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The Enterprise crew races to stop the galaxy's ultimate weapon!

Doomsday World is a Pocket TNG novel – #12 in the numbered series – written by the collaboration of Carmen Carter, Peter David, Michael Jan Friedman and Robert Greenberger. Published by Pocket Books, it was first released in July 1990.

Summary[]

From the book jacket
The planet Kirlos – an artificial world built by a mysterious long-dead race called the Ariantu. Kirlos is now home to many races from both the Federation and the K'vin Hegemony, who have enjoyed years of peaceful co-existence and profitable trade. The planet also hold a wealth of undiscovered archaeological treasures, which the USS Enterprise-D and its crew are dispatched to help uncover.
Sent to the surface to assist an archaeological team, Geordi, Data, and Worf soon find themselves cut off from the Enterprise – and the prime suspects in a series of terrorist attacks. The three Enterprise crewmen are imprisoned, relations between the K'vin and the Federation begin to crumble, and Kirlos' ancient underground machinery awakens from a centuries long dormancy, primed to release the most powerful destructive force ever known.

Excerpts of copyrighted sources are included for review purposes only, without any intention of infringement.

Memorable quotes[]

"Everything about everything? Hey, Busiek! What's the diameter of this planet?"
"Forty-two hundred miles."
"Average surface temperature?"
"Minus sixty-two degrees Celsius."
"What's the average wing speed of an unladen swallow?"
"European or African?"
"Damn, he's good."

- Geordi La Forge and the alien bartender (referencing Monty Python and the Holy Grail)


"Orders, sir?"
"Me, order you in this mess? You're the security officer – start securing!"

- Worf and La Forge


"I believe I have learned that command is far more difficult than I thought it would be. And you, Geordi?"
"I learned that I need to try and keep cooler in high-pressure situations… and maybe find a way to keep my VISOR on tighter."
"I have learned that if I had been allowed to shoot things when I wanted to shoot them in the first place, we would have had significantly fewer problems."

- Data, Geordi La Forge, and Worf

Background information[]

  • The concept of a collaboratively-written Star Trek novel originated from a gathering of New York-based Trek authors organised by Pocket Books editor, Dave Stern, to which Greenberger was invited along as a consequence of his work editing DC Comics' Trek output. A previous meeting had derived the concept for The Lost Years series, and it was at the February 1988 event that the idea of a group of authors working on a single novel was suggested. (Voyages of Imagination, pp. 168-169; Doomsday World Author's Notes)
  • Greenberger agreed with the idea, and developed the concept for the story. The novel was deliberately structured so that characters were split up, allowing each author to work on a different plotline. After working through the completed draft together, Friedman then gave the novel a final polish. (Voyages of Imagination, pp. 168-169)
  • The success of this novel led to a second collaboration, the Pocket TOS novel, The Disinherited (although Carter decided not to take part).

Characters[]

Jean-Luc Picard
Geordi La Forge
Data
Worf
Keenan
Ensign.
Wesley Crusher
Solis
Davies
Dean
Burke
Edwards
Lieutenant.
Ravitch
Nagel

References[]

Borg; Enterprise-D, USS; Gatherers

K'vin
Named for Pocket editor Kevin Ryan.

External links[]


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#11: Gulliver's Fugitives Pocket TNG
Numbered novels
#13: The Eyes of the Beholders
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