You give me puns, I spread nerdery

last one was broadly about how I structure the timeline, this one is more about my headcanons

point 1: My Personal Canon

I said this in a previous post, but generally believe that the books are equally canon as the shows and films. I do not believe the same for the comics. "Book-Jim is Screen-Jim. but Comic-Jim isn't Screen-Jim"

The world of star trek comics is not something I haven't taken a dive into yet, so i don't feel a connection to that world (though i do have some comics)

The 90s had connections between the books and comics (references/sequels/prequels), but as far as I can tell they were mostly separate worlds before and after that. Maybe I'm wrong, I should look into that.

My rule is different for the kelvin timeline however just due to how small that timeline is. Its expanded universe is built mostly within the comics and there's so little of everything else. So in that case, all the books, comics and video games released within that timeline are canon to me. It's just preference and creates less immediate work.

If I get into the comics, I may consider changing my mind one publisher at a time.

point 2: There Are Four Timelines!

I believe there are four timelines. and three of them are centered around the film First Contact.

Timeline Prime-A: All books, shows, and films released prior to First Contact.

Timeline Prime-B: All books, shows and films released prior to 2022 (that aren't within the kelvin timeline)

Kelvin Timeline: All official media written place within the timeline of the kelvin trilogy of films and the show Enterprise

Timeline Prime-C: All books, shows and films released up to the present date, except for the books in Prime-B taking place between First Contact and the novel trilogy Coda

(released in this case means printing date, and taking place means where they are in the timeline)

Here's where things get weird:

Looking at my wording, you'd be right to assume that I believe the show Enterprise didn't happen in timeline-A but did in the others. I believe that show only happened because of first contact

It's also entirely possible that there are stories that while they follow the rules that would qualify them to be in one timeline may actually be in another.

point 3: What About Time Travelers?

If multiple timelines exist without overwriting each other, how does time travel work?

That's a question for whoever decided Spock looks good with a beard. But I believe that time travelers can come to a shared past from different futures. Can that damage the structure of reality? yes.

As far as I'm aware, star trek hasn't done a story where people from a different future travel to their shared past. But I think it's possible, here's how I think returning to the future works (it would be fun to debate this)

If your changes aren't significant, you'll go back to the future the machine came from. If the machine is from the time you're leaving, it goes to the the timeline of the passenger(s). If the passengers are from different timelines, it goes to the passenger from the most likely future (not all futures are equally likely, but still exist. just because a 7 is the most likely outcome from rolling 2d6, it does not mean a 12 will never happen. you won't know until you roll)

point 3: "The prime timeline isn't the canon timeline. Discovery is woke bullshit. It's not Star Trek. blah-blah gay agenda"

In my previous post, I posted a brief timeline of the Star Trek TNG books that I believe take place in season 1 based on what I've read about them in summaries and on wikis. I have a larger timeline which I will share both in-full and in pieces as time goes on

point 1: I'm not an expert, just a girl trying to have fun

The most important point I will make is that my timeline is probably different from yours and that's okay. Plenty of these books are hard to place. And there are definitely inaccuracies. This timeline was built a few years ago, and some books were placed in a season based on the uniforms on the cover before I used memory-beta to get more details. That is not a good move. If you're into the Pocket TOS timeline, you know that is a major issue.

point 2: Formatting

When posting the timelines, this will generally be the format:

<book name> takes place <before/after/during> <different episode/book>

ex:

Crossover takes place after All Good Things

If I say "before" or "after", I mean that in my current interpretation of the timeline these two stories happen in this order and there are no stories currently written that take place between them

If I say "during" that means that these two stories are happening at the same time

point 3: Overlapping stories

In the case of a story where it is written like it is being remembered or told by someone at a later date (this kind of narration is called a framing story), I will not separate the framing story from the "main" story. In those stories, there are two (or more) possible places in the timeline. Generally speaking, this placement goes off on gut feeling based on which story is more important in the overall timeline.

For example, the main story for My Brother's Keeper by Michael Jan Friedman takes place fifteen years before the original series. however, it's framing story takes place after Where No Man Has Gone Before. In my opinion, this story is stronger in the later date even though there are more pages in the earlier date. To me, this story is about mourning the loss of Gary Mitchell and the birth of Jim's relationship with Spock.

point 4: Only The Second Digit Carries Meaning In TNG Stardates

Fun/exciting thing in my small (but hopefully growing) Star Trek book collection. The other day I picked up some Star Trek books and among the three was the first Pocket TNG novel Ghost Ship by Diane Carey.

And that's when I realised I am now only one book away from having all the Pocket TNG books that take place during the first season

There is room for debate, I'm not counting the novelization of Encounter at Farpoint. I generally don't count novelizations in my timeline. I'm also not counting the novel The Buried Age by Christopher L. Bennett as that novel ends about a month before Encounter at Farpoint. I'd consider it the finale of the stargazer sub-series. I'm also not counting anything released after the Coda trilogy in my timeline (Coda had a timeline reset)

That book I am missing though is Infection by John Gregory Betancourt. It is the 51st numbered Pocket TNG novel and the first book in the Double Helix sub-series of TNG novels.

I have to spend some time in my local used book stores looking for either the novel Infection or the Double Helix omnibus

For those curious, here is how these books take place in my season 1 timeline based on the research I've done:

#51 Infection takes place after The Naked Now

#01 Ghost Ship Takes place before The last Outpost

#02 The Peacekeepers takes place after Hide and Q

#03 The Children of Hamlin takes place after Symbiosis

#04 Survivors takes place after #03 The Children of Hamlin

#08 The Captains' Honor takes place after Skin of Evil

There's a turtle that you can hold in your arms.

While holding it, you cannot equip or use other items.

There's 12 hours of random wholesome dialogue between you and the turtle. The turtle talks? The turtle talks.

People will comment on the turtle but will not talk to it themselves. Perhaps they don't hear it?

On the other side of the map, there's this faction that is otherwise hostile towards you. Until you're holding the turtle. There's no hints at this.

They get really annoyed about this.

"why is nobody attacking them?"

"well, I'm not going to. They're holding a turtle"

normally on tumblr the hockey related content i see is either woho or habs. so, if you're a woho fan here's something different:

i don't talk a lot of hockey on this blog, but tonight i'm so shocked have to.

the vegas golden knights, the top team in the pacific division of the NHL has 93 points (2 points granted per win, 1 point per loss in overtime)

the bottom team in the division that's still making it to the playoffs this year has 90 points. that's a 3 point gap.

in the other 3 divisions the gaps are: 27 points (central division), 15 points (metro division), and 10 points (atlantic division)

this is insane. every team in the playoffs in the pacific has 1 game left (one of those is happening now, three happening tomorrow)

depending on how these four games go, the 2nd place team in the division could be 1st or as low as 4th.

the pacific division teams' points are so low, let's compare to how many points the bottom teams still going to the playoffs in the other division:

remember how i said the top team in the pacific has 93 points?

the lowest team that has clinched the playoffs in the central division has 92 points. that's only 1 less than them.

in the metro? 98 points. 5 more. and in the atlantic? 99 points

WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS WHOLE DIVISION??!!!!!?!

oh by the way, vegas is playing the seattle kraken. my beloved squid are in the bottom 6 of this 32-team league, and the bottom 3 of the western conference.

shots on goal are 11-6 for the kraken. no one has scored, we just started the second period.

this is ridiculous! i hope the knights get eaten alive by the squid tonight!

OH AND BY THE WAY, THE KRAKEN HAVEN'T LOST TO THE KNIGHTS AT ALL THIS SEASON.

i should not be mad at this, i don't pay attention to the western conference until the playoffs start. but i am.

I WAS DOING SOME QUICK EDITING BEFORE POSTING AND SEATTLE JUST SCORED. GO SQUID.

THE KNIGHTS CAN GET FUCKED AND STAY FUCKED. I HOPE THEY GET SWEPT IN THE PLAYOFFS

so, i'm scrolling through the wikipedia page on hamlet.

and there's a picture of an 19th century actor portraying hamlet. He looks familiar but i can't place it, so i go to his wikipedia page

me skimming the page: was an american stage actor.... performed shakespeare... considered by many to be the greatest american actor of the 19th century.... overshadowed by his youngest brother JOHN WILKES BOOTH?!

While I was skimming the advantages list, I had a lot of moments where I thought "oh, this skill would be great for <insert character here>" I honestly feel like I could make Superman with these rules. Or spiderman, Or Gandalf, or anyone really.

I think the fact that I'm looking at the title for these advantages, getting what these do, and feeling inspired to make characters I already know. shows something about this system. And I really look forward to getting to know it.

null makes booleans trinary

I finished reading My Enemy, My Ally by Diane Duane. And i really liked it.

When I finished reading The Covenant of the Crown by Howard Weinstein, My opinion generally was that it was very good McCoy-focused story. It tonally felt like an episode of the original series but with the expanded detail I would expect a novel to do which a TV episode could not.

When I finished it, I walked away with the question "What would that look like with the tone of the films?" and when I chose to go to another novel from the second 5YM, coincidentally I got that answer.

My Enemy, My Ally makes me feel the same way I feel when watching Star Trek III or Star Trek VI. It is strong Star Trek story where the Ensemble gets respected. And for me, the most important thing about Star Trek after the story is the characters. Almost everyone gets their moments to shine (Scotty gets a whole chapter to shine and it's brilliant!)

Not only does the Ensemble shine, we also get some new characters who fit in beautifully. My favourite new character, who I hope sticks around, is Ensign Naraht. Who I at first thought was going to just be a lovely callback to a beloved episode, but ends up being Chekhov's gun. (Anton Chekhov, trek tumblr. not Pavel Chekov).

And the way that moment was written had me get the idea with the characters, and I was LEAPING OUT OF MY CHAIR AND GIGGLING AND SQUEEING. I loved that moment.

There a lot more I like about the book or stuff I just find interesting. I'll probably post more about it. I tried writing a review of The Covenant of the Crown when I finished it. But it got too long so i didn't post it. This time, instead of an ultra-long review I think multiple posts about aspects I liked is the better route. I wanna say something about the romulan characters, a statement I think the book makes about villains, trying to understand mnhei'sahe. Those are the first three thoughts that come to mind, there may be a few others.