Any good Star Trek histories out there?
- Thread starter Vreenak
- Start date
Just looking at my own shelves:
The Making of Star Trek by Stephen E. Whitfield and Gene Roddenberry: A must-read for any Trek fan or behind-the-scenes fan.
The World of Star Trek and The Trouble With Tribbles by David Gerrold.
Inside Star Trek by Herbert F. Solow and Robert H. Justman.
Star Trek: Phase II: The Lost Series by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens: An overview of the abandoned TV revival that became Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
The Making of Star Trek: The Motion Picture by Susan Sackett and Roddenberry.
Chekov's Enterprise by Walter Koenig: His journal of the filming of ST:TMP. (I don't actually have this one, but I gather that's a significant omission.)
Return to Tomorrow: The Filming of Star Trek: The Motion Picture by Preston Neal Jones: Long-overdue publication of an exhaustive oral history of the filmmaking process.
The Making of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan by Allan Asherman.
Captain's Log: William Shatner's Personal Account of the Making of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier "As told by" Lisbeth Shatner.
The Secrets of Star Trek: Insurrection by Terry J. Erdmann.
The Making of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine by Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens: Chronicle of the development and early days of the series.
The Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion by Terry J. Erdmann with Paula Block: There are other companion books, but this is by far the most detailed inside look at DS9.
A Vision of the Future: Star Trek Voyager by Stephen Edward Poe: By the author of The Making of Star Trek (Whitfield) under his real name. Covering the early period of the series, this is the only detailed inside look I think we ever got into the production of Voyager.
The Making of Star Trek by Stephen E. Whitfield and Gene Roddenberry: A must-read for any Trek fan or behind-the-scenes fan.
The World of Star Trek and The Trouble With Tribbles by David Gerrold.
Inside Star Trek by Herbert F. Solow and Robert H. Justman.
Star Trek: Phase II: The Lost Series by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens: An overview of the abandoned TV revival that became Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
The Making of Star Trek: The Motion Picture by Susan Sackett and Roddenberry.
Chekov's Enterprise by Walter Koenig: His journal of the filming of ST:TMP. (I don't actually have this one, but I gather that's a significant omission.)
Return to Tomorrow: The Filming of Star Trek: The Motion Picture by Preston Neal Jones: Long-overdue publication of an exhaustive oral history of the filmmaking process.
The Making of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan by Allan Asherman.
Captain's Log: William Shatner's Personal Account of the Making of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier "As told by" Lisbeth Shatner.
The Secrets of Star Trek: Insurrection by Terry J. Erdmann.
The Making of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine by Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens: Chronicle of the development and early days of the series.
The Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion by Terry J. Erdmann with Paula Block: There are other companion books, but this is by far the most detailed inside look at DS9.
A Vision of the Future: Star Trek Voyager by Stephen Edward Poe: By the author of The Making of Star Trek (Whitfield) under his real name. Covering the early period of the series, this is the only detailed inside look I think we ever got into the production of Voyager.
I read the authorized biography of Roddenberry recently, and it was interesting, but it does kind of gloss over some of what happened after TMP was made. Of course that does coincide with him having less involvement with the property at that point, so it's expected.
Have you read Star Trek: Federation - The First 150 Years?
Or The Star Trek Spaceflight Chronology?
First 150 Years doesn't include any Litverse stuff, does it? And SFC was before even the 80s Litverse. But I think Relayer1 is talking about wanting something specifically for the expanded universe, something that includes the novels.
Nope. Where they overlap, they conflict.
Yet several books in the '80s continuity draw on it, especially The Final Reflection and Strangers from the Sky.
Oh yeah, I know, but that still doesn't really make it about the 80s Litverse any more than the Okuda Chronology is about the later books because they draw on it.
I'd love that.
I always wished the Trek reference books would go the Star Wars route and include the books and comics.
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Maybe do what the Timeline did and just include everything? Even the stuff that contradicts the other stuff?
John Ford's The Final Reflection drew heavily on SFC. Then, as I recall, SFC was formally deprecated with extreme prejudice around the time production began on TNG. And it's probably just as well it was.
^I wouldn't say the SFC was "deprecated" -- it just wasn't followed, and there was no reason to expect it would be. The creators were developing their own show, and they had the right to make their own choices instead of being beholden to a tie-in book.
And it's worth noting that Rick Sternbach worked on both the SFC and TNG, and apparently didn't have any problem with disregarding his earlier work.
And it's worth noting that Rick Sternbach worked on both the SFC and TNG, and apparently didn't have any problem with disregarding his earlier work.
Indeed - particularly including the novels. And yes, I'm familiar with Federation - The First 150 Years and the Star Trek Spaceflight Chronology.
That's the big issue. I'd have to say work backwards from the relaunch continuity. It's coherent and should be continuing for the forseeable future. Other (older) novels could be judged against the relaunch for 'fit'. Each individual episode and novel need not be referenced (many episodes and 'numbered' novels were very 'stand alone' anyway), and the major events and continuity would be used to tell the bigger story.
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