70's Star Trek Quiz Book

[Deckers Phaser]

Hi, I'm new....this is my first post. As a boy in the late '70's, I remember I had a Star Trek quiz book. It was a large paperback, like a college textbook and had a picture of the Gorn on the front. It was published in the US. If I remember, it pretended to be an official training manual for Starfleet and was filled with fun multiple choice questions about all the various episodes in TOS.

I've been looking for this for a while with no luck, to the point where I wondered if this even exists as I remember it. Does anyone else know what I'm talking about?

 

[Neutral Zone]

Was this what you were looking for?

 

[Doug Otte]

I have "The Official Star Trek Quiz Book" by Mitchell Maglio. It fits part of your description ("It was published in the US. If I remember, it pretended to be an official training manual for Starfleet and was filled with fun multiple choice questions about all the various episodes in TOS.") but mine is a small book w/ a picture of the TMP Enterprise going into warp on the cover, and it was published in 1985. I don't find any listing of it on Amazon.

Doug

 

[barnaclelapse]

Hey, I remember that book.

Wow.

 

[Forbin]

Was this what you were looking for?

Doesn't seem to say "quiz book" on the cover, now does it?

 

[Sky]

I have "The Official Star Trek Quiz Book" by Mitchell Maglio. It fits part of your description ("It was published in the US. If I remember, it pretended to be an official training manual for Starfleet and was filled with fun multiple choice questions about all the various episodes in TOS.") but mine is a small book w/ a picture of the TMP Enterprise going into warp on the cover, and it was published in 1985. I don't find any listing of it on Amazon.

I have that one too. It is slightly larger than a normal paperback and looks like this:

 

[Therin of Andor]

I've been looking for this for a while with no luck, to the point where I wondered if this even exists as I remember it. Does anyone else know what I'm talking about?

You may be combining several books in your mind. There was a small "Monsters of Star Trek" book with a Gorn on the cover, and two large format books (one black, one silver; the black one also came out as a small paperback) that had quizzes and trivia, presented a bit like an Academy text. ie. "Star Trek Puzzle Manual". Several smaller quizbooks rated your performance against Academy standards.

Check out these:
http://www.well.com/~sjroby/lcars/tpgindex.html

 

[Ssosmcin]

I asked this in 1979...

Q: How do you know when you watch too much Star Trek

A: When you spot errors in the answers of Quiz Books...


I remember in the late 70's there was a Star Trek puzzle book from Bantam (had the Star Trek 4 art on it), which had a variety of different kind of brain teasers. Actually, some of them were pretty clever. Yet, in the trivia department, I remember finding a few incorrect answers.

 

[KeepOnTrekking]

I believe what you're looking for is the aforementioned The Official Star Trek Trivia Book by Mitchell Maglio. It was first published by Pocket (Wallaby) in May 1985. It had a brief foreword about ranking your results by rank according to your percentile scores. It wasn't a large trade but definitely larger than your normal paperback. As for the Gorn cover, I believe you are remembering the cover from The Monster of StarTrek by Daniel Cohen. Pocket Books. January 1980. Hope that helps.

 

[Steve67]

I have the one by Rafe Needleman. Blue cover in paperback. I bought it in 1980. I remember he had your intelligence ranking according to how well you did on the quiz. Organian was the highest rank, and Denebian Slime Devil was the lowest.

Link

 

[seigezunt]

I have the one by Rafe Needleman. Blue cover in paperback. I bought it in 1980. I remember he had your intelligence ranking according to how well you did on the quiz. Organian was the highest rank, and Denebian Slime Devil was the lowest.

Link

I have that one, and the Maglio one. They're good.

I always liked this one best:

 

[Steve67]

I have the one by Rafe Needleman. Blue cover in paperback. I bought it in 1980. I remember he had your intelligence ranking according to how well you did on the quiz. Organian was the highest rank, and Denebian Slime Devil was the lowest.

I have that one, and the Maglio one. They're good.

What I liked best about the Needleman book is its episode guide! I was nine in 1980 and reference books weren't exactly in my allowance budget, so an ep. guide in a trivia book was a BIG deal to me then!

Ah, 1980---when I wrote to both Erin Grey and Elisabeth Sladen and received autographed photos from both...Liz's was personally signed!

They were, and remain, gorgeous......

 

[ToddPence]

I have old copies of both the Rafe Needleman and the Bart Andrews book. Funny thing about the Needleman book. Recently on another TOS board I posted the details of a scene from "The Omega Glory" which was in the shooting script but which didn't make the cut for what aired onscreen.
Needleman's book has a trivia question which could only be answered by a person who had knowledge of that scene (which would have been impossible at the time).
Similarily, Needleman's book had a question which asked one to identify all the episodes in which Spock played his Vulcan harp. Included in that list among the answer section was the episode "Elaan of Troyius". This ALSO involved a scene which appeared in the shooting script but which was cut from the final print.
A couple of pretty unfair questions from Needleman, if you ask me.

 

[David A. Sobral]

Hi, I'm new....this is my first post. As a boy in the late '70's, I remember I had a Star Trek quiz book. It was a large paperback, like a college textbook and had a picture of the Gorn on the front. It was published in the US. If I remember, it pretended to be an official training manual for Starfleet and was filled with fun multiple choice questions about all the various episodes in TOS.

I've been looking for this for a while with no luck, to the point where I wondered if this even exists as I remember it. Does anyone else know what I'm talking about?

I remember two quizbooks being published in the mid-to-late 1970s, prior to the first film. The first was called "The Star Trek Quiz Book" (I forget the author) & it was published in paperback by Signet Books (I still have mine). The other was the "Star Trek Puzzle Manuel" by Franz Joseph. Either one sound familar?

 

[Kelso]

I have the one by Rafe Needleman. Blue cover in paperback. I bought it in 1980. I remember he had your intelligence ranking according to how well you did on the quiz. Organian was the highest rank, and Denebian Slime Devil was the lowest.

Link

I have that one, and the Maglio one. They're good.

I always liked this one best:

I have that one.

Does anyone know where they got the information that doesn't come from an aired episode? For example, was Uhura's mother (M'Umbha) mentioned by name in a cut scene or in a novel?

 

[David A. Sobral]

I have the one by Rafe Needleman. Blue cover in paperback. I bought it in 1980. I remember he had your intelligence ranking according to how well you did on the quiz. Organian was the highest rank, and Denebian Slime Devil was the lowest.

Link

I have that one, and the Maglio one. They're good.

I always liked this one best:

I have that one.

Does anyone know where they got the information that doesn't come from an aired episode? For example, was Uhura's mother (M'Umbha) mentioned by name in a cut scene or in a novel?

Yep, that's the one I was talking about...by Bart Andrews. I would imagine that Uhura's mothers' name came out of a novel or someone just made it up. In ALL of her appearances, including the cartoons, there's NEVER a mention made of her mother, let alone her mothers' name.

It's probably similar to the person (coulda been Bjo Trimble or Joan Winston) who made up a family surname for Spock. It's unpronouncable, (as mentioned in "This Side Of Paradise") made up mostly of constanants & many, many syllables. I think it was mentioned in the letters to the editor of a VERY early issue of Starlog magazine. At the time, it was accepted by Paramount & Roddenberry because there were no firm plans in the works to re-make STAR TREK so, they let it slide...

 

[Therin of Andor]

For example, was Uhura's mother (M'Umbha) mentioned by name in a cut scene or in a novel?

It's in the "Star Trek Log" adaptations of TAS by Alan Dean Foster. We also learn the names of M'Ress's parents and siblings (litter mates).

TAS itself initiated "Tiberius" as Kirk's middle name and, IIRC, "Grayson" for Amanda's surname.

 

[Therin of Andor]

The first was called "The Star Trek Quiz Book" (I forget the author) & it was published in paperback by Signet Books (I still have mine).

Also re-released under the title "The Trekkie Quiz Book". Bart Andrews and Brad Dunning.

The other was the "Star Trek Puzzle Manuel" by Franz Joseph.

Nope. James Razzi.

And, as I said many posts ago, the full details of all of them are at:
http://www.well.com/~sjroby/lcars/tpgindex.html

 

[David A. Sobral]

For example, was Uhura's mother (M'Umbha) mentioned by name in a cut scene or in a novel?

It's in the "Star Trek Log" adaptations of TAS by Alan Dean Foster. We also learn the names of M'Ress's parents and siblings (litter mates).

TAS itself initiated "Tiberius" as Kirk's middle name and, IIRC, "Grayson" for Amanda's surname.

Although it would seem that Paramount is far less concerned about what is & is not considered "Star Trek Canon", I'm continually suprised at how they pick apart the cartoon series. That being said, & despite Roddenberry's objections, personally, I consider the cartoons to be canon. The novelized adaptations, on the other hand are just expanded versions of a script that quite likely went through many revisions before or after being filmed.

Since Kirks' middle name (Tiberius..you didn't know?) was actually spoken by a character in TAS, the producers of the live action films jumped on it & accepted it. However, that can NOT be said about Uhuras' mother & M'Ress' cub-mates.

I recently read the adaptation of the TNG episode "Relics" & there's an entire subplot that takes place inside the Dyson Sphere, complete with characters, that is not even hinted at in the filmed episode. Woulda been a real short book if it was written as filmed, as would be the case with ADF's "Star Trek Log" Series. It's just padding. It only becomes canon when the producers of filmed Trek adopt it, adapt it & film it. It works both ways but, not all the time.

 

[seigezunt]

and yet, I love that padding.