourns for Adonais?": The Enterprise is pulled to an Earthlike planet and held captive by an entity claiming to be the Greek god Apollo.
"The Changeling": A human-made space probe returns from its long journey, much altered.
"The Paradise Syndrome": Kirk is separated from the rest of the crew and begins a new life on a planet populated by the descendants of native Americans.
"Metamorphosis": Kirk and company discover what happened to a missing scientist long believed dead, but who hasn't aged in over a century.
"The Deadly Years": Accelerated aging plagues the crew after they arrive on a planet that has just experienced an unusual astronomical event.
"Elaan of Troyius": The Federation is employed to act as the facilitator to an ill-conceived diplomatic effort.
February 8, 2013
Another entry in James Blish's series of episode adaptations, the only standouts in this one are "Metamorphosis", which established the character of Zefram Cochrane, and "the Changeling", which was inadvertently part of the basis for Star Trek The Motion Picture. "The Deadly Years" is also adapted. Good characterizations and a lot of them have a bit more background information that resolve plot holes.
August 22, 2017
“Star Trek 7” by James Blish is the seventh collection of Star Trek Original Series episode novelizations. The six episodes included in this collection are from both Season Two and Season Three and are as follows:
Who Mourns for Adonais? (Season 2)
The Changeling (Season 2)
The Paradise (Season 3)
Metamorphosis (Season 2)
The Deadly Years (Season 2)
Elaan of Troyius (Season 3)
Unsurprisingly, I found that the stories based around the Season 2 episodes were better than the ones from Season 3. This is because the standard of Blish’s adaptations tend to scale in relation to source material which began to deteriorate by Season 3. Other than that, it is all very by the book with Blish continuing his competent work in converting the scripts into short stories.
The stories included in this collection are on the average side in comparison with some other episodes from the Original Series but there are a couple of interesting inclusions that I want to highlight. Firstly, there is the story “Metamorphosis” which introduces the character Zefram Cochrane into Trek Lore. Secondly there is “The Changeling” which is basically the basis for Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
Overall, there isn’t much else for me to say unless I wanted to summarise all the stories which I think is probably a waste of time as most people who are thinking of reading this collection will know them anyway. The writing itself is competent although the stories themselves aren’t anything that special, but this isn’t the fault of Blish. I probably would only recommend this collection to a completionist which is probably what I will be doing for all my future reviews of these collections.
Who Mourns for Adonais? (Season 2)
The Changeling (Season 2)
The Paradise (Season 3)
Metamorphosis (Season 2)
The Deadly Years (Season 2)
Elaan of Troyius (Season 3)
Unsurprisingly, I found that the stories based around the Season 2 episodes were better than the ones from Season 3. This is because the standard of Blish’s adaptations tend to scale in relation to source material which began to deteriorate by Season 3. Other than that, it is all very by the book with Blish continuing his competent work in converting the scripts into short stories.
The stories included in this collection are on the average side in comparison with some other episodes from the Original Series but there are a couple of interesting inclusions that I want to highlight. Firstly, there is the story “Metamorphosis” which introduces the character Zefram Cochrane into Trek Lore. Secondly there is “The Changeling” which is basically the basis for Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
Overall, there isn’t much else for me to say unless I wanted to summarise all the stories which I think is probably a waste of time as most people who are thinking of reading this collection will know them anyway. The writing itself is competent although the stories themselves aren’t anything that special, but this isn’t the fault of Blish. I probably would only recommend this collection to a completionist which is probably what I will be doing for all my future reviews of these collections.
October 2, 2013
When these early novels and stories to Star Trek came out I bought them all, devoured them and loved them. It's been a long time, so today I couldn't even say which of them were really good and which of them I only loved because they were Star Trek. ;)
Just thinking of them and seeing the covers gives me a happy feeling of nostalgia. That alone is worth the rating!
Just thinking of them and seeing the covers gives me a happy feeling of nostalgia. That alone is worth the rating!
June 8, 2017
Another James Blish adaptation. It is funny how in every story there is some knockout beauty that Kirk has to deal with. But I love the way Blish writes these adaptations, they are just as good as the episodes.
February 3, 2025
James Blish's 1972 Star Trek 7 contains 6 stories adapted by Blish from the screenplays of the 1960s television series.
Credits for the original screenplays are as follows:
"Who Mourns for Adonais?" by Gilbert A. Ralston and Gene L. Coon,
"The Changeling" by John Meredyth Lucas,
"The Paradise Syndrome" by Margaret Armen,
"Metamorphosis" by Gene L. Coon,
"The Deadly Years" by David P. Harmon, and
"Elaan of Troyius" by John Meredyth Lucas.
As with my reviews of the previous books in the series, about these stories themselves I feel I need say nothing beyond the briefest nod to each: The Enterprise stumbles upon the planet of a Greek god, Kirk must play a dangerous charade with a now-deadly space probe, the Captain loses his memory upon a world in the path of a planet-killing asteroid, another mysterious sparkling entity maroons one of the ship's shuttlecraft on another lost world with another mysterious--albeit amiable--inhabitant, accelerated aging caused by an unusual type of radiation leaves Kirk and the rest of his landing party to a planet near the Romulan Neutral Zone with only days of life and even sanity remaining, and Kirk must tame a shrew and his temper and his heart to pacify two warring planets. After all, anyone choosing the book is already familiar with the episodes of the TV show, right?
As usual, differences pop up here and there between what we are familiar with and the adaptations Blish gives us. Some arise from the various artistic choices needed in adaptation, others from the fact that the scripts given to Blish were not always the most finalized versions. The more familiar the individual reader is with a particular broadcast episode, the more noticeable and potentially interesting such divergences will be.
I seem to be a little stale on these episodes, so I'm not sure whether I noticed differences or not...aside, of course, from a brief but significant extra scene at the end of "Who Mourns for Adonais?" that definitely did not make it to television.
At this stage of my life, however, I was a tad amused to examine the forced aging schtick of "The Deadly Years" from a new perspective. Now, aside from the fact that humans whose aging "averages thirty years each day" definitely have much less than Spock's estimation of merely "less time than a week to live" (1972 Bantam paperback, page 105), even more interesting is that Kirk at the equivalent of "sixty-three solar years" (page 115) is as forgetful and edging into dementia as someone 20 or 30 years older might be. This isn't the kind of thing one notices as a kid, but I confess that the reader edging into, say, one's very early late fifties might get a wry smile from this supposed geezerhood.
At one point in "The Paradise Syndrome," Blish unfortunately falls flat in his narration of an overload of the warp drive leaving Scotty "close to tears as he watched the death of his friends--his engines. 'My bairns,' he said brokenly. 'My poor bairns..." (page 62; ellipsis Blish's). In Scots, however, bairn is not simply a ho-hum friend but actually a child. 'Tis a helluva linguistic glitch, this.
And of course "The Deadly Years" contains a real scientific whopper--"science" even within rather incredible science fiction, that is--when the narrative tells us that the high-end velocity Warp 8 is only "eight times the speed of light" (page 125). The thing is, though, that at that poky-for-SF speed the ship would take more than half a year to run from Earth to even its closest celestial neighbor of Proxima Centauri, and a historic 5-year mission likely would visit only two or three star systems in total. Oh, well...
In any event, James Blish's Star Trek 7 is not deeply probing or given to evocative or artistic turns of phrase, nor probably is it intended for an audience that has never heard of the starship Enterprise and its historic 5-year mission, but its adventures are swiftly moving and entertaining, and founded upon courage and friendship and the dignity of the individual, and for fans of the television series will be a pleasantly familiar 5-star read.
Credits for the original screenplays are as follows:
"Who Mourns for Adonais?" by Gilbert A. Ralston and Gene L. Coon,
"The Changeling" by John Meredyth Lucas,
"The Paradise Syndrome" by Margaret Armen,
"Metamorphosis" by Gene L. Coon,
"The Deadly Years" by David P. Harmon, and
"Elaan of Troyius" by John Meredyth Lucas.
As with my reviews of the previous books in the series, about these stories themselves I feel I need say nothing beyond the briefest nod to each: The Enterprise stumbles upon the planet of a Greek god, Kirk must play a dangerous charade with a now-deadly space probe, the Captain loses his memory upon a world in the path of a planet-killing asteroid, another mysterious sparkling entity maroons one of the ship's shuttlecraft on another lost world with another mysterious--albeit amiable--inhabitant, accelerated aging caused by an unusual type of radiation leaves Kirk and the rest of his landing party to a planet near the Romulan Neutral Zone with only days of life and even sanity remaining, and Kirk must tame a shrew and his temper and his heart to pacify two warring planets. After all, anyone choosing the book is already familiar with the episodes of the TV show, right?
As usual, differences pop up here and there between what we are familiar with and the adaptations Blish gives us. Some arise from the various artistic choices needed in adaptation, others from the fact that the scripts given to Blish were not always the most finalized versions. The more familiar the individual reader is with a particular broadcast episode, the more noticeable and potentially interesting such divergences will be.
I seem to be a little stale on these episodes, so I'm not sure whether I noticed differences or not...aside, of course, from a brief but significant extra scene at the end of "Who Mourns for Adonais?" that definitely did not make it to television.
At this stage of my life, however, I was a tad amused to examine the forced aging schtick of "The Deadly Years" from a new perspective. Now, aside from the fact that humans whose aging "averages thirty years each day" definitely have much less than Spock's estimation of merely "less time than a week to live" (1972 Bantam paperback, page 105), even more interesting is that Kirk at the equivalent of "sixty-three solar years" (page 115) is as forgetful and edging into dementia as someone 20 or 30 years older might be. This isn't the kind of thing one notices as a kid, but I confess that the reader edging into, say, one's very early late fifties might get a wry smile from this supposed geezerhood.
At one point in "The Paradise Syndrome," Blish unfortunately falls flat in his narration of an overload of the warp drive leaving Scotty "close to tears as he watched the death of his friends--his engines. 'My bairns,' he said brokenly. 'My poor bairns..." (page 62; ellipsis Blish's). In Scots, however, bairn is not simply a ho-hum friend but actually a child. 'Tis a helluva linguistic glitch, this.
And of course "The Deadly Years" contains a real scientific whopper--"science" even within rather incredible science fiction, that is--when the narrative tells us that the high-end velocity Warp 8 is only "eight times the speed of light" (page 125). The thing is, though, that at that poky-for-SF speed the ship would take more than half a year to run from Earth to even its closest celestial neighbor of Proxima Centauri, and a historic 5-year mission likely would visit only two or three star systems in total. Oh, well...
In any event, James Blish's Star Trek 7 is not deeply probing or given to evocative or artistic turns of phrase, nor probably is it intended for an audience that has never heard of the starship Enterprise and its historic 5-year mission, but its adventures are swiftly moving and entertaining, and founded upon courage and friendship and the dignity of the individual, and for fans of the television series will be a pleasantly familiar 5-star read.
July 19, 2024
I devoured these books as a kid in the 70's. At that time the only other Star Trek around was the animated series and a couple of books and we were at the mercy of the 3 channel universe still!
Basically all twelve books follow the t.v. episodes pretty closely, just with literary filler to make it flow better. Nowadays we would just read a Wiki entry and ignore the books.
The biggest difference is that in some of the earlier books, up to around Star Trek 5 or 6, James Blish would change a few things for narrative flow, and in particular remove the unnecessary death of a the occasional Red Shirt. (Awwwwww!) But by the end of the run he was just basically going through the motions and just writing the script as it was, dead Red Shirts and all (Yeah!).
My one complaint though is that JB would write Scotty's speaking parts in a Scottish Brogue and more often than not I couldn't make head or tales of it.
Still, would have not missed reading them for anything. I was an avid Trekkie after all. And for JB it was a nice gig for an over the hill sci-fi writer.
Best part of all was that in grade 9 and 10 high school our English class had a 6 or 12 (I forget which) book reading requirement. And it being a Technical Vocation high school, that requirement caused a furor with so many students who had never read a book in their life. Thank you James Blish and Star Trek. Within a month I already had my 12 book requirement covered. LOL
I decided to up my rating from 3 to 4 stars when I remembered just how much enjoyment these books gave me.
Live Long And Prosper.
Basically all twelve books follow the t.v. episodes pretty closely, just with literary filler to make it flow better. Nowadays we would just read a Wiki entry and ignore the books.
The biggest difference is that in some of the earlier books, up to around Star Trek 5 or 6, James Blish would change a few things for narrative flow, and in particular remove the unnecessary death of a the occasional Red Shirt. (Awwwwww!) But by the end of the run he was just basically going through the motions and just writing the script as it was, dead Red Shirts and all (Yeah!).
My one complaint though is that JB would write Scotty's speaking parts in a Scottish Brogue and more often than not I couldn't make head or tales of it.
Still, would have not missed reading them for anything. I was an avid Trekkie after all. And for JB it was a nice gig for an over the hill sci-fi writer.
Best part of all was that in grade 9 and 10 high school our English class had a 6 or 12 (I forget which) book reading requirement. And it being a Technical Vocation high school, that requirement caused a furor with so many students who had never read a book in their life. Thank you James Blish and Star Trek. Within a month I already had my 12 book requirement covered. LOL
I decided to up my rating from 3 to 4 stars when I remembered just how much enjoyment these books gave me.
Live Long And Prosper.
June 15, 2024
I think my favorite episodes in this seventh Star Trek book by James Blish has to be "Metamorphosis" and "The Deadly Years". In the first of these we meet Zefram Cochrane the creator of the warp drive, that in itself is worth the read. The second episode just makes you ponder life and old age. Being in my fifties, it's something I think more frequently about lately.
Next hardcover: "Star Trek 8" by James Blish (1972)
Next hardcover: "Star Trek 8" by James Blish (1972)
March 27, 2021
As usual, reading these Star Trek books are nostalgic. After finishing the books I may be tempted to watch the original three seasons and pinpoint the differences. If one has ever seen the original series, then they have spoiled the books, because they are practically the same stories. Still, it's a fun past time to explore the stories through various mediums.
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June 6, 2022I liked the characterization and economy of description that Blish brings to these stories.
One thing that was lacking in this seventh of the series was his usual opening pages about how he chose the episodes, and his recent interactions with the fans. I do enjoy reading those, as it gives a sense of community to this endeavor.
One thing that was lacking in this seventh of the series was his usual opening pages about how he chose the episodes, and his recent interactions with the fans. I do enjoy reading those, as it gives a sense of community to this endeavor.
May 4, 2025
Adaptação, para contos, de alguns episódios da série original. Parte de uma série de doze livros. Goodreads só tem a informação de que é de 1972, e por isso lança que é de janeiro, mas é de julho. Goodreads também diz que esta edição é a americana original, da Bantam, mas na verdade é a licenciada britânica, da Corgi. A capa que escolhi para aparecer no Goodreads é a do meu exemplar, de 1984.
June 6, 2018
The next installment. Good books.
September 28, 2018
Warp 10 goodness.....
July 15, 2019
How the times have changed...
December 6, 2020
Much better written than the others in the series. The last story, however, was horribly racist and misogynistic.
January 18, 2022
Great palette cleanser.
July 12, 2025
Another very enjoyable read .
July 28, 2025
Primitivo. Teatrale. Romantico.
August 7, 2025
Another great book of Star Trek OS episodes to remember. I gives me great joy to recall watching these time and again as they repeatedly played the series for us as kids and adults.
December 3, 2015
Keeping up the pace, in July 1972 James Blish released his seventh volume of novelizations,
Star Trek 7
. In this volume are adapted "Who Mourns for Adonais?", "The Changeling", "The Paradise Syndrome", "Metamorphosis", "The Deadly Years", and "Elaan of Troyius".
"Who Mourns for Adonais?" reminds me once again how shockingly often Kirk's first response to a problem is to kill it. Apollo, jealous god that he is, was certainly being obstinate, but except for his severe reactions to Scotty's aggression, he wasn't really doing anything too objectionable. They were all more or less held hostage, sure, but Apollo seemed pretty reasonable, and if Kirk had been willing to try something other than shooting the ship's phasers to get out of the situation, they might have all made it through.
Not much to say about "The Changeling". It wasn't my favorite episode--frankly, I'd rather read Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Well, that's coming up--the novelization was published in 1979.
"The Paradise Syndrome" was an interesting episode, since we get a lot of passage of time, plus we see Kirk develop a relationship with Miramanee. He's in a habit of falling suddenly in love, of course, but I believe this is the very longest relationship we ever see Kirk engaged in. A nice change of pace. It is a shame that Miramanee's people are shown as not having advanced in many hundreds of years, though. Necessary, to let Kirk fit in where he did, but not exactly the most positive portrayal of Native Americans. I understand that in the original script Miramanee and the (unborn) child survive, but Blish's adaptation follows the episode as aired to its tragic (if very convenient) end.
"Metamorphosis" is in some ways a good story and in others a dreadful one. We meet Zefram Cochrane (am I the only one who is reminded of Trip from Enterprise?), alive, young, and immortal (for the moment), plus a (temporarily) inscrutable alien energy being, and we get to see love conquer all. Very entertaining. On the other hand, we get to hear Kirk (bizarrely) proclaim "The ideas of male and female are universal constants, Cochrane. The Companion is definitely female." No, Kirk, it's some kind of alien energy being. That doesn't stop it from loving Cochrane, though. Even for the sixties, this seems an astonishingly absolute statement. The character of Hedford exists pretty much exclusively to be shrewish and then to give Cochrane a more acceptable body for his slavishly devoted alien lover. Not the best of Trek. What I said regarding "Who Mourns for Adonais?" about Kirk first trying to kill any problem he encounters goes for this story, too.
"The Deadly Years" was in some ways better in this adaptation than on television. It felt to me that in the episode, the actors were making something of a mockery of age. Without the overdone 'senile old man' performances from the main cast, it's easier to sympathize with Kirk's loss of control over his ship and, by extension, his life. It's still not great, but it has its high points.
"Elaan of Troyius"... as progressive as Trek wanted to be, it took most every opportunity to get it wrong. As anti-slavery as Kirk has shown himself to be in, for example, "Who Mourns for Adonais?", he is here perfectly happy to serve as the enforcer to a woman's being property (never mind the political justification). He even says it himself: "My orders--and yours--say you belong to that other man." And Kirk's only problem with the situation is that he would prefer if she belonged to him, instead. And I need do no more than mention the awful 'taming the savage woman' plot to show just what is wrong with that part of the story. Elaan goes from fiercely independent (and just generally fierce) to utterly submissive in the space of a page or two, for no justifiable reason.
As usual, this volume has its good and its bad parts. I can't fault Blish--much--for the quality of the stories. I presume he wasn't entirely free to simply rewrite them as he saw fit, and at any rate that wasn't in his job description. Star Trek 7 contains enough good to be worth reading, even if it doesn't deliver on the full potential of the stories.
"Who Mourns for Adonais?" reminds me once again how shockingly often Kirk's first response to a problem is to kill it. Apollo, jealous god that he is, was certainly being obstinate, but except for his severe reactions to Scotty's aggression, he wasn't really doing anything too objectionable. They were all more or less held hostage, sure, but Apollo seemed pretty reasonable, and if Kirk had been willing to try something other than shooting the ship's phasers to get out of the situation, they might have all made it through.
Not much to say about "The Changeling". It wasn't my favorite episode--frankly, I'd rather read Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Well, that's coming up--the novelization was published in 1979.
"The Paradise Syndrome" was an interesting episode, since we get a lot of passage of time, plus we see Kirk develop a relationship with Miramanee. He's in a habit of falling suddenly in love, of course, but I believe this is the very longest relationship we ever see Kirk engaged in. A nice change of pace. It is a shame that Miramanee's people are shown as not having advanced in many hundreds of years, though. Necessary, to let Kirk fit in where he did, but not exactly the most positive portrayal of Native Americans. I understand that in the original script Miramanee and the (unborn) child survive, but Blish's adaptation follows the episode as aired to its tragic (if very convenient) end.
"Metamorphosis" is in some ways a good story and in others a dreadful one. We meet Zefram Cochrane (am I the only one who is reminded of Trip from Enterprise?), alive, young, and immortal (for the moment), plus a (temporarily) inscrutable alien energy being, and we get to see love conquer all. Very entertaining. On the other hand, we get to hear Kirk (bizarrely) proclaim "The ideas of male and female are universal constants, Cochrane. The Companion is definitely female." No, Kirk, it's some kind of alien energy being. That doesn't stop it from loving Cochrane, though. Even for the sixties, this seems an astonishingly absolute statement. The character of Hedford exists pretty much exclusively to be shrewish and then to give Cochrane a more acceptable body for his slavishly devoted alien lover. Not the best of Trek. What I said regarding "Who Mourns for Adonais?" about Kirk first trying to kill any problem he encounters goes for this story, too.
"The Deadly Years" was in some ways better in this adaptation than on television. It felt to me that in the episode, the actors were making something of a mockery of age. Without the overdone 'senile old man' performances from the main cast, it's easier to sympathize with Kirk's loss of control over his ship and, by extension, his life. It's still not great, but it has its high points.
"Elaan of Troyius"... as progressive as Trek wanted to be, it took most every opportunity to get it wrong. As anti-slavery as Kirk has shown himself to be in, for example, "Who Mourns for Adonais?", he is here perfectly happy to serve as the enforcer to a woman's being property (never mind the political justification). He even says it himself: "My orders--and yours--say you belong to that other man." And Kirk's only problem with the situation is that he would prefer if she belonged to him, instead. And I need do no more than mention the awful 'taming the savage woman' plot to show just what is wrong with that part of the story. Elaan goes from fiercely independent (and just generally fierce) to utterly submissive in the space of a page or two, for no justifiable reason.
As usual, this volume has its good and its bad parts. I can't fault Blish--much--for the quality of the stories. I presume he wasn't entirely free to simply rewrite them as he saw fit, and at any rate that wasn't in his job description. Star Trek 7 contains enough good to be worth reading, even if it doesn't deliver on the full potential of the stories.
January 17, 2020
These were fun. Captain Kirk makes James Bond look like a one-woman show. 🤣
April 18, 2016
Yet another group of 6 novelizations of TOS episodes, this time we have: "Who Mourns for Adonais?", "The Changeling", "The Paradise Syndrome", "Metamorphosis", "The Deadly Years" and
"Elaan of Troyius".
Again this is not the set of the greatest episodes ever made, in fact it seems that by the time the last few books come along they are already scraping the barrel of what TOS had to offer, but clearly they kept selling books so Blish kept throwing them out there. There's nothing wrong with Blish's writing and these are quite fun reads, it has to do with some of the material he was working with. The first 4 volumes or so covered pretty much the greatest hits of Star Trek TOS, and now we get more for the sake of completion... nothing wrong with this, but this volume has a large amount of quite sexist tales. It's like "Star Trek 7, the sexist issue". At least half the stories have a couple of sexist lines thrown in or even plotlines, like "Who Mourns for Adonais?".
So, not Blish at his strongest, but that is really because he is not adapting a great set of episodes.
More reviews at: trekwarsproject.blogspot.com
"Elaan of Troyius".
Again this is not the set of the greatest episodes ever made, in fact it seems that by the time the last few books come along they are already scraping the barrel of what TOS had to offer, but clearly they kept selling books so Blish kept throwing them out there. There's nothing wrong with Blish's writing and these are quite fun reads, it has to do with some of the material he was working with. The first 4 volumes or so covered pretty much the greatest hits of Star Trek TOS, and now we get more for the sake of completion... nothing wrong with this, but this volume has a large amount of quite sexist tales. It's like "Star Trek 7, the sexist issue". At least half the stories have a couple of sexist lines thrown in or even plotlines, like "Who Mourns for Adonais?".
So, not Blish at his strongest, but that is really because he is not adapting a great set of episodes.
More reviews at: trekwarsproject.blogspot.com
February 15, 2018
When i was a kid, my older sister's friend GAVE me the entire collection. (I know!) Over the next few years, I read them all in order, starting the first one the day after I finished the last one. Loved them. I'm not sad that I didn't hang onto them and can only hope they still exist to make some other fan happy. (But I doubt it because...well, paperbacks, you know?)
The adaptations got better in the later volumes, but it was Star Trek whenever and wherever I wanted with having to put up with the spastic tripe William Shatner calls acting.
Frankly, I can't remember which story was in which volume, so my rating reflects my enjoyment of the set...which I am hoping will come out in e-book form very soon.
The adaptations got better in the later volumes, but it was Star Trek whenever and wherever I wanted with having to put up with the spastic tripe William Shatner calls acting.
Frankly, I can't remember which story was in which volume, so my rating reflects my enjoyment of the set...which I am hoping will come out in e-book form very soon.
July 28, 2010
These are Blish's novelizations/storyizations of the original Star Trek episodes. Sometimes they are slightly different from the final episode since they were written from shooting scripts as I understand. Although I enjoyed them, it's because of the tie in with the TV series episodes. The writing here is fairly workmanlike and this is really bare bones kind of work.
September 5, 2010
These were largely my introduction to the Star Trek world; I read them before the local TV stations started playing the ubiquitous Star Trek syndicated reruns that ruled the 70's. Can't say how I would have felt about these books had I not been a kid at the time that I read them, but they are said to be pretty "workmanlike".
May 9, 2023
This was around the point I started wondering why I’m reading the short story collections rather than watching the episodes. Real answer is just that I’m a completionist and want to look into every part of a franchise I’m into. The short stories are fine, not something I feel the need to keep in my shelves.
September 4, 2009
Another half dozen episodes or so of the Original TV series rewritten as novella-length Sci-Fi stories.
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