Why do people dislike the Fact Files?

[F. King Daniel]

The magazine says "Star Trek: The Figurine Collection". The (cardboard) boxes the figurines come in just have the logos for Enterprise, TOS, TNG, DS9 and Voyager on them, and a CBS consumer products logo on the back (in case you go looking for them seperately)

 

[USS Lancelot]

The magazine says "Star Trek: The Figurine Collection". The (cardboard) boxes the figurines come in just have the logos for Enterprise, TOS, TNG, DS9 and Voyager on them, and a CBS consumer products logo on the back (in case you go looking for them seperately)

Thanks. The hunt will now commence!

 

[USS Lancelot]

And, when the whole thing was over, and the contents rejigged and (partially) republished twice in the UK (once with stapled booklets instead of pads of single sheets), there was a Japanese version, which also began to include material never published in the previous English versions.

The Japanese version covered Insurrection and Nemesis, plus more than just the first season on ENT didn't it? Was it still in English and still released as loose-leaf sheets?

 

[Solarbaby]

Does anyone remember they made mistakes with the filing numbers and issued stickers to cover the file numbers to "re-arrange" the order?

I got bored of waiting to get some good blueprints of ships and sifting through the boring dull tit bits of info that watched paint dry

 

[Therin of Andor]

The Japanese version covered Insurrection and Nemesis

Well, the original UK "Fact Files" covered "Insurrection" anyway, although only later releases of the free ring-binders featured that additional movie poster art on the back.The UK/Australasia DVD re-released/revamped stapled magazine series featured "Nemesis".

plus more than just the first season on ENT

I assume so. The original UK "Fact Files" stopped at the end of Season One.

Was it still in English and still released as loose-leaf sheets?

Japanese text - and, yes, looseleaf.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Does anyone remember they made mistakes with the filing numbers and issued stickers to cover the file numbers to "re-arrange" the order?

Yes, I mentioned the stickers waaaaay back in this thread. That was some cool customer service.

 

[James Swallow]

It's interesting to see people talking about the part-works... I worked on the ST Fact Files and ST: The Magazine for couple of years as a writer and an assistant editor; both were produced by a company here in the UK called Midsummer. Some of the Fact Files tech and character articles were reprinted (sometimes with updated info) in STTM, along with new articles, interviews, features, etc.

There was actually an attempt early on to market STFF in the USA, but in a card format (like recipe cards, I believe), although it never really took off and got cancelled early on. Some of the STFF material was also reused in a magazine called Star Trek: The Collector's Edition, each issue of which came with a DVD of episodes.

 

[TheDolphin]

I hope I'm not stepping on any toes here, but I really wish someone would scan these and set them free. They should be "out there".

V.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I hope I'm not stepping on any toes here, but I really wish someone would scan these and set them free. They should be "out there".

Huh?

That would be a huge infringement of copyright. The owners of the text and artwork may well wish to obtain another license some day and reprint the material. Heaven knows, they paid a handsome price to Paramount/Viacom, and the writers and artists, to get it all created in the first place. Some of it has been reprinted four times now, in any case.

Why should this stuff be "out there" for free?

If you want your own set of "Fact Files" look out on eBay. It can go quite cheaply. A fellow fan recently gave me her half-set due to her fading interest in Star Trek. I already have my own full, lovingly collated set. With the Internet, I rarely go back to the binders these days.

Why do people dislike the Fact Files?

It seems a lot of fans have suffered buyer regret. While they enjoyed collecting it over several years, when they multiply the issue cost (which never had a price increase after issue #1, plus free binders, dividers and error stickers) with the number they collected (ie. 304 in total), and see how many shelves the full set takes up in their house, the price sounds huge, but they've forgotten the fun they had each week absorbing all the cool new info.

 

[Captain Robert April]

Did those things have a lot of new information? I've got a recurring search going on eBay, but I'm still not sure if it's worth pulling the trigger on this one.

I do have some of the card format ones, btw.

 

[donners22]

I feel like weeping every time I see the dust-covered set in my bookcase and think of how much money I spent on them.

 

[Trek Survivor]

Wow, this brings back memories. First time I heard of them was seeing the advert for issue #1... at the cinema waiting to see "First Contact". So I guess it began in early Jan 1997...

Collected the first couple hundred issues when they came out, then decided to sell them on (I got £100!). Fast forward to 2010, a random ebay search revealed a seller selling the entire 304-issue run (with all folders) in my town for a starting price of 99p. Yep, I won them all for 99p!!

Sadly, they just take up too much space so they're in the loft at the mo. If I ever have the time (highly unlikely) I might scan some pages in (I was only ever really interested in the character profiles, episodes, and alien profiles... always more of a character guy than a tech guy) so I can reread them on occasion without digging them all out from the loft!

I remember the TNG DVD Collectors' Edition mags cannibalised a lot of the material.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Did those things have a lot of new information? I've got a recurring search going on eBay, but I'm still not sure if it's worth pulling the trigger on this one.

No "new" information at all really. They still had to follow canonical material. Like the Tech Manuals, some extrapolation and assumed interpretations from episodes was needed to describe the functionality of certain devices. I'm sure tech type people would find plenty of assumptions worth being outraged about.

Sometimes unusual bits would creep in, such as brief information on the Rigellians (sabre-toothed turtles) of ST:TMP, while other TMP and ST IV aliens were ignored. Someone tried to explain the "Yesterday's Enterprise" timeline. The Encyclopedia entries had to restart every so often, as brand new "A" and "B" items became canon.

The "Fact Files" went through several teams of writers over their years of publication, so it resembled other ST fact books' information written by "many hands", rather than just the Okudas.

I do have some of the card format ones, btw.

Well, the style of the writing is similar.

I remember the TNG DVD Collectors' Edition mags cannibalised a lot of the material.

The "Nemesis" DVD magazine, of course, contains all-new material, and was my only must-buy from that last revamp.

the entire 304-issue run (with all folders)

I actually bought five copies of issue #1 (which was deliberately only $2 each, with free binder), and this gave me four extra free binders, allowing me to space out the sections a little more evenly.

I feel like weeping every time I see the dust-covered set in my bookcase and think of how much money I spent on them.

See, this is what I was saying earlier. Buyer regret. You spent less than $AU5.00 per week on them and the price never increased, except when our GST kicked in. If you didn't get $5 of enjoyment out of them, reading, splitting the pages apart, filing, browsing over past entries, etc., then why didn't you stop much earlier?

I certainly got my money's worth, esp. the big weekend marathon of error-correction stickers!

 

[zarkon]

I think I collected this up until 2000 - after DS9 ended my trek interest waned quite a bit until the TOS remaster HDVD's were announced.

But it was great and I certainly don't regret buying however many issues I ended up with.

The Ancestral Trail is still the best partwork though.

 

[F. King Daniel]

It could have been so much more. A full set of 1701-D floorplans instead of the random 30° faux-isometic ones we got. Franz Joseph's classic 1701 floorplans glossily reproduced in green-on-black (a la Wrath of Khan), the 1701-A cutaway from Mr. Scott's Guide.....

 

[Captain Robert April]

With hordes of outraged techies on the other side, screaming about how they dared to resurrect such drek.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Franz Joseph's classic 1701 floorplans glossily reproduced in green-on-black (a la Wrath of Khan), the 1701-A cutaway from Mr. Scott's Guide.....

Which GE Fabbri would not necessarily have had the rights to replicate.

We hordes of outraged techies on the other side, screaming about how they dared to resurrect such drek.

I'm sure most of the illustrators on the "Fact Files" had been ST tech fans in the first place. Many of the writers have since gone on to pro ST writing credits, or already had some to their name.

 

[Captain Robert April]

That was supposed to read "With hordes of outraged techies..."