So, should we panic or celebrate? Most people are going to have flashbacks to the hastily prepared ship section of the DS9 tech. manual. However, I think there is reason to hope. For one, this book would presumably be dedicated to ships, ships, and nothing but ships. Now, the parts of the DS9 manual that were actually about DS9 were wonderful, in my opinion. Hence, I would say that, with focus, we could expect some lovely or at least entertaining information.

Thoughts?

--Baloo

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Loyalty to petrified opinion never yet broke a chain or freed a human soul.
--Mark Twain
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Shire/8641/
http://members.tripod.com/~Bob_Baloo/index.htm

Methinks 'tis all a wicked, wicked lie.

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"You will be swept away....
You, your men, your ship, your WORLDS!"

But yes, you'ns should probably offer aid and assistance, since we don't want to se a rehash of the ships section from DS9TM. Let them know THAT, too.

Personally, what I think we/they should be aiming for is "Jane's Starships." Perhaps in a multi-volume set, if that would save on cost...

2002: Vol 1: Jane's Federation Starships
2003: Vol 2: The Allies: Klingon, Romulan and Cardassian Starships
2004: Vol 3: The Players: Ferengi, Breen, Gorn, Tholian, Bajoran, Dominion, Borg, 8472, etc.
2005: Vol 4: Merchants, Pirates, Private Vessels, and One-shots.

Of course, you could rearrange the above to make better sense, but The concept is sound.

At least offer solutions to problems we seem to have resolved... let THEM figure out the size of the Defiant. In any case, I wouldn't expect to see this product until at LEAST 2002... if they intend to do better than a half-a$$ed job on it.

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Calvin: "No efficiency, no accountability... I tell you, Hobbes, it's a lousy way to run a Universe." -- Bill Watterson

no seriously... a few firm helping hands would keep them on track - they must REALISE that all 253 or so of us would automatically go out an BUY this book if it was done correctly... if it was seriously rooted - then they've wasted their money haven't they...

so.

who's contacting them then...

In addition to six-side schematics, which may be better than normal reuses of the Illustrator graphics used in the Encyclopedias, I want to see several correct 3/4 views of each canon ship. This would include the new ones like the Raven, the Centaur, the Yeager Class, the Shelley Class, etc.

These should be good, quality CGI pics not just fuzzy screen caps.

Publish it in paperback so'z we can all afford it :-)

The show is canon, everything else is Rick Sternbach's opinion. And whatever Gary Hutzel says about the Defiant is going to be more valid than whatever Rick Sternbach says on the subject, even within the context of a manual, because Gary Hutzel is making VFX, while Rick Sternbach has zero input into the whole thing.

Therefore, if the book is to succeed with us, Rick Sternbach would -have- to contact two main groups: the Visual Effects and the designers. Ideally, the entries would be reviewed by these people, however, a couple of phone-calls would also be sufficient. I mean, what's the next best thing to visually determining the origin of Defiant's phaser emissions? Knowing where a visual effects supervisor would put them in. If he doesn't have anything planned out, even a mere "we'll if I had to I'd put them riight here" would be valuable.

And of course, increased interaction between Rick Sternbach and the Visual Effects works both ways, with the latter providing his tremendous background knowledge to the crew, which means better consistency for us poor analysts.

Boris

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"Wrong again. Although we want to be scientifically accurate, we've found that selection of [Photon Energy Plasma Scientifically Inaccurate as a major Star Trek format error] usually indicates a preoccupation with science and gadgetry over people and story."

---a Writers' Test from the Original Series Writer's Guide

[This message has been edited by Boris (edited November 14, 1999).]

[This message has been edited by Boris (edited November 14, 1999).]

The starship book: six views on a double page, no distracting lettering ("this is a window"), high-resolution images on another page, MSD's. I would pay a lot for a really well-considered book of this kind.

On the other hand, imagine the following: The Defiant is still 170m and has still 4 decks, the BoP comes in 5 sizes, the Sydney is a runabout, the Niagara looks as depicted in the FF, this time proven by model photos. I wonder if they manage to abandon all views that have been previously established and create a consistent and reliable book.

Here's what I think we need for EVERY canon class:
1. An Intro to each ship with stats, the design group logo, and some cool looking type faces
2. A Six-view plan (like mentioned above spanning 2 pages). These should be the great kind of illustrations like the Breen ship and the Prometheus from the Magazine.
3. A cutaway deck chart in the likeness of the master systems display.
4. Original CGI images of the ships in flight-at least 3 or 4.

If done well, and designed nicely, this could be a killer volume!

They would need to be careful about going overboard and establishing a bunch of facts that are just going to be changed later though.

They could also design a couple of the non-canon ships (cool original designs *flashes back to DS9TM*) like the Sequoia and the Wambundu.

Think I really have to post a reply on this subject (actually my first ever)!

I've been waiting for a book like that for years and, to agree with Bernd, if it is well made it should be worth a few extra $$$. (By the way, Bernd, greetings from a fellow "Currywurst"!)

How about a special section dedicated to design studies and models that never made it to the screen (as in "The Art of Star Trek)?

Filler.