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Nitpicker's Fun & Games for Classic Trekkers
Six feature films, the wildly successful television spin-off Star Trek: The Next Generation, endless reruns, videotapes, conventions, a line of best-selling novels, and William Shatner's New York Times best-seller Star Trek Memories have kept the Star Trek spirit alive and well, even 25 years after its cancellation. Now this must-have book for all Trekkers -- which covers every episode of the original series, the pilot, and all six movies -- reveals all the bloopers, continuity errors, plot oversights, equipment malfunctions, and goof-ups that discerning, die-hard fans love to spot, but may have missed. Written especially for all those who find themselves thinking, "Hey, if the transporter is broken, why don't they just use a shuttlecraft?", this nitpicky volume includes Kirk's toupee watch; an examination of the logic of the miniskirted female crew members; number of times Kirk violated the Prime Detective and lots of trivia questions, fun facts, quizzes, and more. Live long and nitpick.
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First published January 1, 1994
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
December 12, 2017
Despite being a TREK fan, I found this book to be a double waste of time.
First of all, there are enough glaring plot holes and discrepancies in almost any classic TREK episode to make nitpicking seem superfluous. And "nitpicking" is definitely the right word for it, since the book mainly obsesses over minor continuity errors that you'd never notice unless on the lookout for them. Personally, I don't understand the enjoyment in picking apart a 50-year-old TV show, so this book obviously wasn't written for me.
Furthermore, the internet has rendered this book completely obsolete now that more in-depth and better-written analyses of individual STAR TREK episodes are available online. (My personal favorite is author Keith R.A. DeCandido's "Star Trek Rewatch" blog, though I often find him to be highly over-critical.) As a STAR TREK resource, THE NITPICKER'S GUIDE FOR CLASSIC TREKKERS is strangely fixated on some of the least interesting information imaginable, such as what footage got shaved off for syndication and which stills served as the background for each episode's end credits. It's hard to imagine even hardcore Trekkies caring about such minutiae. I much prefer DeCandido's rewatch format, which introduces the guest stars for each episode; lets you know what aspects of that particular story line later came up again in subsequent STAR TREK episodes, novels, and/or comic books; highlights each main crew member's best moment; and gives a personal review/rating. Author Phil Farrand, on the other hand, provides such nuggets as the following (to use a random example): "In the background you can see two red alert light panels. Only one is flashing. Evidently the bulb is burned out in the other one."
As Spock would say, "fascinating."
First of all, there are enough glaring plot holes and discrepancies in almost any classic TREK episode to make nitpicking seem superfluous. And "nitpicking" is definitely the right word for it, since the book mainly obsesses over minor continuity errors that you'd never notice unless on the lookout for them. Personally, I don't understand the enjoyment in picking apart a 50-year-old TV show, so this book obviously wasn't written for me.
Furthermore, the internet has rendered this book completely obsolete now that more in-depth and better-written analyses of individual STAR TREK episodes are available online. (My personal favorite is author Keith R.A. DeCandido's "Star Trek Rewatch" blog, though I often find him to be highly over-critical.) As a STAR TREK resource, THE NITPICKER'S GUIDE FOR CLASSIC TREKKERS is strangely fixated on some of the least interesting information imaginable, such as what footage got shaved off for syndication and which stills served as the background for each episode's end credits. It's hard to imagine even hardcore Trekkies caring about such minutiae. I much prefer DeCandido's rewatch format, which introduces the guest stars for each episode; lets you know what aspects of that particular story line later came up again in subsequent STAR TREK episodes, novels, and/or comic books; highlights each main crew member's best moment; and gives a personal review/rating. Author Phil Farrand, on the other hand, provides such nuggets as the following (to use a random example): "In the background you can see two red alert light panels. Only one is flashing. Evidently the bulb is burned out in the other one."
As Spock would say, "fascinating."
October 25, 2025
I absolutely loved this book! Any fan of cult TV or movies can tell you that the fun of the show is in the details. Now, I can't stand "Continuity Errors" (who cares if Kirk's shirt collar changes from one scene to another?) but I love plot holes, of which this guide to the original series and first six movies comes with plenty. Sample Goods: How could Spock succeed to the captaincy of the Enterprise by assassination in "Amok Time?" and If there is an evil Enterprise and crew, as shown in "Mirror, Mirror", wouldn't this eliminate all free will on the show, since the two worlds would have to coincide with one another until death? The same thing is true on "Bread and Circuses": How could Christ have appeared on two planets? The movies have their Gran Canyon holes too. On STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN, why is it that only Khan has aged while the rest of his crew look life blond blow-dried youths? See what I mean?
August 9, 2020
Workmanlike job covering each episode and each movie of the classic Star Trek series, covering a synopsis of each episode, ruminations, great lines, great moments, plot oversights, changed premises, equipment oddities, continuity and production problems, and some trivia. Some of the details I found to be pointless, such as the list of "closing stills" noted for each episode, and to a lesser extent, the details of "syndication cuts". As are inevitable in such efforts, and with Trekkers, there are bound to be some disagreements with the author on the inclusion and exclusion of some issues of logic. I tried to follow the viewing of each episode with the author's take on it, but after a while a certain weariness of the details sets in, where I started to think "so what?" about all the mistakes and miscues, and just enjoyed the stories despite them, or even because of them.
January 25, 2022
The amount of detail in this work is just amazing! I certainly could not pick up all of these little nits. The book is also very well organised and gives a good overview of the episodes/ movies and their nits in an incredibly fun way. Due to the fact that the book contains a brief summary of the TV show episodes and movies, this would be a good book for anyone who has a Star Trek fan in their lives and wonders what the heck they are talking about, but doesn't want to spend hours in front of a screen. Here you have good summaries of the plots plus a lot of interesting trivia! Overall, a very good book for any Star Trek fan and anybody interested in Classic Star Trek in general!
January 2, 2018
In precisely the same vein as his Next Generation Trekker's Guide (which I reviewed here https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...) only Farrand has finally managed to dial back the sexism! Perhaps he realised there was enough going on in the Original Series without adding to it.
March 7, 2018
A wonderful blow by blow reference for everything that happened on the TV series that started it all.
March 23, 2019
The nitpicking may be a little too much but the rundown of all the episodes makes it worth it, plus the nitpicking can be sort of a game, like where's Waldo for trekkies. This was a good read.
July 9, 2019
An interesting summery of classic Star Trek. Some of the author's nits come from a lack of imagination & attention.
January 8, 2021
I love to turn to this book every time I watch an episode of the only ST series that matters.
January 16, 2021
A fun boo for Star Trek fans
August 16, 2024
Love these books!
July 30, 2016
Sometimes modern technology renders something obsolete. This book, to a large extent, is an example. Basically what you have here is the summary and goofs sections of imdb.com for every episode of Star Trek TOS. Phil Farrand details inconsistencies, failures and quirks that took place during the three season run of the original series. Using his handy VCR (RIP - the last factory that still produced them shut down last week), he went through every episode and catalogued all this and published it in book form. I actually admire the amount of work that must have gone into it back in the day. It's actually the kind of project I could see myself undertaking. One section of each episode chapter involves listing the cuts made to each episode for syndication - interesting in and of itself. But Farrand describes how he set up two VCR's and TV's next to each other, synced them up, and looked for the changes. Again, that kind of nerdy obsession appeals to my sensibility. While I admire Mr. Farrand's work, and in the 1990's when this was first published would have amazed at this compendium, it has been replaced by computers. Just like Captain Kirk in episode 53.
June 24, 2011
I've had a copy of The Nitpicker's Guide for Next Generation Trekkers for years, so when I saw this volume at the used book store for $2.00 I just had to pick it up. Reading this book is a good way to relive the original series, and find out about little mistakes the creators made and you never noticed before (or maybe you had).
One thing I didn't much about this edition is the section about "Syndication Cuts" for most episodes. Most of these entries are just a list of three-second clips that were cut out when the episodes were shortened for syndication, and I skipped reading most of them. Even with resources such as Memory Alpha that have been created with the rise of the web, there's still value in a comprehensive book like this, written by one man with an interesting sense of humor.
One thing I didn't much about this edition is the section about "Syndication Cuts" for most episodes. Most of these entries are just a list of three-second clips that were cut out when the episodes were shortened for syndication, and I skipped reading most of them. Even with resources such as Memory Alpha that have been created with the rise of the web, there's still value in a comprehensive book like this, written by one man with an interesting sense of humor.
September 22, 2011
It's easily the best of the Nitpicker's Guides...and the wittiest...and the most hilarious. Check out the image listings regarding the end credits after each episode...after a while, you'll be laughing your head off. Never has a fake alien head received so much praise.
October 27, 2012
A fun ride through the TOS episodes. Written before the remastered episodes which affects a few of the nits (for example many of the sound gaffs have been fixed) but overall a worthwhile read for die-hards.
July 13, 2013
I read "The Nitpicker's Guide to the X-Files" many years ago. When I saw this guide on Amazon, I knew it would be a light, entertaining read. It was also fun to revisit classic trek episodes.
If you consider yourself a "light" Trekker, and want a quick, fun read, consider this book.
If you consider yourself a "light" Trekker, and want a quick, fun read, consider this book.
November 10, 2014
Like all of the "Nitpickers Guides", this one is filled with lots of points where the producers messed up, pointed out with affectionate humor. You have to be a fan of classic Trek to enjoy this, though.
December 7, 2007
I love this book! It's especially fun when you watch the episodes while looking for the mistakes and flaws described in the book. Nothing to complain, it's truly great!
August 17, 2010
Great companion to The Original Series. If you have the original episodes on DVD then you can examine the various edits, trivia, continuity issues, etc. It does a great job of summarizing themes.
September 15, 2012
Got my hands on the audio version, so it's getting another go-round.
June 20, 2012
Fun read.
May 1, 2015
nice book about the tv series!
March 20, 2019
This was a fun read, not intended for muggles, this is for the hardcore StarTrek fan, Amazing what they found and it is fun to watch the old movies again to see what they see, This was a Good Read
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews