| The Good That Men Do (Star Trek: Enterprise) |  | Authors: Andy Mangels, Michael A. Martin
Publisher: Star Trek
Category: Book
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Rating:  49 reviews
Sales Rank: 262,986
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Pages: 464
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 6.9 x 4.2 x 1
ISBN: 0743440013
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN: 9780743440011
ASIN: 0743440013
Publication Date: February 1, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Pax Galactica. Enemies become allies. Old secrets are at last revealed. Long-held beliefs and widely accepted truths are challenged. Man turns to leisurely pursuits. In this golden age, two old friends are drawn together. They seek to understand, and wonder how what they have long believed, what they have been taught, was never so. Over two hundred years ago, the life of one of Starfleet's earliest pioneers came to a tragic end, and Captain Jonathan Archer, the legendary commander of Earth's first warp-five starship, lost a close friend. Or so it seemed for many years. But with the passage of time, and the declassification of certain crucial files, the truth about that fateful day -- the day that Commander Charles "Trip" Tucker III didn't die -- could finally be revealed. Why did Starfleet feel it was necessary to rewrite history? And why only now can the truth be told?
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 49
 Excellent damage control for poorly written final episode of TV series June 21, 2007
Upright Ape (Milford, NH USA)
35 out of 35 found this review helpful
Like many fans of this show, I considered the final episode so poorly written and produced that I was completely baffled as to the possible motive of the studio in releasing it. Fortunately Andy Mangels and Michael Martin do a far better job at creativity with "The Good That Men Do...", not only cleaning up the mess left by the series' ending (not an easy job in itself) but providing a worthwhile read for those who appreciate the ST genre.
Encompassing the merits and faults of the book's entire plot line in the space of an Amazon review has been done to great effect elsewhere in this forum, so I won't attempt to add any paltry contributions to those. Instead I'd like to address a few of the details of the series' repair job accomplished so well by the authors.
****** POSSIBLE SPOILER WARNING ********************
I've been careful with the wording of what follows, but any interested fans of the series who haven't seen the last episode and who somehow haven't heard about the fallout may want to exercise a little caution before continuing.
First and foremost, there is the issue of the controversial death of a major character in the closing scenes. It was done in schlock TV fashion: rushed, out of context, seemingly pointless - that is, unless the writers thought they were invoking some sort of "drama" without having any better idea of exactly how to be creative for a change. Furthermore, what the character does just as he is being wheeled into a "cellular regeneration chamber" (apologies to the purists on the wording) is puzzling. The mortally wounded man raises his head, nods, smiles, and winks. Huh? Was that an add-on in the holographic replay of those events? Was it supposed to be assurance to the other characters? Whatever it was, it translated to a badly-timed game of Charades.
Mangels and Martin took this sequence and ran with it, providing a believable workaround using an existing element of ST lore ("Section 31"). Furthermore, his addendum was free of the silliness that plagued many of the ST movies and TV series. He invoked no ridiculous reincarnations, nor did he call upon seldom-used Vulcan "miracle talents" to keep the character's identity (soul, personality, whatever) in cold storage in another brain somewhere. Section 31 did not pull a rabbit out of a hat. It was a refreshing change, one that Enterprise badly needed.
"The Good That Men Do..." handily resolves other conundrums. Much controversy surrounds the emotional characterizations of Vulcans in the Enterprise series. The suggestion is that the Vulcans hadn't quite perfected the art of self control in the early days of the Federation. Of course this is yet more of the silliness and inconsistency endemic to TV and movies. The culture of logic was just too old to justify such indiscipline at that point. T'Pol was a special case because she often demonstrated even less control than others of the species. The series' explanation for her behavior was of course unsatisfactory. A Vulcan neurological disorder was invented - T'Pol was infected during a mind-meld-rape of some sort. Later, the condition was exacerbated by an addiction to another invention, "Trellium-D", which she had been self-administering to control the emotional symptoms of the disorder. Too many contrived inventions of this sort only added to the overall ST silliness. Once again the authors created a succinct repair using a well-established ST element: a Romulan was figured in as the missing father of T'Pol. This change went a long way towards explaining T'Pol's character throughout the series.
Lastly, there are some suggestions that the transitions between the show's finale and this book were already in place for a fifth season of the series. This may or may not be so; thus far, no one in connection with the production of the show has come forward to verify any part of this conjecture. In my opinion (and mine alone of course), such a thematic changeover would be wholly inconsistent with the pretentious events in past ST movies and TV. I may have to eat crow on this one in the event that future Enterprise movies or episodes do not repeat the mistakes of the past. I doubt it.
Once the foregoing repairs were made along with many others, the authors turned their talents to expanding on the "Section 31" concept and adding a level of detail and adventure that provided an excellent standalone ST novel. See the other reviews for appreciations of that portion of the book.
The bottom line: "The Good That Men Do (Star Trek Enterprise)" does the series justice, provides excellent closure, and presents a great read.
Thanks to anyone who took the time to read this!
UpRight Ape
A must read for Enterprise fans and Trip fans February 28, 2007
J. McCain (Shreveport, LA USA)
30 out of 32 found this review helpful
This novel takes up where the last episode of Enterprise leaves off and tells us what "really" happened to Trip. This book is fast paced and doesnt seem as though its over 400 pages in length. Be prepared to pull an all-nighter to read it you will not want to put it down once you start. The characterizations are dead on accurate. Our friends in Section 31 show up again and we see intrigue involving the Romulans. I look forwrd to seeing more Enterprise novels.
Outstanding! February 28, 2007
Luke (USAFA)
16 out of 17 found this review helpful
This corrected the dismal failure that was the last episode of Enterprise. A well written and well thought out book.
Thank God June 29, 2007
Sandy Prater (GA United States)
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
I'll be honest with you...after the horror that was "These are the Voyages...", they could have written that Trip and Archer set up a Tiki bar on Regulus Prime with T'Pol waitressing and I would have been happy. As is, I'm ecstatic with this novel. As a die-hard shipper, I would have liked a little more closure at the end, but I realize that not everyone likes a little romance in their scifi. What everyone will like, however, was how seamless this book takes up after the series. Every fault was turned into a logical course of action, and the storyline is solid and fits into the Trek universe with ease and without the formulaic Baywatch-like nonsense that has been forced upon fans for the majority of the series.
Highly satisfying. May 20, 2007
Cory LaFerriere
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
I'm a little hesitant to review this book after reading a couple of the highly depressing arguments that have plagued the comments on the last coupel reviews, but I just loved this book so much I have to look past it and try to bring something positive here. Like so many others, I adore the fact that this novel came along to "fix" the most unsatisfying series finale imaginable. (with the possible exception of the X-Files finale) I remember when that abysmal episode aired, and right away people on the internet were saying "Well, since it all took place on the holodeck that might not be what really happened." It was a nice thought, but I doubted it would ever lead to anything. I should've known I could count on the fine Star Trek authors who rarely let me down these days.
Taking back "These Are The Voyages" and telling what "really" happened fulfilled one wish of mine. But they didn't stop there. Another wish was fulfilled regarding the Andorian species. Some recent Deep Space Nine novels gave us a richly detailed view of Andorians as a race with 4 distinct sexes long before Enterprise introduced us to the Aenar subspecies. When Enterprise came and did its thing I feared the worst, that the Trek novel writers wouldn't be allowed to continue with their take on Andorians because they weren't allowed to contradict the series. But this book made it happen, blending the two very different takes on the species seamlessly, as if it had always been intended that way.
Thanks you for this fantastic book and I eagerly look forward to the follow up.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 49
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