These were the Voyages.
Celebrate the 55th anniversary of Star Trek: The Original Series with this incredible definitive guide. This is Star Trek The Original Series: A Celebration Hardcover Book!
Featuring new interviews, archival conversations, never-before-seen art and sketches, and more, this is the comprehensive collection of interviews, history, photos, and artwork from Star Trek: The Original Series.
This second volume in the ‘A Celebration’ series focuses on Star Trek: The Original Series, following on from the success of Star Trek Voyager: A Celebration.
A must-have for all fans of Captain Kirk and his crew, Star Trek: The Original Series fans will know that Gene Roddenberry’s series changed television forever. He created a broadcast phenomenon and world that continues to influence our culture today.
I think it’s safe to say there have been a few books here and there that have covered the life and times of the crew of the starship Enterprise, and even more that details the lives of those working on the sets, the costumes, the lighting, the actors. While there have been many MANY of these books, none of them has gone to the lengths “Star Trek A Celebration” does. Over 150 pages of meticulous detail, collecting interviews and behind the scenes photographs. Like so many things from Hero Collector, this has been made with love. A lushly detailed book from top to toe.
The book opens with the contents before moving swiftly onto collections of acknowledgements, and forwards. But it’s something special I noticed about the chapters. Aside from there being a whopping 79 of them, they follow a sort of loose timeline that shows us the production of the series from the germ of an idea by Gene Roddenberry, to retrospectives of all three series.
I’m going to surprise no one by saying I love this book. I love compendiums, tomes of knowledge, and little collections of history. (Well, in this case, a big collection).
The first main chapter of the book, “Wagon Train to the Stars”, details the creation of the series concept, noting Gene’s inspiration coming from not only the aforementioned Wagon Train, but also Azimov’s Foundation books. This was something as a surprise to me as it was something I wasn’t aware of. You may have noticed that I am somewhat of a Trekkie, so details about the production history of the show are somewhat fairly ingrained in my brain. So it’s nice that while reading, I’m not being fed the same information over and over again. The detail about this Foundation inspired story universe, helping establish the idea of what the world of Star Trek would be like, along with Gene’s optimistic view of the future makes for something of a heartwarming read.
The book wastes no time getting right into the production of The Cage, highlighting both the successes and difficulties of making a groundbreaking TV pilot. What I especially like is that the book takes the time to do a bit of a deep dive into all of the main characters for The Cage, which is something especially important when you remember that barring Spock, none of these characters would appear in TOS once the series came to the screams. While, actors like Kelly, Doohan, Nichols, Koenig, Nimoy, Takei and Shatner would all cement the show, it’s important to remember those who came before them to help lay the foundations for the iconic characters that were to come.
The earliest versions of the Writers’ and Directors’ Guide emphasize the pressures on the captain. The executives at NBC felt that Hunter’s performance was a little subdued but they wanted to keep him and it was
Originally the pitch for the character was:
“Jose Ortegas, born in South America, is tall, handsome, about twenty-five and brilliant, but still in the process of maturing … He fights a perpetual and highly personal battle with his instruments and calculators, suspecting that space, and probably God too, are engaged in a giant conspiracy to make his professional and personal life as difficult and uncomfortable as possible.”
This as a pitch just makes me chuckle because until DS9 the show remained somewhat Godless and focused mostly on science fiction, this idea of a somewhat smart but frustrated character seems to crop up now and then in Trek in little moments. Most notably in Stamments from Discovery and perhaps some shades of TNG’s Reg Barclay. While I don’t think it’s the intention, it’s nice to see these elements live on in trek. I do hope though that either version of the character makes an appearance in Strange New Worlds
Of course, the character of Jose eventually evolved from what we saw in The Cage into what would later become Checkov by the second series of TOS. What’s fascinating, is that while Peter Duryea never got the chance to continue the character in Star Trek, he did hold true to a little bit of Gene’s vision of a brighter future, and after retiring from acting, he spent many years campaigning as an environmentalist until his death in 2013.
When I say this book is a treasure trove of stories, indexes of information and highlights from history, I’m not exaggerating. We’re only on the 26th page and there has already been shed loads of information loveling and respectfully presented to us. (For instance, only now as I’m editing this review, do I discover that Shatner was an avid motorcyclist. How am I only finding out about this now? Certainly puts Star Trek: Beyond’s bike chase scene in a new light… )
Of course, the chapter for William Shatner’s James Tiberius Kirk is a love letter to the character and the actor in equal measure. The deep look into the genesis of the idea and how it was fleshed out and eventually portrayed by the Shatner is a fun read. Often interspersed with fun asides, and accompanying photos about Shatner on setting his well-known adlibs, puns and humour.
One thing I appreciate about the book is the very direct manner of the way the facts are handled. There’s very little in the way of rumour and hearsay. It’s very much history as we know it. Rather than indulging in decades-old rumours that never bore anything, it sticks to the larger facts and the little gems. The book never goes off the rails to talk about the show behind its back. Which feels nice. Too often “The Complete History Of” style books tend to start to lose substance and begin to mine anything for content, resulting in what can be either half-truths or flat out lies. So it’s nice to see that for Star Trek, a show that has been so very well documented by fans and historians alike, we are still finding little tidbits of information.
Of course getting into the meat of the book details the production of key episodes, such as The Corbomite Maneuver, these chapters break down the story, production, and again, little hidden facts about the episode you might have not known on first (or if you’re like me 100th) viewing.
Images also come with captions that give more than just a [Name] scene here shooting [Episode]. Even the smallest captions come with the most intriguing of facts. It really goes to show the level of detail that has gone into making this book. It’s a clear sign that everyone involved brought their A-Game in sourcing materials, photos, interviews, archival images, the lot.
Do I recommend this book? If you’re a hardcore Trek fan? Yes of course! If you’re someone like me and writes about Trek and wants to know more? Duh! It’s a no brainer. And coming in at £27.99 it makes for the perfect festive gift for anyone who’s a big Trekkie.
I was expecting a high-quality glossy print hardback to go for way more! But coming in under £30/$25 pounds is a pretty good price to pay.
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I’d like to say a very big thank you to Hero Collector, for providing us with an advanced preview of the book. It was a real treat to have a sneak peek look through Trek’s history!
