This collection begins with an intro by David Gerrold, one of the writers for the original show, reminding us of what it stood for. It gave me very high expectations for this anthology, which the stories could not match. The first story is about reasons for breaking the Prime Directive. It is a good but not great story. The second story is about Sulu's first landing party command. It is mechanistic and there is very little feeling in the writing. In the third story, Chekov and McCoy visit Iraq, and are of course shocked by the behaviour of the soldiers. Technically, it is set on a different planet, but other than changing guns for phasers, the author made almost no changes in describing an American army unit. You can't simply slap a delta symbol and a red shirt on an American G.I. and call him Starfleet Security, the behaviour patterns and mindset are too different. It is not a Trek story. Plus it is just not a good story. To top things off, this was written by Howard Weinstein. I was certain that he, of all these authors, would have written an enjoyable story, and instead I get this.
The fourth story is a considerable improvement. It is that Star Trek standard, the crew caught between two feuding parties until they can figure out enough to bring the two sides to the negotiating table. I love this type of story. Plus, there is some great sense of wonder stuff too. It's a little metaphysical for me, but is very well written. However, this story was for me marred by the gratuitous inclusion of another "American Empire" Starfleet officer, commanding the station the Enterprise visits. There is no reason to include such an attitude in the story. The fifth story is a genuinely good story. The ship's in trouble, Spock's in trouble, and McCoy and Kirk have to save both. The next story is Christopher Bennett's. The idea is interesting, but this guy just has no subtlety. Everything is right in your face, with no depth. The next story isn't much better, too short and too simplistic.
Then comes Dave Galanter's The Leader, starting an end run of five good stories. The Leader is probably the best writing of the whole collection, and leads all categories except most entertaining and most moving.The next story features Scotty and Sulu sharing command of the Enterprise. It is the story with the coolest sense of wonder features, and is a very good story overall. The tenth story is a bit of a look into Spock's past, and the specific circumstances that led him into Starfleet. It is also a story about how people change, for better or worse. It is a quite good but not great story. The eleventh story is Jeffrey Lang's, of Immortal Coil fame. It's the humour story, and he does a wonderful job. The final story is one of the most moving Trek stories I have read.
The Original Series is, to me, a setting about hope and idealism and exploration. I would not recommend this book to fans of the Original Series. This is a very dark depiction of the Federation. The post-Dominion War setting is dark, moody and introspective, and much more appropriate for these stories. So much for the intention to celebrate 40 years of Star Trek.
