My fanwank was always that Kirk filed the proper paperwork etc…and it was lost when Memory Alpha was wiped out.
Furthermore…in the reboot movies…it’s absolutely pointless for Prime Spock to expect that without Vulcan, history will follow exactly as it did before. So rather than hope somebody will stop the many galaxy destroying threats that the Enterprise stumbled upon, he debriefed Starfleet on where Khan was, Nomad, Lazarus, the Space Ameoba etc…*
…and Starfleet promptly locates Khan and tries to use him for their own nefarious deeds.
*The Doomsday Machine, what the Romulans are up to, the Metrons, where Gorn space actually ends…etc…
When you find the Doomsday machine - get it to chase you to these coordinates near Bajor - send the doomsday machine thru the wormhole - trust me on this.
Speaking of the novels, let us not forget John M. Ford, whose “How Much For Just the Planet?” gives Star Trek the seriousness and gravitas it deserves.
I still regularly read Trek Fiction and its gotten a heck of a lot better now that the shows aren’t on the air anymore and the writers aren’t constrained to “put things back in the box when you’re done playing with them”.
I’d make recommendations but your tastes and mine may differ to the point where you’d love the ones I didn’t even like and vice versa.
I have to say, even big fan that I am, some of Blish’s TOS adaptations were the definition of hack. It’s obvious he wrote them using only early draft scripts. Characters have different names, plots go in different directions, etc. Some bear little resemblance to the episode - one even (can’t remember which offhand) reduced an entire episode to a three page short story.
If I were writing episode adaptations, I’d put the effort into watching the actual episode and adjusting the writing as required before submitting it. At least* try *to do a good job. Put in some effort. It seems like he didn’t even care, like he banged out a book in one afternoon.
I thought they knew that one of the planets in the system exploded, but just thought that it was the wrong one - just a mix-up between which one was Ceti Alpha V and which one was Ceti Alpha VI… and presumably a mix-up on which one had Khan on it.
Is there any support for that in the movie, or am I just making it up? (I haven’t seen the movie in a long time.)
I don’t think any of that is in the movie (maybe in the novelization?).
FWIW, I have always thought it was stupid that the Reliant didn’t know where they were. Meyer was styling the film after Horatio Hornblower novels, but there is a difference between islands in the Pacific and star systems. One would hope that Starfleet navigation was a bit more precise, and their record keeping a bit more exact, than seen in the movie.
If they were looking for a planet that was completely devoid of life, they probably should start with ones that don’t have atmospheres. Talk about lazy - Tyrell and Checkov couldn’t wait to “transplant” whatever was living on the planet, rather than moving on. If they took their job a bit more seriously, Khan would still be stuck on his rock, and Spock and David would still be alive.
It was trimmed out of the first meeting with Khan. A few hints are still there, like Chekovs opening log entry naming the planet (incorrectly), his statement about how “On Ceti Alpha V there was life, a chance” and Khans realization, “You thought this was Ceti Alpha VI.”
Clearly the contract said to put lots of episodes into each book. The first two volumes were pretty good, as he tried to explain stuff (and even put the Vegan Tyranny into one.) Then he pretty much figured they would sell no matter what, so the last bunch were hackwork. I think he was getting sick also.
The novel wasn’t bad though. A lot better than the Mack Reynolds travesty.
