Fiction: Dreadnought!, by Diane Carey; Star Trek; professional novel.
We've all experienced or found out about books being made into movies, with the results being anything but satisfactory.
But did you know books following a TV series can generate the same effect?
Information by Pat Pflieger
Camille Bacon-Smith says that in two Diane Carey Star Trek novels, Piper is a Mary Sue who stumbles, whines, and bunny-hops her way to Lieutenant-Commander.
Captain James T. Kirk, who runs a tight Enterprise, charmed almost speechless by Lt. Piper's flip answers to his questions.
Piper uses a curling iron to escape from confinement to her quarters on the Enterprise and bunny-hops to the rescue of her superior officers.
In Diane Carey's Star Trek novel, Dreadnought!, Piper comes From a planet where everyone has only one name. She is at the center of everything: the message from the stolen dreadnought is keyed to her bioscan; the power-hungry admiral whose plans are about to be thwarted, Piper assures us, singles her out for death; she is the reason Sarda, her Vulcan friend, is at odds with the other Vulcans.
Piper stumbles, whines, and bunny-hops her way to Lieutenant-Commander, never, but never dressed in her uniform: usually she's in some form-fitting jumpsuit -- perhaps a nod to the impracticality of trying to save the universe while dressed in a miniskirt and go-go boots.
Piper's never been introduced to the concept of the unexpressed thought; she yelps, mutters, or whines everything that comes into her pretty little head.
She is the only person who can understand/fix everything from a fried communications system to a Vulcan's broken spirit.
Partly, this is due to the point of view: because the book is written in first person, Carey is reduced to giving Piper "visions" of what's going on with Kirk, Spock, etc., so we don't forget that they're there, too.
Piper's groupie-like awe of these gods is surprisingly annoying -- and so is her astonishingly flip remarks to them and her constant second-guessing of them.
While the most grating bits (the bunny-hop, the use of a curling iron to escape imprisonment in her quarters) are logical alternatives, the reader cringes every damn time. Apparently Piper is considered good officer material, but she never comes across as someone with much intellectual depth or special insight into any situation.
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