Overall
review
Voyages is a
fan-fiction anthology, published by Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and his
company. As anthologies go, it is worthwhile purchase─mostly because of its first
four tales. The rest of the works are not terrible, but they are typical,
nothing to get excited about. Largely entertaining read, this, followed by
another anthology, Star Trek: The New Voyages 2.
Stories
“Ni
Var” – Claire Gabriel: Spock’s personality aspects─human and
Vulcan─are divided into two physical-twin versions, a situation that affects the fate of the Enterprise as well.
This
story strikes a good, Trek-true tone, with its characterization, events
and pacing─its dilemma is character-based, personal yet universal.
“Intersection
Point” – Juanita Coulson: A strange, amorphous energy
field─sentient?─attaches itself to the Enterprise, starting a short
countdown-to-death for the entire crew. “Intersection” reads like an
unaired episode of the show, gripping with its life-or-death situation, and its
characters’ interactions, down to William Shatner’s over-the-top portrayal of
James Kirk.
“The
Enchanted Pool” – Marcia Ericson: On the planet of Mevinna, a nymph-like
woman (Phyllida) attempts to distract Spock─sans crewmen─away from tracking
down a Federation device hijacked by the Andorans. This is a delightful tale,
with a mini-twist or two, and one of my favorite entries in this collection.
“Visit
to a Weird Planet Revisited” – Ruth Berman: While shooting on the
set of the show Star Trek, William Shatner, Forrest Kelley and Leonard
Nimoy find themselves in another reality, where they have replaced their Trek
characters, who are real people─and who have replaced the actors on the Trek
set.
This
is a funny, insider’s-view and spot-on alternate take on Trek ideas and
characters, easily one of the best tales in this anthology.
“The
Face on the Barroom Floor” – Eleanor Arnason and Ruth Berman:
During shore leave on the planet Krasni, Kirk gets in a bar fight and goes to
jail. A skeleton crew on the Enterprise, led by Spock, tries to find him
so they can depart for an important mission.
This
was an okay story. It feels padded out with clichés, nothing exciting nor
anything that expands the Trek mythos.
“The
Hunting” – Doris Beetem: McCoy accompanies Spock during a Vulcan
ritual (mok farr: “time of remembrance”), where Vulcans mind meld with a
wild animal in order to, among other things, expand their mindset. After Spock
does this with an owltiger on the plant Rhinegelt, McCoy is stalked by the
now-animalistic Vulcan.
“Hunting“
is another okay, padded-out story, this one loaded-with-Edgar-Rice-Burrough-esque
adjectives during Spock’s mental transformation. Its cheesy end-line, uttered
by McCoy, reads like something Kirk would say─not McCoy.
“The
Winged Dreamers” – Jennifer Guttridge: Many of the Enterprise‘s
crew members, while on shore leave, begin hallucinating and refuse to leave the
paradisal planet they are visiting.
“Winged”
is a solid work, with its well-written (if oft-used) Trek
setup: nothing special, but not egregious either.
“Mind-Sifter”
– Shirley S. Maiewski: Kirk disappears for two years while the crew of
the Enterprise searches for him.
This
is a chatty, okay story that would benefit from ruthless editing. It would
also benefit from an editor trimming Maiewski’s overly emotional and also-chatty
dialogue (especially in the case of Spock, who comes off like a trauma
counselor instead of, well, Spock). Its plot is interesting, would’ve
been great, had it not been hobbled by the above concerns.
“Sonnet
from the Vulcan: Omicron Ceti Three” – Shirley Meech: Reads like a solid Vulcan sonnet. (Not a poetry fan.)
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