Rising Son (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) 0743448383Star Trek31 December, (Star Trek)

Rising Son (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)

0743448383

Star Trek

31 December, 2002

Completists (like me) were eager to get their hands on "Rising Son" so that they could savor the DS:9 relaunch in its entirety. Sadly, "Rising Son" is one book that can be skipped, even with the revelations contained within.
 
 The problem lies mostly with Perry's writing. She has created some interesting characters here -- Stessie, perhaps Wex -- but does little with them. If good Trek writing were to be judged solely by the author's ability to come up with novel new races, then Perry would rank pretty high on the list of good Trek authors.
 
 But that's not how you judge good writing.
 
 The way that Perry handles Jake's journal pretty much sums up my point. Jake, as portrayed by Perry, is pretty much a present-day young man placed into the 24th century. His journal, except for a few cases of Trek-tech speak, is written with the same slang as one might write in 2004.
 
 In fact, almost every character in the novel is written like a present-day character who just happens to live on a space station in the future. Surely Perry has read science fiction novels, or even good Trek novels. Her characters think, speak, write, and act just like present-day characters, and it's both annoying and distracting.
 
 There were some high points. The Tosk character was handled well, and some of Jake's inner turmoil over having to make some important decisions as to his future was intriguing.
 
 But for the most part, the new characters were just as blase as the familiar ones. There was nothing novel about anyone on the "Even Odds;" apparently, nearly every new alien race thinks, acts, etc. just like humans. How convenient! And the new characters from familiar races -- the Ferengi, the Cardiassan -- are just one-dimensional characters, stereotypes of their races. In Perry's world, all Ferengi act the same, all Cardiassans think the same, and humans are the only spacefaring race with any complexity or uniqueness in individuals.
 
 If you want to get the full story on Jake, Sulan, and a few others, then by all means read the book. But you don't have to. You can pick up the story easily enough in "Unity" -- a slightly better Perry book, and the culmination of this part of the relaunch. For the past few books, Jake has been seldom mentioned. Back on DS9, no one has a clue as to where he is or if he's still alive for that matter. He has friends and family on Earth, Bajor, on DS9 and on the Defiant worried and extremely concerned. This book tells us that he's not only alive, but doing well given the circumstances.
 
 In the process of going on a secret mission to find his father based on an ancient manuscript, Jake gets caught up in some sort of anomaly in the wormhole. Without warning, he finds himself among aliens who mean him no harm. These aliens are mostly benign and receive him with open arms. He forges strong friendships with these aliens and in the course of traveling with them, he meets Opaka a former Kai of Bajor. The story mostly consists of missions Jake goes on with his new friends and entries in his diary. There's not much to the adventure aspect, but there are some exciting moments. Much of the fantasy has a lot of things of mythical or spiritual significance in the Bajoran religion.
 
 With Jake back in the DS9 saga with his new friends, things can only get better from this point. We knew from previous novels that Jake enters the wormhole and is next spotted months later with Opaka and a strange alien on a Dominian ship. What do we get from Perry?
 
 Jake's seemingly pointless travels on a ship filled with characters we'll probably never see or hear from again on a ship with a weird sub-deck that is never explained. It's like the whole 200 pages on the Even Odds was just so much filler because Perry couldn't come up with enough interesting stuff for Jake and Opaka.
 
 Speaking of Opaka, even Perry writes that her story is short. Basically, some advanced alien rescues her with some magically advanced technology. What she did after leaving the moon really could have taken an entire book to fill . . . and should have.
 
 And Wex, the strange alien . . . a five year old with an eraser could have cut her out of the book and noone would have noticed. She did almost nothing and said even less.
 
 I was hoping to read more about Opaka's adventures (her spiritual path -- imagine the Jem'Hadar meditating with their new guru) and less of Jake's awakening.
 
 The Star Trek universe does this far too often: create a highly interesting character (Opaka) and/or race (Jem'Hadar) and then ignore them almost completely to introduce someone (Dez) and/or something (the Wa) else that is never see nor heard from again.
 
 The only reason I gave this book even one star was out of the hope that some of this wasn't just random, unimaginative filler, but a set up for a future book.

The Ultimate Star Trek Collection

B000BIBGR2

Paramount Home Video

15 November, 2005

... but this collection won't truly be THE ultimate until they release the Star Trek animated series on DVD. Which, rumor has it, is slated to hit the shelves some time in 2006.
 
 Besides, isn't "ultimate" a subjective term in this case? One trekkie's idea of the "ultimate" Star Trek DVD collection is not likely to be the same as that of another trekkie. Take me for instance: my idea of the ULTIMATE Star Trek DVD collection consists of the original series, the cartoon show, NextGen, and DS9, along with the second through ninth motion pictures. Everything else-- Voyager, Enterprise, The Motion(less) Picture, and Nemesis-- can take a hike as far as I'm concerned.
 
 Upon further reflection, however (and after doin' some number-crunching), I've found that you'd still get a pretty danged good deal outta this if ya keep what'cha want, and re-sell the stuff ya don't care for on Amazon Marketplace™. Just be aware that they take $1.00 plus a 15% cut of the askin' price if it sells. And they don't always give ya adequate compensation for shipping and handling charges.
 
 So maybe this really IS the ultimate collection after all?
 
 
 `Late The Ultimate Star Trek Collection is an array of Bundled BOX Sets of every Star Trek series from the Original Series (1966-1969), The Next Generation (1987-1994), Deep Space Nine (1993-1999), Voyager (1995-2001), Enterprise (2001-2005), and the 10-15 Star Trek Motion picture movies. The Ultimate Star Trek collection is basically being released basically because being there is no more new Star Trek series being produced anymore. Even though it may take such a big miracle to own this collection, it is nice to take home the big Star Trek Enchilada of DVD collections fo the trekkie fan in all of you!