The Conscience of the Governor

Zine
Title:	The Conscience of the Governor
Publisher:	Empathy Publications
Editor:
Author(s):	Glen David
Cover Artist(s):
Illustrator(s):
Date(s):	February 1984
Medium:	print
Size:
Genre:
Fandom:	Star Trek: TOS
Language:	English
External Links:
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The Conscience of the Governor is a gen Star Trek: TOS 82-page novel by Glen David. It has the subtitle, "A Story in Five Acts."

Reactions and Reviews

'The Conscience of the Governor' by Glen David sets out to fill in the background to the episode 'The Conscience of the King'.

As a complement to that episode, it comes complete with dramatis personae, Shakespearean references and is split into 5 acts. The zine is witty, ingenious and not completely successful.

We know rather too much about the Tarsus 4 incident for comfort. Constructing a plot around potentially awkward detail requires a great deal of inventiveness. That Glen David does it so elegantly is a tribute to her skill. But even that great skill cannot get her round the fact that her characters have no free will. They are made to fit the set of circumstances. It is interesting to note that those areas of the zine that are Ms. David's own creation have more tension and vitality than those made to fit the framework.

The acts are divided between Tarsus and the Enterprise. I enjoyed the Enterprise sections. Both funny and touching, they convey the mixture of emotions experienced by the very young James T. (for Tubby) Kirk as one of three prize winning cadets pennitted a board the newest and fastest ship in the fleet. Ms. David's eye for comic detail is particularly evident in engineering, where we meet Lt. Brendan Thomas O'Shaunessy and "arguably the second most useful tool you'll find on a starship....".

The Tarsus scenes begin well. We see Tom Leighton confronting the colony's High Council, to find Kodos the only man capable of both understanding the problem and of taking effective action. Having discovered this, we see Leighton desperately working to combat the plant blight, only to find that there is nothing to be done. Through his eyes and almost incidentally, we see clues to Kodos' final solution. The tension is built up well but as the writer approaches that dreadful action, she places her reader further and further away from the centre of events. This leaves a gap.

Of course we know how the story ends so there can be little suspense but Ms. David sustained my interest for 4 of the 5 acts by the strength of the characterisation. I experienced Leighton's frustration and despair, I felt the power of Kodos' personality.

I was fascinated by them both. In the final act, seen through the eyes of Cadet Kirk they are different men. From being a commanding influence in the earlier part of the story, Kodos disappears completely, only to reappear briefly at the end - quite mad. There are only a 'doctor's' dry explanation of his psychological state and the comments of other characters to explain this change. It's not nearly enough. Kirk wonders at the end, "What kind of man was this, who could order the execution of four thousand, and yet could welcome Starfleet whose unlooked for arrival turned him on the instant from hero to executioner?" I am still looking for clues. Ms. David has made her characters fit the circumstances, far away and behind a lace curtain.

82 pages. No artwork, poetry or other distractions, just good solid story.