Customer Reviews

The Star Trek Encyclopedia : A Reference Guide to the Future

5 star:		(86)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I can't imagine being a die-had Trekker without this book: the ultimate reference to people, places, things, events in the entire Star Trek universe from the original series of 1966 through all the movies and series right up to Voyager. This updated edition is not quite as smoothly integrated as previous updates--the last couple season's worth of shows and Star Trek: Insurrection are all treated in a separate (but extensive) section at the back, but a decent cross-referencing system lessens the inconvenience. I find it the ultimate can't put-down book-start to look up a subject of interest and you'll find yourself drawn from entry to entry until you've forgotten exactly what it was you were looking for but find yourself seized with the intense desire to rewatch several episodes. Unless you're the most serious Trek fan, you probably don't need the updated edition if you have an earlier one...but for those who do, it's a wonderful guide.

I think I know a lot about Star Trek, but oh my lord! This is THE referance book for fans. It literally has EVERYTHING. Covers planets, ships, characters, baseball cards, klingon flys, YOU NAME IT! It is astounding how much work and effort must have gone into this book.

The book itself is beautiful. It is illustrated with color pictures from the show and technical illustrations done by the authors. The pages are glossy and laid out beautifully. It also serves as an episode guide, covering up through the release of "Star Trek: Insurrection".

What a wonderful labor of love this book is. It is very entertaining and informative, and a must have for any fan of the series.

Aliens? Ships? Even plants, hobbies, some of the best 'trek trivia' to be found! This book answered nearly every question I posed it. Even 'Gloria' is listed! Buy the book to find out who Gloria is.) My only complaint is that some of the subject matter could have been cross-indexed (for example it would have been nice to have the 'Trek Aliens' listed somewhere seperately as a reference).

A good companion book is 'Star Trek Chronology'.

A well researched, laid out and engrossing guide to the vast Star Trek universe. You stop to look up one thing and next thing you know it is 30 minutes later and you've read through an entire letter's worth of entries.

My ONLY complaint about this book (and what keeps it from it's fifth star) is that the new entires weren't integrated, but simply stuck in the back as add on. So let's say you want to read the complete entry on Capt Sisko. First you have to read the original entry and then flip to the back of the book to read the additional information. And since you are never sure what got an additional entry, you have to constantly flip to the back to make sure you aren't missing something.

Luckily the Pros far out weigh the cons, and this is still a must have for any die hard fan!

I'm a builder on an online rpg based on Star Trek (all movies and series) and one of the imm's on the game suggested this book as a reference. Right away I jumped on here to order it and all I can say is that of any reference book I've ever read on any subject - this is by far the best.

Written in plain english, which is great for someone who is not a die-hard Trekkie, I was able to not only find the information I was looking for, but learn many new things about Star Trek and it's intracacies (sorry bout the spelling), that have made it the legend that it is.

Hats off to Michael and Denise Okuda, and Doug Drexler for creating such a helpful tool.

I am a "part-time" fan of Star Trek, having always been interested in the world, but not exactly a know-every-registry-number-of-every-ship kind of fan. But, having bought this very rich and detailed book, I must say my interest in Star Trek has multiplied tremendously. As an encyclopedia, it doesn't quite bear reading page-to-page, but flipping through it makes for very interesting reading. I am grateful to the authors for additional notes made to many entries, attempting to explain side-points or discrepancies; also, the many diagrams, pictures, dates, episode references, and even the occasional off-beat entry like, well... "mashed potatoes" for one! The appendixes, including gorgeous pics of the ships of Star Trek, episode timelines, historical timelines, and so on, are absolutely wonderful.

The best way I can summarise my rating is: the dedication and love for Star Trek demonstrated by all the writers/contributors in this book is ample and obvious. Congrats.

I bought this book in 2003, and it covered most of the bases then, but only the movies through 1998 ("Insurrection" IIRC; "Nemesis" is not covered.), and the 5th season of Voyager. It just covered the last season of DS9. And of course it has none of the "Enterprise" series.

There have also been events such as the Paramount auction of all the series and movie paraphernalia since then, and that could be a chapter all by itself.

I came on Amazon today expecting to see a new and updated version for sale, and was disappointed that the old edition is still all that's available.

Michael and Denise Okuda know everything there is to know about ST, and are the perfect people to update this. If I were shopping today for the first time I would say wait for the new edition, but buy a used paperback 1999 just to see what it's all about.

Keeping my fingers crossed that someone sees the demand for an updated version!

There were so many facts in this book. A book with every single charector, equiopment, episode, and important event from every single series is just what a trekkie needs. Each entry explains which episode and series it is from, and there a bunch of notes in italics explaining how something was done. I fully recomend this book. It has entries from "surprise pary" to the "dominian war." And if there was a flaw in time and a charector was duplicated they had a seperate entry on that charetor. How could a trekkie not have this book?

If you consider yourself a Trekkie or just someone who is truely intersted in Star Trek this Encyclopedia is a must buy period.It has insight to every facet of the Series.From the Original to Voyager you'll know details to everything.You'll won't be able to just glance through it once.I consider myself a huge Trekkie and like to think I know alot about the Shows,but I'll find myself amazed when I discover details about a certain charecter of Episodes I've forgotten or never knew exsisted.Especially interesting is the Timeline parts of the book,The breakdowns of Ship commisions and Designs,information about Actors,Cuisine,backstories of Charecters.You name it and they have everything about it...well almost everything.

You have to realize this fact before buying this Encyclopedia is that it was made in 1999.It's been 9 Years.Alot of History has happened in Star Trek since then and if you don't realize this now,you'll be disapointed to discover that to information about Deep Space Nine's last Season,the last 2 Seasons of Voyager,The whole of Enterprise and Star Trek Nemesis.All of this information is non-exsistant.And just imagine the frustration of people who actually owned this book through the years and reread it wishing it had all this wealth of new information.I honestly can't comprehend why Pocket Books would not release the Book with all of this missing information availible.Or make a CD-Rom of it.

This might sound like I'm ragging on the Book,but that would be impossible to do.Wiether or not this info is in this paticular Book doesn't really matter,because it extensively covers in scrutinizing detail of all the Series up to Deep Space Nine Last Season,Voyager's last 2 Seasons,the whole of Enterprise and Star Trek Nemesis.And believe me you'll be more than satisfied with that alone.

So,most definately buy this now and enjoy it and you will.But just realize it's outdated and once you do that then you can truely enjoy this Encyclopedia the way the Publisher intended you enjoy it:with wonderment and fun.

This is Encyclopedia is a must have for any fan. It has information that will take hours to read but the time will fly and you won't even realize how much time you've spent reading it! There are illustrations and TV pictures for some of the topics. From people, to places, to things, this book pretty much has it all.

You will enjoy the book as one topic makes you look at another and another. The only down side to this book is that it was made in '99 so things mentioned at the end of VOY and all of ENT aren't included. With minor things missing, this is still worth getting. Hours of info that you will enjoy reading!