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(More customer reviews)Franz Joseph's STAR FLEET TECHNICAL MANUAL includes many design elements that might raise questions in fans' minds. Is the Enterprise's bridge really rotated 36 degrees off the ship's centerline? Does the Federation really have a starship with three warp nacelles? Is the Starfleet shuttlecraft really too small to allow its occupants to stand up and walk around?
If you watch the original Star Trek series and take its sets, props, and miniatures literally, then the answer to all the above questions is no. On the other hand, if you take Star Trek's sets, props, and miniatures literally, then the Enterprise has no bathrooms, Sulu and Chekov gain tactical information about enemy ships based entirely on flashing console buttons, and the Enterprise's warp nacelles spontaneously feature either large, colorful, flickering forward domes, or small, unlit, red spiked forward domes.
If you want a technical manual that is 100% faithful to the sets, props, and miniatures as seen in the original Star Trek television series, then the STAR FLEET TECHNICAL MANUAL is not for you. If, however, you want a book that takes the sets, props, and miniatures and extrapolates cohesive, realistic, and exciting technologies that enhance the believability of the Star Trek universe, then this is the book for you.
The STAR FLEET TECHNICAL MANUAL did far more than fuel the imaginations of countless fans. It also served as the model from which all subsequent Star Trek technical material is based. Gene Roddenberry himself was very impressed with the book and its counterpart, a set of hand-drawn, deck-by-deck plans to the original starship Enterprise. Although Roddenberry would later denounce the canonical status of the STAR FLEET TECHNICAL MANUAL, the book's influence on the Star Trek universe is widespread.
The very identity of the first two starships Enterprise is due in part to Franz Joseph's contributions. To my knowledge, it was Franz Joseph who first dubbed the Enterprise a Constitution-class starship, and that name made its way into indisputable Star Trek canon: witness Picard and Scotty's holodeck conversation in Star Trek: The Next Generation's "Relics."
The "real" Star Trek universe does not exist on the television or movie screens, in novels, official magazines, technical manuals, comic books, T-shirts, posters, porcelain plates, or fuzzy toy Tribbles. The "real" Star Trek universe exists in the mind of each of its fans. The STAR FLEET TECHNICAL MANUAL helps bring that universe to a tangible and fascinating life.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Star Trek Starfleet Technical Manual: Training Command Starfleet Academy
OFFICIAL USE ONLY MARK R5PCSTARFLEET COMMANDSTARFLEET HEADQUARTERSUNITED FEDERATION OF PLANETSFRANZ JOSEPHUNITED FEDERATION REPRESENTATIVESTARDATE 7512.02To: Ballantine BooksPlanetary Agents, NA, USA, 100191. A printed Terran version of the Starfleet Technical Manual was approved by the Federation Council for release to civilians and civilian auxiliaries on your planet. We have reviewed copies of this version as printed by you, and wish to assure you and the others that these copies are precisely correct and complete as authorized. We believe some of your civilians are confused because they are unfamiliar with the system and arrangement of Technical Orders, therefore, we offer the following by way of clarification.2. The print-out version of the Starfleet Technical Manual, as used by the Starfleet Academy, is a collection of only those Technical Orders necessary to the indoctrination of new cadets until such time as they become experienced in the use of the data read-out stations of Mastercom/SFHQ. Further, the Terran version contains even fewer Technical Orders because of the prohibition of the Prime Directive. Neither version is a book of pages as the questioners seem to think–nor do they contain all of the technical information stored in the data banks of Mastercom/SFHQ. Your civilians must understand these technical data banks contain all the knowledge presently known to the United Federation of Planets from all the member planets. If it were to be published in book form, the sum total would amount to more books than you now have stored in your libraries. Obviously, this cannot be done. It is equally obvious that you cannot have the galactic knowledge of future centuries given to your planet as a gift; you must earn it by your own efforts just as others have done.3. In the Terran version, the General Index summarizes the subject area groupings by Technical Order number blocks as a part of the total system of classification. It does not give the total classification system, nor does it indicate whether or not such subject matter is available. The Introduction (T.0:00:00:06) for instance, is not included because it has not been authorized for release at this time. Each Section Index lists the Technical Orders currently approved for each section, and shows the correct issue by authentication date (and amendment code–if required). Thus a Section Index shows whether or not a particular manual contains the correct issues.Those listed with an asterisk may become available in a future print-out from Mastercom/SFHQ. Other Technical Order numbers that are missing do not appear by reason of the prohibition of the Prime Directive, or they have not been approved for release at this time.4. In as gentle and as diplomatic a manner as we may, we would like to point out that this confusion is just another example of the many primitive attributes of your planet that prevents its acceptance into the United Federation of Planets at this time in your current calendar. But be patient, the day will come when your planet will have finally overcome these obstacles, and take its place in the intergalactic community of intelligent life forms.Live long and prosper.
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