Status
Available
Call number
Series
Genres
Publication
Pocket Books (1984), Edition: BCE
Description
Prepare Yourself For Warp-10 Excitement! The Galaxy's ultimate future is in the hands of James Kirk, Mr. Spock and the indomitable crew of the "Enterperprise. The Galaxy's ultimate weapon is in the hands of the evil Khan and his followers. A battle that will shake the universe cannot be avoided...And the ultimate adventure is about to begin!
User reviews
LibraryThing member RBeffa
How is it that the film (and book) Star Trek II The Wrath of Khan is 37 years old? It blows my mind. The recent death of Vonda McIntyre prompts me to accelerate the reading of two books of hers I have on my read this year shelf. Last year I read her Star trek novel 'The Entropy Effect' which was an
This novelization of the second Star Trek film from 1982 is book #7 in the original pocketbook Star Trek series of books that began after the first ST film in 1979. Some of these early novels are very good and some are pretty bad. This is one of the very good ones. McIntyre bases the story on the screenplay but this is not a note for note copy - she clearly wants to give us a good story and puts some meat on the bones of the original. The film story is here and if like me you think it one of the best (and possibly THE BEST) Star Trek films, then you are going to like this novel even more. The original film was rather scary in some places. So is the book. It has an excellent plot that expanded the lives of some of our favorite characters from the original series and introduced new characters. Simply put I really liked this story and think it one of the best Trek stories and I wish the added stuff was in the original film. The expanded story of Saavik is a real plus and the novel, like the film, begins with Saavik. I'll give you two words. Kobayashi Maru. Quite a start.
The characters in here all were spot on. Now I need to rewatch the film.
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early entry in the long running series of stories by many authors, and I thought it was one of the best Trek novels I have read.This novelization of the second Star Trek film from 1982 is book #7 in the original pocketbook Star Trek series of books that began after the first ST film in 1979. Some of these early novels are very good and some are pretty bad. This is one of the very good ones. McIntyre bases the story on the screenplay but this is not a note for note copy - she clearly wants to give us a good story and puts some meat on the bones of the original. The film story is here and if like me you think it one of the best (and possibly THE BEST) Star Trek films, then you are going to like this novel even more. The original film was rather scary in some places. So is the book. It has an excellent plot that expanded the lives of some of our favorite characters from the original series and introduced new characters. Simply put I really liked this story and think it one of the best Trek stories and I wish the added stuff was in the original film. The expanded story of Saavik is a real plus and the novel, like the film, begins with Saavik. I'll give you two words. Kobayashi Maru. Quite a start.
The characters in here all were spot on. Now I need to rewatch the film.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Michael.Rimmer
Having watched the movie more times than I can count did not detract from my enjoyment when reading the book. Vonda McIntyre does a good job of bringing the film into print. Obviously, it helps that I've got a very clear image of everything she's describing. I'm guessing she expected that, so
An enjoyable romp, and quite an emotional one if you have any investment in the Star Trek characters.
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rather than go into lots of "world-building" detail, she fills in some background with Saavik's early years and describes Khan's "questioning" of the Genesis team on Regulus I Spacelab.An enjoyable romp, and quite an emotional one if you have any investment in the Star Trek characters.
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LibraryThing member JonathanCrites
My first foray into Star Trek novels, this is the first part of a trade paperback of McIntyre's Star Trek Film Trilogy novelizations. As these three movies all dovetailed together it is just as nice to have the novelizations do so as well. They read as an almost unbroken story. 'Better to reign in
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Hell, than serve in Heav'n' Show Less
LibraryThing member Toast.x2
The movie Wrath of Khan has been ruined forever. All hail the Wrath of Khan (book)! Let me explain, because Vonda McIntyre owned this.
For father's day, I do not require much. Give me a hot meal, a warm cuddle, and a chilly blanket covered viewing of StarTrek: The Wrath of Khan. Family time at it's
Why are you reading this?
The Lack of Khan meant my wonderful wife felt concern that my father's day would be lackluster. She searched out and located me a copy of the 1982 paperback edition Wrath of Khan. Giddy and sweaty palmed, I jigged in my seat when I opened my gift from her.
Also included was a hardback copy of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, but I can discuss that at a later date.
This geeky film will never be the same. The story of Wrath of Khan is no secret. Dumbed down- On Federation/Civilian research mission to a dead planet, Khan Noonien Singh is found, crazed and vengeful. He plots to find and punish James T Kirk, who he blames for the death of his wife and followers. In the process, he captures a starship and a device which can reorganize the structure of matter, destroying whatever previously existed and rebuilding habitable worlds from the blocks.
Kirk is in a fight to save his inexperienced trainee crew, while protecting innocent lives from the damage a deranged madman can wreck.
It has been thirty years since this movie and it's novelization were released. The geek in me picked out several elements requiring highlight.
First and most verbosely- In reading this, the Wrath if Khan has NOTHING to do with Khan or Kirk. Some aspects of this are displayed on the movie, but nowhere to the depth the novelization took it. This novel is about Savvik.
Savvik's backstory in the movies is rediculously thin. She is 'just' a Vulcan cadet on the path to becoming an officer. She 'just' questions human behavior and is 'just' under the tutelage of Spock. In the novelization, 'just' is a description which can never be.
Separate yourself from what you know from the film. The Wrath of Khan easily becomes Savvik's story. Born of a forbidden and potentially disturbing relationship between a Vulcan and a Romulan, she was orphaned and abandoned on a planet with all the other halflings. Spock, on a research mission, finds her feral and removed. He brings her back to society and treats her as an equal, almost like a daughter. She has warring genetics and culture, she has a desire for logic and an emotional flame that wants to burn the entire universe. It is Spock's assistance and training which allow her to control herself.
The story revolves entirely around her actions and reactions to her environment, people she meets, internal warring, and ultimately grief.
Having read this, Khan becomes irrelevant. He is a tool to harness a greater storyline. It is disappointing that Savvik in film is relegateted to the role of trainee and nothing more. In the follow up film, she takes on the role of mother and lover. Nothing literally nothing to the level of required character definition that she deserves based on this novelization. In film she exists as a plot tool to move action or set Kirk up for his lines.
Though not all perspectives were hers, hers were the most relevant and genuine feeling. STARTREK REBOOTers: pay attention to Savvik! She is more than she was allowed to be!
Second point- Wonderful backstory and characters fleshed out for scientists on the Genesis research station. Who are they? How did their roles lead them to being tortured to death in the name of Genesis.
Third- Through the same scientists, it is introduced that the building blocks of all matter are five subcomponents of quarks. In the novel they are named after the five elements of a Lewis Carrol poem. The timing of this reading could not be more properly timed. Only ten days before I began reading this, the Large Hadron Collider was able to prove PentaQuarks.. I was reading poetic references to the very same elements that we now are proud to have proven.
Fourth and lastly- Apparently a 50MB hard drive must be stored in a liquid nitrogen based cooling system in order to handle the data loads that Genesis algorythms require. Likewise reproggramming something would require OCR feeds of raw paper printouts, which would need mass QA to remove optical character recognition errors. To quote Sulu, "Oh, My!".
This book was amazing. Go find it nerds. It is worth shelling some bucks out for it.
For father's day, I do not require much. Give me a hot meal, a warm cuddle, and a chilly blanket covered viewing of StarTrek: The Wrath of Khan. Family time at it's
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best. Unfortunately, this year my children are of an age where this movie would cause undue stress. Earworms, explosions, blind revenge and blood really dont jive too well with toddlers, so it is on pause for a couple years. We watched The Voyage Home instead, yes, the awesome time travel whale movie.Why are you reading this?
The Lack of Khan meant my wonderful wife felt concern that my father's day would be lackluster. She searched out and located me a copy of the 1982 paperback edition Wrath of Khan. Giddy and sweaty palmed, I jigged in my seat when I opened my gift from her.
Also included was a hardback copy of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, but I can discuss that at a later date.
This geeky film will never be the same. The story of Wrath of Khan is no secret. Dumbed down- On Federation/Civilian research mission to a dead planet, Khan Noonien Singh is found, crazed and vengeful. He plots to find and punish James T Kirk, who he blames for the death of his wife and followers. In the process, he captures a starship and a device which can reorganize the structure of matter, destroying whatever previously existed and rebuilding habitable worlds from the blocks.
Kirk is in a fight to save his inexperienced trainee crew, while protecting innocent lives from the damage a deranged madman can wreck.
It has been thirty years since this movie and it's novelization were released. The geek in me picked out several elements requiring highlight.
First and most verbosely- In reading this, the Wrath if Khan has NOTHING to do with Khan or Kirk. Some aspects of this are displayed on the movie, but nowhere to the depth the novelization took it. This novel is about Savvik.
Savvik's backstory in the movies is rediculously thin. She is 'just' a Vulcan cadet on the path to becoming an officer. She 'just' questions human behavior and is 'just' under the tutelage of Spock. In the novelization, 'just' is a description which can never be.
Separate yourself from what you know from the film. The Wrath of Khan easily becomes Savvik's story. Born of a forbidden and potentially disturbing relationship between a Vulcan and a Romulan, she was orphaned and abandoned on a planet with all the other halflings. Spock, on a research mission, finds her feral and removed. He brings her back to society and treats her as an equal, almost like a daughter. She has warring genetics and culture, she has a desire for logic and an emotional flame that wants to burn the entire universe. It is Spock's assistance and training which allow her to control herself.
The story revolves entirely around her actions and reactions to her environment, people she meets, internal warring, and ultimately grief.
Having read this, Khan becomes irrelevant. He is a tool to harness a greater storyline. It is disappointing that Savvik in film is relegateted to the role of trainee and nothing more. In the follow up film, she takes on the role of mother and lover. Nothing literally nothing to the level of required character definition that she deserves based on this novelization. In film she exists as a plot tool to move action or set Kirk up for his lines.
Though not all perspectives were hers, hers were the most relevant and genuine feeling. STARTREK REBOOTers: pay attention to Savvik! She is more than she was allowed to be!
Second point- Wonderful backstory and characters fleshed out for scientists on the Genesis research station. Who are they? How did their roles lead them to being tortured to death in the name of Genesis.
Third- Through the same scientists, it is introduced that the building blocks of all matter are five subcomponents of quarks. In the novel they are named after the five elements of a Lewis Carrol poem. The timing of this reading could not be more properly timed. Only ten days before I began reading this, the Large Hadron Collider was able to prove PentaQuarks.. I was reading poetic references to the very same elements that we now are proud to have proven.
Fourth and lastly- Apparently a 50MB hard drive must be stored in a liquid nitrogen based cooling system in order to handle the data loads that Genesis algorythms require. Likewise reproggramming something would require OCR feeds of raw paper printouts, which would need mass QA to remove optical character recognition errors. To quote Sulu, "Oh, My!".
This book was amazing. Go find it nerds. It is worth shelling some bucks out for it.
Show Less
LibraryThing member LyndaInOregon
This is a workmanlike novelization of the second Star Trek film, with all the limitations and requirements that carries. The database shows Nicholas Meyer as the author, and he is credited with the film script, but the novelization is definitely the work of Vonda McIntyre, a noted author in the
Having only recently re-watched The Wrath of Khan, I found the differences between the film and McIntyre’s novelization more noticeable than they might otherwise have been. The major one, of course, is the absence in the novel of the “Remember” scene just before Spock enters the room in which he will die. McIntyre, as is common with novelizations of films, was working from a shooting script, and as every good Trekker knows, that scene was an afterthought – one intended to provide the stepping stone for what turned out to be the second film in a trilogy. Also key was another single word in the earlier dialogue, in which Kirk confronts the mother of his son. In the book (and thus, apparently in the shooting script) the line was “Why didn’t you tell me?” (and she gets to point out with great logic, that he should have been able to count to nine). In the final cut of the film, the line is “Why didn’t you tell him?” (emphasis mine), which puts a whole other spin on Kirk’s absentee father-ism, allowing him to say “I did what you asked – I stayed away”, thus retaining his essential step-up-to-the-plate good-guy image (and proving that yes, he can count to nine).
The novel probably belongs on the shelf of the raving Trek completionist; for most other readers it is a curiosity at best, and perhaps serves as an interesting what-if in the differences a minor tweak can make to a story line.
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science fiction genre and a dyed-in-the-wool Star Trek fan. She has added or expanded on backstory for some of the minor characters, most specifically Saavik, Khan’s sidekick Joaquim, and the staff involved in the development of the Genesis device.Having only recently re-watched The Wrath of Khan, I found the differences between the film and McIntyre’s novelization more noticeable than they might otherwise have been. The major one, of course, is the absence in the novel of the “Remember” scene just before Spock enters the room in which he will die. McIntyre, as is common with novelizations of films, was working from a shooting script, and as every good Trekker knows, that scene was an afterthought – one intended to provide the stepping stone for what turned out to be the second film in a trilogy. Also key was another single word in the earlier dialogue, in which Kirk confronts the mother of his son. In the book (and thus, apparently in the shooting script) the line was “Why didn’t you tell me?” (and she gets to point out with great logic, that he should have been able to count to nine). In the final cut of the film, the line is “Why didn’t you tell him?” (emphasis mine), which puts a whole other spin on Kirk’s absentee father-ism, allowing him to say “I did what you asked – I stayed away”, thus retaining his essential step-up-to-the-plate good-guy image (and proving that yes, he can count to nine).
The novel probably belongs on the shelf of the raving Trek completionist; for most other readers it is a curiosity at best, and perhaps serves as an interesting what-if in the differences a minor tweak can make to a story line.
Show Less
Subjects
Original publication date
1982-07