Changes: Larry Niven

Revision as of 13:47, 22 April 2016

Template:Realworld Laurence van Cott Niven (born 30 April 1938; age 85) is an American science fiction writer who wrote the Animated Series episode "The Slaver Weapon" and co-authored the Star Trek comic strip story arc "The Wristwatch Plantation". Niven is best known as the creator of the Known Space universe, for which he has written many novels and short stories. Ringworld is the most famous of these novels, winning the 1970 Hugo and Nebula Awards awards.

Niven became involved in writing for The Animated Series upon the request of Dorothy Fontana. Being determined to make use of animation, his first draft included the mysterious Outsiders from his Known Space universe. This idea was dropped because it was too science heavy and as such not suited for a Saturday morning cartoon show. It later became the short story "The Borderland of Sol", set in the Known Space universe, and won a Hugo Award for Best Novelette in 1976.

The same problem of inappropriate subject matter applied to Niven's second pitch, which Niven himself described as too bloody.

When Fontana and Niven met with Roddenberry at his place, Roddenberry suggested that the short story "The Soft Weapon", which Niven had published in the Known Space short story collection Neutron Star, should be re-written to become an episode of animated Trek, and Niven agreed. Thus, many elements of the episode, renamed "The Slaver Weapon", including the Kzinti race, stasis boxes, and the slaver weapon itself, were adapted from the Known Space universe. Gene allowed Niven to leave out Kirk and only use Spock, Sulu, and Uhura to replace the main characters of his short story.

Paramount later sold novelization rights to Ballantine Books and "The Slaver Weapons" was novelized in Star Trek Log 10 by Alan Dean Foster. Niven, as a novelist, effectively wound up competing with himself. He was unhappy with this, though, contrary to popular belief, no legal action was ever threatened or taken. [1]

In 1981 Niven was again asked to contribute to the Star Trek universe when he was asked by Sharman DiVono to work on a comic script. Together with her he wrote a comic story that was drawn by Ron Harris, produced by the Los Angeles Times and published in the Houston Chronicle from 1 March 1982 to 17 July 1982. The two authors considered publishing the story later as a novel and had already received permission from the authorities at Paramount Pictures and the Los Angeles Times. However later the authorization from Paramount was withdrawn when the chief of merchandise was replaced.

He also worked with Steven Barnes on a number of novels, and Barnes later went on to author one Star Trek novel, and a short story.

External links

Larry Niven at Wikipedia
Known Space: The Universe of Larry Niven - the semi-official homepage of Larry Niven
Template:IMDb-link
Larry Niven at SF-Encyclopedia.com

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 {{realworld}}
-'''Larry Niven''' {{born|30|April|1938}} is an American science fiction writer who wrote the [[TAS|Animated Series]] episode "[[The Slaver Weapon]]" and co-authored the [[Star Trek Comic Strip (US)|''Star Trek'' comic strip]] story arc "[[The Wristwatch Plantation]]".
+'''Laurence van Cott Niven''' {{born|30|April|1938}} is an American science fiction writer who wrote the ''[[Star Trek: The Animated Series|Animated Series]]'' episode {{e|The Slaver Weapon}} and co-authored the [[Star Trek Comic Strip (US)|''Star Trek'' comic strip]] story arc "[[The Wristwatch Plantation]]". Niven is best known as the creator of the Known Space universe, for which he has written many novels and short stories. ''Ringworld'' is the most famous of these novels, winning the 1970 Hugo and Nebula Awards awards.
-Niven became involved in writing for the Animated Series upon the request of [[D.C. Fontana|Dorothy Fontana]]. Being determined to make use of the animation advantage his first draft included the mysterious ''Outsiders'' of his Known Space universe, which story line was dropped because it was too science heavy and as such not suited for saturday morning cartoon shows. Same counted for his second pitch which Niven himself described as too bloody. When Fontana and Niven met with [[Gene Roddenberry|Roddenberry]] at his place, Gene suggested that the short story "The Soft Weapon" which Niven had published in ''Neutron Star'' should be re-written to become an episode of Animated Trek. Gene allowed Niven to leave out [[James T. Kirk|Kirk]] and only use [[Spock]], [[Hikaru Sulu|Sulu]] and [[Uhura]] to replace the main characters of his short story.
+Niven became involved in writing for ''The Animated Series'' upon the request of [[D.C. Fontana|Dorothy Fontana]]. Being determined to make use of animation, his first draft included the mysterious ''Outsiders'' from his Known Space universe. This idea was dropped because it was too science heavy and as such not suited for a Saturday morning cartoon show. It later became the short story "The Borderland of Sol", set in the Known Space universe, and won a Hugo Award for Best Novelette in 1976.
+The same problem of inappropriate subject matter applied to Niven's second pitch, which Niven himself described as too bloody.
-In {{y|1981}} Niven was again asked to contribute to the ''Star Trek'' universe when he was asked by [[Sharman Di Vono]] to work on a comic script. Together with her he wrote 20 comic strips which were drawn by [[Ron Harris]], produced by the ''Los Angeles Times'' and published in the ''Houston Chronicle'' from {{d|1|March|1982}} to {{d|17|July|1982}}. The two authors considered to publish the story later as a novel and already received the permissions from the authorities at [[Paramount Pictures|Paramount]] and the Los Angeles Times. However later the authorization from Paramount was withdrawn when the chief of merchandize was replaced.
+When Fontana and Niven met with [[Gene Roddenberry|Roddenberry]] at his place, Roddenberry suggested that the short story "The Soft Weapon", which Niven had published in the Known Space short story collection ''Neutron Star'', should be re-written to become an episode of animated ''Trek'', and Niven agreed. Thus, many elements of the episode, renamed "The Slaver Weapon", including the [[Kzinti]] race, [[stasis box]]es, and the [[slaver weapon]] itself, were adapted from the Known Space universe. Gene allowed Niven to leave out [[James T. Kirk|Kirk]] and only use [[Spock]], [[Hikaru Sulu|Sulu]], and [[Nyota Uhura|Uhura]] to replace the main characters of his short story.
-Paramount later sold novelization rights to [[Ballantine Books]] and "The Slaver Weapons" was novelized in [[Star Trek Log 10]] by [[Alan Dean Foster]]. Niven, as a novelist, effectively wound up competing with himself. He was unhappy with this, though, contrary to popular belief, no legal action was ever threatened or taken.
+Paramount later sold novelization rights to [[Ballantine Books]] and "The Slaver Weapons" was novelized in ''[[Star Trek Log 10]]'' by [[Alan Dean Foster]]. Niven, as a novelist, effectively wound up competing with himself. He was unhappy with this, though, contrary to popular belief, no legal action was ever threatened or taken. [http://trekplace.com/article19.html]
-Niven is best known as the creator of the Known Space universe, for which he has written many novels and short stories. ''Ringworld'' is the most famous of these novels, winning the 1970 [[Hugo Award|Hugo]] and [[Nebula Award|Nebula]] awards. Many elements of "The Slaver Weapon", including the [[Kzinti]] race, [[stasis box]]es, and the [[slaver weapon]] itself, were adapted from the Known Space universe. Ironically the story he first suggested to become a TAS episode would later become "The Borderland of Sol" and win another Hugo Award.
+In {{y|1981}} Niven was again asked to contribute to the ''Star Trek'' universe when he was asked by [[Sharman DiVono]] to work on a comic script. Together with her he wrote a comic story that was drawn by [[Ron Harris]], produced by the ''Los Angeles Times'' and published in the ''Houston Chronicle'' from {{d|1|March|1982}} to {{d|17|July|1982}}. The two authors considered publishing the story later as a novel and had already received permission from the authorities at [[Paramount Pictures]] and the Los Angeles Times. However later the authorization from Paramount was withdrawn when the chief of merchandise was replaced.
+He also worked with [[Steven Barnes]] on a number of novels, and Barnes later went on to author one ''Star Trek'' novel, and a short story.
 ==External links==
-*{{Wikipedia|Larry Niven}}
+*{{Wikipedia}}
 *[http://www.larryniven.org/ Known Space: The Universe of Larry Niven] - the semi-official homepage of Larry Niven
+* {{IMDb-link|page=nm0633122}}
+* {{sf-encyc|niven_larry}}
-[[Category:Writers|Niven, Larry]]
+{{DEFAULTSORT:Niven, Larry}}
+[[es:Larry Niven]] [[nl:Larry Niven]]
+[[Category:Writers]]
+[[Category:Star Trek comic authors]]