Star Trek on Audio

I was flipping through the growing audiobook section at my local library and ran across one called Star Trek: The Next Generation -- Q-Squared by Peter David and read by John De Lancie. Since I'm a fan, I grinned and picked it up. It was a better experience than I imagined it would be. De Lancie's dramatic reading was excellent, and the story was great entertainment.

Simon and Schuster Audioworks produces audiobooks of consistent high quality. Their Star Trek titles are no exception. They've published over 50 Star Trek audiobooks since 1988, and all are very well produced. Sound effects and music enhance the reading often performed by a Star Trek actor. (Some of the early ones had two performers; George Takei doing the reading, and Nimoy doing some log entries as Mr. Spock.) The early audiobooks were each a single 90-minute cassette, but now the norm is a more comfortable 2-cassette, 3-hour length. The stories are abridged from the print versions to fit the 3-hour length.

The selections adapted for the 50+ audiobooks are with very few exceptions extremely entertaining. They are a wonderful way to reconnect with the characters so many of us love from all 4 Star Trek series.

Here are the best of them:

Star Trek: The Next Generation -- Q-Squared by Peter David, read by John De Lancie. Length: 3 hours.
This is without doubt the finest Q story I've ever come across in print or on the screen. Trelane is back from the original series, and Q must stop him from tearing apart the universe. De Lancie presents the story with Q's genuine humour and attitude.

Star Trek -- Prime Directive by Garfield and Judith Reeves-Stevens, read by James Doohan. Length: 3 hours.
A good reading of a very interesting and entertaining story. The original crew of the Enterprise reconstructs the events leading to the destruction of a planet that Captain Kirk did -- or did not -- destroy.

Star Trek: The Next Generation -- Imzadi by Peter David, read by Jonathan Frakes. Length: 3 hours.
This is the audio version of perhaps the most famous Star Trek novel. A refreshing look at the romantic past of Troi and Riker, very well read by Frakes. (Also see Peter David's Imzadi II, read by Robert C. O'Reilly.)

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine -- Fallen Heroes by Dafydd ab Hugh, read by Rene Auberjonois. Length: 2 hours.
This very intense story teams Odo with Quark as they struggle to discover what's happened to the DS9 crew, and what to do about it. Auberjonois' perfomance is excellent.

Star Trek -- Vulcan's Forge by Josepha Sherman and Susan Schwartz, read by Leonard Nimoy. Length: 3 hours.
This is the audio version of a novel that was highly praised in the science fiction community. It is a deeper look at the beloved Mr. Spock, read by Nimoy himself. My only wish here is that it was longer. This one looses a bit in the abridgment, but Nimoy's reading is outstanding, and well worth a listen. (Also check it's sequel, Vulcan's Forge, by Sherman and Schwartz, read by Voyager's Tim Russ.)