40 Official Technical Manuals p3 (rec.arts.startrek.tech reading list)
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This article is from the Star Trek Tech FAQ, by Joshua Bell inexorabletash@hotmail.com with numerous contributions by others.
40 Official Technical Manuals p3 (rec.arts.startrek.tech reading list)
STAR TREK PHASE II: THE LOST SERIES
Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens
Pocket Books, March 1997. ISBN 0-671-56839-6.
In print. US$16.
The inside story of the series that never was (which later evolved
into ST:TMP). It contains a lot of never-before published material :
production sketches, artwork, storyboards and technical info, even
including a summary of the first 13 episode story-lines commissioned
(but later discarded after the series cancellation). However, too much
of the book was taken up by a verbatim reproduction of the first
(ST:TMP) draft script "In Thy Image" (by Harold Livingstone) as well
as the script of "The Child" (by Jaron Summers and Jon Povill, which
was later rewritten for ST:TNG). [Review c/o Benjamin Chee]
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THE MAKING OF STAR TREK
Stephen E. Whitfield and Gene Roddenberry.
Del Ray/Ballantine, 1968. ISBN 0-345-35019-1
Back in print for the Trek 25th and 30th anniversary.
First published in 1968, and is meant as a "how to write for Star
Trek". Part I of the book is a discussion of how Star Trek came to be.
Parts III-V are a look at the production of the episodes. Most
important here, however, is Part II of the book "An Official Biography
of a Ship and Its Crew", written as a reference guide for writers -
how does the ship work, who are the officers, etc. While it has some
anachronisms (Starship Class instead of Constitution Class), it is a
very good source of Tech information about the original series, and
the closest thing to an official TOS reference we're ever likely to
see.
Stephen Edward Poe (Whitfield is a pseudonym) defined the "making of"
genre of books with this work, and it was the first technical manual
for Star Trek. Poe recently passed away, and will be dearly missed by
the Star Trek fan community.
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THE MAKING OF STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE
Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens.
Pocket Books, 1994. ISBN 0-671-87430-6
In print. US$16.00.
A 320 or so page look into the background of DS9, the development of
the pilot script, and a detailed look into the various teams and
people that produce DS9 on a weekly basis. Very nicely written,
including interviews with Berman and Piller, as well as Sternbach and
Okuda for us technophiles. The dialog about why latinum can't be
replicated is priceless. The book does tend to worship Berman (who
does a hell of a job, admittedly) to the extent that he's being
annoying praised on every other page. A quality sequel to Whitfield's
original "The Making of..." "There is an irritating flaw inside,
though - in one of the chapters, they get the sidebar numbers mixed
up." [Benjamin Chee]
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MR. SCOTT'S GUIDE TO THE ENTERPRISE
Shane Johnson.
Pocket Books, 1987. ISBN 0-671-70498-2
In print. US$12.95.
A tech manual for the movie-era Enterprise. It contains detailed
diagrams, and a thorough discussion of ship's systems. There are many
photographs of the ship from the films, and many pre-production
sketches "repurposed" as prototype drawings by the ship's designers.
Since the author was working on his own, and well before the Star
Trek: The Next Generation production team was well underway in
designing the new series, its take on a lot of the treknobabble is at
odds with what was later established as "canon". This means that while
much of the speculation contained within is quite good and was
justified at the time (for example, placing TransWarp drive on the
Enterprise-A, relying on FASA's calendrical assumptions, etc.), it has
been retroactively invalidated in many respects.
Regardless, the book contains deck plans and system analyses of the
Enterprise that are wonderful, and stand the test of time, and it's a
"must have" for anyone on the rec.arts.startrek.tech newsgroup.
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SCIENCE LOGS: AN EXCITING JOURNEY TO THE MOST AMAZING PHENOMENA IN THE
GALAXY!
Andre Bormanis
Pocket Books, March 1998. ISBN 0-671-00997-4.
In print. US$16.00.
Review by Mark Hofer II
It is an interesting book and is easy to read. It is broken up into
chapters, and in each chapter is a one to two page sections on a
particular subject like telepathy. It hits a wide area of subjects.
Andre Bormanis, science advisor for the Star Trek franchise, explains
the science in broad layman's terms, but enough to explain the basics
and the logic behind what the team did.
I enjoyed reading it even with a sever lack of previous knowledge in
some of the areas. It gave a neat look into the why they handle the
science on the show. If you don't have too much time to sit down and
read or you just want to have something to read during the
commercials, this is an good book to have.
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STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION MAKEUP FX JOURNAL
Michael Westmore and Joe Nazzaro.
Starlog Press, 1992.
In print? US$6.95.
Another Starlog publication, detailing what goes into making the
aliens of Star Trek. From a tech standpoint, it gives some background
and names for some alien species, straight from the makeup artists.
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STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION TECHNICAL JOURNAL
Shane Johnson.
Starlog Press, 1992.
In print? US$6.95.
A set of diagrams and plans looking at the Enterprise. While the text
is of dubious quality, and doesn't add much, the diagrams are very
useful, and the fold-out cross- section of the Enterprise graces my
wall. It is done in "Okudagram" style, and makes a good companion to
the TNG Tech Manual.
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A VISION OF THE FUTURE: STAR TREK VOYAGER
Stephen Edward Poe
Pocket Books, April 1998. ISBN 0-671-53481-5
In print. US$18.00
Writing as Stephen E. Whitfield, this author wrote the historic "The
Making of Star Trek" with Gene Roddenberry. Presumably, this book is
full of good stuff too.
(Review, anyone?)
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THE WORLDS OF THE FEDERATION
Shane Johnson.
Pocket Books, 1989. ISBN 0-671-70813-9.
In print. US$12.95.
A detailed look at all known aliens encountered on Star Trek up to
season 1 of TNG. It includes TAS aliens, and is a very good volume.
The author does offer a lot of speculation beyond what was known at
the time, some of which has been contradicted by later episodes.
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