51: The VISOR of Danger

Slings and Arrows: The Insolence of Office. In 2007 Pocket Books decided to honor the 20th anniversary of Star Trek: The Next Generation with a six-part eBook series that bridged the gap between the destruction of the Enterprise-D in Generations and the next time we saw the crew on the big screen in First Contact. Penned by J. Steven York, Christina F. York, Phaedra M. Weldon, William Leisner, Terri Osborne, Robert Greenberger, and Keith R.A. DeCandido, these novellas tell the story of the Enterprise-E’s shakedown cruise. In this episode of Literary Treks hosts Matthew Rushing and Christopher Jones discuss the third book in the Slings and Arrows series, The Insolence of Office, which reveals the events that led to Geordi's replacement of his VISOR with the ocular implants that we see him sporting in First Contact. The novella also continues the story that began in the DS9 episode "The Muse" as Lwaxana Troi returns to Betazed for the birth of her half-Tavnian child. We discuss how DS9 serves as the bridge for movie-era TNG, how leaders in wartime struggle to balance utopian ideals with security, and whether or not Starfleet is within its rights to ask Geordi to undergo what amounts to medically unnecessary surgery. In our news segment we take a look at the cover art for David R. George III's One Constant Star and review Star Trek Ongoing #30 (Parallel Lives, Part 2) and Khan #5.