What do you think?
Rate this book
Star Trek #3
Star Trek 3
Includes novelizations of episodes: The Trouble with Tribbles, Spectre Of The Gun (The Last Gunfight), The Doomsday Machine, Assignment: Earth, Mirror Mirror, Friday's Child, Amok Time.
(From the back of the book)
An extraordinary journey into the supernatural! Seven chilling stories into the bizarre and unexpected with the crew of the starship Enterprise. Travel to the unknown regions of outer space, to worlds where unearthly powers can control human beings and where unspeakable horror becomes normal. Unimaginable new galaxies of strange beings, bizarre customs, unknown dangers and awesome excitement. A world threatened by tribbles, small and furry with no eyes or faces – only a mouth. A killer planet where time and place change by telepathy. A monster robot that smashes planets and digests them. An alien being who comes to Earth to start World War III. A galactic ticket to infinite adventure.
(From the back of the book)
An extraordinary journey into the supernatural! Seven chilling stories into the bizarre and unexpected with the crew of the starship Enterprise. Travel to the unknown regions of outer space, to worlds where unearthly powers can control human beings and where unspeakable horror becomes normal. Unimaginable new galaxies of strange beings, bizarre customs, unknown dangers and awesome excitement. A world threatened by tribbles, small and furry with no eyes or faces – only a mouth. A killer planet where time and place change by telepathy. A monster robot that smashes planets and digests them. An alien being who comes to Earth to start World War III. A galactic ticket to infinite adventure.
128 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 1969
About the author
James Blish
423 books288 followersJames Benjamin Blish was an American author of fantasy and science fiction. Blish also wrote literary criticism of science fiction using the pen-name William Atheling Jr.
In the late 1930's to the early 1940's, Blish was a member of the Futurians.
Blish trained as a biologist at Rutgers and Columbia University, and spent 1942–1944 as a medical technician in the U.S. Army. After the war he became the science editor for the Pfizer pharmaceutical company. His first published story appeared in 1940, and his writing career progressed until he gave up his job to become a professional writer.
He is credited with coining the term gas giant, in the story "Solar Plexus" as it appeared in the anthology Beyond Human Ken, edited by Judith Merril. (The story was originally published in 1941, but that version did not contain the term; Blish apparently added it in a rewrite done for the anthology, which was first published in 1952.)
Blish was married to the literary agent Virginia Kidd from 1947 to 1963.
From 1962 to 1968, he worked for the Tobacco Institute.
Between 1967 and his death from lung cancer in 1975, Blish became the first author to write short story collections based upon the classic TV series Star Trek. In total, Blish wrote 11 volumes of short stories adapted from episodes of the 1960s TV series, as well as an original novel, Spock Must Die! in 1970 — the first original novel for adult readers based upon the series (since then hundreds more have been published). He died midway through writing Star Trek 12; his wife, J.A. Lawrence, completed the book, and later completed the adaptations in the volume Mudd's Angels.
Blish lived in Milford, Pennsylvania at Arrowhead until the mid-1960s. In 1968, Blish emigrated to England, and lived in Oxford until his death in 1975. He is buried in Holywell Cemetery, Oxford, near the grave of Kenneth Grahame.
His name in Greek is Τζέημς Μπλις"
In the late 1930's to the early 1940's, Blish was a member of the Futurians.
Blish trained as a biologist at Rutgers and Columbia University, and spent 1942–1944 as a medical technician in the U.S. Army. After the war he became the science editor for the Pfizer pharmaceutical company. His first published story appeared in 1940, and his writing career progressed until he gave up his job to become a professional writer.
He is credited with coining the term gas giant, in the story "Solar Plexus" as it appeared in the anthology Beyond Human Ken, edited by Judith Merril. (The story was originally published in 1941, but that version did not contain the term; Blish apparently added it in a rewrite done for the anthology, which was first published in 1952.)
Blish was married to the literary agent Virginia Kidd from 1947 to 1963.
From 1962 to 1968, he worked for the Tobacco Institute.
Between 1967 and his death from lung cancer in 1975, Blish became the first author to write short story collections based upon the classic TV series Star Trek. In total, Blish wrote 11 volumes of short stories adapted from episodes of the 1960s TV series, as well as an original novel, Spock Must Die! in 1970 — the first original novel for adult readers based upon the series (since then hundreds more have been published). He died midway through writing Star Trek 12; his wife, J.A. Lawrence, completed the book, and later completed the adaptations in the volume Mudd's Angels.
Blish lived in Milford, Pennsylvania at Arrowhead until the mid-1960s. In 1968, Blish emigrated to England, and lived in Oxford until his death in 1975. He is buried in Holywell Cemetery, Oxford, near the grave of Kenneth Grahame.
His name in Greek is Τζέημς Μπλις"
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 60 reviews
April 27, 2011
James Blish is not as widely known as, say, Heinlein, Asimov and Clarke but he ought to be. He isn't scary like Heinlein, isn't completely hopeless about character like Asimov and isn't as long winded as Clarke. His "After Such Knowledge" books belong in the front row of every SF library, as do the Cities in Flight series. One 50,000 word novel by Blish can contain more ideas than some writers' entire output. Blish was the master of the surprise ending, indeed the gob-smacking final sentence; only Ray Bradbury could ever compete with him on this front, with Aldiss coming in third place - but only in the short fiction category. Nobody else I've read came close to the Blish standard in more than one novel. Perhaps Matheson's I Am Legend is as close as anyone ever got to competing with the final sentence of Blish's Black Easter.
So, what the Religious/Mythical Place of Eternal Punishment is he doing writing Star Trek books? Back then he was in print all over the place with novels, short story collections, even the first proper book of SF criticism; this would be slumming it, right?
Maybe, but Blish was forever short of money and wrote prolifically to deal with the problem. Not only was he pulling the typical stunts of his era such as serialising stories in magazines then publishing slightly expanded novel versions and taking disconnected shorts with common settings and adapting them as novels, too, but he was writing reviews for a fanzine under a pseudonym, working on novels that rehashed from shorter material and in desperate times writing fiction for sports and detective story magazines. Hence getting the contract for a TV tie-in series was a blessing in disguise, because he enjoyed SF a lot more than the other stuff. (He down-right hated writing sport stories.)
At the time, also, TV and film tie-in fiction was not generally regarded as hack-work for failed "proper" authors - because there had been very little of it produced. In the SF realm, TV series were a new thing, really. It was in fact prestigious to be chosen to do the Star Trek books and Gene Roddenberry and co. deliberately chose a well-respected writer for the job.
So, is Star Trek 3 any good? Yeah, sort of. Blish is faced with a very constrained job: take the existing shooting scripts for already broadcast Star Trek episodes and turn them into individual short stories. The characters were defined for him; so were the plots. The dialogue is very similar or identical to the episodes. All Blish gets to contribute is verbal description - even the scenery is pre-defined, though. So in a way all of these stories are collaboations with the original TV writers. Some of those writers, however, were big names of the era, too and used the opportunity to put down some interesting SF situations. So what you have here is Star Trek with better acting! I can't say I wasn't entertained. This series is a must for true Blish fans and probably for hard-core Trek fans, too.
So, what the Religious/Mythical Place of Eternal Punishment is he doing writing Star Trek books? Back then he was in print all over the place with novels, short story collections, even the first proper book of SF criticism; this would be slumming it, right?
Maybe, but Blish was forever short of money and wrote prolifically to deal with the problem. Not only was he pulling the typical stunts of his era such as serialising stories in magazines then publishing slightly expanded novel versions and taking disconnected shorts with common settings and adapting them as novels, too, but he was writing reviews for a fanzine under a pseudonym, working on novels that rehashed from shorter material and in desperate times writing fiction for sports and detective story magazines. Hence getting the contract for a TV tie-in series was a blessing in disguise, because he enjoyed SF a lot more than the other stuff. (He down-right hated writing sport stories.)
At the time, also, TV and film tie-in fiction was not generally regarded as hack-work for failed "proper" authors - because there had been very little of it produced. In the SF realm, TV series were a new thing, really. It was in fact prestigious to be chosen to do the Star Trek books and Gene Roddenberry and co. deliberately chose a well-respected writer for the job.
So, is Star Trek 3 any good? Yeah, sort of. Blish is faced with a very constrained job: take the existing shooting scripts for already broadcast Star Trek episodes and turn them into individual short stories. The characters were defined for him; so were the plots. The dialogue is very similar or identical to the episodes. All Blish gets to contribute is verbal description - even the scenery is pre-defined, though. So in a way all of these stories are collaboations with the original TV writers. Some of those writers, however, were big names of the era, too and used the opportunity to put down some interesting SF situations. So what you have here is Star Trek with better acting! I can't say I wasn't entertained. This series is a must for true Blish fans and probably for hard-core Trek fans, too.
December 10, 2023
This is the third volume of prose adaptations of screenplays from the original Star Trek series and may (or may not) be the last (or penultimate) volume that Blish wrote without the uncredited aid and collaboration of his wife and/or mother-in-law, both of whom were also professional writers. It includes seven stories, three of which were nominated for Hugo Awards for best dramatic presentation of the year, as Blish proudly points out in his preface. (None of the three won; that honor belonged to Harlan Ellison's The City on the Edge of Forever, which is included in Blish's second volume.) The contents are The Trouble with Tribbles, The Last Gunfight, The Doomsday Machine, Assignment: Earth, Mirror, Mirror, Friday's Child, and Amok Time. Blish did his usual good job of telling the tales with brevity and clarity, though I noted a few differences, most notably a different joke at the conclusion of the Tribbles episode; presumably he was working from an earlier version of the script. I also noted a preponderance of original stories in this book from scriptwriters better-known as prose science fiction writers, including David Gerrold, Jerome Bixby, Norman Spinrad, and Theodore Sturgeon. It's a fast-read and fun collection of some of the most popular episodes.
December 23, 2020
After three seasons,Star Trek The Original Series,disappeared from the TV screen.Much later,there was a revival,with several spin off series and movies.
However,in the intervening period,these books by James Blish were the only Star Trek related stuff I had.There were twelve volumes,based on the TV episodes.
Star Trek 3 had some entertaining episodes,particularly The Trouble with Tribbles and the Doomsday Machine.It was one of the better volumes in the series.
I was pretty fond of these books,but somehow they all got misplaced.Well,at least I have a lot of Star Trek on DVD.
However,in the intervening period,these books by James Blish were the only Star Trek related stuff I had.There were twelve volumes,based on the TV episodes.
Star Trek 3 had some entertaining episodes,particularly The Trouble with Tribbles and the Doomsday Machine.It was one of the better volumes in the series.
I was pretty fond of these books,but somehow they all got misplaced.Well,at least I have a lot of Star Trek on DVD.
August 18, 2019
Though fun for what it is, the episodes are better...and that's coming from a lifelong reader. Still, it's great to see some of the most iconic stories from the original series here.
March 3, 2024
This book is third in the series of STAR TREK publications that put into book form the various storylines of the original series. These aren’t scripts but very readable stories of each episode. Like many viewers, I watched the series in reruns and became a fan of the entire concept of a federation of planets united in the quest for adventure.
With a crew of 400 skilled specialists, the mammoth space ship Enterprise blasts off for intergalactic intrigue in the unexplored realms of outer space!
This volume includes:
THE TROUBLE WITH TRIBBLES
My favorite episode, probably because of the comedy, centers on a bemused Captain Kirk having to deal with the Klingons, nefarious traders, corrupt officials, and red tape bureaucracy. It may be the future but some things never change. In fact, I have an actual Tribble as a toy for the house cat, although it doesn’t make noise anymore.
THE LAST GUNFIGHT
This story is about the usual Enterprise officers getting caught on a planet where some strange officious beings delight in playing out the Earth’s past. Here, it’s circa 1880 and the fabricated area is Tombstone, specifically the O.K. Corral. Our heroes better learn to use old Western-era guns pretty quickly.
You are Outside. You are Disease. We do not argue with malignant organisms; we destroy them. It is done.
THE DOOMSDAY MACHINE
A three-billion-year-old planet-eating machine goes after the Enterprise, which cannot outrun it even with warp drive. The monster robot was probably created by an extremely advanced civilization as a way to prevent further wars. Sound familiar? Now this planet killer is continuing its original programmed task, which is to consume everything in its path. Will our intrepid team defeat the massive weapon?
ASSIGNMENT: EARTH
Time travel takes place, sending Kirk and his buddies into the 1960s, where they get involved with the nascent American space agency. This all happens when they accidentally transport a humanoid, carrying a bejeweled cat a la Blofeld, onto the ship. He turns out to be a Time Traveler and needs their help to prevent Earth from being destroyed. This is more of a thriller with some comedic elements added to the story.
MIRROR, MIRROR
After visiting a planet’s council to try to mine for dilithium crystals, Kirk and his landing party get stuck in an ion storm which causes transporter issues. When they finally get beamed back on board, it’s still the Enterprise but not the one they know. Spock is bearded and coldly fanatical, a pirate with Vulcan ears. It seems they have crossed a dimension into a world where crew members constantly try to kill each other in order to advance up the career ladder. This is decidedly NOT where the real Kirk wants to be but danger abounds.
FRIDAY’S CHILD
Kirk and team surprise a tribal meeting when they materialize on a planet where a valuable mineral called topaline is ready to be mined. The Federation would like the rights to the mineral, so they have sent the Enterprise to negotiate. But the Klingons also want the mineral rights, and each side will end up trying to convince the local denizens of their benefits. Comedy plus the Klingons makes a good story.
AMOK TIME
Spock is having personality changes, becoming moody and violent on a daily basis. Kirk and McCoy discover that the Vulcan is due to be married and must get him to his planet for the ceremony. But his bride has fallen in love with another and chooses the right to have Spock fight to the death with her selected “knight” … which turns out to be Kirk. McCoy eventually saves the day, but this is one of the most popular episodes in the series.
I really enjoyed this collection because these were episodes I enjoyed watching from the series. I’m not sure how the rest of the books are laid out, but this one is a winner.
Book Season = Year Round (logic and NASA)
With a crew of 400 skilled specialists, the mammoth space ship Enterprise blasts off for intergalactic intrigue in the unexplored realms of outer space!
This volume includes:
THE TROUBLE WITH TRIBBLES
My favorite episode, probably because of the comedy, centers on a bemused Captain Kirk having to deal with the Klingons, nefarious traders, corrupt officials, and red tape bureaucracy. It may be the future but some things never change. In fact, I have an actual Tribble as a toy for the house cat, although it doesn’t make noise anymore.
THE LAST GUNFIGHT
This story is about the usual Enterprise officers getting caught on a planet where some strange officious beings delight in playing out the Earth’s past. Here, it’s circa 1880 and the fabricated area is Tombstone, specifically the O.K. Corral. Our heroes better learn to use old Western-era guns pretty quickly.
You are Outside. You are Disease. We do not argue with malignant organisms; we destroy them. It is done.
THE DOOMSDAY MACHINE
A three-billion-year-old planet-eating machine goes after the Enterprise, which cannot outrun it even with warp drive. The monster robot was probably created by an extremely advanced civilization as a way to prevent further wars. Sound familiar? Now this planet killer is continuing its original programmed task, which is to consume everything in its path. Will our intrepid team defeat the massive weapon?
ASSIGNMENT: EARTH
Time travel takes place, sending Kirk and his buddies into the 1960s, where they get involved with the nascent American space agency. This all happens when they accidentally transport a humanoid, carrying a bejeweled cat a la Blofeld, onto the ship. He turns out to be a Time Traveler and needs their help to prevent Earth from being destroyed. This is more of a thriller with some comedic elements added to the story.
MIRROR, MIRROR
After visiting a planet’s council to try to mine for dilithium crystals, Kirk and his landing party get stuck in an ion storm which causes transporter issues. When they finally get beamed back on board, it’s still the Enterprise but not the one they know. Spock is bearded and coldly fanatical, a pirate with Vulcan ears. It seems they have crossed a dimension into a world where crew members constantly try to kill each other in order to advance up the career ladder. This is decidedly NOT where the real Kirk wants to be but danger abounds.
FRIDAY’S CHILD
Kirk and team surprise a tribal meeting when they materialize on a planet where a valuable mineral called topaline is ready to be mined. The Federation would like the rights to the mineral, so they have sent the Enterprise to negotiate. But the Klingons also want the mineral rights, and each side will end up trying to convince the local denizens of their benefits. Comedy plus the Klingons makes a good story.
AMOK TIME
Spock is having personality changes, becoming moody and violent on a daily basis. Kirk and McCoy discover that the Vulcan is due to be married and must get him to his planet for the ceremony. But his bride has fallen in love with another and chooses the right to have Spock fight to the death with her selected “knight” … which turns out to be Kirk. McCoy eventually saves the day, but this is one of the most popular episodes in the series.
I really enjoyed this collection because these were episodes I enjoyed watching from the series. I’m not sure how the rest of the books are laid out, but this one is a winner.
Book Season = Year Round (logic and NASA)
January 1, 2022
As with my review of Star Trek 1, this is just more TOS episodes told in novella and/or short story form.
April 28, 2015
This volume in Trek Charm-ectomy includes The Trouble With Tribbles, The Last Gunfight, The Doomsday Machine, Assignment: Earth, Mirror, Mirror, Friday's Child, and Amok Time
The Trouble with Tribbles has a few differences from the episode, like the joke at end is different. This is the first comedy episode Blish has adapted and he doesn’t do a good job conveying the humor of the episode at all.
The Last Gunfight (aka the Cowboy Planet episode) was dunb on the show and is a waste of pages here.
The Doomsday Machine lacks the tension of the episode and reads like a log entry of the events.
Mirror, Mirror is the first adaptation in this collection I’d say was worth reading, but only just. It maintains Kirk’s fight to save the Mirror Halkans, the difficulty the crew have with maintaining the deception, and the impassioned speech to mirror Spock at the end, but to do so it cuts all but a mention of the agony booth and completely removes Marlena Moreau and the Tantalus field.
Friday's Child is so forgettable an episode when I finished reading its novelization I still couldn’t tell you what it was about.
Amok Time has a slightly different sequence and kills the Death of Kirk suspense by giving you his point of view while he passes out but is otherwise unremarkable.
Star Trek 3 isn’t so awful that I want to give it one star, but I can’t really bring myself to give it anything else than that. At this point in history only the most enthusiastic Trek fan will want to read these, and three books in I already want to skip to the next series of books
One Star out of Five.
The Trouble with Tribbles has a few differences from the episode, like the joke at end is different. This is the first comedy episode Blish has adapted and he doesn’t do a good job conveying the humor of the episode at all.
The Last Gunfight (aka the Cowboy Planet episode) was dunb on the show and is a waste of pages here.
The Doomsday Machine lacks the tension of the episode and reads like a log entry of the events.
Mirror, Mirror is the first adaptation in this collection I’d say was worth reading, but only just. It maintains Kirk’s fight to save the Mirror Halkans, the difficulty the crew have with maintaining the deception, and the impassioned speech to mirror Spock at the end, but to do so it cuts all but a mention of the agony booth and completely removes Marlena Moreau and the Tantalus field.
Friday's Child is so forgettable an episode when I finished reading its novelization I still couldn’t tell you what it was about.
Amok Time has a slightly different sequence and kills the Death of Kirk suspense by giving you his point of view while he passes out but is otherwise unremarkable.
Star Trek 3 isn’t so awful that I want to give it one star, but I can’t really bring myself to give it anything else than that. At this point in history only the most enthusiastic Trek fan will want to read these, and three books in I already want to skip to the next series of books
One Star out of Five.
November 19, 2023
There are some good episodes here (“Trouble with Tribbles”, “Amok Time”) And some terrible ones (“Friday’s Child”, “Assignment: Earth”).
The series is still fun to read, but I think Book 4 will be my last one for a while.
The series is still fun to read, but I think Book 4 will be my last one for a while.
Read
December 4, 2014This review also appears on my blog.
Another day, another collection of Trek novelizations. Today I'm looking at James Blish's Star Trek 3, published in April 1969. It collects seven adaptations: "The Trouble with Tribbles", "The Last Gunfight" (an adaptation of "Spectre of the Gun"), "The Doomsday Machine", "Assignment: Earth", "Mirror, Mirror", "Friday's Child", and "Amok Time".
I didn't notice any substantial departures from the episodes in any of the stories except "Friday's Child", which treats the character of Eleen rather differently. "The Doomsday Machine" and "The Last Gunfight" have some small changes, as well.
This book is, like its predecessor, fairly enjoyable. Although I've not found the series to be exceptional, it seems that contemporary readers were more impressed: in the introduction, James Blish describes some of his previous work (twenty-seven novels and short story collections, including a Hugo winner). Then:
He had been receiving letters "at an average rate of two a day ever since January 1967." Of note is that "most of [the letter writers] say that they have never read, or seen, any science fiction before Star Trek, or if they have, that they hadn't liked it." To fans looking for more information, he recommends The Making of Star Trek by Stephen E. Whitfield. I'm reading that book, now, and it's fairly interesting (with some caveats--review forthcoming).
Finally, at the end of the introduction, he very casually reveals his next project:
The book in question, Spock Must Die! , would be published in February 1970, nearly a year later, and Blish's next volume of adaptations would not be published until July 1971.
I admit that I'm really looking forward to Spock Must Die! giving me a break from these adaptations. All the same, with adaptations of popular episodes like "Mirror, Mirror" and "Amok Time" (and even "The Trouble with Tribbles", if you're in a less serious mood), Star Trek 3 is a nice afternoon's diversion.
Another day, another collection of Trek novelizations. Today I'm looking at James Blish's Star Trek 3, published in April 1969. It collects seven adaptations: "The Trouble with Tribbles", "The Last Gunfight" (an adaptation of "Spectre of the Gun"), "The Doomsday Machine", "Assignment: Earth", "Mirror, Mirror", "Friday's Child", and "Amok Time".
I didn't notice any substantial departures from the episodes in any of the stories except "Friday's Child", which treats the character of Eleen rather differently. "The Doomsday Machine" and "The Last Gunfight" have some small changes, as well.
This book is, like its predecessor, fairly enjoyable. Although I've not found the series to be exceptional, it seems that contemporary readers were more impressed: in the introduction, James Blish describes some of his previous work (twenty-seven novels and short story collections, including a Hugo winner). Then:
I note these figures not to brag--well, not entirely, anyhow--but as background for one astonishing fact: I have received more mail about my two previous Star Trek books than I have about all my other work put together.
He had been receiving letters "at an average rate of two a day ever since January 1967." Of note is that "most of [the letter writers] say that they have never read, or seen, any science fiction before Star Trek, or if they have, that they hadn't liked it." To fans looking for more information, he recommends The Making of Star Trek by Stephen E. Whitfield. I'm reading that book, now, and it's fairly interesting (with some caveats--review forthcoming).
Finally, at the end of the introduction, he very casually reveals his next project:
Thanks, too, to those who asked that I write an original Star Trek novel. Both the studio and Bantam agreed, somewhat to my surprise, that this was a good idea, so it's in the works.
The book in question, Spock Must Die! , would be published in February 1970, nearly a year later, and Blish's next volume of adaptations would not be published until July 1971.
I admit that I'm really looking forward to Spock Must Die! giving me a break from these adaptations. All the same, with adaptations of popular episodes like "Mirror, Mirror" and "Amok Time" (and even "The Trouble with Tribbles", if you're in a less serious mood), Star Trek 3 is a nice afternoon's diversion.
January 15, 2013
This one's a little truer to the finished episodes than its predecessor, but there are still some big differences, particularly in Operation: Annihilate! and Friday's Child. (Damn, Friday's Child was cold.) Also, big chunks of Space Seed and Amok Time are missing, and Spock's characterization is still evolving (instead of the famous "Jim!", we get uncontrollable sobs, which, you know, is fine with me, but still).
July 28, 2010
These are Blish's novelizations/storyizations of the original Star Trek episodes. Sometimes they are slightly different from the final episode since they were written from shooting scripts as I understand. Although I enjoyed them, it's because of the tie in with the TV series episodes. The writing here is fairly workmanlike and this is really bare bones kind of work.
September 29, 2016
James Blish's third volume of stories based off the original screenplays. This one has some good ones, including three screenplays that were nominated for Hugo Awards in 1968: The Trouble with Tribbles by David Gerrold, The Doomsday Machine by Norman Spinrad, and Amok Time by the immortal Theodore Sturgeon. Good, short reads that often show how the original deviated from the final product.
April 24, 2015
An extremely short and condensed collection of episodes from the original series, but I think they were written from the original drafts of the scripts, because they differ from the episodes rather severely in places.
Read
April 6, 2010Read these in the library at lunch time in grade eight hiding from my tormentors. (A lifetime and five minutes ago.)
December 30, 2016
The writing on these books leaves something to be desired but the stories are pulled from the show and fun to read.
July 19, 2024
I devoured these books as a kid in the 70's. At that time the only other Star Trek around was the animated series and a couple of books and we were at the mercy of the 3 channel universe still!
Basically all twelve books follow the t.v. episodes pretty closely, just with literary filler to make it flow better. Nowadays we would just read a Wiki entry and ignore the books.
The biggest difference is that in some of the earlier books, up to around Star Trek 5 or 6, James Blish would change a few things for narrative flow, and in particular remove the unnecessary death of a the occasional Red Shirt. (Awwwwww!) But by the end of the run he was just basically going through the motions and just writing the script as it was, dead Red Shirts and all (Yeah!).
My one complaint though is that JB would write Scotty's speaking parts in a Scottish Brogue and more often than not I couldn't make head or tales of it.
Still, would have not missed reading them for anything. I was an avid Trekkie after all. And for JB it was a nice gig for an over the hill sci-fi writer.
Best part of all was that in grade 9 and 10 high school our English class had a 6 or 12 (I forget which) book reading requirement. And it being a Technical Vocation high school, that requirement caused a furor with so many students who had never read a book in their life. Thank you James Blish and Star Trek. Within a month I already had my 12 book requirement covered. LOL
I decided to up my rating from 3 to 4 stars when I remembered just how much enjoyment these books gave me.
Live Long And Prosper.
Basically all twelve books follow the t.v. episodes pretty closely, just with literary filler to make it flow better. Nowadays we would just read a Wiki entry and ignore the books.
The biggest difference is that in some of the earlier books, up to around Star Trek 5 or 6, James Blish would change a few things for narrative flow, and in particular remove the unnecessary death of a the occasional Red Shirt. (Awwwwww!) But by the end of the run he was just basically going through the motions and just writing the script as it was, dead Red Shirts and all (Yeah!).
My one complaint though is that JB would write Scotty's speaking parts in a Scottish Brogue and more often than not I couldn't make head or tales of it.
Still, would have not missed reading them for anything. I was an avid Trekkie after all. And for JB it was a nice gig for an over the hill sci-fi writer.
Best part of all was that in grade 9 and 10 high school our English class had a 6 or 12 (I forget which) book reading requirement. And it being a Technical Vocation high school, that requirement caused a furor with so many students who had never read a book in their life. Thank you James Blish and Star Trek. Within a month I already had my 12 book requirement covered. LOL
I decided to up my rating from 3 to 4 stars when I remembered just how much enjoyment these books gave me.
Live Long And Prosper.
April 6, 2020
How can you not like a book that has the novelized version of "Trouble With Tribbles?"
Continuing my quest to read all of Blish's original Trek novelizations, I dove into the text happy to read about the little fluff-balls. I am a bit sad to report there was little extra in the written story than what appeared on the screen; less, in fact. Most of Blish's novelizations have been greatly simplified versions of the original scripts. But sometimes there's a nugget of information, included by accident or by artistic license. Sometimes it provides a clearer understanding of the story from an earlier version of the script Blish was working from.
Sadly, there were fewer of these nuggets in Star Trek 3.
But that doesn't mean it's less enjoyable. In fact, I found the text version of Friday's Child to be more enjoyable than the original episode. Mirror, Mirror was reworked slightly and did an excellent job of presenting the paranoia of imperial starship officers.
Worth a read if you're a fan, but if you're a fan you may be surprised by how sparse the stories are. Calling them "novelizations" is a bit of a stretch. With seven or eight episodes per book, they're stripped down versions of shooting scripts. Calling them short stories is a little more accurate, but they're still enjoyable.
Continuing my quest to read all of Blish's original Trek novelizations, I dove into the text happy to read about the little fluff-balls. I am a bit sad to report there was little extra in the written story than what appeared on the screen; less, in fact. Most of Blish's novelizations have been greatly simplified versions of the original scripts. But sometimes there's a nugget of information, included by accident or by artistic license. Sometimes it provides a clearer understanding of the story from an earlier version of the script Blish was working from.
Sadly, there were fewer of these nuggets in Star Trek 3.
But that doesn't mean it's less enjoyable. In fact, I found the text version of Friday's Child to be more enjoyable than the original episode. Mirror, Mirror was reworked slightly and did an excellent job of presenting the paranoia of imperial starship officers.
Worth a read if you're a fan, but if you're a fan you may be surprised by how sparse the stories are. Calling them "novelizations" is a bit of a stretch. With seven or eight episodes per book, they're stripped down versions of shooting scripts. Calling them short stories is a little more accurate, but they're still enjoyable.
July 10, 2024
This is the third collection of episode novelizations written by James Blish, and like the others it is a solid, workmanlike effort at providing a short, readable novelization. There are occasional snippets of depth or background that don't fully pop up in the episodes - and similarly there are scenes in the episodes that don't make their way into the novelizations - but for the most part these are straight forward writeups that track the episodes pretty closely and don't stray too far from that source material.
Despite that, they are fun to read, and having seen these episodes many times, it is also fun to think ahead to what you're going to be reading in a few moments and to guess at how Blish is going to characterize certain events. Blish is an accomplished writer and probably wrote these novelizations without batting an eyelash. If they were written by a less accomplished hand, I might suggest just passing on these if you've seen the show, but with Blish's skills as a writer they are fun despite being simple.
My favorite writeups in this one were The Trouble with Tribbles and Mirror, Mirror. Other episodes covered here include The Last Gunfight, the Doomsday Machine, Amok Time, Assignment: Earth, and Friday's Child. Worth a read for the memories and for Blish!
Despite that, they are fun to read, and having seen these episodes many times, it is also fun to think ahead to what you're going to be reading in a few moments and to guess at how Blish is going to characterize certain events. Blish is an accomplished writer and probably wrote these novelizations without batting an eyelash. If they were written by a less accomplished hand, I might suggest just passing on these if you've seen the show, but with Blish's skills as a writer they are fun despite being simple.
My favorite writeups in this one were The Trouble with Tribbles and Mirror, Mirror. Other episodes covered here include The Last Gunfight, the Doomsday Machine, Amok Time, Assignment: Earth, and Friday's Child. Worth a read for the memories and for Blish!
June 2, 2023
Blish is back with another group of abbreviated stories based on the original Star Trek series. The great frustration of these collections is that Blish cuts the stories down from the original episodes and uses summarizing techniques to keep his word count down. It’s frustrating as this invariably comes at the cost of syphoning off some of the tension from the original tales. Still, the original stories were very strong and many of them survive being hacked down in size and pushed into the limited word count. The best of these stories were Spector of the Gun and The Trouble with Tribbles. Blish does manage to capture some of the fun of the original Tribbles episode and the basic spookiness of Spector comes through even though Blish abandons the ambiance created by the incomplete stage settings of the original episode. These stories serve primarily to remind you of great episodes. They would be a very poor way to introduce someone to Star Trek.
August 5, 2017
This third Trek anthology contains 7 TOS episodes including several of my all time favourites: The Trouble with Tribbles, The Doomsday Machine, Mirror Mirror and Amok time. James Blish does a perfectly adequate job of adapting them for short stories. For the most part I just had a huge grin on my face - re-living some of the best classic Trek.
My one annoyance is the poor editing on Friday's Child - there's lines missing, text repeated in the wrong place and words missing - really poor editing - I only noticed it on the one story though - the others are all fine.
Over all though, loved this one.
My one annoyance is the poor editing on Friday's Child - there's lines missing, text repeated in the wrong place and words missing - really poor editing - I only noticed it on the one story though - the others are all fine.
Over all though, loved this one.
February 20, 2018
It's still a quick and zippy read, but it's just not as good as the first two. This is basically down to the episodes covered here which, with a couple of exceptions, are as a whole not particularly strong. There's "The Trouble with Tribbles" and "Mirror, Mirror" which are the stand-outs, but they can't really make up for "Assignment: Earth" or "Friday's Child", which were painful even in the original form. With the best will in the world Blish can't make them seem any less stupid, though in fairness he does try.
June 4, 2024
I'm really liking these short story adaptations of the series episodes. Not all of them are exactly like the show but pretty darn close. My favorite episode in this book was "The Trouble With Tribbles". Of course the humor that was present in the TV episode wasn't as present but still brought back good memories of my youth. It was a shame that Miss Lincoln was not a prominent character in "Assignment: Earth". Terry Garr played her so well on the series.
Next Hardcover: "Star Trek 4" by James Blish (1971).
Next Hardcover: "Star Trek 4" by James Blish (1971).
May 31, 2024
7 episode adaptation ranging from terrible (The Last Gunfight) to dull and forgettable. The one exception is the very, very good "Amok Time," but that may have been because Theodore Sturgeon had his hands in it. I've read through volumes 1 & 2 as well. I don't enjoy these as much as I wish I did. The characterizations are paper thin, imagery is nonexistent and there's little sense of wonder. I haven't read any other Blish that I can remember, but I understand he's a well-respected author.
December 28, 2021
When Star Trek was new, there was no such thing as home video. Later, even when beta and vhs existed, Trek was not available for years. Thus, if you wanted to enjoy episodes on demand, Blish's adaptations were the only game in town. This volume includes, among others, "The Trouble With Tribbles," "Mirror, Mirror" and "Amok Time," the secrets of Vulcan biology.
January 12, 2024
A handful of short episode novelizations from award winning episodes (plus Friday’s Child). As with the first two volumes, it’s interesting to see which pieces from the screenplay Blish picks up on and works into the story and what sits on the wayside. Nothing groundbreaking or revolutionary here, but quick, fun reads.
February 6, 2020
interesting take on what I
recognized as Star Trek episodes.
The differences were interesting.
I have to admit,I thought the television
episodes were better. That might be
nostalgia talking.
recognized as Star Trek episodes.
The differences were interesting.
I have to admit,I thought the television
episodes were better. That might be
nostalgia talking.
November 14, 2023
I'm reading each book at a time; each story in no particular order. Hearing the actors' voices as I go along, make it so much fun. Interesting to note some of the differences between the actual broadcasts and Blish's versions.
July 26, 2017
Hier enthalten ist die Story von David Gerrold; Die Sache mit den Tribbles; großartgig !
December 14, 2017
The adventure never ends, has one of my favorite Star Trek Stories Amok Time.
September 9, 2021
Today is the anniversary of the first broadcast of Star Trek.
So, to celebrate, I finished the last two stories in this book - Friday's Child & Amok Time - this evening.
So, to celebrate, I finished the last two stories in this book - Friday's Child & Amok Time - this evening.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 60 reviews