Overall Rating
5
out of 5
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Trek novelization stands on own merits
Date: July 8, 2009
This review is for the
Audio
format.
"As I prepare to attend the 2009 Star Trek Convention in Las Vegas- less than a month away as I write this- I've been immersing myself in all things Trek.
One of the big draws to this year's event is that Zachary Quinto will be there. Quinto plays the young Spock in the recently released Star Trek movie, and might also be known to television viewers as Sylar on NBC's 'Heroes' series.
Zachary Quinto also reads the novelization of the movie on the Audioworks Simon & Schuster book on CD. And does an outstanding job, too.
Veteran sci-fi writer Alan Dean Foster was tapped to novelize the movie, which only makes sense, given his long and successful career of such projects, not only in the science fiction field in general, but in the area of Star Trek in particular- dig back into the archives, and you'll find his treatments turning the old Saturday morning animated Trek episodes into book form. At one point, Foster has Spock's father, Sarek, even speak the same line, practically word for word, in the new novel as he did in the book version of the animated show.
And as one would expect from Foster, this book isn't just a transcription of the events that take place on the screen- it's a story with depth and emotion, and it's a great read (Foster doesn't just novelize sci-fi movies... he's got a extensive and impressive line-up of his own original sci-fi literature as well). In fact, in the 8.5 hour unabridged audio version, it's about an hour and a half into the book before we get through the first 5 minutes of the movie, because Foster has added so much detail and backstory, has fleshed it out and made it a real book, rather than a re-telling of the movie.
And back to Quinto- It's great to hear him do the voice of Spock, of course, but he also does a great job with Kirk, Chekov and the others. (His Scotty might be a little weak, but it still works out okay.) His narration voice is also very good, and fits very well with the story.
So if you're planning to attend the convention in Las Vegas, and you're planning to drive there, you could do much worse than to grab a copy of Foster's Star Trek on CD. At over 8 hours, it's a great driving choice."
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