Hw Much Just Planet Star Trek 36

by John M. Ford

Book Overview

Depicts the joyous search for life of eighty-year-old Maude and twenty-year-old Harold. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0671629980
• ISBN13: 9780671629984
• Release Date: October 1987
• Publisher: Pocket Books
• Length: 253 Pages
• Weight: 0.32 lbs.

Customer Reviews

This is an incredibly stupid book.

The book begins like a really poorly written Star Trek book and rapidly becomes slapstick nonsense. If you want a ridiculously silly book that happens to have some ST characters in it, maybe you'll like it.

The "Noises Off" of the Star Trek universe

This book is not a loose comedic romp. It's an immaculately constructed and *extremely* funny farce (and if you think those are easy, just try writing one). On top of that, it has deft, witty Gilbert & Sullivan-style musical numbers scattered throughout, and some beautiful set-piece scenes -- starting with the opening, where we're introduced to the main characters by watching them eat their various breakfasts. Much follows. I doubt there's a page in the book that can safely be read while drinking a Coke. The climax is appallingly unlikely, yet somehow satisfyingly predictable. In short, this is a dazzling display of technical virtuosity and comic genius that happens to also be a Star Trek tie-in novel, and I laughed so hard I hurt myself. When I re-read it again later, the same thing happened. The only reason to not read this book is because you're saving it to cheer you up the next time you have oral surgery or the flu.

Get the Kleenex! Warning causes spasms of laughter!

This has to be the funniest Star Trek book I have ever read ... probably one of the funniest books as well. While some books have a few mildly comic scenes, this one made me laugh do hard that I was a mess. Totally incoherent with tears, the works!The Vulcan, T'Vey is priceless and I've always liked the Vulcans more after reading this delightful book.The book has 3 different back stories going on, which all come together at the end. Kirk and the Enterprise arrive on the planet of Deiriedi and their interactions with the local inhabitants form the first part of the story. Then there is the story of T'Vey and the crew of the freighter and their mishap that lands them on the planet. Lastly there are the Klingons who come to defend their rights to the dilithium ore and want to beat Kirk et al to the punch. The locals have their own ideas and play one group against the other. Over it all, in the background, both Kirk and the Klingons try very hard to behave so that the Organians don't zap them for their bad behavior.It's beautifully written and a joy to read even if you've read it before. Thank you John Ford for a real treat.

Star Trek at its best

Star trek has always been at its best when It doesn't take itself too seriously and How Much for Just the Planet really fits the bill. This story is so good it makes me wish the crew was intact and young enough to make the movie. I first read it on my way to chemotherapy appointments. I would be laughing to myself on the bus. It must have been quite a sight...a middle aged woman, bald as a billard ball, reading a Star trek novel and laughing out loud. It really brightened my day. I believe this is one of the best stories written ,especially if you get the musical references.

Trek meets the 3 Stooges?

This book has occasionally been called the sequel to "The Final Reflection". Actually, it is no such thing. But it is the book which *could have been* the sequel, had Paramount granted John M. Ford free rein to write another about the Klingon culture he had so meticulously developed in his first Trek novel. Instead, Paramount had begun to exercise tighter control over pro-novelists' creativity, and this book was Ford's response to such stiflement. And by Kahless' Hand, did he have fun with it! "How Much For Just the Planet" is not just a spoof of Star Trek, but a spoof of Paramount itself: "...Scott's eye was caught by an unusual constellation: a ring of stars haloing a distant peak. 'Look at that, now. Doesn't it awe you a little? To think there might be a higher power than us, arranging matters?'..." (To fully appreciate that passage, envision the Paramount icon.) So we get Kirk and the Klingons in a riotous quasi-musical Busby Berkely-type comedy production culminating in the intergalactic pie-fight. Trek purists tend to hate this novel as much as Paramount and Pocket do, but Ford's fans laugh along with him. Vengeance is a dish best served cold, and this one tastes sweet as a pink n'gaan milkshake!

One of a kind belly-laugh!

This book was sadly out-of-print for many years, but was brought back just recently. That's good, because quite honestly Star Trek books tend to follow a specific formula: crew arrives on planet, encounters problem, fixes problem, lives happily ever after. This book takes a weirder outlook... it's more what people would write for fanfiction than an actual novel, which is a darn shame!Dilithium is valuable--you find that out within a short amount of time. And when amazing deposits of it are found on the relatively-advanced planet Direidi (Dee-RYE-dee) both a Klingon cruiser and the USS Enterprise are sent there to stake a claim. But the inhabitants of the planet are apparently going to have some fun with our heroes...Frankly the summary sounds a bit dry, but this book is anything but. Combine a neurotic Vulcan, a crazy computer, an inflatable starship, a princess in love, peppermint Vulcan milkshakes, Kirk fending off a Klingon with soda-water, blue grits, and a lot of weird songs. And the climax is to DIE for. It's goofy, but it's fun. If you insist on the characters rigidly adhering to what you see on the show, then you will hate this book. If you're willing to see them loosen up, dance and sing, and get involved in madcap adventures, then you will love this book!