Rating: 
Summary: Book and movie complement each other well.
Review: "And you people...you're all astronauts on some kind of...star trek?"That line, uttered by Dr. Zephram Cochrane in both movie and novelization, has to be my all time favorite from the Trek film series. The most interesting difference between movie and book, as far I am concerned, is that despite James Cromwell's fine performance I found the film's Zephram Cochrane incredibly annoying. I never developed a shred of sympathy for him, because the background the film gave me - the Third World War and its chaotic aftermath - wasn't sufficient to make me understand him. I don't know, not having seen the script from which J.M. Dillard worked, whether she added "Zef" Cochrane's tragic battle with bipolar disorder (a disease that before the War had an effective treatment), or if it was among the elements that inevitably got cut as the film took shape. But I do know that for me, it made all the difference in being able to care about this character and root for him. The book follows the film with little filler added except for background on Lily Sloane and Zephram Cochrane, which gives it a similar pace. They complement each other well.
Rating:
Summary: first contact
Review: 'FIRST CONTACT' IS A WONDERFUL STAR TREK NOVEL. IT EXPLORES THE FEDERATION'S GREATEST ENEMY - THE BORG. THE NOVEL VERSION HAS MUCH MORE DETAIL/MATERIAL THAT IS NOT FOUND (BECAUSE, I AM SURE, OF TIME/LENGTH ISSUES) IN THE EQUALLY WONDERFUL MOVIE. (ALTHOUGH, I WISH THAT THEY WOULD HAVE INCLUDED IN THE MOVIE DENISE CROSBY [THE LATE, GREAT LT. TASHA YAR] MAKING A CAMEO, OR EVEN USING FLASHBACK MATERIAL FROM THE TNG EPISODE 'THE NAKED NOW', WHEN DATA IS MENTALLY RE-LIVING TASHA YAR'S SEDUCTION OF HIM WHILE SHE WAS UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF THE PSI 2000 VIRUS.) 'FIRST CONTACT' IS ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF BUYING THE HARDCOVER EDITION (AS OPPOSED TO THE SOFTCOVER) IF YOU ARE PLANNING TO KEEP THIS NOVEL. THE COLOR, GLOSSY PHOTOS (ESPECIALLY OF THE BORG QUEEN) ADD AN ENTIRE EXTRA DIMENSION TO THE ALREADY-EXCELLENT NOVEL. A MUST HAVE FOR ANY STAR TREK FAN!!!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent novelization.
Review: As usual, J.M. Dillard does a fine job of remaining true to the source material, while still elaborating on it. The story is an excellent one, with plenty of action and plenty of interesting science-fiction concepts for the more thoughtful to consider. It gives us a bit more insight into the "future history" between the near-collapse of civilization and the beginning of the Federation that has been hinted at but rarely detailed in various episodes of Star Trek, in various generations of series. The plot and characterization are both excellent and the writing is fluid and professional. The book is a pleasure to read.
Rating:
Summary: Perfect!
Review: J.M. Dillard once again, in Star Trek First Contact proves why they go to her for the movie novelizations. This is the perfect accoutrement to the movie. It gives us great incite into what the characters might've been thinking. It also gives us some of the scenes that were left on the cutting room floor. Again, a great book that should definitely be read if you've enjoyed the movie!
Rating:
Summary: STNG - Star Trek Generations - An excellent novelization!
Review: Star Trek "Generations" represents J.M. Dillard's fourth Star Trek movie novelization. Of course there's a good reason she's done the novelizations for every movie since Star Trek V "The Final Frontier" and the novelization for Star Trek Deep Space Nine's premier episode "Emissary," she's extraordinarily good at it and this one is no exception! When a reader picks up the novelization for an episode or a movie, they're looking for a couple of things; some personalization to what the characters are thinking during the scenes and some good "between the scenes" scenes and in every novelization of J.M. Dillard's I've read so far, she accomplishes that with ease. Her writing style is very fluid and the pacing is very good, producing a very engaging story that enhances what was seen on the silver screen or the home television screen. Credit also goes to Rick Berman, Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga for the original story and screenplay for Star Trek "Generations" which, in my opinion, has been a rather unjustly maligned movie over the years. The overall story is a good one, that is well grounded in what Star Trek is all about and I believe Gene Roddenberry would've been very proud of this movie! Also included in the hardback version are some great color photos taken directly from the film. The paperback version has the same photos but they're black & white. Both versions have the "Behind the Scenes of Star Trek Generations" A Special Report by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens which is a great little read entailing some of what it took to make the movie. The cover art for "Generations" is, of course, directly from the movie posters and is very nice and much better than what was the standard fare for cover art at the time of this novels release! The premise: The novel opens up with an extremely poignant scene between Captain James T. Kirk and Spock, set one year prior to the launch of the third ship named Enterprise. The novel then follows up with an exceptional scene with Kirk plunging towards the Earth during an orbital skydive that was planned to have been in the movie but time constraints eliminated it. In what many thought to be described as a dignified way of ending future possibilities for screen time for Captain James T. Kirk, the next scene in the novel and first, opening scene of the movie shows him saving the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-B and "dying," while doing so. Seventy eight years later we're taken to the holodeck of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D and Lieutenant Worf's rather interesting promotion ceremony to Lieutenant Commander. What follows from there is a novel that is extraordinarily well written that serves beautifully to enhance what was seen on the silver screen. I highly recommend this novel, whether you can pick it up in hardback or paperback! {ssintrepid}
Rating:
Summary: ST-TNG: First Contact
Review: Star Trek - The Next Generation: First Contact a novel by J.M. Dillard based on the film Star Trek: First Contact story by Rick Berman, Brannon Braga, and Ronald D. Moore is a book that combines one of the Federations greatest threats the Borg with Earth's first warp flight and the U.S.S. Enterprise and her crew. As the relentless Borg work their way toward Earth, the only hope to stop them rests with the U.S.S. Enterprise and her crew. Now, the Borg are even more dangerous... stronger and have a devious plan. As the Borg begin to launch their plan of attack against the Federation, a startling confrontation will take them back in time as Earth's first warp space flight is about to take place. This is a fast paced book and the narrative is spot-on as the character-driven plot makes its way throughout the book. We read about Zefram Cochrane and the Phoenix on the eve of the first warp flight from Earth, the relentless Borg and their Queen as she now wants the U.S.S. Enterprise for herself and of course the "First Contact" with the Vulcans. What I found to be a most pleasent surprise was that between the book v. movie is that the book gave far more detail. As you read about the characters you get a feel for their emotions and their train of thought. Of course, there are scenes in the book that weren't in the movie, making the book flow much smoother. The book works on detail and the characters are robust and this makes the story engagingly fascinating... the Borg say, "Resistance is futile," that may have been so, until they came in contact with the Enterprise and her crew. Another wonderful feature in this book is the color pictures of the movie and there is an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the making of the film. This is an excellent book with a lively portrayl of vivid characters.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Star Trek Book
Review: Star Trek First Contact by J.M. Dillard was an excellent book. it showed emotion, fear, dispair, and anger. IT was a well written book considering it was made after the movie. I encourage all Star Trek fans to read this book and watch the movie.
Rating: 
Summary: Generations novelization is a must-read Trek book....
Review: Star Trek Generations, J.M. Dillard's third novelization of a Star Trek feature film, is a well-written and exciting tale of two legendary Starfleet captains brought together across the time barrier to save a world from the plans of an obsessive scientist. Dillard (The Lost Years, Mindshadow) adds texture and context to Brannon Braga and Ronald D. Moore's screenplay for the seventh Star Trek film (and first of four Star Trek: The Next Generation movies) by starting the book right after the events of The Undiscovered Country: Kirk, Spock, McCoy and the Original Series' crew splits up -- some retiring from Starfleet, while others accept other assignments. While this wasn't in the original screenplay or in the final film, this bit of exposition sets up a recurring reverie about time, transitions and even death. Star Trek Generations really gets going in Chapter 2, when Kirk, Chekov and Scotty are the guests of honor at the launching ceremony of the NCC-1701-B, an Excelsior-class ship which is the third starship to bear the name Enterprise. With an untried captain and with vital equipment not yet installed, a brief publicity cruise to Pluto and back to Earth turns into a perilous rescue mission when a strange energy ribbon ensnares two El-Aurian refugee ships. Kirk, Scotty and Chekov assist Capt. John Harriman on this life-and-death endeavor, and some of the El-Aurians (including future Enterprise-D bartender Guinan and Dr. Tolian Soran) are rescued...but not without cost. The Enterprise-B is damaged by the energy ribbon, and Capt. James T. Kirk is missing and presumed dead. After another chapter of original material in which Dillard shows the reaction of Kirk's senior staff to his death, the rest of the novel takes place 78 years later. The Enterprise-D crew is celebrating Worf's promotion to lieutenant commander in the holodeck, but the festivities are cut short when Capt. Jean Luc Picard receives devastating news from home. And to make matters worse, someone has savagely attacked the Amargosa Observatory, leaving only one survivor, Dr. Tolian Soran....the same man rescued from the energy ribbon nearly 80 years before by the Enterprise-B. Soon, Picard has to overcome his grief to stop Soran from destroying a star (and its orbiting inhabited planets) to cause the mysterious energy ribbon -- known as the Nexus -- to change course. Picard must discover why Soran wants to sacrifice billions of innocent lives in order to "go into the Nexus" -- and he'll need the help of a legendary Starfleet captain from the past to stop the obsessed madman..... To her credit, Dillard explains Soran's motivations far better than the movie did, and her depictions of the movie's characters are vivid and well-done. Of course, some of her additional material was needed to make up for the non-appearance of Spock and McCoy in the final drafts of Braga and Moore's screenplay (and the final film), and one scene with Kirk -- which was filmed -- was later changed, but those minor detours are to be expected in novelizations such as this.
Rating:
Summary: Better than the movie
Review: This audio-book is great entertainment and is read wonderfully by John DeLancie. What makes it better than the film is that it has additional scenes that deepen the story. One is at the very beginning and it takes place after the end of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country as the Kirk and crew return to Earth. Kirk, Spock, and Bones have a touching farewell. Another scene takes place a year after Kirk is lost and presumed killed by the Nexus. It includes Bones and Spock at a memorial service for Kirk. Lastly, We get to hear about what Kirk experiences in the Nexus before Picard happens upon him; it includes Carol and David Marcus and is great as well.
Rating:
Summary: The best Star Trek story ever
Review: This is without doubt the best of all Star Trek stories, both in film and in print. It touches on many grand philosophical, scientific, and technological themes: machine intelligence (both in Commander Data and in the Borg), space-time engineering (the first time humanity has done this, via the efforts of Zefram Cochrane), the first contact from an alien civilization (the arrival of the Vulcans), the confrontation with true history (meeting Cochrane and finding out just who the man really was), and the ethics of highly advanced civilizations (the contrast between the Borg and humanity). This book and the film will without a doubt inspire many a young reader to take up the practice of science, and thus it will do the best job of all. Science fiction has the habit of coming true sometimes, but it also has the fault of underestimating. The future of humanity, as exemplified by the Star Trek crew of the year 2367, is a grand one to contemplate, but the true future will be much better: a world populated by humans and machines striving to be the best they can be; a future that is never static, for stagnation to intelligent life is an abomination. We will do genetic engineering of humans, to be the best we can be; we will do space-time engineering, to travel beyond any immediate confines; we will create intelligent machines, to be our friends and allies. All of these things we will do, and much more. Humans and all other lifeforms, organic or not, will be very different in the time frame set in this novel. But they will be restless, ambitious, and always yearning for more understanding, for more insight, for more knowledge: these traits will characterize the beings of the 24th century...and beyond.
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