Star Trek Topps preview pages

Out next month from Abrams ComicArts is the new Star Trek Topps trading cards book. With commentary by Paula M. Block and Terry J. Erdmann, the book will present the entire TOS Topps trading card collection, to stir nostalgic memories, or for younger fans introduce you to one of the earlier Star Trek tie-in products. io9 have posted several sample pages, with give a nice idea of the format. There are some interesting little insights into the production of the cards amongst the descriptions (more pages after the jump):

First details for Star Trek Topps book

Paula Block has posted on Facebook the cover for her next Star Trek project, the Star Trek Topps book. This cover, which apparently isn't quite the final version, is the entire cover wrap, so you see here the front, back, spine and inside flaps:

One of those flaps also has the following blurb:

Star Trek - the original 1976 trading card series from Topps - Is reprinted here for the first time, featuring full-color images from all three seasons of the classic television series created by Gene Roddenberry, as well as episode synopses and biographical information on the cast and crew of the starship Enterprise. This first-ever compilation includes the fronts and backs of all eighty-eight cards and twenty-two rare and hard-to-find stickers (which were originally sold on per pack), as well as text and commentary by Star Trek insiders Paula M. Block and Terry J. Erdmann. Star Trek - the latest addition to the Topps series from Abrams ComicArts - Is guaranteed to please the die-hard Trekkie as well as a whole new generation of fans. Also includes FOUR BONUS TRADING CARDS featuring Captain James T. Kirk, Lieutenant Nyota Uhura, Lieutenant Commander Mongomery "scotty" Scott, Ensign Pavel Chekov, and - making his trading card debut - Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu!

Pre-order: Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.fr, Amazon.co.jp.

Book bits

A few newslets from the world of printed Trek:

David R. George III has announced on Facebook that he has been asked to write another Star Trek novel, so will be (presumably) be joining the already growing list of authors on the 2014 schedule.

Meanwhile over in Germany Cross Cult have released their latest New Frontier portrait, which will be finding its way onto a future German New Frontier cover. This time they bring us a new take on Janos the Mugato. This is Cross Cult's second rendition of Janos, he previously appeared on their version Martyr (Märtyrer). Thanks as ever to UnrealitySF's Jens Deffner for pointing me to this:

Finally, in non-fiction news, a new listing has appeared on Amazon for a book called Star Trek Topps. Listed as the authors are regular Star Trek non-fiction contributors Paula M. Block and Terry J. Erdmann, and a little more curiously, The Topps Company. It's to be published by Abrams Books (who have previously brought us Block and Edmann's two Star Trek 365 books), and more specifically will be released under their ComicArts imprint, which has released a few books based on Topps trading cards, including the recent Mars Attacks retrospective. There have been two Star Trek Topps cards collections, a TOS series, and a Motion Picture series. Aside from some of the TMP behind-the-scenes alien cars there doesn't that much interesting about them. Anyway, whatever this book is, it's out in September.

TNG 365

Star Trek The Next Generation 365 is out now! To celebrate the launch of the book the authors, Paula M. Block and Terry J. Erdmann, have done a feature on StarTrek.com and interview with TrekCore. A few choice extracts follow, along with preview images from the book posted on its very own Facebook page and TrekCore.

Just as an editorial project the book was a daunting task, with much more to cover than the previous TOS volume:

TNG has a hundred more episodes than The Original Series. Given the publisher’s established format of 365 spreads, we’d have very little room to delve into the average episode. For the TOS 365 book, we’d allotted three to four spreads to each one, which still left us room to cover the development of the show and iconic fan moments. But we’d have no such opportunity here. Even allocating just one spread per episode would eat up nearly half of the page count. And obviously many TNG episodes deserved more than one measly spread. We realized we’d have to be… creative. Yes, we’d make sure to give the really popular episodes their moment in the sun with multiple pages. But the others… Well… Perhaps you remember when Kodos the Executioner had to make a decision about which 4,000 colonists would be sacrificed for the benefit of the other 4,000 (in TOS’s “The Conscience of the King”). We wouldn’t be quite as brutal as that, but we must admit, we suddenly had a tad more appreciation for Kodos’s dilemma!

Finding all the images, and trying to find ones never seen before required lots of digging in the archives:

The studio’s publicity/marketing department assigned photographers to do still coverage of TNG while the series was filming. We knew the studio had binders and binders full of imagery; the licensing department had provided many of those images to licensees for use in their products over the years. Paula was familiar with what had been used and she worked very hard to steer us away from the ones that had been seen over and over again. In the hopes of finding something new, she took an especially close look at the black and white photography. The licensees had always requested color shots. So while many of the color images repeatedly appeared in books and magazines over the years, very little of the black and white photography was used at all. On any given day on the TNG set, the assigned still photographer would shoot both color and black and white film, generally using one or the other to cover different angles, or even different scenes. It was in the black and white where we found many of the rarest behind-the-scenes shots, like early versions of costumes and hairstyles, cast and crew indulging in unscripted and rather unorthodox behavior, and actors attending script readings and rehearsals in non-regulation attire.

And there’s another reason why these rare photos didn’t surface earlier—back when the show was in production, the studio didn’t like to release too many “behind-the-scenes” images because they felt that it would give away “the magic.” They wanted people to focus on the show, not on how the show was made. These days, no one worries about that. The magic has been transformed into nostalgia.

They also went to great efforts to find images from other sources among the production team:

We interviewed dozens of people who’d worked on the show, and asked if he or she had any unique personal photos hidden away in a forgotten box or two. Production designer Richard James provided some great sketches, and visual effects producer Dan Curry gave us free access to his storyboards from the show, as well as some fantastic paintings. Prop making company MEL gave us a lot of material, shots of the props under construction or completed. And effects associate Eric Alba unearthed a treasure trove of candid photos that he’d taken while he was working on the show. We really appreciated it when artists Andrew Probert and Rick Sternbach—who established many of the iconic visual elements of the show—provided us with beautiful color sketches and paintings. And whenever we were stuck for an idea, scenic artist Michael Okuda stepped right in with an inspiration.

Unfortunately the new remastering on bluray came too late for them to include new HD screencaps, or much of the newly discovered behind the scenes stuff, but they did manage to get a little in:

We heard about the Blu-ray remastering project while we were writing and hoped we could get a few images for the book, but our timing was off. We did get one really cool image late in the game—a shot of Denise Crosby’s stand-in modeling the actual hairclip that inspired Geordi’s visor.

Looking forward the writing pair aren't nearly as optimistic about the chances of a similar DS9 book as they were when taking the step from TOS to TNG:

DS9 was never as popular as its two predecessors, although it arguably was a more critically acclaimed series. Publishing a full-color book of this quality is an expensive proposition, so there needs to be evidence that the fans will be there to welcome it to their shelves. We hope it happens, but we read so many comments from fans that say they never got into DS9 because “it was too dark,” or some such, that we’re not holding our breath. It’s a shame; we suspect most of those commentators didn’t give the show a chance, so they don’t know the wonders that they missed.

You can read and see much more on StarTrek.com, TrekCore, and Facebook. Or indeed, the book itself! You might also want to check out Eric Alba's Flickr album of behind-the-scenes Trek photos; he appears to have gotten some into the book, but has much more online, including images from DS9 and Voyager production.

TNG 365 samples and blurb

The latest Abrams Books catalogue is out, which includes the first look at some images from inside the forthcoming Star Trek: The Next Generation 365. They also have a description for the book:

With the launch of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Gene Roddenberry somehow managed to recapture lightning in a bottle. This new incarnation of Star Trek was an instant hit, and its popularity inspired four films and three spin-off television series. To commemorate the show’s 25th anniversary, Star Trek: The Next Generation 365 provides a fresh, accessible overview of the entire series, including an authorized guide to all 178 episodes. Featuring rarely seen and now-classic photography and illustrations, this visual celebration of the voyages of Captain Picard, his crew, and the Enterprise-D offers a loving look back at the Emmy and Hugo Award–winning series.

TNG 365 cover

The Amazon listing for Star Trek: The Next Generation 365 has been updated to reveal the cover! It doesn't tell us much, except that Paula Block and Terry Erdmann will be authoring again, and this time Ronald Moore will be providing an introduction.

Pre-order: Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.fr, Amazon.co.jp.

Another new ebook, and other publishing updates

The Simon and Schuster website has been updated with a listing for a second ebook release in 2013, following the recently revealed In Tempest's Wake, coming in October. "TNG: Untitled", by James Swallow is set for release in December.

Meanwhile Amazon now has listings up for the Star Trek: The Next Generation 365 book, suggesting and October release.

Various listings for the fifth book in the Starfleet Academy young reader series have now pushed its release all the way back to August 2013!

Finally various other recently announced books are now starting to show up on Amazon too: Typhon Pact: Brinkmanship, Klingon Bird of Prey Haynes Manual, and Classic Quotes. Have a look at my schedule pages to see everything coming this year, and beyond.

A look inside the Star Trek Vault

StarTrek.com has posted an interview with Scott Tipton, and his assistant James Sawyer, about their soon to be released book, the Star Trek Vault. Here is how they summarise the book:

The book covers all the television series --including The Animated Series, of which I'm a huge fan -- and the films, and provides for each a brief production history, some critical commentary, the cultural impact, and a look at the merchandising, and does so in a fun, conversational fashion, accompanied by tons of photos and illustrations and reproductions of some of the rarest and most interesting pieces of Trek memorabilia we could find.

And here are some sample pages:

 

 

 

 

StarTrek.com also has a video preview of the book, which among other things notes that the UK edition, from Aurum Press, will come with a slipcase, yay! It also highlights some of the reproductions that come with the book, including a whole colouring book!

Details of new non-fiction books

StarTrek.com has announced several new non-fiction Trek books, and I've come across more details and found a couple more as well:


Star Trek Vault: 40 Years from the Archives 

An across the franchise look at rarities from the Star Trek archives, due in October from Abrams Books, and written by Star Trek comic-book writer Scott Tipton. Here is how Abrams describe it:

Star Trek Vault charts the remarkable history of the world's most popular science fiction series, examining the franchise's first 40 years. Covering all six Star Trek television series and the ten original feature films, the book highlights the far-reaching social and scientific optimism that underpins the franchise, dwelling on milestones such as its groundbreaking mixed-race casts and technologies that have since become commonplace, before taking an in-depth look at the making of each series and movie. Fully illustrated with more than 350 images, and including 13 interactive reproductions of the most fascinating memorabilia from the CBS archives--on-set signage, hand-drawn storyboards, blueprints for Picard's captain's chair, and a vintage T-shirt transfer--Star Trek Vault provides a broad perspective on the voyages of Captains Kirk, Picard, Sisko, Janeway, and Archer. The ultimate treasure trove of Star Trek imagery and memorabilia, Star Trek Vault is sure to appeal to both the casual and the die-hard fan.

The book will be printed by Aurum Press for the UK market, and their catalogue gives us a hint of what to expect inside:

Star Trek Book of Opposites

This one is aimed squarely at children, written by David Borgenicht for Quirk Books. The book will feature illustrations to demonstrate the principle of opposites. Here’s a short blurb from Amazon US:

EXPLORE STRANGE NEW WORDS!

WITH THE HELP OF Kirk, Spok, McCoy, and two dozen colorful pictures from across the galaxy, teach your children the meaning of big and little, hot and cold, apart and together, and much more!

And a more detailed one from Amazon UK:

Is your child leaving baby-talk behind and beginning to explore strange new words? Or are you simply a Trekkie who needs a goofy gift for a fellow-fan friend? "The Star Trek Book of Opposites" will transport you together to an exciting voyage of silly educational fun, pairing up colorful photographs of "Star Trek's" classic heroes and aliens to introduce the concept of opposites through immediate visual humor. Our first children's book hits exactly that sweet spot Quirk is so good at, blending sincere educational helpfulness with a sly grin. Just like "Star Trek" itself, it walks that fine line between earnest and campy. And it's the perfect time to take advantage of the recent resurgent interest in Classic Trek! With a hip, up-market design sensibility, "The Star Trek Book of Opposites" will make a great, kitschy gift for any Star Trek fan, with or without children.

Obsessed With Star Trek

This book by Chip Carter for Chronicle Books combines a book with a quiz game, with 2500 questions for up to two players. No other details yet, but it will presumably be similar to other books in the series such as Obsessed with Star Wars and Obsessed With Marvel.

Star Trek TNG 365
Few details on this yet, but it will be similar to last year’s Star Trek: The Original Series 365 but this time focusing on Star Trek: The Next Generation, with episode summaries, trivia and lots of pretty pictures!

Star Trek 365, en francais
And finally something I came across on Amazon UK, a French publisher (Editions de la Martinière) has just published a French version of the first Star Trek 365 book, and have given it a different cover: