Official Score = 2 1/2 Devils[/caption]When I was still in High School I have to admit that I was a little bit of a nerd... You might also say a, 'Star Trek' nerd with strong reject tendencies (because despite the fact that I was a computer geek who liked Star Trek, I was a goth in High School and a huge fan of all the darker forms of entertainment that came with that (everything except drugs, booze and makeup!)
Anyway one series of books that I believe my mother at the time got for me for one of the gift giving holidays was a series of Star Trek books that although could be considered cannon, never actually saw the light of day as either a movie or TV series (although I am pretty certain that if, 'Enterprise' hadn't have done so poorly, that Paramount would have some how convinced Peter Davd (The Author) in to turning his fledgling novel series in to a full on TV series!)
With that in mind though, the first book titled, 'House Of Cards' was an awesome book (you could almost say novella because it is pretty small, it just ain't that small,) was a pretty awesome and engaging story that essentially told a lot of the back story of how the main crew of the U.S.S. Excalibur came to be working together on the same ship as well as how the, 'Thallonian Empire'... (An ancient Empire that has ruled over many worlds) has collapsed, and how Starfleet sends in a ship, the, 'U.S.S. Excalibur'... And an eclectic group of Starfleet Officers to kind of keep the peace in an area that is unstable and has the potential to cause problems through out the rest of the Federation!
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The U.S.S. Excalibur.[/caption]The truth is, is that Peter David's technique is uniquely different then most of what you would see on any of the TV series, Movies, or even a lot of the books! The best example is that in the cannon TV series Kirk and his Starship Enterprise were considered to be cowboys utilizing that sort of mentality when it came to the battles they engaged in as well as the diplomacy that they would deal with while doing their 5 year missions... (The truth is, considering that the 24th century 400 - 500 years after the days of cowboys, I suspect that the authors of the episode where this is mentioned had the characters having a distinctly more sterilized view of the, 'Cowboy era',) regardless, there is definitely an element of that with the crew of the Excalibur, but there is also an element of the polished like the rest of the post original series TV shows... And I think that, that element in this series (and especially with this book makes it a lot of fun!)
I also like the fact that this show brought back some awesome characters from, Star Trek: The Next Generation, including: Dr. Selar (Played by: Suzie Plakson in the TV series) and Elizabeth Sheby (Played by Elizabeth Dennehy in the TV series), as well as, 'Robin Lefler' (played by: Ashley Judd in the TV series)!
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Commander Elizabeth Shelby (played by: Elizabeth Dennehy), Ensign Robin Lefler (Played by: Ashley Judd) & Dr. Selar (Played by Suzie Plakson). These characters as seen in their original TV roles on, 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' would go on to play prominent roles in the novel series, 'Star Trek: New Frontier'![/caption]In the end, if you are looking for a truly unique take on Star Trek, then I would recommend checking out this novel series, 'House Of Cards' to start off with, it is certainly a fun one!
