Star Trek Log One [Mass Market Paperback]

Most people don't even know that the animated Trek exists. It was very critically acclaimed in its time, and with episodes like the ones adapted here, one can certainly see why. "Beyond the Farthest Star" and "One of our Planets is Missing" are very good stories that capture an excellent sense of wonder. But the real winner of this volume is "Yesteryear," a poingiant story about Spock travelling to his past in the Guardian of Forever to save his younger self from being killed. The stories are adapted very well. My only problems are that Foster's style is too flowery and that "One of our planets is Missing" and "Beyond the Farthest Star" are too similar.

Star Trek: Log One (1974), by Alan Dean Foster, contains three novellas adapted from the first three episodes of Star Trek: The Animated Series: "Beyond the Farthest Star," "Yesteryear," and "One of Our Planets is Missing." Here, the crew investigates an ancient derelict ship, Spock travels back in time to save his child self, and the Enterprise is swallowed by a planet-eating cloud.

Each novella is about sixty pages, and generally, this is a good length for this material, although there's quite a bit more setup, especially for "Beyond," and the pacing tends to be on the leisurely side. Foster has a narrative flair for the dramatic, and his characters often ponder grand cosmic thoughts. The overall effect is a different tone and feel from either The Original Series or TAS. The stories themselves are solid if not spectacular; "Yesteryear" was easily the best TAS episode, and, with the most character focus of the three, it's the best story here, too.

Foster's characterization is adequate at best, and the dialogue doesn't always ring true. The Kirk-Spock-McCoy interplay isn't on the level that Trek fans will likely expect, and tends to lack both charm and humor. Kirk himself is uncharacteristically awkward at times, while the Spock-McCoy exchanges are more immature and less good-spirited than what we saw on either TOS or TAS.

The only scientific nitpick here is in "Beyond," where the characters regularly experience sound on a ship with no atmosphere (although in fairness, every iteration of Star Trek going back to TOS has abused this).

On the whole, Star Trek fans should find Star Trek: Log One reasonably readable and enjoyable, whether they've seen TAS or not.

This book is the first in the series of novelizations of the episodes of the animated Star Trek series. The episodes featured are:

*) Beyond the Farthest Star - the Enterprise investigates an unusual radio signal and finds itself next to a gigantic and ancient star ship of unknown design and origin. Upon exploration, they learn that a strange and dangerous creature invaded the ship and the crew self-destructed rather than allow the creature to take over the ship. That creature manages to enter the Enterprise and the crew must engage in very heroic actions in order to defeat the creature and return to Federation space.
*) Yesteryear - Kirk and Spock accompany a team of historical researchers through the guardian of forever. Great care is taken to make sure that no changes are made in the timeline, but when they return, no one on the Enterprise recognizes Spock. After investigation, it is determined that Spock must travel back in time to his home planet of Vulcan and give critical aid to himself when he was a child.
*) One of Our Planets is Missing - in this episode, a giant cloud-like creature journeys into Federation space and consumes planets for food. After destroying an uninhabited planet, it is moving towards Mantilles, a planet with 82 million inhabitants. The Enterprise is the only thing standing between the creature and the destruction of the planet.

Foster does an excellent job in fleshing out the stories and adding additional context to the circumstances. One of the weakest features of the episodes of the animated series is that a single action scene is repeated many times in the same episode. Therefore, Foster's additional explanation adds a great deal to action.