I'm just finishing up this reference work, I believe it was the very first reference book about Star Trek. I was lucky enough to purchase a used first printing copy from 09/1968 a few years back and decided to read it while waiting for new novels to come out. It was written just prior to the 3rd season and focuses a great deal on the creation of the series along with all the details that goes into making an episode.
I'm not as into all the background behind a show as I am in the story itself, but this book was a fascinating read. It starts from the beginning, with Gene Roddenberry, his ideas for the show and his struggles to get it picked up first by the studio (Desilu) and then with a network (ultimately NBC). It includes information as to what goes into the writing of an episode, from the script, to the rewrites and finally to the screenplay. It also gives a lot of information about production design.
It also gives some biographical information taken from the "Star Trek Guide" which was basically the series bible. It includes detailed information about Kirk and Spock, and lesser information about the other main characters, along with information about the actors that played them. It also gives information about Romulans and Klingons (interesting to read that Klingons at that time considered honor 'despicable' and they had few redeeming traits back then).
A great early look at Star Trek though, though the prism of just 2 seasons of the original series, when Roddenberry was much more involved in the oversight of the series. It's fascinating to read all the details that went into it. It also gives me a greater appreciation for everything Roddenberry had to do just to get the show on the air in a vision he wanted for it. Roddenberry wasn't perfect by any means, he had some faults and sometimes he required others to make his visions a watchable reality (such as Robert Justman and Herb Solow, among others). But he had an idea and stuck to his guns. And that idea was to create a smart science fiction show. It's easy to see nowadays but when creating the show he was very particular about the show being smart and believable. Things had to have a purpose, not just because it looked cool. They didn't want the show getting bogged down in scientific and technical terms (probably what we would call technobabble today), but he didn't want those principles ignored either. Just because Scotty didn't go into detail about what the defector shield did doesn't mean the production team didn't have ideas about how a deflector would work. The people involved with the show got to thinking of the Enterprise as a real thing almost.
It has extensive information about a lot of the people involved with the day to day running of the show, including script consultants, production designers, and what each producers responsibilities. DC Fontana was cited as a person in particular responsible for a number of rewrites, along with Roddenberry, and of course Matt Jeffries is credited with a lot of the production design work.
Very interesting to read a reference book written contemporaneously with the show though. It definitely gives you an appreciation for a making of the show, some of which might still apply even today.
I'm not as into all the background behind a show as I am in the story itself, but this book was a fascinating read. It starts from the beginning, with Gene Roddenberry, his ideas for the show and his struggles to get it picked up first by the studio (Desilu) and then with a network (ultimately NBC). It includes information as to what goes into the writing of an episode, from the script, to the rewrites and finally to the screenplay. It also gives a lot of information about production design.
It also gives some biographical information taken from the "Star Trek Guide" which was basically the series bible. It includes detailed information about Kirk and Spock, and lesser information about the other main characters, along with information about the actors that played them. It also gives information about Romulans and Klingons (interesting to read that Klingons at that time considered honor 'despicable' and they had few redeeming traits back then).
A great early look at Star Trek though, though the prism of just 2 seasons of the original series, when Roddenberry was much more involved in the oversight of the series. It's fascinating to read all the details that went into it. It also gives me a greater appreciation for everything Roddenberry had to do just to get the show on the air in a vision he wanted for it. Roddenberry wasn't perfect by any means, he had some faults and sometimes he required others to make his visions a watchable reality (such as Robert Justman and Herb Solow, among others). But he had an idea and stuck to his guns. And that idea was to create a smart science fiction show. It's easy to see nowadays but when creating the show he was very particular about the show being smart and believable. Things had to have a purpose, not just because it looked cool. They didn't want the show getting bogged down in scientific and technical terms (probably what we would call technobabble today), but he didn't want those principles ignored either. Just because Scotty didn't go into detail about what the defector shield did doesn't mean the production team didn't have ideas about how a deflector would work. The people involved with the show got to thinking of the Enterprise as a real thing almost.
It has extensive information about a lot of the people involved with the day to day running of the show, including script consultants, production designers, and what each producers responsibilities. DC Fontana was cited as a person in particular responsible for a number of rewrites, along with Roddenberry, and of course Matt Jeffries is credited with a lot of the production design work.
Very interesting to read a reference book written contemporaneously with the show though. It definitely gives you an appreciation for a making of the show, some of which might still apply even today.
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