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Mr. Scott's Guide to the Enterprise
Rating: 
Series: The Original Series
Author: Shane Johnson
Review by: Lt. Robert Alexander Griffith |
From time to time I wander around the used book stores looking for a bargain on Star Trek books. Just in the last 5 years over 100 books related to or directly about Star Trek have been published. Now, I don't know about you, but I certainly don't have the kind of money to go out and get all of them, so I have to be pretty picky. In the spring of 1997 I picked up a technical book entitled 'Mr. Scott's Guide to the Enterprise' by Shane Johnson.
I opened up the book and began to look around a bit; just seeing if the book would be worthwhile. I noticed that the book was published in 1987, long before the timelines of 'The Next Generation', 'Deep Space Nine', and 'Voyager' firmly entrenched themselves into our fandom.
Throughout the book, which is about 130 pages, I was able to see partial blueprints of the Starship Enterprise, uniform diagrams, tricorder and phaser diagrams, emblem lists, shuttlecraft diagrams, and all sorts of neat stuff that you don't come across too often.
Going through the book there are multiple articles about the Enterprise itself and references to missions, tales of the refit the Enterprise underwent in 2269 - 2271, and several mentions of deep technical aspects of the ship that has graced the movie theatres through six motion pictures.
In the sections devoted to uniforms, the spacesuits from 'The Motion Picture' were given a thorough run through as each piece of equipment was defined and even the colors of the suit were listed. The uniforms that debuted in 'The Motion Picture' were covered with great detail, and after those came the uniforms that have so engrained themselves in our minds from 'The Wrath of Khan'.
I won't even try to describe the entire book in this review because I don't want to spoil it for you. If you are a long-time fan of the original 'Star Trek' and are interested in knowing the technical aspects of the series, then this is the book for you. My only problem with the book, and it's just a minor thing, is the fact that the timeline established in the book refers to the Enterprise's construction in dates during the early years of the 23rd Century. However disconcerting that may be, it is still a good book to delve into when you just want to sit down and read a good book.
Title: Mr. Scott's Guide to the Enterprise
Author: Shane Johnson
Review by: Lt. Robert Alexander Griffith
