Type Book
Date 1975-04
Pages 188
Tags novelization, science fiction, collection, fiction, 75 in 2017

Star Trek 11

Star Trek

Published in April 1975, Star Trek 11 was the last entry in that series completed before Blish's death. Star Trek 11 contains adaptations of six episodes: "What Are Little Girls Made Of?", "The Squire of Gothos", "Wink of an Eye", "Bread and Circuses", "Day of the Dove", and "Plato's Stepchildren".

What Are Little Girls Made Of?

Original episode by Robert Bloch.

The Enterprise investigates the planet where Dr. Roger Korby, who incidentally was Christine Chapel's fiancΓ©, disappeared several years ago. They find him working on a technology that can make lifelike androids and even transfer a human's consciousness into an android. He wishes to use this technology to build a better society, free from want or hate--but is it really better?

Michael Strong's performance as Korby in this episode was quite good, but Blish eliminates some unfortunate things like Ruk's "That was the equation!". I'd say this is of comparable quality to the episode, overall. An enjoyable adaptation of a good story.

The Squire of Gothos

Original episode by Paul Schneider.

The Enterprise finds a planet on which resides a strange and powerful alien, Trelane, who is very taken with Earth--the Earth of nine hundred years prior, that is. Trelane, styling himself the Squire of Gothos, forces them to dance to his tune for his amusement, while Kirk searches for a way to escape his power.

Surprisingly, this is pretty good even without William Campbell's excellent performance--perhaps because I'm reading all of Trelane's lines in his voice.

Wink of an Eye

Original episode by Lee Cronin.

The Enterprise, responding to a distress call, finds an empty planet. It turns out to be populated by people who experience time at a fantastic rate, making their movements far too quick for the crew of the Enterprise to perceive. The same disaster that caused their immense acceleration also rendered their men all sterile, so their queen, Deela, has taken the Enterprise in order to have Kirk as a mate.

Not too bad, but not great. A substantial part of the appeal of the episode was in seeing the non-accelerated members of the crew frozen in time, but the adaptation doesn't convey the same feeling.

Bread and Circuses

Original episode by Gene L. Coon and Gene Roddenberry.

The Enterprise finds a planet that has developed remarkably similarly to Earth, except that it is ruled by a modern version of the Roman empire. This is cited as an example of Hodgkin's Law of Parallel Planetary Development--utter nonsense, of course, and not even consistent with other episodes.

As with "Wink of an Eye", above, and as I said of "A Piece of the Action" in my review of Star Trek 4, much of the good in this episode was in the seeing, so the adaptation isn't as interesting.

Day of the Dove

Original episode by Jerome Bixby.

The crew of the Enterprise and of a Klingon ship are brought together by an energy being that feeds on hatred. They eventually drive it off by laughing at it.

That summary sounds pretty bad, but it's a fairly good story, really. Incidentally, this is the first appearance of Kang, who later figures into stories in DS9 and Voyager.

Plato's Stepchildren

Original episode by Meyer Dolinsky.

The Enterprise, responding to a distress call, finds a planet where the thirty-eight inhabitants have psychokinetic powers. Their leader Parmen, who is gifted with the strongest power, is ill, and McCoy must save him. Once restored, Parmen is unwilling to let McCoy go--and in any case secretly intends to destroy the Enterprise rather than allow them to leave with knowledge of the planet's location.

This episode didn't have much going for it other than watching the actors pretend to be moved by external forces--including the famous kiss between Uhura and Kirk. The theme is simple: power corrupts. The plot resolves conveniently and Kirk rides off into the sunset.

In summary

This volume has a few good stories, and a few middling ones. I don't know if Blish's writing is stronger in this one, or if absence has made my heart grow fonder (it has been about two years since my review of Star Trek 10, after all), but I think even the lesser stories were pretty enjoyable. If novelizations are your thing, Star Trek 11 is a good entry in the series.

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James Blish Author

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