TA> CT> starting point, as well as the movies.  But the novels have a couple
TA> CT> benefits that the shows dont have, including one you pointed out.
TA> CT> novels serve to fill in the blanks between the movies, and take
TA>off
TA> CT> from the shows as a starting point.
TA>Yes as long as you don't take information that is only presented in a
TA>novel and try to force it down the throats of other fans that it is most
TA>definately the truth.  For example. You can take Imzadi and look at it as
Exactly.  What's even worse is that quite often you'll then see
some people who'll start saying the novels are right & the show's
wrong because it doesn't agree with the *novel*. I've been on
these echoes a lot of years now & I've seen it happen more than
some folks might think -- it's a tail-should-wag-the-dog approach
that's IMNSHO quite simply moronic.
TA>the background of Troi meeting Riker.  But you can't take the
TA>fact that Data had command of the E in the future to mean that in
TA>the aired world Will Riker will not be the next captain but
TA>that Data will.
Certainly not using a novel as ultimate authority, no. }};)
TA> CT> There actually is no difference between a book and the actual
TA> CT> series episode, in fact all the Trek episodes start out as books
TA> CT> (stories) that end up in a nice little one hour audio/visual format.
TA>True but there is a difference.  The aired episodes very usually tie in
Actually, not quite; they don't start out as books, but as scripts.
That's why we have the very word "novelization" -- the act of
making a book out of something that originally was >not< a book.

TA>happens very rarely. But the novels sometimes contradict each
TA>other the very next book. And they can contradict the TV
TA>episodes.
And if they do, then of course, well, hey, it's the _show_ that's
wrong, ain't it? }:) (Hey, it's the attitude some people *have* --
from whence cometh, GOK. )
TA> CT> You can hold a book in your hand and see the words in black
TA> CT> and white, and that's about as close to canon as you're going to get
TA> CT> with any media.
TA>Depends on your interpretation of canon.  Most (most not all) ST fans
TA>consider the shows and the movies as canon.
My very old tag below pretty much sums it up.  This has always been
the historical rule of thumb when it comes to this -- anything else
is nothing but an attempt to pull a Gowron & revise history....
                                                        
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