According to the little reminder slip I got at B&N, the publisher is Simon & Shuster; you'd think they'd know better by now.
USS ENTERPRISE HAYNES OWNERS MANUAL (Part 3)
- Thread starter Starlock
- Start date
I flipped through it today, and I was disappointed -- there were some very nice things, but I was severely disappointed by the abundance of screencaps from episodes as well as the awful Ent-C and Ent-D renderings -- they look like cartoons. I liked the teaser images of the communicator and tricorder, but those are missing from the book and that style of illustration is sparse throughout the book. Count me among the "I wanted really this to be good but it isn't" crowd.
You'd think that with all the delays with this book and hype surrounding it that Haynes would have put a little more effort into it. I'm not sure when the last time I've read so much negative feedback on a Trek product. I'm still pissed that I can't even buy it to see if I'm disappointed or not like the rest of you seem to be. Sigh.
I just saw it today at Borders, lol... I guess they decided to sell it in stores after all.
I really do think of this book as nothing more than an RPG supplement, because it really has that feel and look. I really wish the Trek people would have put more effort into this, instead of just saying "Here... this is something new with the Trek name on it... buy it."
I think this is an opportunity, though... when the 2010 SoTL calendar came out, and everyone, myself included, started bitching about how low-poly the CG artwork had gotten in it, and how substandard the images seemed to be, none other than Andrew Probert himself created a thread asking US, the fans, what WE would like to see in a future SoTL, and for the most part, the 2011 calendar IS an improvement.
So... let me start this round of questioning... what would WE truly want to see in a new Trek Trek or art book? I'll start...
For my end, what I would really love to see is a TNG Technical Manual-style book on the 1701-E alone, because I would really like to see that ship fully explored, and maybe have a section on just the ships of the TNG-era, like the Wolf 359 fleet ships, the Nebula-Class, and so on. I would actually prefer black and white line drawings, like in the TNG Technical Manual.
If not a tech manual, than I'd love to see a BIG coffee table book on the collected concept and pre-production artwork of props, ship, sets, and whatever from TNG, DS9, and VOY... like The Art of Star Trek, but with more content, and focusing on just the collected bits of concept artwork we never saw, and scans of various production blueprints, and stuff like that.
But make a GOOD product that is worth the money, and don't frakkin' mislead us... if you post teaser artwork, INCLUDE it in the book, so we get what we pay for!
I really do think of this book as nothing more than an RPG supplement, because it really has that feel and look. I really wish the Trek people would have put more effort into this, instead of just saying "Here... this is something new with the Trek name on it... buy it."
I think this is an opportunity, though... when the 2010 SoTL calendar came out, and everyone, myself included, started bitching about how low-poly the CG artwork had gotten in it, and how substandard the images seemed to be, none other than Andrew Probert himself created a thread asking US, the fans, what WE would like to see in a future SoTL, and for the most part, the 2011 calendar IS an improvement.
So... let me start this round of questioning... what would WE truly want to see in a new Trek Trek or art book? I'll start...
For my end, what I would really love to see is a TNG Technical Manual-style book on the 1701-E alone, because I would really like to see that ship fully explored, and maybe have a section on just the ships of the TNG-era, like the Wolf 359 fleet ships, the Nebula-Class, and so on. I would actually prefer black and white line drawings, like in the TNG Technical Manual.
If not a tech manual, than I'd love to see a BIG coffee table book on the collected concept and pre-production artwork of props, ship, sets, and whatever from TNG, DS9, and VOY... like The Art of Star Trek, but with more content, and focusing on just the collected bits of concept artwork we never saw, and scans of various production blueprints, and stuff like that.
But make a GOOD product that is worth the money, and don't frakkin' mislead us... if you post teaser artwork, INCLUDE it in the book, so we get what we pay for!
I think it might be cool to have like... a cutaway book. Focusing specifically one one ship, probably the NoBloodyPrise and the NoBloodyPrise Pimp-out.
Each page/2 pages could be a different general area of the ship partially taken apart to show how everything's put together and there would be cool callouts and little tech blurbs. Like, there would be two or so overall cutaways that show the ship from two different angles, then stuff like the A/B/C superstructure, the saucer, sensor dome, engineering hull, nacelles, etc. in greater detail.
But it'd turn out nowhere near as cool as it would if some of the fans did it.
I would side with art book, but art books are always "here's a picture of the final concept, compared to the final product" and you only occasionally get a glimpse at just a bit of the vast piles of concept work. But it would be cool just to get a straight-up pile of concept art. Which would be awesome. If it wasn't like, a kajillion bucks, of course.
Each page/2 pages could be a different general area of the ship partially taken apart to show how everything's put together and there would be cool callouts and little tech blurbs. Like, there would be two or so overall cutaways that show the ship from two different angles, then stuff like the A/B/C superstructure, the saucer, sensor dome, engineering hull, nacelles, etc. in greater detail.
But it'd turn out nowhere near as cool as it would if some of the fans did it.
I would side with art book, but art books are always "here's a picture of the final concept, compared to the final product" and you only occasionally get a glimpse at just a bit of the vast piles of concept work. But it would be cool just to get a straight-up pile of concept art. Which would be awesome. If it wasn't like, a kajillion bucks, of course.
Good.
I'd like to know who the marketing pinhead was that decided this thing should be a hardback, with a $27 cover price.
Really? In this economy? Does somebody at S&S have a freakin' death wish or something?
Really? In this economy? Does somebody at S&S have a freakin' death wish or something?
The hardback is pretty frakkin' anemic...
To be honest, when I first heard of this book, and that it would cover so many ships, I envisioned something at least a full inch thick, if not a bit more... I was quite shocked to see how thin this was..
To be honest, when I first heard of this book, and that it would cover so many ships, I envisioned something at least a full inch thick, if not a bit more... I was quite shocked to see how thin this was..
That's the thing, right. A lot of hype about something of little substance. The book is basically a compilation of previously existing materiel with a few new nuggets thrown in.
This is where something like FJ's tech manual, as inconsistent as it was, blows the Haynes book and like works out of the water. FJ's book was mostly new materiel based on and extrapolating from what little was known in the Trek universe, which at the time was only TOS and TAS.
And this is where, again, the good work of fans wins because they are following FJ's lead. The dedicated fans are extrapolating from what's been shown and established and fleshing it out as believably as they can. They're not just trying to cram set drawings into designs with hulls as thin as plywood. They're trying to make it all fit together in a plausible way.
And they're not doing it for the general fan and audience. They're doing it for themselves and other like minded folks who like to use their excited creative imaginations to work out these things. The general fan just happens to be able appreciate the results just as they appreciate what they've seen on television.
The earlier tech manuals worked because while they appealed to the casual fan they also gave the more serious minded fan the sense that someone cared about what they were doing. It basically came down to us feeling, "You gave me something of value for my money instead of just trying to scam me out of a few hard earned bucks."
When I occasionally peruse FJ's tech manual even after all these years---sure I can spot the inconsistencies---but what I really see is that someone put a helluva lot of work into it and I can appreciate the effort. Today you can still buy a softcover edition of FJ's book, and what it may lack in comparison to today's more polished looking works it far exceeds in terms of thought, substance and overall execution.
ST-One
Vice Admiral
This.
But only if Eaves is the main artist for the book.
And then I'd like to see the same kind of book for the Refit, with Probert as the main artist for the renderings of the ship and the equipment.
Yes I'd love a TNG Tech Manual on the Enterprise-E...she's my favorite ship aside from the E-A. Also a cutaway book with the artistry of say a Chris Trevas (who has worked on the Millennium Falcon 3D pop up book along with both blueprint books for Star Wars) would be excellent. I'd be fine with John Eaves on the project. I seriously doubt any of these things will happen now. I echo the sentiment of not misleading us. If those missing pages like the TOS Communicator, and shuttle were supposed to be samples of the work included IN THE BOOK how about including them in the damn book Haynes? Just a thought.
Why does everyone say even sarcastically that "Star Trek" saved the franchise? The franchise was on a break and in no danger of fading away thanks to re-runs, DVD sales, and Trek Literature.
I do think the Pocket people (who supposedly were a partner in the making of this book) are going to look at the inevitable low sales and think no one wants to buy a tech manual.
I have a feeling that I'm going to be waiting a long time to even flip through this sucker now.
Why does everyone say even sarcastically that "Star Trek" saved the franchise? The franchise was on a break and in no danger of fading away thanks to re-runs, DVD sales, and Trek Literature.
I do think the Pocket people (who supposedly were a partner in the making of this book) are going to look at the inevitable low sales and think no one wants to buy a tech manual.
I have a feeling that I'm going to be waiting a long time to even flip through this sucker now.
They already thought so, which is why they let the Haynes people do this one. Isn't it that the publisher of all of the Haynes manuals approached Simon & Schuster and CBS Consumer Products for permission to do this under their licensing umbrella, since S&S wasn't doing licensed ST manuals of its own at the moment, due to them being economically unwise for Pocket?
http://www.haynes.com/
http://www.haynes.com.au/webcontent1.htm
I noticed, the other day, there's even an "Apollo 11" Haynes Manual due! Aren't they all matching hardcovers? The ST one will sell; there are probably avid collectors of all Haynes Manuals out there, just itching to add a ST one to their collection. And ST completist collectors who are wanting a new ST manual for their ST book collections.
"The worldwide leader in automotive and motorcycle repair, maintenance and customising manuals with sales of well over 7 million manuals annually and over 150 million total sold globally, Haynes Manuals are a must-read for all car owners..."
On their websites, most Haynes Manuals seem to be around the same price as each other. There are three cheaper ones, aimed at young children: including manuals for "Thomas the Tank Engine" and "Wallace & Grommit" inventions.
That's a bit unfair since Doug Drexler and Herman Zimmerman did quite a lot of work there, too.
I'm thinking he stated that because Eaves is recognized as the primary designer of the Enterprise-E. No denying Doug and Herman's contributions though.