This is a workmanlike novelization of the second Star Trek film, with all the limitations and requirements that carries. McIntyre has added or expanded on backstory for some of the minor characters, most specifically Saavik, Khan's sidekick Joaquim, and the staff involved in the development of the Genesis device.
Having only recently re-watched TWOK, the differences between the film and McIntyre's novelization were more noticeable than they might otherwise have been. The major one, of course, is the absence in the novel of the âRememberâ scene just before Spock enters the room in which he will die. McIntyre, as is common with novelizations of films, was working from a shooting script, and as every good Trekker knows, that scene was an afterthought â one intended to provide the stepping stone for what turned out to be the second film in a trilogy. Also key was another single word in the earlier dialogue, in which Kirk confronts the mother of his son. In the book (and thus, apparently in the shooting script) the line was âWhy didn't you tell me?â (and she gets to point out with great logic, that he should have been able to count to nine). In the final cut of the film, the line is âWhy didn't you tell him?â (emphasis mine), which puts a whole other spin on Kirk's absentee father-ism, allowing him to say âI did what you asked â I stayed awayâ, thus retaining his essential step-up-to-the-plate good-guy image (and proving that yes, he can count to nine).
The novel probably belongs on the shelf of the raving Trek completionist; for most other readers it is a curiosity at best, and perhaps serves as an interesting what-if in the differences a minor tweak can make to a story line.
Having only recently re-watched TWOK, the differences between the film and McIntyre's novelization were more noticeable than they might otherwise have been. The major one, of course, is the absence in the novel of the âRememberâ scene just before Spock enters the room in which he will die. McIntyre, as is common with novelizations of films, was working from a shooting script, and as every good Trekker knows, that scene was an afterthought â one intended to provide the stepping stone for what turned out to be the second film in a trilogy. Also key was another single word in the earlier dialogue, in which Kirk confronts the mother of his son. In the book (and thus, apparently in the shooting script) the line was âWhy didn't you tell me?â (and she gets to point out with great logic, that he should have been able to count to nine). In the final cut of the film, the line is âWhy didn't you tell him?â (emphasis mine), which puts a whole other spin on Kirk's absentee father-ism, allowing him to say âI did what you asked â I stayed awayâ, thus retaining his essential step-up-to-the-plate good-guy image (and proving that yes, he can count to nine).
The novel probably belongs on the shelf of the raving Trek completionist; for most other readers it is a curiosity at best, and perhaps serves as an interesting what-if in the differences a minor tweak can make to a story line.
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