Cover of Encounter at Farpoint | 15th June 2013, 18:06

As an ambitious and ongoing project, I'm planning to read/re-read the novel series based on Star Trek: The Next Generation. There are over 100 so I expect this to take some time, and don't know if there are any rules I plan to break along the way - but for now the entire series in publication order. I've begun with the novelization of the pilot episode Encounter at Farpoint, written by David Gerrold and based on the episode by D.C. Fontana and Gene Roddenberry. I've noticed as I've unboxed and added to my collection in preparation for this re-read, that some of the cover art is rather dreadful, and so I thought I would use this space to comment on the novels' covers. Farpoint was published with three different covers, as far as I can tell from a quick Google, and my copy bears the one on the left (below). My edition of the novel is the Titan Books version published in the UK; the other two are from Pocket Books, so are presumably US editions. There's nothing wrong with this cover - the use of a photograph of the crew seems a perfectly satisfactory way to introduce the new series, although the absence of the Enterprise itself is surprising. The image will help the reader, who may have yet to see an episode of the TV series, to visualise the characters, assuming Gerrold's descriptions are detailed enough, and I think they would be. It's interesting to see that the UK edition has taken the background out of the shot to declutter the cover - despite the volume of text being similar on both, the UK cover feels much cleaner. There are two other notable oddities. For some reason the UK publisher have decided to crop Wesley Crusher out of the image. I'm at a loss to understand why this would be done from an editorial point of view, but perhaps the dark clothing he's wearing clashed with the desire to use a starfield background and the decision was an artistic one? Maybe he turned into a floating head? But then that doesn't explain why they left Worf in clashing so badly with the background. In fact, the quality of the printing is so low on my copy that I can't tell whether Worf's eyes are open or not. The Pocket version of the photograph seems to have a more reflective Worf but still doesn't show up well. The photograph also stands out though because it is not the cast photo from the pilot, but from the main body of the first season. The reason for this is presumably because Worf wasn't in the pilot's cast photo at all, but it's more noticeable because the appearance of Troi was changed dramatically after the pilot - long frizzy hair replaced by a bun and a blue skirted Starfleet uniform replaced by random bodysuit (something I don't recall ever being addressed in the series - how did she get away with not wearing a uniform for so many years?). Overall, it's not a bad cover and introduces the audience well. Photographs are always the best way to depict the cast, and as I continue through the series I expect to see them replaced by some truly hideous drawings. Next up: Ghost Ship by Diane Carey

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