Flashback

Star Trek: Voyager

by Diane Carey, Brannon Braga

A hundred years before the Starship Voyager was transported to the Delta Quadrant, Lieutenant Tuvok served under one of Starfleet's most famous officers: Captain Hikaru Sulu of the Starship Excelsior. Now those days have come back to haunt him. While traveling through an uncharted nebula, Tuvok is besieged by recurring memories of his time with Captain Sulu-- repressed memories that may well kill him unless their source is determined in time.

To save her closest friend, Captain Kathryn Janeway follows Tuvok to the century-old bridge of the Excelsior during a desperate battle. There Tuvok, Captain Janeway, Captain Sulu and Commander Janice Rand must face a menace to galactic life unlike anything known before...

Genres: Star Trek, Science Fiction, Star Trek Voyager, Fiction, Ebooks, Science Fiction Fantasy, Space

279 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published October 1, 1996

About the author

Diane Carey also wrote the Distress Call 911 young adult series under the name D.L. Carey.

Diane Carey is primarily a science fiction author best known for her work in the Star Trek franchise. She has been the lead-off writer for two Star Trek spin-off book series: Star Trek The Next Generation with Star Trek: Ghost Ship, and the novelization of the Star Trek: Enterprise pilot, Broken Bow.

For more information, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diane_Carey

Reviews

[Elizabeth Perez · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Better to die on our feet than live on our knees"

Things I really liked about this book: First, Tuvok! Finally an author really dove into his character and in such a believable way explaining so much. Next all of the sub-plots that just made the book so much more interesting than the episode. Lastly I loved how the author tied in some Earth history and so much of TOS history, I would think most TOS fans would really love this book it really did the characters justice.

More than the story I loved the writing, it was poetic without being too wordy which is a rarity in any writing let along ST fiction. I think this is the most quotable ST book I've ever read. Here are a few of my favorite quotes.

"A certain onyx glint rose in Sulu's eyes as he finished..."

"The glow began to fade, her mind to blur. Thoughts began blending gently, like tidal waters washing in, out."

"A terrorized mind commits suicide to avoid the terror."

"Better to die in a ball of flames than play it safe and arrive to find a charred husk where the Enterprise had been and a smashed conference with the littered corpses of dignitaries rotting in the sun."

If I could quote the last 10pages or so I would! I just can't recommend this book enough if I could give it 6 stars I would.

[Craig · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is an example of you don't do an episode novelization. The main narrative is swallowed up in a stupid Kes subplot along with the mining of the sirillium. Not only did that pad a story that was interesting enough on its own it felt like the C story to the main thrust of the novel. Throw in some random Star Trek and Amelia Earhart quotes (along with a subplot with her thrown in for good measure) and the story is unfocused and all over the place and loses what was there in the episode. Toss in the usual Diane Carey pew-pew-pews and her misunderstandings of events and you get this mess of a book. Was a struggle to get through and glad I am done.

Also what's the deal with the Excelsior refit being on the cover? I don't like to nitpick stuff like that but that HAD to have been noticed by somebody.

[Jeremiah Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I want Janeway poking around my distant memories!

I'm kind of stressed out these days, my family is in the middle of a big move--the unexpected problems, packing and unpacking never seem to end. But picking up a TV episode novelization beams me out of my troubles. There's nothing more relaxing than opening a prose version of some 90s TV show--I know the characters, the voices, the music, the sets... my mind can just wrap around that stuff and beam me in. It's psychedelic.

Janeway seems to be having the most fun out of all the Star Trek captains. Sure, the others have a passion and sense of responsibility to zip around space and make the hard decisions, but Janeway is enjoying herself. And why not, she's in a space ship.

I find Diane Carey's books to have a strong military or naval feel. I'm not always into that, but she's a strong writer and I always like reading her books, including this one.

I've only seen a few Voyagers and The Undiscovered Country is my least favorite movie (and novelization), but I really liked reading Flashback. I'll have to check out more of Voyager.

What TV show episode novelizations should I read next?

I picked up this paperback at Savers, a thrift store, in Santa Fe, NM. They had around 12 Star Trek books. I snagged this one and Dayton Ward's In The Name of Honor. Both for $2 each. I think they had some more Voyagers, I might go back there. There was also a dog-eared, ratty copy of Star Wars, Tales from Jabba's Palace. I was tempted to pick that up because it looked like someone had really loved it--and only the force itself was holding it together. But it was $4.

Earlier this week, I read Peter David's The Rift, which has some fun parallels/connections to Flashback.

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is much in here to enjoy, especially Diane Carey's affinity for particular characters such as Janeway, Tuvok and Chakotay. I also enjoyed the little philosophical extras, such as comparing Harry Kim's purely 24th century outlook to Chakotay & Tom Paris, who Janeway believes would fit in to the more rough-and-ready 23rd century of Kirk's time. That said, this is a book that suffers from the same problem as first dozen DS9 novels: first season-itis. For a story set in "Voyager's" third season, there's too much of the early characterizations of certain characters on display, particularly in the Doctor & Neelix. It also extends to the extra sub-plots, used to flesh out the novelization (would Janeway still be pining over Amelia Earhart and her decision to not accompany Voyager back home after "The 37s"?). Speaking of those sub-plots, two of the three are a bit iffy (the Kes sub-plot is a touch overwrought; the Tom & B'Elanna sup-plot just feels like generic action filler). However, the novel does conclude with some gratifying extras, such as Tuvok allowing Janeway to experience the climax of "Star Trek VI" through his memories, and Spock's post-Khitomer advice to Tuvok, which points out some neat parallels between their personal journeys. Overall, it's an imperfect yet satisfying read.

[James Crawford · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the things I don't quite understand is why all the Star Trek novels are relatively expensive. That's one of the reasons I haven't really reviewed very many of them.

This was one of the less expensive ones and since I liked Star Trek: Voyager I decided to read it. I wasn't disappointed.

The basic theme is that Voyager is looking a a nebula when Tuvok starts to seemingly become sick. Something is going on in his mind about not being able to save a young Vulcan girl from falling off a cliff yet he knows he can't remember anything like that ever happening that involved him.

Things get a lot more complicated when he links minds with Janeway and even Kes ends up becoming involved. There are some scenes with him remembering his time on the Excelsior with Captain Sulu and some of the events from the Undiscovered Movie actually taking place.

Bellana and Paris are also featured when they go out to get some gas from the nebula and end up getting fired on my someone from Voyager.

I liked the way it linked Voyager to Undiscovered Country, the involvement of Kes and the way the whole thing seemed to fit toget her.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book #: 56
Title: Flashback
Author: Diane Carey
Series: Star Trek Voyager
Format: 279 pages, Mass Market Paperback, own
Pub Date: First published October 1, 1996
Started: November 2, 2025 Finished: November 2, 2025
Awards: none
Categories: PS24 A book with a happily single woman protagonist; GR14 A science fiction or fantasy novel written by a woman; GR40 A book you'd consider a comfort read; GR43 A book whose title has ten or fewer letters; GR49 A book that deals with time travel, alternate universes, or alternate timelines; GR2017: A book whose title doesn't contain the letter "E";
Goodreads Rating: 3.80; 434 ratings; 19 reviews
My Rating: *** three out of five stars

Passing through an uncharted nebula, Lt. Tuvok begins finds himself reliving memories, some of which happened, some didn't. Captain Janeway mind melds with him to stop these flashbacks before they kill him. She finds herself with Ensign Tuvok on his first assignment, on the bridge of the Excelsior with Captain Sulu in command.

[Mario · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought it was a surprisingly good adaptation of the episode. It didn't just follow the events, it expanded on them, pointlessly with Kes, but Tom, B'elanna and Chakotay all got something of value to do. Neelix's part of the story wasn't particularly interesting, but it tied the story together better than the episode did. The part with Amelia Earhart was a little out of left field (just like the character herself) but the parts expanding on the interaction with The Undiscovered Country was well done to the point that I wish it had been a two part episode with more original cast members right from the start. So maybe the whole thing was hit or miss, but I enjoyed the hits well enough.

[Benjamin Hall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Often times, novelizations of episodes tend to be very exacting to the episode. I felt this one did a nice job bringing in extra depth that kept it interesting. I really like Tuvok as a character, so any time we get to focus on him, I enjoy it, and this one did a nice job of giving history and peeling back layers to the character of Tuvok.

There was some extra filler concerning gathering sirillium. It was an okay addition. It didn't really add much value to the book, but it broke up the story a bit.

The biggest flaw was trying to create a subplot with Kes. It just didn't work. It was pointless. Thankfully, it didn't interfere with the rest of the story much.

[Gabriel Mero · Rating 5 out of 5]

While I loved the episode that this was based on -- I mean Sulu and Rand! -- I prefer this novelization because of the expansion it made upon the plot. The writers wanted Nichelle Nichols to appear as Uhura, talking to Sulu on screen...Nichelle felt that it wasn't s service to the character and turned down the offer; that scene is included here. We also get glimpses of Janeway's guilt about leaving Amelia Earhardt behind, and got to see the ending of Star Trek VI through Tuvok's eyes...as well as a surprise cameo from the OG Vulcan himself, Spock!

[Indika de Silva · Rating 5 out of 5]

This novel contains additional material to the Star Trek Voyager Season 3 Episode 2 "Flashback" that could further enhance the story.

I always enjoyed the Voyager series and seeing some of my favorite Original Series characters making appearances in this novel was a wonderful treat.

The story is well written and moving. A must read for Star Trek fans...

[Allen McDonnell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun read

This is the novelization of the Star Trek Voyager episode of the same title. Based on the early script version the novels has a greater participation by Kes that was dropped to shorten the script into a single episode length format. It was fun to see what might have been if they had kept the earlier script.

[Fayd Eaton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice novelization of ST Voyager episode. It's close to the orginal TV episode with a few additions that are pretty cool. The last part is Tuvok-centric and if I have to find something wrong I think he's a bit too emotional. Nice to see the good friendship with the Captain sometimes not explained and considered in the tv-show.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. Good episode, but a great book. Love how the blanks on the USS Excelsior's efforts to help Kirk stop the Khitomer assassination plot were neatly filled in. Never a bad thing to have more Sulu. Star Trek VI is pound for pound my favourite Trek movie, so another angle on the film's climactic events was definitely welcomed. Bravo, Diane Carey.

[Frank · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely worth the time

The episode was a real good story, and this book gives greater detail and enhances the story by adding some good scenes.

[Frank Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this by accident! But I still enjoyed it. I usually skip novelisations but I forgot about this episode until I was a few chapters in and then I plowed on to avoid a dnf.

It was well written.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

a novelization of the Flashback episode

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting story. Much more than just a novelization of the episode.

[Sean Randall · Rating 3 out of 5]

I first encountered this story almost 13 years ago during it's 1996 television debut as part of Voyager's third season. Written, as it was, to commemorate Star Trek's thirtieth anniversary, it seems almost inevitable that a novel should have emerged, unsurprisingly swiftly upon the heals of the teleplay.

What's more surprising, to me at least, is the fact that I quite enjoyed this novel. a mere 5 of the 39 voyager novels currently listed are based on television episodes. Perhaps I was too young at the time (I was only eight years old when voyager started showing), but even looking back, I can see potential episodes that would've made superb novels. The other four (which I have read and will read again before I put down my conclusions too conclusively) all flagged themselves in my mind as unworthy for one reason or another, and so Flashback is the one, so far, that leads the pack.

Again, I can only attribute my sluggishness in remembering where this whole story was going to my youth, but it wasn't until The Doctor said 'Who's is that?' that I was able to comprehend the rationale behind the plot. it was a rather sudden revelation, came upon me with light bulb precision, actually - I didn't even have time to stop reading before it sank in and I was there, fully grasping what had happened (and what was to come). odd, how 13 years of memory can cloud something, until one line of dialog can snap you back to something absorbed long ago and buried... Was that line of dialog in the episode? I do not recall. it's unimportant.

I'm not going to go into the plot, only to note the fact that the novel expanded in several large areas on the television episode. it really worked here, giving insight into the Vulcan Mind, Tuvok in particular, and some of the events of the 2290's. Despite several continuity errors from the era, it managed to hold its own well.

One thing I did feel a little overdone was the final chapters, where Tuvok talks with Sulu and Spock. While the author certainly knows her business with these characters (having penned some excellent TOS titles), their seemed little use to dragging them into the end of this book - sort of a hactenus ex machina feel to the moment - an impression that what had gone on before (from then, as in the 2290's) and what had gone on after (as in the intervening time) just happened to fit their words and give them a ring of power and wisdom. or perhaps it's just me... I've been unable to shake the feeling, while rereading many of these trek titles, that there's not a great deal of latitude (because the characters all end up a certain way onscreen, post-novel). Some books make me feel this more strongly than others and Flashback wasn't overly powerful in that way, which is good, but it was by no means a perfect read. But then I have odd ideas about what constitutes a great novel. That's why I've never written my own.

[Rich Meyer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Flashback is an adaptation of an episode of Star Trek: Voyager, which was notable in that George Takei made a guest appearance as Captain Sulu. While this book is interesting and it does include a lot of background material not evident in the original episode, especially about Tuvok's time on Sulu's USS Excelsior, there's almost too much filler; it's like there are two or three episodes compressed into this book. It's very readable, but there's also a lot I wish I could've just fast-forwarded through to get to the Tuvok/Sulu storyline.

[Amy L.G. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read the book and now I want to watch the episode so I can compare them!