- Mass Market Paperback: 192 pages
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster; Television tie-in edition edition (Jan 1991)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0671743880
- ISBN-13: 978-0671743888
- Product Dimensions: 17 x 10.2 x 2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 2,089,707 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Encounter at Farpoint (Star Trek: The Next Generation)
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
Product Description
Product Description
The U.S.S. Enterprise is en route to Cygnus IV, home of the technologically illiterate Bandi and their mysteriously advanced Farpoint Station. After adding to its crew complement from Deneb IV they are harassed and prosecuted by an omnipotent being named Q, who claims that humanity has not progressed beyond barbarism. Captain Picard and the crew of the Enterprise must defend themselves by solving the mystery of Farpoint Station in a manner satisfactory to their newest judge and nemesis.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
First Sentence
THE FIRST TIME Captain Jean-Luc Picard saw the starship Enterprise he was struck by the sleekness of her lines. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
THE FIRST TIME Captain Jean-Luc Picard saw the starship Enterprise he was struck by the sleekness of her lines. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organise and find favourite items. |
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Paperback
Titan Books start their Star Trek The Next Generation series with the adaptation of the pilot episode Encounter At Farpoint written by Trek scribe David Gerrold.
The main problem with episode based novels is that the episode is always much better. Writers tend to delve into what they believe the character is thinking at a certain time and this can lead to monotonous exposition and dull story writing.
While Encounter At Farpoint was a very formulaic sci-fi story and a rather straightforward Trek adventure, Gerrold unfortunately does nothing to enhance the plot with his writing at all.
The beginning of the book where Picard sets foot on the Enterprise is now completely at odds with the scenes from All Good Things - although that hadn't aired at the time so you can give some leeway there.
There is also a major change concerning Data. In this book, Data was created by aliens who lived inside a planet which had been colonised by humans. When a natural catastrophe killed the colonists the aliens created Data in the human image and downloaded the memories of the people into him. Of course, this entire story is at odds with the events of season one's `Datalore'. Besides, why didn't the aliens help the humans instead of this ridiculous idea of preserving their memories in a machine?
There are also musings from Picard early on about a woman called Celeste. Whether this was an idea dropped in the series creation or just the writers fancy I'm not sure but it all seems rather irrelevant to the story.
For those that haven't seen Encounter At Farpoint (there may be a few out there!) the story centres around Jean-Luc Picard as he takes command of the U.S.S. Enterprise-D. On the way to Deneb 4, home of the Bandi and their Farpoint Station, the ship encounters Q, a powerful alien entity who accuses them of being a grievously savage child race. Picard challenges Q to test that assumption of humanity now and Q agrees, asking Picard to simply solve the mystery of the station.
The Enterprise arrives and Picard meets with the rest of his crew who are awaiting transfer, namely Commander Riker, Doctor Crusher and Lt. LaForge. The three explain the rather strange events that have happened to them on the station, magical events that defy explanation. When an alien ship arrives and attacks the Bandi they begin to uncover clues that link all these unexplainable events together.
There aren't really any surprises in the plot and if the show had been made today then I doubt STTNG would've made it past a first season. The book isn't that bad, it's just that the story isn't particularly good. Best thing you can do is watch the pilot and a few episodes and then move straight onto novel #1 Ghost Ship.
The main problem with episode based novels is that the episode is always much better. Writers tend to delve into what they believe the character is thinking at a certain time and this can lead to monotonous exposition and dull story writing.
While Encounter At Farpoint was a very formulaic sci-fi story and a rather straightforward Trek adventure, Gerrold unfortunately does nothing to enhance the plot with his writing at all.
The beginning of the book where Picard sets foot on the Enterprise is now completely at odds with the scenes from All Good Things - although that hadn't aired at the time so you can give some leeway there.
There is also a major change concerning Data. In this book, Data was created by aliens who lived inside a planet which had been colonised by humans. When a natural catastrophe killed the colonists the aliens created Data in the human image and downloaded the memories of the people into him. Of course, this entire story is at odds with the events of season one's `Datalore'. Besides, why didn't the aliens help the humans instead of this ridiculous idea of preserving their memories in a machine?
There are also musings from Picard early on about a woman called Celeste. Whether this was an idea dropped in the series creation or just the writers fancy I'm not sure but it all seems rather irrelevant to the story.
For those that haven't seen Encounter At Farpoint (there may be a few out there!) the story centres around Jean-Luc Picard as he takes command of the U.S.S. Enterprise-D. On the way to Deneb 4, home of the Bandi and their Farpoint Station, the ship encounters Q, a powerful alien entity who accuses them of being a grievously savage child race. Picard challenges Q to test that assumption of humanity now and Q agrees, asking Picard to simply solve the mystery of the station.
The Enterprise arrives and Picard meets with the rest of his crew who are awaiting transfer, namely Commander Riker, Doctor Crusher and Lt. LaForge. The three explain the rather strange events that have happened to them on the station, magical events that defy explanation. When an alien ship arrives and attacks the Bandi they begin to uncover clues that link all these unexplainable events together.
There aren't really any surprises in the plot and if the show had been made today then I doubt STTNG would've made it past a first season. The book isn't that bad, it's just that the story isn't particularly good. Best thing you can do is watch the pilot and a few episodes and then move straight onto novel #1 Ghost Ship.
Format:Paperback
The novelisation of the first movie-length Next Gen (TNG) episode.
I remember watching the UK premier, and the book added alot of dimensions to the characters, and is fairly well paced.
The episode (and therefore book) are fairly adventure/plot intensive as you would hope from the start of a new series. And, the advantage from reading the book is the advanced character identities and backgrounds.
Reading it after the end of the TV series, it's interested to see where many of the characters became established, and also where characters obviously didn't.
The story is fairly tight, even with Q doing an appearing/disappearing act alot. Pretty much is classic trek - An alien world with a new space port, built very quickly considering the lack of resources, and an alien attacking the world when an Enterprise landing party are on the alien planet.
Riddles to be uncovered while humanity is standing trial to prove it is no longer a savage race.
Format:Paperback
If you're planning on reading the whole series as this is a must have! The first ever episode in book form. "The first time Captain Picard saw the Enterprise..." Great! Our author here does a good job at introducing our characters to us and to each other for the first time.
The Enterprise is on its way to Farpoint Station, a mysterious haven bang in the middle of a rough world to investigate how they managed to build a functional space trade station in a matter of months. On their way however they encounter a strange obnoxious alien on its way, Q! Yey, how exciting: Picard and the new crew of the Enterprise are charged for all the crimes of humanity....a dangerous and savage race. But will they prove him wrong? Oohh.. I brought this for 20p, can't go wrong
The Enterprise is on its way to Farpoint Station, a mysterious haven bang in the middle of a rough world to investigate how they managed to build a functional space trade station in a matter of months. On their way however they encounter a strange obnoxious alien on its way, Q! Yey, how exciting: Picard and the new crew of the Enterprise are charged for all the crimes of humanity....a dangerous and savage race. But will they prove him wrong? Oohh.. I brought this for 20p, can't go wrong
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
