In anticipation of the Star Trek Coda series finishing up this year, I have a discussion about one of the pivotal tentpole trilogies in Star Trek; Star Trek Destiny. Enjoy!
I've read a number of the post-Nemesis books, and the Destiny trilogy is the only one where I thought, "Wow, this would actually work as a set of Hollywood movies." It would have been a great sendoff to TNG, DS9, VOY, and ENT. Far better than Nemesis. At the time, of course, there was no Picard series. It would have been very different from every Trek movie before, in the sense that it had an "epic" scope, with many protagonist ships, perspectives, and timelines. I figured at the time that you wouldn't necessarily need to split it into three movies. You could also split it into two, with the cliffhanger being the (warning: SPOILERS ahead)... ...the point where the massive wave of Borg cubes emerges from the wormhole. The 1st movie's climactic battle would be the encounter with the Hirogen, which is a potentially amazing action setpiece.
I love the Destiny trilogy 💖! I love the Caeliar too! I was very surprised when I read it to find out that the crashed ship was the Colombia from Enterprise. I was even more shocked to find out what happened to the remaining crew and how they are responsible for the creation of the Borg! I love David Mack's Star Trek novels, by the way. You mentioned, Jonathan, that it'll be interesting to see how Coda book 3 turns out because he's the one blowing up everything. But what you and so many others seem to be forgetting (because a lot of people are nervous about Coda book 3) is that he's not destroying this time, he's creating. David Mack has the unenviable job of not only obliterating the past 20 years of stories but he has to reorient the timeline too to match up with Picard. So he's not going to kill any of the main characters, just secondary ones. ViacomCBS wouldn't allow him to kill any of the main characters. So everybody should just enjoy the story for what it is - a story. And everybody should give David Mack props for taking on the daunting task of realigning the Star Trek timeline. Live long and prosper, Jonathan 🖖.
I do think that he is going to kill this version of these characters though. Jean-Luc Picard will still be around, but not this version who is married and has a kid. Likewise with Riker and all of the other characters from this era. I think that this will be treated like a “mirror universe” now. But at this point I think I trust Mack. He’s earned this. It’ll be interesting to see how he ties in the Picard show. If my assumptions are right, we saw those versions of the characters towards the end of “The Ashes of Tomorrow” Also, one of the funniest and yet most terrifying lines in the trilogy was “I will not become a Cy...”“Borg”. It was the first time I realized that that’s what the Borg name is based on, and thought it was brilliant.
@@jonathankoan I see your point. But this won't be a "Mirror Universe". This will be an alternate universe of what could've been. Because the Mirror Universe is getting a realignment too. That's why they've got that TNG Mirror War comic book going on right now. That completely contradicts everything that David Mack previously wrote about Jean-Luc Picard's Mirror counterpart. This comic is actually the culmination of a trilogy of stories that started back in 2019. They had to postpone it because of the pandemic. And as for Coda book 3, Starfleet Captains always make sacrifices. This time the sacrifice must be bigger to save all of reality. That's what makes them heroes - being able to make tough decisions that regular people like us can't make. This is not the first time Captain Picard has had to give up having a family to save the universe. Look at Generations when he's in the Nexus with Captain Kirk and Guinan. Also, I wonder if this resetting of the timeline and reality is going to be what's responsible for the Romulan Supernova? They never have explained it. Perhaps this resetting of time and reality that comes with a cost so high to our Captains doesn't exactly go off without a hitch? Just some food for thought. One more day until Coda book 3 comes out. I get my copy next week 🙂. I am very, very excited for it! Live long and prosper, Jonathan 🖖.
Thanks for that video! I consider Mack as one of the best Star Trek authors. I always loved the books by Peter David. Just wondering: How can you not be a DS9 fan? That show told some amazing, emotional and epic stories
Its the one show that went in directions I really wasn't into. The whole spiritual stuff with the Bajorans wasn't of particular interest to me, the political stuff was good but got bogged down often in the television format, and the characters weren't as enticing for me. The only characters on screen that were of interest to me were Bashir and Garak. I connected most with the Voyager characters and a little bit with the Next Generation characters, but never got around to caring for the DS9 characters in the show. That being said, one of my favorite arcs in the books now is with Julian Bashir and I have loved all of Aventine's appearances, so the books work better for me. I just today went on a spending spree to buy more DS9 books, so I will definitely be diving into them more.
The events from these books are referenced a lot in many other post Nemesis books. That’s one good reason to read them. But they also tell an amazing, fast paced and well written story with a fantastic twist. IMHO a must read.
Hello, I've never read a Star Trek book but I've watched and enjoyed every single show including the animated series. Can I just star reading this series and not miss much? or are there like 3 or 4 books I should read before?
There are definitely books that lead up to this series, but I think it is possible and even advisable to start here. David Mack will fill in some of the details. There will be a few places where you’ll go “Oh, they’re married?” Or “Wait, they’re a Captain?”, but Mack provides all the information. If you want a more detailed answer, I’d look at the “Almighty Star Trek Lit-Reading Order Flowchart” from the Trek Collective.
Could you explain how the borg were created please . (haven’t read these, currently doing chemo and can’t physically bring myself. But I really wanna know how they were created in this series )
So the Columbia( one of the ships from the Enterprise tv series) crashed on a planet with the Caeliar. A big event happened separating some of the characters and some of the crew were trapped on a barren planet with the Caliear, who essentially merged to service, creating a new cyborg...or the Borg. That’s the super fast version.
One of my favorite series..
Me too!
This series, and The Fall, are the most important series in Trek going into Coda.
I've read a number of the post-Nemesis books, and the Destiny trilogy is the only one where I thought, "Wow, this would actually work as a set of Hollywood movies." It would have been a great sendoff to TNG, DS9, VOY, and ENT. Far better than Nemesis. At the time, of course, there was no Picard series. It would have been very different from every Trek movie before, in the sense that it had an "epic" scope, with many protagonist ships, perspectives, and timelines.
I figured at the time that you wouldn't necessarily need to split it into three movies. You could also split it into two, with the cliffhanger being the (warning: SPOILERS ahead)...
...the point where the massive wave of Borg cubes emerges from the wormhole. The 1st movie's climactic battle would be the encounter with the Hirogen, which is a potentially amazing action setpiece.
I love the Destiny trilogy 💖! I love the Caeliar too! I was very surprised when I read it to find out that the crashed ship was the Colombia from Enterprise. I was even more shocked to find out what happened to the remaining crew and how they are responsible for the creation of the Borg!
I love David Mack's Star Trek novels, by the way. You mentioned, Jonathan, that it'll be interesting to see how Coda book 3 turns out because he's the one blowing up everything. But what you and so many others seem to be forgetting (because a lot of people are nervous about Coda book 3) is that he's not destroying this time, he's creating. David Mack has the unenviable job of not only obliterating the past 20 years of stories but he has to reorient the timeline too to match up with Picard.
So he's not going to kill any of the main characters, just secondary ones. ViacomCBS wouldn't allow him to kill any of the main characters. So everybody should just enjoy the story for what it is - a story. And everybody should give David Mack props for taking on the daunting task of realigning the Star Trek timeline.
Live long and prosper, Jonathan 🖖.
I do think that he is going to kill this version of these characters though. Jean-Luc Picard will still be around, but not this version who is married and has a kid. Likewise with Riker and all of the other characters from this era. I think that this will be treated like a “mirror universe” now. But at this point I think I trust Mack. He’s earned this. It’ll be interesting to see how he ties in the Picard show. If my assumptions are right, we saw those versions of the characters towards the end of “The Ashes of Tomorrow”
Also, one of the funniest and yet most terrifying lines in the trilogy was “I will not become a Cy...”“Borg”. It was the first time I realized that that’s what the Borg name is based on, and thought it was brilliant.
@@jonathankoan I see your point. But this won't be a "Mirror Universe". This will be an alternate universe of what could've been. Because the Mirror Universe is getting a realignment too.
That's why they've got that TNG Mirror War comic book going on right now. That completely contradicts everything that David Mack previously wrote about Jean-Luc Picard's Mirror counterpart. This comic is actually the culmination of a trilogy of stories that started back in 2019. They had to postpone it because of the pandemic.
And as for Coda book 3, Starfleet Captains always make sacrifices. This time the sacrifice must be bigger to save all of reality. That's what makes them heroes - being able to make tough decisions that regular people like us can't make. This is not the first time Captain Picard has had to give up having a family to save the universe.
Look at Generations when he's in the Nexus with Captain Kirk and Guinan. Also, I wonder if this resetting of the timeline and reality is going to be what's responsible for the Romulan Supernova? They never have explained it. Perhaps this resetting of time and reality that comes with a cost so high to our Captains doesn't exactly go off without a hitch?
Just some food for thought. One more day until Coda book 3 comes out. I get my copy next week 🙂. I am very, very excited for it!
Live long and prosper, Jonathan 🖖.
Thanks for that video!
I consider Mack as one of the best Star Trek authors. I always loved the books by Peter David.
Just wondering: How can you not be a DS9 fan? That show told some amazing, emotional and epic stories
Its the one show that went in directions I really wasn't into. The whole spiritual stuff with the Bajorans wasn't of particular interest to me, the political stuff was good but got bogged down often in the television format, and the characters weren't as enticing for me. The only characters on screen that were of interest to me were Bashir and Garak. I connected most with the Voyager characters and a little bit with the Next Generation characters, but never got around to caring for the DS9 characters in the show. That being said, one of my favorite arcs in the books now is with Julian Bashir and I have loved all of Aventine's appearances, so the books work better for me. I just today went on a spending spree to buy more DS9 books, so I will definitely be diving into them more.
I gotta buy these now, sounds great!
It’s definitely the series that affected the timeline the most. It’s also one of the best and bestselling Star Trek series. Really good stuff.
The events from these books are referenced a lot in many other post Nemesis books. That’s one good reason to read them. But they also tell an amazing, fast paced and well written story with a fantastic twist. IMHO a must read.
I love destiny trilogy
It’s definitely the trilogy that had the biggest impact on Star Trek literature. I find myself reminiscing about it a lot.
Hello, I've never read a Star Trek book but I've watched and enjoyed every single show including the animated series. Can I just star reading this series and not miss much? or are there like 3 or 4 books I should read before?
There are definitely books that lead up to this series, but I think it is possible and even advisable to start here. David Mack will fill in some of the details. There will be a few places where you’ll go “Oh, they’re married?” Or “Wait, they’re a Captain?”, but Mack provides all the information. If you want a more detailed answer, I’d look at the “Almighty Star Trek Lit-Reading Order Flowchart” from the Trek Collective.
@@jonathankoan thanks man, I'm ordering them now
Could you explain how the borg were created please . (haven’t read these, currently doing chemo and can’t physically bring myself. But I really wanna know how they were created in this series )
So the Columbia( one of the ships from the Enterprise tv series) crashed on a planet with the Caeliar. A big event happened separating some of the characters and some of the crew were trapped on a barren planet with the Caliear, who essentially merged to service, creating a new cyborg...or the Borg. That’s the super fast version.