Spock, Messiah!

Title:	Spock, Messiah!
Creator:	Theodore R. Cogswell and Charles Spano, Jr.
Date(s):	1976
Medium:	book
Fandom:	Star Trek: TOS
Language:	English
External Links:
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Spock, Messiah! is a Star Trek: TOS professional tie-in novel by Theodore R. Cogswell and Charles Spano, Jr. See the Memory Beta wiki entry for details.

Cogswell had been an experienced author at the time of publishing, and invited Spano to co-author the book with him after he was approached by editor Frederik Pohl. It was later republished with new cover artwork in 1993. The novel was poorly received by fans and was criticised by critics for being exploitative and inaccurate.

Summary: When an experiment with telepathic implants goes wrong, Mr. Spock renounces his life on the Starship Enterprise to become the Messiah of the planet Kyros. In so doing, he launches a holy war on the rest of the world.

Spock Must Die! (1970) and "Spock, Messiah!" (1976) and "Vulcan!" (1978) were all tie-in books during what some fans refer to as "the Exclamation Years."

Production

Prior to the publication of Spock, Messiah!, the only original book for adults set in the Star Trek universe was Spock Must Die! by James Blish. The book sold well, and it was intended that further books would be produced but following Blish's death, this was postponed. Frederik Pohl was hired as an editor in 1976 with the task of producing new novels based on Star Trek: The Original Series. The first book in this line was Spock, Messiah!, which was written by Theodore R. Cogswell and Charles A. Spano, Jr..

Cogswell was an experienced science fiction author with numerous short stories in the genre to his credit, most of them humorous, and editor of the fanzine Proceedings of the Institute for Twenty-First Century Studies in which professional SF authors reviewed one another's work. Spano contacted him hoping to have some of his work critiqued. Cogswell asked Spano if he would be interested in co-authoring a Star Trek novel for Pohl. Spano wrote most of the first draft in 1975, inspired by the 1973 oil crisis. He said that although it had roots in the rise of Islamism in the Western Hemisphere, "the idea that a fanatical desert leader could arise to threaten a civilisation was a staple throughout history".

Cogswell rewrote several chapters that Spano described as unfocused and rambling; Cogswell also copyedited the work. They submitted the revised draft to Pohl, who requested minor changes. The book was published in September 1976. The book was later reprinted by Bantam Books in October 1993 with new cover art by Kazuhiko Sano.

Fans and TPTB

Boldly Writing says "[Charles Spano] was the first author of a Star Trek pro novel to have a letter published in a letterzine." Spano writes of being on a panel at a con, his book, "Spock, Messiah" and writes:

At the con someone asked me if I had read any ST fanfic and I answered honestly -- no. But I did mention that Halkan Council was the one and only ST zine I get and I enjoy it very much. I'm impressed by the way the contributors go into so much detail and thinks so much about the nuances and implications of ST.

Reactions and Reviews

The initial fan reaction to Spock, Messiah! was poor, and sales were lower than expected following the earlier success of Spock Must Die!. The review in Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Review magazine suggested that the plot was far-fetched, and described it as "Spocks-ploitation" (referring to the concept of an exploitation film). In a review of the book on the Daily Kos website, Spock, Messiah! was described as "[the] single worst Star Trek story I have ever read, either fan or pro." The issues with the book included racism (where Uhura is called "a black" and Sulu "the oriental"), and also parts where the novel ignored specific elements of the series such as giving Scotty red hair and removed the sonic showers from the Enterprise. It summed up the review by saying that the "book isn't just bad, it's shamefully bad." The first edition of the book was sold for $1.75 in the United States, and by 2006, it was valued at between $7 to $8.

There is a sarcastic recap of this book (with many photomanip comments) at Star Trek Book Re-Cap #5 - Spock, Messiah! at the Livejournal community ontd-startrek.

There is another sarcastic review at Brave New Blog.

1976

There is a new Star Trek book out.... This is different from other Star Trek books, because it is not about Star- Trek, or a story (or stories) taken from the scripts.

Rather, it is a novel entirely conceived and written by the above authors and is based on the show. The story centers around a "Telescan cephalic implant." This device implanted in several members of the crew, including Spock, It is turned into the brain-waves of certain individual,on the planet Kyros.

This permits a person with the device to know what his individual, or "Dop" is thinking. However, there is a defect in Spock's implant, and he becomes his dop, who is a revolutionary that wants to convert the whole planet to his own philosophy, using force.

Spock, now controlled by his dop, sneaks on board of board of the Enterprise and steals the trilithium modules. Without these, the ship cannot go into warp speed, and, thus cannot escape a dangerous radiation storm. Kirk, Scotty and others must beam down down to the planet and try to locate Spock and bring him back to the Enterprise before the ship is destroyed.

The book is exciting and well worth reading. It gives the Star Trek characters more personality I recommend it to any Star Trek fan.

Outrageously priced at $1.75 for about 180 pages.

"SPOCK: MESSIAH," Published by Bantam, is not worth $1.75. Those who have read Spock Enslaved and groaned will find this an even worse book. You expect Spock to be the star of this publication, forget it. He is only talked about throughout the entire, tedious 170-odd pages of the book, and in the most uncharacteristic way, not appearing 'til the last five paces. This story adds nothing to what is already known about the Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Spock, or Spock, anything, relationship. The writing itself reads like the early efforts of some promising teen writer—pure 'gee, whiz. Captain's space-cadet, popcorn Saturday afternoon.Theodore P. Cogswell and Charles A. Spano, Jr. are the authors of this juvenile effort. I have never heard of them ... SPOCK: MESSIAH was not worthy of a pro publication and Bantam should know better ...Little wonder that the film has vet to materialize if this is the standard by which the professional world views ST and ST fandom. It is a shame that SPOCK: MESSIAH will be the general public s impression of ST—unaware of the truly original writing presented in fan publications ... At least fan writers try to be consistent. I do not think the authors of Spock: Messiah had more than a vague idea of what ST was all about.

Alan Dean Foster has shown us what can be done with animated scripts. His LOGs may not be deathless SF, but a hundred times better than what Bantam has tried to pull off.

Save your money for a good fanzine.

When I heard about the plot two months ago, I wondered if it would be really something different, or just like a typical episode. After reading the book I was impressed with the writing, plot, and use of technical thoughts in the book.

I do have some criticisms about the book. Cogswell and Spano used modern phrases in some of the dialog (ex:it's a drag). Really, do you think we'll keep all of our sayings three hundred years from now? I can understand, though that using today's language would show readers what the characters truly mean in today's terms.

One or two places was hard to read through, but they weren't of too much consequence.

Otherwise, the book clearly depicts a medieval civilization and the people of that civilization. I'm looking forward for more of their works in the future.

The technical aspects of the book were superb. The thought of how the radiation storm in space originated, was very interesting. The use of implants in brains so that Federation scientists could use alien's brains for information is quite possible, the way they described it.

The plot is refreshing to many love story (types) we've read in many zines. The surprise ending was so unexpected that I'm not going to spoil it for you. I suggest that you run to the nearest bookstore and get a copy. In my opinion, this is the best STAR TREK book Bantam has ever put out. Their first quality product. It's a goody. Rates a 9 out of 10 possible.

[detailed plot description snipped]

And that's a "brief-as-possible" run down on SPOCK, MESSIAN!. And, like I said earlier in my review, as an action/adventure sci-fi (a bit short on the sci as well) story it isn't bad, but as far as being a good. Star Trek story...it STINKS!

Throughout MESSIAH!, the writing style reminded me strongly of James Blish's original Star Trek novel, SPOCK MUST DIE!, with the possible exception that Blish didn't dwell on the subject of sex continually as Cogswell and Spano did.

Although, Blish's characterizations of the familiar and well-loved characters of Trek were weak at times, their characterizations were weak from beginning to end.

I mean, I just didn't think the people they were describing in MESSIAH "sounded" like the ones I remember from the show. In fact I believe that Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, Dr. McCoy etc. weren't even needed in that story — it could have worked using anybody, but then, of course, Bantam (who published the book) wouldn't have made as much money if the book was about Captain Smuck and Mr. Smooch.

At any rate, have read many a story in many so-called "amateur" fanzines that have come closer to the "feel" of the actual characters then either of the professional books (SPOCK MUST DIE! and SPOCK, MESSIAH!) on the market. In fact, I had a disconnected feeling the whole time I read it because I just couldn't picture any of the characters behaving the way they behaved in the book.

There were also several idiosyncrasies in the characterizations in the book such as: Kirk allowing a female crew member to skinny dip in a lake while on a crucial life-or-death mission, McCoy being familiar with the handling of Missouri Mules (somehow Deforest Kelley never struck me as the type capable of punching a mule between the eyes to make it behave) and having Scotty singing off-key (anyone who saw animated LORELI SIGNAL knows that is untrue!) —— to name a few.

And all that from Charles A. Spano who has acknowledged in the "About the Authors" portion of the bock as "an authority on all the characters, events and background of the series". HA! A tribble is more of an authority than that guy! I mean, would you call a guy an authority on Star Trek when he describes Scotty as being a red-head and Kirk as having brown eyes (any Shat fan will tell ya they're hazel!) and how did these idiosyncrasies (as described beforehand) occur? But I really think that the worst possible characterization in MESSIAH is that of Spock. His character is extremely sketchy throughout and is based more on his outward mannerisms than on the depth of character that Leonard Nimoy gave him on the show.

No, the more I think about it, the more I'm convinced that Cogswell and Spano really should have created their own set of characters to act out the plot since their grasp of the characters of Star Trek was far too weak to make for a believable Star Trek story.

1977

[A fan] was griping the other week about the fact that we are more or less compelled to buy any pro book with 'Star Trek' on it. Well, another one is on the shelves for us to decide about. 'Spock, Messiah!' is basically a good adventure, but it has flaws of characterization, and problems that Gerrold and us jaded zine readers are already very familiar with... Story: little gadgets put you in a low-grade contact with the minds of natives of a planet, so a Starfleet officer instantly knows the language and customs of the world. But sometimes too much of the native's personality comes through. Spock's opposite number is a nutty shaman with a JC [Jesus Christ] complex, and he gets out of control. So, Spock swipes the ship's crystals, paralyzing it, while a huge wave of radiation moves in that will fry the Big E in eight days. Kirk and company go after the messiah, but he has crystals tucked into a tricorder and will destroy them if he thinks he's about to be captured. Meanwhile, he's changing the religion of this darkage planet and driving the people to war. On characterization: I'd say it's as good as Foster's or better, with some lapses -- Kirk describes an ensign as 'a sexpot' in front of the whole bridge crew, and Scotty banters about the Vulcan cycle. The idea that Spock's Eagle Scout personality is submerged by the madman's -- come on, this is Spock, who straigtened out Van Gelder's mind, who juggled three mind links at once at the OK Corral -- And the sexpot ensign saves the day, a touch of Mary Sue, as the Menagerie keepers would say. She's supposedly an anthropologist with a mind like Susan Calvin's, but we never get to see it.

This is pretty much a puzzle-box story. The Enterprise is helpless, robbed of crystals. Now, considering that Lazarus once stole the crystals, and Spock once stole the ship, there ought to be a system so that not even the First Officer can walk off with the crystals. And the idea that gems that control a small sun can be destroyed by the juice of a tricorder!

There is also the problem that Spock is supposed to be indistinguishable from the hillsmen, since they all wear cowls. If our messiah does as much womanizing as he is said to, word would get around as to whether he is a normal Kyrosian man (heart rate, body temperature, and so on). And in a masked society, I should think voice recognition is important, but there's nothing on that. Saying that Spock comes back to denouce the messiah -- bad. When the shaman's magic fails, his religion will die a natural death. Sending in a pointy-eared angel will just start more legends.

The pace is a little slow, as you can't have a pro novel of fewer than 180 pages. Excellent repro, but no art. If you judged this as a zine, it's pretty good. At $1.75, it's cheap for a zine. If you get it, some Bantam executive will rub his hands together gleefully and say, 'I TOLD you they'd buy anything with 'Star Trek' on it!' But this might encourage the powers that be to pout out lots of movies on the subject. If you skip this one, you won't be missing any more than if you skipped some other fanwritten novel that everyone seems to have read, but isn't what you'd call an important novel.

This novel is the first in a series of original star Trek novels Ban tam plans to release. Cogswell is an excellent tale-spinner, and his horror story, "The Spectre General" is fairly well known.

This is an adequate, but not all that exciting or attention-holding a novel. The basic plot involves the planet Kyros, which the Enterprise is studying using a new device which links a crewmember's mind with that of a selected native. Through a series of unlikely events, Spock (who else) goes insane and is bent on taking over the planet, which he believes is his divine mission. This is due to a malfunction in his mind-link. Meanwhile, our favorite starship is in danger of destruction, and only Mr. Spock can save them.

I may be a bit unfair, but this novel is simply not up to par. It totally lack any "sense of wonder", which to me is vital, especially to a star Trek story. Also, Cogswell's prose is not smooth or moody enough to blend with the plot. Small inconsistencies in detail and characterization plague the reader, which should have been weeded out by Mr. Spano, who is, according to the cover blurb, "an authority on all the characters, events, and background of the series." One wonders if he ever saw the show. I can't recommend this novel to anyone but the ST fan, who will gleen some enjoyment from it.

RATING: * * 1/2.

...my pet peeve with the book — the ending. I've seen (or shall I say read) stories with cop-out endings before, but this one takes the cake!

Spock wasn't acting like Spock because it wasn't Spock after all! Even so, the authors — if They knew anything at all of Spock, which their "ST expert" (?!) seems not to — could have made a very interesting ending by dealing with Spock's reactions to what happened to him, the psychological crises he must have gone through to be able to deal with something so traumatic. Did you notice how lousy the cover art is? Hardly looks like Spock at all.

I'm surprised Bantam even let these dudes kill Star Trek the way they do here. See, Spook goes crazy and becomes a mad tyrant, Dent on destroying the entire universe. But the characterizations are all wrong; McCoy and Kirk only get together to talk over drinks, and from the way they talk of Spock you'd think they would phaser him first chance they got. What's more, Spock doesn't appear in the entire book, until the last pages. Man, if you think "Omega Glory" was bad, brother, this book should be screwed!

Yucch. (Grade: -F)

2000

Unfortunately the writing is technically sound, so I gave it [two stars] for "You can finish it, but why bother?" As for content, this has to be the most awful Trek book I have ever read. Don't buy it, don't read it, don't even think about it.

(Spock is transformed by contact with an alien consciousness which drives him mad. Now he believes he is the Messiah of Kyros and will stop at nothing to revolutionize the world.)

In terms of content alone, this is one of the most *horrible* Star Trek books I have ever read. Kirk, McCoy and Chekov are sexist, patronizing jerks, while Spock is an arrogant Vulcan chauvinist. The humans refer to him as an "organic computer and treat him in a way reminiscent of the Vulcan-bashing on Voyager. Even though Spock is in the title and supposedly the subject, he ends up nothing more than a passive victim. This might have been allayed somewhat if they had told some of it from Spock's point of view, but they do not, for plot reasons. The plot is very neat and tight, but who cares?

This books is so sexist in the '70's way; there's nothing but sex, sex, sex. Women exist only as the objects of male attention. I don't even want to get into the extremely (s)exploitative storyline involving the previously "prim" Ensign George who gets turned on to more "sensual" behavior. This is what you would get if you distilled all the most racist, sexist elements of Star Trek and put them together. take a little of "Mudd's Women," "Elaan of Troyius" and Spock from the mind meld on in "Is There in Truth No Beauty" and you have _Spock, Messiah!_. It's no wonder Spock is down for the count in this book -- his morals, his thoughtfulness, his loyalty would get in the way of the macho parade in this book.

It's a shame, in some ways, because this book could have been more. There have been lame attempts to deal with religious and/or racial fanaticism in other Trek books, but this one had the most potential to really take it on well. However, ad the book goes on, it gives into cliches and lazy writing. For example, the comparison is made to Hitler's speech-making abilities. Now, there are some people who can make speeches so well that you'd believe about anything, but the words are the curcial [sic] thing. Hitler had an audience because some Germans were listening, not because he had some sort of charismatic or hypnotic "power." But while Spock may have had charisma in bundles, this "Messiah" has neither charisma nor anything interesting to say. And he certainly doesn't say it in a compelling way. I don't buy it. For those of you who *have* read the book, I also have big nit. Wouldn't Kirk recognize Spock's voice? You would think so . . . This is the most sexist Star Trek book ever, even worse than TNG #38 _Dragon's Honor_. It's not just the sex; Peter David puts a lot of sexual innuendo in his boss, but he isn't a leering jackass. And did I mention the drinking--?

2001

I didn't think Spock Messiah! was that bad a story. It just wasn't Trek.

2008

Many early novels put a lot of attention into the Vulcan character, as it was the most popular character then. The internal emotion/logic conflict also generated a lot of interest. On Spock, Messiah!, even though it was centered around Spock, it actually did not include him directly during most of the plot.

Here’s also a recurring plot device: the mind-altering bug/disease/poison/gadget that made a character to act in extreme ways. At the beginning of this book, it’s actually interesting to see how the mind-monitoring device went haywire with the science office, mashing his mind with an alien psychopath, making him a religious fanatic, but with all the abilities and capacities of the Vulcan mind.

The plot quickly spirals down into a western adventure in a alien planet. I quickly lost interest in the middle of it, and did not pay much attention to the details, just to the end where they ‘rescue’ Spock and everything returns to normal.

I would like to expand more about it, but there really is not much here.

At this point, there was a lot of demand for full Trek novels. This was not a very good try, it seems like just a quick write-up of a story to quickly fill a writing quota. I would not recommend it; skip it to other better written novels.

Unknown Date

The crew of the Enterprise has been sent to the planet Kyros to check out a new survey tool: a telescan cephalic implant designed to connect the mind of a survey team member with that of a native of the planet. The hope is that this implant will allow those using it to quickly understand both the language and the customs of the planet as well as adopt the mannerisms of the natives. If the field test is successful, it is believed that this new invention will allow a more in depth study of a planet and its inhabitants. However, when Mr. Spock is connected to a half-insane revolutionary by mistake, he sabotages the Enterprise, leaving it helpless against an approaching radiation front that will make the ship uninhabitable in a matter of days. It’s up to Captain Kirk, Dr. McCoy, and a young ensign to find Mr. Spock and bring him back to sanity in order to save the Enterprise and stop a full-blown revolution on the planet.

While new inventions often have glitches that cause malfunctions, this story adds a new twist: the invention works well. It’s the application of the invention that causes all the problems. And while there are several clues throughout the novel as to the real identity of the planet’s messiah, they tend to be overlooked, thus providing a few false leads.

This is a very readable novel with enough twists and turns to capture the attention of readers of all ages. Probably the only real weakness in the plot is that the climax is summarized more than shown, leaving the reader to wonder about the specifics. There also seems to be a gap between the rescue of Kirk and his men and Spock’s final attempt to undo the damage that has been caused on the planet. Even with this weakness in plot, the characters are well-developed, and the whole story seems more than plausible. There’s even a little humor when Dr. McCoy shows that he can handle any mule—or neelot in this particular case.

While not as strong as many of the earlier novels, Spock, Messiah! should still prove a good read for all.