With this anniversary year almost at its final frontier, I've gotten the book I most wanted. Star Trek: The Original Voyages is 250 pages of original series joy, plus another 165 pages on the spin-off films. Kyle Newman and Jeff Bond's book is simply a magnificent thing to behold. 100 Objects gave Trekkies a tantalizing pu pu platter of costumes, props, tie-in merch, toys, posters, and cast photos. The Original Voyages dumps an Enterprise-load on us. What's more is Newman and Bond's text, which delves into the series' genesis (device), creation, and aftermath in ways those other two books had no intention of attempting. For everything you've ever wanted to know about Star Trek IV, John and Maria Jose Tenuto's The Making of the Film obviously can't be beaten, but there's still enough in The Original Voyages to give you a nice full feeling, even though its failure to even mention star Catherine Hicks is a major clanger.
Examinations of key episodes, the cartoon spin off, and the show's uniquely humanistic outlook drive the engine. The writing is slightly stiff, but that's the tendency of books like this. Overall, it's a great read, and if the text isn't necessarily as much fun as watching Spock and Bones spar, the copious visuals more than make up for that.
William Shatner provides a thoughtful foreword in which he wrestles with his show's legacy. The authors also include quotes from a crew of famous fans, such as Simon Pegg, Paul Giamatti, Matthew Weiner, Jeffrey Combs, and Ben Stiller, producer and director of the greatest science-fiction show...hell, the greatest show, period...currently on the air. All this makes for the most satisfying book about the best sci-fi ensemble series of the sixties that I've ever read.
