Came across this vintage copy of an Emergency! tie-in novel online a while back, and only just now got around to giving it a full read (blame my reading backlog, lol). So, I'd thought I'd give my rambling thoughts and impressions on it:
(Long Rambling and spoilers for a 50-something year old tie-in novel under the "Read more)
Anyways, it's a pretty short read (a little over 100-something papers, not including the twelve or so individual pages just for the chapter numbers alone. Which is honestly a bit of a weird decision, but it's minor).
The basic "plot" plays out a lot like a regular episode of Emergency!: Various rescue scenes broken up by a loosely connected plot between Rampart and Station 51, leading up to the major fire-rescue at the end that resolves most of the plots.
The "A-plot" is that, after losing a patient (A woman giving birth, and the baby being stillborn) during the opening rescue, Johnny has a bit of a doubt in his skills, and considers going to medical school to become a doctor.
Initially, Doctor Brackett's against the idea, partially believing him to be a bit too old for it (a concern that Dixie swiftly shuts down), and partially not wanting to possibly lose one of his best paramedics due to the fact that the amount of focus and dedication needed for getting an MD would likely require Johnny to eventually have to leave the Fire Department.
Eventually, he relents and tries to help get Johnny in touch with some professors who could help him out, but by the end of the book, Johnny's pretty much decided stick with being a paramedic after all (having regained a lot of his confidence, and some perspective by managing to help save another woman delivering her baby in the middle of a brushfire. And managed to save him and Roy from a couple of looters that held them at gunpoint on the way there---but, I'll get back to that scene later.)
The story's set somewhere around season 1 (I think it was written and published not long after the pilot movie aired, so I'd like to say that it probably takes place somewhere in between the pilot and the beginning of season 1 proper) .
Captain Hammer's there, and Marco gets a small cameo during a rescue, but there's really not a lot of scenes with the whole crew at the station.
And, it's definitely season 1 in that they are being a lot more stated with Dixie and Dr.Brackett being an item (Though, the novel describes them keeping their relationship secret for professional reasons, though nothing about that goes anywhere.).
There's a couple pretty decent rescues in there, and some kind of decent interactions (The boat explosion rescue just before the last rescue might be my favorite, just because it does sort of touch lightly and on one of my favorite types of angsty interactions, especially in fanfic---Johnny being worried/slightly panicked when Roy doesn't immediately surface after they manage to retrieve the victim that was pinned under the boat that was caving in, and almost jumps in after him, until Capt. Hammer holds him back to let Marco handle the search. It ends up alright, though, as that Roy apparently managed to escape in time and they find him just casually floating in the water, being a playful and cheeky little shit, which made me smile).
There's also some really odd details thay kind of confused me a bit. The Squad (and even their turnout gear and helmets at one point) are almost consistently described as being yellow??? And that the Squad has a hydraulic ladder, a cherry picker and a winch attached to it (Which, look, I'm not a car-chick, so I don't know if it does, but I kind of get the feeling it doesn't have those things. And it's certainly not fucking YELLOW).
As far as characterization goes, I can let a lot of it slide just on that it was still pretty early in the series, so the writer probably didn't have a strong grasp on the characters, yet. A lot of the scenes had that Jack Webb-y tone and style to them that was pretty prevalent in the first couple of seasons (Not that it's necessarily a bad thing, mind you, and I'm not saying the characterization was necessarily terrible in this novel---just odd at points).
As far as introspection that lets the reader get in the character's heads' to flesh out the characters a bit? Outside of part of a scene where Dr. Brackett muses about his professional and personal relationship with Dixie while on a beach date, it's pretty surface level.
Which honestly, I think the date scenes were more of just one of the author's many excuses to write about how sexy he thought Dixie/Julie London was (And don't get me wrong, she was a very attractive woman).
Even though, I'm not too sure he knew what she looked like??? 'Cause, he describes Dixie (who's clearly a blonde in her mid-forties at least) as a "sultry mid-thirties woman with copper hair".
". Though, as far as the age goes, the pilot movie kind of made a similar error in that they mentioned she'd been a nurse in Korea,but then later said she was about 30-ish (which would have likely put her as a bit young to have been there, but I digress).
(Though, they also described Dr. Early, in his one scene as a blond with graying hair and a "young-old" face/ Which--fair enough description, but I don't think he's blond?).
Actually, there was a lot of some weird sexiest and objectifing ways the writer described women. Like pretty much anytime a woman appeared in a scene the author made some sort of comment on her weight/appearance/figure (Honestly, during the first rescue I was like, "Can we maybe NOT keep making comments about how large/fat the victim was? I mean, there's ways to get the point across without coming off as creepy about it" (Luckily, most of the commentary didn't come from either of the paramedics, at least not in an unprofessional sense.
But, the police in the scene……*exasperated sigh*. yeah. But, like cops are assholes, so in character, I guess.)
Anyways, back to my point: Even Johnny's dilemma is handled pretty surface level, despite having potential to real go deeper. And, honestly, I kind of wish they'd done a little bit more with Roy in this---since, a lot of his bits outside of rescues was him being confused/concerned about why Johnny's suddenly hung up on med school, and cracking some unrelated light-hearted comments here and there. But it's like, you'd think that Roy too would be a bit more affected by that particular failed rescue? I mean, in retrospect it's odd in context of the show, given that they had multiple episodes where Roy's the one usually prone to having a crises of faith in his abilities.
(There were a couple smaller weird bits with Roy--like having a short bit where even he's eyeing a new nurse alongside Johnny, and Johnny has to be the one to remind him he's a happily married man. I mean---not like the show didn't have a moments where Roy was capable of talking up a nurse or two, especially in the early seasons, but typically he doesn't seem to be the one actively flirting or checking out chicks. It's not a major scene, I just thought it was weird, and kind of ties back to the weird, vaguely misogynistic undertones the novel had toward women.)
Speaking of some other weird moments of characterization: While Johnny's pretty consistent to his early personality (a bit more reserved and quietly sensitive), the whole bit during the brushfire rescue at the end where they get held up by looters is almost hilariously out of character when put against Johnny's characterization in the show, especially when it comes to guns.
So, like, during the rescue, Johnny and Roy get held at gunpoint by some looters, and somehow Johnny goes all cowboy on them a bit too easily and not only manages to steal a gun from one of the looters, but actually apparently points the gun one of them (he doesn't shoot them, thankfully, but he and Roy do end up tying them up and leaving them for the police to pick up, while making some offhanded jokes about it., and with Johnny acting like he's in a Western film).
It's a cool scene to visualize, but really feels a bit out of place for him
The guy who looked absolutely confused when the police officer lady asked him to hold her gun in Season 2's "Fuzz Lady"
Mr. John "Absolutely does not like guns. Guns are a Bad Deal" Gage.
Yeah, that guy.
(*I mean yeah, there is the bit in S6's "Bottom Line". But, I'd argue in that case Johnny only intended to get the weapon away from him and Vince, rather than use the gun in self-defense. )
He also manages to break the finger of the gun-toting looter while wrestling the gun away (and barely offers to treat it, which Dr. Brackett points out later, but everyone kind of shrugs it off dismissively).
It just felt a little off for his character to do such a thing, on purpose, and then be kind of non-chalant about it.
But still, it's only a few moments of some oddness overall, and again a lot of it can be chalked up to it being written so early in the show's run, and probably a lack of solid notes on the series/characters from offical sources? Also, I think that the author (Chris Stratton) was more of a western writer, so a lot of the tone/character has that kind of feel to it?)
That said, the novel does drop in a few interesting bits of info that wasn't mentioned in the show
The novel mentions that, around the time it's set, Johnny's at least 25 and went to college for about two years before joining the fire department, and apparently used to smoke before joining the fire department. It also states that Roy's around 30-ish, an that Dr. Brackett's in his late thirties.*
(*I'd like to say that some documents in the original pitch for the series mention similar info. But, it's also just as likely that they could have changed this by the time the show was actually airing. Personally, I tend headcaon Johnny and Roy as 22 and 25 in the first season, respectively. But, that's just me ;) )
(They also mentioned that Roy occasionally calls Dr.Brackett "Kelly", which yeah….no. Hardly anyone in the show just casually calls Dr. Brackett "Kelly" and not just "Kel" or "Brackett". And definitely not Johnny or Roy.)
Though, the physical descriptions of Johnny and Roy at least are kind of spot on and kind of made me smile:
Roy's described as a "sturdy-looking six-footer with a shock of blond hair and a perpetual gleam of amusement in his eyes"
and Johnny's described as "tall as his partner, but with a slender frame and dark, sensitive looks that made him look smaller"
And Dr. Brackett being described as "the sort of man teenagers look at on the street and wonder which older rock star he is." (I dunno how accurate, but easily the most unique way I've seen Dr. Brackett described.)
Anyways, to sum up: it's an interesting and fun read if your looking for something that feels like reading an episode of the show, and if you can overlook some of the brief characterization quirks, and some of the "of it's time" narration and tone in places.
That said, it's a bit hard to find (especially for cheap) if you're looking for a physical copy though.
Though if you're looking for some deep-dive character driven stuff, you're probably gonna have better luck sticking with fanfiction (*I mean that as a compliment and appreciation of fanfic writers, (I'm one myself, after all). And the fic writers in the Emergency fandom are some truly amazing authors and probably have written some of my absolute favorite fics of any fandom I've read for.)
Anyways, I've been rambling a lot, so I'm gonna end it here.
Hope you enjoyed this little post!!!
