Sirk TV Book Review: MIASMA [Pocket/Simon & Schuster]
Approaching the 50th Anniversary of "Star Trek" is interesting because it requires a balance of what was before versus the aspect of what is today. With the new novella "Miasma" [Greg Cox/Pocket/112pgs], it mixes the aspect of the old series but taking into account what happened in the movies which is a new approach in many regards. Having taken place after "The Voyage Home" but it seems before V and VI, the story gives an aspect of the original mission but with the experience of the movies. The visualization is interesting because you move between iterations of what Spock, Chekov and Kirk look like. Yet we know Sulu is in command of another starship. The novella is short and quick and focuses on landing on an alien planet, not unlike in the original series. The differences here lie in the aspect of psychology of the characters since the way they approach things has dynamically shifted in certain regards and not in others. Also of interest is the internal dialogue which one never gets to see in the movies and which expands certain psychoses of what these characters truly are. The good thing is that the author understands the voices while giving it an expansive concept. The other thing is the visuals and violence shown is much more pronounced than what could have been done in the 60s in terms of the explorations of these planets. All these things make the storytelling undeniably new and fresh without an extensive narrative since the formula is already set up. The visuals are much more interesting as well since with CG we can see exactly how a creature would look. It would be very interesting to see a new school series with these old school set up. On top of this, the inclusion of how Lt. Saavik (played by Kirstie Alley and Robin Curtis in the movies) expands in terms of character development shows how much more could really have been done. This novella bodes well to doing more of these in the future because they are the best of treats: quick, sweet and to the point.A-
By Tim Wassberg