Star Trek-the Motion Picture: A Novel | 
pick(1979) I know I'm supposed to dislike the movie but y'all, I remember going to see it (at the drive-in, kids, remind me to tell you about drive-ins sometime) and you can't tell me it wasn't awesome because man I was there. The book is not objectively good -- it has *footnotes* for crying out loud, and the prose about Ilia's pheremone powers is cringey -- but so what? I can't hear old-man-me's objections over the cheers of my inner 11-year-old.
CatLass007 It was a visually stunning film. I think that watching it on the big screen was a bit tedious after a while. But later on, I remember watching it on the small screen and enjoying it. I don‘t think Roddenberry knew how to do theatrically released movies but he definitely knew how to do television. It was just the wrong medium for the film. I remember reading the book and thinking it was ho-hum. I don‘t remember seeing Alan Dean Foster as (cont)⬇️ 3mo
CatLass007 an author or co-author when I read it in when it was published (I was in high school and so many of my friends were looking forward to seeing the movie and we all were disappointed). I thought Foster did a very good job with the book adaptation of TAS. His work was superior to the James Blish adaptation of TOS. But I was so starved for Star Trek when the Blish books were published, that I read them multiple times. 3mo
swynn @CatLass007 Thanks for sharing those memories! I definitely remember hearing disappointment from other fans, and would probably have shared it if I had been a little older. But yes, whatever the story's flaws the film was gorgeous. I'm not sure what role exactly Foster played in the novelization, but critical-me thinks that awkwardness in the prose hints that it's more Rodenberry's work than Foster's. 3mo
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Bookwomble I haven't read this novelization, but I adored the film when it was released, and adore it still. I'm generally good with decompressed films as long as the story and characters are engaging, which I find with this one. 🖖 3mo
swynn @Bookwomble The movie is definitely the essential thing, and if you've seen it then the novelization is optional; otoh if you've seen it and love it then you'll probably find the book engaging as well, especially to see some other ideas that Roddenberry was playing with at the time. 3mo
Bookwomble @swynn It's not a book I'll actively track down, but I do always look for it whenever I see a stack of Star Trek novels. I've read The Wrath of Khan novel, which I didn't not like, and I have The Search for Spock on the old TBR 😏📚 3mo
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