Since we're having fun with Franz, how about Shane? Lots of us own "Mr Scott's Guide", and some, like me, dislike its deifying view of the Trek universe and liberal assumptions of its history and tech. No as much as James Dixon, though, who has written a lengthy nitpick list of the book:
I found much of what this document criticizes to be true, although a lot of it is just as objective as Johnson (not liking the drawing style, etc.). By the end, Dixon has grown quite disillusioned with the book and doesn't hesitate to express how rotten he thinks the book is.
Whip out your old Guides, folks! Thoughts?
Mark
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
The historical and technical context of the accompanying articles was so ludicrous as to be completely worthless. The Enterprise-A had a transwarp drive? Ha!
Overall, I thought that the drawings were decent, although there were certainly some oddities.
Without knowing much about the other tech sources, but one thing I always thought seemed weird was having the warp core extending all the way through the upper neck of the ship... sure, it would explain the big crystal near the impulse engines, but why would they need the intermix chamber to extend THAT far?
Overall, I would consider Scotty's Guide to be even less useful than FJ's publication, because there are so many more contradictions.
Posted by Peregrinus (Member # 504) on :
Well, Shane does use the FASA/Spaceflight Chronology timeline, which is way off from the official chronology, and even further off from mine.
The original graphics on the bridge at the end of Star Trek IV were indeed labelled "transwarp". Between IV and V, they changed their minds and decided transwarp should be a failed project and the E-A only "ever" had conventional warp drive.
In the refit, the impulse engines are powered by the M/ARA, along with the phasers and warp drive.
His food dispenser is a little kludgy for the period.
His hand phaser is inaccurate, but pretty good considering there's almost NO reference material for the actual prop they ended up using in the film. All the pictures of the prototype(s) aren't quite what we ended up with.
His depiction of the shuttlecraft is just about spot-on to what Andy intended.
And I give him high marks for trying to correct the mistakes of TMP (too-tall turbolift car, rec deck that won't fit in the saucer, torpedo launcher complex, etc.). But there's just nothing we can do about the corridor outside Main Engineering -- the one that goes shooting off out of the secondary hull somewhere in the sensor/deflector cowl.
--Jonah
P.S. His use of the name Ti-Ho for the ship that became the E-A was in tribute to a friend of his (who came up with the name and notion) who died, so I happily include it in my ship lists as one of the vessels considered for the new Enterprise, along with the Levant (Fandom) and the Atlantis (FASA).
Posted by Shik (Member # 343) on :
I always wondered if Ti-Ho was a phonetic misspelling of Taiho.
Posted by johnny otter (Member # 1841) on :
Actually, I've always liked the book, ever since I spotted it a Barnes & Noble in the late 90's. I liked it so much, in fact, that I electronically transcribed it (correcting the dates to match Okuda's timeline and making small changes to mollify some of Dixon's complaints) and posted it to the old rec.arts.startrek.tech newsgroup. Looking back, I'm not sure why the hell I did it, but my postings are still there, archived in google's groups section.
Overall, I thought the dates and role playing nomenclature were what hampered it most. Shane Johnson (unlike FJ) was a dyed in the wool Trek fan, and I think his love of the franchise shines through into the end product.
Also, there is a great interview with Johnson in regards to Mr. Scott's over at trekplace that may clear up some of your misconceptions.
Posted by Timo (Member # 245) on :
quote:But there's just nothing we can do about the corridor outside Main Engineering -- the one that goes shooting off out of the secondary hull somewhere in the sensor/deflector cowl.
Also, the Rec Deck could be moved to the center of the saucer, its windows replaced by wiewscreens and the exterior windows now representing the lounge in which Kirk, McCoy and Spock have a few laughs. The turboshaft layout at Rec Deck would make more sense then as well.
Auxiliary control also needs reworking in order to fit in, and some of the artwork could be accuratized. Okudaic dates, transwarp-be-gone, aft-torpedo-tube-be-gone, and we get a pretty valid manual.
Perhaps something on the up to four torpedo decks, too. Side-by-side bays, and scaling be damned?
Timo Saloniemi
Posted by MinutiaeMan (Member # 444) on :
quote:The original graphics on the bridge at the end of Star Trek IV were indeed labelled "transwarp". Between IV and V, they changed their minds and decided transwarp should be a failed project and the E-A only "ever" had conventional warp drive.
Huh... I never knew that. And since the book was published after TVH but before TFF, this inconsistency is hardly the book's fault. I can accept that.
Also, I've always wondered just where the hell any aft torpedoes would have to be in the first place?
Posted by Peregrinus (Member # 504) on :
THAT'S IT!!! The Doctor helped the Federation design the Enterprise refit using Gallifreyan TARDIS technology!
--Jonah
Posted by The Mighty Monkey of Mim (Member # 646) on :
quote:Originally posted by Peregrinus: The original graphics on the bridge at the end of Star Trek IV were indeed labelled "transwarp". Between IV and V, they changed their minds and decided transwarp should be a failed project and the E-A only "ever" had conventional warp drive.
No, they weren't. Johnson confirmed in this interview that he and Okuda altered the graphics and added the transwarp references for the book.
-MMoM Posted by HerbShrump (Member # 1230) on :
I love how Dixon uses apocryphal/non-canon material to bash/contradict other apocryphal/non-canon material.
What, the people who put out the FASA games were no less fans than the ones that put out the Trek Log Books?
Sheesh.
Posted by The Mighty Monkey of Mim (Member # 646) on :
James Dixon is a seriously disturbed individual.
Posted by Peregrinus (Member # 504) on :
quote:Originally posted by The Mighty Monkey of Mim:
quote:Originally posted by Peregrinus: The original graphics on the bridge at the end of Star Trek IV were indeed labelled "transwarp". Between IV and V, they changed their minds and decided transwarp should be a failed project and the E-A only "ever" had conventional warp drive.
No, they weren't. Johnson confirmed in this interview that he and Okuda altered the graphics and added the transwarp references for the book.
Funny... He told me directly by e-mail that Mike chastised him in the public arena for "altering" his graphics, but that after Shane called Mike and basically told him to stop trying to revise his own work, Mike "remembered" that he had indeed originally created the graphics as saying transwarp. Watch the end of Star Trek IV carefully. Hell, you can even see it in the pictures in MSG. The length of the words exactly matches whats illustrated in MSG.
--Jonah
Posted by MrNeutron (Member # 524) on :
I've mentioned this before, but the suit up room (where Spock neck pinched the guy) as drawn in the book is fairly inaccurate, and you can tell this just by looking at the scene.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
While the book needs some work (particularly that annoying Transwarp nonsense), it was one of the first things that made me love Trek and so it's cool in my mind's eye.
My Johnson has posted over at SSM on sevral occasions to get feedback on updating/expanding the old Guide and correcting the glaring errors.
As to the (much needed but definitely not present) aft torpedo launcher, I always thought that useless bump directly beneath the shuttlebay would be a good place for one. The aft/Z axis of the ship is poorly covered by only the "belly phasers" after all.
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
quote:Originally posted by Jason Abbadon: My Johnson has posted over at SSM on sevral occasions to get feedback on updating/expanding the old Guide and correcting the glaring errors.
That's a clever Johnson you have there! Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
Yeah, it sings and wags when it's happy. Always getting me into trouble.
Posted by Guardian 2000 (Member # 743) on :
Wrong book. That's from Captain Kirk's Guide to the Enterprise.
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