Status
Available
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Publication
New York, N.Y. : Pocket Books, 1986.
Description
James T. Kirk is the youngest man to be promoted to the rank of captain in Federation history. His crew consists of a first officer who finds him impetuous; a chief engineer who finds him arrogant; a chief medical officer who finds him trifling; and a helmsman who wants a transfer. But the young crew, which would later become the legendary space explorers, quickly puts aside their differences when a monstrous starship appears on their nascent flight path.
User reviews
LibraryThing member DarthDeverell
Vonda McIntyre's Star Trek- Enterprise: The First Adventure proposes a hypothetical first mission for Captain James T. Kirk and the crew of the Starship Enterprise following Captain Christopher Pike's promotion to Commodore. McIntyre's writing captures the spirit of the original series, both in
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terms of story and tone, but she makes many plot decisions that either ignore or significantly alter the established canon from the original series and the existing films at the time of her writing. Examples of these changes include the backstory between Kirk and Gary Mitchell (previously explored in "Where No Man Has Gone Before", the second Star Trek pilot), the inclusion of a young Ensign Pavel Chekov on Kirk's first mission (Chekov first appeared in "Amok Time," during the second season of the original series), and Spock's cousin, Stephen, a "pervert" who seeks out emotional experiences (foreshadowing Spock's brother Sybok, who first appeared three years later in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier). Additionally, as Pocket Books published this prior to the beginning of Star Trek: The Next Generation, McIntyre was left to invent her own version of Klingon society, in which the empress is a figurehead in a society controlled by oligarchs. Anyone familiar with the rest of the franchise will find these elements jarring. Even though this long predates J.J. Abrams' 2009 reboot of these characters, McIntyre's Kirk reads more like a performance by Chris Pine than a young William Shatner. With that said, the story may entertain casual readers or those able to keep in mind its date of publication. Show Less
LibraryThing member thanbini
This book was not a good book. I'm surprised and disappointed. It had a great concept and the overall story was promising.
The problem was the characters. I understand the only source material the author really had to go on was the 3 seasons of the original series. I also understand that this book
I find it hard to believe that this group of jerks could ever work together or become the tight knit family we see portrayed on TV. Spock hates Kirk and McCoy. Scotty hates Kirk. Sulu hates everyone. Uhura hates Kirk. Kirk hates Spock. Chekov.... why is Chekov there? He didn't join the crew until well after the beginning of its 5 year mission. And why does Janice Rand break down and start crying every time she thinks someone might not like her because they said something or looked at her. How does someone like that get into Starfleet? No one realized she was underage?
Amelinda, is leader of this traveling circus that has ventured off planet for the first time. She's really good at her job. But despite planning on spending weeks or months traveling through space to different Starbases on this ship, she's decided to bring her mutant flying horse and complains that it doesn't have enough room to fly in the shuttlebay. And then when shit is hitting the fan with the Klingons - who don't seem like Klingons of either TOS or TNG era - decides to leave the ship and go off on her merry way to the alien's ship so her horsey can fly. Oh stop being a worry-wart, Jimmy, the Klingons aren't going to shoot me!
Ugh. The basic concept of seeing the crew on their first mission together, of taking a traveling circus to visit starbases for morale boost, USO style, on the frontier of Federation space seemed like a decent idea. The concept of advanced aliens who view the universe and travel entirely differently and live in a really cool ship. All great ideas. But the characters sucked. I don't normally write negative reviews. I really wanted to like this book. I do not recommend reading it though.
The problem was the characters. I understand the only source material the author really had to go on was the 3 seasons of the original series. I also understand that this book
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takes place at the time when Captain Kirk first takes command of the Enterprise. But every character is an asshole. The crew hates and refuses to work with each other. I find it hard to believe that this group of jerks could ever work together or become the tight knit family we see portrayed on TV. Spock hates Kirk and McCoy. Scotty hates Kirk. Sulu hates everyone. Uhura hates Kirk. Kirk hates Spock. Chekov.... why is Chekov there? He didn't join the crew until well after the beginning of its 5 year mission. And why does Janice Rand break down and start crying every time she thinks someone might not like her because they said something or looked at her. How does someone like that get into Starfleet? No one realized she was underage?
Amelinda, is leader of this traveling circus that has ventured off planet for the first time. She's really good at her job. But despite planning on spending weeks or months traveling through space to different Starbases on this ship, she's decided to bring her mutant flying horse and complains that it doesn't have enough room to fly in the shuttlebay. And then when shit is hitting the fan with the Klingons - who don't seem like Klingons of either TOS or TNG era - decides to leave the ship and go off on her merry way to the alien's ship so her horsey can fly. Oh stop being a worry-wart, Jimmy, the Klingons aren't going to shoot me!
Ugh. The basic concept of seeing the crew on their first mission together, of taking a traveling circus to visit starbases for morale boost, USO style, on the frontier of Federation space seemed like a decent idea. The concept of advanced aliens who view the universe and travel entirely differently and live in a really cool ship. All great ideas. But the characters sucked. I don't normally write negative reviews. I really wanted to like this book. I do not recommend reading it though.
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LibraryThing member Cheryl_in_CC_NV
Relatively long and complex, and is best enjoyed by fans because it's fun to say oh, so that's why Kirk does these things this way during TOS, and that's what the 'feud' between Spock and McCoy is all about" etc.
But still enjoyable, I think, for naive readers. The idea of having the Enterprise
I particularly liked the smaller plots, featuring Uhura, Sulu, Janice Rand, and Spock's distant cousin Stephen.
I liked the little details, like the fact that Kirk didn't know anything about Vulcan mind-melds. And the last 1/2 page - priceless. (oh, but don't skip ahead, read the whole book first to get the full benefit :)"
But still enjoyable, I think, for naive readers. The idea of having the Enterprise
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ferrying a vaudeville troupe and then encountering not only Klingons but a new sentient species (note the *literal* world-building explored), is purely entertaining in its own right.I particularly liked the smaller plots, featuring Uhura, Sulu, Janice Rand, and Spock's distant cousin Stephen.
I liked the little details, like the fact that Kirk didn't know anything about Vulcan mind-melds. And the last 1/2 page - priceless. (oh, but don't skip ahead, read the whole book first to get the full benefit :)"
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LibraryThing member coachtim30
Overly-dramatic, plodding at times, and with less character development than I would have expected for the "first Enterprise adventure", this novel was surprisingly disappointing. More times than not, I found myself skipping some of the really slower parts with the hope that things would pick up.
I really wanted this book to work because I thought there would be some interesting backstories to the creation of the Star Trek "band" that fans know and love. Well...there wasn't nearly enough of that and way too much of an uninteresting side story weaving together a vaudevillian troupe, a renegade Klingon, and a "first contact" with a group of winged creatures.
As a fan of the show and franchise, maybe I expected too much out of this book. I'll leave it to others to judge and add their comments or reviews.
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Unfortunately, they really didn't.I really wanted this book to work because I thought there would be some interesting backstories to the creation of the Star Trek "band" that fans know and love. Well...there wasn't nearly enough of that and way too much of an uninteresting side story weaving together a vaudevillian troupe, a renegade Klingon, and a "first contact" with a group of winged creatures.
As a fan of the show and franchise, maybe I expected too much out of this book. I'll leave it to others to judge and add their comments or reviews.
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LibraryThing member burritapal
I'm a Trekie, but only of the original series. I used to have a crush on Jim Kirk, when I was a pre-teen. JSYK.
In this first book of McIntyre's series, Jim Kirk gets his captain promotion and his first starship. The crew have all served under Capt Pike, who has been promoted to admiral. Spock,
I thoroughly enjoyed this and I will be reading the second book in the series soon.
In this first book of McIntyre's series, Jim Kirk gets his captain promotion and his first starship. The crew have all served under Capt Pike, who has been promoted to admiral. Spock,
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Uhura, Scotty, have served on the Enterprise. Kirk is only 29 years old. Janice Rand is 19 years old, and the opposite of the beautiful, assured woman playing on the show. It was fascinating to compare the book's characterization with that of the TV show.I thoroughly enjoyed this and I will be reading the second book in the series soon.
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Subjects
Language
Original publication date
1986
Physical description
371 p.; 18 cm
ISBN
0-671-62581-0 / 9780671625818
Local notes
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Pages
371