William Shatner's Capt. Kirk: Shatner Verse Books Review (with Cliff & A-aron!)

[00:00:00] This podcast is a production of Unfiltered Studios. If you would like to know more about joining Unfiltered Studios, please visit our website at unfpod.com for more information. All right, gang. So as we get into the thick of it, you know, we're talking about lo and behold, the Shatner Verse nine, technically ten Star Trek novels ghostwritten by Shatner himself.

[00:00:30] But no, I kid you not. He did not ghostwrite it. He just put his name on it. So they were actually written by the one, the only. I can't speak today. It's just I can't believe these are real. They were ghostwritten by Russell.

[00:00:53] Yeah, Judith Reeve Stevens and Garfield Reeve Stevens, the couple who later went on to write the alternate universe stuff on Star Trek Enterprises fourth and final season. They've done some other stuff, including the crossover novel Star Trek Federation, but I'm not covering that today. Right now, I'm mainly or their other books. They've done some good stuff. Trust me, but I'm pretty much just getting into the thick of it.

[00:01:18] It's been long overdue. I wanted to illustrate just why this blurs the line between fan fiction written by a member of the show versus. You know, this is all we had when Kevin Kirk died on screen in the seventh Star Trek movie generations while passing the torch to the next generation crew, you know, and so for those who wanted to believe the character was actually alive.

[00:01:42] This is what they did, but it varied for various reasons, and I'll explain it in better detail after we the initial setup with Cliff and Aaron from the movie minutes podcasts. I always have them on the show, and I couldn't keep them out of a Shatner related discussion because they love talking about different celebrities and their egos.

[00:02:08] Fame and fortune. So once we get done with that, you'll then hear me just just give the final closing thoughts and review of all ten novels. Enjoy.

[00:02:18] You mentioned that this this thing that fascinates me, you and the other captain sitting up there on stage.

[00:03:55] Can you imagine the four of us sitting there and trying to be funny and four or five thousand people laughing at I don't know what? But what I would think and I'm sorry, I don't mean to be a suck up or anything, but but you're sitting up there. I'm just taking Altoids. You're trying to get through this interview as best I can. Must use all training from Enterprise.

[00:04:17] Sitting up there with the other captains. Yeah. You're sitting up there with with Patrick Stewart. Yeah, Patrick Stewart and all the rest of them and Kate Mulgrew. Right. And someone's on the blah, blah, blah. Everybody. And I'm thinking you gotta be sitting there thinking, hey, but I'm the original captain. I am the captain. No, I'm thinking. Don't you have kind of an attitude when you're up there? No, I'm thinking, hey, they're working. They're working at this.

[00:04:45] No, you're doing fine. Do you ever, I mean, when they're talking, do you kind of go like this and roll your eyes a lot? No, no, Patrick and I, for example, are really great friends. But what we get a lot of is, well, what would you, you know, if I met Captain Kirk and Captain Picard, what would you do? And who's the better man and all that. And I, and I, the story I can only think of in that comparison is that Patrick was staying at a hotel across the street from me.

[00:05:12] And we were going to meet at my hotel and he took a cab. Across the street? In Las Vegas, the streets are fairly wide. Yeah. And he was staying at, so he took a cab. I don't know. So he's, the cab driver said, where do you want to go? He said, across the street. And the cab driver said, get out of my car, get out of my cab. He says, I will not. He says, you will so? I will not. So the cab driver came out and dragged him out of the car. And, and said, nah, you're Captain Picard.

[00:05:38] So he said, yes, I am. He said, oh, well, I'm lucky because if it was Captain Kirk, I'd really be in trouble. And that was, uh... So, so you're the better man. Always. If you two, I'm not suggesting you do this. No, don't suggest that. Okay. I'm just saying that if the two of you actually fought each other in a cage match. Yes. And you charge money on cable. Yeah. And you said it's Picard, Kirk, and who, you know, only one gets out alive.

[00:06:06] I think everybody in America would tune in to see that. And you'd make a lot of money. And... Yeah, but I, I, I'm against killing and I don't want him to die now. Very arrogant man. You, there was a period in your life. It's well, a little joking around, kidding. It's always nice when you come. We have a good time. We keep it light. There was a period after Star Trek was canceled where you seriously had no money.

[00:06:32] You were, you were in very bad shape financially. And I'm curious about that period. We've never talked about it. Right. Well, how bad was it? Well, it was bad, bad enough so that I needed to, uh, I went on tour, uh, the Straw Hat circuit, uh, with a truck and a, and a cab over the truck. You know, the thing you put in a truck that little... Well, you know, the little, the thing you put on the back bed of a truck, the, the little housing. They call that the George Michael. Yeah. The George Michael on the, on the bed of the truck. No, you're talking about the, yeah. Okay. I gotcha. The little trailer.

[00:07:02] Right, the trailer. So, so that whenever I came to a theater, I would take it off the, uh, the bed of the truck and it stands on four legs. Mm-hmm. And when it's standing on four legs, it looks like the moon lander, you know? Right. So, I'm in the theater and, uh, and, and living in the moon lander and then loaded up and off I go and, and, uh... So you were living out of this thing, literally.

[00:07:27] Yeah, yeah. And, and weird things would happen to me, uh, as a result of living in a moon lander. I, I, early one morning, on the, on the, on the little moon lander. Yeah. And it's a kid. Uh, this was some years ago. And then, when the shots to the moon were going, the kid says, uh, I said, what do you want? He says, are you Captain Kirk? And I said, well, you know, yeah. Is this your... I play Captain Kirk, but it's a long story. Yeah. Is this your rocket, is this your rocket ship? Uh-huh. And I said, well, yes it is.

[00:07:58] Meanwhile, you have like five o'clock shadow. What are you talking about? Your hair's all crazy. So, so, so he says, can I come in? So I, you know, come on in. So I show him the shower. I said, there's the transportation room, you know? And the stove was the, with the, with the signals and all that. Uh-huh. So there's a kid, there's a 25 year old young man walking around thinking he was in Captain Kirk. I think there's a 25 year old kid walking around thinking like, that guy's crazy. I saw him later. He was wearing an ant head.

[00:08:27] Uh, Spectre is in, uh, Spectre is in bookstores right now everywhere. Also folks, check out WilliamShatner.com. I'm guessing that's computer related. And, uh, our crude technology, it must seem silly to you. And finally, uh, the, it's a big deal here on the earth. The guy seems to, I almost feel like he, he tends to focus on like, what is the meaning of life and death?

[00:08:56] Like is, is death is, is that have a purpose or are we just gone forever? Is there something? Because like one thing that stuck with me was, I think it was, was it Star Trek generations where Kirk finally dies? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. So that death scene is, is really interesting to me. And I know a lot of people have talked about it, you know, oh, that's just stupid. Captain Kirk wouldn't have died that way. And I, what hit me about it is first off, you know, there's Kirk in, in the movies, uh, saying that he, he's always known he would die alone.

[00:09:24] But in that case, he didn't, he dies with this iconic. Another captain. Yeah. Yeah. And then, and then the way he plays his death, he's kind of like, he played, he said that he played it like how he felt Captain Kirk would go, which is Captain Kirk was an explorer. He lived to just always seek the unknown. And he's, he starts off, he says it was fun. Right. So naturally, you know, Captain Kirk would have lived this life that he would have been like, you know, fulfilled.

[00:09:54] Right. Yeah. Uh, but then, but then in the very end, I think he goes like, whoa, you know, like that, like he actually saw something that blew his mind and then he's dead. Which is kind of a cool way to play. I think in a way, before we get even deeper into it, maybe he was talking about himself. Well, yeah, that's, that's what I, I feel like that's kind of. Or Keanu Reeves. Yeah, there you go. Yeah. Right. Right.

[00:10:18] This idealized version of himself that he has, you know, like what he, what he wishes he were. Uh, that's what Captain Kirk ultimately was to him. I think. Kirk or, uh, Cam used a term, uh, a little back called, he said mediocrity. I think that is the summation. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Mediocrity with a passion, I think is pretty much how he died. He died in the most mid way. That's for our younger listeners possible, but that's okay because that's what a human is. Yes.

[00:10:48] Because if he, if he had really understood. His death was the most. If he had really understood the character and both Roddenberry's vision and how it was portrayed on screen and like how probably the best way to do it would have been Kirk would have died and accidentally saved everyone. Yeah. He had to sort of stumble into. For me, kind of like a Maxwell smart.

[00:11:12] By doing, well, like more, not quite a Mr. Bean thing, but more like he went into things and he had good intentions and he would sort of fuck it up and then sort of save it too. You know what I mean? Like he'd get involved just to get involved to do shit. And it's like, Oh, you kind of fucked it up, but then he saved it too. Like the whole black and white planet. Right. He's the guy who accidentally walks into a minefield and then realizes if he doesn't jump on it, everyone else is going to die with him. So he just, you know, takes the burden. But yeah.

[00:11:41] But before that, he must have his clues and do all this. So a businessman, like he's not so ego bound to where he's Stallone level, where he's just pissing everybody off around him and wondering why no one can help him out when he doesn't, when he needs a break. But at the same time, I think that is a good point. Yeah. Patrick Stewart was notorious for getting different script writers to come in and rewrite stuff or having a word with them if he, he or the others disagreed with character changes. And I think that's just it.

[00:12:09] This proves even more Shatner had no writing involvement. He just comes up with the crazy ideas and hires all the other guys to stitch it and make sense of it. So yeah. The day we're recording this, Isaiah Whitlock Jr. He died. That's the guy from the wild. Ah, shit. He died at 71. You know what I mean? 71. 71 is too young now. Too young. I agree. But even still, think of the fact that he's still out there and doing that stuff. Shit. Yeah.

[00:12:39] So it's like, there's no guarantees people are making it. And for him not only to still be alive, but to still be adding to his herb is very impressive. Yeah. My lore is greater. You know, once you stop, you start to disintegrate, I guess. I don't know. Well, let's hope he doesn't disintegrate anyone. Hope he stays strong. Hope he dies a giant pile of rocks. Ooh. Climbing a mountain perhaps.

[00:13:09] Why does he climb the mountain? Why is he climbing the mountain? Why is he climbing the mountain? Why is he climbing the mountain? Why is he climbing the mountain? Great song. So glad we keep rising. Oh, but man. That's great. Those are marshmallows. I also can't. Mixing metaphors. Sorry, go ahead, Cam. It needs his space boots now. Oh, Lord. So. Okay. Okay.

[00:13:38] So I, I have been going through the Shatner verse books. Yes. The only way to get any fun out of these is to listen to the audio book versions of them. Hmm. Because if you read the books, then you're just going to be like, what? And what? And I know Shatner does some of them. Oh, really? All of them. Yeah. He's credited on all of them, but it's always the voice. He does the voices. He does the voice on all of them.

[00:14:06] Like he does the narration on at least tech war. I don't know the other. He does the voice on all the Shatner. Oh, that would make it worthwhile to listen. Cause he's doing everybody. Everybody. Wow. Yes. He does the Hispanic characters, which is. Oh, wow. Interesting. It is interesting. Everything from Dr. Crusher and alternate universe to Riker and Picard. And you're just, it's just so funny how he takes different dramatic beats, but he's failing

[00:14:34] to try and well, actually he doesn't fail completely, but it is funny how he's doing different voices. But, and then when he does Kirk, it's always heroic. And it's like, well, hold on. Now are you doing the self parody version of Kirk versus. Oh, that's interesting. Yeah. That would make it really, really interesting to listen to. But you're saying the Shatner verses and other things that go beyond that. So tell me what you're thinking of. Okay. Outside Canon star Trek. Is that what it. Yeah.

[00:15:01] That's what's so funny is like, but track is pretty picky about what to label as Canon non Canon people considered. Well, apparently not. They did the whole like Kelvin universe, right? Well, that's new, but, but that's it. But that that's an alternate verse. Cause remember, you know, that's an alternate reality and the spot from the TOS invades, but I'm talking, yes, the books for a while we're in contempt, but basically if it's by pocket books, you know, it's fair game.

[00:15:29] The IDW comic books have been going on for a while and all the authors, thank God have been good at just taking notes from each other. It hasn't been like star Wars where, you know, the fans consider a Canon, but Disney is like, you know, don't, don't consider it Canon. So, but the Shatner verse, it's kind of a gray area because it's basically Shatner having fun. So thanks to Reddit, a wonderful guy on Reddit. You've summed it up basically. Hey, who was that? Let's give some credit here. Oh God. Damn it.

[00:16:00] Porn slapper 52. Porn slapper 52. I like there's burning heart 1978 and one of the other guys and they were good at. Yeah. Any names going to be crazy on Reddit, but, but still, I like to give credit to these people. I know I, I appreciate it. We'll give a more thorough, just side chat on what to expect from these books, but it's just so funny how he did those free books that are called the Odyssey saga. Then he did have mere universe. Free of them. Shatner. Shatner verse.

[00:16:29] And then did captain's trilogy called, and you want to talk even more formulaic. It always begins with captain and captain's peril, captain's blood, captain's glory. I'm not going to mind that because there's a lot of authors legit that do that. Right. Or have some sort of formula. Yeah. One of my favorite series ever is John McDonald. I, and especially, specifically the Travis McGee series. And every single one is a color.

[00:16:56] I think it was one and those are some of the best things I've written. It's a good way to keep a thematic line through, you know? So, uh, you know, uh, I, I love them. I can't think of any right now. I probably have like 12 on my shelf. At least as long as it's not an elf on a shelf. I only just recently found out about that because that wasn't the thing when Aaron and our kids. Yeah. Well, it is now. Elves hadn't been invented yet. Two, two elves to be.

[00:17:26] Boyeristic elves. Oh God. You got kids. Do you do that with your kids? Oh, we did. It was fun. You know, we still, we still did it. Well, I think this year we didn't, but last year we did it with cash. And it was fun because we had always put the elf in like, and I'm about to say, I hope. Yeah. We, we'd always put them in precarious situations, you know, like he shouldn't be there. To keep us on top of what could we do?

[00:17:51] We could do some Shatner on a hamper Shatner on a, uh, Oh, Shatner on a catheter. Shatner on a fat nerd. Oh, there we go. On a fat nerd. I love it. You get a, you get a little doll Shatner and you stick them on a fat nerd and fat nerd will be excited. Where's Captain Kirk?

[00:18:41] So you heard the initial buildup. Here's what we overall think of these different, uh, books. So again, you know, and basically Shatner does three separate trilogies. First, well, it was a trilogy, but one of them was first adapted into a comic book.

[00:19:04] He starts it off with the actions of Eden in 1995 in the summer, you know, pocket books is distributing the star Trek books. Still, this is years before tied in books takes over that tie in, uh, contract and set mainly in the 23rd century.

[00:19:28] And yeah, uh, there there's various interviews, which you heard us feature in all of these different episodes on how Shatner just would even go on Conan and Leno to promote these books. He had no shame about it. He's like, Hey, I'm gonna have fun. But there was, I recommend. Well, the, that the best way to go for all these books, because the writing. Rides that fine line between boring professional and tacky fan fiction.

[00:19:59] For those who like it when Shatner is legit. Good and a serious actor versus when he's an over the top hammy actor and a bit of both. You get both definitely for the price of one. So, but either way, it is infinitely way more entertaining. If you just listen to the audio books. Now with this first one, the ashes of Eden, just read the DC comics comic book. Uh, you'll love the artwork.

[00:20:29] You'll love the design. It's way more easy going. Basically. Uh, you know. Kirk, uh, basically. Uh, goes after some rogue forces or some good illustrations of check off your, uh, Sulu. Uh, and, and it's cool to see them rescue, uh, Kirk for once.

[00:20:57] Even though Kirk has to be the one who stops the bad guys. Basically. It's kind of a repeat. It's set after the six and what was to be the final Star Trek movie, the undiscovered country. But basically they just decided, let's do a repeat. Let's have an evil Starfleet commander working with some other spies who again is willing to betray everything he knows and loves.

[00:21:19] So Kirk actually gets Sulu to attack this Klingon cruiser with this, uh, you know, evil Starfleet guy and his other spies and villains and assassins. So plenty of Kirk action, uh, plenty of the usual Scotty helping him and they fake the guy out into making it look like Kirk died.

[00:21:43] And then Kirk gets to cut his come offense by just saying, and get the bad guys come up as by saying, I faked you out so I could draw you out full. And, and, uh, I love how the villain is just so full of shit. Yeah. He's like, uh, he's like full impulse. You wouldn't fool a big ship man with that tactic. Jimbo. It was like, I saw you die.

[00:22:11] But basically he's, they don't say section 31 outright, but he's pretty much from Starfleet intelligence and abusing his privilege. That's what he hopes to gain by destroying the demoted Admiral Kirk. And so, yeah, the audio version of this read by Shatner, I've listened to it twice. It is passionate, but it's just not as entertaining as reading the DC comics. Uh, the rest of them before they were removed, I heard the first few initial ones on YouTube.

[00:22:40] And then I kid you not, as soon as I listened to it, it was removed three months later and I was angry. And so this stalled my review of this, but I was glad I waited and spread this out because I could collect my thoughts better and also just give it more time to breathe and think on. And so, yeah, the rest of them, I recommend everyone get from archive.org. If you must buy them, you can get them on Amazon audible or use a free subscription.

[00:23:10] Listen to them again. It you'll have the sound effects. You'll have some other occasional voices. The music is really epic. And it's also both deliberately and unintentionally entertaining seeing Shatner play every other Star Trek character.

[00:23:31] You name it from Dr. Crusher to the hologram doctor to Catherine Janeway from Voyager to, you know, Quark on DS nine to Lieutenant Commander Data Riker, even Troy and Worf. Yeah, he tries, but it's not quite there. And he didn't give a fuck at this point because he wanted to just both entertain and make money. I get it.

[00:24:00] It's all he had. He took it to the bank here. So let's go with book two. So this was the first one I read back in the 2000s. I was a big Star Trek guy growing up like in this household. There wasn't not a day where we weren't watching all kinds of stuff. Art house movies, cheesy movies, popcorn movies. We were big fans of everything from mystery science theaters in 2000 to X files to all the crime and action horror anthology shows.

[00:24:30] We watched all kinds of stuff. So this was the first one I read and I found it so laughable. I really only remembered that there was a forward by Jonathan Franks, you know, the Riker actor. And he just was like, yeah, you can't not like Shatner. I'm like, hey, I get it. You were paid to give a compliment forward. But it was just too ego headed. But so that's where the audio books are just way more digestible because you're going to get a lot of junk to wade through.

[00:24:58] And it's just so exhausting putting both your imagination to versus. Actually trying to read it. It's just so you might as well have Kirk ham it up for you. Captain Kirk himself. Read it playing Captain Kirk and everybody else. So that's what Shatner does here. But yeah, so the return pretty solid book. What did I rate it? I rated it a. It was easily the most solid. I liked it way more of this go around.

[00:25:28] If it's just way more engaging. Again, they're not perfect. But yeah, I still gave it a free out of five. I I'll reneg it. It's a 3.5. It's still pretty solid. It shows Captain Kirk, you know, after being out of the Nexus, you know, his remains are reanimated by the Borg. And he is rescued by Picard with Commander Shelby's crew. That's right.

[00:25:56] That arrogant gal from the best of both worlds crossover. Riker gets to blow up a few aliens mysteriously attacking him when he's on this mysterious planet, seeing the signs that match Kirk's DNA. The Borg destroy 78 people. And. At. At a star planet. We briefly see it's so wild.

[00:26:26] Shatner gets to play both Spock and Dr. for sure from DS9 because that's where they go to rendezvous. So that's a good transition. Just they go to Quark's bar and it's one of the settings where Spock, Quark, Dr. Bashir, the next gen crew meet and they try to figure out why a mysterious monk stranger who attacked data and Geordi is acting the way is. It turns out it's a Romulan. Collective. Who sent this clone of Kirk.

[00:26:54] He has a Borg implant and nanites inside him that have recreated his DNA and everything like, oh, awesome. It's way better than it sounds it. They pull it off with the commitment to this gimmick. Meanwhile, Picard and Dr. Crusher must escape from a Borg ship with Commander Shelby's inept crew. So that is cool because it's it's way more interesting when it's card and he gets to. You know.

[00:27:22] The I always liked it when he went on away missions with the other beloved members of the next gen crew in this. This is pretty good. They also mentioned a bar a Borg hyper cube. So they introduced Captain Lewinsky, who commands the USS monitor. Which is an enterprise challenger ship with Riker overseeing the filled ops. That's why he's going down on the planet for the side quest. There's a cloaked yet modified warbird called the Avatar and it is kind of spooky.

[00:27:52] Spock is able to stop, you know, the unstable Captain Kirk by, you know, get him out of the Borg control, much like how Picard had, you know, Crusher and her crew help him. By I kid you not. Spock mind mills to Picard and you and goes through Picard's, you know, mind psychologically to Kirk's mind. And that's how he gets his friend Jim back.

[00:28:23] But the main reason I decided to revisit this is I was like, oh, yeah, you know, I'm not the biggest fan of the first Star Trek, the motion picture. I understand it was a breakthrough in effects. It's just a dull movie unless you're a hard core completist.

[00:28:39] But I did like the feature character and I like how they actually explained that she went to a distant planet and would have basically been the cause behind how the board got configured and created years ago. And it's like, that's a cool callback. That's really, really inspired. Dude, did Shatner come up with it? I fucking doubt it. You know, the man just lives to be an egomaniac. And I say that as a man who loves the man.

[00:29:09] I love that dude. He's awesome, but he's full of it. So more likely, he just said, bring up characters from, if anything, from the movies. And they just picked characters out of a hat. They asked their friends, who do you love that we could write about? Because we love this. Now, the Stevens duo, again, they're husband and wife. So they work so great. They clearly pass ideas around and go to town with them.

[00:29:37] And so at the end of this, you'll pretty much assume this is both fan fiction and for, you know, when I even brought these up in other groups. I kid you not. I could never get a proper consensus for every bunch of people who are like, oh, glad I never read this or, oh, yeah, those were so laughable. You got to read them. There were people who didn't find them trashy. They found them deliberately compelling fun because they were sci-fi and Star Trek completists. So your mileage will vary.

[00:30:04] But just if you're still with me as we go on, it's going to go in all sorts of directions. The ratings will be ultimately inconsistent. And there's for a reason because it is pretty inconsistent. Do I recommend these all? Some of them, yes. But we'll get there. Overall, the publishers have always maintained it's its own continuity.

[00:30:29] But in all fairness, like others have mentioned in forums and even on Reddit, there's not many continuity errors. Usually they always get the star dates wrong, but they've always gotten the star dates wrong because it's a tough. No one really knows what they mean. They just slap numbers together. So I take that with a grain of salt. Much like any Clyde Barker creation or Twilight Zone episode, let alone Doctor Who science. You just got to go with it.

[00:30:56] But at least it has the ideas to back up the plot holes. Much like the Warp Corps science on Star Trek, let alone the other stuff in Back to the Future with time travel and how the many different timelines in the Terminator franchise. Same kind of appeal and same kind of science. That's what's made Star Trek interesting.

[00:31:19] And while there is some hamminess in there, it does actually have some big sci-fi expo dumps that I will applaud. They try to make it as interesting and fast-paced as they can. And they do often have Dr. Crusher or Geordi or even Scotty explaining these in these books. So yeah, Riker gets some action. And he stops some of the aliens attacking them. And much like Ashes of Eden, it's just a mysterious group of people.

[00:31:51] But while Kirk doesn't get to fight, it is actually a pretty inspired reason to bring him back. Now again, I didn't give it a chance back then. I can say this holds up way better than it has any right to be. It's also very cool at the end. The Enterprise Challenger ship that Riker's on fires an electromagnetic pulse to stop the Borg Romulan collective from communicating with each other. And they blow up the central node power generator.

[00:32:17] It's the main communicating network device on the main Borg homeworld planet. So no telling about that body count. Picard gets to blow up one Borg. There's some good sound effects. And Shatner actually does his best at imitating, like just talking like Picard, not trying to sound and do a British accent.

[00:32:37] So Kirk is able, you know, after being reignited and healing, is able to use the monitor ship to ram against the side of the avatar, rupturing its hull and spacing out the main Romulan evil gal into space. Picard and Kirk both help blow up the central node. And there's a bunch of Borg screams heard from the explosion. So there's like a third of the planet, but many Borg cubes escaped. Kirk is thought to be left for dead, though, during the sabotage. But of course, that's not the case.

[00:33:06] He will return. So yeah, it's a free and a half out of five for me. Maybe I'll give it a four. It's really better than it has any right to be. Fuck it. It's a four out of five. It's really great. I can't believe I'm saying that because I hated this reading this growing up. Maybe I'm just less cynical now. I don't know. It's way better. And there's a lot of inspired imagination. And it mostly gels. It mostly sticks without hitting the fan.

[00:33:34] So then there's book free Avenger. The next gen crew and Kirk, you know, he didn't die. He's good. He almost died again, but they faked us out. They must go to the planet previously mentioned in the Ashes of Eden first book and find a cure for a plague while Spock searches for the mysterious forces who killed his father, Sarek. What? So there's some disputes with seven Orion ships at the beginning.

[00:34:03] They're blown by a helmsman under Kirk's command. One of the saboteurs turns out to be a Vulcan fighter. And Picard is captured by the Vulcan bad guys. Symmetrist bad guys are killed by their own antimatter and their symmetry. So, yeah, there's a bunch of scientific stuff that goes awry and the guys just get blown up there. Basically, it concerns some eco terrorists on a planet once savaged by the board post Nexus battle.

[00:34:33] So it's right after the return. Spock must find out who killed his dad, Sarek, but he's stopped by some Klingon guys who are part of this mysterious coup. So Spock is fighting both time and he screams one while finding the perps. So Shatner does his best tribute to Nimoy. This is years before he passed, but, you know, he gave it his best shot.

[00:34:59] Meanwhile, Data, Riker, Troy and Geordi, the Forge also appear on the Enterprise Bridge for Picard and they stay reasonably busy and have some decent dialogue. There's a shameless promotion to Jack Daniels whiskey bottle. I don't know why that was too cute. That was dumb. There's a Vulcan patrol ships that take over the ship that Spock and Kirk are escaping on after, you know, get away from the scientists.

[00:35:28] And a Vulcan council schedules a mind meld with Picard to prove the entire coup did occur. So I like that matter. It's like Picard is like, I give you permission to scan my brain. I'm not making this up. You know, you've got some foul play by a traitor in your midst working with these other guys on these, you know. Partially destroyed board planets, you know, in the Nexus part of the galaxy.

[00:35:54] And so, yeah, I like how they have how the Vulcan council being really stuck up here. And Shatner, to his credit, really makes them sound very reserved and mysterious. It's like, yeah, that's totally how we view the Vulcan aliens. They're very they're always like a mixture of religious zealots and just stubborn third world countries kind of all in one body and soul.

[00:36:17] So, yeah, Spock even cries during one of the other breakouts that he attempts. So his human side is really embraced in this novel. It's really neat. And so, yeah, I it's a really decent novel. I can't believe I'm saying this, but don't worry. I'm going to keep you in suspense about which other ones are good and which ones are stinkers. But Dr. Crusher is part of an away team at the end.

[00:36:44] They do some stock shouting effects during laser blast gunfight injuries that occur in this thing. There's a giant hydrogen culture tank revealed for the scientist's lair. And Kurt gets to kill the main traitor, Sorrell, by blasting the liquid tank, which engulfs the bad guy in the explosion and or crushes him. I can't tell which. It's up to your imagination. An explosive outing. So that concludes that part of the trilogy.

[00:37:14] So what starts it could have been a decent episode. It could have even been with DS9 or Voyager characters. That would have been fine, too. Maybe Enterprise. So, yeah, we get to the fourth book, Spectre. And this begins the Mirror Universe trilogy book. This is where most people just tuned out. You know, it's near the later end of the 90s and early 2000s. And they're like, really, Shatner? It's taking it to the bank.

[00:37:41] Are you in on the joke anymore on how you're so full of yourself? Well, you know, and then some were still willing to give it a chance. They're like, hey, you know, Shatner's not so great in other stuff, but we love him as Captain Kirk. So, you know, his name's on the book. Let's give it a go. He knows the character in universe. So in this Mirror Universe, the USS Voyager is commanded by Mirror Universe Spock. And Shameboy's not a captain in this timeline. But hey, I like how he's playing with these other worlds.

[00:38:10] As it goes on, he wisely doesn't include DS9 in these shenanigans because, come on, if there's anyone who does good Mirror Universe episodes, it's definitely the DS9 crowd. And they're not having any of these shenanigans. That's okay. So Kirk must play a mind game with Spock after learning from him that he reformed the Terran Empire. That's the human resistance on Earth and all these alternate timelines. Under the Klingon-Kardassian alliance, he took his advice.

[00:38:40] Don't do that. So it was for the worse. You know, it's basically the Earth has gone to hell in a handbasket. It's way worse off than it was in the other prior post-apocalyptic timelines with the, you know, much like Doctor Who did it. Star Trek always loved playing around and implying that there's always an evil version of yourself in some other alternate timeline. And the Mirror Universe was, I was okay with because I knew it would make for a solid one or two part episode.

[00:39:09] And they would wrap it up. They would always find a way to just say, you know, their evil version of themselves would have a fair point about how sometimes they're a hypocrite. And then the real version of the character would find a way to just say, well, one way or another, I will make sure this awful possible future never happens in this version of my timeline. So it was a good kind of monkey's paw, if you will, a good alternate what if, you know, and how to stop, you know, make better life choices.

[00:39:39] And that's what I liked about that optimistic Star Trek feature, even though these were darker episodes. I'm glad they never made the mistake of what other franchises did by having messy time travel like that in their movies. It varies in the books, so keep that with a grain of salt. But yeah, so this is a two out of five for me. It just was a drag. It was convoluted.

[00:40:03] And despite other characters like Scotty and Picard appearing as well, there was a female computer voice and the usual sound effects to make it not just be Shatner. But the more it became convoluted in the plot, the more annoying it became to me, just listening to it even. So like as usual, just enjoy the stupidity of this and Shatner hamming it up to a tee. But this would not have been a good episode or movie in any capacity. It is only for the morbidly curious.

[00:40:33] There's some battles. I'm not sure if there's any cool moments or kills, but it's not great. So a slightly more improved but still disappointing second book, Dark of Victory in the Mirror Universe trilogy. So Kirk and Picard must stop Tiberius, the evil Mirror Universe Kirk. After Captain Kirk marries his Romulan Klingon alien hybrid gal Talani of Chal, who was introduced in the first book.

[00:41:00] This is more engaging than the messy first Mirror Universe book, Spectre. But Shatner's narration is a little stuffy here. It just sounded like it was very last minute. Not the best sound quality. It's at least a more engaging book to listen to. The music and effects are still decent, though. The music is kind of epic near the end. So ultimately, like many of these Mirror Universe books, it ends up imploding upon itself.

[00:41:25] And again, only a list worth a listen for completeness instead of being the must see novel, the must read novel it's striving to be. So again, I just listened to the ending and I still can't tell you how it concludes. So alas, that's all you need to know. So let's go to the conclusion. Preserver. So, again, two and a half out of five, much like the last book, Dark Victory, it is so much more better than the messy and unneeded first novel.

[00:41:55] However, like the second book, Dark Victory, Shatner's both enjoyable to listen to, despite his gruffy voice needing to be cleared out once in a while. And the solid production value of the audio's music, sound effects, and overall novel's concept. But it just gets a little too messy. Now, this was an alternate of the alternate universe. Basically, it started off not so great. Then it got better as it went on. So slow burn.

[00:42:24] Still pretty average or watchable, but not very good. Uneven. So it follows Kirk's new life, wife Talani dying. And him having to reluctantly form an alliance with his mere universe self, Tiberius, once again, while being pursued by Picard and company or trying to stop him from making a pact with the devil. Don't do it. Don't do it, Kirk. So first off, I think Shatner knows damn well Kirk wouldn't actually do this.

[00:42:53] This is as bad as him getting over his prejudice of Klingons. It would not happen. This would be something else one of the other captains would, you know, have a good poker face and trick a bad guy into doing business with. You know, it would have been more interesting had he made a deal with Q or one of the other recurring next gen or DS9 villains and stuff. But I'm going to.

[00:43:14] But I also understand why some fans can suspend belief because he knows how to outsmart himself and make the evil version of himself think he's playing along with it or admitting defeat. So they both just imply, hey, we both need each other. So we're going to what's better than having two bad ass Captain Kirk's instead of one. But yeah, Bones McCoy appears to tell Kirk about his wife's troubling life signs and the mortality report.

[00:43:43] And decent voiceover there of Shatner doing his best DeForest Kelly impression. But yeah, the ending is more lively this time with Kirk fighting Tiberius. It's actually kind of an epic sounding fight listening to it. And he just has to out thank the other shadowy figures. So unlike the other novels, it does figure out a more lively climax. But again, this is only for like B movie type fans or people who have the patience to shift through the Shat's vanity pieces.

[00:44:12] So not the greatest hour, but better than the last messy few novels. A messy but better conclusion to what was a very uneven trilogy. So you can skip the Mirror Universe trilogy if I've entertained you more talking about it than actually reading it. So then there's the final trilogy.

[00:44:39] We have Captain's Peril, Captain's Blood and Captain's Glory. So these are in the mid 2000s. And they're trying to stay up to date. So what I do like about Star Trek is regardless of what happens, they don't interfere with each other's TV shows. And they do acknowledge each other exists. And one thing they always got right were the characters. The characters were so great. Even if you weren't so crazy about the show or just a casual viewer, you knew who they were. The actors were perfectly cast.

[00:45:09] And the science and world and the overall character and fleshing out and world building was perfect. So, yeah, from 2002 to 2004, Shatner just went back to the money well three more times. Well, three and a half times. But anyway, so a post-Dominion War concluded Tell. So, you know, this is after DS9 has ended.

[00:45:38] And basically, Picard and Kirk go to a sunken Bajor city and they must save some isolated Deep Space Nine scientists. So, again, I like how they're acknowledging that universe. They don't really have Sisko or anyone up here, which is a shame. That would have been more epic if Sisko went with those characters. So, again, these I think I gave it a three and a half out of five. It had the best of those production values following those first three solid novels.

[00:46:09] Yeah, again, these they came out way too late. And these should have been the next few novels instead of the dreaded Mirror Universe trilogy. This would have a solid crossover episode had they done that medium. But unfortunately, you got away from some overused sound effects that are being used for different kinds of machines. So that kind of took me back. I'm like, why are you using this kind of replicator sound for this kind of sound? And that's a little lazy.

[00:46:34] So Shatner does do some lame sound effects whenever Picard or Kirk are falling from force fields or off of cliffs. Kirk's impersonations of some of the DS9 characters are worth a chuckle, though, without being surprisingly campy in that aspect. So, yeah, that's I get some extra points there. An overall watchable standalone adventure. Sure. So then we followed up with Captain's Blood. And I surprisingly started this went from a three out of five to a three and a half out of five. It got pretty solid.

[00:47:04] So in this controversial novel, when is Shatner not? Ambassador Spock is mysteriously assassinated while trying to unite the Romulans with the Vulcans. And Picard must have his crew help Kirk figure out who killed his beloved friend Spock. So if you can get past that controversial decision to once again kill Spock, you might have some fun with this novel. The sound mixing dialogue and suspense proves to be worthwhile after that shocking beginning.

[00:47:33] It does wind down a bit while trying to set it all up, but it's worth sticking through. Kirk's has had some kids mentioned before. His son, Joseph, is basically, you know, part alien hybrid. He's got some Klingon features. He appears here and we have the hologram from Doctor from Voyager, questionably portrayed by Shatner, may I add. Work with Dr. Crusher. And there's also a reference to Quark.

[00:47:57] So there was some junky stuff, but overall, this passes the time. It's pretty solid. Shatner overacts in the finale, and that's insufferable for even fans of his overacting, unfortunately. But it's brief. The guy playing Joseph Kirk, they just have other voiceover actors. He wasn't that great. It's still enjoyable once you get past some brief crappy moments. So, yeah, three out of five, surprisingly. Now, this ends with a bang. Captain's Glory.

[00:48:26] This is set after the 10th and divisive movie from the next-gen Nemesis. So it was just their final just nail in the coffin for the Shatnerverse. It's a complex and interesting idea, but it is not well executed nor well done. Basically, let me read it off for you.

[00:48:51] But for my criticism, it's just none of the characters act like they likely would in these prior realities. And it's just more ego-stroken at this point with diminishing returns. The narration is reasonable. The sound effects and music displayed in this audiobook work. But it's just downright silly, the storyline. So, warning. I'm going to read off the plot synopsis, but it sounds more interesting than it actually is. Instead of being readable or listenable.

[00:49:20] I mean, it's readable and listenable, but it's not convincing. And every kind of character appears here, including Tuvok from Voyager and Riker's ship, the USS Titan. But, yeah, I'll just... I'll read off of it now. It's fucking crazy. So, here it is. Captain's Glory. So, yeah. I gave this a 2.5 out of 5, and you'll know why after I read this.

[00:49:50] So, basically, during Captain Kirk's heroic five-year mission as captain of the Starship Enterprise, a mysterious alien threat cult, the Totality, commits to stealthy invasion. It intends to conquer the Milky Way galaxy as it had conquered the Andromeda universe. Now's the time for secrecy has passed, and a war unlike any other has begun. One that threatens to destroy the Federation. First by bringing warp travel to an end, and then by absorbing all living matter into an unknown realm. I like that idea.

[00:50:18] The science, unfortunately, is the worst part of this. It isn't well used. So, twice before Kirk has encountered the Totality, most times it took the beguiling form of Norinda, an irresistible alien who became the woman each person she meets desperately desires. In his first encounter, Kirk almost lost the Enterprise. In his second encounter, he almost lost his child. And watching horrors, the Totality absorbed Spock into its monstrous dimension tendrils. I know, it's all convoluted. Spock doesn't die, then he does die.

[00:50:48] But now, Kirk must face an even more devastating personal challenge. The battle lines have been drawn, and he and his friend Picard are on opposite sides. Set after the events of Star Trek Nemesis, on the leading edge of Star Trek's future history, Captain's Glory depicts a Federation attacked from within on the brink of collapse with Earth's own solar system and armed and isolated camp. So, he's reunited with Bones McCoy and Chief Engineer Scotty,

[00:51:15] and Kirk joins forces with Admiral Janeway and the hologram Doctor from Voyager in order to save Spock and expose the true nature of the Totality. So, with Captain William Riker and Commander Troy aboard the Starship Titan caught in the crossfire of the conflict between Kirk and Picard, and with Kirk's own child poised on the brink of a Starland and destiny millions of years in the making, Kirk must prepare for the final encounter with the Totality, but how can he find an in-me whose greatest weapon is love?

[00:51:45] So, again, there's too many ideas here. There's five ships all having a Mexican standoff. They're all, you know, pointing guns at each other. Basically, long story short, right, you know, Spock talks, Spock isn't dead, you know, he's brought back by this thing after a fake-out, so that's lame, but I get it. Cheap suspense.

[00:52:08] And basically, yeah, it's like they have him talk some sense into, you know, Kirk and Picard is like, I'm gonna have to destroy it, because you're giving in to this, you know, alien specimen, and it's gonna destroy us, and you're trying to fight it, and that's gonna destroy mankind. No one's listening to each other's reason.

[00:52:35] It is cool that Voyager is helping out Kirk. I totally buy that. Now, it is also silly how Riker has to talk everyone off that cliff. He has to say, everybody, stand down. You know, you're misinterpreting what this alien thing is. It's a bit of almost like contact or close encounters. You're misinterpreting what the aliens are saying, and you're all about to destroy each other. It's not gonna work. You gotta, all of you need to stand down.

[00:53:04] So it goes to town on that, but it's just, it's too bloated. It's too silly. So then, uh, Shatner in 2007 did revisit this with the Reeves and Stevens duo, and basically did a prequel novel called Star Trek The Academy Collision Course. There's supposed to be other books, and fortunately they never did any more of those, because this was just junky. It had just young Kirk, young Spock.

[00:53:36] And he just, again, he's not a writer. He didn't need to do this. So I'm glad he didn't. But, but, anymore after that. But, yeah, it's just, it was abandoned, because it didn't sell too well, or maybe they just didn't want to do it. But you're not missing much of anything. By this point, Shatner was just so in vain and just loved the sound of his own voice that was just depressingly unengaging. There's no audiobook of this that I saw. I read it on archive.org, and I recommend no one read this,

[00:54:04] unless you must buy it and get everything Star Trek. So, I hope I entertained you guys' ears. I relate that there's a lot of fun stuff. It, the first trilogy is the best. The third trilogy, Captains, you know, the Captain's Trilogy, you know, the first two ones I recommend, and the last one just got a little soapy. You would probably only watch it if, again, you like the ideas

[00:54:32] and just want to see Riker do something cool and Janeway be represented in the, you know, because that's the other fun thing, too, is just seeing all these characters coexist. So, if you just must read more about your favorite characters, it might do the trick, but it's just too silly for its own good, and that's not meant to be silly. So, avoid the mirror universe unless you just like to laugh at bad books. So, I guess if you like reading bad stuff like Ready Player One or even laughing at bad movies,

[00:55:02] you know, the kind featured in Mystery Science Theater or just like with X-Files, everyone likes examining and figuring out what made the good and the bad episodes of Star Trek work. That might be up your alley, but be warned, you know, they're way too expensive, so you might have just more fun seeing other people review them than going through them all. But if you want to just find something where Captain Kirk just lived on instead of dying in the movies,

[00:55:31] this is some redemption for that in some course. But thanks for listening, and hopefully we entertained your drum sign. Shatner, September. It was a fun-themed week, and I don't think we could have done a better tribute to the man, the myth, the legend. Thanks for tuning in, gang. Before I answer any more questions, there's something I wanted to say. Having received all your letters over the years, and I've spoken to many of you, and some of you have traveled, you know, hundreds of miles to be here,

[00:56:01] I'd just like to say, get a life, will you, people? I didn't think so. There's a whole world out there. When I was your age, I didn't watch television. I lived. So, move out of your parents' basement. And get your own apartments, and grow the hell up. I mean, it's just a TV show, damn it. It's just a TV show. Of course, that speech was a recreation of the evil Captain Kirk.

[00:56:32] From episode 37. The name, The Enemy Within. You know? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, thank you. And live long and prosper. So, everybody, you know, set your faces on stun, because this convention's ahead, Warf Factor 9, you know? All right. All right. Warf Factor 9. We'll return after these messages.

[00:57:03] All right, folks. How's that here? We've got a 90-minute weekly shack stop. It's growing all over the world. Find it at 2 p.m. and 10 p.m. Eastern Time on Mondays, then 3 p.m. on Wednesdays, then 7 p.m. on Thursdays. You can catch it on many more radio stations, 99.9 KERV, 1 p.m. Central Time, 2 p.m. Eastern on Mondays. Then catch the Encore on Thursdays at 5 p.m. Central Time, 6 p.m. Eastern.

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[00:58:03] on MXTR FM and 10 p.m. Eastern Time, 9 p.m. Central, 1077 K-Twins. Find everything on MXTR.com. MXTR.com. If you like small town mystery, crazy news, and wild history, then the Florida Men on Florida Man podcast is for you. Each week, Josh Mills and Wayne McCarty bring you the absolute best Florida has to offer. So if you're looking

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[00:59:02] am I the winner? Yeah, not true, Ray. In the past, we've discussed such matches as Captain America versus Darth Vader, Solid Snake versus the Iron Giant, classic matchups like Robocop versus Terminator, and even the Muppets versus Sesame Street. That one was crazy. So if you're a fan of geek culture and love a spirited debate, check out the Who Would Win show wherever you get your podcasts or check us out at who would win show.com.

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