The Star Trek Encyclopedia

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Summary: Trekkers Gotta Have It !
Review: Forget the steep price. This book is worth every cent. The detail put into this en- cyclopedia by the authors is breathtaking. I found it fun to see if there were any characters or events the Okudas forgot to mention. Heck, this book should be a must for any Trekker that chats on the internet. It would keep them from misspelling the names of characters and races as they are proned to do.

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Summary: Read this Now!!!!!!!!!
Review: I am a Trekker. This reference guide the future is substantial to the Star Trek franchise. The color pictures add a feature, which are great. The new information helps with ever changing Star Trek universe. The chart of the Defiant on p.109 is magnificent. My cousin's friend gave it to me and I always look at it before I go to sleep at night. The biographies on the characters are great as well. This is a complete comprehensive book on Star Trek Star, Trek the Next Generations, Star Trek DS9, and Star Trek: Voyager.

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Summary: GREAT!!!
Review: This book explains everything you know and will need to know. Has the most COLOR illustrataions in a book that I have ever seen. It explains everything in the STAR TREK galaxy

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Summary: An INCREDIBLE reference guide to the future!
Review: Owning the first and now second version of the encyclopedia I can only say good things. It is an encyclopedia, unlike it's older brother. High quality pages mixed with full colour photos and tons of infomation. Even after owning it for a few months I still find it capturing me with it's tractor beam and bringing me in. I always find something new in the book and even the entries that I've already read once or twice always take me in, as if I was reading for the first time.

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Summary: in depth information
Review: I have read this book a few times and each time I find out more about Star Trek. It haas a lot of information and a TON of pictures.

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Summary: Incredibly detailed for the die hard Trekkie
Review: Great reference book for those that need to know every little bit about all the Star Trek series and movies to date. Literally heavy with text, photos, and illustrations! It's been updated w/Star Trek: First Contact data (check out the new starship classes that was shown in the movie - yahoo!). Just what you always wanted, just more of it....

Rating:
Summary: ST Encyclopedia - THE Star Trek Reference
Review: The ST Encyclopedia is by far the most impressive Trek reference book on the market. This all-in-one hardcover book contains all the information in the earlier paperback PLUS information up to First Contact. Another real plus is the all color graphics in this book. The color computer-generated First Contact ships are really COOL. I'd reccomend this book to anyone interested in Star Trek, even if you have the original.

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Summary: Definitive Star Trek Reference Book
Review: A MUST HAVE for any real fan of Star Trek. And, hey, my name is in it as a contributor of corrections to to the first edition. That alone makes it worth BUYING ! :) Wells P. Martin

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Summary: A must-have for fans of s-f and Star Trek.
Review: Where regular encyclopedia's tend to be boring, this particular one will enjoy Star Trek fans and other fans of s-f for a very long time. Every listed item gets you in the mood for a related item, and simply looking up the plot of one of the episodes can often turn out into hours of extensive reading, learning, understanding and reliving great memories. Even with the updated and renewed version that has come out, this work should be a great addition to your book collection.

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Summary: Why should an individual acquire this book in 24th century?
Review: A sentence from the encyclopedia (page iii): "In compling this material, we have assumed editorially that both authors and readers are residents of the late 24th century, a number of years after the current Star Trek adventures." This is the basis by which I judged this text and by that standard the book fails. An encyclopedia is a source that has no conjectures or maybes. It provides information that is concrete. I understand the need for the authors to be flexible (such as the number of starships or the history of primary characters). However, the authors are so flexible as to make the text not a definitive reference. They want future writers the oppurtunity to expand the Star Trek universe. I believe that the best time for an encyclopedia is when the complete Star Trek has run its course and the authors are outside of Paramount Pictures. The reason being is that the new authors will have the time to create a encyclopedia that is truly definitive. Pictures are wonderful; however, the same pictures repeated can be redundant. An example is the use of the drawing of the Enterprise C which is on pages 2 (for the Adelphi), 11 (for the Ambassador Class), 138 (for Enterprise C), 473, and 578. There is a further problem and this regards the starship diagrams. I been through the encyclopedia many times and no where can I find the bow view of the Federation or any galactic power starship. For me, this is an acute problem for I have poor depth perception. And, one further problem. Mistakes still occur in the registry of starships and the omission of starships. 1st example, the U.S.S. Carolina is shown on page 66 to have a registy of NCC-235 and ,on page 471, to have registry NCC-160. This creates uncertainity. As I said earlier, an encyclopedia does not present uncertainities. Second, the omission of starships. In the first movies, in the Episilon Nine sequence, three starships are mentioned by name. Two are included in the encyclopedia-U.S.S. Columbia and U.S.S. Revere. The third, a dreadnought, the U.S.S. Entente (NCC-21249) is omitted. I didn't make this ship up. It is mentioned by audio-"This is the Starship U.S.S. Entente, Dreadnought, NCC-21249." Check it out on video. Also, regardless of what you may have read, this encyclopedia is missing entries and is not definitive. There is no entry for Pearl Harbor (The Enemy), Jesus Christ (Bread and Circuses), Romulan-Earth War (Balance of Terror), and many other entries. In an encyclopedia of the 24th century, there would be no such entry as this: "Station Salem One. Site of an infamous sneak attack in which many Federation citizens were killed in a bloody preamble to war." An individual of the late 24th century would want to know the location of this station, the adversary, the war, the year, and the resolution to the war. He or she would not want to read: "The adversary, the date, and the circumstances of this sneak attack were not established in the episode (The Enemy)...". The individual could be rightfully said to be annoyed or possibly dissatisfied with this entry. In my opinion, an encyclopedia of Star Trek should include: (a.) a map with all the stellar objects located; (b.) a complete starship chart for all nations with bow, port or starboard, and stern views; (c.) complete entries (this may require imagination-hell, isn't Star Trek a place built from imagination); (d.) no insider jokes-I don't understand them and they have no place in the encyclopedia; (e.) the episodes made into mission logs or made separate from the entries of the encyclopedia; (f.) maps of the major planets showing the locations of planetary sites-there is no map of any planet in the encyclopedia, not even one of earth (all encyclopedias that have geographical locations have maps); and (g.) there are no uncertainities. A further note of interest -the model of the S.S. Valiant is still considered conjectural even though there is a picture on page 539 and the diagram on page 579. The ship was also included in the previous issue of the Star Trek encyclopedia and chronologies. I wonder when the authors decide this model is no longer conjectural. It could be a long wait.