I was over at amazon.com looking at the new calendar and book and I realised something - Trek is basically finished.
Isn't it NOW time to have a definitive Encyclopedia for Canon Star Trek? Maybe you'd have to put it in Two hardbound volumes like "The Complete Farside". etc - I would definately buy it. It would have to have nice new graphics for the starships though!
Now it is time.
Someone ask the Okudas!!
-------------------- "Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica." - Jim Halpert. (The Office)
posted
Well wait until Star Trek XI and when that flops and Paramount is so pissed they never want to hear the words Star Trek again, then you can have your encyclopedia. Me, I would prefer a new chronology.
Registered: Feb 2005
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posted
I dunno, I think that the Encyclopedia series was pretty much obsolete by end of the 90's. Not because of how it was published (that last add-on patch was incredibly galling, though), but simply because paper-based printing is an incredibly slow and long way to do it. I don't care if the series is done and there's a chance for catch-up now. The Web is a much better place for such information to be posted. I wouldn't buy another Encyclopedia regardless.
(Andrew, haven't you checked out Memory Alpha?)
I know what you're all thinking, this is just a biased, shameless plug. Sure I'm a bit biased. But when you've got a book in print, there's a great deal of limitations on the amount and form of information that can be included. In a book, can they really include every single detail about everything? Like Morn or Hippocrates Noah? There's a lot more flexibility in working with a publication online, where storage and space limitations are virtually nonexistent. Heck, Memory Alpha (though I haven't been contributing in almost two years, due to time constraints) even has at least one Trek writer who contributes, Mike Sussman.
Would I still like to see an official published Encyclopedia in some form? Sure, even if I wouldn't buy it. They have the beginnings of a database on StarTrek.com, and they could certainly expand that quite a bit. I'm sure it would be a lot cheaper (for both the publishers and the fans) and more interesting to build that feature up rather than go back to the nearly-dry well for a third edition (I consider the official "third" edition to really be version 2.5) nearly ten years after the fact.
-------------------- “Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.” — Isaac Asimov Star Trek Minutiae | Memory Alpha
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted
Why not format Memory alpha for printing then and make everyone happy?
Maybe a downloadable PDF document?
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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posted
MM is right, the database @ StarTrek.com sucks ass. There's so much more information that could be added, yet they leave the entries with little vague descriptions. I mean the least they could do is make it on par with the Star Wars Database(which is not perfect either, but alot better).
Registered: Feb 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Jason Abbadon: Why not format Memory alpha for printing then and make everyone happy?
For the same reason that the original Encyclopedia was a partial failure... by the time it was finally published, it was already obsolete. Memory Alpha is still very much a work in progress, and any effort spent on formatting it for printing would be a waste of time, effort, and paper. Just use the Intarweb, n00b!
-------------------- “Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.” — Isaac Asimov Star Trek Minutiae | Memory Alpha
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted
Nonsense- it wuld work for the same reson the Encyclopedia went into (at least) three printings: People like looking at Trek stuff in placed besides their computer screen.
Many days I've whiled away hours staring at the Jackill books or the Art of Trek coffee table book.
Of course, I work at a print shop, so I'm a tad biased by the printing availability.
Maybe I can get Masao and Bernd to make their stuff printer-friendly.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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quote:Originally posted by Jason Abbadon: Nonsense- it wuld work for the same reson the Encyclopedia went into (at least) three printings: People like looking at Trek stuff in placed besides their computer screen.
Many days I've whiled away hours staring at the Jackill books or the Art of Trek coffee table book.
Yeah! I often read the encyclopedia (both prints) in other places like bed or err... the toilet.
Registered: Mar 1999
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quote:Originally posted by Sol System: Who prints out stuff from the internet anymore?
(The answer: grandmas.)
Me, for a start. I can't bear reading a paper or article from a screen, even a pdf document. It is much more tiring on the eyes because of the reduced number of pixels per square inch and you can't doodle ideas, thoughts or comments in the margins either.
And like Andrew says, you can take it into the bathroom too! Try doing that with a laptop
Registered: Jul 2006
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Shik
Starship database: completed; History of Starfleet: done; website: probably never
Member # 343
posted
quote:Originally posted by Sol System: Who prints out stuff from the internet anymore?
(The answer: grandmas.)
My friend Enzo's dad, Professor Alan Sica. The first time I met him, Enzo said that "My dad...is attempting to print out the internet. Like, he wants the entire internet in hard copy."
-------------------- "The French have a saying: 'mise en place'—keep everything in its fucking place!"
Registered: Jun 2000
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posted
My guess is: he's starting with the porn sites.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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