Resumo de Enterprise - The First Adventure

IntroductionStar Trek is one of the most successful space adventure programs to hitthe idiot box. The success of the series has led to an avalanche ofbooks based on the team of Captain Kirk and his dynamic group. A lot ofthe books have been about the various adventures or about individualmembers in the team especially Mr. Spock. But, the question that isprimary to every Star Trek fan is "How did it all start?". So when Iread Gene Roddenberry's (Brain behind of Star Trek) comment that - "Enterprise - The First Adventure is the most creative and enjoyable tale of Star Trek's beginning, I decided to check out the book.The PlotA young and dynamic youngster who has recently been promoted to therank of Captain is about to replace an aging Star Fleet legend CaptainPike as the Captain of Star Ship Enterprise. The youngster named Kirkis the youngest Star Fleet Captain ever and comes with a hugereputation as a hero from his previous adventures and is lookingforward to exciting first contact adventure.His excitement is dulled when he first meets the crew of theEnterprise and finds them still living in the mould of Captain Pike andnot really embracing him as the Captain. But, then his excitement getstotally wrecked when the first mission is announced which instead ofany First Contact project is just a project to take an Entertainmentcompany on a tour of Star Fleet bases.Little does Captain Kirk know how much this flimsy project is goingto shape up one of the best teams in the Star Fleet history. Theentertainment business suddenly turns into serious business when StarFleet nears a base at the border of the Klingon Empire. An hugeunidentified object seems to be floating out there at the border ofboth the huge empires with some uniquely advanced features.To add to this a Klingon rebel seems to have spotted the object aswell and both the parties want to explore the object and find moreabout it.What happens next? Is the object a friend or a foe? Are the Klingons upto some mischief?Join Captain Kirk and his crew on their first expedition together.Critic's ViewpointVonda McIntyre has taken up an interesting topic and tried toprovide and interesting interpretation of how it all began with. Forstarters, there are some interesting episodes, as to the comparisondrawn between the incoming captain and a captain who has had a longcareer behind him. Again the initial resistance to change to a newapproach of Kirk viz a viz Pike's approach is evident with the crewmembers.Again within the first expedition we have three members putting intheir papers for transfer to show their resentment for the approach ofCaptain Kirk in one way or other. On the other hand, we have CaptainKirk beginning to find his way around his ship and people. At variousstages Kirk knows he is hanging by a thread and how he clutches onto itand tries hard to turn the tide to win over his team is also wellhighlighted.The adventure itself is not too enterprising to say the least and just adds a bit more drama to this whole scenario.Vonda has tried to show the first adventure from the point of viewof the captain, the way he turns all hostility and challenges intopositive energy and victory. The idea is a good one, the executionthough lacks the required depth. Although, Kirk here is shown as ahuman facing his first real challenge and faces it with both hisstrengths and weaknesses, the story leaves the crew on the loose. Spock is shown as a renegade with strong views and surprisinglyintolerant even flouting direct orders at times. Uhura is again shownin a more negative shade as living in her own world, coming in to helpout at times, but generally an aloof figure. Scott seems moreinterested in the Star Ship rather than the mission which is not whatit is in the rest of the novels and TV series. Again Sulu seems moreintent on his private goals rather than anything else. All in all Vondatakes a call to show the team as immature to show the strengths of thecaptain which I find it as a bit unfoate.Another thing that let's down this novel is the actual adventure. Ithink the idea of the entertainment company was a good one as no one inthe right mind would give an upstart anything critical, but then thelater episode of the aliens just does not do justice to the firstepisode. The writing style of Vonda is a bit slow to my liking and the storyseems to go to sleep at times. So as far as I am concerned, it is greatidea, but the execution of the idea requires a lot to be improved.SummaryAll in all, I have to agree with Gene Roddenberry that it is acreative tale with regards to the beginning of Captain Kirk's career onStar Ship Enterprise, but disagree that it is enjoyable.I would give this story a 3 star rating.

Resumos Relacionados