Doctor Who: The Quality of Leadership by Keith R.A. DeCandido (ed.)

Doctor Who: Short Trips #24: The Quality Of Leadership
edited by Keith R A DeCandido
based on a concept by John S. Drew

I bought this direct from the editor at a convention back in July 2008. A few months later, I think he asked me on LiveJournal when I was going to review it—early reviews being very helpful to the early sales of books. I told him I would read it when I got to it on my reading list, and he seemed a bit peeved.

Published: 2008
Acquired: July 2008
Read: March 2024

He was probably right to be peeved, as it's over fifteen years later, and my review cannot be of any use to him, as the book is long out-of-print. But anyway, I've finally got to it. The book is an unusual Short Trips installment, as editor Keith R.A. DeCandido is American, and thus has a different set of contacts than your usual Short Trips editor, many culled from the world of Star Trek tie-in fiction; you will not find your obligatory Justin Richards or Stephen Cole story here. Instead the volume features Star Trek novel luminaries Peter David and Diane Duane, and also a lot of people who worked with Keith on the Corps of Engineers ebooks, like Terri Osborne and Richard C. White. It even features the first Doctor Who fiction of Una McCormack, who would later become a prolific contributor to the Doctor Who audio and novel lines.

The anthology has an interesting premise, of the Doctor's encounters with various leaders, but the way the premise is implemented makes it less effective than it could be. The anthology has a frame story, about a dying ruler of an alien world who met the Doctor at the beginning of his reign; the Doctor told him stories about leadership to inspire him. Unfortunately, though there are many stories here about leaders, few seem to have anything to do with leadership. The very first one he tells, for example, Peter David's "One Fateful Knight," is supposedly about King Arthur... but it's more a story that King Arthur is in than a story about King Arthur. Mostly it's a pretty poorly thought out prequel/sequel to Battlefield, which is one of my favorite seventh Doctor tv stories, and which this tie-in totally fails to get. It does have a couple okay jokes, but it's a big misfire to lead off with.

Other stories seem to have similar problems: the Doctor's companion Romana replaces Boudica in "Good Queen, Bad Queen, I Queen, You Queen," but the complications of this, the leadership lessons of this, seem largely skipped over. Like, could the original Romana really replace a warrior queen? I think we need more than we get here. Plus there's a wacky twist I did not see the point of. Along those lines, I felt we got little of King Theodoric's leadership in Diane Duane's "Goths and Robbers" (though she does good Tegan) or Martin Luther's in Richard White's "The Price of Conviction" or King Henry VIII's in Linnea Dodson's "God Send Me Well to Keep." These stories weren't bad, but I couldn't imagine the Doctor choosing to tell them to inspire a young prince to greatness. 

One of only a few to really hit the theme right was Kathleen O. David's "On a Pedestal," where the Doctor, Jamie, and Victoria meet William Wallace (the Braveheart guy), though bits of it were pretty rushed. Some didn't fit the theme terribly well but got away with it; I'm not convinced that Plato counts as a "leader," but Allyn Gibson's "The Spindle of Necessity" is an interestingly written story with a good grasp of the sixth Doctor's voice and a neat conclusion, so who cares.

You might imagine the premise lends itself to "historicals," and you'd be right. Mostly this is fine, but many of them have to contrive reasons for the Doctor to be there, and they don't always convince. There are just three stories about fictional leaders; two are really tedious sci-fi tales where I wasn't even sure who the "leader" character was supposed to be.

One, though, was my favorite story in the book, James Swallow's "Clean-up on Aisle Two," about a night manager at a 24/7 market. More than any other story in the book, it actually has something to say about leadership, plus it has a strong sense of voice and a well-characterized seventh Doctor. (Several of the stories in the book suffer, I think, from being written by Americans trying to do British.) In moving away from an actual leader, it seemed to me that Swallow was the one who came the closest to what I thought the book was actually going to be about.

Every three months, I read the unread Doctor Who book I've owned the longest. Next up in sequence: Doctor Who in an exciting adventure with the Daleks

Review: Star Trek: Movie Classics Omnibus by Mike W. Barr, Tom Sutton, Ricardo Villagran, Peter David, Arne Starr, et al.

Comic trade paperback, 370 pages
Published 2011 (contents: 1979-2009)
Acquired March 2012
Read May 2019

Star Trek: Movie Classics Omnibus

Adapted by Marv Wolfman, Andy Schmidt, Mike W. Barr, and Peter David
Art by Dave Cockrum & Klaus Janson, Chee Yang Ong, Tom Sutton & Ricardo Villagran, and James W. Fry/Gordon Purcell & Arne Starr
Lettering by John Costanza, Robbie Robbins, Agustin Mas, and Bob Pinaha

Colors by Marie Severin, Moose Baumann, Michele Wolfman, and Tom McCraw

This volume collects the comics adaptations of all six original series Star Trek films, which were published by a variety of publishers over the years: Star Trek I by Marvel, III through VI by DC, and II by IDW. Like a lot of archival IDW collections of Star Trek material, the basic idea is laudable (IDW even commissioned an adaptation of the never-adapted The Wrath of Khan just to plug a gap in this book), but very little care seems to have gone into it. The credits are riddled with errors: Marv Wolfman is listed as "Mary Wolfman" and Tom McCraw as "Tom McGraw," and no one is credited with the adaptation of The Motion Picture, seemingly because the original comic's credit of "Script/Edits" has been misinterpreted as "Script edits." The indicia also includes a number of errors, listing the original publication of the comics all being titled by the name of the relevant movies, but in fact the Motion Picture adaptation was originally published in Star Trek #1-3 (or, arguably, Marvel Super Special #15), and the adaptations of Search for Spock, Voyage Home, and Final Frontier were in Star Trek Movie Special #1-3. I mean, okay, "Who cares?" but I bet you Dark Horse would never have made such mistakes in their omnibus line.

For what it's worth, I actually read these by interspersing between them any collections of movie-era comics I already owned. So, for example, I read Star Trek Omnibus, Volume 1 (collecting issues #4-18 of Marvel's Star Trek) between The Motion Picture and The Wrath of Khan, or Star Trek Archives, Volume 6 (collecting issues #9-16 of DC's Star Trek vol. 1) between The Search for Spock and The Voyage Home. I think this did affect my reading: Search for Spock comes across as just the first step in a long epic when you read it before The Mirror Universe Saga.

Sorry about the scan here; should have pushed down harder, I guess.
from Star Trek #3 (script by Marv Wolfman, art by Dave Cockrum & Klaus Janson)

The actual stories here are decent. I enjoyed the adaptation of The Motion Picture a lot for how very of-its-time it was. Marv Wolfman's script has a totally different tone to the majestic, intellectual original, but it still works. He loves grandiose over-the-top narration, and that makes this story just as epic as Robert Wise's direction, just in a totally different way. There are some trims and cuts here, but also some expansions-- we get to see the unfilmed "memory wall" sequence, for example, and Kirk is actually with Spock during his journey into the heart of V'Ger-- but on the other hand, the art of Dave Cockrum and Klaus Janson doesn't always give things the epic-ness they deserve.

The whole comic is very dark.
from Star Trek II:The Wrath of Khan #3 (script by Andy Schmidt, art by Chee Yang Ong)

It's hard to say much about the Wrath of Khan adaptation. Published much later than the others, in 2009, I felt like it approached the movie somewhat reverentially. Everything you expect is here, rendered in a photorealistic style. Nothing bad, but it doesn't use the comics medium to do anything unique, either.

One thing I thought was interesting: the DC comics that precede and follow each film have to massage how the films fit into the comics continuity (e.g., why is the Enterprise crew back in exile on Vulcan in Voyage Home given they were all recommissioned in The Mirror Universe Saga?), but Mike Barr never puts any of that massaging into the comic adaptations of the films. Nothing in this sequence really fits with the fact that according to the comics, all of these characters served on Excelsior!
from Star Trek Movie Special #2 (script by Mike W. Barr, art by Tom Sutton & Ricardo Villagran)

Of the two adaptations scripted by Mike Barr and illustrated by Tom Sutton and Ricardo Villagran the first is solid, but unremarkable. It's solid space adventure comics, and I enjoyed reading it. On the other hand, the adaptation of The Voyage Home largely fails to translate the charm of the film to the comics page. The humor doesn't have the pacing or the performances to really work, and without that, what's the point?

This Rushmore bit was originally supposed to appear on screen. I don't think it's really discernible here that the fifth face is a black woman, though.
from Star Trek Movie Special #3 (script by Peter David, art by James W. Fry & Arne Starr)

The best adaptations in the whole bunch are the two scripted by Peter David. The Final Frontier reads surprisingly well as a comic; I guess it's a lot like a comic book in some ways, with its ridiculous twists and long-lost relatives and weird premise. David has a great grasp on the characters, which really shines through, and even massages some of the inconsistencies of the film in a way that doesn't come across as too Christopher L. Bennettesquely gratuitous. I also appreciated that the rock monster got its due, and probably looked better here than it ever could have on screen. The one of Undiscovered Country is also a good adaptation of a great movie, and reads pretty nicely as a climax to the whole sequence, especially if you've been reading a lot of DC Star Trek comics along the way as I have, where Kirk always seems to be facing down the Klingons.

On the whole this is a good idea for a collection, and I appreciate how IDW enhanced the project by commissioning an extra comic. I doubt this will be anyone's preferred versions of these stories, but they're a solid read.

In Two Weeks: We find out what happened between Star Treks I and II, in volume 1 of the Star Trek Omnibus!

Joe Casey's Adventures of Superman #593: Our Worlds at War: Prelude to War!

Our Worlds at War: Prelude to War!: "Of Course, You Know This Means... Warworld!" / "Suicide Mission" / "Metropolitan Rapture" / "The End of the Beginning" / "Down And Out In Kansas"

The Adventures of Superman vol. 1 #593 (Aug. 2001)
Superman: Our Worlds at War (2006), reprinting Action Comics vol. 1 #780, Supergirl vol. 4 #59, Superman vol. 2 #171, Superman: The Man of Steel #115 (Aug. 2001)

Writers: Jeph Loeb, Joe Casey, Mark Schultz, Joe Kelly, and Peter David
Pencils: Ed McGuinness, Mike Wieringo, Doug Mahnke, Kano, and Leonard Kirk
Inks: Cam Smith, Jose Marzan, Jr., Marlo Alquiza, and Robin Riggs
Letters: Richard Starkings, Bill Oakley, and Ken Lopez
Colors: Tanya & Richard Horie, Rob Schwager, and Gene D'Angelo
Asst. Ed.: Tom Palmer, Jr.
Editors: Eddie Berganza and Mike McAvennie

And we're back in giant crossover mode, for what I am pretty sure was the most giant Super titles crossover of them all: Our Worlds at War. The crossover ran through 37 different issues across three months! Reading all that seemed excessive, so I decided I'd either buy just the Super titles (only 14 issues), or I'd pick up the trade (20 issues), whichever was cheaper. That turned out to be the trade. The trade is almost 500 pages long, so I'll be reviewing in three chunks; Our Worlds at War had a different subtitle each month, the first of which is "Prelude to War!"

from The Adventures of Superman vol. 1 #593
(script by Joe Casey, art by Mike Wieringo & Jose Marzan, Jr.)

It's not an entirely satisfying read, mostly because it's a lot of foreshadowing. First Superman goes into space to see if Pluto is back and ends up fighting the Fatal Five (from the Legion of Super-Heroes) and is warned something is coming; then he goes to a deserted military base and fights Manchester Black and a new Suicide Squad and is warned something is coming; then the inhabitants of Metropolis are abducted into space and Superman fights Darkseid and is warned something is coming; then goes to Germany and fights General Zod and is warned something is coming. Okay, I get it! But the hints are all so vague that I found them hard to put together into anything coherent as a reader. Plus it seems like Superman keeps punching people instead of actually trying to get explanations, and thus undermining his own purpose.

Part of the issue is, I think, that I've only been reading Adventures of Superman for five issues. This story draws on a lot, and is clearly a climax for a number of long-running storylines. But that just gives me a lot of questions: what did happen to Pluto? Who is the woman Brainiac? Is there some kind of connection between Mongal and longtime Superman foe Mongul? Why is General Zod a guy from the Middle East? How do all the myriad different villains here relate to each other? Maybe I should look some of this up in my copy of the Essential Superman Encyclopedia, but I'm worried I'll read spoilers for the storyline.

from Superman: The Man of Steel #115
(script by Mark Schultz, art by Doug Mahnke & José Marzan Jr.)

There were two issues I wanted to comment on specifically. First, I thought the Man of Steel installment was the weakest component of Return to Krypton, so I was pleasantly surprised when its contribution here turned out to be the best part of Prelude to War! In "Metropolitan Rapture" (#115), all of the citizens of Metropolis wake up to find themselves in some kind of internment facility. Superman must try to investigate things without giving away who he is; Lois must try to organize everyone. It's a neat premise that stands on its own as a story. When Superman figures out what's going on-- a cabal of people including Adam Strange abducted everyone so that futuristic Metropolis's technology could be used in the coming war-- the answer actually makes sense, and thus the foreshadowing works. Plus, Adam Strange is 1) someone known to me, 2) not a villain, and 3) actually somewhat explains himself. A great example of how to do a single issue that still manages to inform a bigger story.

from Supergirl vol. 4 #59
(script by Peter David, art by Leonard Kirk & Robin Riggs)

The other is the one issue here that's not actually part of the core Super titles: "Down And Out In Kansas" (Supergirl #59). I should say that near the end of Prelude to War! things actually start to happen instead of just being foreshadowed. At the end of Action #780, while Superman is fighting General Zod, a beam of energy hits Kansas, causing massive devastation. "Down And Out" follows Supergirl, who happened to be travelling through Kansas at the time, in the aftereffects of the blast, along with a friend of hers whose name I don't think is ever even mentioned but is clearly meant to be a loveable amoral jerk. (Also, judging by his over-the-top dialogue, English.) It's weird because between Supergirl having a concussion and the jerk's hijinks, it seems like writer Peter David is going for... comedy? In a story showing the ground-level devastation of a cosmic war? Of course it has its dark elements, but the result is a bizarre tonal mishmash that undermines what I imagine was the intended effect of closing out Prelude to War! with it.

ACCESS AN INDEX OF ALL POSTS IN THIS SERIES HERE

Deep Space Nine Reread, Season One: The Siege by Peter David

Mass market paperback, 272 pages
Published 1993

Previously read May 2006

Reread November 2014

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine #2: The Siege
by Peter David

As I've alluded to before, my wife and I are (re)watching Deep Space Nine. Because I get nostalgic about old Star Trek books, every time I finish a season, I read a novel set during that season-- and, of course, review it.

What's impressive about this book is how much Peter David gets right, given how little he knew about what the show was actually like (he discusses in the introduction what he had access to). Mostly this is accomplished by sticking to elements of the show that were clearly defined in the first five episodes. So, Odo is the main character: something my wife and noted in Season One was that Odo is basically always the best regular in every scene, enlivening even the dullest of dialogue. Kira is the other strongly depicted character of S1, but there's not much to grab onto in the first five episodes except for "Past Prologue," so she's pretty much sidelined here, along with Dax.

Anyway, my favorite bit about Odo actually comes from O'Brien's perspective, where he reflects that Odo has a similar naïveté about human(oid) nature to Data, but where Data is curious about what he doesn't understand, Odo is just offended. I feel like this is a pretty apt summation of Odo.

Speaking of O'Brien, he's almost right but not quite; his dedication to figuring out magic tricks doesn't really feel like the guy we know. On the other hand, David falls right into the Keiko Trap the writers of the show sometimes did too: treating her as a Generic Motiveless Nagging Wife, and not an actual person with some kind of interior life.

Bashir is a pretty Generic Crusading Starfleet Doctor in some respects, but this works pretty well for Bashir, especially when he's still all idealistic in Season 1. David has a good handle on Sisko, too, except that at the very end of the book Sisko turns into a Generic Peter David Character and begins cracking terrible puns at Odo's expense for some reason. A thing I do not believe Sisko would ever, ever do.

The only character that rang really false for me was Quark; though he is obviously greedy, he was never as stupid as depicted here. The idea that the Ferengi would try to buy DS9 is actually a pretty good one, and has potential to be a real plot line, but here it's an unfunny joke, and Quark pursues it with a business acumen below that of Nog (or even Rom!).

It's interesting that David doesn't really emphasize the decolonization aspects of the series, but that's something the show itself largely avoided in Season 1, until "Duet," the Circle trilogy, and "Cardassians." Instead, The Siege is a pretty standard "weird things come to the station" plot that we saw a lot of in Season 1, and David pulls it off better than the show itself usually did at that point.

Continuity points:

• It's amazing how well Meta fits with what we later learn about Changelings; there's nothing here that contradicts the idea that he couldn't be one of the Hundred. The only thing that doesn't quite work is that Odo doesn't mention him again, but I can assume that he and Laas talk about Meta off screen in "Chimera" next time I see it.
• At first I thought Meta was a different goo color than Odo because he's described as red, but late in the novel, Odo's goo is described as red as well. (I'd say it was more orange.)
• Sisko says he's never seen Odo shift before this novel, but Odo turned his head gooey to avoid that thief in "Emissary."
• Also Odo is described as maintaining his mass in smaller forms, which is realistic, but contradicted by "Vortex" (though of course that was yet to air at this point).
• Dukat's ship is called the Ravage here, which seems familiar to me, but I can't figure out where else I've seen it used. Dukat never seems particularly attached to his ship on the show, though. (Indeed, it's not particularly obvious if there is a singular "Dukat's ship" on the show.)

Side Note:
Something that's really interesting to me in rewatching the series is how fascinating the decolonization of Bajor ought to be-- anyone who's read their postcolonial history or literature or theory knows this is a violent, bloody, fraught process, and we get glimpses of that every now and then. But not many, and I often feel like that's where the real meat is and instead we're watching Alexander Siddig ham it up as Ray Oh Van Tika. I'd love to read (or write!) a novel that delved into the upheaval that Bajoran society must be experiencing at this point in time. I find Bajoran politics and religion fascinating.

Even in microcosm, how did Kira go from being a terrorist one week to being an effective administrator the next isn't something we really see on screen. Like, that's a big job adjustment, surely? How did the Bajoran military get organized-- who got to be generals? How did so many smarmy politicians come into being so quickly? I noticed when watching Season Six that Dukat's Bajoran aide from during the Occupation wore a uniform that's clearly the ancestor of the one used by the Bajoran Militia. Even that implies something interesting, in my mind!

Next Week: Everyone dies during Season Two in Fallen Heroes!

Archival Review: Star Trek: The Next Generation: Before Dishonor by Peter David

Mass market paperback, 352 pages
Published 2007
Acquired and read November 2007

Star Trek: The Next Generation: Before Dishonor

by Peter David

This is the last of this year's installments in the TNG relaunch, and I don't have much to say about it, beyond that it's basically the ultimate Peter David Star Trek book, with all the positives and minuses that that entails these days.