posted
Well, I'm suprised that nobody's started a thread on the new Star Charts book yet. It's apparantly been out for a few days. Anyway, here's a fairly detailed look at it (along with some of my fairly incoherent thoughts).
Pg. 8-9 Milky Way Galaxy - Physical
Mostly names the spiral arms of the galaxy, and gives some general facts about the Milky Way.
Pg. 10-11 Milky Way Galaxy - Physical II
Mostly side-view stuff of the Milky Way. Also has a little bit about the region around the Milky Way. Shows Galactic Barrier and Great Barrier.
Pg. 12-13 Milky Way Galaxy - Quadrants
This picture was one of those posted a while back. Mostly stuff like Bajoran Wormhole, Voyager's route home, Borg space, etc.
Pg. 14-15 Milky Way Galaxy - Sectors
This is where Mandel tries to explain all the location systems used in Trek. Subquadrants, sector zones, and sector grids are introduced here.
Pg. 16-17 Milky Way Galaxy - Sectors II
Basically, sector grids are divided into sector quads, which are divided up into sector blocks, which are then divided up into sectors.
Pg. 18-19 Milky Way Galaxy - Sectors III
A 3D look at the sectors nearest Earth.
Pg. 20-21 Stars - Spectral Classes
Classification of stars, and a chart of the main sequence.
Pg. 22-29 Planets - Planetary Classification I-IV
Classification of planets. The Genesis Planet is/was classified at Class Q.
Pg. 32-35 Alpha Quadrant - Worlds and Civilizations I&II
Just lists some planets of interest in the AQ. Although whether or not these planets are actually of interest is up to the reader, I suppose.
Pg. 36-37 Alpha Quadrant - Political
Here's where the superfun stuff begins. We've got most of the Federation, Breen Confederacy, Tholian Assembly, Cardassian Union, Talarian Republic, Ferengi Alliance, First Federation, Tzenkethi Coalition, and the Patriarchy (in the order of size). When in the heck did the Tholians and Breen dwarf the Cardassians? And what's the Patriarchy?
Pg. 38-39 Alpha Quadrant - Sol System
Self-explanatory. Unless you happen to think this is a two-page spread on our own Mr. Sizer.
Pg. 40-41 Talos Star Group & Deneb
Just a look at the two systems.
Pg. 42-43 Bajor & Cardassia
The two systems.
Pg. 44-45 Trade Routes - 22nd Century
Shows Earth, Vulcan, and Denobulan Trade Routes. Why Denobulan? Who knows. It also seems to show the Romulans were pushed back about half a sector during the Romulan Wars. (Mandel's going with a small local space in this book, only about 1500 ly in diameter.)
Pg. 46-47 Alpha Quadrant - Cardassian Union
Cardassians, UFP, Bajor, Badlands, Tzenkethi.
Pg. 48-49 The Dominion War - 2373-2375
I think these are just Okudagrams that have been seen onscreen. I think.
Pg. 52-55 Beta Quadrant - Worlds and Civilizations I&II
Planets of interest in the Beta Quadrant. Again, it's up to you whether you think they're of interest. Andor is listed as Andoria.
Pg. 56-57 Beta Quadrant - Political
More good stuff. Klingon Empire, Romulan Star Empire, what's left of the UFP, Gorn Hegemony, and the Metron Consortium (again, in order of size). Boy, Sisko wasn't kidding when he said the Romulans would be surrounded if the UFP and Klingons fell to the Dominion. The Romulans are practically surrounded by just those two powers! The map shows the Neutral Zone being between the Romulans and Klingons as well, but I was under the impression there was no Neutral Zone between the two. The Nimbus system is kind of in a weird spot. I always assumed it would be approximately where the UFP, Klingons, and Romulans all came together. Instead, the Klingons and Nimbus are on opposite sides of the Romulans.
Pg 58-59 Vulcan & Rigel
The two systems.
Pg. 60-61 Route of NX-01 - 2151-52
Hmm... Enterprise didn't return to Earth after dropping off Klang (or whatever his name was), did they? Because that's what the map shows. We also see where Echo 1-3 were dropped off. And the ship passed really close to Betazed, at least on a 2D map. We also have the final voyage of Zefram Cochrane. Why? Beats me.
Pg. 62-63 Beta Quadrant - Klingon Empire
A close up of the Klingon/UFP border region.
Pg. 64-65 Beta Quadrant - Klingon Empire II
The whole Klingon Empire. That's one huge empire (at least in respect to everybody else in local space).
Pg. 66-67 Beta Quadrant - Romulan Star Empire
Close up of the Romulans. They're still surrounded.
Pg. 70-71 Gamma Quadrant - Worlds and Civilizations
Like the Alpha/Beta entries. Mostly Dominion worlds.
Pg. 72-73 Gamma Quadrant - Political
Fairly empty. You've got a really big Dominion (at least in respect to the Alpha/Beta powers) on the edge of the galaxy, the Bajoran wormhole, the path of the Quadros-1 probe, and some Borg near the Delta Quadrant.
Pg. 74-75 Gamma Quadrant - The Dominion
Ooooooooookay. Where to begin on this one? First of all, remember that Mandel is going with a small local space in the Alpha/Beta Quadrants (1500 ly diameter). The Dominion is shown to be about 13000 ly across. Yup. Secondly, the Dominion more than doubled it's territory between 2275 and what I assume to be the end of DS9. Now, if you can conquer that much space in that amount of time, why bother with having Founders stir up disorder amongst the Alpha/Beta powers. They could crush them quite easily, at least according to this map.
Pg. 78-79 Delta Quadrant - Worlds and Civilizations
Here's where I'm going to start complaining. A bunch. Most of the entries make sense. There's Ocampa, Talax, Vidiia Prime, Malon Prime, Vaadwaur Prime, and Borg Prime (don't ask me, I've never heard of a Borg Prime either, but that's apparantly where Unimatrix One is/was). Devore Prime is listed. It's kind of iffy as to whether I'd put that one in. But we also have Sikaris (From "Prime Factors" - the mean aliens who wouldn't share their ubertransporter), Dinaal (From "Critical Care"), and Uxal (From "Friendship One"). Why they were included is beyond me. Personally, I'd replace those three with the Kazon homeworld, the Krenim homeworld (I may be a bit bias on that one), and maybe the Hierarchy homeworld. Why? Because those aliens were all seen in more than one episode.
Pg. 80-81 Delta Quadrant - Political
Obviously, the Borg take up a lot of room here. We also have a zone where the Hirogen take up their residence these days. We've also got the Kazon Collective, Haakonian Order, Vidiian Sodality, the Swarm, the Northwest Passage, the B'Omar Sovereignty, the Krenim Imperium, the Malon Cooperative, the Devore Imperium, and the Hierarchy (not ranked by size but by order along Voyager's route home). I knew that the Krenim Imperium wasn't going to be shown the massive Delta Quadrant power it was said to be in "Year of Hell," even though it was said to be something like 16000 parsecs across when it was something like 97% restored and it was 100% restored when the weapon/ship went kablooie. But the Krenim Imperium is no bigger than a grain of sand on the Delta Quadrant map. Maybe two grains of sand. Pleh.
Pg. 82-83 Route of USS Voyager - 2371
Season 1. There's one gigantic snafu on this map to say the least. Voyager went to the decimated Talax in "Jetrel." But Talax (inside Haakonian space) is located even further from Earth than Ocampa! And the map doesn't even show the trip.
Pg. 84-85 Route of USS Voyager - 2372
Season 2. Nothing too interesting.
Pg. 86-87 Route of USS Voyager - 2373
Season 3. The Nekrit Expanse is rather large (as it should be). But I don't recall the Swarm taking up that much space...
Pg. 88-89 Route of USS Voyager - 2374
Season 4. Major features are the Alsuran Empire, the Krenim Imperium, the B'Omar Sovereignty, the Hirogen, and the Swallow Nebula. The Swallow Nebula is that nebula from "One." How it got that name is beyond me. More complaining from me about the Krenim: The Krenim have less space than the B'Omar. I mean, really. The B'Omar were stupid aliens with the most rediculous headgear ever. I think I shall cry now. And for those wondering what the Alsuran Empire is, I looked it up. It was apparantly some empire that Annorax wiped out in another timeline.
Pg. 90-91 Route of USS Voyager - 2375
Season 5. You've got the three major jumps that year, along with the Void, the Malon, the Borg, and the Devore. Yes, the Malon seem to be all over the place.
Pg. 92-93 Route of USS Voyager - 2376
Season 6. The two little jumps are shown. We've also got the Turei, the Hierarchy, and some more Borg.
Pg. 94-95 Route of USS Voyager - 2377
Season 7. Hirogen and Hierarchy are the big blobs here.
And then you've got the fold out maps at the end of the book. The first one has a list of UFP members, for those who are interested. The second one has a zoom-out map of local space.
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Amasov Prime
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Of all UFP members? Or just some collection of dropped names during the shows?
Is there much new stuff or just *canon* information from the show (besides that, I think I'll decide whether this book is canon or not after I go it, which shouldn't take too long now, according to amazon.de)
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posted
I was surprised it took this long for someone to start a thread about the book too. Even though I do not agree with all of Mandel's locations, empire sizes, etc., I still like this book--it's very nicely done, and has extremely beautiful artwork/graphics. Like any other Trek reference book, I look at it as a good starting point for me to develop my own ideas (or, in this case, maps). My one big complaint is: Why no side views?! With the exception of pp. 18-19 (showing the local sectors around Earth), there are only top-down views of everything. What's up with that? I'd like some Z+/Z- perspective! I mean, from a top-down view, Ferenginar looks very close to Cardassia, whereas if, as I've always felt is the case, Ferenginar is pretty far Z+ of Cardassia, then it is a good distance away. But since there are no side-view maps, there's no way for a reader to tell.
Anyway, as for why Zefram Cochrane's final voyage is on the map, I'd say that it (and many other things such as the Cait system) is a carry-over from Star Trek Maps (which, by the way, DID have side-views).
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There's only one Patriarchy I can recall as having ever been mentioned in any Star Trek series...
The Kzinti Patriarchy (TAS: The Slaver Weapon)
Which is great, coz I'm a Kzin fan.
-------------------- "The best defense is not a good offense. The best defense is a terrifyingly accurate and devastatingly powerful offense, with multiply-overlapping kill zones and time-on-target artillery strikes." -- Laurence, Archangel of the Sword
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posted
Gah! I did not need to read this... I was going to put this on my Christmas list! Now I'm going to have to go out and buy it ASAP!
Despite the nitpicks that Krenim pointed out, this sounds like a very, very useful book.
-------------------- “Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.” — Isaac Asimov Star Trek Minutiae | Memory Alpha
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Still waiting for my copy. I seriously hope it's not on its way to Iceland...
Yup, the Patriarchy has to be a covert reference to the Kzinti - who are still very actively banned by Paramount, probably in fear of legal problems (even though Niven has said he doesn't mind). Where are they? (Wild guess - about 50 ly towards the core from Earth?)
The Nimbus III location is somewhat logical in that it took the Klingons longer to get there than it took Kirk to fly there *all the way from Earth*. Granted, Klaa probably also started from near Earth, since he was pigeon-shooting the Pioneer. But he still seemed to be the NEAREST Klingon warrior to that planet! Also, a ship heading towards the Great Barrier from Nimbus III would not easily get help from Earth this way.
A neutral zone between the Klingons and the Romulans *is* mentioned in "Redemption Pt II", isn't it? It probably doesn't make much sense considering how "neutral" Romulans and Klingons usually are. But we can say that the zone was established by humans first, and the Klingons later expanded towards Romulus and ran into this zone. As they could not make progress through the heavily fortified region, the zone remained.
Gotta see that region myself. What was shown about Khitomer?
The Krenim issue is highly interesting. IIRC, the 98% restored empire spanned 5000 parsecs and 849 inhabited worlds. A 100% restored empire would not be significantly larger or smaller, judging by the reactions of Annorax to the 98% figures. This is what should have been restored when the time weapon blew.
However, we don't really know WHEN this happened. Annorax had been to temporal incursions for 200 years. There's doubletalk about how time doesn't pass on his vessel due to its shielding - but clearly, this is bullshit. The interior of the ship is not frozen in stasis. So we could say that the doubletalk actually means that 200 years of galactic time have passed since the first incursion, and Annorax has simply moved across those years a bit faster. The Krenim empire could have been 5000 parsecs wide in the 2170s, and reduced in size by the 2370s.
This would explain why, at the end of the episode, the Krenim again fly small ships and act politely and have a space the Voyager can fly around with minimal fuss. And the VERY final scene in the episode would be a flashback to the 2170s, back when Annorax and his wife were still alive, when the empire was 5000 parsecs wide, and when the Rilnar were their greatest enemy. By the 2370s, all that would be lost and the empire reduced in size if Annorax *didn't* mess with the timeline.
posted
Fans of TAS may be happy to know that the Delta Triangle and the dissappearance of the "S.S. Bonaventure (2079)" are marked on the Beta Quadrant map (Klingon Empire II, page 64, bottom left corner).
Some other interesting points (to me at least).
A fairly large portion of Klingon held worlds are marked as battle sites, Something I find quite ammusing. Some either bear the names of Klingon starships (K'tinga, Neg'Var, Rotarran, Ya'vang, P'Rang to name a few). Of course they're not "really" named after ships, it's the ships that are named after stars.
The "S.S. Kobayshi Maru" is marked as being lost in 2245, near Achanis and Ajilon. Just in time for Kirk to enter the Academy (this is a little sick if you ask me, but hey it's not real).
Tholia is listed as being A Y-Class planet, adding more weight to the assumption that Tholians aren't just humanoids with funky looking helmets.
Bajor is still not yet a member of the UFP, apparently it hasn't been ratified.
Deneb IV has been admitted into the UFP and apparently a new Farpoint Station has been built.
Terra Nova is also a member of the UFP, the Capital being Logan city (wasn't that the name of the Conestoga's captain?).
The S.S.(?) Horizon is a busy bee, making a first landing on Izar in 2183. Presumably this is the birth place of "Garth of Izar" and apparently Starfleet's Tactical School.
The "Enterprise" Rigel is explaned by having 2 Rigel systems, Beta Rigel (the one everyone visits) and Beta Orionis being the "true" Rigel. Apparently Deneb has a similar arrangment.
"E.C.S. North Star" is marked as being lost in 2147 between Wolf 359 and p Eridani.
On the whole the is an excelent book, despite one or two hiccups. I hope that the writers will be using it as reference in the future, something that seams likely given that NX-01's route seams to be heading directly for....
quote:Originally posted by Krenim: Hmm... Enterprise didn't return to Earth after dropping off Klang (or whatever his name was), did they? Because that's what the map shows. We also see where Echo 1-3 were dropped off. And the ship passed really close to Betazed, at least on a 2D map. We also have the final voyage of Zefram Cochrane. Why? Beats me.
I only looked at the book in the bookstore, so I can't truely confirm this, but I didn't think the book showed that Enterprise travelled all the way back to Earth, only that it followed the path back before diverting away to begin the mission around Axanar. At the end of "Broken Bow," Archer says that they are supposed to begin their mission, which I assume was meant to begin near Earth. A trip of three days to get back to the planned starting point isn't that big of a deal.
One thing I loved was the mention of our old standby "warp highways" (by antoher name that I forgot) to explain the four-day trip to Kronos.
quote: A neutral zone between the Klingons and the Romulans *is* mentioned in "Redemption Pt II", isn't it?
It's been awhile, but I thought that the lack of any kind of buffer zone was made explicit in the plot? Maybe not.
Going over the list of UFP members with Tom last night reveals that there are at least a couple canon Federation planets/colonies left off. No Signia Minor or Corinth IV, for instance.
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quote: But that's not an explanation, isn't it? No matter how many Rigel systems there are, they should have known the word "Rigel".
Is the Enterprise-A's voyage to the centre of the milky way also explained with subspace shortcuts?
I never said it was a good explanation.
Sha'ka're is marked as being just on the outer edge of the galactic nucleus, which the great barrier surrounds. No mention is made of subspace shortcuts but I suppose it's possible. Again not a perfect solution and it's still a stupidly huge distance for one movie. If only they'd scripted a wormhole sequence then it would have solved so many problems....oh well, that movie was a fuck up from start to finish.
quote: Going over the list of UFP members with Tom last night reveals that there are at least a couple canon Federation planets/colonies left off. No Signia Minor or Corinth IV, for instance.
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