Page And Screen II

See Page And Screen.

This post presents some general observations and Poul Anderson is part of it.

Of course, if anyone likes screen sf and dislikes prose sf, then that is their choice like what they eat or which church, if any, they attend. However, Star Trek fans read Star Trek novels. It is a short step from James Blish's Star Trek novel, Spock Must Die!, to Blish's future history series, Cities In Flight, which was to have been filmed although it wound up not being. Cities In Flight was described as a "higher and greater Star Trek" (see here) and this characterization is valid even down to the focus on the bridge team instead of on the large crew of a starship or the population of New York.

It is a short step from kzinti in an animated Star Trek episode scripted by Larry Niven to the Man-Kzin War series written by Niven, Poul Anderson, Jerry Pournelle & SM Stirling etc. From there, readers may proceed to:

the rest of Niven's Known Space future history;
Anderson's and Pournelle's future histories;
Stirling's alternative history series.

It is difficult to see how anyone can fail to conclude that these writers do what Star Trek does but do it better.

Doctor Who, which also presents a long list of novels based on the TV series, used to alternate between historical and futuristic or extraterrestrial settings:

Daleks and Thals are like Morlocks and Eloi;
Daleks: Invasion Earth is like The War Of The Worlds;
Danellians and Time Patrol are a vast improvement on the Time Lords;
the Time Patrol series realizes many historical periods.

So I still maintain that those who restrict their attention to Star Trek or Doctor Who miss out on a lot that is potentially there for them.