Most helpful customer reviews
|
|
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Classic, Nov 28 2001
This is the classic technical manual that inspired a whole generation of fans in the Trek-less time of the 1970's. It is hard to imagine how Franz Joseph could collect all the information and draw all the nifty schematics with ink only, without the help of a computer back in 1975. Showing phasers, communicators, tricorders, floor plans and even uniform patterns in such a great detail, this book is a treasure trove for any TOS fan. It is even more valuable considering that Franz Joseph had access to much of the actual blueprints and props which he transferred into drawings that are often more precise than those of the computer-age technical manuals. Only the quality of his starship drawings is lacking.Being a true fan and knowing that the series wouldn't continue (at least not so soon), he carefully supplemented the information on screen with his own creations, such as the Articles of the Federation, flags and emblems of member worlds, a design for an orbital Starfleet Headquarters and his famous starships. This is where some sort of dispute is going on. Especially many older fans still regard the Star Fleet Technical Manual as canon, considering that Franz Joseph had Gene Roddenberry's support on it. Some time prior to TNG, they didn't get along with each other any longer, and it is said that Roddenberry intentionally laid out technical specs of TNG so as to devalue Franz Joseph's work - but this doesn't really belong here. Well, while many of the ideas are very good, it is probably too late to regard this whole book as canon, because the speculation in it is already too detailed. Too much of it, such as the location of Starfleet Headquarters or the map of the galaxy, has been contradicted since. Some things, finally, are simply silly, like the electric circuit schematics or the emblem of the alien civilization of 61 Cygni that -what a coincidence- has a swan in it. Anyway, The Star Fleet Technical Manual has more than only nostalgic merits. I was a bit skeptical and I waited a long time until I finally bought it only two years ago, but I wouldn't want to miss it.
|
|
|
4.0 out of 5 stars
The first and (in many ways) the best tech manual, Jul 23 2001
Many, many moons ago, technical manuals and blueprints for Star Trek technology and ships were made solely by fans and found only at conventions or on the black market. This collection of material began as such a labor of love but ended up being published by Ballantine Books. Much of it (the Federation Constitution; the "offical" Starfleet color pallette; the Dreadnought, Scout, and Tug Class ships; the map of the Federation planets; the Starbase innards, etc.) is sheer speculation by Franz and nitpickers will remind you there are a number of errors in the canon material. But, in a day before there were 50 zillion Trek books and five different TV series on tape and DVD to use as reference, this book was fantastic. It made the TOS universe even more "real" and was the crowning glory of any Trek bookshelf. Fan models and props were built and painted based on the drawings and specs in this manual. Joseph's imagination and draftsmanship (remember, it's all drawn by hand) are impressive and this is a classic for Classic Trekkers.
|
|
|
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Stuff Dreams Were Made Of, Jul 10 2001
I can just barely remember watching The Doomsday Machine on the television with my father in the late 1960s. When I became older, visions of Captain Kirk and the proud USS Enterprise filled my mind with adventure and derring-do. I wanted to know every detail about the program, and for a time, we had nothing but a few grainy photographs in books like The Making of Star Trek, The Trouble With Tribbles and The World of Star Trek. Of course, you could do as I did, buy TOS filmclips from Lincoln Enterprises and examine them under your junior high school science class microscopes!, but mostly there was precious little available to us.Then came The Star Fleet Technical Manual and all that changed instantly. Around the same time, Franz Josef designs mass-marketed their Enterprise Blueprints, causing Lincoln (now Star Trek) Enterprises to begin selling spirit-duplicated versions of the original Paramount set blueprints, too! What heady days! Back then, there were very few geeks as we know them today, and it was OK that every little detail did not match between the TV and the books. Hell, without video tape, let alone DVDs, who knew? Who cared?! Fans and their love of Star Trek were all that mattered and this book was the ne plus ultra, the Mother Lode of Trekker Trivia. I am proud to say my original, first edition print, with plastic slip cover, is beat to the bones with dog ears, spilled turpentine, saw-dust and pencil notes from all the hours spent in the garage making phasers, communicators and more from plywood, elbow grease and imagination. What glorious days! O to live them again!
|
|
|
Most recent customer reviews
|
by Margaret Clark
by Rick Sternbach
by Lawrence Krauss
