Last night I finished reading “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan: The Making of the Classic Film” by John Tenuto and Maria Jose Tenuto (2023, Titan BookLast night I finished reading “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan: The Making of the Classic Film” by John Tenuto and Maria Jose Tenuto (2023, Titan Books). An excellent behind the scenes book about what many consider to be the best of all of the Star Trek films (and planned to have come out in 2022 to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of the film’s release in 1982).
There are many books out there already about both the making of the Star Trek films in general and about Star Trek II specifically already. This being a “coffee table” style book, it’s not as text heavy as some of the other books because of all of the wonderful pictures, but it still covers all of the basics in terms of how the film got made. Especially nice are its numerous profiles on not just the more well known figures behind the film (like writer/director Nicholas Meyer and producer Harve Bennett) but also seldom covered people who were just as important to the making of the film like production designers, costume designers, hair and make up supervisors, stunt performers, camera operators, film editors, sound and visual effects artists, etc.
They also give detailed descriptions of all of the script drafts that had been written prior to Nicholas Meyer coming aboard as director. And scenes that were shot and then not included in the final picture, or were reshot (like the initial “fight scene” between Kirk and David).
I also was very happy to see a full page sidebar about the Star Trek II movie novelization written by Vonda N. McIntyre, which was one of the very first Star Trek novels I ever read, launching me into a being a lifelong Star Trek reader (it and the Star Trek comic books from DC Comics that started just after Star Trek II’s release).
“Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan: The Making of the Classic Film” is a good standalone book for more casual fans of the film and of Star Trek in general. I think it’s even better as a compliment to the already existing books on the subject, like Nicholas Meyer’s “The View From the Bridge: Memories of Star Trek and a Life in Hollywood” (2009), Edward Gross and Mark Altman’s “The Fifty-Year Mission: The Complete, Uncensored, Unauthorized Oral History of Star Trek” (2016), William Shatner’s “Star Trek Movie Memories” (1994), and Leonard Nimoy’s “I Am Spock” (1995).
(I should also point out that there was already another “The Making of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan” nonfiction book released in 1982 by Pocket Books as a tie-in to the release of the film, written by Allan Asherman. I’ve had a copy of that book for many years now but have not read it yet.)
Again, I highly recommend this new book by the Tenutos. I gave it five out of five stars on GoodReads.
(Titan Books also released another book, “Star Trek: First Contact: The Making of the Classic Film” (2022) by Joe Fordham in the same size and general format. I highly recommend that book, also.)...more
“Star Trek: Lower Decks” Trade Paperback (IDW, 2023). Writer: Ryan North. Artist: Chris Fenoglio (including the colors, I’m assuming, as no separate c“Star Trek: Lower Decks” Trade Paperback (IDW, 2023). Writer: Ryan North. Artist: Chris Fenoglio (including the colors, I’m assuming, as no separate color artist credited). Reprints: Star Trek: Lower Decks #1-3 (September 2022 to November 2022). Read: 08/21/23 to 08/30/23. Opinion: Very good. If you like the animated “Star Trek: Lower Decks” Paramount+ series then I think you will like this comic book mini-series. (Although I saw one reviewer on GoodReads give it only two stars because he doesn’t like “holodeck stories”. Oh, well.) The ensigns accidentally create a sentient version of Dracula (that looks exactly like Boimler), similarly to what happened with Moriarty on “The Next Generation” (and, this being “Lower Decks”, they make numerous references to that earlier episode). While this is going on, the captain, chief of security, and doctor all embark on a second contact mission that ends them up, at first, about to be burned at stakes for being “witches”. Then, they are put on trial for (accidentally) violating that planet’s leading government’s own version of the Prime Directive (for their accidental encounter with the planet’s other, primitive, culture). They face execution for it, and a fleet of warships will destroy the Cerritos (if they can’t get out of it). Lots of fun Star Trek in jokes (just like on the series) and the artist does a very good job of making this appear visually like just another episode of the animated series. I gave it four out of five stars on GoodReads. I would like to see IDW do more “Lower Decks” comics....more
**spoiler alert** “Star Trek Volume 1: Godshock” Hardcover (IDW, 2023). Writers: Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing. Artists: Ramon Rosanas, Oleg Chudak**spoiler alert** “Star Trek Volume 1: Godshock” Hardcover (IDW, 2023). Writers: Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing. Artists: Ramon Rosanas, Oleg Chudakov, Joe Eisma, Erik Tamayo. Color art Lee Loughridge. Reprints: “Star Trek #400” (“A Perfect System” story, September 2022) and Star Trek #1-6 (October 2022 to April 2023). Read: 08/19/23 to 08/21/23. Opinion: Very good. This is the start of a new ongoing “Star Trek” series featuring a combination of characters from several separate series: Captain Benjamin Sisko from “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine”, Data and Doctor Beverly Crusher from “Star Trek: The Next Generation”, and Tom Parris from “Star Trek: Voyager” (plus, at least for awhile, Worf, from “TNG” and “DS9”). Oh, yeah, and a certain chief engineer with a Scottish accent. Plus a couple (younger) new characters. The time frame is, I believe, 2378. Soon after the crew of the U.S.S. Voyager made it safely back to Earth in the same year, and three years after the events of the TNG film, “Star Trek: Insurrection” and the end of the “Deep Space Nine” series. Something very powerful is killing the known “god like” beings of the galaxy. (The teaser short story from the “Star Trek #400” special issue shows this happen to Gary Mitchell, James Kirk’s friend from the original series second pilot episode, “Where No Man Has Gone Before”.) The Prophets return Benjamin Sisko to his corporeal form to stop this. He goes to Captain Picard for a ship and Picard sets him up with a brand new experimental ship, the U.S.S. Theseus. He insists that Sisko take Data on as his first officer on this mission (and Dr. Crusher eagerly volunteers to go along too as Sisko’s return is a medical mystery). The others I mentioned are already part of this new crew or join up along the way. I really liked this. It’s very “comic booky” in all the right ways: the whole “crossover” element of blending characters from the separate series, and the universe threatening circumstances and powers that are much larger than life. The art (a tag team of alternating artists to keep the book on its original monthly schedule) is very appropriate for the type of story being told here. (My one real gripe is that the artist who draws the issue where Worf comes aboard apparently either cannot draw a Klingon that looks anything even remotely resembling Michael Dorn, or perhaps didn’t get the memo that it was supposed to be him. I swear, when we see him I immediately thought Sisko was meeting an entirety different Klingon character and was somewhat shocked when Sisko called him Ambassador Worf. The artists in the following issues do manage to draw him better though.) These first six issues (plus the teaser) did exactly what it should do, which is make me look forward to the next collected edition later on this year. (Worf goes on his own part way through the story, by the way, leading into a second series titled “Star Trek: Defiant”, which has its own “all star” blending of characters: Worf, Spock, Lore, and Ro Laren. That will also be getting its first collected edition soon, as well.) I gave “Godshock” four out of five stars on GoodReads....more
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