Star Trek: The U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701 & 1701-A Illustrated Handbook

by Ben Robinson, Marcus Riley, Simon Hugo

Captain James T. Kirk's Original Starship Enterprise ! Everything you want to know about this iconic starship in the FIRST full color volume ever published. Featuring details from both TV series and the first six movies.

This volume, featuring the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701 and the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-A , is a detailed, illustrative account of the TV starship from the original 1966-1969 series, and the movie starship from STAR THE MOTION PICTURE (1979), STAR TREK THE WRATH OF KHAN (1982), STAR TREK THE SEARCH FOR SPOCK (1984), STAR TREK THE VOYAGE HOME (1986), STAR TREK THE FINAL FRONTIER (1989), and STAR TREK THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY (1991). Plus, Captain Pike's Enterprise from the hit TV series STAR DISCOVERY .

With isometric illustrations of all the key locations, annotated plan views, detailed technical information, Starfleet equipment, and uniforms and insignia, the chapters follow the starships through time and provide an extraordinary reference guide to these iconic Federation vessels.

Genres: Star Trek, Science Fiction, Reference, Art

236 pages, Hardcover

First published October 15, 2019

Reviews

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Earlier today I finished reading the massive “Star Trek: U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701 & 1701-A Illustrated Handbook (2019) published by Hero Collector Books, a division of Eaglemoss, Ltd.*, Ben Robinson (General Editor). (* The same company that puts out the Star Trek: The Official Starship models collection that I’ve been a subscriber to since it started back in 2012.)

This is the second in the “Illustrated Handbook” series. The first was the U.S.S. Enterprise-D (from “Star Trek: The Next Generation”). A third just came out this past month focusing on the U.S.S. Voyager, and fourth, Deep Space Nine and the U.S.S. Defiant, is scheduled to come out in early 2021.

The illustrations, diagrams, floor plans, schematics, etc. that the "Illustrated Handbooks" are full of were originally released in "The Official Star Trek Fact Files", a "partwork" magazine series that ran in the U.K. from 1997 to 2002 and that was published by GE Fabbri (of which the current Eaglemoss company is the successor to). A large amount of the same material was also reprinted in the U.S. based "Star Trek: The Magazine" that ran from 1999 to 2003 (published by Fabbri Publishing (U.S.)).

The copious and highly detailed illustrations, floor plans, etc. are extensive in this collected volume, one that took me quite awhile to get through (my copy being one I checked out from the public library; I've been sure to recommend for purchase by the library all of the Eaglemoss books). Partially this is because the book is clearly designed to be more of a reference book to be picked up from time to time, the reader jumping from one section to another more so than as a book to be read cover to cover.

This "Illustrated Handbook" (which has the tagline, "Captain Kirk's original Starship Enterprise") after an introductory chapter, "History of the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701 & 1701-A: Operational History", breaks the material down into five subsequent chapters:

"U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701 [year] 2254" (covering the ship's exterior and interiors as seen in the 1964 first Star Trek pilot episode, "The Cage"),

"U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701 [year] 2257" (covering the version of the ship just recently seen in the second season of "Star Trek: Discovery"; this material obviously had to be newly created specifically for this handbook),

"U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701 [years] 2265-2268" (the version seen on the original "Star Trek" television series (1966-1969)),

"U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701 Refit [years] 2271-2285 (the heavily redesigned Enterprise from the first three Star Trek films (1979-1984)), and

"U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-A [years] 2286-2293" (the second Enterprise seen in Star Trek movies four, five, and six (1986-1991)).

For those who like me who are drawn to Star Trek largely due to the various cool looking starships, this is a must have book. For those who aren't as "into" the ships as they are the characters, stories, etc., they probably would find this book rather pretty to look at but hardly an essential purchase.

One slightly negative aspect of collecting all of this previously separately released Star Trek Fact Files material together in one book is that it does get pretty repetitive. Details that are described in the text on a page will then get repeated word-for-word in the captions accompanying the illustrations on the very same two page spread, and text on a particular subject from one chapter will be much like the text on the same subject in a previous chapter (example, the pages describing the handheld "phaser" weapons, communicators, or "tricorders" used aboard the ship during 2254/"The Cage" are very similar to those later in the book of the 2265-2268 tv series version, etc.).

At times the accompanying text is a bit of a chore to get through but the diagrammed illustrations of the pieces of technology do an excellent job of distinguishing between the various props used on Star Trek over its various iterations.

Besides the floor plans of the various interiors aboard the ship like the bridge, sickbay, engineering, crew quarters, transporter rooms, shuttle bay, etc, another real treat is the pages dedicated to the various uniform designed worn by the characters at different times, everything from the standard duty uniforms to the optional green "tunic" style top Captain Kirk occasionally wore, to the various medical outfits Dr. McCoy wore, on down to the no name security, engineering, and other medical staff uniforms, and the uniforms worn in the later movies.

It does strain the required format here of a seemingly chronological "in universe" handbook their having to place the newer "Star Trek: Discovery" version of the Enterprise in between that of "The Cage" and the rest of the original 1960s series because it's very difficult imagining why they (Starfleet) would redesign the interiors so drastically between the events of "The Cage" and those seen on "Discovery" (including the addition of a corridor behind the curved wall of rear duty stations on the main bridge and a second turbolift/elevator) only to decide to change it all back again a few years later. It's a minor quibble but another thing worth mentioning. (In another book they probably would have added the "Discovery" material at the end.)

Again, highly recommended for Star Trek fans that are big into the starships aspect of Trek. And, if you can find it at your own local public library, probably a fun book just to browse through for fans who have followed Star Trek from the beginning.

[cauldronofevil · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve been meaning to get to this for a while - so long that I forgot I had it! I hate to add another long book to an already heavy pile of books, but I need all the technical information I can get for a writing project that is now on it’s forth chapter.

I’m actually likely to have most of this information already - it was mostly previously printed in various places - but the addition of the new stuff from “Strange New Worlds” made it a. must have and having it all in one place rather than scattered in magazine articles makes it most convenient.

I wish I’d remembered having it before i dug through all those magazines trying to find all these articles!!

While I have enjoyed this book very much it has unfortunately left some gaps in technological explanations that I have not appreciated.

For example, phasers have long been known to have 16 settings, so you would think that the Phaser Pistols section would at least give a hint as to what they are, but unfortunately they don’t. There are several sections that lack the details I would like.

But it is still a beautifully illustrated book and the technical details they do have seem to have been verified and are as accurate as I can tell (and I would!).

I’m now going into the “Star Trek” movie era which veers farther and farther away from the my interests.

I’m very much enjoying most of the book, but I have to point out a HUGELY DISAPPOINTING omission! The space suits from the Tholian Web episode. Silver with inexplicable red and blue metal parts winding around it.

They managed to include the ‘shower curtain’ red environmental suits and even a two page spread for 3-D chess! So leaving the original space suits out seems especially bad. And I know that there is an original article highlighting this suit! I’ll have to try to dig it up!

I’m starting to skip some sections at this point. Once we get to the ridiculous ‘pajama’ uniforms of Star Trek the motion picture, nothing much interests me from the point forward. I’ll look at a few sections of interest, but not much more.

Well, there were definitely sections I skipped (the Santa Clause uniforms) and I feel there were still plenty of things they could have covered that they didn’t, but as a collection of articles all in one place it did the job well and I’m glad to own it.

I’ll give it 4 stars as the best of its kind that has been offered covering the original series, and definitely keep it for reference.

[Scott Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is full of geeky goodness. I quite enjoy the illustrations. Sometimes the level of detail is a bit silly when the authors try to come up with in-universe explanations for changes between productions.

[Steven W · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love good ship porn.

[Robert Deane · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun and interesting technical and historical guide to the Enterprise 1701 and 1701-A. A few factual errors are here and there, but overall for Trekkies a fun read.

[Billy Hogan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is almost a heavily illustrated technical manual of the original crew Enterprise through the ship's various upgrades. It's a fun read and a must for every Star Trek fan.

[Dan Hyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice illustrations. There's a companion book that deals with the ship and technologies from The Next Generation. Handles all the advances shown during the movies as well.