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graff_fuller's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
This is a prequel story to The Original Series. This is Jeffrey Hunter's Captain Christopher Pike...and the introduction to the Spock's beginning of duty on the Enterprise.
With the latest upsurge and love for the era of Star Trek, with the third season of Discovery and then Strange New Worlds...we have had a lot of new stories about this period of time...and I'm loving it.
Now, this story is a classic murder mystery/theft.
Love that we also got Scotty's introduction and mischief, too.
Getting to know and understand Spock has been one of my favourites in the Star Trek lore. He's such an interesting character...a man in two worlds, and this story explores that issue, along side the main story.
It played out like an episode of Star Trek...with a clear story and conflict...that was resolved within the 45 minute time period of the episode...ready for the next mission to be watched, next week. LOL
Will be picking up the next book, today...to further my adventures with the Star Trek: TOS novels.
With the latest upsurge and love for the era of Star Trek, with the third season of Discovery and then Strange New Worlds...we have had a lot of new stories about this period of time...and I'm loving it.
Now, this story is a classic murder mystery/theft.
Love that we also got Scotty's introduction and mischief, too.
Getting to know and understand Spock has been one of my favourites in the Star Trek lore. He's such an interesting character...a man in two worlds, and this story explores that issue, along side the main story.
It played out like an episode of Star Trek...with a clear story and conflict...that was resolved within the 45 minute time period of the episode...ready for the next mission to be watched, next week. LOL
Will be picking up the next book, today...to further my adventures with the Star Trek: TOS novels.
vesper1931's review
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Spock's first mission on the Enterprise under Captain Christopher Pike leads them to the planet called Areta and the possible discovery of the lost Vulcan's Glory.
An enjoyable re-read.
An enjoyable re-read.
linwearcamenel's review
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
klibri's review against another edition
3.25
The writing is easy to devour even with apparent tv beats, senseless plot points, and 60s sensibilities including introducing every character like a lech
gingerreader99's review
4.0
well once i finally got a chance to actually read it after being torn away from reading for most of my summer.... Id say it was definitely worth the wait. I have become quite the fan of Christopher Pike and am so inclined to read stories that include him and this one did not dissapoint at all. Add in a much younger and new enterprise crew and a good story is not hard to find.
david_agranoff's review
5.0
The night after the first episode of Star Trek aired the woman who opened the production office and started answering the phone was a secretary named Dorothy Fontana, She had worked with Gene Roddenberry in this role typing up memos, answering calls getting coffee on the previous show The Lieutenant. In her mid-20s the young woman would go home and in her off hours would pull the typewriter and bang-out story treatments and scripts. By the time Star Trek aired D.C. Fontana had solid scripts for half a dozen shows around town. Gene Roddenberry had shown her enough respect to show her the Star Trek series bible in 1964 and hired her to work on both pilots.
The first and most important woman in the world of Star Trek was given the chance to choose a story out of the bible to write a script. In the second aired episode, Charlie X had her special touch giving ST’s first god-like being depth to the story treatments that date back to the spaceship Yorktown under Captain Robert April didn’t have.
She got that job the same way she got the others, she walked up to producers and said “Let me tell you a story.” She was a great storyteller and always found emotional hooks for exciting stories.
I re-read this novel for a longer piece I am working on about Dorothy Fontana. So I will save some of my thoughts for that article but we have to talk about this book. I dropped a line to Dave Stern who was the editor at Pocketbooks at the time and he told me he considered this a career highlight but he didn’t have many memories of the process.
It is obvious why you would ask this writer to do a novel about Spock’s first mission on board the Enterprise. While later novels like Vulcan’s Forge by Josepha Sherman and Susan Shwartz or Spock’s World by Diane Duane might come off as more elaborate Science Fiction takes built off deeper canon I think this novel is special.
At the time it was written ST book editors probably believed it was safe to tell a Captain Pike story and not step on canon because there is no way we would ever get a show about the early days of the enterprise. With the introduction of Strange New Worlds, this novel now has a different place. Now we have to read looking for the ways it can or cannot line up with the new TV canon.
I love Strange New Worlds, I don’t want to second guess the producers and for the most part, they did respect this novel making some things canon, like the Number One’s species, and her name from another later novel. That said there are a few times the two have trouble co-existing. I don’t know if I was running that writing room, this book would have been required reading.
Dorothy Fontana is not just the mother of Star Trek but she did more to form Spock than Amanda Greyson (who DF named). In two of the most important episodes of Vulcan lore, Fontana created Spock’s parents, his pets, and his childhood, and named the Vulcan Forge. In a re-write of the episode This Side of Paradise, she wrote out Sulu she explores Spock’s interior hidden feelings in a way no one else on the show thought possible. Her relationship with Nimoy went back to an episode of The Tall Man that Fontana wrote called “a Bounty of Billy” and she knew he could handle it.
That script got her the gig as story editor of Star Trek, and in a sense the job running the Animated series, and this novel. Just like that episode Vulcan’ Glory is an adventure story with A, B and C plots that all tie into the theme of Spock’s conflicted emotions. The C storyline of Scotty joining the crew and making the ultimate engine room hooch is hilarious and probably the one that doesn’t line up with SNW as Scotty has still yet to join the crew on the enterprise. (maybe he was assigned elsewhere and it is Kirk who brings him back)
There is a lot going on in Vulcan’s Glory that might be pushed deeper into the alphabet with storylines but let me recap it a bit without giving deep spoilers. Spock is about to report to duty on the Enterprise when he called back to Vulcan for a meeting with his mother, who speaks for Sarek who refuses to speak with him. Spock is neglects his estate ie his arranged marriage to T’Pring. This is the first major difference although it could be explained to match SNW.
Before he leaves for the enterprise Spock meets with T’Pring. SNW viewers know in that show they have a steamy relationship and are trying to make the marriage work. In this novel, there meeting is cold and loveless. Fontana draws a direct line between this meeting and the events of Amok Time., this is many years before the events of SNW, so it is possible that those kooky Vulcan kids could give it another go before T’Pring decides I was right the first to write off Spock. Because that is what she does in the novel. Pay me the estate I am due and go run off to Starfleet.
*HUGE STRANGE NEW WORLDS SPOILER IN THE NEXT PARAGRAPH*
The first time the novel just can’t co-exist with SNW is Number One who DCF never gave a name something later Trek novels decided couldn’t work. The name is not the problem. “On her planet, ILyria, excellence is the only criterion that is accepted. She is technically designated as being the best of her breed for the year she was born.” DCF worked on The Cage so I have no doubt this was the back story on the Cage and the reasons she is Number one as much as being the first officer. Which is problematic with the canon established later by the Khan storyline. In a very smart move, SNW respected this backstory while respecting the canon and making it a secret of Number One’s past, as genetic engineering is illegal in the post-Eugenics war Federation. The cliffhanger at the end of SNW season one is built on this reveal. SNW modified this and I think it was the right decision.
Spock makes it to the Enterprise and their first mission track down the crashed Vulcan ship that disappeared hundreds of years ago with A rare Vulcan gem on it, it is the title Maguffin. The first mystery finding the ship, the artifact, and then once they have it there is a murder on board, and the only suspect is a Vulcan.
One thing DCF does in this novel that made me uncomfortable was the number of Vulcans in Starfleet and 11 on the enterprise! I was always under the impression Spock was the first Vulcan in Starfleet, T’paul doesn’t count because she wasn’t Starfleet technically. I realized that the show had a hard time portraying the hundreds of people on the enterprise as written and with hundreds 11 Vulcans we rarely see is possible.
One of those 11 Vulcans is T’Pris. That is your steamy Spock love story. T’Pris is a widowed Vulcan that Spock quickly falls in love. DCF writes Spock and romance very as always.
“If there are so few of us, then we must view each one as precious. Is that not so Mr. Spock?”
Spock paused, thinking it over, mulling the consequences of what he would reply. Finally, he nodded. “Yes, Lieutenant. I would say so.”
Later once their romance flourishes we see similar sexuality that Spock has in SNW, I know some fans were comfortable with but DCF was not shy about it.
“Spock held up his right hand, fingers spread, and T’Pris matched it with her left. The tactile contact sent a flow of warmth through him. Their eyes locked, and the look went deeper, mentally chaining them together. He sent the first gentle probe along the bond, reaching out to her.
T’Pris opened herself to him, welcoming him, the merging of their feelings racing after the intimate mind touch.”
You get the idea. It is pretty hot steamy Vulcan stuff. DCF as thought a lot about this, as many nerdy fans has. She has actual angry memos about her script for Enterprise Incident while she tells other producers just how the Vulcans get it on two decades earlier. I think in 1989 she loosened up about it, maybe not as much as SNW folks did, but bottom line DCF knew what everyone else does Spock is the real heartthrob of Star Trek.
Random details I liked. How she wrote the transporter effect feelings, the size of the crew, and the general operation of the ship. DCF was thinking about how the shifts would work. She was clearly thinking this through and I liked that. Spock is crucial to the solution of the mystery onboard the ship and also has to help Help with a mystery on the away mission. The Scotty storyline is very funny. You might guess where the Spock romance goes and the feelings are spot on as DCF portrays them.
Vulcan’s Glory is a top-notch ST tie-in for me. Modern Tie-in novels have the benefit of building off decades of canon building and fans who have thought about ST for decades. This novel can tell us what Dorothy Fontana the woman who sat in a room in 1964 with Gene Roddenberry talking about Star Trek thinks about how Spock came on the enterprise. That means more to me than a Short Treks played for laughs.
Dorothy Fontana is and will always be one of the most important voices in Star Trek and this novel should be respected as such. I feel that way 200%.
The first and most important woman in the world of Star Trek was given the chance to choose a story out of the bible to write a script. In the second aired episode, Charlie X had her special touch giving ST’s first god-like being depth to the story treatments that date back to the spaceship Yorktown under Captain Robert April didn’t have.
She got that job the same way she got the others, she walked up to producers and said “Let me tell you a story.” She was a great storyteller and always found emotional hooks for exciting stories.
I re-read this novel for a longer piece I am working on about Dorothy Fontana. So I will save some of my thoughts for that article but we have to talk about this book. I dropped a line to Dave Stern who was the editor at Pocketbooks at the time and he told me he considered this a career highlight but he didn’t have many memories of the process.
It is obvious why you would ask this writer to do a novel about Spock’s first mission on board the Enterprise. While later novels like Vulcan’s Forge by Josepha Sherman and Susan Shwartz or Spock’s World by Diane Duane might come off as more elaborate Science Fiction takes built off deeper canon I think this novel is special.
At the time it was written ST book editors probably believed it was safe to tell a Captain Pike story and not step on canon because there is no way we would ever get a show about the early days of the enterprise. With the introduction of Strange New Worlds, this novel now has a different place. Now we have to read looking for the ways it can or cannot line up with the new TV canon.
I love Strange New Worlds, I don’t want to second guess the producers and for the most part, they did respect this novel making some things canon, like the Number One’s species, and her name from another later novel. That said there are a few times the two have trouble co-existing. I don’t know if I was running that writing room, this book would have been required reading.
Dorothy Fontana is not just the mother of Star Trek but she did more to form Spock than Amanda Greyson (who DF named). In two of the most important episodes of Vulcan lore, Fontana created Spock’s parents, his pets, and his childhood, and named the Vulcan Forge. In a re-write of the episode This Side of Paradise, she wrote out Sulu she explores Spock’s interior hidden feelings in a way no one else on the show thought possible. Her relationship with Nimoy went back to an episode of The Tall Man that Fontana wrote called “a Bounty of Billy” and she knew he could handle it.
That script got her the gig as story editor of Star Trek, and in a sense the job running the Animated series, and this novel. Just like that episode Vulcan’ Glory is an adventure story with A, B and C plots that all tie into the theme of Spock’s conflicted emotions. The C storyline of Scotty joining the crew and making the ultimate engine room hooch is hilarious and probably the one that doesn’t line up with SNW as Scotty has still yet to join the crew on the enterprise. (maybe he was assigned elsewhere and it is Kirk who brings him back)
There is a lot going on in Vulcan’s Glory that might be pushed deeper into the alphabet with storylines but let me recap it a bit without giving deep spoilers. Spock is about to report to duty on the Enterprise when he called back to Vulcan for a meeting with his mother, who speaks for Sarek who refuses to speak with him. Spock is neglects his estate ie his arranged marriage to T’Pring. This is the first major difference although it could be explained to match SNW.
Before he leaves for the enterprise Spock meets with T’Pring. SNW viewers know in that show they have a steamy relationship and are trying to make the marriage work. In this novel, there meeting is cold and loveless. Fontana draws a direct line between this meeting and the events of Amok Time., this is many years before the events of SNW, so it is possible that those kooky Vulcan kids could give it another go before T’Pring decides I was right the first to write off Spock. Because that is what she does in the novel. Pay me the estate I am due and go run off to Starfleet.
*HUGE STRANGE NEW WORLDS SPOILER IN THE NEXT PARAGRAPH*
The first time the novel just can’t co-exist with SNW is Number One who DCF never gave a name something later Trek novels decided couldn’t work. The name is not the problem. “On her planet, ILyria, excellence is the only criterion that is accepted. She is technically designated as being the best of her breed for the year she was born.” DCF worked on The Cage so I have no doubt this was the back story on the Cage and the reasons she is Number one as much as being the first officer. Which is problematic with the canon established later by the Khan storyline. In a very smart move, SNW respected this backstory while respecting the canon and making it a secret of Number One’s past, as genetic engineering is illegal in the post-Eugenics war Federation. The cliffhanger at the end of SNW season one is built on this reveal. SNW modified this and I think it was the right decision.
Spock makes it to the Enterprise and their first mission track down the crashed Vulcan ship that disappeared hundreds of years ago with A rare Vulcan gem on it, it is the title Maguffin. The first mystery finding the ship, the artifact, and then once they have it there is a murder on board, and the only suspect is a Vulcan.
One thing DCF does in this novel that made me uncomfortable was the number of Vulcans in Starfleet and 11 on the enterprise! I was always under the impression Spock was the first Vulcan in Starfleet, T’paul doesn’t count because she wasn’t Starfleet technically. I realized that the show had a hard time portraying the hundreds of people on the enterprise as written and with hundreds 11 Vulcans we rarely see is possible.
One of those 11 Vulcans is T’Pris. That is your steamy Spock love story. T’Pris is a widowed Vulcan that Spock quickly falls in love. DCF writes Spock and romance very as always.
“If there are so few of us, then we must view each one as precious. Is that not so Mr. Spock?”
Spock paused, thinking it over, mulling the consequences of what he would reply. Finally, he nodded. “Yes, Lieutenant. I would say so.”
Later once their romance flourishes we see similar sexuality that Spock has in SNW, I know some fans were comfortable with but DCF was not shy about it.
“Spock held up his right hand, fingers spread, and T’Pris matched it with her left. The tactile contact sent a flow of warmth through him. Their eyes locked, and the look went deeper, mentally chaining them together. He sent the first gentle probe along the bond, reaching out to her.
T’Pris opened herself to him, welcoming him, the merging of their feelings racing after the intimate mind touch.”
You get the idea. It is pretty hot steamy Vulcan stuff. DCF as thought a lot about this, as many nerdy fans has. She has actual angry memos about her script for Enterprise Incident while she tells other producers just how the Vulcans get it on two decades earlier. I think in 1989 she loosened up about it, maybe not as much as SNW folks did, but bottom line DCF knew what everyone else does Spock is the real heartthrob of Star Trek.
Random details I liked. How she wrote the transporter effect feelings, the size of the crew, and the general operation of the ship. DCF was thinking about how the shifts would work. She was clearly thinking this through and I liked that. Spock is crucial to the solution of the mystery onboard the ship and also has to help Help with a mystery on the away mission. The Scotty storyline is very funny. You might guess where the Spock romance goes and the feelings are spot on as DCF portrays them.
Vulcan’s Glory is a top-notch ST tie-in for me. Modern Tie-in novels have the benefit of building off decades of canon building and fans who have thought about ST for decades. This novel can tell us what Dorothy Fontana the woman who sat in a room in 1964 with Gene Roddenberry talking about Star Trek thinks about how Spock came on the enterprise. That means more to me than a Short Treks played for laughs.
Dorothy Fontana is and will always be one of the most important voices in Star Trek and this novel should be respected as such. I feel that way 200%.
amiry's review
4.0
Chronicles Spock's very first mission aboard the Enterprise under the command of Christopher Pike. Provides more evidence of T'Pring being a god damn bitch ass cheating whore. Introduces a really awesome, but short-lived love interest for Spock, T'Pris. Was really sad she got the red shirt treatment even though she was a science officer.
captain_katherine's review
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
wizardowl's review
3.0
It seems like it's an unpopular opinion, but I actually didn't enjoy this book very much. The plot was sloppy, consisting of a few disconnected storylines that had only a loose thematic relation. Overall, it just wasn't really a well constructed story.
taaya's review against another edition
3.0
Während die Geschichte auf dem Planeten und um den Edelstein nicht schlecht sind, ist Spock als tragischer Liebhaber, der sich innerhalb von nur 10 Tagen verliebt, seine Verlobte betrügt und beschließt, sie zu verlassen und seine Affäre zu heiraten, so dermaßen out of character, dass einem davon schlecht wird. Selbst für einen Menschen wäre ein solches Verhalten schon widerlich, für einen Vulkanier geht das einfach gar nicht. Dass ausgerechnet D. C. Fontana das schrieb, ist zutiefst erschütternd.