Good Behind the Scenes Books

[Ceridwen]

A friend and I are putting together a project for Star Trek's sixtieth anniversary this year. He's watching the original series for the first time (until now he's only seen the Bad Robot movies), and we're getting his reactions as we go. He's very curious about the making of the show and the thought that went into each episode, and I want to make sure I'm not just repeating a bunch of fandom myths.

I have The Fifty Year Mission, though this book is a bit more broad strokes about the show's history so far, without going episode by episode specifically. When I was a teenager I had Captains Logs from the same writers; would it be worth seeking out another copy of it? I've read the original The Making of Star Trek from the library years ago and want to find a copy of this too.

I was thinking of picking up These Are the Voyages since it's cited on Memory Alpha a lot, but I see it's not exactly recommended around these parts, so I feel hesitant to invest in it.

What am I missing? What are the best "making of" books for the original series?

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Star Trek: Lost Scenes

Star Trek: Lost Scenes is an officially licensed reference book written by David Tilotta and Curt McAloney, operators of the StarTrekHistory.com (restoration) website. The book is in part based on the same source collection of cut footage, retained by Gene Roddenberry, which generated the...

memory-alpha.fandom.com

 

[Ceridwen]

Star Trek: Lost Scenes

Star Trek: Lost Scenes is an officially licensed reference book written by David Tilotta and Curt McAloney, operators of the StarTrekHistory.com (restoration) website. The book is in part based on the same source collection of cut footage, retained by Gene Roddenberry, which generated the...

memory-alpha.fandom.com

Ooh, interesting. Thank you.

 

[Some Sort of Lemur]

Funnily I just saw this: One fan’s reading list for Star Trek’s 60th Anniversary. It’s very extensive.

The only ones I’ve read are The Making of Star Trek and I Am Spock. I’m very interested in looking into Star Trek: Designing the Final Frontier, though, if it puts Jeffries’s work in the context of broader trends in mid-twentieth-century design (because imo his work really does hold up on a design standpoint and I’d love to have seen it “come to life” with a higher budget, as opposed to assuming that the design is what makes it “dated”).

 

[mb22]

IMO the site you link to should include The Art of Star Trek (1995) even if most of it isn't TOS. And since he is including Roddenberry material, the authorized (Alexander) and unauthorized (Engel) bios should be there as well.

 

[Ceridwen]

Funnily I just saw this: One fan’s reading list for Star Trek’s 60th Anniversary. It’s very extensive.

The only ones I’ve read are The Making of Star Trek and I Am Spock. I’m very interested in looking into Star Trek: Designing the Final Frontier, though, if it puts Jeffries’s work in the context of broader trends in mid-twentieth-century design (because imo his work really does hold up on a design standpoint and I’d love to have seen it “come to life” with a higher budget, as opposed to assuming that the design is what makes it “dated”).

This is a fantastic resource, thank you.

 

[Michael]

I think the best book about how the original Star Trek was made is “Inside Star Trek: The Real Story” by Herbert F. Solow and Robert H. Justman. Very good read and incredible photos and reproductions.

Great books about the design and art direction of the show are of course the aforementioned “The Art of Star Trek” by the Reeves-Stevens. But I can also recommend the follow-up (?) “Star Trek Sketchbook”. Tons of sketches and concept drawings. A really good (and recent) book about the design is “Designing the Final Frontier” by Dan Chavkin and Brian McGuire. Lots of gorgeous photos of sets and props.

The episodic companion book that I read in my childhood was “Captains' Logs” by Edward Gross and Mark Altman. It‘s an unauthorized book that mostly compiles bits and pieces from Starlog articles. I‘m not sure how good or accurate it is in this day and age, but I loved it as a kid.

 

[Ceridwen]

The episodic companion book that I read in my childhood was “Captains' Logs” by Edward Gross and Mark Altman. It‘s an unauthorized book that mostly compiles bits and pieces from Starlog articles. I‘m not sure how good or accurate it is in this day and age, but I loved it as a kid.

Yeah, I had that one too when I was a neophyte to the series (mentioned in my original post). I'm thinking about seeking out a new copy of it, if only for personal history's sake.

 

[The Salt Umpire]

If you want to get in depth about how an episode was conceived and filmed, David Gerrold's book on The Trouble With Tribbles is a must.

 

[NCC-73515]

Where no one has gone before is also nice

 

[Rowdy Roddy McDowall]

I always liked Gerrold's take on the TOS tendency for fake deaths during the series, from WORLD OF STAR TREK.