I canceled the order. Saw on Chapters' website that it's temporarily unavailable for order and the store hasn't got their shipments in yet. Tired of this bullshit waiting. I might reconsider and get it from Amazon.
USS ENTERPRISE HAYNES OWNERS MANUAL (Part 3)
- Thread starter Starlock
- Start date
ST-One
Vice Admiral
You really should spend your money on something more worthwhile, like Frank Schätzing's The Swarm or save for a NookColor
On Amazon.ca it's still listed as not yet released but can be pre-ordered. Screw it. After all I've seen and read about this thing I'm passing.
There's so much archival materiel out there and they could have access to resources most fans could only dream about. And yet time after time the dedicated fans do better work. The earlier publications had enormous appeal because there was nothing else out there on that level and we were getting something new. But over the years resources have become available to those dedicated fans who really care about getting it right and they ended up often surpassing the earlier publications.
I remember drooling over FJ's Booklet Of General Plans and Star Fleet Technical Manual as well as other publications. And yet in most cases dedicated fans have far surpassed those venerable first works while the "official" publications have lagged. This new book is just the latest example.
I really wanted to like this book and I was intensely curious, but all the feedback has just affirmed my nagging doubts. I'll use the money to buy something I really want.
There's so much archival materiel out there and they could have access to resources most fans could only dream about. And yet time after time the dedicated fans do better work. The earlier publications had enormous appeal because there was nothing else out there on that level and we were getting something new. But over the years resources have become available to those dedicated fans who really care about getting it right and they ended up often surpassing the earlier publications.
I remember drooling over FJ's Booklet Of General Plans and Star Fleet Technical Manual as well as other publications. And yet in most cases dedicated fans have far surpassed those venerable first works while the "official" publications have lagged. This new book is just the latest example.
I really wanted to like this book and I was intensely curious, but all the feedback has just affirmed my nagging doubts. I'll use the money to buy something I really want.
Yep I'm starting to come over to your guy's side with all these delays and the negative feedback. Too bad too since I wanted to support it...they just lost my money.
I'd just go to a B&N (unless you don't have that option at all) rather than rely on Amazon again.
Where I currently live there isn't much in the way of bookstores. When I lived in Mississauga (west of Toronto) I could go to Chapters at Square One or go downtown to the World's Biggest Bookstore to see things first hand. I don't have that option now. Unless perhaps there is a Chapters in nearby Kingston. But that's a three quarters of an hour drive and I haven't much faith in Chapters anymore for years anyway.
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^
Well, I'm pretty sure you will dislike a lot of what is in the book, especially the stuff with the TOS shuttle, which is beyond all wrong.
Well, I'm pretty sure you will dislike a lot of what is in the book, especially the stuff with the TOS shuttle, which is beyond all wrong.
Kingston has an Indigo, I believe. Same company, though..
I think I'll probably hit Borders and/or B&N this weekend and take a peek.
Well Borders states on its website that it will not carry it in stores... online only. But B&N does have them in-store.
We don't have any Barnes and Nobles in Vancouver, not sure that anywhere in Canada does. Yeah Chapters/Indigo has started to become notorious for their inaccurate website publishing dates, stores not getting stock in. Ordering stuff online is normally pretty good except this damn book. I'm guessing they took it off for ordering because they haven't got their stock in yet.
All of the negative feedback begs the question...what do you "purists" want in a technical manual other than accuracy?
Accuracy and quality of artwork are good for starters. As to technical descriptions in text fact is few people other than a good SF writer or some real world scientist freely speculating are ever going to make this stuff sound credible.
You could probably pick a handful of talented folks from those frequenting the TBBS alone and they'd do a better job of this kind of materiel. Firstly, because they care and it matters to them for it to seem authentic. Secondly, they'd genuinely have fun doing it rather than just slapping it together to get it out of the way and move on to the next job.
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I need to ask again, I'm afraid... what is accuracy in Star Trek? What cutaway drawing of the Enterprise-E would be accurate? That one with 24, 26, 29 or even 48 decks? Is the 6-foot or 4-foot model of the Enterprise-D the way to go? Does the Enterprise-A have indeed 78 decks?
^^ There could always be niggling inconsistencies that you can pass over, but blatant inconsistencies aren't acceptable. Looking over the cutaways of the TOS E and the TOS shuttlecraft there are blatant inconsistencies that really stand out. That's just obvious carelessness.
^ Yeah this is along the lines of what I'm trying to get at. Some of you guys seem fickle when it comes to this and I don't mean that as an insult. For me I know that I want good art work and decent looking cutaways (like the kind that Quantum Mechanics has produced for Serenity).
Fact is rarely are illustrators going to have the time to sweat this stuff out like dedicated fans do. One of the reasons the fans can do good work is that they have the time and inclination to get it right.
When I began to see what FJ got wrong (no disrespect intended) with his blueprints and tech manual I still chalked it up as a good starting point and because there was nothing else like it out there. He did bring a sense of realism to the subject. Later publications built on that approach. Were FJ's works to be released today and as is then he'd be under as much criticism as the Haynes book.
There may well be nuggets of detail in the Haynes book that are genuine food for thought worth considering, but that can be obscured by getting obvious details wrong when the original source materiel is immediately at hand to compare to.
When I began to see what FJ got wrong (no disrespect intended) with his blueprints and tech manual I still chalked it up as a good starting point and because there was nothing else like it out there. He did bring a sense of realism to the subject. Later publications built on that approach. Were FJ's works to be released today and as is then he'd be under as much criticism as the Haynes book.
There may well be nuggets of detail in the Haynes book that are genuine food for thought worth considering, but that can be obscured by getting obvious details wrong when the original source materiel is immediately at hand to compare to.