William Shatner Wrote Star Trek Fan Fiction
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- Опубліковано 24 сер 2023
- Did you know William Shatner wrote his own Star Trek stories? And did you know they're very very strange?
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Let's be honest. It would be weirder if Shatner NEVER wrote Star Trek Fanfiction.
I don't think that's the accurate statement, I believe it's better to say he wrote SHATNER Fanfiction.
@@HanyoumaruThat's the secret vault that gets open upon his death. All the fanfic he wrote about himself.
The surprising thing is surely how long he waited to publish any of it.
@@allanolley4874Honestly, it was doubly inevitable given how dirty Kirk was supposedly done in _Generations_ from what I've heard, though it in no way had to be *this* masturbatory. At least I have yet one more example of a male Mary Sue when people try to call me out on accusing Rey of unfortunately being one. Yay?
@@MusicoftheDamnedI'll join you on that "Yay?"
I love these books so damn much. Legit just unhinged as a series. Also, small correction. Shatner actually wrote 10 Trek books, not 9. He started a young Kirk and Spock book series that only released one book despite starting writing and announcing a second because Star Trek 2009 was coming out!
Omg! I knew you'd be here 🎉 and Making a correction even better ❤
have you finished The Lightning Thief yet?
went into the comments to ask if "jessie made you do this" and wouldn't you know it. hi jessie xD
Is this the series where Kirk gets a dressing down from a Captain who is a sentient potted plant?
stop stalking me!!! i am allowed to watch other channels!!
I loved the part where Kirk said "It's Kirkin' time!" and Kirked all over everyone and everything.
Gross.
07:15 To be fair here, even TNG had a habit of showing Worf getting over-powered or having his ass handed to him in order to show the audience how strong the villain of the week is or to sell the danger of a situation. There is a reason the trope name "The Worf Effect" exists. This trope became so common that before Michael Dorn joined Deep Space Nine, he asked the showrunners how the character was gonna be used because even he was tired of the trope.
They did the same thing with Superman in the first season of the Justice League cartoon. (I mean the Bruce Timm one, in case there's another one I'm not aware of).
And during DS9 Worf did a boss rush on Jem'Hadar warriors. That more than balances out all the stuff that happened to him in TNG.
Fun Fact: The term 'Mary Sue' came from a 1973 Star Trek spoof fanfic.
IIRC Star Trek is also the reason why this term has negative connotations, yet Mary Sue herself (as in- the character) was _not_ the reason it became derogatory
@@KonpekikaminariFunner "fact": IIRC, the original Mary Sue seems to have been a legitimate parody character. Sadly, the majority of her predecessors, regardless of official status or gender or sex(ual orientation) have been dead serious jokes.
@@MusicoftheDamnedyeah, iirc, Mary Sue was meant to be a bit of a laugh about the overly powerful self insert that has always been popular in fanfic. Dom did describe it correctly, but the original character was just a little inside joke
the original one also died
The story is called "A Trekkie's Tale" it's only one page long, and it's really easy to find online
The fastest promotion from Ensign to Captain I've ever seen, well done Mr. Noble
Bruh, didn't even notice 🤣
i came here to see if i was the only one who noticed.
I was expecting him to become at least a rear admiral by the end of this.
The Reverse Harry Kim
First thing I noticed. Wait, wasn’t he wearing just one pip on his collar in the last scene….
*fast forwards entire episode*
Yup. Well played Don.
I mean, is it really THAT shocking that Worf got his butt kicked? There's literally two tropes named after him for that exact reason. The Worf Effect and Worf Barrage.
You forgot Mr Worf had the Flu
At least, in those instances, he was losing to powerful creatures. Deep Space Nine broke the mold and had him actually win fights.
@@suburbantimewaster9620 which just proved that the problem wasn't worf, it was Picard's highly limiting rules of engagement. Sisko just let worf do his thing without forcing him to always pull his punches.
@@glitterboy2098 I think it's that the writing on TNG, while I love the show, was more simplistic. They thought showing that this enemy could beat Worf was proof the enemy was a threat but, when Worf was always getting beat up, it caused people to question his credibility. So, in Deep Space Nine, they showed that people were strong against Worf not by having them beat him but by having them hold their own against him, such as showing that Jadzia was capable of giving Worf a challenge with a bat'leth and Garak was capable of holding his own against Worf, something an ordinary tailor couldn't do. I don't know if DS9 had different writers or it was the same writers listening to criticism.
@@suburbantimewaster9620 I think different writers did DS9, given that it aired at roughly the same time as Voyager and Voyager was written by the TNG crew
Shatner is like that guy in your hometown who used to be the star quarter back and now he just tells stories of his glory days to the crew filming his Expedia commercials
This man has actually been to outer space.
@@KasumiKenshirou And with Expedia, he got the best price on travel and hotels, too!
Expedia, The Unexplained, he was just a few weeks ago at our Galaxycon convention in Austin TX where he was selling his autograph for $120 for a signed photo that the convention provided to $150 for having him sign any “memorabilia” brought in ranging from books to ST Blu-Rays and games, action figures etc.
Shows how incredibly good Galaxy Quest is. Tim Allen's portrail of the aged, washed up tv star who just does commercials and charity events looking back at his former glory, is peak late 90s Shatner.
Can a collective even properly consent to voyeurism? Please review all of the Shatner novels, Dom, the world needs more of this utter insanity! Also, you are indeed correct that Kirk would try to bang the Borg Queen if he could. Her collectivism brings all the boys to the yard.
The entire deal with assimilation as presented is that the collective's existence itself is non-consensual.
You may find an individual or two who volunteer, but the Borg do not ask permission. It's an explicit aspect of their role in the franchise (at least once it was introduced in BoBW). They are bad guys for this and many other reasons.
That's a good question
@@JosephDavies Oh I'm very well aware, my dude, hence why I brought it up haha. I just felt like being provocative.
@@ApequH Gotta feel bad for the people who manage to escape the collective but forever carry the image of Kirk getting it on in their minds.
@@sebastianevangelista4921Oh! Sorry, the question implied you were unaware. Carry on. :)
The Shatnerverse is so fun to read lol, it's literally just Shatner's ego gone awry and I kind of love it and hate it at the same time.
Can't be any worse than what we've been getting.
Hey, I'm glad to have a series with Kirk coming back to life.
That’s Shatner in a nutshell and damn, it works somehow. I think it is so honest it kinda drags you in, there is no malice, just ego.
Actors really shouldn’t do fan fiction. Paul Darrow wrote a Blake’s 7 novel, which I thought dreadful. Among other things, he had telegrams between planets and thought you could get between two solar system planets via the Magellanic Clouds… in his novel, these were giant clouds in space! He was a wonderful actor with a beautiful speaking voice, but not a writer. The only actor I know of who could write was Tom Tryon, who gave up acting when he discovered he could write very good horror fiction, and sell it.
@@suebursztynski2530 I liked Robinson's A Stitch in Time about Garak (ST DS9)
Riker is a Kirk stereotype that got filled out.
He is what most people think Kirk was. The lady's man. The charming jock who can and will talk his way into your heart and bed.
Kirk is a career-driven nerd who got famous for the one time he talked back to his profs and be came the youngest captain by hard work.
I love them both but right from the beginning we can see that Riker was supposed to be a Kirk 2.0.
No wonder Shatner doesn't like him.
Came down here to see if anyone had already mentioned my personal theory, that Shatner hates Riker because Riker out Kirked Kirk. Glad to see that I'm not alone in the world! (Comment for the evil-alg)
So Riker is Kirk fanfiction, and in response Shatner wrote Kirk fanfiction.
Originally, since STNG "recycled" a lot of stuff from "Star Trek:Phase II" Will Riker started out as Will DECKER. Though Johnathan Frakes fleshed out the part.
@@martykarr7058 And Kirk/Shatner was definitely not jealous of Decker in any way. 😉
@@cryofpaine And that's how it was written in STMP, and Piccard wasn't jealous of Riker. But we're talking about Shatner, a totally different author and perspective. Though Decker DID accuse him of being jealous for wanting the Enterprise.
I have never dared read the Shatnerverse, but Robinson’s Garak book A Stitch in Time remains a favourite example of an actor doing justice to both his character and the fandom.
J.G. Hertzler's The Left Hand of Destiny duology is also very good. It's like an Arthurian tale, but with Klingons.
You read my mind. I wanted to use that as an example myself.
A stitch in time is awesome. Garak is such a great character and this book just made him so much deeper. Robinson really gets what the facism of the cardassian society would do to someone like him. How he is indoctrinated by Tain and how he is longing for his fathers approval even though their relationship is so toxic and abusive
it helped that he wrote "a stitch in time" piecemeal over the course of DS9 with the input of the show's creators, with a lot of the parts to it being based on stuff he'd envisioned to help give himself character context for the various things he's describing garak having done. apparently he also liked to share bits of it with the writers too, so it was a much more collaborative process. he was only convinced to clean it up for publication later, after fans got so excited at his reading small parts of his notes at conventions.
'I, Q' by John De Lance is also a book written by an actor who understood the assignment.
Dom, anyone can beat TNG Worf, you're thinking of DS9 Worf who went undefeated fighting against 7-12 bio engineered super soldiers in 1v1 duels. Than again, Picard Worf can teleport and will stab you in the back at the most dramatic moment. So it could have been more impressive.
Yeah, I was gonna say, TV Tropes still lists "The Worf Effect" as when a supposedly badass character is used as a punching bag so often that they lose their badass status.
Never forget that TNG Worf was defeated by a falling plastic barrel.
@@zaneseiberta plastic barrel that bounced
By kahless' b'leth, we will not forgive and will never forget the bouncing barrel uprising aboard the Enterprise -D!!
By Grabthar's hammer, Kahless' b'leth will be avenged@@indianastones6032
That's the most fanfiction like book I have ever heard about. Give me more tropes! It's amazing what you can officially publish with the right connections.
May I nominate Dark Passions as a worthy contender to that title. It's basically femslash smut the book where mirror universe Seven gets it on with the Intendent while not wearing much in the way of anything. Including a trip of course to planet Risa. Yes, this was an actual pair of official Trek novels, ones you could buy with actual money to own physical copies of, and not something you might find on Archive of our own.
My nomination would be TOS The Higher Frontier - aka the Enterprise crew fights Kamen Riders. No, not the actual Tokusatsu heroes, just lookalikes with similar abilities like being able to pull armor and weapons out of "Hammerspace". But still, there is this one scene of a Vulcan shouting "Change" (in vulcan) to summon their armor and the author clearly lists on his homepage which villain was visually based on which Rider. Yes, this is an officially published novel.
@@Drakespawn85 I'm not that much into Star Trek, but that sounds as it belongs on AO3, not in a published book. I always knew that many old novels based on big franchises are of questionable quality but clearly this is a rabbit hole I'm not ready for.
@@stryke-jn3kv I don't know how to comment on that.
@@Drakespawn85 There's also the X-Men crossovers...a comic that crossed TOS and X-Men...which had a sequel novel using TNG.
I think Shatner has a problem with Riker because he has more of the Kirk characteristics than Picard does. And he still is very popular. When Riker appeared in Picard, well I don't think my heart was the only one to skip a beat...
I came in to say just that! My theory is that Shatner slams on Riker because Riker is the one TNG character who's often compared to Kirk, and Shatner doesn't like anyone else stealing his thunder.
Riker was not a popular character in the beginning at all. Even Frakes mentions that frequently.
He course correcte Ted somewhat
@@tuttuttut7758when he grew the beard
2:16 What’s funny is that the Mary Sue trope actually got it’s namesake from a piece of Star Trek fan fiction specifically a parody fan fic about these kind of author self inserts
This is why I love fanfiction. This sounds like the so bad it's good type of fanfiction I loved as a kid. Not my bag now, but that right level of insane.
I’d be down for more Star Trek or Star Wars novel deep dives! The good, the bad, and the weird.
No need to only stick to the Big Two. Throw in some Stargate while you're at it!
Oh God yes. Csn we do the one where Luke joins a space cult to a yellow blob, and has to fight actual werewolves?
@@ethansloan It could be interesting to do a see a deep dive into the pre-SG1 novel series for Stargate. It was extremely interesting and goes in a very different direction than the various series did with the potential exception of a tiny bit from Infinity which was strange in combo because of SG1's people being jerks about things as they didn't like a series set in the future of their universe or a kids series for it and because of TV rights there.
@@AzraelThanatos I bought one of those books a while ago (Rebellion, I think) but haven't gotten around to reading it. Being a big fan of the franchise, I've always wondered about the original plans for a trilogy of movies that got completely swept aside by the tv series crew.
@@ethansloan A lot of the things with it is that it was based around the movie and expansions from the script and notes.
Then Showtime got access to the extended movie and couldn't get the supplementary info included so went their own way. Plus the books would be extremely hard to do on a TV budget from the time
All the stuff for Garak from DS9 (written by his actor Andy Robinson) is supposed to be incredibly good. The book A Stitch in Time started as backstory notes that Robinson made because Garak's past is deliberately obscure.
Can confirm A Stitch In Time is very good
One fun thing that Shatner did contribute to the Borg was the idea that they had 4-D shaped ships. There was a Borg tesseract which I remember thinking was really cool.
Longtime Trekkie here, this was absolutely delightful, thank you. Can it be a series? Please? How about if I tell you that you look great in a Starfleet uniform?
I absolutely love when IPs get an extensive series of novels. First, it’s more of what I love. Second, it’s fun to see talented writers take characters in interesting directions. And third, it’s amusing to see how crazy things get.
Along the same lines, I'd also love to see Dom tackle some of the weirder EU-era Star Wars novels. "The Crystal Star" would probably make his head explode.
@@jasonblalock4429That one is completely insane, but I've always been partial to "Children of the Jedi," for how its ending is treated as a good thing, but when you think about it for like 5 minutes, its completely disgusting.
@@TheLordofMetroids Is that the one where Luke ends up dating a ghost?
@@jasonblalock4429 yes, but it wasn't a ghost. Thats much less disturbing.
It was the corpse of his underage student, possessed by a ghost.
sci-fi property EUs tends to get unhinged on a level the video media never would on a regular basis it’s awesome
Writing ridiculous fanfics about himself is very on brand for him. Was not surprised.😂
Fun fact: Terry M. was a huge fan of a Star Wars parody, so invited the director and lead actress to cameo in the last episode of Enterprise. And then he married the lead actress. It’s such a cute story.
This is one of best examples of a vanity project. It’s the Shatnerverse and Prince’s Under the Cherry Moon.
Cherry Moon is the best of his films and has is filled with in jokes that only Prince and his crew get. It's like Adam Sandler's crew but worse because everyone thinks they are the coolest and wittiest person alive throwing one liners.
@@mandalorian_guy It feels such an odd move to go from 'Purple Rain' to a black and white film set in Paris! He did discover Kristen Scott-Thomas at least!
Yeah, these books were pretty goofy but one of them (the 2nd, I think?) did have one truly brilliant idea: The First Contact movie inadvertently created the Mirrorverse. Basically, because Earth's true first contact was with the Borg, they ended up far more paranoid than in the prime timeline, leading to an increasingly militaristic Federation. I always liked that retcon.
It's in the coda for the 6th book 'preserver'. After the events of First Contact, Cochran flips a coin as to if he warns the Vulcan's about the Borg or keep the future to himself, hence the divergence. Shatner's co-writers worked on Enterprise season 4 which probably was a factor in that series 'mirror universe' episodes
Yeah, the Shatnerverse mirror trilogy was pretty decent, actually.
@@tineye5100 Yeah, it was pretty fun. I particularly liked its origin for the Tantalus Field in Mirror Mirror, where Kirk stole the technology from the First Federation after murdering Balok. Not only killing him but stuffing and mounting him to put on display in his gallery of triumphs.
It was a pretty evocative way to show just how cruel and spiteful Tiberius is.
@@tineye5100agreed
The Mirrorverse isn't a branching off alternative timeline though. It's a complete alternative version of the main universe with its own past.
Congratulations on your promotions. To rank up so far in so short a time is a testament to your dedication and heroism🎉
Thank you for posting this comment - because I legit would not have noticed otherwise. 😁
I was wondering if I was going crazy or if he was eating sweet corn between takes!
Love how you're gradually going up in rank over the course of the video. I was sure I just hadn't seen the lieutenant pin when it showed up, then the commander pin appeared and I *knew* that wasn't there before.
Saying William Shatner is a decent human being is certainly a take
My thought as well. I have to believe Dom's just completely out of the loop on Shatner's misogynist and transphobic rants. (And probably better for his own mental health, frankly.)
Since Dom usually brings up when an author has done controversial things, I’d assume he just genuinely doesn’t know.
I was about to say~ like I went to the comments and this one was far down there so I had to dig. I don't think a lot of people know how much Shatner can be a dick.
@@1980rlquinnand his weird thing of calling distressed autistic children savages?
Glad it wasn't just me put off by that line
Dom, please consider covering “A Stitch in Time” by Andrew Robinson. It’s a novel about Garak written by the actor who played him, based on his own headcanon, and I found it a really interesting take on the character and his life after Deep Space Nine. The audiobook of it, read by Robinson, just released this summer.
He was planning on a sequel but it didn't materialise. Credit to him for writing it himself without needing co-writers.
It's an excellent book (as well as excellent Star Trek). Can't recommend it enough.
Loved this book!
Just got it on Audible, cheers ❤
I didn’t know the audiobook was coming at all, thanks! Just grabbed it
I really need you to continue this journey through the Shatnerverse for us. Apparently Shatner narrated the audiobook for this one!
Omg! Thank you!
I was wondering what you’d make your videos on, cause of the strike. Like I know you said “fuck it! We’ll talk books!” So like I knew, but going over Star Trek fanfics, that Shatner wrote?!
Genius! And thank you!
If you want to continue with Star Trek fiction, I'd recommend the "Myriad Universes" series, which is more-or-less the Trek equivalent of Marvel's "What If?"
It's also possible that I may be a little biased, because one of those novels, titled "The Chimes at Midnight" (contained in an omnibus titled "Echoes and Refractions") was written by me. 😁
Omg your a star trek fan. Honestly that makes my day. All my favorite UA-camrs seem to be trekkies, you Jessie Gender, Up is Not Jump. Good times. I've finally bit the bullet and bought into the pay wall and am binging all the new ones good times.
Damn I say good times a lot lol
This is hilarious! I really, really hope you'll do the whole series! A crossover with Jessie Gender would be great, too!
I actually mostly enjoy the Shatnerverse. I know it’s campy but that’s the charm.
Oh, regarding the V’Ger thing, Star Trek Online points to it being the Borg too.
Yeah, it's canon in many books.
aww man, I really like Ensign Dom as a look
edit: love that his rank keeps rising throughout the vid too, nice touch
I've never actually engaged with much Star Trek related media, so I think it's probably a testament to your review-making abilities that I still very much enjoyed this video!
I second that. I'm halfway into TNG but I can still apriciate how batshit insane this book is
MAD respect for the attention to Star Trek canon! I grew up on TOS reruns and watched the entirety of TNG live with plenty of attention paid to all of the Roddenberry series with an occasional dabble into modern Star Trek and the Abramsverse. I was aware of these books (mainly due to Malcom McDowell's rants about Shatner's writing prowess) but I had never actually read them. I think I may read them now. Thanks as always for a wonderful time!
Truly ridiculous how excited I got at the sight of Dom in a Starfleet uniform.
Probably filed under "Definitely not canon but fun to read" is "How Much for Just the Planet". An insane romp involving TOS, Klingons, many MANY musical numbers, noir and mystery, Buck Rogers style space adventure, golfing through the Great War, screwball romantic comedy, pies, a sloppy Vulcan, "strawberry" milkshake, and a giant inflatable Starship decoy, not necessarily in that order. I suspect you would greatly enjoy it. If you haven't ready it yet, find it, buy it, treasure it.
Do also read the same author's _The Final Reflection_ for a fascinating look at TOS-era Klingons before they got rebooted for TNG. It'll make you wish they'd kept them.
Wow I always knew the Shatnerverse existed, just never went on a deep research of it. Now that I know... It's exactly how I imagined.
This is bonkers. Hilarious video. Yes, we want more Star Trek content in the future.
I laughed so hard through this entire thing, my sides hurt. LOL! Your writing and delivery is perfect. My sci-fi roots pierce incredibly far down into both Star Wars and Star Trek with TNG being my home (specifically the Enterprise D - my beautiful girl - a ship I've always wanted to pilot), so I got ALL of these references and jokes. Bravo, my dude. Bravo.
"Do you want 5 Lights? Because this is how you get 5 lights!" and "Welcome back, Locutus!" had me dying. I had to pause the video, because I was laughing so hard I couldn't hear the rest of it, and I wanted to hear the rest of it.
The Borg were the most terrifying villain next to Darth Vader I'd come across at that time period. They honestly scared child-me. I can't even watch the scene where Picard is assimilated. It messes with me that much (yay, RSD). That tear he sheds.
I was forehead deep into Star Wars novels when this came out when I was a teenager, but OMG this is pure, incredible, 100% Mary-Sue quality content. :)
Every writer goes through their Mary-Sue/Marty-Stu phase - we can't avoid it. It's inevitable in the process, majorly with fiction writers. We put ours up on Live Journal (RIP my home fanfic site), FF dot net, or AO3 where maybe a few hundred to a few thousand people MIGHT like us, or just hide our shame in a shoebox under the bed.
Shatner hit his stage late in life, and just... let the whole world know about it, and made money from it. Which I'm honestly jealous of. I suppose being Captain Kirk, he had a special pass to make money off the IP. Damn lucky.
I'm here for Shatner's ego being the size of Messier 87.
This sounds like the perfect material for a slightly tipsy dramatic reading session!
Shatner did audiobooks of most of these books which you can find on youtube where he is very entertaining!
@@jamesatkinsonja oh my gods, thank you! ...I might need some strong drinks to accompany the listening experience, though 😂😂😂
I actually saw one of these in a school library, but put it back after reading the summary.
Apparently, even that wouldn't have prepared me for now insane the book would have been.
You going deep into Shatnerverse is a treat I never thought I'll have but here we are.
I was so hoping you'd reference the moment in Picard's last season when Worf outsmarted a Vulcan organised criminal gang. As well as getting stabbed and then snoring it all off to recover XD
To be fair, Quark outsmarted a Vulcan with Ferengi logic. Something about acquiring peace at the lowest price.
Oh, and he beat a Klingon in single combat. Also using Ferengi logic.
You are the best Dom! Longtime fan! Your content is such a joy to watch! Your dedication to your craft is a true inspiration! Another video of you is another day made more bright! I’m so proud to be a member of this community! You're all Truly Fire! And support the strike!🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
Worf getting his ass kicked is actually more common than worf winning at anything.
Indeed, as Worf was the "strong warrior" of the series, he was the go-to target when writers wanted to show someone else was stronger, more skilled, and/or more dangerous. That, and he managed to be crippled by an inanimate object when a barrel simply fell on him.
Yes, Worf has been defeated by among other things-
- A door
- A barrel
- An 80 year old Admiral
- Deanna Troi
- Napoleonic soldiers
- Random boxes
- Medieval goons
- Random alien impostors
And to be fair this book was written before Worf's run on DS9 where he would be more stoic badass and less buttmonkey to be trounced by the threat of the week.
Ah yes, the Worf Effect
Dom - assuming you don't already know this, but you likely do - if you enjoy the Shatnerverse, you should check out Tek Wars! A novel series, also written by Shatner, who actually does pretty decent at the hard-boiled noir detective in a scifi setting genre. For bonus points, it had a whole series of made-for-tv movie specials written and produced by Shatner, though he was at that point self-aware enough not to cast himself as the lead - even though he did cast himself as the lead's 'boss' more or less lol!
That would be perfect for Dom's series where he compares book to movie.
Not to mention, it had an over-ambitious and absolutely awful Build Engine video game based off it with Shatner appearing in live-action cutscenes to scold you between missions for killing too many people.
Lol, right as a friend tells me how he met Shatner at a convention this comes up!
Timing, Dom! You are the master of it!
This sounds like it would be fun to read,it seems like it might be a fun read if you don’t read it seriously and just think of it as more of a comedy
You are rocking the outfit, sir, and Captain Noble has a wonderful ring to it.
Ensign Wisp already sounds sort of Star Trekky, and I'm imagining a kitty costume on him and loving it.
However, Sir Terry would *obviously* be the visiting researcher compiling data for his latest galactic smash series of super novels. (It's DiscWorld but everyone is cats. It would be huge and you know it.)
I absolutely loved these books in the late 90s as a young Trek fan who was sad that Kirk had been killed off but they are absolutely wild. I would love you to do more videos recapping the later ones, including the wild Avenger and the absolute crazytown of the Mirror Universe Trilogy. They are all over the place but are incredibly readable and lots of fun.
I read this and two of the sequels in the ‘90s & mostly enjoyed them - but assumed their readability was due to the Reeves-Stevens keeping the story at least somewhat cogent. I thought Shatner did what many fanfic writers do, which is take a pile of in universe factoids & lump them together, whether that’s a good idea or not. Technically it’s all from the same universe, but it could use some absolutely ruthless editing.
Riker being done dirty checks out: he is the Kirk of TNG in terms of exploration of alien ladies underwear. Shatner can't have someone outkirk his Kirk.
To be fair, RIker also grew the beard and became more than that.
Remember reading this book several years ago you had a zombie Captain Kirk who was real good at wielding a Klingon weapon and even beat Worf using it.
Appreciated your gradual promotion throughout. Much deserved for braving this.
I read this as a teen too, right when it came out. It was baffling and good for several laughs. It's probably the most coherent because of his co-authors, but it was still short of being a story you'd want to revisit for anything but the audacity of it all.
Love this! May I put in a plea for you to do The Price of the Phoenix and its sequel, The Fate of the Phoenix, by Sondra Marshak and Myrna Culbreath? They have to be the most batshit example of Trek fanfic escaping containment and getting a mainstream publishing deal 😅
The edges where the author cut out the sex scenes are jaggedly visible in those books
Yeah, honestly there's a whole rich vein of weird to be mined out of the Trek books, the early ones especially.
@@kerriemills7184 Linkara's reviewed many Star Trek comics but the earlier ones are very goofy!
Ah, the old days of the Bantam novels. I remember in my early Trekkie days in the mid-eighties, after Nickelodeon introduced me to it by airing the animated series, going to the bookstore and browsing some of these.
Please do more Shatnerverse! I am rolling, equal parts awesome and hilarious 🤣
😂I don’t think Mr. Shatner is open to any notes. Great video Ensi… Captain. I would LOVE to see more of this Shatnerverse stuff. I mean you should make more videos on it, since I’ll never read it myself.
I know absolutely nothing about Star Trek and even I can tell that madness bleeds through these words that Dom relays to us.
Honestly if Dom were to check out more of these books I don't think any of us would be complaining.
This was so unhinged, I wouldn't mind if he did the whole series.
He probably whining that you brought Spock back from the dead so you have to bring me back from the dead also.
I love how you kept adding pips to your collar throughout the video. Nice touch 🤌
Ngl, I love the insane shit Shatner writes. It's so indulgent, like having a cheat day from good books.
This episode was fantastic! What a great start to my day.
I was unaware of this, and now I'm freaking crying over the new levels of ridiculous this man was able to reach. I'm tempted to hunt them down for my bestie, who is a massive original series Trekkie and a fanfic writer herself.
I'm thoroughly enjoying a return to book content! And I might have to dive back into the Trek bookverse, because I'm aware of but haven't read much and now I'm intrigued
Oh please do more of Shatner’s Star Trek books!! The only Star Trek book I’ve read is the one by Andrew Robinson (Garak) which is excellent but I think it’s only available on Kindle now. I kept having to rewind to see when your pips changed 😄🖖
It may be an ego trip but hey it’s fun. Particularly the mirror universe arc with Emperor Tiberius who is basically Khan if played by Shatner. In Klingon power armour.
Oh no, amazing, I haven't watched it yet but I am SO glad you're covering this!
I forgot how weird these books were. ..... Now that you reminded me of them, you should go over the rest of them it gets WEIRDER
On the topic of batshit insane fanfiction, I have a few ideas for a potential Cosmere fanfic. Let's just say it involves introducing metal music to Roshar by an OC. I just hope it's enjoyable if I actually get to writing it.
Congrats on going from ensign to captian in 18 minutes, that has got to be a record.
Always giving us gold.
I devoured Star Trek books as an adolescent, it's how I became acquainted with the work of Peter David, who would also go on to write for several notable comics from Marvel and DC.
I remember The Return - as a teenager, I was in just the right position to be grabbed by the idea of it immediately. Unfortunately, as you've outlined so brilliantly, the story is kind of a barely-concealed slap in the face to any TNG fan who likes anyone besides Picard. And since TNG was my jumping-on point for the franchise as a whole, well...let's say this book single-handedly soured me on Captain Kirk...and to a lesser degree, Shatner himself...for a long, LONG time.
What's funny is that some of these ideas WOULD be used in other media... and a lot better, particularly Star Trek: Armada and its sequel utilized the multiple cubes Voltroning into a bigger cube (in this case the standard-size cubes joining together for a super-cube, not the other way around), an attempted alliance between the Borg and Romulans (the Romulans gain access to an Omega Particle instead of... I don't even know why the Romulans and Borg would ally in this novel - we've seen that negotiation is not really their thing unless they're in a vulnerable position and have no other options), and even a Defiant-class ship flying inside the interior of a Romulan Warbird (in this case dropping mines instead of just spinning around).
Would love to see you and Dom review 'Ashes of Eden' together as that novel had a comic adaption.
When high school me read this book I never would’ve guessed an awesome Tuber like you would’ve reviewed it! 28 and 17 year old me are both fangirling right now hahahaha
I liked this book and thought he had some great tie ins that pulled from the movies and tv
Oh this is the *BEST* direction to take the channel in during the strike xP
I'd love to hear about more Trek novels - as someone who's never read one but would like to, maybe you could even point us to the good ones? X
I haven't read many of them, but just be aware that NONE of them are "canon".
The man is doing all his sidequests, he was in a ben folds song.
The entire series is a guilty pleasure for me.
Congratulations on all the promotions, Captain!
Lol, I came out here to say the same thing! Quite the speedrun 😂
If you're just reviewing books now, have you considered taking a look at Junji Ito's manga adaptation of Osamu Dazai's "No Longer Human"? That would be an interesting LiA episode, both because it would be the first time you reviewed a manga adaptation and because... well... Junji Ito.
That would be a way to avoid the movie thing too. Still an adaptation, but not from book to film.
I'm loving the massive overlap between Trekkies and fans of this channel.
I have always wanted to meet Shatner, both as a Star Trek Fan, and also because I have three different people in my life who has have had bad experiences with him, and one who had a good experience. I want my own to make up my own mind. Also, because it's relevant, the one with the good experience met him at a fan expo, the three with the bad, in a professional capacity (one worked at a hotel Shatner stayed at, two work in film and television in a crew capacity).
TBH Kirk is built up so much in TOS and later series that Shatner's written version felt more accurate than his onscreen portrayals.
Also when I read this I got the impression that the borg nanites rejuvenated Kirk back to TOS levels. So it's TOS Kirk who kicks Worf's ass.
Okay, but now I'm picturing TOS Kirk doing his patented fighting technique of "throw yourself bodily at the buff man until he succumbs to confusion and possibly homoeroticism" with Worf while Jadzia's ghost cheers on from the sidelines and attempts to chat Spock up
@@katharineeavan9705 I think that's exactly how you should picture it 🤣
Well he defeats superhuman Khan at the end of 'Space Seed's with his bare hands!
He also gets into fights with Klingons in TOS and beats the hell out of Kruge in Star Trek III. So it's not really that unlikely.
Dom, this was an absolute treat! Please consider reviewing more of the Shatnerverse 😂
Also, I give Starfleet Cat Officer 10/10 🖖
Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens co-wrote several "Batman: The Animated Series" episodes as well! Very fun to see here.
I love this pivot you are doing because of the strike! I am very interested in more videos like this one!
Do "A Stitch in Time" by Andrew Robinson!!! Damned fine read and beautiful backstory on one of the best characters in Trek.
Given the origin of the term "Mary Sue," it's kind of fitting that Kirk himself gets the treatment, isn't it?
The megazord cube concept is kinda cool, honestly. You could even argue that there are different kinds of minicubes that serve different functions in the whole when they link up. But that'd take a bit of work...
Maybe the cubes we see in the show ARE the mini cubes.
@@KasumiKenshirou That's a cursed and terrifying notion. I approve completely!
Your commentary always gives me happiness. I find you very entertaining and clever.
Congratulations on your rapid rise through the ranks of Starfleet!
"William Shatner's just this guy, you know?" ;P
I remember seeing this book new in the bookstore back in the day. Never picked up a copy. Now I am glad to know I didn’t.
I am SO down for more videos like this one.
ok ok ok, idea, how about a reading stream series going through all of these? Would that be something, cause it sure sounds fun to me!