Customer Reviews

The Making of Yesterday's Enterprise

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

enjoyable read. but VERY quick since the book is somewhat small - especially for the high cost.

and, despite clear and entertaining anecdotes from the author's personal experience, there are numerous articles and reports published about the production of this episode out there already. and not much of that material is in any way included or covered in this volume.

so that hardly makes this a comprehensive report unfortunately.

First of all, did anyone proof read this? The constant typos took me out of the narrative once too often. And there's not much narrative. Stacks of blank pages a few publicity stills and chapters that barely last a single page. Stillwell makes reference to Stephen E Whitfield's The Making of Star Trek as an inspiration. That book is the benchmark and this falls woefully short of that, although as an unlicensed product limited access to Paramount's archives probably doesn't help. I did like the glimpse in to the management style of Mr. Berman though, more of that would have spiced things up a little. Overall I'm still a big fan of the episode, but this book leaves a lot to be desired.

I really wanted to like this book as I'm very interested in the subject matter, but was very disappointed and felt generally ripped-off by it.

First, the quality of materials used to produce the book is shabby -- it looks and feels like a cheap $4.95 romance novel.

It's full of distracting and inexcusable misspellings and typo's such as "except" instead of "accept", "loose" instead of "lose" (more than once), "could of" instead of "could have", "it's" instead of "its", etc., and the writing style is novice at best.

At only 180 pages it was a light-weight to begin with, but when you consider the included (quadruple-spaced) script takes up 80 pages and the pictures another 10 or so, there's less than 90 pages of actual content. It took me about an hour to read the entire book, and at times I felt like I was reading a term paper written by a high-school student who had used every trick in the book to turn 10 pages of work into a 20 page paper.

Lastly, it should have been called "The Making of the SCRIPT of Yesterday's Enterprise", because there's absolutely nothing about behind the scenes, the actors or filming whatsoever.

This "book" would have been more appropriately published as a short article in a sci-fi magazine.

It was absolutely impossible for me to put down Eric A. Stillwell's "The Making of Yesterday's Enterprise" until I reached the final page! As a long-time aficionado of "Star Trek" (in all of its forms) and having read most of the articles and books penned by those who worked behind the scenes, I thought I had heard just about everything there was to hear about the show. But how wrong I was in that regard.

Stillwell's insider view working for Paramount Pictures and on "Star Trek: The Next Generation" is insightful, interesting, and in some cases quite eye-opening. As a fellow writer, I am fascinated as he 'pulls back the curtain' and gives us a detailed look at just how a story idea became one of the - if not THE - best episode in the "Star Trek" canon. His reminiscences and insight provide the quintessential insider's view of the landmark science fiction television series and his love for "Star Trek" shines through; but not at the expense of honesty. This book is a must-have addition to any "Star Trek" fan's library - other review sniping aside, it CAN and does proudly sit side-by-side with classics such as Stephen E. Whitfield's "The Making of Star Trek" and "Inside Star Trek" by Herbert F. Solow and Robert H. Justman. I think it should go without saying that a book solely focused on the making of a single episode will be at the same length as a book about an entire series. Stillwell also includes several photos from his personal files, including a never-before-seen picture of Gene Roddenberry.

The best way I can think to celebrate twenty years of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" is to purchase your own copy of "The Making of Yesterday's Enterprise" - the best "Star Trek" book of the year.

I really enjoyed the book. An interesting behind the scenes look at how Next Gen was done and how the script came to the screen. One of my two fav episodes. Nice job, Eric! I'll be waiting on the next book.

I love this book.

The episode is, of course, legendary in Star Trek canon and like other fans, I look for those little tidbits of information that are backed up by someone in the know. Mr. Stillwell was there, part of the experience and he shares that experience with us in this book.

He co-wrote one of the best episodes ever, and has written an interesting book about his experience. He obviously has the chops for writing and I'm also looking forward to his next project whatever that may be.

The Making of Yesterday's Enterprise is a memorable book, written by Eric Stillwell, who co-wrote this classic episode and served as script coordinator for The Next Generation series. As such, given the author's close association with the series and this specific episode, he is able to provide a marvelous look behind-the-scenes of the production. Stillwell has an entertaining style, and this book is well worth the read for fans of both Star Trek and science fiction in general who are interested in what goes on in the development of a story. Recommended!

Yesterday's Enterprise is one of the few "stand out" next generation episodes that I fondly remember. Time travel has a particular fascination for me. It was very enjoyable to be given a peak behind the making of this particular episode as well as some of the inner workings of Paramount.

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