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Jun. 29th, 2016 08:30 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
I don't actually remember why
genarti decided I should read Doctor's Orders, Diane Duane's Star Trek McCoy-centric TOS novel, but it ended up on my shelf and so I did.
BECCA: all of Duane's TOS characters are always so pleasant and philosophical and well-intentioned and consistently competent
I don't know if I believe it but it is soothing to read
GEN: heee, right?
I am very fond of that part
also they all stop and think fondly about astrophysics in ways that I do not think fits what's actually onscreen but DO think fits what ought to be true of people in this career path so I'm good with it
BECCA: 'snappy banter,' says McCoy, thinking earnestly about how the crankiness is a useful persona that he puts on when it's convenient for the well-being of the rest of the crew
GEN: hahahahahahahaha
and for his own entertainment, but yes
BECCA: they DO stop and think fondly about astrophysics with GREAT FREQUENCY
and biology
and the value of gathering scientific data for the sake of gathering scientific data
way more than any character on TOS ever has
I mean it feels -- and it is -- very much the kind of fanfic in which the author firmly writes all their own ethics backwards into canon.
GEN: To me it's always felt like she's writing the attitudes of 70s/80s TOS fandom into TOS
like, "I know all of these super geeky writers who are really into space and whom I really like as people, THIS IS THE STAR TREK OF THEIR HEARTS"
BECCA: hah that is probably also true
I mean it also very much does feel like fanfic
'Chekhov's catchphrase!' says Checkhov, in his first appearance, and then wanders off to be competent somewhere offscreen
'Nurse Chapel's off taking her doctoral exams!' says a throwaway line, a/n: 'ok it's always been my headcanon that Nurse Chapel eventually moves up to MD'
The actual plot involves the Enterprise going to investigate a planet where three different intelligent species have independently evolved and trying to convince them to join the Federation; everyone frantically runs around taking soil samples and trying to get enough linguistics data to calibrate the universal translators, Kirk leaves McCoy in charge as a joke and then beams down and gets lost while having a philosophical discussion with an alien, some cranky Klingons show up and everyone rolls their eyes at them, there's one or two space battles but mostly, you know, it's philosophical discussions and harassed linguists complaining about verbs. As I said, it's a pleasantly soothing read! And significantly more invested in the actual day-to-day labor of the scientific and exploratory process than any episode of Star Trek ever has been or will be.
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BECCA: all of Duane's TOS characters are always so pleasant and philosophical and well-intentioned and consistently competent
I don't know if I believe it but it is soothing to read
GEN: heee, right?
I am very fond of that part
also they all stop and think fondly about astrophysics in ways that I do not think fits what's actually onscreen but DO think fits what ought to be true of people in this career path so I'm good with it
BECCA: 'snappy banter,' says McCoy, thinking earnestly about how the crankiness is a useful persona that he puts on when it's convenient for the well-being of the rest of the crew
GEN: hahahahahahahaha
and for his own entertainment, but yes
BECCA: they DO stop and think fondly about astrophysics with GREAT FREQUENCY
and biology
and the value of gathering scientific data for the sake of gathering scientific data
way more than any character on TOS ever has
I mean it feels -- and it is -- very much the kind of fanfic in which the author firmly writes all their own ethics backwards into canon.
GEN: To me it's always felt like she's writing the attitudes of 70s/80s TOS fandom into TOS
like, "I know all of these super geeky writers who are really into space and whom I really like as people, THIS IS THE STAR TREK OF THEIR HEARTS"
BECCA: hah that is probably also true
I mean it also very much does feel like fanfic
'Chekhov's catchphrase!' says Checkhov, in his first appearance, and then wanders off to be competent somewhere offscreen
'Nurse Chapel's off taking her doctoral exams!' says a throwaway line, a/n: 'ok it's always been my headcanon that Nurse Chapel eventually moves up to MD'
The actual plot involves the Enterprise going to investigate a planet where three different intelligent species have independently evolved and trying to convince them to join the Federation; everyone frantically runs around taking soil samples and trying to get enough linguistics data to calibrate the universal translators, Kirk leaves McCoy in charge as a joke and then beams down and gets lost while having a philosophical discussion with an alien, some cranky Klingons show up and everyone rolls their eyes at them, there's one or two space battles but mostly, you know, it's philosophical discussions and harassed linguists complaining about verbs. As I said, it's a pleasantly soothing read! And significantly more invested in the actual day-to-day labor of the scientific and exploratory process than any episode of Star Trek ever has been or will be.
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Date: 2016-06-29 01:02 pm (UTC)If you like Duane's metaphysics, you may also like The Wounded Sky, which is about a region of space without entropy, with digressions into the nature of God and the universe.
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Date: 2016-06-29 10:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-07-05 12:28 am (UTC)let's just be clear, the climax happens in Timeheart.
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Date: 2016-07-05 06:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-06-30 12:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-06-30 05:36 am (UTC)Actually, it was a great antidote to all of the writers I'd read who seemed to have much creepier overarching worldbuilding tendencies. Timeheart: awesomer than going back in time to sleep with one's mother (Heinlein), for example.
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Date: 2016-06-30 09:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-06-30 10:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-06-29 02:54 pm (UTC)I mean, she clearly invented whatever rule it is that keeps McCoy in charge solely for that purpose, and has no intention of ever keeping continuity with it. But I still cherish in my heart a) the points where McCoy is like I DON'T WANT TO BE IN CHARGE, NOBODY WANTS ME IN CHARGE, I WANT TO BE IN THE INFIRMARY, YOU SHOULD BE IN CHARGE and Spock is like "believe me, I agree," and they're cranky at regulations together, and b) the whole scene where McCoy sees a furious Klingon commander about to fire on them and is like SON, WHAT THE HELL, YOU NEED TO EAT BETTER, YOUR NEXT PHYSICAL IS RIGHT NOW BY SKYPE. (Those scenes are basically the reason I shoved it at you, though I do enjoy Diane Duane cutting loose with self-indulgent linguistics and philosophy.)
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Date: 2016-06-30 12:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-06-30 11:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-07-05 12:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-06-29 03:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-06-30 12:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-06-29 04:52 pm (UTC)Sigh.
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Date: 2016-06-30 12:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-06-30 02:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-06-29 05:52 pm (UTC)I read Duane's Spock's World (1988) during the period of my childhood when I had read more of the storified versions of TOS than seen actual episodes, so it always struck me as perfectly natural that Spock's parents had met while updating the universal translator. I still see no reason to disbelieve it.
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Date: 2016-06-30 12:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-06-29 08:05 pm (UTC)...I love it. Well, I don't love it, but I honor her persistence. Spock's World, tagline: my city now
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Date: 2016-06-29 10:44 pm (UTC)And Spock says, "Yes, but it drives us nuts too because there's still the Problem of Evil, why are we here, etc - knowing that God exists doesn't change any of the issues, it just makes them more immediate and personal."
But really, my favorite parts of that are the tragic snapshots of Vulcans history. All the glorious doom and transcendence and doom!
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Date: 2016-06-30 05:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-06-30 12:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-06-29 11:25 pm (UTC)Also this book is so earnest, I just want to pinch its little cheeks. All Duane's TOS books are like that, even when people are supposedly being Cynical Politicians. It still works for me.
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Date: 2016-06-30 12:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-06-30 01:14 am (UTC)I think it's sort of fifty-fifty on that? Because Starfleet can go hang itself is a very canon attitude, but also show!Kirk totally lies to aliens for their own good. He does, however, claim to be this even-handed, so I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt that he does it sometimes and this is one of those cases. Especially when he's having so much fun talking about philosophy.
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Date: 2016-07-05 12:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-06-30 01:09 am (UTC)(The Romulan Commander is the one who appears in 'The Enterprise Incident', and puts the moves on Spock. It's also the episode where Kirk gets cosmetic surgery to look like a Romulan.)
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Date: 2016-06-30 01:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-07-03 07:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-07-05 12:22 am (UTC)