These Are The Voyages - Season Three

[plynch]

Writing a book for money, you should at least know whether an illustration in your book is of a published novel or fan art.

Were it, say, a purported behind-the-scenes b/w photo, it might be forgivable not to know it is a fan photoshop job.

Even so, if you, a for-profit author become aware it's a fake, you take it out of the next edition or caption it as someone's interesting twist on reality.

But the dude still leaves the caption as if the novel might be real. On top of the many errors already discussed in other threads, is the value in reading these books in discerning what is true? Epistemology exercise?

 

[ZapBrannigan]

I read somewhere that, as late as the 1980s, it was hard to lay your hands on a book that was not professionally copy-edited by a career person at a publishing house. And today it's hard to lay your hands on a new book that was professionally copy-edited.

It's becoming a lost art in an age when everyone has a computer to write on and directly transmit files to be printed, and the economics of paying professional editors and fact checkers have gotten tighter. It goes beyond Cushman and beyond Star Trek to the whole age we're living in. Books aren't vetted in advance like they used to be.

Cushman's resistance to corrections after the fact is another matter, of course.

 

[plynch]

You do your homework. I wrote and self-published a book on Louis Armstrong and remember laboring over where to put the apostrophe in "Colored Waif's Home" [sic] and whether he got sent there from shooting a gun late on 12/31 1912 or early 1/1 1913 (undetermined; I went with 1913 after consulting sources and using my brain). Where sources conflict, you state it, or confess the conflict and pick the more likely.

Fact-checking, to my knowledge, has always been on the author unless writing for a news source/magazine with staff fact-checkers. Editing, alas, a traditional function of publishers, is being cut. A self-publishing author needs to hire her/his own. Which I think Mr. Cushman did do, after the first edition of vol. 1.

 

[Shon T'Hara]

Sadly, even in professional publishing the standards have become abysmally low. I came across this passage in a book by a renowned author (James Bradley who wrote Flag of Our Fathers) from a reputable publishing house (Little, Brown), and yet apparently nobody involved with the writing or editing had ever heard of the Missouri Compromise or the Alamo:

In 1844, America elected James Polk to the presidency. At the time of his election, the United States was a small country with states exclusively east of the Mississippi. The Louisiana Purchase territory was unorganized. Great Britain claimed the Oregon Territory in the Northwest, and Mexico held what would later be Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, and California.

The only solution is to check the one-star reviews on Amazon, because there are people who will post itemized lists of all the flubs in any work of non-fiction.

 

[Harvey]

Editing, alas, a traditional function of publishers, is being cut. A self-publishing author needs to hire her/his own. Which I think Mr. Cushman did do, after the first edition of vol. 1.

At least one of the credited editors of the season two book was actually just a proofreader (see comment #92), compensated only with a copy of the book. I can't speak to the other editors, but the original edition of season one listed three, and their work speaks for itself.

 

[plynch]

Well, after reading the comments, I stand corrected about it being print-on-demand. The print runs were 5,000.

Why did I think J/B was really a publicity firm mainly and not a publisher?

Is it in brick-n-mortar stores? Self-published books generally aren't, except by consignment locally, since stores don't trust getting "their" money back if they return unsold books. (Bookstores return unsold books for money or credit, and those returns end up as remainders at my local dollar store, where I've found some pretty good hardcover titles!)

Has anybody seen TATV in stores? I don't see why it wouldn't be if JB is a real publisher.

Btw, he says in the comment that they're in the red on these books esp. considering the publicity. The unlikelihood of making money was why I assumed these were essentially self-published with the publicity firm's moniker appended.

 

[Nerys Myk]

They sell books in stores?

 

[Harvey]

Is it in brick-n-mortar stores? Self-published books generally aren't, except by consignment locally, since stores don't trust getting "their" money back if they return unsold books. (Bookstores return unsold books for money or credit, and those returns end up as remainders at my local dollar store, where I've found some pretty good hardcover titles!)

On Friday, I saw one copy each of the season one and two books on the shelf at the Barnes and Noble here at the Grove in Los Angeles. I have no idea if it is similarity available nationally or not.

 

[plynch]

Man, I just read all those coments on Trekmovie, and I need a shower.

Makes us look like choirboys (and girls) here!

I'm more confused than ever about just what JB is, and Cushman's role in it.

But in the long run it doesn't really matter to me. Movin' on.

 

[CrazyMatt]

They sell books in stores?

Sometimes. Sometimes, coffee

 

[Melakon]

They sell books in stores?

Sometimes. Sometimes, coffee

That never made sense to me, since someone might damage a book or magazine and put it back on the shelf without saying anything.

 

[plynch]

They sell books in stores?

Sometimes. Sometimes, coffee

That never made sense to me, since someone might damage a book or magazine and put it back on the shelf without saying anything.

That always occurred to me too, someone who actually straightens books in book stores. However, I'm sure the profit on coffee drinks and bakery PLUS the homey feel luring customers far outweigh the occasional book damage.

 

[Ssosmcin]

I've just ordered TATV Season 3 and Return to Tomorrow and look forward to reading both of them. I realize TATV has its many faults, but it still has plenty of value; a great many behind the scenes notes and memos, as well as interviews and step by step story evolution, that I never would have seen otherwise. I also don't mind editorializing by the authors. I actually enjoy reading opinions to go along with it, just to know his or her take on it. Until someone else puts the info out there, this is what we've got.

Other behind the scenes books provide information from research done from memos and archives without reprinting or summarizing the correspondence verbatim. Many just recount what as said by summary. The Time Tunnel: A History of the Television Program by Martin Grams, Jr. and The 12 O'Clock High Logbook: The Unofficial History of the Novel, Motion Picture, and TV Series by Allan T. Duffin and Paul Matheis both do this, but neither series has nearly the following of Star Trek. So they don't have to bear the same intense scrutiny. At some point, you have to trust the authors have done their work and are relaying this information accurately. Sadly, Cushman didn't do this in some key areas and has a problem admitting when he's wrong, so that throws his entire work into question for some people (hell, if I could spot some errors, anyone could). I tend to enjoy his "take" on some things as anecdotal and am willing to go along with his summarizing as correct. I also now accept his understanding of ratings are flawed, but I'm more interested in the crafting of the stories and what the production staff was dealing with. And learning more about the other people involved aside from the usual suspects. I'm particularly interested in the third season, since so comparatively little has been written about it.

Having said all that, I still read Harvey's blog with great interest and trust his research. Between Cushman's work and Harvey's (and Harvey's corrections ) a pretty good picture emerges. Like others, if someone else - or Harvey himself - wants to put out a really correct accounting in print, I will happily buy it. Seriously, count me in.

Return to Tomorrow holds great interest for me and I'm really looking forward to devouring that as well.

Now if someone would just write really good behind the scenes book on Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, I'd be in heaven.

 

[Saga]

Now if someone would just write really good behind the scenes book on Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, I'd be in heaven.

i'd buy it. i'm surprised such a book wasn't written in the 90s (like the wonderful Lost in Space Forever guide). it seemed to me that Sci Fi ch gave all the Irwin Allen shows a boost in popularity.

 

[Harvey]

The archival documents exist at UCLA for such a book...

But I must confess, I've never even seen the movie version of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. Is it streaming on Netflix -- the show or the movie?

 

[Saga]

The archival documents exist at UCLA for such a book...

But I must confess, I've never even seen the movie version of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. Is it streaming on Netflix -- the show or the movie?

the film was on Netflix. unless it was recently purged, as quite a number of shows and films were removed recently.

 

[Maab]

Now if someone would just write really good behind the scenes book on Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, I'd be in heaven.

i'd buy it. i'm surprised such a book wasn't written in the 90s (like the wonderful Lost in Space Forever guide). it seemed to me that Sci Fi ch gave all the Irwin Allen shows a boost in popularity.

I have this one: http://www.amazon.com/SEAVIEW-Anniversary-Tribute-Voyage-Bottom/dp/1880417219

Like others, if someone else - or Harvey himself - wants to put out a really correct accounting in print, I will happily buy it. Seriously, count me in.

Me too.

Maab

 

[ZapBrannigan]

Now if someone would just write really good behind the scenes book on Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, I'd be in heaven.

In case you missed any, each of these STARLOG issues has some VTTBOTS-related content:

https://archive.org/details/starlog_magazine-033

https://archive.org/details/starlog_magazine-035

https://archive.org/details/starlog_magazine-039

https://archive.org/details/starlog_magazine-108

https://archive.org/details/starlog_magazine-144

https://archive.org/details/starlog_magazine-176

https://archive.org/details/starlog_magazine-181

https://archive.org/details/starlog_magazine-182

https://archive.org/details/starlog_magazine-183

https://archive.org/details/starlog_magazine-187


Issue 33 has the episode guide. Issue 35 has a Making-Of article on the movie and TV series. SL 108 has a David Hedison article. Issue 144 has a piece on vintage sci-fi lunch boxes. 176 has an article on Irwin Allen.

Issue 39 has a gorgeous photo of the Jupiter 2 model alongside the flying sub miniature (p.10).

Issues 181, 182, and 183 contain a long, three-part article on the series writers. Number 187 has a good article on costume designer Paul Zastupnevich.

 

[Ssosmcin]

Cool! I read a lot of these issues when they came out, but I lost a lot of them when my basement flooded during Hurricane Irene. Thanks, Zap!

 

[ZapBrannigan]

No problem. I've been gradually assembling an index to all Irwin Allen content in STARLOG. I'm at work now, but I think it has 48 items so far.

I tell you what it is: I grew up with an ever-increasing bounty of Star Trek books, models, etc., and next to nothing on Irwin Allen except for the Viewmaster reels and a toy robot. So scarcity made IA material important. That, and its value to science.