• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

USS ENTERPRISE HAYNES OWNERS MANUAL (Part 3)

^^ FJ's blueprints and tech manual, despite discrepancies, went beyond the "revered" canon and we folks loved those works. That some of the materiel in his work may have been contradicted later onscreen didn't take away from the fact that a lot of it made sense within its own context.
 
Warped9 said:
^^ FJ's blueprints and tech manual, despite discrepancies, went beyond the "revered" canon and we folks loved those works. That some of the materiel in his work may have been contradicted later onscreen didn't take away from the fact that a lot of it made sense within its own context.
Click to expand...

I look at FJ's work and I look at the Haynes - and they both seem similar, allowing only for cheaper/better printing technologies evolving in the three to four decades between them. A lot of the Haynes "makes sense within its own context", too.
 
Actually, I fondled many copies of the "ST Starfleet Technical Manual" in shops for months (1980) before deciding I really, really needed it. I have a feeling it was at least $19.99 way back then; very, very expensive for the day. It was the price that put me off each time. When I found a good condition, remaindered* copy of Bjo's "ST Concordance", I celebrated that bargain by buying FJ's manual, and then the blueprints. (* Not realising that authors received no royalty on remaindered books.)

I only ever saw the "ST Starfleet Medical Reference Manual" in one shop, and after eight long months of looking, I special-ordered one direct from the distributor. I had to pay on the advance invoice before they'd sent it out and, at first, they billed me for ten copies. Imagine my face when I saw the total. They thought I was a bookshop, but I was using my Dad's bread shop as a mailing address.
 
Therin, you're giving praise to a book because it nearly equates in some of the graphics to a book that was done, by hand, nearly 35 years ago - ignoring everything else that has been put out since then.

The 'owners manual' would have been a good buy, if it weren't for the dozens of official books at reasonable prices at higher quality that had come out over the years, along with the issue of just rehashing material that the target audience likely already owns.
 
Vance said:
Going from the admittedly error-prone "Making of Star Trek", Gene had the ship's scale changed as the pilot was being worked on. The original pitch had the ship at about 200' in length, with the final turn in coming in at 947'.

The 'second scale' would be when the ship went to 400' or so in the production material.
Click to expand...

You know, it might be nice to have blueprints showing deck lay-outs as they would have to appear at 200, 400 and 947 (that Aridas has already done) heck in one episode of TAS, there was this inflatable Dreadnought that was supposed to be an even larger ship. So I guess FASA wasn't the first to show the same design at different scales ;)

Seriously, the bridge in The Cage actually reminds me a bit of the bridge in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. It seems closer to that than the production bridge in a way.

The gooseneck viewers were fine, they just had too many for my taste. They would look nice at a desk though...
 
Dang, this is the first time I visited this thread in months when there wasn't a new post! :lol:
 
just bought the owners manaul and it's ok, though I wish the ship cutaways were a bit bigger maybe a fold out would have been better. couldnt see much detail.
but though i liked it, it isnt anything as clear to read as the one about the enterprise A that came out years ago.
 
Curse the iPhone and it's tendency to post before I finish typing!

Anyway, as I was saying. It looks OK and the missus is getting it for me as a crimbo pressie. If it turns out to be pants then it's straight to eBay.
 
Well I flipped through the book today and wow I haven't been this disappointed by a Star Trek book of any kind since Before Dishonor. I totally agree with Bolian Admiral's original assessment of the book and what many others have said about it, it's basically similar to an RPG supplement. The cutaway diagrams are...just shite, and one one of them for each ship? They barely show anything either, I literally had to squint and I wear glasses. "Complimenting" the art are photographs which just seem out of place for a book like this. I honestly am baffled that there were any significant delays on this book now. Just wow. I won't be getting this. I wouldn't even ask anyone to get this for me either.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top