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Real world article
(written from a Production point of view)

The Ships of Star Trek is a reference book published in May 1988. It is an edited collection of articles written – by among others the editor himself – for various fanzines as well as publications like Starlog on the subjects of the starship USS Enterprise, the Galileo shuttlecraft, and the Romulan Bird-of-Prey. The book is illustrated throughout with black and white photographs.

Contents[]

  • Section 1: The Starship Enterprise
    • Introduction
    • Roddenberry's Vision
    • Screens and Shields
    • Planets Visited
    • Space Battles
    • Technology Update
    • The Enterprise That Almost Was
  • Section 2: The Galileo Seven Shuttle Craft
    • Introduction
    • Life on Star Trek
    • Life after Star Trek
  • Section 3: The Romulan Bird-of-Prey

Background information[]

  • Due to its conception as a article collection, the book has become somewhat of an odd amalgam of both real-world development and appearances of the featured ships, the latter written from an in-universe perspective.
  • However, written well before the Internet-age, this book has become outdated as a production reference work, as it contained many inaccuracies, propagating for example, misconceptions that have arisen in "Star Trek-lore". Few to no sources are referenced in the book, and a fair amount of "original research" is contained within the texts, leading up to speculative conclusions which have proven to be incorrect in later times. It served however, as a reminder on how little behind-the-scenes information was available to the general public at the time, especially in regard to the effects production. Caution should therefore be observed when consulting this work as a reference work, and researchers are advised to cross-verify findings with other reference works.
  • Nevertheless, particularly noteworthy is the interview with Gene Winfield of AMT/Ertl's Speed & Custom Shop, who with his team not only manufactured the full scale mock-up and studio model of the Galileo shuttle, but also produced the two original D7-class studio models. Other noteworthy items are the rare pictures of the Bird-of-Prey studio model, one of which was not published before or after.
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