The book is shipping now. The only hold up now is how fast Creature Features can get orders packed and shipped. People are getting their copies though. Neil
I'm keeping my eyes posted for the delivery notification. Just hoping that it will hit the mailbox in time for Christmas.
Mine arrived on Friday. Autographed and all. With a bent corner which made me a little sad. I'll get over it. Haven't had a chance to dig into it yet though. Perhaps Wednesday. Busy holiday season.
I ordered months ago and even back then I believe I missed the chance for an autographed copy. It'll just be great getting to flip through those pages, though.
I love the way this book is done so far. It's mostly quotes from interviews with only minimal text from the author explaining context, avoiding the author overtly injecting himself or his opinions and conclusions into the narrative. It's nicely laid out, two columns per page, so easy on the eyes to read. 50 pages in, and right up to the point that the Star Trek II (no Phase) series was canned and the project transmogrified into a feature. I've already learned a few things I didn't know before. Here are a few: Re Magicam This tubular dodecahedron thing (seen top center of the following image) was the frame for a model of a Mike Minor designed space office complex, which Jim Dow described as "one big dodecahedron... at each of the conjunction points there would be a small dodecahedron..." (lots of little dodecahedrons on the table to the right of the frame) and that it wouldn't work because "it's simply mathematically impossible." The Minor-designed V'ger was described by Dow: "His concept was sort of a golden, mechanical snake". The sets Lee Cole said the sets were built with panels that could be popped open to reveal special equipment of the week to allow for situations where they needed gear which hadn't been previously planned for. So far I really have only one quibble, and that's that the narrative mentions Xon several times but doesn't really set up who he is, so to someone unfamiliar with the Star Trek [Phase] II series plans this would be somewhat confusing, albeit you can get who the character is from context over subsequent pages.
My copy of "Return to Tomorrow" arrived in Sydney, Australia, today and I'm thrilled to have it. Many pieces in makeup artist Fred B. Phillips' words, and several anecdotes on Billy Van Zandt's Rhaandarite bridge alien (variations/elaborations to known stories, and new info). A pic in the TrekLit "Latest Acquisitions" thread: http://www.trekbbs.com/showpost.php?p=10478719&postcount=286
Into Part Two now. "Fascinating". Even here, interviewed in 1979, you can see people already misremembering things and embellishing stories. The production was an organizational mess, with people trying to do other people's jobs and causing all kinds of hard feelings. Lots of fun details, too, like knowing what they used for flooring and upholstery. You can see the problems with the VFX situation building up from early on. Sound the collision alarm!
Tonight I received my confirmation email from Creature Features, whoop! Whoop! How long it will take to ship to the UK on the other hand is anyone's guess...
I remember I have already read this story (the "mathematically impossible" design of the dodecahedrons)... It was probably on some Enterprise Incidents issue. However I can't wait to get my copy (long way to Italy). Can you confirm that the book has no photos in it? Maab
They still managed to do it someway (you can se the dodecahedrons are not adjacent). Another picture of "the big one" Maab
^^^From where is the top photo? Just read an account by Nichelle about thinking about leaving the show after the second season, and she mentions being talked out of it by Gene. No MLK reference.