Star Trek: Department of Temporal Investigations: Watching the Clock

Written by a Trekkie

This book is meant to fill and reconcile pretty much the entirety of canon Trek to 'Star Trek The Motion Picture.' Leaving aside the fact that the first movie is generally one most of us would prefer to ignore, the basic story line is not too bad - McCoy's old love Natira from 'For The World Is Hollow And I Have Touched The Sky' is experiencing political and religious terrorism on their new planet (a tissue-paper thinly disguised metaphor for the current troubles in the Middle East) and the entire series regulars, along with a bestiary of every alien species on the new Enterprise have to make peace, defeat the terrorists, learn a lesson in the value of coexistence and balance, etc. Spock wrestles with his emotions, McCoy gets to have his heart broken again, and Kirk ... well, pretty much just sort of hangs around having a crisis and letting everyone else do the heavy lifting. It's so damned politically-correct it's amazingly boring, (not unlike TNG). It's also the first Trek book I've ever personally read where female crewmen are referred to as 'Ms' instead of either by their rank or 'Mister.' (Gag.) There are literally pages of detailed scientific (and pseudoscientific) explanations of the physics behind the technology and the astronomy that interrupt the story, the prose and the dialogue itself is turgid and slow, the author loses absolutely no opportunity to manipulate the characters and situation so that each and every one of the many characters has some kind of crisis that they have to go through and some kind of lesson to learn, and at no time am I given the kind of fun, suspense and action-filled 'Wagon Train to the stars' that Gene Roddenberry originally visualized when he started this whole thing. This book, like the entire franchise, is a bloated, self-conscious, boring and ultimately pointless exercise in fan fiction that somehow got stamped with the Paramount logo on the back cover. Buy it at a garage sale for .25.

4 out of 8 people found this review helpful.

Star TREK, not Star WARS

Not one of the best ST:TOS novels, but not bad. It's meant as a fill-in between the encounter with V'Ger, & The Wrath of Khan. Kirk's having the usual problems with being stereotyped as hero or villain, Spock's working through the aftereffects of his mind-meld with V'Ger (& the bigoted attitudes of some Vulcans), McCoy's dealing with new medical technologies & biologies he's never met before & feeling somewhat inadequate. And the other 'originals' are having their own problems. This on top of being sent to deal with a theological clash turned physically violent among some old acquaintances.

4 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

J+C awwwww!!!

The second story was the best! Loved it! Great read if ur a star trek and a J/C fan!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Fantastic read!

This book is simply outstanding. It excellently ties in the events of the Typon Pact series while expanding into an untapped area of the Star Trek universe while also challenging modern day concepts of time that the average person would otherwise never think twice about. This is a must read for ant Trek fan!

First Star Trek book I ever gave up on...

First, who thinks a book that says "STAR TREK" on the cover is a Star Wars book?! Anyway, this is the first ST book I have ever given up on. A third of the way through and I've yet to determine if there is even a plot. The movement back and forth through time is cute for a book about time travel but it just makes the story confusing, especially when reading on a Nook. I consider myself moderately intelligent and educated but this is just a pain, reading should be enjoyable. There are so many wonderful ST books out there, don't bother with this one.

Good stuff

Was great to see a story about the time department that i have seen in many episodes. I have alway wondered what kind of tv show this would make. Will look out for more dti books.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

A+Great+Read

This+is+an+excellent+book.+All+the+time+travel+jargon+is+easily+understandable.+Fantastic+weave+of+past+episode+plot+lines+into+the+story%2C+as+well+as+many+cameos+by+past+characters+even+if+they+were+simply+mentioned+in+passing.

0 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Three Novellas from Alternate Versions of the Various Star Trek Series

The first story in this trio features characters from the Original Series as well as T'Pol from the Enterprise Series. The second novella stars much of the cast of Voyager. The third relates to an episode from the Original Series, but is about characters from Deep Space Nine. These stories are all well done, but I especially enjoyed the second and third. I think most fans of the shows really like these alternate universe and alternate timeline stories.
Michael Travis Jasper, Author of the Novel "To Be Chosen"

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Marvelous, wonderful read!

I enjoyed the plotting immensely; it dealt with a philosophical question/dilemma without getting preachy. The banter was a blast. The characters were perfectly portrayed. The Lorinians and Natira were fun to revisit. McCoy was a hoot. Jim was ... himself. Spock... adorable.

A very good story

I have just finished reading the book and found it very entertaining. It did a good job of filling in the blanks of those missing years and how Picard put his senior staff together. Without giving away the details it explains why a major pain in the star trek universe is judging humanity. If you are looking for a good Star Trek book...get this one

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