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Star Trek: A Celebration
Celebrate Star Trek: The Original Series with this epic, fully authorized coffee-table book! New interviews, archival conversations, never-before-seen art and sketches, and more!
Gene Roddenberry’s “Wagon Train to the Stars” continues to live long and prosper, with Discovery, Lower Decks, and Picard currently on the air, and Strange New Worlds on the way. But it all began 55 years ago with Star Trek: The Original Series. The second installment in Hero Collector’s Celebration line (following Star Trek: Voyager – A Celebration), Star Trek: The Original Series – A Celebration includes more than a dozen new interviews with cast and creatives, scores of never-before-seen photographs and sketches, as well as chapters taking fresh looks at the show’s creation, directing, visual effects, props, and most-pivotal episodes.
Gene Roddenberry’s “Wagon Train to the Stars” continues to live long and prosper, with Discovery, Lower Decks, and Picard currently on the air, and Strange New Worlds on the way. But it all began 55 years ago with Star Trek: The Original Series. The second installment in Hero Collector’s Celebration line (following Star Trek: Voyager – A Celebration), Star Trek: The Original Series – A Celebration includes more than a dozen new interviews with cast and creatives, scores of never-before-seen photographs and sketches, as well as chapters taking fresh looks at the show’s creation, directing, visual effects, props, and most-pivotal episodes.
- GenresStar TrekNonfiction
256 pages, Hardcover
First published September 21, 2021
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36 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
March 6, 2022
A fun little coffee table book. Fairly well written, if a little derivative, but it acknowledges its sources and does what it sets out to do: celebrate 'Star Trek'.
January 12, 2026
2026 marks the 60th anniversary of Star Trek original series. This book details the making of the show. I admit I primarily browsed the great photos and skimmed the blurbs. I enjoyed seeing the evolution of edits for the writers creating that iconic opening narration, "Space...the final frontier..."
Happy anniversary, Star Trek! I hope you are around for another 60 years!!
Happy anniversary, Star Trek! I hope you are around for another 60 years!!
September 13, 2023
An Excellent Overview of the Classic Original Series
I really enjoyed this book because, in my opinion, Star Trek: The Original Series has never truly been surpassed. Oh, sure, it's been imitated ad nauseum, and perhaps, in some respects even equaled, but NOT in all respects, that's for darned sure.
Why? Well, for starters, TOS may have had its fair share of production problems, lack of budget, and lack of post George Lucas era CGI technology, but it more than made up for it by the legacy of its TRUE and lasting QUALITY, in terms of morality and pure, true creativity and sheer ingenuity. In other words, the original producers and stars never had to go so low as to resort to the use of profanity, like those glitzy, over-priced, over-the-top politically INCORRECT counterfeit "Treks," such as Discovery and Picard, that have in recent years mostly just thumbed their noses at traditional Star Trek fans.
I mean, Patrick Stewart and Jonathan Frakes (in particular); if you have that much contempt for the original fan base, why not go over to some other beloved franchise and do your insulting, demeaning little thing elsewhere? Because let's face it, without having been fortunate enough to have been hired by Gene Roddenberry in the waning years of his life, you might not be Hollywood hopeful nobodies today, but I'll just bet you'd be a lot less rich, famous, and have had a whole lot fewer career opportunities and blessings than you have indeed enjoyed since your fancy little Next Generation run.
And ALL thanks to THE FANS, and THE ORIGINAL SERIES. But what have you done in recent years? You've jumped the shark by embarrassing leaps and bounds at WARP SPEED! You've shamelessly thrown yourselves headlong into EXTREME leftist political ideology and "edgy" (but clearly LOW CLASS and downright JUVENILE) potty-mouthed tomfoolery. And in the hubristic process, drug everyone else who loves the franchise down with you! Now... is that really "progressive?" Or is it actually pathetically regressive? Hmm.
Have you no shame? No sense of truly classic CLASS or sophistication? Or has it just been too tempting, with all that FILTHY MONEY, thrown at you by CBS (in a vain, greedy attempt to reinvigorate their long since slaughtered cash cow) to essentially give the middle finger to literally MILLIONS and MILLIONS of lifelong loyal Star Trek fans of ALL AGES from all over the globe?
But then... this is a review of a book about the classic original Star Trek TV series, isn't it? Sure! And that's exactly why I immensely enjoyed this little walk down memory lane, to a much more sane, much more moral and conscientious time in Star Trek (and Western Civilizational) history. Because, thank God, this book isn't laced with crass, irresponsible profanity, or the painfully obvious shoving down everyone's throats of current controversial issues. Such as seditious and harmful illegal immigration and shameless (dare I say, totally OBLIVIOUS) MISANDRY.
Yes, misandry! Look that one up if you don't already know it, smarty pants hipsters. It means the hatred of MEN. But why? To what end, exactly? To REVERSE DISCRIMINATE, to somehow attempt to make up for ages and ages of shady Hollywood misogyny? CBS, you ought to be ashamed. Very, very ashamed. After all, the casting couch in reverse is STILL the casting couch. I mean... DUH! And I think when all this lowbrow idiocy finally blows over (and it will, sooner or later), and you actually really do wake up, I honestly think that you really will be ashamed of yourselves. Very ashamed.
Because the classic original series may certainly have (in part) been allegorical in its attempt to address controversial political issues of the late 1960s, but it was also just an entertaining vehicle for imaginative (science fiction driven), action packed storytelling that was in fact meant to be consumed by as wide an audience as possible. Yes, Star Trek WAS, above all, a high concept show that the whole family could watch. It was a groundbreaking intellectual property that once had truly mass appeal, and wasn't blindly and recklessly malfeasant enough to lead its youngest, most impressionable viewers to think it might actually be okay to irresponsibly spout lines such as, "The sheer [expletive] hubris!"
Yeah, I'd say that a number of misguided folks these days really are full of unbridled arrogance and sheer, unmitigated gall, but the people who worked on Star Trek back in the late 1960s, who were actually RESPONSIBLE ADULTS, who lovingly worked TOGETHER, as a TEAM (not just the grandstanding "great bird of the galaxy," who selfishly took all the credit for content that ultra-talented people like Gene Coon and Nicholas Meyer did AFTER the first Gene, yes, indeed laid the groundwork), to craft something so special that its still more or less popular, all these years later.
So how about all those other unsung folks who were invaluable in making Star Trek into such a multigenerational phenomenon? I'm talking about people like D.C. Fontana, John Meredyth Lucas, Bill Thiess, John D.F. Black, William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, and much later, James Cawley, etc., etc., ETC. Because, maybe, just maybe, they also clearly went above and beyond to make the classic original series shine for more than half a century now.
In fact, I KNOW it wasn't just the first Gene; the almighty "creator," who, surely... ought to be revered as a godlike being, for pitching the idea of a mere TV show. A TV show that was originally billed as "Wagon Train to the Stars." Hmm. Okay, but do we also, perhaps, owe any thanks to that now mostly forgotten Wagon Train TV series? How about Gunsmoke? How about that old movie, Captain Horatio Hornblower (1951), starring Gregory Peck, that Star Trek is mostly based upon? Or, you know, pretty much any of the other stuff that came out well before Star Trek supposedly, suddenly burst from the mind of Roddenberry the Great!
But at the risk of truly alienating any or even all true believers, and perhaps (blasphemously!?) leaving that particular "great bird" fella aside for just a moment, I honestly really do think that all those other little people who worked on the original Star Trek series, well... they actually did what they did with true class. They did Star Trek with style. And good old-fashioned decency; which is something that this book clearly illustrates. Whether that was the real intention of its publication, or not.
I really enjoyed this book because, in my opinion, Star Trek: The Original Series has never truly been surpassed. Oh, sure, it's been imitated ad nauseum, and perhaps, in some respects even equaled, but NOT in all respects, that's for darned sure.
Why? Well, for starters, TOS may have had its fair share of production problems, lack of budget, and lack of post George Lucas era CGI technology, but it more than made up for it by the legacy of its TRUE and lasting QUALITY, in terms of morality and pure, true creativity and sheer ingenuity. In other words, the original producers and stars never had to go so low as to resort to the use of profanity, like those glitzy, over-priced, over-the-top politically INCORRECT counterfeit "Treks," such as Discovery and Picard, that have in recent years mostly just thumbed their noses at traditional Star Trek fans.
I mean, Patrick Stewart and Jonathan Frakes (in particular); if you have that much contempt for the original fan base, why not go over to some other beloved franchise and do your insulting, demeaning little thing elsewhere? Because let's face it, without having been fortunate enough to have been hired by Gene Roddenberry in the waning years of his life, you might not be Hollywood hopeful nobodies today, but I'll just bet you'd be a lot less rich, famous, and have had a whole lot fewer career opportunities and blessings than you have indeed enjoyed since your fancy little Next Generation run.
And ALL thanks to THE FANS, and THE ORIGINAL SERIES. But what have you done in recent years? You've jumped the shark by embarrassing leaps and bounds at WARP SPEED! You've shamelessly thrown yourselves headlong into EXTREME leftist political ideology and "edgy" (but clearly LOW CLASS and downright JUVENILE) potty-mouthed tomfoolery. And in the hubristic process, drug everyone else who loves the franchise down with you! Now... is that really "progressive?" Or is it actually pathetically regressive? Hmm.
Have you no shame? No sense of truly classic CLASS or sophistication? Or has it just been too tempting, with all that FILTHY MONEY, thrown at you by CBS (in a vain, greedy attempt to reinvigorate their long since slaughtered cash cow) to essentially give the middle finger to literally MILLIONS and MILLIONS of lifelong loyal Star Trek fans of ALL AGES from all over the globe?
But then... this is a review of a book about the classic original Star Trek TV series, isn't it? Sure! And that's exactly why I immensely enjoyed this little walk down memory lane, to a much more sane, much more moral and conscientious time in Star Trek (and Western Civilizational) history. Because, thank God, this book isn't laced with crass, irresponsible profanity, or the painfully obvious shoving down everyone's throats of current controversial issues. Such as seditious and harmful illegal immigration and shameless (dare I say, totally OBLIVIOUS) MISANDRY.
Yes, misandry! Look that one up if you don't already know it, smarty pants hipsters. It means the hatred of MEN. But why? To what end, exactly? To REVERSE DISCRIMINATE, to somehow attempt to make up for ages and ages of shady Hollywood misogyny? CBS, you ought to be ashamed. Very, very ashamed. After all, the casting couch in reverse is STILL the casting couch. I mean... DUH! And I think when all this lowbrow idiocy finally blows over (and it will, sooner or later), and you actually really do wake up, I honestly think that you really will be ashamed of yourselves. Very ashamed.
Because the classic original series may certainly have (in part) been allegorical in its attempt to address controversial political issues of the late 1960s, but it was also just an entertaining vehicle for imaginative (science fiction driven), action packed storytelling that was in fact meant to be consumed by as wide an audience as possible. Yes, Star Trek WAS, above all, a high concept show that the whole family could watch. It was a groundbreaking intellectual property that once had truly mass appeal, and wasn't blindly and recklessly malfeasant enough to lead its youngest, most impressionable viewers to think it might actually be okay to irresponsibly spout lines such as, "The sheer [expletive] hubris!"
Yeah, I'd say that a number of misguided folks these days really are full of unbridled arrogance and sheer, unmitigated gall, but the people who worked on Star Trek back in the late 1960s, who were actually RESPONSIBLE ADULTS, who lovingly worked TOGETHER, as a TEAM (not just the grandstanding "great bird of the galaxy," who selfishly took all the credit for content that ultra-talented people like Gene Coon and Nicholas Meyer did AFTER the first Gene, yes, indeed laid the groundwork), to craft something so special that its still more or less popular, all these years later.
So how about all those other unsung folks who were invaluable in making Star Trek into such a multigenerational phenomenon? I'm talking about people like D.C. Fontana, John Meredyth Lucas, Bill Thiess, John D.F. Black, William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, and much later, James Cawley, etc., etc., ETC. Because, maybe, just maybe, they also clearly went above and beyond to make the classic original series shine for more than half a century now.
In fact, I KNOW it wasn't just the first Gene; the almighty "creator," who, surely... ought to be revered as a godlike being, for pitching the idea of a mere TV show. A TV show that was originally billed as "Wagon Train to the Stars." Hmm. Okay, but do we also, perhaps, owe any thanks to that now mostly forgotten Wagon Train TV series? How about Gunsmoke? How about that old movie, Captain Horatio Hornblower (1951), starring Gregory Peck, that Star Trek is mostly based upon? Or, you know, pretty much any of the other stuff that came out well before Star Trek supposedly, suddenly burst from the mind of Roddenberry the Great!
But at the risk of truly alienating any or even all true believers, and perhaps (blasphemously!?) leaving that particular "great bird" fella aside for just a moment, I honestly really do think that all those other little people who worked on the original Star Trek series, well... they actually did what they did with true class. They did Star Trek with style. And good old-fashioned decency; which is something that this book clearly illustrates. Whether that was the real intention of its publication, or not.
December 22, 2021
This book is a retrospective, looking at all things STAR TREK beginning with Gene Roddenberry’s original format designed to present anthology storytelling with a regular cast that would be familiar to viewers and on to the show itself with its amazing episodes that would remain with viewers years after the show’s original three-year run. In truth, STAR TREK became much more than a television series by evolving into a cultural phenomenon and becoming a touchstone for “where no man has gone before.”
Here, in this celebration for the original STAR TREK series, readers will find profiles of the main characters, all based on interviews and/or memos from actors, producers, and writers. A study of each of the main departments . . . Art, Costuming, Makeup, Visual Effects, Music . . . provides the reader with insight into the making of an episode. Interspersed throughout are character/actor profiles, key episodes that provide insight into the show’s popularity, and pictures . . . lots and lots of pictures.
For readers who are unabashedly STAR TREK fans, this is a journey of the heart through the making of one of the most influential series of a generation. [Who else but STAR TREK fans could convince NASA to rename the Space Shuttle Constitution, having it become the Space Shuttle Enterprise?]
Here, then, is the opportunity for readers to immerse themselves in all things STAR TREK. You’ll never regret taking the voyage.
Highly recommended.
Here, in this celebration for the original STAR TREK series, readers will find profiles of the main characters, all based on interviews and/or memos from actors, producers, and writers. A study of each of the main departments . . . Art, Costuming, Makeup, Visual Effects, Music . . . provides the reader with insight into the making of an episode. Interspersed throughout are character/actor profiles, key episodes that provide insight into the show’s popularity, and pictures . . . lots and lots of pictures.
For readers who are unabashedly STAR TREK fans, this is a journey of the heart through the making of one of the most influential series of a generation. [Who else but STAR TREK fans could convince NASA to rename the Space Shuttle Constitution, having it become the Space Shuttle Enterprise?]
Here, then, is the opportunity for readers to immerse themselves in all things STAR TREK. You’ll never regret taking the voyage.
Highly recommended.
June 6, 2021
This book if a complete summary of what made Star Trek, the original series, what it was, and why it appealed to fans, and what happened after it was canceled. It has the story of Nicole Nicoles talking to Martin Luther King Jr, about quitting the sow, and it has the story of why George Takai wanted to have a foil instead of a samurai sword in The Naked Time.
There are a lot of known stories here. There are a few that I didn't remember reading, but there was nothing earth shattering.
It is a good reference book, or a good look back, but there is nothing exclusive here. It is good to have it all wrapped up. And, unlike earlier books on Star Trek, it is very up to date on what has happened to the players since then.
Thanks to Edelweiss for making this book available for an honest review.
There are a lot of known stories here. There are a few that I didn't remember reading, but there was nothing earth shattering.
It is a good reference book, or a good look back, but there is nothing exclusive here. It is good to have it all wrapped up. And, unlike earlier books on Star Trek, it is very up to date on what has happened to the players since then.
Thanks to Edelweiss for making this book available for an honest review.
July 22, 2024
A celebration, it certainly was. This is a great book for any fan who has never bothered to read the background on the original series or who might be interested in learning more about some of the actors - particularly the one appearance actors.
Lots of colour images, well-captioned, background art and schematics and so much more
Very enjoyable read
Lots of colour images, well-captioned, background art and schematics and so much more
Very enjoyable read
May 14, 2022
Beautiful book
The quality of this book is gorgeous. It contains contains some facts I didn't know before. It covers all the aspects of the production with wonderful sketches and photos. Again, the quality of these photos are superb. Highest recommendation.
The quality of this book is gorgeous. It contains contains some facts I didn't know before. It covers all the aspects of the production with wonderful sketches and photos. Again, the quality of these photos are superb. Highest recommendation.
June 5, 2023
You know, I've read so many Star Trek books and magazines. This seems like a good one to have if you're going to only keep a few. I would like to get the ones for Deep Space Nine and Next Gen. I'll be reading the Voyager one next. Good job on this!
June 24, 2023
Fun
A fun book for the new fan. For an OT, original trekkie like myself, I've known all of this for years, so just ok. It was nice to see the Star Trek Tour in Ticonderoga, NY get a mention. I've been there, sat in the captains seat! It's an awesome thing too see.
A fun book for the new fan. For an OT, original trekkie like myself, I've known all of this for years, so just ok. It was nice to see the Star Trek Tour in Ticonderoga, NY get a mention. I've been there, sat in the captains seat! It's an awesome thing too see.
March 28, 2022
Always new things to learn about this amazing series. Loved it!
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews