Trek Throwback Thursday: The Kobayashi Maru by Julia Ecklar

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Trek Throwback Thursday: The Kobayashi Maru by Julia Ecklar


Julia Ecklar's The Kobayashi Maru (TOS #47) is a fun little self contained TOS novel which explores the backstories of some of our favorite TOS characters. Full disclosure: this review will be more than a bit biased. This is one of the first Star Trek novels I ever read, and one of my favorites.

Set shortly after Star Trek: The Motion Picture, the story opens with Kirk, McCoy, Scotty, Sulu and Chekov onboard a USS Enterprise shuttlecraft disabled after hitting a gravitic mine. After Sulu likes their situation to the famous (infamous?) Starfleet Academy Kobayashi Maru no-win scenario, Kirk, Chekov, Sulu and Scotty each share the story of their respective attempts to beat the no-win scenario. From Kirk's trying three times and then cheating by reprogramming the simulation, Chekov's destroying his ship to prevent capture (his story mostly focuses on another similar training scenario), Sulu taking the test amid the emotional turmoil following the loss of his great-grandfather, and even Scotty's attempt to use engineering to out-think the test and how that led to him switching from command to engineering school, each story delves deep into the backstory and personality of the respective character. Ecklar does a wonderful job believably depicting the younger Starfleet Academy versions of our characters. At a short 254 pages The Kobayashi Maru is a quick, but satisfying read.

Bonus: the abridged audiobook (running time approximately 90 minutes) is narrated by James Doohan, who does a great job with the voices of each character.

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