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Media ti-in novels (Star Wars, Star Trek, etc.)

post #1 of 29
7/7/09 at 7:01pm
Thread Starter 
Why do people waste their money on such crap? I read them as a teenager and then I grew up and discovered a vast world of better fiction. Anyway, I received Joe Schreiber's Death Troopers in the mail(He's a friend and his original fiction is great), and while I like it for him, I wouldn't dare read it in public. I muse on this here: http://www.thevhive.com/forum/the-v/...lder_name=geek

Its an otherwise intelligent forum, much like CHUD, but the indignant wailing is amazing.
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post #2 of 29
7/7/09 at 7:17pm
Only reason I can think of that you can see things noted in the book that got changed or cut out of the book. Otherwise, you're right. It's a waste of cash.

I say this as I knowingly remember reading the novelization to Volcano and Home Alone 2.
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post #3 of 29
7/7/09 at 7:26pm
Thread Starter 
I'm not talking about novelizations though. I'm talking about the glut of Star Wars and Star Trek novels out there.
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post #4 of 29
7/7/09 at 7:31pm
There are actually quite a lot of very good Star Wars novels, though they date back at least 10 years now. The Timothy Zahn series about Grand Admiral Thrawn is probably the best and most interesting storyline in the entire Star Wars universe, IMO better than the movie storyline by far.
There are also a couple of other good ones (Shadows of the Empire) that work well. Granted, that still makes the majority rather underwhelming, but just because its a tie-in or based on a setting doesnt mean you cant have a good writer turn it into solid gold.

As far as I am concerned, I tend to find novelizations of movies the worst offenders, but the number of inept writers attempting a Lucas-like world building or a Tolkien-like epic story and arent even able to formulate a coherent ,somewhat believable motivation for ANYONE are huge.

I never tried a Star Trek novel personally, though.
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post #5 of 29
7/7/09 at 7:31pm
I'd heard that the Timothy Zahn Star Wars books were pretty well aclaimed.

I wouldn't go so far as too call all Tie-Ins trash. It all depends on the Writer. Some are good. Some are...not so good.

I am a big Collector of Novelizations myself. It adds detail and richness to the film you saw recently. There're not Literary Masterpieces of course. But you do find a few good nuggets here and there (Orson Scott Card's The Abyss novelization).
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post #6 of 29
7/7/09 at 7:37pm
Back when I was unreasonably obsessed with all things 'Highlander', I picked up and read all of the tie-in books (they were all related to the TV series/Duncan McCleod). They're not worth the effort, as most of them read like fan fiction or spec scripts.

The Aliens/Predator/Aliens VS Predator novels that Dark Horse released (they were pretty much straight adaptations of their comic books) did some interesting things with the main characters. The first AVP novel is far superior to either of the two AVP movies that were made.
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post #7 of 29
7/8/09 at 11:19am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Khaunshar View Post
There are also a couple of other good ones (Shadows of the Empire) that work well. Granted, that still makes the majority rather underwhelming, but just because its a tie-in or based on a setting doesnt mean you cant have a good writer turn it into solid gold.
That's as may be... but I have my doubts about Shadows of the Empire. Having read a few of Steve Perry's novels, and lived to tell the tale, his books are the same tired stories rehashed with different names to hide his mediocre talent.
Uber tough, hyper charming bad guy who actually shares attributes with other uber tough, hyper charming bad guys in his other works... and remarkably similar dialogue as well. Don't believe me?

Compare Prince Xixor and General Spears from his Aliens/Dark Horse novelizations...

then get back to me and tell me I'm right.
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post #8 of 29
7/8/09 at 11:27am
The Timothy Zahn novels were pretty good, but I always felt that the best 'Star Wars' tie-in product was the 'Dark Empire' comic series from Dark Horse Comics that came out at roughly the same time. It was all downhill after that, and I gave up any of the books after the horrible Han Solo origin trilogy.

The absolute BEST Star Wars novels were the original Han Solo adventures written by Brian Daley in the early 80s. They got the character of Solo ABSOLUTELY RIGHT, and they still hold up to this day.
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post #9 of 29
7/8/09 at 11:30am
I'm going with Felix on this one. The best movie novelisation I've read is Card's "Abyss".
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post #10 of 29
7/8/09 at 11:37am
I used to be a HUGE Star Wars fanboy. At at the time the Yuzzhan Vong 19-book series finished I had read every single Star Wars novel ever released. However, since then I haven't read a single Star Wars book. Out of the 30+ novels I read (I have no idea of the actually number, wouldn't be that surprised if it was closer to 50) the only memorable ones that stand out are the first five Timothy Zahn books - the Thrawn Triology and Hand of Thrawn duology, and the book Traitor by Matthew Stover. '

The old Han Solo and Lando Calrissian trilogies are fun, but much different from anything that would come later in the Star Wars expanded universe.
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post #11 of 29
7/8/09 at 11:39am
The section which houses all the Star Wars and Star Trek novels at my B&N is bigger than the film section.
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post #12 of 29
7/8/09 at 11:41am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Phil View Post
The section which houses all the Star Wars and Star Trek novels at my B&N is bigger than the film section.
But probably not as big as the "Vampire/Goth" section, I'll bet.
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post #13 of 29
7/8/09 at 11:42am
Upon a quick review of the wikipedia list, I've read 84 Star Wars novels. What a waste of life. However it did remind me that the last series in the Rogue Squadron series, "Starfighters of Adumar" was pretty entertaining. In fact, I've always kind of wished for a Rogue Squadron HBO series.
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post #14 of 29
7/8/09 at 11:43am
I'm almost positive there's already a thread on this.
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post #15 of 29
7/8/09 at 11:47am
Cameron Hughes, Peter David's New Frontier is fantastic. He created most of his own crew in an Ambassador Class vessel, named...Excalibur. Then he took a William Wallace type and made him captain. Admiral Edward Jellico is Captain Mackenzie Calhoun's sparring partner, as both a mentor and a barrier to a higher rank (from 1 TNG ep) and his first officer is Elizabeth Shelby who once battled Riker for 2nd in command of the...Enterprise D in Best Of Both Worlds. The rest of the crew is made up of guest character and Mr. David's own creations. I would also recommend any Trek books by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens.
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post #16 of 29
7/8/09 at 2:55pm
I once read " Who Goes There," but like the movie better.
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post #17 of 29
7/8/09 at 7:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by pagoda View Post
I used to be a HUGE Star Wars fanboy. At at the time the Yuzzhan Vong 19-book series finished I had read every single Star Wars novel ever released.
Wow, I hope you didn't actually buy all these books. Because (as you know) the entire Yuzan Vong series is crap. Most of the stuff in there has been retconned by the latest Legacy of the Force books coming out now.

Lucas has got a new ploy in seperating your cash from your wallet. Apprently all Star Wars books will first be appearing in Hardback no matter what.

Since I buy mostly from Discount and Second hand stores, I don't mind amassing a collection of movie tie-ins. Its a hobby for me really.
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post #18 of 29
7/10/09 at 11:42am
I put up a thread similar to this a few months ago
http://chud.com/forum/showthread.php...anded+universe

Basically I admitted my secret shame of reading tie-ins/novelizations when I was younger, and how I've tried to kick the habit.

Word to the wise: Star Wars novels should only be listened to as audio books. That way they have sound FX and music. It's almost not so pathetic that way.

T-minus 10 until Devin arrives to call us losers...
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post #19 of 29
7/10/09 at 8:15pm
I never got much past the James Blish Star Trek adaptations when I was a kid (and I realize that's not the same thing), but from what I've seen, there's a vast amount of Lucas/Tolkien-inspired crap out there that has nothing to distinguish it from these "continuations" of popular series beyond the fact that they're not technically based in a universe started by someone else.

Because after skimming a few of them, it seems that this glut of "Book Three of The Cycle Of the WTF" (I never seem to see Book One) stuff is no better reading than the latest iteration of what's happening in the line of Fett.

I'm not advocating either, but I can't see anything inherently worse about the tie-ins.
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post #20 of 29
7/10/09 at 10:10pm


Yeah, I was a stupid kid.
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post #21 of 29
7/10/09 at 10:21pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by felix natalya View Post
Wow, I hope you didn't actually buy all these books.
What can I say? Once I start I have to complete the set. Between my brothers and I we got all 19. Of course I never read any more than once, except for Traitor.

Pretty much the only good the books served, after a first read, is one time when my brother and I got into a fight and he started beating me in the face with the thickest hardback book.
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post #22 of 29
7/10/09 at 10:44pm
I picked up the prequel novel "Terminator Salvation: From the Ashes" last May. I think it's a hell of a lot better than the movie that immediately follows it.

I read a few Star Wars EU novels in college. I remember liking "I, Jedi," but most of them sort of ran together after awhile.

I'm slowly chipping away at John Gardner's James Bond novels from the '80s. Most of them you can find on Amazon for a penny, and they're a bargain at twice the price.

Kenneth Johnson's "V: The Second Generation" totally retcons "The Final Battle" and "V: The Series," neither of which he was involved with, and takes the material in some interesting directions. I was fanatical for "V" about a year ago. I'd still like to see that book adapted for television rather than a straight reboot.
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post #23 of 29
7/10/09 at 11:50pm
I find the concept of tie-in novels quite appealing, actually - I mean if it's a good franchise why would a novel be inherently less dignified than making another movie or tv show or comic book in the same universe? Plus since it's less high profile I imagine a good writer could get away with doing a lot more daring stuff.

Of course public perception of the genre makes it so that the people writing it won't usually be the most respected authors, but if we're gonna dismiss it on that basis alone we'd be the equivalent of 1930's readers going "what is this 'pulp literature' nonsense?".

That being said, my defense here is 100% conceptual, since I've never read a book that fits into this category
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post #24 of 29
7/11/09 at 7:12am
For those of you that enjoyed "The 4400" TV Series.

There are two Official upcoming Tie-in novels that serve as a canon "Season 5" to the series.

The 4400: Welcome to Promise City- 28th July- Greg Cox

The 4400: Promises Broken- Oct- David Mack
http://www.davidmack.pro/book_promises.html
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post #25 of 29
7/11/09 at 9:40am
Quote:
Originally Posted by pagoda View Post
I used to be a HUGE Star Wars fanboy. At at the time the Yuzzhan Vong 19-book series finished I had read every single Star Wars novel ever released.

The old Han Solo and Lando Calrissian trilogies are fun, but much different from anything that would come later in the Star Wars expanded universe.
I was beyond pissed when they killed of Anakin, only because Lucas did not want people getting confused between the novel and the films.. WTF, I enjoyed the hell out of him. The Zhan stuff is really good, hell it pretty much got Star Wars going again.

Those older Solo books are great, well worth the read.
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post #26 of 29
7/11/09 at 10:22am
I think the market for these books is teenagers who are just getting into the geek thing, which is probably why I have never revisited any of the ones I read.
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post #27 of 29
7/11/09 at 11:02am
The newest Star Wars book debuted at #3 on the Publisher's Weekly top ten list.
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post #28 of 29
7/11/09 at 7:17pm
I shamefully read some Star Wars books in high school, but I must say that I remember Shatterpoint not being that bad.
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post #29 of 29
7/12/09 at 2:16pm
Some of the early Star Treks were very good. Yesterday's Son by A.C. Crispin, The Final Reflection by John M. Ford, Corona by Greg Bear and Ishmael from Barbara Hambly are all excellent top-tier science fiction novels. The Boris Vallejo covers were impressive as well. Unfortunately, Pocket Books soon went a title a month schedule and the better writers and quality stories were pushed aside for the faster and cheaper shit fan-fiction.
Best tie-in I've ever read is the Batman book Captured by the Engines by Joe R. Lansdale. A weird horror story concerning an Indian shaman seeking revenge on the streets of Gotham by transforming himself into a killer muscle car and Batman is the only one who can stop him. I know how incredibly silly that sounds, but this is Lansdale, champion mojo storyteller, and he makes it work with style to spare.
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