The Star Trek Encyclopedia (2016)

The Star Trek Encyclopedia: A Reference Guide To The Future, Revised and Expanded Edition by Michael & Denise Okuda (2016) book

In this age of iPads and internet wikis I never expected to see an update to what was always the most useful and fascinating reference book on the fictional world of 'Star Trek,' especially after so much time had passed since the previous edition in 1999, so it was with great joy I made my first ever pre-order on Amazon. Demand must have been underestimated as it was due mid-October, but didn't arrive until early December! The price for such a weighty tome (indeed, the delivery man noted it was a heavy one), was not too bad, as I got it for £65, but that was with £30 off, using vouchers I'd won at work, so I actually paid almost the same price as the previous edition! My history with the book stretches back to the mid-nineties when I was given the original 1994 version as a present, as I needed to keep track of all that was going on in Trek-land, although it was pretty basic, only reaching as far as the end of 'DS9' Season 1 - they didn't even have the last season of 'TNG,' and it was all in black and white! So although a fun thing to dip into, with the vastly increasing universe and over fifty episodes a year throughout that decade, it soon became essentially obsolete, except for reference to 'TOS.' Yet I loved it, and so, many years later, once I got into online purchasing, I upgraded to the then latest version, which was the third edition, containing full colour pages and good for almost up to the end of 'DS9' and most of 'Voyager.'

This book was even more heavily utilised by me, mainly for keeping track of the data as I watched and re-watched the episodes from every series with the levelling of the viewing playing field through the release of every episode on DVD, at affordable prices (as opposed to expensive and inferior videotapes), but it still was far from ideal, with the updated part not included in the main body of text, instead a separate section at the back, presumably the only way they could justify a rerelease at a reasonable price in a reasonable timeframe, but still a big failure of intuitiveness, and of course missing the end of 'Voyager,' the last 'TNG' film, and the entirety of 'Enterprise.' Still, with all my episode reviews I found it a useful tool and constant companion, and with the fifth TV series widely considered a failure, and the first to be prematurely cancelled, things looked bleak for Trek's future, so there was no way a book like this was going to be updated with data for a TV series and film people didn't care about. Until now. For the 50th Anniversary a special effort was made for this fourth edition, and a high quality, definitive product has been produced, fixing all that was wrong with previous versions, and restoring faith in the future of the franchise.

Because for a while there it looked as if 'Star Trek' was either going to be 'dead, Jim,' or 'life, but not as we know it,' thanks to the way off-base Abramsverse films that practically divided the viewing community. But this book shows that the true timeline, the protected continuity that means so much to some of us, and is the reason we want books of this nature, lives on: the films were given an official monicker of the 'Kelvin Timeline' and integrated into the body of the encyclopaedia, meaning that rather than being an escape from what had gone before ("This is not your Father's 'Star Trek'," as the tagline for the first film alienatingly went), an avoidance of Trek's history and culture, it has been assimilated as neatly as any Borg drone could do, and rather than erasing the past, it's merely one little offshoot, to be seen for what it is, not the future of a dead franchise, stripping it of most of what made it attractive before. We also have a new series, 'Star Trek: Discovery,' set in the 'Prime' timeline, to come, which will further explore the history and time period of past Treks, and if that makes a reader uncomfortable spending that amount of money on something that is essentially incomplete, I take solace from that incompleteness because it means we'll have more new Trek to enjoy, and also that 'my' Treks were pretty much of the previous century, and I would contend that, generally, all Trek made in this century has been vastly inferior, which means I have a book covering all the Trek that's really important to me, in its entirety.

For the sake of roundedness, I would have preferred it if 'Star Trek Beyond' had been included, especially if it turns out to be the final Kelvin Timeline instalment, and for its connections to 'Enterprise' and pre-Federation starship development history. It shows that there's still a huge lack of cooperation between CBS and Paramount in their support of the property, with Paramount unwilling or unable to provide details of 'Beyond' in time for inclusion, in spite of the film coming out in the summer - if the Okudas had been given special access we'd have had the impression of a desire for these films to be accepted by the wider Trek community, and it would have done a lot to build bridges, but they continue to be rivals and so the comprehensiveness of this edition suffers. It's ironic that we've waited all these years when new Trek wasn't being produced, and now that it's about to come back to us we get an almost definitive volume - maybe the publishers need the promise of new content in order to sell the old, with projects like this? The only data point (aside from the Franklin, and more information on the MACOs), missing would be Spock's death, so you can imagine him living on forever in the alternate timeline, which in a way, might have been better, just as we'll always imagine part of Kirk living on in the Nexus.

I've talked round it for long enough, now it's time to get down to the nitty-gritty: having established the need or desire for a book of this kind, does it live up to the previous versions to become the ultimate version? Absolutely! The type size is smaller than before so more has been squeezed in (we now get a photo for every episode), and still it comes in two heavy volumes, so there's no sense that this was a halfhearted update to prey on the weak-minded and open-walleted, but a sincere attempt to provide the complete experience missing from earlier editions. It's hard to explain how wonderful it is to have all of Trek under one banner, presented in one continuous form, even if you do have to flick through two volumes, but there's even a positive in that regard since you can now have two pages open at one time, making it even more useful for cross-referencing! Almost as important as the data contained within are the aesthetics of the piece, and they don't disappoint: solid, hardback covers housed in a thick card sleeve with the two most defining starships of the franchise adorning one to each volume's cover, which are matte with gloss patterns - here's an example of the attention to detail: at first I just saw patterns, then I realised they're the shape and style of isolinear chips, spreading out into an abstract design. Inside is a clean, white page layout throughout, full colour, the alphabet clearly divided by a helpful colour bar at the top of each page for ease of use, plus many illustrations and appendices for perusal.

Unfortunately for me, the books, even without their slipcase, are a little too tall to fit on the shelf next to my other Trek reference books, but I knew that before ordering, and they'd do just as well laid out on a coffee table for all to see, and for ease of browsing, but the release isn't perfect, as you'd probably expect for such a vast project. The first challenge I had was removing the books from their case, and when I finally did succeed in prising them free I found it was because the rear of the first volume, had become attached by glue at the top to the inside of the case, proof if it were needed of a hurried construction and further suggestion that demand was higher than anticipated. Even on my first few flicks through the pages I noticed occasional spelling mistakes. But these are teething problems and there's a certain pride in owning the first, uncorrected edition of such a prestige release, so it didn't bother me or lessen my appreciation for the effort that the Okudas, Trek's historical experts, had put into this impressive work. The gorgeous pages of starships in the appendices (and even some in the main body), were so good they made me wish for more variety in display of angles, but there isn't the room for something like that, it would have to be its own book to cover every ship from every angle! The cast list is fairly comprehensive, and it's good to have a list of every episode and season, but for me, it's as much about the little trivia notes added in italics below many of the entries that give insight into the production or connection of so much in the Trek Universe, that makes this such an enjoyable read.

I felt the Kelvin Timeline received an unbalanced degree of inclusion and exposure image-wise compared with its relatively minuscule four hours of contribution, as if they were attempting to appeal to people that got into Trek through those films, except that such people are unlikely to be buying these kinds of books unless they've also developed a wider and much deeper appreciation for what came before! At least it's all congregated together now, when there was a time that it seemed as if old Trek had been buried by this new, faster, sleeker, less intelligent version, so it just proves my theory that everything swings back to its centre point eventually, no matter how different it tries to be in attempting to make a new statement: it's a visual acceptance of the KT into the full Trek community, which in itself says that old Trek wasn't dead, it was merely sleeping, and as we march towards the new Prime timeline series of 'DSC,' and the KT films may have finished their run, balance has been restored to the, er… Force… In this day and age it might seem like a pointless waste of space to own something like this, but my use of previous editions told me it was a necessary and worthwhile purchase, and I expect it to be useful for years to come in my review writing, especially when it comes to matching 'DSC' up with what's previously been established. Now we just need an update to 'The Star Trek Chronology,' the Okudas other excellent Trek reference work, and a 'Star Trek: Enterprise Companion,' please…

*****