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Spock must die! was a 1970 Star Trek novel by James Blish. I read it as a kid and reread it recently after coming across a used copy. It was an enjoyable read as long as I stayed determined not to let myself focus on some of the silly and nonsensical stuff that cropped up here and there.

The novel introduces some interesting material that I didn't recall ever seeing in the TV and movie incarnations of the franchise. Some of this seems clearly disconfirmed by more canonical stories, but what about the following?

  • McCoy is given a backstory in which he joins starfleet after a divorce.

  • Chapel has some sort of similar vaguely defined romantic backstory.

  • Multiple human women on the ship, not just Chapel, are said to desire Spock romantically or sexually.

Some other stuff seems totally inconsistent with canon, although I could be wrong:

  • Kirk is described as having been a starship officer and captain for longer than seems possible given his mid-30's age as portrayed in the TV ToS.

  • The Klingons are locked up in some sort of metaphysical jail for 1000 years.

  • Rand is portrayed as more of a Maturin to Kirk's Aubrey, rather than as a nameless ensign whom he barely considers worthy of attention.

  • Starships under warp drive are described as having their geometrical shapes weirdly distorted as seen by eye.

  • There is some description of how in space, it's incredibly hard to engage the enemy in a naval battle. (This seems scientifically sensible but obviously not much like the TV and movie depictions.)

Machavity
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user148172
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    The McCoy divorce thing at least came up in the reboot series (where it was the source of his nickname, as his ex-wife only left him with his bones). – Daniel Roseman Dec 19 '21 at 19:22
  • And the distortion under warp drive seems at least slightly confirmed by the TOS opening credits. – Daniel Roseman Dec 19 '21 at 19:27
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    Basically a dupe of https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/1542/who-comes-up-with-all-those-star-trek-facts. None of the books are considered especially canon, nor is there a codified canon that the writers are following (particular post-Nemesis). – Valorum Dec 19 '21 at 19:45
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    @Valorum - I believe the post Nemesis novels (distinct from novels related to Disco/Picard) are basically their own canon and are consistent in and amongst themselves. The current "Coda" trilogy is basically closing out the post-Nemesis novel 'canon' to make way for novels around the new series. – NKCampbell Dec 19 '21 at 20:27
  • May be of interest https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Joanna_McCoy https://memory-beta.fandom.com/wiki/Jocelyn_Treadway – lucasbachmann Dec 19 '21 at 20:30
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    @NKCampbell - I was referring to the writers of the new shows (PIC, STD, LOW, PRO) rather than the writers of the new book series'. It's pretty clear that everything post-Nemesis is its own distinct canon that doesn't particularly relate to the TOS or TNG era shows. – Valorum Dec 19 '21 at 20:30
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    The book "The Making of Star Trek" by Stephen Whitfield talked about some story ideas for the 3rd season, one of which was McCoy's daughter visiting the Enterprise. I think I remember part of the premise was that McCoy was divorced. Not canonical, but apparently an idea that had been floating around. – user888379 Dec 19 '21 at 20:39
  • Is Spock Must Die! the one with the memorable line from Lt. Uhura "He shouldn't be able to scream in that frequency!"? – Lexible Dec 19 '21 at 22:17

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