I'm not sure what you mean. What's the difference between flipping open to a random page in a book, and clicking the "Random Page" button on Memory Alpha?
What Trek Reference Books Need To Be Compiled?
- Thread starter MatthiasRussell
- Start date
I'm not sure what you mean. What's the difference between flipping open to a random page in a book, and clicking the "Random Page" button on Memory Alpha?
I would love a comic book reference book, although it would obviously be a massive task.
I started one, but Memory Beta is much better suited to the task. And cheaper.
Yep, based on the cover art of Last Unicorn's "Among the Clans" RPG manual, based on speculative references to the climate in previous FASA RPG manuals.
Where's Sam Cogley when you need him?
Yes, there are simply more SW fans.
Look at the all time biggest box office movies. All six Star Wars movies are in the top 100. There's only one Star Trek movie in the top 400. Star Wars has a much healthier history in video games, in comics, in merchandising, in movie soundtracks, you name it.
Star Wars is just way, way, way more popular than Star Trek. It's that simple.
What's really interesting is the very lean period after "Return of the Jedi", when the Kenner toy lines had finished up and the MMPB novel line ended after the Luke standalone, a Han trilogy and a Lando trilogy. Meanwhile, Pocket's Star Trek original novel line was going from strength to strength, with Vonda McIntyre, AC Crispin, Diane Duane and others - and "Spock's World" getting huge publicity as a first-edition-in-hardcover. I seem to recall mention in "Starlog" that George Lucas regretted letting SW media tie-ins fall fallow and they quickly poached some ST bestselling authors for the new SW hardcover line.
Star Wars is also a lot easier to merchandize. Characters, gadgets, weapons, and the whole space opera setting just makes it a much easier sell to the younglings.
And, of course, there's this matter....
And, of course, there's this matter....
Star Wars is also a lot easier to merchandize. Characters, gadgets, weapons, and the whole space opera setting just makes it a much easier sell to the younglings.
And, of course, there's this matter....
+1
Has there ever been a reference series for Star Trek like the About Time series for Dr Who? What makes those books so great is not only the psychotic attention to detail about continuity, ethics, and unflinching criticism of all things Who, but references to the pop culture and politics of Great Britain and how they related to Dr Who during the time the show aired. They're a highly opinionated and entertaining read. Plus, there are numerous essays that go well above and beyond the call of reference book duty.
The About Time authors assume the reader knows more than a bit about DW and takes it from there, as there's not much in the way of episode summaries, other than a brief--and often amusing--reminder of what a given story is about.
Continuity is seriously looked at and scrutinized--but then so is everything about DW! They aren't afraid to take shots at the shoddy production, but then they give credit when things look impressive, too.
Behind the scenes battles are covered: producers, the BBC, the actors and their feuds. Endlessly interesting and a goldmine.
The essays are thought provoking and there's much more detail in the books than can be described here about every aspect of the show--except the aforementioned episode synopses!
With Star Trek's (largely) intelligent and obsessive fanbase, why hasn't there been a series like this for "our" show?
Why???
The About Time authors assume the reader knows more than a bit about DW and takes it from there, as there's not much in the way of episode summaries, other than a brief--and often amusing--reminder of what a given story is about.
Continuity is seriously looked at and scrutinized--but then so is everything about DW! They aren't afraid to take shots at the shoddy production, but then they give credit when things look impressive, too.
Behind the scenes battles are covered: producers, the BBC, the actors and their feuds. Endlessly interesting and a goldmine.
The essays are thought provoking and there's much more detail in the books than can be described here about every aspect of the show--except the aforementioned episode synopses!
With Star Trek's (largely) intelligent and obsessive fanbase, why hasn't there been a series like this for "our" show?
Why???
And all this despite the forced situations, wooden characters, melodramatic acting, and cheesy dialogue in the "prequel trilogy" in general (and Revenge of the Sith in particular)--which frankly would've killed practically any other franchise....
As H.L. Mencken once said: No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of Star Wars fans.
How does any of that not apply to Star Trek too? When I was a kid, I owned a Mego Star Trek utility belt complete with toy communicator, phaser, and tricorder. Plus I had a second phaser toy that "fired" spinning discs. And there was the bridge playset and the action figures and the model kits, and there were comics and activity books and jigsaw puzzles, all sorts of Trek merchandise for kids.
There's nothing about Star Wars that's intrinsically more merchandise-friendly. It's just that it gets a lot more effort put into its merchandising these days.
In fact, I strongly suspect that at least until 1997, there was a definite "merchandise gap" in favor of Star Trek.
^Right. The reason Star Wars is bigger now is that Lucasfilm has made such a huge merchandising push over the past decade or so, with the re-releases and the prequels and the TV series and the book line and all of it. But let's remember it hasn't always been that way. There was a time when Star Trek was bigger, more prominent, more heavily marketed. (And of course Trek came first by more than a decade. The reason Lucas named his film Star Wars in the first place was to ride on the coattails of Star Trek's success.) So let's avoid the mistake of confusing current trends with eternal verities.
In terms of aggressive merchandising, I seem to remember there being Star Wars everything during the original trilogy's run (how sad that we must now make a distinction; same goes for Trek) and Star Wars was the film that made mass marketing/crossover promotions a science. Star Trek did overachieve in that regard during the 1970s, but I don't think it came anywhere near what Star Wars accomplished. I do agree that the Lucas franchise was largely moribund from 1986 to the 1997 Special Edition campaign.
I had that Mego bridge set; oh, how I loved that transporter and fresh vinyl scent! And the (brown) Gorn with the Klingon outfit...
No, but the point is that things can change over time, that just because one thing is bigger than another at the present time, that doesn't mean it's always been so or always will be. It certainly doesn't mean that Star Wars is intrinsically better suited to being merchandised than Star Trek; that's just silly. It just means that Lucasfilm has pursued merchandising more aggressively and successfully -- at some times, but not always.
Exactly. And that was when Star Trek was at its peak of popularity due to TNG and its spinoffs, and when Trek literature established the standard of success that Lucasfilm belatedly got around to emulating. To any observer from that time, it would've seemed that Trek was much more successful than Wars, and I'm sure there must've been people who made shortsighted arguments that ST was intrinsically more marketable. It's a common practice to look at the way things are around you at the moment and assume it's a permanent or inevitable state of affairs. But the reality is that things can change a great deal from one decade to the next.
I'm still embittered that when we moved just before my 10th birthday, the one box we lost was the one containing most of my Trek toys, plus the model train set I'd only had since the previous Christmas. All my best stuff.
I guess the rising and falling of popularity went up and down every other decade.
That's terrible, but I can top that (unfortunately). In 1979, when I was not yet eight, as my mother prepared to sell the house after the divorce from my father, a huge pile of my belongings were left heaped in the backyard! Among them my Mego Talosian figure, which I had searched for in that pile in a feeble attempt to find something of mine before we left. I had a horrible mother. Seriously...
I'm still embittered that when we moved just before my 10th birthday, the one box we lost was the one containing most of my Trek toys, plus the model train set I'd only had since the previous Christmas. All my best stuff.
That's terrible, but I can top that (unfortunately). In 1979, when I was not yet eight, as my mother prepared to sell the house after the divorce from my father, a huge pile of my belongings were left heaped in the backyard! Among them my Mego Talosian figure, which I had searched for in that pile in a feeble attempt to find something of mine before we left. I had a horrible mother. Seriously...
I've got a tub full of tons of TNG, DS9, and Voyager actions figures, phasers, tricorders, communicators and ships all of which I got during the height of Trek merchandising. I've also got the bridge playset, and the TNG transporter that actually makes your figures disappear (I'm 23 and that is still one of my favorite toys), and the shuttle craft that you can put figures in. Along with that I have well over 100 trading cards from the TOS, TNG, and Voy.
I really think this kind of thing is cyclical and in another 10-20 Star Wars will probably be in the position Trek is in right now, and Trek might be in the Star Wars position.
I really think this kind of thing is cyclical and in another 10-20 Star Wars will probably be in the position Trek is in right now, and Trek might be in the Star Wars position.
Similar threads
