Boogeymen

Star Trek: The Next Generation #17

by Mel Gilden

Eric Baldwin is the Federation's premier exologist, a specialist in all manner of alien life forms -- and one of Captain Picard's oldest, most trusted friends. But Baldwin's discoveries have made him enemies across the galaxy, and now he wants Picard to help him by erasing all traces of his existence.

But Picard soon finds himself with little time to worry about Baldwin's problems. For the U.S.S. Enterprise™. has suddenly become a strange and dangerous place -- a ship where assassins lurk in every corner, and even old trusted friends are not what they seem. Threats all masterminded by the strangest race of aliens Picard and his crew have yet encountered...

Genres: Star Trek, Science Fiction, Star Trek The Next Generation, Fiction, Media Tie In, Science Fiction Fantasy, Fantasy

244 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published July 1, 1991

About the author

Mel Gilden is the author of many children's books, some of which received rave reviews in such places as School Library Journal and Booklist. His multi-part stories for children appeared frequently in the Los Angeles Times. His popular novels and short stories for grown-ups have also received good reviews in the Washington Post and other publications. (See new publications under his name at the Kindle Store of Amazon.com.)
Licensed properties include adaptations of feature films, and of TV shows such as Beverly Hills, 90210; and NASCAR Racers. He has also written books based on video games and has written original stories based in the Star Trek universe. His short stories have appeared in many original and reprint anthologies.
He has written cartoons for TV, has developed new shows, and was assistant story editor for the DIC television production of The Real Ghostbusters. He consulted at Disney and Universal, helping develop theme park attractions. Gilden spent five years as co-host of the science-fiction interview show, Hour-25, on KPFK radio in Los Angeles.
Gilden lectures to school and library groups, and has been known to teach fiction writing. He lives in Los Angeles, California, where the debris meets the sea, and still hopes to be an astronaut when he grows up.

Reviews

[Jerry (Rebel With a Massive Media Library) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Different than usual for this series...but I enjoyed it!

[Nico · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay so the writing and lack of editing was atrocious . It physically injured me. However, the plot was pretty good, so it kept me until the end. I bought this when I was like 12 or 13, and then never read it. I found it buried in a bookshelf in my basement and read it for the hell of it (also because I'm on a Star Trek kick, so sue me). Like I said, there were an exceptional amount of mistakes in here, some of which were so blatantly obvious (calling women 'he' several times throughout the book [and I don't mean like a ma'am/sir thing]) I literally shared them with my sister and Mom at the dinner table. We're an odd family... Moving on. I'm not saying all grammar and spelling mistakes are forbidden, and that I never make any because God knows I do. However, when I'm speaking, it's not going to be published (I assume). Also, I'm allowed. I have brain damage (your argument is invalid HA).

The plot was decent, if not a little repetitive. I am one of the few human beings who actually love Wesley (and Wil Wheaton, Wil Wheaton's AWESOME, man...). My sister and I are constantly having to defend ourselves and prove our sanity. I don't like him near the beginning of the series (the episode where his nanites got loose and nearly destroyed the ship? I mean COME ON.) but as he grew out of his teenage male testosterone-filled self, I really came to love him and he's definitely up there in my list of favourite TNG characters. My point to this is that since this book was mostly based around him, that, as well as the 'keeps you guessing and can take any which direction it chooses' plot kept me reading to the very end.

Ultimately, if you can put up with annoying writing style and editing, it's definitely worth reading.

[Camille · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh Wesley Crusher, your anxiety, curiosity and intelligence will destroy The Enterprise one day, I swear!

The crew is faced with the two separate dilemmas which suddenly become mixed together. Will they survive? Will the Enterprise be destroyed? Did Troi really come up with the solution? Is Beverly going to hook up with the Captain towards the end? My friends, you will all find out if you read it...

Ok, ok, this is NOT the greatest TNG novel, nor is it the worst. It's pretty average on the cusps of being slightly bad. It starts pretty well, but towards the end of the novel the events get more and more ridiculous. I already mentally giggled every time Captain Picard said the word "boogeymen."

[Nadienne Williams · Rating 2 out of 5]

My prediction was wrong...

...but anyway...so, Ensign Wesley "I just took the training wheels off my bicycle" Crusher feels bad because he doesn't think he's fit to command a starship with the cool confidence of Capt. Picard (keep in mind, per the novels, Picard is in his mid-60s), even though Picard has 50+ years of experience, that doesn't matter to Wesley. If you don't know if you can command people to their deaths at the ripe old age of 16 then what good are you? So, after seeking some advice he's told about the "command training programs" on the holodeck. So, Wesley heads on down and gives it a try...

...after one, literally one, scenario, he determines that he will never actually be challenged by the computer, for it can only draw upon known enemies who use known tactics, and Wesley, with his days of experience, who laughs at the ineptitude of Sun Zu, and who laments much like Alexander the Great that there are no more worlds to conquer, sets out to create an opponent capable of defeating Data, oh wait, I'm sorry, that was from a far superior episode of TNG...Wesley sets out to create an entirely new and original race of aliens who are the very best, like no one ever was...After learning about his newfound love of command program training, Picard and Data both decide to tag along and serve as crewmembers for the god-like Captain Crusher...

...coincidentally, Picard has a friend and fellow archaeologist aboard who wants to erase himself from all Federation records because all sorts of nefarious people want to kill him for dubious reasons. I mean, he sounds like Indiana Jones...and he contributes his findings to museums instead of selling them to the highest bidder, like Exogeni Corp, or Interplanetary Expeditions (10 points if you get those references), so people want to kill him...I guess...I mean, I'm not sure why that's a thing...both in the money-free Federation, or in just like reality: "Damn that archaeologist for not selling me pottery!!! I must resort to murder..." ...and he also stumbles across an alien race that exists as energy within crystals on their homeworld, which of course means that they can equally exist as computer programs...

...so combine computer programs with Wesley's super-enemy (the eponymous Boogeymen - who are pretty much like Gremlins), and the hijinks and hilarity ensue.

As they traipse through the various holodeck simulations, they enter a Dixon Hill program with a super-hot woman (Picard says so) and he ensures that he remembers it so that he can meet her later...

...so later, after the crisis is resolves, Picard dons his Dixon Hill outfit and heads to the holodeck to run the story with the aforementioned super-hot woman, but then Dr. Beverly Cock-Block shows up and says she heard about the holodeck seductress and put a note in the computer to notify her if Picard made himself a Dixon Hill outfit...and Picard laments that he won't be able to get to "know" this woman with Dr. Cock-Block around...so, I'm guessing Picard means "know" in the biblical sense...

...anyway, this story was awful. And, I'm not sure where the tone is supposed to be. The story is essentially like Young Adult Trek with nothing being too serious and Wesley being the star...but the description of most women is hyper-sexualized...so...I'm lost...

Don't read this...it has no redeeming qualities. And you'll scream at the book every time the author calls a commbadge an insignia - because he does...a lot...like all the time..."he used his insignia"..."she brought her hand up to her insignia"..."his insignia beeped at him"....AAAaaaaa!!!

Oh, oh, oh...and the program/energy aliens kidnap humanoids, render them unconscious, presumably forever, and utilize them as nothing more than tools to power their Flight of the Navigator starships - achieving warp speed without warp drives...and Picard dreamily ponders how noble these aliens are and how great an achievement it will be when the Federation finally obtains this technology...

Wait, what?!? So, enslavement of people to go fast without an engine is good?!?!?

[Evelien Verbestel · Rating 2 out of 5]

My God this was something else for real.
I can't get over the fact that there was so little editing and proofreading here, I stopped counting the errors after a while because there where so many. I am no spelling expert either but you would expect more from a published book don't you think? Mistakes like calling male characters she/her, repeating words where they should not have been repeated, sentences that do not make any sense. I felt myself get a little dumber with every page. Mistakes are human but please proofread your manuscript before publishing.

Moving on. The overall story wasn't bad, I could see where it was going.
But. There is a but. But the execution could have been better. To me it felt like I was reading a fan fiction written by a teen who didn't see the whole series. Many of our beloved characters acted very out of their character, it was hard to empathize with them. As well as the made up technology names that are never used in Star Trek.
The story also tried to focus to much on Wesley Crusher. I already don't like Wesley but damn did this book make me hate him even more. He was so whiny and and unlikable, it was so obvious that the writer tried to put him on the foreground but in doing so he made 'Captain' Wesley an annoying little jerk. Excuse the language but I have a passionate hate for him.

As for the ending that so miraculously came out of the mind of Troi, it didn't really do anything for me. It felt forced and made me think that the writer just wanted this book to end. The rushed pace of this book made the overall story kind of confusing as well. Luckily it was a fast read and I am glad it's over.
Giving it two stars since I did enjoy some parts and that it read somewhat smoothly. But all in all not worth it.

[Taaya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Besser als die vorigen, aber zu viel Action auf zu wenig Erklärung oder sonstiger Handlung. Es fühlte sich an, als würde das gesamte Buch nur aus Notfällen bestehen, und dann auch noch so gehetzt, dass man die Orientierung verlor, wer gerade warum wo ist. Zum Beispiel war Picard in der Krankenstation und sprach mit Crusher, war dann kurz ... wo anders, obwohl nicht gesagt wurde, wo, und war dann ohne Grund gleich wieder auf der Krankenstation. Das kann ein Fehler des Lektorats sein, der dann bei der Übersetzung einfach übernommen wurde. Aber dieses Hin und Her zieht sich durchs halbe Buch. Und das einzige bisschen Einsicht in die Charaktere, die wir dadurch mal kriegen, ist, wenn Wesley oder Picard sich in Selbstmitleid suhlen.

Wenn man wenigstens die erste Hälfte, um das Holodeck-Programm auf ein Minimum gekürzt hätte ...

Aber diesmal halt wirklich nur ein Plot, der mir von Aufmachung und Inhalt her nicht gefällt. Die Charaktere sind einigermaßen getroffen, keine herausragenden Ableismen, Rassismen oder Sexismen. Damit bisher das beste, der frühen TNG-Werke, die ich bis hierhin gelesen habe.

Edit: Nur, was ist es mit der Annahme, dass alle in Starfleet eines Tages Captain sein wollen oder werden? Ich seh Wesley jetzt nicht als Sesselpupser mit Administrationspflichten und es kommt mir merkwürdig vor, dass keiner ihm sagt 'Junge, entspann dich, du kannst auch einfach im Wissenschaftszweig bleiben und bist damit nicht weniger wert'.

[Reesha · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was disappointed by this one. It started off so interesting, with a new species using unfathomable technology, who I couldn't wait to learn about. Then the story took a swerve into a very childish "holodeck malfunction" plot that had a completely different tone and was a real let-down. At the end, it was all ostensibly pulled back together, but by then, it was far too late to recover the wonder from the beginning. I was just ready to get the story over with already.

All the original characters fell very flat for me, as well. At no point was I genuinely convinced that Picard's "old school chum" was actually a friend of his at all. Speaking of Picard, he was so weirdly out of character at some points that I thought we were meant to believe Wesley was dreaming. But nope.

One character popped up halfway through the story, despite having apparently been on the ship the whole time, just to be mysterious and cause trouble.

The sad part is, I actually love holodeck malfunction stories. A Fistful of Datas, Ship in a Bottle, Our Man Bashir — they're some of my favourite episodes! I might have found even this one at least so-so if I hadn't been teased with an excellent mystery in the beginning. It feels like it would have been better if the two stories would have been told in separate, unrelated novels, so the truly fascinating new species could have been explored more fully.

It's 2 stars from me.

[RougeMyst · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of it felt like there was no editing, lots of spelling and grammar issues detracted from the story. The plot was Good but not great, and personally the story went slowly at times. Plot wise it felt almost like what they wanted to do with that Barclay episode where he accidentally activates the Moriaty program, Y’know, the holographic guy who was created by Pulaski’s ignorance with words way back in season 2? 4 stars is about right for it.

[Nicolas · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think the author did a noble job of trying to rehabilitate the character of Wesley Crusher, but it didn't change the fact that I was reading a book about Wesley Crusher.

For more on this, tune in to my special interview with author Mel Gilden for the All the Books Show: https://soundcloud.com/allthebooks/ep...

[Emi Jerome · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm almost certain that this book didn't go through any kind of editing process. Few of the crew were in character, the plot was incoherent, and there were atrocious grammar mistakes throughout the 50 pages that I was able to stomach. As an avid Next Gen fan, I couldn't handle how poorly this was written.

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 1 out of 5]

A TNG novel so bland & beige that I could barely make it to the finish line. There are things that occur in this book, events that take place...yet why did I have the feeling as I was (barely) reading it that absolutely nothing was happening?

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't really like this book. And the reasons are kind of stupid and not really important. One of the reasons is they called the communicators, insignia. And counselor troi was the one that came up with the simple engineering solution to the virus

[Benjamin Plume · Rating 2 out of 5]

The character bits worked, but for me the plot left something to be desired. The combo of a “holodeck gone wrong” story and an “unexplored part of the brain” trope was just a bit much, coupled with the strange aliens that I think I would have liked without all the rest.

[Bradley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun solid read. Enjoyed it. =)

[Octavia Cade · Rating 1 out of 5]

There's no getting round it. This is a Wesley Crusher story and I can't fucking stand Wesley Crusher. My sister and I used to watch The Next Generation when we were kids, and we'd heard there were badges out there that said "Nuke Wesley" and we wanted some. Badly. (How is it that the show-runners did so badly with him, where only several years later Jake Sisko was such a well-written, well-rounded kid? Whatever caused the learning curve for character among the show's staff, good.)

In this book, Wesley is convinced he needs holodeck training to better his chances of being captain one day, so he programmes a made-up species of opponent, because none of the Federation races are challenging enough for his special self, big-headed brat that he is. The result is the Boogeymen of the title, childhood fears of his that manifest in irritating ways. (At one point the Boogeymen turn into ninja and kidnap him. It's exactly as ridiculous as it sounds.) And the holodeck malfunctions, as it always fucking does - and I dislike malfunctioning holodeck stories, if only half as much as I dislike Wesley Crusher, so this book is the perfect storm of suck for me - and of course "Captain" Crusher has to step up, and if only he'd fallen down a turbolift shaft instead.

I do appreciate that Troi steals Wesley's thunder in the end by coming up with a solution so simple that the paperclip mascot from Microsoft Word could have thought of it, but it is nowhere near enough for me to tolerate the rest of the book. And look, if I were indifferent to Wesley this still wouldn't be a story that appealed to me - it would likely only rate two stars - but as I said: I can't stand him. I really can't.

[Frank Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Some good points, some bad points. Oh, but it all works out." - 'Cities' by Talking Heads

This book is a mad, mad holodeck adventure and I thought it did a fair job of emulating this type of episode. It was wild and fun but tried to maintain a core lesson... That experience is the best way to learn.

I've grown to love holodeck episodes over the years. When I first watched TNG/DS9/VOY these episodes used to irk me but the more I've come to know the Starfleet crews the more fun they've seemed. Perhaps as I've grown up I've realised the important character building and concept testing that they provided.

There's a reference to the Trill with a description that is light years off what we know about them but that's excusable since they were a very underdeveloped concept during TNG.

I'm a pro-Wesley Trekkie and I didn't mind the objective he was driven by in this story but I thought he was both unnecessarily dismissive of the potential for the existing holodeck command program and unnecessarily exaggerating the difficulty of creating Boogeymen.

The term exologist seemed like a misspelling of exobiologist but I really didn't care about any other grammatical issues.

This was a fun story that I thought would easily fit in with other TNG episodes.

[Solitudes · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was really good. One of the best I've read so far from TNG novels. Despite being a Wesley-centered book, Wesley is not the usually annoying guy and in fact, is not even the usually Wesley from other books and especially from the TV series. Even if almost all the mess is caused by him. The plot is kinda familiar to anyone who knows Star Trek and especially TNG: there is a new program in the holodeck, things go south, Enterprise is almost destroyed because the holodeck stuff takes over the ship. But the plot was good, I enjoyed it despite being familiar and the only fact that made me raise an eyebrow was that the Ensign Crusher never heard of Kobayashi Maru which I hope was just an error from the author. A fact that was indeed funny was the saving of Enterprise came in the end from Deanna, the last person you would expect to give a solution when computers, softs, and technical stuff are involved and this is, even more, funnier considering that Wesley did almost nothing to save the ship. So, overall, a nice entertaining book, funny now and there, easy to read, almost no techno-bubble, quick-paced action and really good for some quality reading time.

[Charles Nye · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a fine book. That's precisely what I mean, too. This book was just fine. I am a fan of the series and the book served nicely as a sort of inserted episode in the early seasons. Some of the voices and characterizations seemed a bit off, but perhaps I'm not being fair to the author. The book was written 4 years into the series and as an audience we have seen the characters develope quite a bit further. The plot didn't develope quite like I thought it would. The phrase from the jacket, " - a ship where assassins lurk around every corner", well that just isn't the case. Still, it's always nice to spend time with beloved characters. Wesley shines pretty nicely here. And it is a quick read. I say if you are a die hard fan, jump right in and enjoy!

[Joachim Sjöqvist · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed Boogeymen! Mel Gilden understands the Star Trek cast completely.

Boogeymen is a funny, silly little adventure that becomes more serious and complicated later on. We get to see the Kobayashi Maru scenario again with Wesley Crusher at the forefront. We experience a little of Dixie Hill. People are nice to eachother and it overall gives a feelgood-style that I haven't seen in a Trek book as of yet.

Really good. It was also hilarious to read about a holodeck program going haywire, and the solution is to overload the "game" with more characters appearing at the same time. It's such a 90's problem with a 90's solution. Crashing the game with a memory overload lol.

[Douglas · Rating 3 out of 5]

The tag line ("Wesley's childhood fears come to life...and take over the U.S.S. Enterprise! is ridiculous. And that's a pretty fair assessment of the book as well. It was written three or four years after the show began so the universe was fairly well established by that point, but there's just a lot of little things that don't make sense and the characterizations are sometimes a little...off.

[Rooney · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two stars may actually be generous.

The writing is poor (it reads like a long-form secondary school English project), the characterisations are questionable, and the story is predictable. Plus, from the way it ignores previously established lore, I'm not convinced the author knows anything about the universe they're writing in.

Unless you're some kind of TNG completionist, I'd skip this one.

[Jay Wright · Rating 3 out of 5]

They meet an alien that can travel at warp speed without warp engines. It alludes the Enterprise. Later an old friend of Picard’s is taken aboard who is going on a sabbatical to right a report on the planet. Wesley is unsure whether he has what it takes to be an officer on a starship. He develops a program to run in the hollodeck to test himself with Picard’s permission. Picard and Data join him in the first use and the program infects the starship. A decent read but only average.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eek. This gave me nightmares. Technology run amuck is not my favorite trope. I like that it was finally a person who is not a nerd, who thought outside the box, who figured out the solution.

I'm also not sure why it was pretentious of Shubunkin to say "Anything not forbidden by the rules of the universe is eventually required."

[Perry Stewart · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mel Gilden broke into my home and whipped me repeatedly until I finished this.

Highlights:
- Character called Ensign Perry who lusts after Worf (she’s just like me fr)
- excessive ogling
- it ends with Picard intending to go and woo a holographic lady before he’s intercepted by Crusher - foul
- Wesley needs CBT or like self esteem coaching or something
- Data getting a cold
- Lt. Shubunkin

[Aaron Krell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would recommend this book to anyone who is a Star Trek fan.

What I like: I like how they added a level of terror, with a virus from the holedeck taking over the ship.

What I don't like: There isn't really anything I didn't like about this book, other than the ship thinking that the program is still running, because of the virus that took over.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kind of a run of the mill Wesley-centric story. I liked how they were able to solve the story but nothing really seemed too original here as this always seemed to be a fall-back story on TNG. Still enjoyed it though.

[I B Broome · Rating 3 out of 5]

A competant read.
A first contact situation,a shady xenobiologist and Wesley`s insecurities result in a holodeck malfuction hat afeect the whole of the USS Enterprise. Characterisation is good especially between Picard and Beverley.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

This read like an early season episode. Good but not great

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unterhaltsam, aber irgendwie auch erzwungen. Daher nur drei Sterne

[Doreen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I agree with others... very poor editing... the story seems to warp from A to Z...