Despite not being first to the oral history trough, and being a wafer-thin 95 pages, The Illustrated Oral History is pretty good on a textual level too. It power-walks through casting, set design, Alexander Courage's iconic music, key episodes, key guest stars, the animated series, the feature films featuring the original cast, and Walter Koenig's kissing abilities (pretty damn good, according to Celeste Yarnall and Mary Linda Rapelye!). All of the major cast members get to contribute memories and opinions, as does Courage, series-creator Gene Roddenberry, writer and head story editor D.C. Fontana, and lots of other people who've past through the Enterprise's shushing doors. DeForest Kelley tells a funny story about receiving a spliff in a fan letter and Yvonne Craig discusses how annoying it is to be painted green. Lest you think it's all celebratory fun, Majel Barrett and George Takei explain their disappointment in how thinly drawn their characters were.
And thinness is the one problem with Star Trek-The Illustrated Oral History. I enjoyed this book so much that I really wanted it to be more than 95 pages. Surely a magazine devoted to one show, which managed to interview so many people associated with that show, houses enough quotes to fill a larger book than this. But wanting more of a good thing is probably the most complimentary complaint one can issue, so good-on-you, Star Trek-The Illustrated Oral History: The Original Cast. Just be fatter next time.
