The Janus Gate Trilogy
"Present Tense", "Future Imperfect", "Past Prolugue"
L. A. Graf*)
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Pocket Books, Part 1
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Pocket Books, Part 2
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Pocket Books, Part 3
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Timeframe/Stardate:
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Series - directly after the episode "The Naked Time"; contains
multiple alternative time lines
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Rating:
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Released:
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USA: all 2002 (Pocket Books)
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Edition:
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- Pocket Books, Softcover, (USA)
Part 1: 253 pages, Part 2: 252 pages, Part 3: 252 pages
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Part of a series?
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All three books constitute one story.
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Book Description (jacket text):
Present Tense:
The crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise(tm) is exploring the seemingly peaceful and uninhabited world of M-3107 when a bizarre and inexplicable transporter accident causes both Captain Kirk and Dr. McCoy to vanish completely. Transporter records suggest that the two men were transported somewhere, but their ultimate destination remains a mystery. Now in command of the Enterprise, Spock dispatches a search-and -rescue team -- consisting of Security Chief Giotto, Transporter Technician John Kyle, and Chief Helmsman Hikaru Sulu -- on an urgent mission to recover the missing officers. But then the rescue team disappears as well!
Future Imperfect:
On a desperate rescue mission to recover their missing captain, the shuttle Copernicus and its crew have become lost in time and space, transported by a powerful subspace vortex to a hellish future time line where the brutal Gorn Hegemony has all but conquered the United Federation of Planets. Stranded on a transformed Federation colony, now a Gorn mining world worked by oppressed human slaves, Helmsman Hikaru Sulu meets an older version of a man he barely knows, Pavel Chekov, who now leads a ragtag band of freedom fighters against the Gorns. Teamed together for the first time, Sulu and Chekov must struggle to survive in a future that should never have happened!
Past Prolugue:
Thanks to the accidental triggering of an ancient alien technology, Captain Kirk has been banished to his own past. During a brutal massacre on Tarsus IV, Kodos the Executioner entered the history books as one of the most genocidal tyrants of the twenty-third century. As a boy, Kirk barely survived. Can he stand by now and let it happen again? Lt. Kevin Riley is the only other survivor of Tarsus IV serving aboard the U.S.S Enterprise. His traumatic memories provide Spock's best hope of finding their time-lost captain - before Kirk alters their time line forever!
Opinion:
What would you do with three additional days? This question arises at the end of "The Naked Time" and it is answered by
L.A. Graf*) here.
To avoid time paradoxes, the Enterprise tries to behave as "unobtrusively" as possible at the beginning
of part one ("Present Tense") and therefore the ship heads for the planet Tlaoli where a research party has been left behind.
Reviewing these books is not easy since there are plenty of nice but also plenty of bad aspects. One of the strengths: the authors obviously knew what they were writing about. They included several persons known of the TV show, e.g. Karl Jaeger, Angela Martine, Carolyn Palamas and so on. Therefore, the fan gets plenty of light bulb moments since it is known what will happen to these persons later. Chekov's presence in a time that corresponds with the first season is well explained and is therefore a great asset.
Then, there is the development of an alternative time line dealing with the Gorn, something well done which can only be admired by someone who knows the original series really well. By starting the first book at the end of "The Naked Time", the story didn't have a slow start instead it begins right in the middle of action.
On the negative side, the story was split into three books and it is too drawn-out that way, probably to follow the Ferengi rules known of TNG to gain more profit. In addition, it is worth mentioning that the jacket texts have nearly nothing in common with the content. The description of book one, for example, claims that Captain Kirk and Dr. McCoy would vanish. In fact, the McCoy part of the action is almost non-existent and the good old doctor is far away from vanishing anywhere.
While part one is pretty entertaining the story loses afterwards. Sulu's adventures in an alternative future are only mildly interesting and are too detailed. Furthermore, too many persons are "exchanged" with the result that nearly none of these combinations are dealt enough with.
So Chekov's problem with his much older and much more serious alter ego is mentioned but not enough to be emotionally attaching. Besides, I have always asked myself how the Enterprise people on Tlaoli should know that they are facing a better future when rescuing Kirk. Of course, the reader knows that due to the TV show and the episode "Arena" but the story of these books takes place beforehand. For the same reason I consider the willingness of the older versions of Sulu and Chekov to sacrifice themselves for a better time line not founded enough although it can be reasoned that "it can get only better".
Despite of these objections the Janus Gate trilogy belongs to the better publications of the last years. They are not reaching the level of such treasures like "Uhura's Song", however, but they are worth reading and stand out a bit since the story contains some pretty unusual elements.
*) L.A. Graf is the pseudonym of Julia Ecklar and her partner Karen Rose Cercone. It is the
abbreviation of "Let's All Get Rich and Famous".
