Title | : | Emissary |
Author | : | |
Rating | : | |
ISBN | : | 0671798588 |
ISBN-10 | : | 9780671798581 |
Language | : | English |
Format Type | : | Paperback |
Number of Pages | : | 274 |
Publication | : | First published February 1, 1993 |
Emissary Reviews
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I recently watched the first episode of DS9 and it reminded me of how much I enjoyed the show and also that I had not watched the entire series. It's probably partially responsible for my love of stories set on space stations.
I decided to give the novelization a read and found it very well done mostly because it gave a lot of background information that an hour-long pilot could not do. Sisko and Jake's struggles after the death of Jennifer at Wolf 359, Obrien's backstory of fighting against the Cardassians and a deep dive into the religious traditions and prophecy of the Bajora (I seem to recall that the plural used on the show was Bajoran but the novel differs). Now, of course, I want to read more of these. I remember the broad strokes of the series but now I'm ready to get the details.
I recommend this for fans of the series. I will continue with the books (there are a lot of them, apparently). -
Emissary is the novelization of the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine original pilot episode by Michael Piller and Rick Berman where the survivor of a Borg attack, Commander Benjamin Sisko is tasked by Starfleet to command a space station that was once a Cardassian stronghold. The station orbits the planet Bajor and stands beside a recently discovered, stable wormhole that could quite possibly make Bajor a hub for commerce and culture. This is supposed to be a plum assignment for a single parent, but when Sisko finds himself abducted by the alien inhabitants of the wormhole, he must use his knowledge, experiences, and skills to find a way to coexist with the prophets. This is the best of the Star Trek shows (IMHO) and this was its premiere. I love this book. In this book, the characters were not yet fully developed, but demonstrated a great deal of promise. Their story arcs were not yet fully formed. Still, really good. Super fun.
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As massive of a Star Trek fan as I was when DS9 premiered, you'd think I would have seen the debut episode. You'd think I would have videotaped every episode and watched all the time when I felt like it.
Nope.
I did start watching the show, several episodes into the series, but hadn't seen the premier episode yet. Not for a long time, actually.
I received this along with three other DS9 books for Christmas in 1994--almost two years after the series premiered! I still hadn't seen the episode, so this was it for me. Finally, I could see how it all came together!
Meh. It was an okay story, but more focused on introducing all the characters, and low on the all too convenient plot. The writing wasn't the greatest, and this took me a lot longer to get through than I had hoped. At the time, I was plowing through two books a week. This took almost 10 days.
I did finally see the episode, many years later--2014, when I finally got into my Netflix queue. It had me on the edge of my seat, so I didn't regret passing this off to a used book store when I was finished reading it. -
This exists as a half-way house between JM Dillard's other Trek books. It's miles ahead of her thin TNG-film transcripts (which I'm guessing were dictated to from on high), but not as impressive as her adaptations of Star Trek's V and VI, nor her earlier TOS novels. It's based on earlier drafts of the pilot script, and the character work is first rate. But I'm willing to wager that, had she been able to see the the finished episode, this would have been an even greater adaptation. Considering her amazing work with the Original Series, I would enjoy seeing Ms Dillard take a crack at an in-depth, original DS9 novel, with the entire series now available as backstory.
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One thing I particularly enjoy about the earlier Star Trek books is the length. They seem to be shorter than the newer ones, or at least they read shorter. Technically, this one's nearly 300 pages, but the font is so large I got through it in less than two hours. There's not a lot of waffle here, is what I'm saying, and that makes this particular novelisation a good, fast-paced read. Pilot episodes always have a lot to do, of course, introducing all the different characters, and like the television episode, Emissary does it adequately, although the lion's share of attention goes to Sisko, which is fair enough. The rest of the characters get more basic sketches, but that's something that will round itself out in later novels, I expect.
Basically it's just a short, fun read. It reminded me of bits of the episode that I'd forgotten - it's been a while since I last rewatched the series - and it's making me want to go back and watch it again. -
This book easily ranks among the best Star Trek novels I've read or listened to. It is the novel adaptation of Deep Space Nine's pilot episode, "The Emissary." I usually find novel adaptations to be worse than the original film or show, but I was really surprised by this book.
I listened to the audio version, originally released on cassette (someone has uploaded it to YouTube). Nana Visitor, the actress who played Major Kira in the show, narrates. She does a fantastic job. Listening to her portray Quark, Sisko, and the others was really fun.
But more than that, the actual story of "The Emissary" is rich. I recently re-watched the episode (it's a 2-hour pilot) and found that this book stayed faithful while adding in additional background details.
Many TV spin-off novels just aren't that good. But this one gets a solid 5-star rating. Recommended. -
I enjoyed this as much as I am currently capable of enjoying anything.
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I had already watched the episode upon which this book is based and I have to say that I loved the book. Very vibrantly written, and also included a lot of details that were not there in the episode, so that really fleshed out the story.
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A novelisation of the first Deep Space Nine episode
4 April 2012
I guess one comment that I read probably sums this book up quite adequately: it is not a nobel laureate grade novel but enjoyable nonetheless, though probably more suited to hard core trekkies. Now I am far from being a hard core trekkie, though when this series came out I did get my hands on a few of the books (actually, considering the number of the Deep Space Nine books I ended up reviewing I would have to say somewhat more than a few). In a way there were a lot more books out there, including university books, that I would have preferred to read. This book was little more than a side distraction that I read while pouring over university texts.
This is the first book in the Deep Space Nine (DS9) series and is also the novelisation of the pilot episode. While the original concept of going where no man has gone before still exists, this series has taken a more static approach to the other series which involved travelling around the galaxy exploring new cultures. The original series was very basic in this regards, and while The Next Generation had originally began with the same premise, over the seven series that it aired the focus changed to creating more of a consistent universe in which the action takes place.
Another difference with this episode is that it takes place on the frontier becomes a lot more political, particularly with the Bajorans. Bajor has been under Cardassian occupation for 60 years and they have recently won their freedom. It is unclear what it is that made them retreat, whether it being the resistance fighters, or simply because the Cardassians had plundered the planet of everything valuable and decided that it was no longer needed. In a way having to deal with resistance fighters on a worthless planet can be a little too much.
It is the political aspects of the series that makes it quite interesting, however throwing in the existence of a stable worm hole which allows access to a section of the galaxy light years away opened up a lot more possibilites. As mentioned in the series, the wormhole is stable, which is a phenomena in and of itself, and pretty much turns Bajor, and the space station, from a backwater colony to a very important trade and transit point. As becomes clear later on in the series, not all of Bajor are particularly happy about their homeworld becoming the centre of attention. In many cases there is a lot of nationalistic fervour among the Bajorans and some of them simply want to be left alone.
This also creates on running tension in the series. The Cardassians have left and pretty quickly the Federation arrives to set themselves up. Many of the Bajorans simply see the Federation as another occupier that has come in as the others have left. Those of us who are familiar with the series understand that the Federation do not see themselves as occupiers, but rather a system of government designed to promote cultural differences and individuality amongst their members. However there is a catch, the Federation rules determine that members must meet certain ethical standards to be able to be admitted. In a way they are meant to be enlightened. There are a number of episodes, and movies, that do explore the development of the Federation.
However, it is interesting to see another side of this oh so wonderful Federation. In a way, as I have protested for so long, Star Trek seems to take a very high view of the potential of humanity. However in this series it seems to begin to be stripped away. Coming onto Deep Space Nine we suddenly discover that there is money in the form of gold pressed latinum. This is one of the first times that we are introduced to money in the Star Trek Universe. In a way the development of the replicator has meant that anybody can have anything that they want, but it seems to sit side by side with the money making antics of Quark the Ferengi. However, I feel that I have probably written enough with regards to this book and will quietly move on for now. -
It was a serviceable novelization of the pilot episode of the series. I found it interesting to see where some scenes had been shifted in the final cut, with one scene even moved to the next produced episode. The novel does its job well. I don’t have more to say about it.
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This review originally published in
Looking For a Good Book. Rated 4.0 of 5
Commander Benjamin Sisko is still struggling over the death of his wife, Jennifer, at the battle known as Wolf 359 (where the Borg nearly wiped out the entire Federation fleet), but he needs to put forth his best efforts in order to raise his young son, Jake.
Commander Sisko is assigned the position of commanding a space station, Deep Space Nine, on the far edge of the Alpha Quadrant. The station, built by the Bajorans (as slaves) and once known as Terok Nor had, until very recently, been occupied by the Cardassians. The result of negotiations has the Cardassians retreating from Bajoran space and the station.
What Sisko couldn't anticipate was discovering a stable wormhole that appears within sight of the station. He chooses to investigate (he's the ranking officer in the region and he is just getting to know his station crew after all) and has a very unusual meeting with the wormhole creators ... alien beings who live outside of normal time. Upon returning to the station, the Bajoran people see him as 'The Prophet' - someone who has come face to face with their gods. It is an unusual and highly charged beginning to his appointment.
This book, by J. M. Dillard (a familiar name to Star Trek readers), is a novelization of the first episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. It's been a lot of years since I saw the episode, but much of it came back to me as I read this. I thought that this novelization increased my enjoyment of the episode as we got more insight in Sisko frame of mind throughout.
It is interesting to note that Dillard wrote this adaptation based on the final draft of the script by Michael Piller and, due to the security around a new Star Trek series, had not gotten to see any of the show. She notes (elsewhere in fandom, not in the book) that writing the scene with the aliens in the wormhole was particularly challenging without seeing the scene. Again, I haven't seen the episode in many years, but this scene in the book made so much sense to me - more-so than the episode did.
DS9 is the series I'm most interested in revisiting and since I had a copy of the book I thought I'd start here. Turns out this was a good place to begin my DS9 journey.
Looking for a good book? J. M. Dillard brings clarity and depth of character to the first Star Trek: Deep Space Nine outing with the novelization of Emissary. -
I've never been a fan of adaptations. Whether it's an adaptation of a movie, a television episode, a video game, or something of the sort, most authors tend to take the "easy way out" and simply add adjectives and a little background to the teleplay they were provided.
As far as adaptations go.... "Emissary" was... not that bad.
J.M. Dillard is quite a writer in my opinion. While far less metaphysical than K.W. Jeter's "Warped," (the last DS9 book I've read, and as such, an obvious comparison), "Emissary" was like watching Deep Space Nine's pilot all over again, but perhaps even better.
There were story elements added in, likely from the original teleplay script that never made it off the cutting room floor, that actually added to the characters. Particularly, there were some scenes with Jake and Nog that I thought added to their character developments, and helped to set the stage for their friendship.
The greater benefit of this adaptation is that we had the opportunity to see what our characters were thinking. In the tv show, we obviously never heard their thoughts. This novel gives us a little insight into their characters, particularly how they think of each other. It was quite fun to see Odo and Kira thinking about how much they disliked everyone else, while at the same time, seeing Bashir's thoughts of both himself and others. I chuckled at him thinking about how much of a "genius" he was. Very in-character.
One final point - I thought the scenes in the Celestial Temple were written well. It was quite hard to juggle them in the pilot episode, as Sisko was displaced frequently into different settings and time periods. Here, it was written with a poise that explained it clearly. I could imagine understanding it easily if I hadn't had seen the episode previously.
Really a great job by Dillard, overall. -
A good novelisation of an already pretty great episode of Star Trek. The first half is better - Dillard really gets under her characters' skin and finds their inner voices easily, fleshing out their backgrounds. Particularly strong are Sisko's experiences on the Saratoga and his grief, along with her dramatisation of the unseen events of Setlik III.
However, while the additional material in the first half adds value, in the second half it just makes the story drag. It's my understanding that the scriptwriters originally wrote scenes involving Nog and Jake, and Keiko, and removed them for time/pacing issues, moving their beats to the next episode. They're re-inserted here, and it demonstrates that it was the right decision, as they detract from the main story of Sisko's interactions with the Prophets.
Overall, pretty good, with additional material that mostly adds value and reveals' characters motivations, but with a draggy second half. -
let’s start off: ds9 is the best star trek, no doubts about that. emissary is the best pilot episode, too.
i liked the extra tidbits of information for each character to give them some life, but there are parts i find a little outlandish. the scene with jake and nog and rom? never would happen, at least not that early on in their relationship.
the emotional scenes are better in live-action then in novel form. i just couldn’t click with the core message like i did when i saw the episode -
I do not remember the novel itself, given it's been years since the last time I read it; however, I remember the episode pretty well, and the audiobook does match up perfectly with it - but, like I said, I don't know how well or not it does with the novel itself since I'm pretty sure it's once again, abridged. Anyway, it was a good episode, and it was a good audiobook too. :)
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Decent, but full of errors that were fixed before the show actually filmed (Ensign O'Brien, Bajora, etc). Plus, unlike a lot of novelizations, this actually has less in it than the two-part episode it's based on. It would be great to go back and revisit this as a longer book, factoring in what we know about the whole series.
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all Star Trek legends have a beginning. This is the start of Commander Benjamin Sisko's command of Star Fleet's ninth deep space station. This effectively the a telling of Star Trek Deep Space Nine 1st episode.
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I’ve been reading Star Trek books since the James Blish episode adaptations came out, and I think this is one of the best episode novelizations I’ve read. Even though I’ve seen the episode several times, I still got a lot out of the fleshed out narrative.
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Just like the Pilot episode, but it is nice to know the thoughts, and really the story was still a great read.
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A solid adaptation of DS9's pilot episode and one of the stronger books in the early range. The main cast photo on the front cover is flipped for some unknown reason(?!).
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A way to re-live that first episode in very. in-depth. detail.
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Review here:
https://fsfh-book-review2.webnode.com... -
I first read this the same year the TV show premiered, and didn't know the characters well yet. This was very good.
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Prett good. Adds a lot of context to the happenings in the episode. Definetly worth the read.
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A well-written novel that is to do with the first DS9 episode.
Explains some of the missing plot-points in detail.
A must-read for fans of Deep Space 9. -
Just love DS9. 5*
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3+