How Much for Just the Planet?

I was recommended this book - the only Trek novelisation in my collection, honest! - by a friend who told me that it was a fine comic novel that just happened to be set in the Star Trek universe. And she was right! From the opening, where the chief Trek characters are summarised by their breakfast habits ("Bones McCoy was NOT a morning person."), through encounters with Klingons who are not, for a change, cardboard cut-outs, the whole thing rewards the reader with a sense that this is what the Star Trek universe would probably be like to live in - about as daft under the surface as our own.

The ending is perhaps the weakest part of the novel, with a sequence of increasing silliness which British readers of A Certain Age will immediately show more recognise as a Brian Rix farce (a species of innocuous sex comedy which inevitably ends with various characters rushing from room to room in a house or hotel without any trousers on).

This novel must have been sufficiently liked by those writing for Trek as one incident in it appears in an episode of The Next Generation - I'll leave it to dedicated Trekkers to decide what and where (clue - it's not one of the funny bits). The late John M Ford was one of America's less-recognised sf and fantasy authors. On the strength of this book, he merits further examination. show less

Weird, weird Star Trek book in which the Enterprise contingent and some Klingons attempt to convince the inhabitants of a dilithium-rich planet that their respective governments would be the better choice for developing mining rights on the planet (under the Organian Peace Treaty, see). Too bad the natives would rather lead the whole lot through a comedy routine to exasperate them to the point of agreeing to natives' terms outright rather than going a couple of rounds with the diplomats. It's absurd, and I think it's good absurd. It's just . . . I prefer my absurdity on a bed of reality (think Wodehouse), and this was a little too . . . absurdity on a bed of crazy leaf with a side of crack juice for me.

Only John M. Ford has so far managed to write a SF vaudeville spoof that I've enjoyed. I like vaudeville, and I like SF, but dear gods those things together go strangely in my head. Nevertheless, this book excels at the whole thing, and does a slapstick take on Star Trek I find to be quite charming, especially in contrast with his other works. Really well executed.

In the High and Far-off Days, O Best Beloved, when authors could play with their Trek commisions, John M Ford showed how it could be done. Inflatable starships, a milkshake dispenser gone horribly wrong, and a cast of hundreds whose sole aim is to keep the Federation and the Klingon Empire entertained and annoted in equal measure.

At first, I was helplessly confused by all the silliness in this story. When I got to the untangling and the explanation, I laughed with delight. "I get it - wow, clever idea!" Overblown, perhaps, but I did enjoy seeing these oh-so-important and sacred characters look so foolish.

Some of the humor is growing obscure with age, but it's still the cleverest fan-fiction out there and a good laugh for anyone who enjoyed the fourth original series movie (same pace, perhaps even more hijinks).

I've enjoyed John M Ford's books before, but for whatever reason, this one never quite landed for me despite multiple attempts. Got more than half way through the book and kept setting it aside, picking it up again, only to find I still wasn't getting engaged with the plot or his versions of the characters. Such is life. Just not sticking for me right now.