Star Trek Voyager Companion (Star Trek (Unnumbered Paperback))

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 528 pages
• Published by: Star Trek May 1, 2003
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0743417518
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0743417518
• Book Dimensions: 10.6 x 8.4 x 1.2 inches
• Weighs: 2.5 pounds

Product Description


Over thirty-five years ago, creating a television series about a group of explorers making their way across the unexplored reaches of space was a gamble for a small studio. For the network that bought the show, it proved to be an even greater gamble, and after three seasons with "disappointing" ratings they cancelled Star Trek.®

In the subsequent decades, a great deal changed. By 1995, Star Trek and its two successors, Star Trek: The Next Generation® and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,® had changed the face of syndication across the country. Now as the studio and its parent company, Viacom, looked to launch their own network, a new Star Trek series would easily become the cornerstone of the new enterprise.

In creating Star Trek: Voyager, Executive Producers Rick Berman, Michael Piller, and Jeri Taylor embraced Star Trek's original theme of "exploring strange new worlds and new civilizations," then took it a step further by stranding their crew in the farthest reaches of the Delta Quadrant, totally cut off from all that was familiar. It was a bold step, one that forced both the starship's crew and the show itself to stand on its own, its success determined by its own resourcefulness.

For seven years, Captain Kathryn Janeway and the crew of the aptly named Starship Voyager™ lived with one goal -- to get home -- and strove to live up to the ideals of Starfleet as they traveled alone in a tumultuous region of space. Relive their epic journey through summaries, photos, and detailed episode data in this official companion to Star Trek: Voyager, the series that proved once again the power of Star Trek.

Reader Reviews
Pocket Books, the literary rights-holders of the "Star Trek" Universe, recently announced that they were drastically paring back the number of nonfiction "Star Trek" books that they would be publishing over the next few years. I find this very unfortunate. What I find even more unfortunate, though, is that the "Star Trek: Voyager Companion" is such a poor release that it may drive sales even lower and stop them from releasing any more nonfiction "Star Trek" for quite some time. I really hope that's not the case, though; I've been hoping for an updated version of the "Star Trek Encyclopedia" or the "Star Trek Chronology" for a while... Anyway, the Voyager Companion is a shockingly bad release given the wonderful nature of almost every nonfiction Star Trek book that has preceded it. Almost devoid of behind-the-scenes info, it instead gives the types of pointless tallies (shuttlecraft lost, contacts made with the Alpha Quadrant, etc.) that you can find in almost any obsessive fan's website. Given the high standards set by the Next Generation and DS9 Companions, it seems the author would, Paul Ruditis, would only have to copy the format to ensure success in this book. Instead, he seems to want to drag us into the fictional Voyager world without explaining how the creative process for the series went. Admittedly, that's not completely accurate, but it is very close. A reprint of the writer's "bible" from the first year of the series - with its page and a half of commentary is a nice addition, and each season's chapter does have an opening section that talks a little about the changes the producers brought to the series every year. There are also occaisonal text-boxes that highlight characters, races and aspects of the show, but the neat behind-the-scenes stuff has to share a lot of room with quotes taken from episodes. What little actual commentary from the creative forces of the series exists is reduced to a very small fraction of what you got in the other two Companions. All in all, I find it very, very hard to recommend this book. I'd save my money for 2004's expected season box sets of Voyager instead. Here's hoping, though, that one unfortunate nonfiction Star Trek book doesn't bring the entire line to a screeching halt.