Star Trek: CineMcCollough

Now, at last, we reach the Season 2 Finale, which finishes off the first half of our FIFTY BOOK mission through the Pocket Books Universe - what we call Is That a Trek in Your Pocket? -- before we begin the cruise through the second half we will take up the lone book by author Sonni Cooper (who was a name of note within the early Star Trek fandom, being part of the community that kept that fandom alive with newsletters and conventions and other such activities). Her contribution is the novel "Black Fire," which was published in January 1983.If you wondered how everyone's favorite Vulcan, Spock (yes, this IS a Spock-centric novel, as was inevitably the case for someone so involved in early Trek fandom) can go from first officer on the Enterprise to court martialed to prison to escapee from prison to pirate to subcommander in the Romulan Star Empire, all in one single novel, then buckle your seat belts (if your vessel as them) and prepare for quite a journey - albeit one that may strain credulity a bit.Who WOULDN'T want to see what Spock looks like as a pirate, am I right? Well let's see what Rob and Butch think. Then leave us a review and settle in for some well-deserved down time as they produce more content for your listening pleasure.

One last brief bit of shore leave to take care of before we get to our final mission of Season 2... and that mission takes us back to the Peter Pan Audio and Book collection of stories from the 1970s for the fifth episode of that series, the 1975 short story "To Starve a Fleaver."Once again written by legendary author Alan Dean Foster, you can probably tell from the title of this one that it is a play on words and provide an implication that someone will be scratching an itch at some point. A potential Federation application rides on this mission to Marpalou, and the denizens of that planet live in a symbiotic relationship with microscopic beings that live on their skin... and, unfortunately, now on the skin of our crew!Rob and Butch may or may not have gotten a chuckle out of this story - join us for one last bit of shore leave and find out!

The big stop on our final shore leave of Season 2 of our Star Trek novels multi-year mission takes us to Camp Khitomer and the last best chance for galactic peace - aka the 1991 theatrical release "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country."The final film featuring all of the main cast from the original Star Trek, the cast literally 'signs off' right before the opening credits... but first this is a great allegorical tale of the end of our own Cold War back in the early 1990s, as told through the Klingons coming to grips with the fact that they can no longer maintain the arms race with the Federation. Treachery, assassination, mind-rape, and a Klingon Bird of Prey that can fire while cloaked are the setting for a terrific movie!Rob and Butch could talk about it all day long, but you probably don't have more than three hours for it, so we will keep it close to that.

One last shore leave before our Season 2 finale, this one is a three-parter, starting with the fourth episode of the Peter Pan Records Star Trek book-and-audio series. Released in 1975 and coming in at a breezy 16 minutes, "The Time Stealer" was written by Cary Bates and Neal Adams.This short adventure has the crew experiencing time distortions (nothing new there) only to find that the source might be a pair of battling wizards, or it may be a weird structure called a Gola, or it might be something else. All we know is that 16 minutes is not very long to try to find out!

We have revisited many novels in the Pocket Universe of Star Trek about which Rob and Butch remember very little from their first time reading them forty-or-so years ago. But today's novel is one that both Butch and Rob remember pretty well, and found that they still enjoyed it quite a lot. Ah, the bittersweet tinge of nostalgia.Written by Brad Ferguson (his first of two TOS novels for Pocket Books, though the second falls outside of the first 50), "Crisis on Centaurus" was published in March 1986, so we might have picked it up at the Waldenbooks at the mall on the first time we drove a car to the mall rather than rode our 10-speeds. It tells the story of a terror attack on Earth's closest celestial neighbor, Centaurus, which is part of the Alpha Centauri-Beta Centauri-Proxima Centauri trinary star system. Turns out that is where Kirk and Bones first met, where Kirk owns the property he plans to someday retire to, and is the current assignment of McCoy's daughter, Joanna... a character that (in script form if not on screen) goes back to the TOS television series!Come listen to Butch and Rob wax nostalgic during today's mission report!

Despite the fact that there are two more movies that released during the run of first 50 Pocket Books Star Trek novels, today's random selection, "Star Trek III: The Search for Spock," is the last we will be visiting in our 50-planet mission, as the ST-IV and ST-V novelizations, while published, are not part of the numbered list of novels.Written once again by Vonda N. McIntyre, and published June 1984 in conjunction with the release of the film in theaters, Star Trek III provides additional juicy details on subjects touched on by the TWOK novelization, continuing to run with the idea that Saavik was not full Vulcan but rather half-Vulcan and half-Romulan. It also more than intimates that Saavik saved young, resurrected Spock from the ravages of Pon Farr. Plus, if you were wondering what happened with Carol Marcus after TWOK, here is your chance to find out, but don't get too excited about it. We even follow Scotty to Scotland to break the news about his deceased nephew to his sister!Rob and Butch are DEFINITELY on different sides of the fence on this novel - give us a listen to find out how... and leave a review while you're there!

We finish off Diane Duane's contribution to the first 50 Pocket Books Star Trek novels today with "The Wounded Sky," released in December of 1983. Like a Romulan Sandwich, the fourth novel and the first we reviewed (Doctor's Orders) are not Romulan-centric, while the other two are quintessential Romulan adventures.You will see echoes of some familiar televised Star Trek adventures, particularly in TNG - as we come across a Federation engineer who is about as alien as a corporeal being can get, one who has developed a new form of travel that will allow instant transport across VAST distances. Question is, what is the cost, and will our heroes be able to get home?Come join Rob and Butch as they take a journey to 'where no one has gone before!'

Well we were bound to roll #1 at some point and today our mission takes us to the first cinematic Star Trek adventure, "Star Trek the Motion Picture." Released in December 1979, essentially at the same time as the film itself, the book is a fascinating look into the earlier version of what the movie was supposed to be - PLUS it has the added bonus of being a look inside of the mind of the Great Bird of the Galaxy himself - Gene Roddenberry - as the aforementioned Great Bird wrote the book himself!Roddenberry's novelization fleshes out a great number of things that are introduced in the movie but not adequately explained - such as background on the Deltans, marriage contracts in the 23rd century, and a number of sexual proclivities of our characters. Suffice to say, had THAT all been in the movie it would NOT have been rated G.But how does one compare a novelization of a cinematic movie to novels made out of whole cloth? And how will it compare to OTHER novelizations of other movies? You know how to find out...

If you have ever wondered whether Star Trek has done a vampire story, hold on to your horse, my friends, because author J.M. Dillard is about to go gothic on our good ship and crew. This is Dillard's second novel we've reviewed out of three that she wrote for the first 50 Pocket novels, released December 1987, and finds the crew investigating a failed expedition that was studying life prolongation research (stop us if you have heard THAT before on Star Trek) and learns the hard way that some in Starfleet will stop at nothing to get their hands on that research.Does Star Trek work as a vampire story, or vice versa? Don't ask us... well, actually, ask us and listen in to our review!

Two of the most prolific Star Trek writers contribute today's Pocket Books mission to our Pocket Treks... Garfield and Judith Reeves-Stevens, a married couple of science fiction authors, had already contributed two hardcover novels to the Star Trek universe before today's numbered adventure, "Memory Prime," which was released in October 1988.One of the Stevens' strong points as storytellers is to blend prior plot points into new adventures, and this is no exception. Mostly a callback to "The Lights of Zetar" (where we see the Federation's then-flagship knowledge database, Memory Alpha), this has our heroes journeying to that facility's replacement, the impressive Memory Prime, built to be incredibly durable and protected deep in an asteroid. The question is whether it can survive a Vulcan terrorist group?Join Butch and Rob as they discuss Memory Prime and see if you agree with their analysis!

For the second half of our season 2 third quarter shore leave, we are going to THAT one - yes, that is right, we are going to bite the bullet and set course for the center of the galaxy to encounter God, or whatever else we might find there. Today, we set course for "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier."Released in 1989, the fifth cinematic movie in the franchise had quite a lot of momentum behind it, having completed its most successful box office movie the last time out, and trading out one series star (Nimoy) for the other (Shatner) in the director chair, based on Shatner's own story idea. But, as is fairly commonly known, this movie did NOT achieve the high expectations of its predecessor, instead seeming to validate the 'odd number movie curse' and leave fans disappointed.There IS a lot to chew on - Spock has a secret half-brother, the navigator gets lost at Yosemite Park, Uhura performs a naked fan dance in the desert... Romulans and Klingons and a cat woman (oh myyyyy). But the general consensus is that the movie is not equal to the sum of its parts. And yet, there is an old Klingon proverb - like pizza, even bad Star Trek is still Star Trek, meaning that it beats eating white bean soup or cucumber sandwiches. Turns out that Rob and Butch really enjoyed watching the 4-K release a couple years ago, so give this a listen and see if you agree or if we can persuade you to agree with us.

Well, it is time for shore leave again, so we are taking our quick stop at the third Peter Pan Records audio-and-book adventure from the mid-1970s, "The Crier in Emptiness." Once again penned by Alan Dean Foster, this short Trek has the ship encounter an area of space where music pervades the entire ship at all times... what could it be? Enlisting the help of Lt. Connors, and his Edoian Elisiar (some far-our keyboard type thing) they will try to solve the mystery.This is a nice short story, as are all the Peter Pan Records adventures - and as usual, the accompanying comic gets some details very wrong (portraying Lt. Uhura as a blonde woman and Lt. Sulu as a Black man in blue uniform), but this one in particular feels like they could've made a series episode out of the story idea.But if you want the full scoop, you gotta give it a listen, friends.

While we here at CineMcCollough are proud of our strategy of random selection and review of the first fifty Pocket Books novels, it DOES have its drawbacks... take today's adventure, for example, where the dice of destiny selected "Time For Yesterday" by A.C. Crispin... which, while it is a sequel to the TOS third season (underrated) episode All Our Yesterdays, it is not a DIRECT sequel, because Crispin had an EARLIER novel that sets up THIS one, "Yesterday's Son" - which, because of the Dice of Death, we have not yet reviewed.So, this IS a bit awkward, but a strategy is a strategy, so we are sticking to it. If you are not familiar, in the TOS episode on which this is based, McCoy and Spock travel back in time on the planet Sarpeidon, soon to be destroyed by a supernova, and encounter the mysterious and beautiful Zarabeth, a political prisoner exiled to a frozen wasteland. We the reader are encouraged to, shall we say, fill in some gaps from that episode, and learn that Zarabeth gave birth to Spock's son at some point thousands of years ago... and that son went on (presumably in the first book) to become a king or chieftain in ancient Sarpeidon.But NOW, we learn that the Guardian of Forever (from the rightfully celebrated episode The City on the Edge of Forever) is malfunctioning, and Spock and Kirk both know that, for whatever reason, Spock's son on ancient Sarpeidon may be the only one that can fix it... so off to Planet Gateway to travel back for a family reunion!If the above doesn't make a ton of sense, don't fear, the book does a better job explaining things, for the most part. Give us a listen, then give it a read - or do it in the opposite order, if you like!

Today's mission takes us to a novel published May 1985 and featuring something that, when I first saw it, I admit I scoffed at the idea. "Ishmael" by Barbara Hambly (who will go on to write two more Trek novels) tells the story of Spock being lost in time as a Klingon ship he has secretly infiltrated suddenly disappears - seemingly from existence - only to have Spock arrive in the Pacific Northwest of Earth in the 19th century frontier era!It turns out that the Klingons are trying to do here what the Romulans tried to do a few novels ago in "Killing Time" and the Borg tried to do in "Star Trek: First Contact" -- but how can Enterprise both intervene AND save Spock? Does Spock even need saving? And is all this worth the trip back in time?You know the deal - tune in, turn on and drop a review and find out!

On today's mission we really DO go where no one has gone before, as we join the crew in progress when they encounter a gravitational anomaly that, seemingly without warning, transports the Enterprise to another galaxy. In "Chain of Attack," prolific Trek author Gene DeWeese (in their first Trek novel) leads the ship to the center of a conflict that is seemingly centuries old, leaving them to try to survive, and also to try to solve the conflict once and for all, and (perhaps most importantly) to figure out how to get back home!Click PLAY to hear what we have to say - but we want to hear from you as well - leave us a LIKE and SUBSCRIBE.

Our next mission finds Rob and Butch running things back to the good ol' days of the Journey to Bantam, as Bantam Books alums Sondra Marshak and Myrna Culbreth (of the Phoenix novel fame) try their hand at a Trek story NOT involving the baddest man in the galaxy, Omne. Instead, this March 1982 novel goes metaphysical with us, as our crew meets a group of super-powerful, otherworldly entities that may or may not be responsible for a wave of violence that seems to be threatening the existence of intelligent life in the galaxy.If that does not strike your fancy, we also meet a legendary Vulcan (still alive) and get the full Myrna and Sondra treatment of the deification of Spock as a contender for the greatest in the galaxy.Give us a listen, and a like, and maybe even a review!

Writer John Ford brings us the first of his two Pocket Books Star Trek novels today, "The Final Reflection." First published in May 1984, this is really a book-within-a-book, as it opens and closes with Captain Kirk reading a brand-new novel that is taking his crew by storm... a novel about a mythological Klingon hero, allegedly written by a famous Human ambassador as his firsthand account.If you are reading that paragraph and wondering what it is like to read a book-within-a-book, well, it is weird. The entire story within has nothing whatsoever to do with our good ship and crew Enterprise, though we DO meet a teenage Spock and his parents at an ambassadorial function, and we even meet Dr. McCoy's father. But mostly what we get is a working history of the Klingon people, and a detailed look at their culture, beliefs, and practices. Of course, Star Trek would mostly go its own way in later years with the Klingons, but some of what is here ended up in the mix, and what didn't get picked up is kind of fun to think about.What you will think about this book is dependent on whether you can overlook the absurd book-in-book premise and whether your enjoyment can overcome absence of the familiar. Find out what Rob and Butch thought with a download and leave us a review!

Back on our "Is That a Trek in Your Pocket" mission for lucky number thirteen... the one where Spock has a great fall and suffers a traumatic brain injury. "Mindshadow" was published on January 1986 and was written by J.M. Dillard, aka Jeanne Kalogridis. It is our first time picking one of her books, but there are three in the first 50 Pocket books... and she wrote the novelizations for the next six movie adaptations following Star Trek IV.The mystery deepens when our heroes start to wonder whether Spock's injuries are due to an accident or... a Romulan plot?Let's just say that Butch and Rob disagree on whether this is a good or a mediocre novel... tune in and find out who is on which side!

For our cinematic stop on this shore leave, we go back to when Rob and Butch were high school juniors and living a state apart (after Rob moved to Wenatchee, Washington) - arguably the most successful TOS theatrical release, the 1986 trilogy-ending "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home."Once again directed by Leonard Nimoy, this time he has to direct HIMSELF on screen for quite a bit of the action. And action it is, at least in terms of filmmaking, as much of this film was shot on location in and around the city of San Francisco, which in Star Trek lore is the future home of Starfleet Command and the Starfleet Academy. Turns out yet another probe is threatening Earth, except this time what it wants is to talk to some humpback whales - only problem is, they are extinct! So TO THE TIME TRAVEL!Often considered the best or second best of the TOS movies, ST-IV is literally Butch's vanity license plate (which is an Oregon plate featuring whales) -- but what do our hosts think of this movie? You KNOW you are curious...

For our second shore leave during our Season Two "Is That a Trek in Your Pocket" mission, we make another quick stop at the Peter Pan Records-and-Books series for the second short audio adventure "In Vino Veritas." Once again penned by Alan Dean Foster, this short adventure has Captain Kirk in negotiations for planetary mining rights with a Klingon AND a Romulan envoy... but what they did NOT expect is that there is an unexpected EXTRA negotiator for the Federation, who goes by the name of Jack Sprat - who is actually a notorious galactic trouble maker in disguise.We went into all of these Short Treks with an open mind, looking for story ideas that could have maybe worked as TOS episodes had things gone that direction. Wil this one pass muster in the minds of Butch and Rob?

Hey, guess who's back - yep... it is the Romulans, once again. Continuing their heavy presence in our mix of "Is That a Trek in Your Pocket?" so far, this novel is brought to us by Della Van Hise, in her only Star Trek novel (though she had published under other titles) and yet blends fairly seamlessly into the other Romulan adventures we have seen thus far.Van Hise creates a time-travel story in which the Romulan Empire has come up with a ploy to weaken the Federation sufficient to make them susceptible to invasion... once again the famous female Romulan commander from TOS is a part of the story... and (as we saw in "The Price of the Phoenix" Bantam novel) there may be some fan-fic shipper undertones as well.Butch and Rob are ready for duty - click PLAY and join us for a walk-through and review. And give us a review while you're at it!

We at CineMcCollough are off on another Pocket Trek adventure, this one from February of 1988 - "The IDIC Epidemic" by Jean Lorrah. We are off to a planet where countless races work side-by-side, including Humans and Klingons. Except something is terribly wrong - a new disease is taking down the population, AND it seems to be driven by EXACTLY the same concept of 'infinite diversity in infinite combination' that the planet is built upon.This is the first Jean Lorrah novel our Trek has taken us on, but there is one more, earlier one, awaiting us after this one. Lorrah also wrote two TNG novels, and submitted a story to the original Star Trek that was never produced.What will Butch and Lord Rob the Madness think of this novel? Only one way to find out - and hit LIKE and SUBSCRIBE and maybe leave us a review while you're at it?

Today's mission is a novel by one of Star Trek's most prolific novelists - Michael Jan Friedman, who has penned EIGHT TOS novels, and over 20 novels for other series (including an inexplicable TNG-X-Men crossover), all starting with this one, published April 1989.The one thing we have REALLY been missing (while not really missing it) since the end of our Journey to Bantam has been the propensity for novelists to employ body doubles of our main heroes - recall the first THREE Bantam books, and four overall, played with the idea of duplicates. This week's mission takes us back to a TOS episode as a place-setting, as a direct sequel to the first-season episode "What Are Little Girls Made Of?" and imagining that some of the androids survived and continue to seek replication and galactic conquest... with an ersatz Kirk leading the way (as originally planned).Fun set up, but can the author pull it off? Listen to Butch and Lord Rob to find out!

Having already delved quite deeply into Romulan stories so far in the Pocket Books mission (recall that all our selections are randomly chosen from the first 50 Pocket Books novels), we once again draw a Romulan mission, and once again one written by Diane Duane, our THIRD novel so far by that author. Today's mission is "The Romulan Way," (published August 1987) co-authored by both Diane Duane and her husband, fellow author Peter Morwood (who himself will write one of our fifty destinations on our Pocket Books mission). This book makes the fascinating decision to focus on Dr. Leonard McCoy - who finds himself a prisoner of the Star Empire and prisoner to the highest echelons of the Empire's military and political leadership.One of the most detailed accounts of the history of the Romulan people and the backstory of their connection to the Vulcans, this is a must-read for any Romulan fans out there.

From the frying pan into the ocean for this mission, as Enterprise is deployed to a diplomatic mission to Akkala - a world nearly entirely covered by oceans. Sent to help a struggling government protect itself from dissidents, our heroes uncover evidence that something might be rotten in Denmark, as it were.Written by Howard Weinstein, who, years earlier, had become the youngest writer ever to sell a story to Star Trek (the Animated series episode "The Pirates of Orion" in 1974 at age 19). Clearly a writer with an affinity for ocean life, he even received an official on-screen 'thank you' on the movie Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home."Deep Domain" is Weinstein's only Star Trek novel credit, published March 1987. He also co-wrote several novels in the V universe.Butch especially remembers reading this novel in study hall his junior year of high school? Do you remember this one? If so, give us a listen for a trip down memory lane!

Things are heating up in the galaxy in today's Pocket Books Star Trek novel, Barbara Paul's "The Three-Minute Universe" == her only Star Trek writing credit. It seems that there are inexplicable incursions of 'early universe' type space into regular space - you know, the kind just minutes after the Big Bang? Our good ship and crew are going to need to figure out what is going on and how to stop it... or, more accurately, who is behind it.Join Lord Rob and Butch as they investigate by downloading and listening to our podcast!

Looks like this is going to be an extended shore leave from the Pocket Books missions, as Rob and Butch take CineMcCollough to the middle of the franchise's movie trilogy - Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. Released in 1984, the third cinematic adventure in the Star Trek universe was a direct sequel to the wildly popular Wrath of Khan two years earlier... in fact, we pick up literally days after the events of that movie. Spock is dead, left on the Genesis planet unbeknownst to Kirk and the surviving crew. But part of Spock remains inside the mind of Dr. McCoy... can Kirk save them both, and how far will he go to do so?Often considered a victim of the supposed "odd numbered movie" curse of the Star Trek franchise, we collectively believe that TSFS gets a bad rap, while one of us considers the movie to be one of the top three in the franchise. Either way, it includes one of the single most poignant and important events in the history of the entire franchise - hey, if you know, you know.Give us a download and a listen and see what you think of our analysis!

For our first bonus episode of Season 2, we take some shore leave from our Pocket Treks to make a quick side trip to an almost-forgotten corner of 1970s Star Trek... the Peter Pan Records book-and-record adventures. There were eleven such adventures produced between 1975 and 1979 that were targeted toward young readers, featuring unknown voice actors filling in for the regular cast and producing a dramatic reading of short (10-20 minute) adventures in the Star Trek universe.We here at CineMcCollough (Lord Rob and Butch) were each given a record album containing three such adventures, of which today's "Passage to Moauv" was one, by our friend Dominic. As such, we decided to listen to, review, and rank all eleven adventures in turn."Passage to Moauv" was written by Alan Dean Foster, famous for his novelizations of the Star Trek Animated Series as well as novels in the Star Wars Universe. Foster wrote roughly half the stories. In this one, hijinx ensue when an ambassador's pet starts causing mayhem aboard the Enterprise.Butch and Rob will rank and evaluate all 11 Peter Pan Star Trek stories based on how well the story would have worked as a full episode of Star Trek. See if you agree with our analyses!

Having just posted the movie review for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan just a few days ago, today we roll and read and review the novelization of that movie, as written by Vonda N. McIntyre, who would go on to write the novelizations of Star Trek III (which will be on this list) and Star Trek IV (which will not, as it was inexplicably not assigned a number but given a separate 'bonus novel' status).The fun thing about the novelizations of the cinematic adventures (the TMP novelization was written by the Great Bird of the Galaxy himself, Gene Roddenberry) it is interesting to see what was included, left out, and expanded upon between the novel and movie versions. For this novel, expect more Saavik, MUCH more Peter Preston, and the not-so-secret secret of why Saavik cries at Spock's funeral (spoilers!)Rob and Butch encourage you to read the book, then watch the film, then give this a listen - or just give this a listen!

This is the first Star Trek novel I ever remember seeing in a bookstore, way back in 1981 in a new and used bookstore in Traverse City, Michigan. I was totally hooked by the Klingon battlecruiser on the cover, but, alas, I didn't have any money of my own and my parents would not buy it for me then... I eventually collected it a couple years later after moving to Idaho Falls and getting a job to pay for my own books.Written by Robert E. Vardamann, one of two he wrote in the first two years of the Pocket Books series, this one was published in October of 1981... his other would come out a couple years later and he was out of the Trek novel business.I am not an English major or anything, but I thought I had a better handle on what the word 'gambit' means. The novel DOES feature Klingons prominently, but it may also be the case that gambits are more the realm of Romulans, while Klingons are the brute force kind.Either way, maybe you the listener can help Butch and Rob when it comes to this novel.

Happenstance has us reading the second of Diane Duane's four novels in the Pocket Books series in our first three dice-selected random choice - this time we are going full Romulan with her July 1984 novel "My Enemy, My Ally" -- a novel that finally, after almost zero signs of Romulans in the Bantam novels, our first view of the OTHER primary enemy of the Federation.This novel finds a Romulan commander (no the other one) bucking the Empire and her duty to follow her conscience and work with arch-enemy James Kirk to stop some very interesting and horrifying Romulan plot to attack the Federation. Duane really has a handle on writing Romulans, which is why this is the first of FOUR Romulan-centric novels in her bibliography.Rob always remembers this as one of his favorites from when we were in high school, but how will he and Butch score it THIS time?

Stop two of fifty on our quest to determine Is That a Trek in Your Pocket? (as selected by the dice of destiny) was "Corona" by Greg Bear. A 'hard science' fiction writer, this is Bear's only Star Trek novel, though he published fairly prolifically through his career, even writing a novel within Isaac Asimov's Foundation universe. Corona was first published in April 1984.So, what kind of story does a 'hard science fiction' author to go for their one and only shot at a Star Trek novel? How about a group of protostars that have achieved sentience and are seeking to bring about a new Big Bang?Come aboard and take a ride with Rob and Butch as they discuss this strange new world!

Now that we have completed the Journey through Bantam's 13 novels (and one non-Bantam novel) it is time to move on to our wheelhouse... the Pocket Books Star Trek novels! Rob and Butch used to ride their 10-speeds to the local mall to buy the new novel that came out every few months (there was always a little display, as Star Trek novels were big sellers with regard to paperbacks). Collecting them for all those years left us with closets and boxes and shelves FULL of them, though we've not read them for decades, in some cases.For THIS mission, we decided to choose randomly from among the first 50 Pocket Books novels - using gaming dice to select one at random - and wouldn't you know the first one we rolled was the LAST on the list! Published in June 1990 (while we were in college) it is the last book I read before moving on to other literary pursuits. Written by Diane Duane, this is one of FOUR of her novels on the first 50 pocket books, though she is better known for her Rihannsu Romulan novels. Duane comes up with some legalistic legerdemain, as it were, to ensure that Dr. McCoy must take command during a crazy first contact scenario with numerous sentient life forms on a faraway planet.Where will this new Pocket Books adventure take us? Sign on the dotted line, join the crew and find out!

Our second bonus episode fits perfectly with the ending of the Bantam Books and the beginning of the Pocket Books novels, as we completed our episode recordings for Bantam Books in 2022, then recorded our 40th Anniversary review of the second cinematic Star Trek adventure.It goes without saying that "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" is a beloved movie by Star Trek fans, and is often referred to as the Star Trek movie that broke out of the Star Trek fandom to a wider audience. While the first film was a remake of a TOS episode, TWOK is a sequel to a different TOS episode, "Space Seed." It interweaves a revenge story perfectly with the continuing story of our crew in general, but definitely James T. Kirk in particular, as getting older, with all the pitfalls that come with that.The industry backstory, of course, is that while the first film was a success, it was an EXPENSIVE success. So TWOK will be a smaller, cheaper movie than was TMP, but (to its credit) it was enough of a success that it proved to the studio that Star Trek could go back to its tight-budget ways and still be a winning and profitable formula, enough so that the franchise was off and running again - this time in the theaters - with this film.It is not a spoiler to admit that Rob and Butch ADORE this movie, so when you listen prepare to hear us extoll its virtues... though we will call out weaknesses as we see them.

One last mission on our Journey to Bantam before we bring the podcast into drydock for a refit to the Pocket Books novels - and it is our second and final book by Kathleen Sky, the April 1981 release entitled "Death's Angel."The obvious benefit of writing Star Trek stories as novels, rather than TV shows or movies, is that the author can really let their imagination run wild when it comes to settings, special effects, and especially non-human characters. This novel is a feast for the eyes, in a literary sense, in terms of the wide range of possible sentient beings that might be encountered in Star Trek. Only one problem - some mysterious entity is assassinating delegates one by one!It is also fitting that this final Bantam novel shows the ship ferrying delegates to peace talks - as that has been our motif for the Bantam books - an homage to the TOS episode "Journey to Babel." With the closing of the Bantam novels list, this serves as a finale to Season 1 of Star Trek: CineMcCollough... but fear not, as more Trek novel episode reviews come right behind them with season 2: "Is That a Trek in Your Pocket?"You've followed us this far, why not a little bit farther?

As we set sail for the penultimate mission on our Journey to Bantam, we come across a novel written by perhaps one of the best-known authors of early Star Trek. "The Galactic Whirlpool" was published in October of 1980, and was penned by David Gerrold, a relative unknown until he wrote the TOS episode "The Trouble With Tribbles" - which instantly catapulted him into a select group of writers inextricably linked with Star Trek, as he went on to pen other episodes of TOS and the Animated Series."The Galactic Whirlpool" is Gerrold's first Star Trek novel, is centered around a Human colony ship that (nod if it sounds familiar) is populated by people who no longer remember life before their world-ship. Problem is, they are seemingly doomed, headed as they are toward one of nature's most destructive features, the eponymous title whirlpool.Will Butch and Rob be dazzled by Gerrold, or come away feeling let down?

Closing in on the end of our 14-novel Bantam Books mission, tonight's journey takes us to "Perry's Planet" - a novel written by the OTHER Haldeman, Joe's older brother Jack Haldemann II. Primarily a published author of short stories, this is the elder Haldemann's only published novel.Published in February 1980, "Perry's Planet" uses several different story beats that will seem familiar to fans of the original Star Trek. A human colony formed by a man much too old to still be alive, an impossibly peaceful society seemingly threatened by the bloodthirsty Klingons, and a ship and crew in peril. Will Haldemann be able to pull off a story that feels fresh and different?Only one way to find out and that is to download and listen!

Next Bantam mission is to "Devil World," our second selection authored by Gordon Eklund, though not a sequel to his earlier work The Starless World. This volume was released in November 1979, just one month before the eagerly awaited release of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Rob and Butch were unable to find any information as to whether this novel was as eagerly awaited.The book takes our crew to the planet Heartland, where Kirk will fall in love (typical), the natives are hostile and terrifying (natch), and behind it all looms a massive, unknown intelligence -- with a secret, albeit a familiar one. We even get a former Starfleet officer who has defected to the Klingon Empire, of all places, and we learn that perhaps the only thing worse than a visiting commodore is being assigned a commodore's son as a crew member.Sit with us for a while as we tell you all about the book "Devil World."

Our next Bantam Books Star Trek novel is our first sequel novel, as the writing team of Sondra Marshak and Myrna Culbreth literally bring Omne back from the dead to once again challenge Kirk and Spock in their follow-up novel, "The Fate of the Phoenix," published in May of 1979.When last we checked in with our heroes in the earlier novel (The Price of the Phoenix, Bantam Book #3, for those playing at home), they believed they had finally defeated the dangerous madman, and also had figured out what to do with a spare James Kirk that was left after that adventure. Turns out "James" was surgically altered to become the Romulan Commander's consort in the Empire. Now, if you have a hard time believing that, hold on to your cufflinks, because THIS novel gets REALLY crazy.But just in case you're a fan of the Phoenix novels, there is good news and bad news for you - first the good news, which is that Marshak and Culbreth come back for THREE novels in the Pocket Books series... the bad news is that none of them feature Omne.You MUST admit you are at least a LITTLE curious as to whether Butch and Lord Rob will like this one more or less than its predecessor - click PLAY and find out!

The ninth Bantam novel excursion will take us to yet another "world" in the title, and brings us the second of two novels by Joe Haldeman (the first having been Planet of Judgment) -- but don't fear, because while this is Joe's last Bantam novel, his older brother Jack Haldeman II will bringing us another one not too long from now!"World Without End" was published in January 1979 and takes us to something that will feel familiar to TOS fans - an artificial planet that sort of resembles a starship in some ways. However, what you WILL get from this novel is vibes from Star Trek the Animated Series, as winged creatures and semi-impossible environments will be heavily featured here. That is always one of the great benefits of the written word, however, as it requires no bigger budget to print stories of impossible places than it does to print stories of the same old places.Hop on board for a chance to hear Butch and Rob's opinion's about "World Without End."

For our eighth Bantam mission, we get even more evidence about just how small and insulated the Star Trek novelist community was in the early years. "Trek to Madworld" was published January 1979, and is author Stephen Goldin's only Trek adventure for Bantam books, though years later he would write the TNG novel A Final Unity. However, Goldin is ALSO connected to Bantam through his wife, Kathleen Sky, who wrote Vulcan! and one we will see later, Death's Angel.Trek to Madworld is a novel that introduces a concept that was at least passingly familiar to kids of that era - a mysterious and seemingly all-powerful entity known as Enowil interrupts a rescue mission and leads the ship and crew on seemingly nonsensical adventures and side projects - if you are a fan of the Flinstones you'll see the Great Gazoo, while DC comics fans will see Mr, Mxyzptlk, and Marvel comics fans will see The Impossible Man. If you have ever watched/read any of those and thought those characters were a laugh riot, congratulations, this is the Star Trek novel for you!But what do Rob and Butch think? You know what to do...

Just to spice things up a bit, for our first bonus episode we bring you our movie review and retrospective of what we collectively consider the most underappreciated of the Star Trek movies, the original - Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Released on December 7, 1979 (a release date it shared with another unfairly dismissed sci-fi movie, "The Black Hole", a coincidence of some scale as they are the last two big-budget movies ever to open with an overture), TMP was one of the most expensive movies ever made when it debuted, as the show was going to be brought back to television as part of a planned Paramount TV Network. However, for a number of reasons, not the least of which was the meteoric arrival of Star Wars two years earlier, the studio pivoted and turned what was to be a TV show into a costly adventure.For a show famous for its low budget science fiction a decade before, in 1979 TMP was truly a spectacle to behold on the big screen, featuring special effects that still hold up today. And yet, despite large numbers of ravenous Trek fans showing up to see it, the overall impression fell a bit flat, which would lead to a second cinematic adventure three years later that would make its mark in history as well.Directed by Robert Wise, and featuring a fairly strong fingerprint of Roddenberry himself (though not as much as the aborted TV show would have) TMP features what is almost certainly Star Trek's most sci-fi movie concept, one borrowing heavily from the TOS episode "The Changeling" but building on it greatly. It explores artificial intelligence, logic, humanity, and includes a pivotal set of scenes that helped Leonard Nimoy redefine the character of Spock.It is not a spoiler to say we love this movie, because (spoilers) we love ALL of the six TOS movies. But both Rob and I have TMP as our second favorite of the films. Give us an hour of your time and find out why as we discuss!

For our seventh Bantam adventure, we join the Enterprise as it explores one of science fiction's most interesting concepts - one that on-screen Star Trek would eventually bring out during the run of Star Trek: The Next Generation, ironically in an episode featuring a TOS character. It also introduces another author who will pen a pair of the Bantam novels."The Starless World" was penned by Gordon Eklund, and published in November 1978. Eklund will write one more Trek novel, also in the Bantam series, "Devil World" - yes, in addition to exclamation points, the Bantam authors liked to include the word "world" in their book titles. Eklund would eventually win a Nebula award for a non-Trek novel in 1974, after losing on his first nomination to fellow Trek writer alum Theodore Sturgeon.The high sci-fi concept is, of course, a Dyson Sphere - a construct so large that it creates a sphere the size of a planetary orbit around a star, so that the entire interior surface of the structure is inhabitable and perpetual daylight. It seems, after reading this, that the TNG writers did not borrow much from this story except the concept.Push play and see what Rob and Butch have to say about "The Starless World!"

If we here at CineMcCollough have learned one thing about the Bantam Books Star Trek novels so far, they really, really like their exclamation points in book titles.Published in September 1978, Kathleen Sky's first Trek novel continues the OTHER strong theme of Bantam Books Trek novels by focusing on our favorite Vulcan... but this time is going to take us TO Vulcan. Give the people what they want, of course! We will see her again once more in the Bantam collection with "Death's Angel."Fun note, the author actually appears on-screen in "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" as a member of the crew on the recreation deck scene. Makes sense, since this novel was published while the movie was likely being filmed.The book itself deals with galactic weather conditions creating a need to alter the border between the Federation and the Romulan Star Empire. This involves bringing aboard an expert who, ironically, has issues with Vulcans. Should make for some uncomfortable conversations. Turns out that an affected planet is home to some sentient spiders, so trigger warning for those who are arachnophobes.Give us a listen to hear with Butch and Rob think about the book!

OK - truth in advertising time. Today's Star Trek novel is NOT a "Bantam Books" novel per se - nor is it the fifth novel in the line of Star Trek novels in history... in that, today's book "Mission to Horatius" is, by most reckonings, the FIRST Star Trek novel, except that it is ostensibly a children's novel.Published while the original Star Trek series was still on the air in 1968 (!!!), Mission to Horatius was written by Mack Reynolds and put out by Whitman Publishing before being re-released decades later in 1996 by Pocket Books. While considered a children's book, Rob and Butch will compare it to the 'adult' novels released so far - and, from our eyes, it represents a legitimate Star Trek adventure where Enterprise is sent to mitigate a conflict between three planets of differing technology in a solar system... is there a mouse hunt aboard Enterprise? Sure. Are they worried they're going to get plague? Okay, fine. But will the novel hold up? Join us and find out!

Published just a month after its predecessor novel, "Planet of Judgment" is the first of two novels within the Bantam series by established sci-fi writer Joe Haldeman, best known for his Forever War series for which he won both a Nebula and a Hugo award. As such, the Bantam publishers approached him for a two-novel deal, with the second coming two years later.In this book our good ship and crew encounter an 'anomaly' - a rogue planet that is orbited by a miniature black hole that is either a trap, or a first strike in an imminent invasion, or a traditional Trek series of tests... or all of the above. It goes without saying that the future of the Federation may be on the line.But what do Butch and Lord Rob think about it? Tune in, listen to their review, and find out!

Our third mission among the Bantam Books Star Trek novels is brought to us by Sondra Marshak and Myrna Culbreth, their first of two efforts for Bantam, AND they will be back for Three Pocket Books novels. It is a book that is far more complex, dense, and finely written than the two we have done so far, and also is the one that has a direct sequel within the Bantam Books line - "The Price of the Phoenix" published in July 1977.This novel once again is going to focus heavily upon Spock - only natural, given how big of an icon Leonard Nimoy's character had become - but it also explores the relationship between Spock and Captain Kirk. And boy, let's just say that Marshak and Culbreth 'explore the space' of their relationship. Mystical, psychological, and latently homoerotic are all in the crossword for this one. It also introduces a villain, Omne, who purports to be the most dangerous man in the galaxy, or at least the quadrant, and it also brings in the Romulans - specifically the Romulan Commander from TOS' "The Enterprise Incident" for a bit of a romantic quadrilateral.This book is, in my mind, the first REALLY adult Star Trek novel (though there was a fair share of violence in "Messian" last time) - and in many ways is a perfect snapshot for Star Trek in the mid-1970s, an era seething with fan fiction of all shapes and sizes. Make no mistake, it is VERY highly written, especially compared to what has come before... but Rob and Butch will ask the vital question - is it GOOD?

The second Star Trek novel for an adult audience was, not surprisingly, also a Spock-centric story entitled "Spock, Messiah!" Co-authored by Theodore R. Cogswell and Charles A. Spano, Jr, the book was once again capitalizing off of Star Trek's iconic alien first officer. It was published over SIX YEARS after the first Bantam novel, so the fandom had only continued to grow and was eagerly awaiting more stories. Is Spock leading a double life as a planetary despot? Join Rob and Butch as they investigate.

The first "official" Star Trek novel ever published was "Spock Must Die!" in February 1970. Written by author James Blish, who had already begun the process of novelizing and publishing volumes of Star Trek Original Series episodes, this was Blish's first published Star Trek story not based on broadcasted material, but developed and written by Blish himself. It is often a feature of many "best-of" lists of Star Trek novels, but what do Butch and Rob think? Take a listen and find out, but SPOILERS if you have not read the novel.

Hosts "Lord" Rob McCollough and Patrick "Butch" Brennan give an introduction to Treks Through TOS - their background as Star Trek fans, and what to expect from the movie, novel, and (eventually) TOS episode reviews.