This is the version I own. And it's in great condition, to boot.
USS ENTERPRISE HAYNES OWNERS MANUAL (Part 3)
- Thread starter Starlock
- Start date
This is the version I own. And it's in great condition, to boot.
I had the Haynes book set aside on my wish list at Amazon.ca, but after all is said and done and the book is still listed as a pre-order I've deleted the item. I'm just not interested.
Instead I'm going to concentrate on my own projects including my TOS and TAS shuttlecraft drawings.
Instead I'm going to concentrate on my own projects including my TOS and TAS shuttlecraft drawings.
^
Good call... your work is far superior, anyway, IMO.
Good call... your work is far superior, anyway, IMO.
I own the slipcover version - bought it the first day the book was available, at the University of Maryland Book Exchange - but it's simply a trade paperback inside a vinyl-clad jacket as already described.
The fact that all the necessary retail labeling was printed on a card slipped into a transparent pocket on the front was nice, because it permitted a much classier treatment of the paperback cover itself - plain red with black lettering.
The fact that all the necessary retail labeling was printed on a card slipped into a transparent pocket on the front was nice, because it permitted a much classier treatment of the paperback cover itself - plain red with black lettering.
^ It also allowed for a classier treatment of the slipcover itself, gold lettering on black vinyl, "STARFLEET TECHNICAL MANUAL".
Flashover
Lieutenant Commander
I have a friend who worked for Last Unicorn Games. LUG put out a version of the Star Trek RPG years ago.
He told me that there was a small subset of fans who took any "fluff" or new content as "non canon" and reacted negatively to it... no matter how it was packaged. This included story capsules, filler text and extrapolation used to smooth over internal inconsistencies.
This backlash made it hard for them to write adventure modules and expanded source material. There was a fear of alienating the hardcore fanbase (the ones who would buy a Trek RPG) with "non-canon" material.
He says ultimately they went on to release TONS of non-canon material before the product line folded. Things like the Romulan Box Set and several adventure modules. These modules never sold very well, and he attributes the lack of sales to their high level of "non canon" information.
More than likely this is why the new Owner's Manual is full of fluff. Any attempt to extrapolate or make up new information will be looked upon as "non canon" and it will result (at a minimum) angry letters to the authors. At worst it will spawn two or three 100+ page discussions on the premier Trek Discussion Board on the internet.
Either way they go they can't win for losing when it comes to "canon" vs new content.
He told me that there was a small subset of fans who took any "fluff" or new content as "non canon" and reacted negatively to it... no matter how it was packaged. This included story capsules, filler text and extrapolation used to smooth over internal inconsistencies.
This backlash made it hard for them to write adventure modules and expanded source material. There was a fear of alienating the hardcore fanbase (the ones who would buy a Trek RPG) with "non-canon" material.
He says ultimately they went on to release TONS of non-canon material before the product line folded. Things like the Romulan Box Set and several adventure modules. These modules never sold very well, and he attributes the lack of sales to their high level of "non canon" information.
More than likely this is why the new Owner's Manual is full of fluff. Any attempt to extrapolate or make up new information will be looked upon as "non canon" and it will result (at a minimum) angry letters to the authors. At worst it will spawn two or three 100+ page discussions on the premier Trek Discussion Board on the internet.
Either way they go they can't win for losing when it comes to "canon" vs new content.
Remove the cover insert and you remove all mention of the title "Star Trek", making it look more like an authentic Starfleet manual.
When the blue "Starfleet Medical Reference Manual" came out, Ballantine probably planned the same vinyl cover treatment, as that book came with a separate cover insert (again, the only "Star Trek" reference on the work). I bought a spare "Technical Manual" (and sold the red trade paperback book at a book exchange) and slipped my "Starfleet Medical Reference Manual" cover insert into the front of its cover. Matched set!
Great minds think alike, I did the same thing (except I kept the paperback TM to flip through, thereby saving wear and tear on the other!)
I understand the rationale, but I don't necessarily buy into it. All the FJ stuff is considered non-canon. In fact, IIRC, Roddenberry went out of his way to declare it as such. The TM and TOS blueprints are almost universally still considered a massive watershed event in Treknology by fandom of all stripes, even to this day. And while flawed in some respects, Mr. Scott's Guide to the Enterprise, Jackill's, and other well known non-canon sources are still enjoyed today without the same kind of vitriol attached to it.
I'm not sure that non-canonical stuff is bad, just bad non-canonical stuff is bad.
I doubt it'll happen, but I'd be interested to see Mike Okuda's thoughts on all this, and mainly why images we were led to believe would be in the book were left out, if he'd pop in this thread. But again, I doubt it'll happen.
Well, now that you've invoked his name, I'm sure he'll be along soon.
Let's add to the fun and call upon Rick Sternbach and Andrew Probert while we're at it.
I facebook'd Mike a few months ago about the book and all he said in reply was that he was excited that it was coming out and that was when it was still slated for a Sep release.
<snip>
Your friend (I would like to know who he was, as most of the LUG employees are already around either here or trekrpg.net) has it a bit backwards.
The problem was that any fluff in the RPG could and WOULD be overwritten and ignored by the shows that were still on the air. If LUG were to, say, write-up the Akira class for their manual, you could be rest-assured that the episode of the week would invalidate all of that as they made more shit up.
And because the 'powers that be' would change the 'canon' and retro-con all the fracking time, it made the RPG manuals nearly worthless as a guide to playing within the franchise.
We were ALL excited about it coming out... until we actually saw it.