Star Trek: The Visual Dictionary...Finally?

[Deranged Nasat]

Oh, 8of5, sprinkle me with spoilery goodness from atop your endictionaried perch.

What races are featured on the "Allied Species" page? I'm assuming that's the "assorted other Federation races" page, after Vulcans, Andorians, Tellarites, Denobulans, Betazoids and Trills get their own pages. So...Bolians, I'm betting? Benzites? Deltans? Rigellians?

 

[Christopher]

Another, much more minor, detail that impresses me: Human is capitalized like the other race names. Thank you!

Personally I'd be happier if it was the other way around. Normally, we capitalize the names of nationalities (French, Korean, Sioux) but not the names of species (dolphin, elephant, octopus). It's an unfortunate tendency of Trek and other SF to treat species as equivalent to nations or cultures, rather than portraying them as distinct entities (a species can be divided into many nations and a nation can have members of many species). So, for instance, "vulcan" should be the name of a species that encompasses the nations of Vulcan and Romulus -- although ideally the nation/planet name wouldn't be the same as the species name (humans come from Earth, not Huma).

 

[Deranged Nasat]

Another, much more minor, detail that impresses me: Human is capitalized like the other race names. Thank you!

Personally I'd be happier if it was the other way around. Normally, we capitalize the names of nationalities (French, Korean, Sioux) but not the names of species (dolphin, elephant, octopus). It's an unfortunate tendency of Trek and other SF to treat species as equivalent to nations or cultures, rather than portraying them as distinct entities (a species can be divided into many nations and a nation can have members of many species). So, for instance, "vulcan" should be the name of a species that encompasses the nations of Vulcan and Romulus -- although ideally the nation/planet name wouldn't be the same as the species name (humans come from Earth, not Huma).

Mass Effect is the only popular sci-fi that comes to mind in that regard - it's salarians from the Salarian Union, for example. (There's the pak'ma'ra in Babylon Five, but that's apparently whimsy of the Great Maker and certainly isn't the norm in that franchise).

Either way, though, I'm glad humans are being treated as "just another race" here, one way or the other, rather than something distinct.

And as always I must clarify that humans are from Humus Prime, not Huma

 

[Therin of Andor]

Personally I'd be happier if it was the other way around.

I seem to recall Diane Duane used "Human" in her early works.

But Larry Niven favours "kzin" and "kzinti".

 

[8of5]

Andorians, Tellarites and Vulcan's all benefited hugely from the extra info Enterprise gave them. I'm sure they'd have struggled to fill half as much space as they do without it.

Oh, 8of5, sprinkle me with spoilery goodness from atop your endictionaried perch.

What races are featured on the "Allied Species" page? I'm assuming that's the "assorted other Federation races" page, after Vulcans, Andorians, Tellarites, Denobulans, Betazoids and Trills get their own pages. So...Bolians, I'm betting? Benzites? Deltans? Rigellians?

Just Bolians and Benzites on that one, with the Horta and Tribble on the opposite non-humanoids page.

And if you're curious the alien threats spread has Mugato, Nausicaans, Salt Vampire (or M-113 creature as they've called it), and Yridians.

Another, much more minor, detail that impresses me: Human is capitalized like the other race names. Thank you!

Personally I'd be happier if it was the other way around. Normally, we capitalize the names of nationalities (French, Korean, Sioux) but not the names of species (dolphin, elephant, octopus). It's an unfortunate tendency of Trek and other SF to treat species as equivalent to nations or cultures, rather than portraying them as distinct entities (a species can be divided into many nations and a nation can have members of many species). So, for instance, "vulcan" should be the name of a species that encompasses the nations of Vulcan and Romulus -- although ideally the nation/planet name wouldn't be the same as the species name (humans come from Earth, not Huma).

I hadn't noticed that, but I too am pleased to see Humans getting some capital equality, now you point it out!

Re Chris' point: I'm Human, European, British, and English. Much as a Vulcan can be a person of the planet Vulcan, but also a person of a particular culture/race on the planet Vulcan, or come from a particular geopolitical region of Vulcan. One does not preclude the other, and I see it as a positive thing that the planets of Star Trek future have such a feeling of oneness that they primarily identify as the collective peoples of that planet.

Wouldn't it be lovely if we all stopped worry about being English, American, Asian, a New Yorker, etc, and had a bit more of a sense of our equal collective Humanness?

 

[Christopher]

^Sure, but I'm just saying that in conventional, real-world, the name of a species is uncapitalized. The tendency of science fiction to capitalize species names implicitly equates them with nationalities, which plays into the unfortunate, rather ugly tendency of science fiction to practice racial essentialism and stereotyping. It promotes the confusion of racial identity with cultural or political identity -- like treating Vulcans and Romulans as separate species when they're really separate nationalities of a single species.

It's also just oversimplistic to use the same name for the species, the planet, the language, and the nation. Instead of Vulcans from the Vulcan-speaking Confederacy of Vulcan on the planet Vulcan, why not, say, vulcans from the V'nari-speaking Confederacy of Surak on the planet T'Khasi?

It's confusing to say that Vulcans and Romulans are both Vulcans, but it would be clearer to say that T'Khasians and Romulans are both vulcans.

 

[DS9forever]

My copy arrived today - I was pleased to see references from the Deep Space Nine Technical Manual included - I've found "arkenium" and "isotolinium" so far.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

My copy arrived today - I was pleased to see references from the Deep Space Nine Technical Manual included - I've found "arkenium" and "isotolinium" so far.

On the labels for the Jem'Hadar and Cardassian weapons, if I recall.

As a random aside, I like the name Arkenium because I assume it's named for Arken, the planet. Arkenite contribution to Federation science, and all.

 

[Admiral_Young]

I see this is available now on Amazon Canada...I probably won't be getting it until the end of the month. Very excited still about it though.

 

[DimesDan]

Think of it, without that series would the Andorians have got any section in a book that is not just geared towards hardcore fans?

Probably. Andorians were quite well featured in lots of ST stuff over the years, including "The Monsters of Star Trek", a 1980s book aimed at kids rather than ST fans, "The Starfleet Medical Reference Manual", which sat in bookshops alongside the bestselling "Starfleet Technical Manual", and GE Fabbri's weekly "ST Fact Files", which were in every UK and Australian newsagent for many years.

Now I can't say for sure what goes on in Australia as I don't live there, but I'm afraid to say that the Fact Files weren't in every UK newsagent, in the town where I grew up, only one out of eight at the time newsagents stocked the magazine and the only reason they had it was because my father put it on subscription for me.

They also didn't really have a high abundance of Andorian features, but that's by the by.

Although it was a very nice body of work, I never actually finished it and a couple of years ago, I took it to a local recycling centre.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

Overall, it was very enjoyable (great to finally have one of these) and I think it will serve as a useful introduction to the Trek 'verse for new viewers/readers; hopefully we can pull in some young fans with this . My one nit-pick; a few unfortunate editorial errors that were rather vexing (repeated words, missing words, etc). Other than that, I was pleased (and wished it could have been half as long again). Rather impressed by how much they managed to squeeze in.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I'm afraid to say that the Fact Files weren't in every UK newsagent, in the town where I grew up, only one out of eight at the time newsagents stocked the magazine and the only reason they had it was because my father put it on subscription for me.

As is normal for a part-work that goes several years past its scheduled run. All newsagents carried it for the first few weeks/months - and all newsagents had access to it - then regular customers put in their standing order. I had to switch newsagents at one point, and lining up the end of one standing order with the beginning of the new one was tricky. I did know of one newsagent who refused to do standing orders, and he used to wonder why he still got in two issues every week, because they'd get mangled on the shelves.

They also didn't really have a high abundance of Andorian features, but that's by the by.

They even got a cover!

But my point is, Andorians were certainly as well represented in previous works as they could be. They were barely in 24th century ST, so they weren't well represented in that era's publications.

BTW, I still never got that PM, nor a reply to mine. Could you please resend?

 

[Admiral_Young]

Change of plans. I'll be picking this up finally next week along with On Board the USS Enterprise.

 

[JD]

I'm thinking I might pick this up if I see it at my local Sam's Club. They occasionally get DK stuff, so there is a chance it might pop up there.

 

[Admiral_Young]

My copy arrived this morning, and I quickly flipped through it and for a basic Visual Dictionary that covers all five series...it's pretty good. I'm really happy with the purchase and hopefully these will sell enough copies that we can start getting "Star Trek: Ultimate Guides" and other books that DK does like Encyclopedia and Character Encyclopedias. Hopefully this is just the start of a whole new line of DK Star Trek books.

 

[Greg Cox]

A fun book. I'm thinking of picking up an extra copy for my nieces, who are just discovering Star Trek.

 

[Mysterion]

Personally a bit disappointed that the ST reference books we're getting now all seem to be aimed at children/younger readers (i.e. thios book and the recent Enterprise tour book by Okuda). They just don't do anything for me, but I'm happy that the younger Trek fans have them.

Miss the technical manuals, and episode guides and such. And before someone posts it: I do realize the reasons why we don't see those anymore, and why we probably won't anytime soon.

 

[8of5]

Personally a bit disappointed that the ST reference books we're getting now all seem to be aimed at children/younger readers (i.e. thios book and the recent Enterprise tour book by Okuda). They just don't do anything for me, but I'm happy that the younger Trek fans have them.

Miss the technical manuals, and episode guides and such. And before someone posts it: I do realize the reasons why we don't see those anymore, and why we probably won't anytime soon.

I'm not sure that's an accurate assessment of the current output. There's been a huge resurgence in Star Trek non-fiction in recent years, including the introductory/younger audience books you cite, light hearted interpretations, a couple of craft books coming up, and plenty of more in-depth titles for grown-ups/experienced trekkies: In the past few months alone we've had a the Klingon Bird of Prey Haynes Manual, which goes into a great deal of technical detail. Federation: The First 150 Years, with two centuries of Star Trek history, and the TNG 365 with all sorts of production information.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Personally a bit disappointed that the ST reference books we're getting now all seem to be aimed at children/younger readers

There have always been ST books aimed at younger readers and, let's face it, forty years ago we were all "younger readers", too!

When I first got into Star Trek, my first purchases (at age 21) included things like View-Master reels, the "ST:TMP Pop-up Book", the "ST:TMP Make-You-Own-Costume Book", "Monsters of Star Trek" and the "Intergalactic Puzzle Book", all skewed young enough that I kinda hid them from my parents. I think I had all of those in my small collection before I decided I also needed the "ST Concordance", "The Technical Manual", "Medical Reference Manual", "The Making of Star Trek" and "World of Star Trek".

 

[RAMA]

I got it last week, and it's pretty cool, it's somewhat basic but would introduce the old timeline to any new fans probably better than the old encyclopedia would. The most impressive thing about it is the picture quality of the props...wow. Enterprise had the best looking props.

RAMA