Sean Randall reviewed Flashback by Brannon Braga (Star Trek, Voyager)
Review of 'Flashback' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
I first encountered this story almost 13 years ago during it's 1996 television debut as part of Voyager's third season. Written, as it was, to commemorate Star Trek's thirtieth anniversary, it seems almost inevitable that a novel should have emerged, unsurprisingly swiftly upon the heals of the teleplay.
What's more surprising, to me at least, is the fact that I quite enjoyed this novel. a mere 5 of the 39 voyager novels currently listed are based on television episodes. Perhaps I was too young at the time (I was only eight years old when voyager started showing), but even looking back, I can see potential episodes that would've made superb novels. The other four (which I have read and will read again before I put down my conclusions too conclusively) all flagged themselves in my mind as unworthy for one reason or another, and so Flashback is the one, so …
I first encountered this story almost 13 years ago during it's 1996 television debut as part of Voyager's third season. Written, as it was, to commemorate Star Trek's thirtieth anniversary, it seems almost inevitable that a novel should have emerged, unsurprisingly swiftly upon the heals of the teleplay.
What's more surprising, to me at least, is the fact that I quite enjoyed this novel. a mere 5 of the 39 voyager novels currently listed are based on television episodes. Perhaps I was too young at the time (I was only eight years old when voyager started showing), but even looking back, I can see potential episodes that would've made superb novels. The other four (which I have read and will read again before I put down my conclusions too conclusively) all flagged themselves in my mind as unworthy for one reason or another, and so Flashback is the one, so far, that leads the pack.
Again, I can only attribute my sluggishness in remembering where this whole story was going to my youth, but it wasn't until The Doctor said 'Who's is that?' that I was able to comprehend the rationale behind the plot. it was a rather sudden revelation, came upon me with light bulb precision, actually - I didn't even have time to stop reading before it sank in and I was there, fully grasping what had happened (and what was to come). odd, how 13 years of memory can cloud something, until one line of dialog can snap you back to something absorbed long ago and buried... Was that line of dialog in the episode? I do not recall. it's unimportant.
I'm not going to go into the plot, only to note the fact that the novel expanded in several large areas on the television episode. it really worked here, giving insight into the Vulcan Mind, Tuvok in particular, and some of the events of the 2290's. Despite several continuity errors from the era, it managed to hold its own well.
One thing I did feel a little overdone was the final chapters, where Tuvok talks with Sulu and Spock. While the author certainly knows her business with these characters (having penned some excellent TOS titles), their seemed little use to dragging them into the end of this book - sort of a hactenus ex machina feel to the moment - an impression that what had gone on before (from then, as in the 2290's) and what had gone on after (as in the intervening time) just happened to fit their words and give them a ring of power and wisdom. or perhaps it's just me... I've been unable to shake the feeling, while rereading many of these trek titles, that there's not a great deal of latitude (because the characters all end up a certain way onscreen, post-novel). Some books make me feel this more strongly than others and Flashback wasn't overly powerful in that way, which is good, but it was by no means a perfect read. But then I have odd ideas about what constitutes a great novel. That's why I've never written my own.