Mike Lisanke’s Reviews > Star Trek 4 > Status Update

A piece of the action is Classic Star Trek OS and another absolute favorite of mine. I only disliked a few episodes (like that friendly angel crap)... and had many favorites but most Star Trek in every episode had some redemption... so I can't image there's be any of Blish's books I'll dislike.

I think Spock's explanation that Vulcans Can Lie and do as necessary... and why... is New in the book 4 version. I'd have to look back to see. The whole story now seems very familiar as I both read book 1 version and recently seen this episode of ST:OS.

Note: It's important to remember that Blish's Star Trek novelizations were published between 1967 and 1977, a period when the concept of franchise "canon" was less rigidly defined than it is today.

Collaboration: Blish was known to have been ill at times, and his wife, J.A. Lawrence, and mother-in-law assisted with the writing, sometimes without credit. This could have led to a less centralized approach to organizing the adaptations, potentially causing a re-release or restructuring of existing material.

Early Drafts: Blish worked from early drafts of scripts, and the content of his novelizations sometimes differed from the final aired versions of the episodes. It's possible that the initial version of the story he received was significantly different, leading to it being perceived as a different entry or needing a separate adaptation.
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I ask google ai about the repeat and it says...James Blish did not explain the placement of "The Enterprise Incident" in book 4 when it had appeared in book 1 of his Star Trek novelizations.
However, some factors might shed light on this discrepancy:
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Did the author get tired? And copy a story from book 1 to book 4. Why do this? Why not wait until you have the energy to write the next story?

I've never liked the Menagerie ST story and still don't... it was better in the episode because they'd allowed the invalid Pike interact with the Court Marshal of Spock and Pike's return to Talos. But the entire well meaning aliens with mind-control (even from a distance) made the story line stupid; why can't they negotiate for people who'd like to repopulate a planet which the aliens would assist in managing?

I love the Devil in the Dark story and this author's version is excellent with high fidelity to the original episode.

Devil in the Dark is one of my favorites! I'll let review readers know how well this author does with the story per my fond memories.