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Real world article
(written from a Production point of view)

Star Trek novels and novelizations were produced by Bantam Books between 1967 and 1981, under license from Desilu Studios and Paramount Pictures.

Summary[]

Bantam Books was the second publisher given license to produce a series of original novels and episode novelizations based on the Star Trek franchise, starting in January 1967 and continuing until Paramount Pictures awarded the license to Pocket Books in 1979. Bantam's was not an exclusive license, as comics, technical publications and Star Trek: The Animated Series adaptations were published concurrently by Gold Key Comics and Ballantine Books.

Despite the loss of the Star Trek license in 1979, due to lead times, Bantam continued to publish new novels until 1981, with Pocket Books refraining from issuing its own originals until after. In addition, Bantam retained the ability to reprint and reissue their existing titles, which they continued to do into the 1990s, with some books issued under new titles.

Due to the lead times required for publication, Blish was forced to use the only scripts available from Desilu promotions, which were early draft scripts that had been discarded. This resulted in some significant differences between the printed version and what actually appeared on screen.

As many of these draft versions have been lost in the years since the series ended, Blish's adaptations are now seen as valuable resources for those researching how the early episodes evolved from script to film. (Star Trek: The Original Series - The Roddenberry Vault Blu-ray Disc special feature, "Inside the Roddenberry Vault, Part 1")

Novel list[]

Novelizations[]

Original stories[]

"Foto-novels"[]

Technical publications[]

External link[]

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