Discussion
said:
james_tigerwoods said:
singlecoil said:
MartG said:
singlecoil said:
james_tigerwoods said:
singlecoil said:
MartG said:
I have a Star Trek Novel about Garak called "A Stitch in Time" written by Andrew J. Robinson (who the geeks will know played Garak). I've never read the book, I only bought it as it is actually signed by him
ps. Although reading some online reviews it actually sounds like a pretty good read so might have to open it.
This is not a Trek novel for the action hungry, techno-solution [fans]. This is a wonderful examination of a (relatively) minor character from Deep Space Nine by the actor who played him. It suggests to me that Andrew Robinson spent far too much of his free time obsessing about his alter ego and that is no bad thing! I must admit to only knowingly having seen Robinson as Garak and as Scorpio in the original Dirty Harry. The power he brings to those performances is clearly a result of having a pre-defined mental picture of them. Within the TV series Garak has been left ambiguous by the writers and that is a great strength, but it has also allowed Robinson to take a character (who is never likely to be handled again in TV/Film trek) and give us the background and reality of the character as he sees him - and who can contradict that? Suddenly all the characteristics, mannerisms and nuances that only an actor can bring to a character (rather than being written for the actor) snap into focus. I would wager that Robinson has being building this book since the first time he read for the part of Garak...and didn't even know it. This is not a cash-in, Robinson obviously cares about his creation, but equally it is not a easy book to read. The authors style is firmly autobiographical...and if you struggle with such a books in the real world you would be forgiven for having trouble with this. Nor is the plotline up to much as a typical Trek adventure story, but then it does not have to be. This is not a grand adventure...find a problem, kill the bad guy, solve the problem trek novel. It is a wonderful character study and I doubt that even those who played a character every episode for seven or more years could match this knowledge of the alter-ego. If you are intrigued by Garak buy this. If you see him as a bit part player of no real consequence or just want a adventure story then this is not for you...though you could try it and find you love it. If you are saying "who's Garak?" don't even bother. Personally this was the first Trek novel I had read in over 5 years and on the strength of it I went and read other new ones. Only to be disappointed. This is, in my humble opinion, within the top five novels from any TV/Film franchise I have ever read and that includes alot of competition, much of it tripe, some of it good and rare works - such as this - excellent. The only thing I am sorry for is that it is doubtful that Robinson will never get a character (in any show) that will offer such scope for his talents and allow another step into the literary world of such quality.
mister_ee said:
simonrockman said:
Hmm, I used to know Don Davidge reasonably well. Not seen him for years. He'd just joined HP to do Palm WebOS stuff.
WebOS, ho ho, how's that working out for him?
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