Customer Reviews
A cute but not especially clever look at Captain Proton
Star Trek Voyager presents "Captain Proton: Defender of the Earth" is pretty much half of a good idea. What we are supposed to have here are the "original" Captain Proton stories that Tom Paris and Harry Kim have so much funny playing with on the holodeck. But in trying to be too much of a parody of the old pulp science fiction stories what we get is more cute than clever. The book has photographs of Tom and Harry dressed up as Captain Proton and Buster Kincaid when what it really needed was more Fifties Sci-Fi art in the manner of the cover, whereupon Captain Proton is trying to rescue Constance Goodheart from the clutches of one of your proverbial Bug-Eyed Monsters. Included in this volume are the complete "featured book-length" Captain Proton novel "Children of the Glass" by D. W. "Prof" Smith, Chapter 2 of "Death of the Patrol" by Ray Hamil, and a pair of short stories focusing on Constance Goodheart and Ace Reporter Buster Kincaid. There are also a few special features examining Mercury as one of "The Planets of the Future" and Seattle as an example of "The City of the Future," along with "Letters to Captain Proton." Instead of a look at the Sandmen of Mercury I think it would have been more interesting to do a takeoff on the predictions science fiction had half-a-century ago as they relate to the Star Trek universe. Because the stories follow the traditional serial/cliffhanger approach, they get a bit redundant and repetitive at times, which means they end up dragging a bit. Of course, I have to admit it is difficult to really do a nice parody on a style of writing with which a vast majority of the reading audience is totally unfamiliar. Besides, I think I prefer Hamil's version of the good Captain to that of "Doc" Smith, even though I know it is heresy to suggest such a thing. For Voyager fans this book is worth a look, but probably not a second one.
Very disappointing
I'll fess up: I'm not a big fan of Star Trek novelizations, but I figured I'll give this one a try because I love old SF, Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, Commander Cody, etc. Wow, did I figure wrong!
If this book where any slower, it would have been arrested for blocking traffic. Those old serials were renowned for their frantic pace, which this book comes nowhere near.
Further, the author doesn't seem to be sure whether he is doing a hommage to the old serials or a satire. Doesn't really matter, though, because by the time you've noticed the inconsistency, you'll have given up reading this...book.
Captain Proton's REAL Basis
A number of other reviewers have stated that the Captain Proton character is based on either Flash Gordon or Buck Rogers. They are incorrect. In reality the character is the Republic Pictures "Rocketman" character who appeared in 4 Republic Serials under the names Jeff King aka "The Rocketman", Larry Martin, and Commando Cody (twice). The Serials were respectively King of the Rocketmen, Zombies of the Stratosphere, Radar Men from the Moon, and Commando Cody - Sky Marshal of the Universe (which was not realy a serial but a 12 Episode TV Show/Story Arc [ie: the episodes did not end in cliffhangers]).
OTOH: Chaotica WAS based on Flash Gordon's arch enemy Ming the Merciless.
The Robot (who appeared in the Star Trek Episodes [BTW: there were 3 not 2 two where were named - the 3rd was the flashback one about the Water-planet and Paris's Demotion]) is the "Republic Robot" who appeared in a number of Republic Serials including Zombies.
