ST-One
Vice Admiral
I just like his style
Drexler and Zimmerman would be very welcome additions, of course.
If only this weren't just an exercise in imagination on our part here...
USS ENTERPRISE HAYNES OWNERS MANUAL (Part 3)
- Thread starter Starlock
- Start date
I just like his style
Drexler and Zimmerman would be very welcome additions, of course.
If only this weren't just an exercise in imagination on our part here...
How in the world did you think I was suggesting that? I was only pointing out something I thought was neat.
The thing that made the original Star Trek Technical Manual so great in its day wasn't an attempt by the author to generate a plethora of plausible (and doomed to be dated) phony technology and science to support what was seen in Star Trek - that aspect of the work was pretty minimal by comparison to modern efforts. But the Manual was the most sophisticated and well-rendered attempt up to that time to document the physical "universe" that we'd seen on the TV series and to fit it into a logical design framework. Along with that, Schnaubelt added on a few imaginative extensions of it all, perhaps most noticeably in his somewhat naive but visually cool (for the time) proposal that most Star Fleet ships were recombinations of a few modular unit.
That last probably sold a few Enterprise kits for AMT, anyway.
That last probably sold a few Enterprise kits for AMT, anyway.
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I think the key to a successful Star Trek tech manual would be to have Mike Okuda in more control of the thing, not just a consultant who can be ignored by editorial fiat.
Another important piece of the equation is to make the thing affordable, along with having enough material to be worth whatever price is slapped on it.
This offering seems to fail on that basis.
Another important piece of the equation is to make the thing affordable, along with having enough material to be worth whatever price is slapped on it.
This offering seems to fail on that basis.
Okay, I've got more to say about the book...
There's a whole lot of non-ship stuff.
There are photos of the Duras sisters, TOS crew in 1986 SF, and more. There is a whole lot of text describing Archer's life story, missions of the Ent-B, and so on.
But the book is titled an "Owner's Workshop Manual"
I don't see how all this other stuff has a place here.
It's not supposed to be a nice book about Enterprises,
where crew history and missions and all that would be appropriate. It's an "Owner's Workshop Manual"! I would expect strictly technical text, yes?
TNG Tech Man is almost exclusively technical, as it should be. I would expect this book to be similarly written with technical details and specifications rather than the colorful history and crew adventures.
If I had an "Owner's Workshop Manual" for a VCR (yes I said VCR) I would expect details and specs for cable hookups and channel settings--not pages of the good times the family enjoyed watching "The Lion King" on tape, or how the industry decided to go with a particular remote control design instead of the other one.
So yeah, there are sections with technical details and all that, but almost half the text is non-tech history and backstory. It's not bad, but I don't think it was appropriate to this volume.
There's a whole lot of non-ship stuff.
There are photos of the Duras sisters, TOS crew in 1986 SF, and more. There is a whole lot of text describing Archer's life story, missions of the Ent-B, and so on.
But the book is titled an "Owner's Workshop Manual"
I don't see how all this other stuff has a place here.
It's not supposed to be a nice book about Enterprises,
where crew history and missions and all that would be appropriate. It's an "Owner's Workshop Manual"! I would expect strictly technical text, yes?
TNG Tech Man is almost exclusively technical, as it should be. I would expect this book to be similarly written with technical details and specifications rather than the colorful history and crew adventures.
If I had an "Owner's Workshop Manual" for a VCR (yes I said VCR) I would expect details and specs for cable hookups and channel settings--not pages of the good times the family enjoyed watching "The Lion King" on tape, or how the industry decided to go with a particular remote control design instead of the other one.
So yeah, there are sections with technical details and all that, but almost half the text is non-tech history and backstory. It's not bad, but I don't think it was appropriate to this volume.
Man, I must be the only one who really likes this book--possibly because I never put much stock in the "Operator's Manual" label anyway, since such a thing wouldn't be realistically possible in any event (at least, not for five classes in a single volume).
Me, I'm just getting a kick out of finally seeing an explanation for what that knobby thing at the back of the NX is, and details of that sort. It is, sure, a book of what gamers call "fluff text"--but I like fluff text, so I'm good.
Me, I'm just getting a kick out of finally seeing an explanation for what that knobby thing at the back of the NX is, and details of that sort. It is, sure, a book of what gamers call "fluff text"--but I like fluff text, so I'm good.
... perhaps most noticeably in his somewhat naive but visually cool (for the time) proposal that most Star Fleet ships were recombinations of a few modular unit.
That last probably sold a few Enterprise kits for AMT, anyway.
And a shitload of Polar Lights kits too!
(I think I have 9 built as kitbashes and 11 unbuilt)
Like I have said... this is basically an RPG supplement type of book, than a legitimate technical manual or information source.
Material on the same level of the Sternbach/Okuda TNG Technical Manual, or the fan-produced Ships of the Star Fleet series, or the fan-produced Federation Reference Series.
I dunno, looking at my rather extensive Star Trek RPG collection, I don't see any book focusing on 'ships' having nearly as much non-ship content. (Same with Star Wars, or the old BSG game for that matter).
If anything, RPGs tend to be much MORE focused on their subject matter than the Haynes guide.
Even the Star Trek: The Next Generation Tech Manual had small history paragraphs at the start of the book regarding the five Enterprises. I don't have a problem with additional material being included in a tech manual if it's interesting and provides new information.
Related information, sure. You can mention that the Enterprise-D was destroyed by the Duras sisters, but when you're giving up a lot of pages to explain who they were rather than focus on the ship's details... you've screwed up.
I mean, seriously, it's not like fans of TNG aren't going to know who is responsible for the loss of the D, right? (Riker, for letting Troi drive!)
I'm mildly surprised that there's never been an actual hardbound version of the original Technical Manual published.
Well, there was 'sort of'. One of the original printings was in a nice faux-leather binding. The paperback (red cover) was inserted into it, like a 'real' engineering book of the time.
^ Now, something like that, but accurate, might be worth the cover price.
That would have been cool to own. I still remember how I got my TNG:Tech Manual, a family friend who is no longer with us bought it for me I believe I was 12 at the time and I still have it along with another copy. He got it at our local Star Trek store which no longer exists.
All I want is quality, and for the book to be of some substance. And honesty... that wouldn't hurt, either...