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

The Making of the Trek Films is an unlicensed reference book published in 1991 by Image Publishing and reprinted in 1992 (revised edition) and 1995. Each edition of the book covered the behind-the-scenes productions aspects of the Star Trek films produced up to its point of publication; the first two editions covered the first six movies, whereas the third edition added information about the seventh movie, Star Trek Generations.

Summary[]

From the back cover (2nd edition)
Go behind the scenes on each of the Star Trek features: The Motion Picture, The Wrath of Khan, The Search For Spock, The Voyage Home, The Final Frontier, and The Undiscovered Country.
Featuring interviews with:
Gene RoddenberryWilliam ShatnerLeonard NimoyDeForest KelleyJames DoohanGeorge TakeiWalter KoenigNichelle NicholsStephen CollinsPersis KhambattaRicardo MontalbanBibi BeschKirstie AlleyMerritt ButrickRobin CurtisMark LenardCatherine HicksLaurence LuckinbillHarold LivingstonAlan Dean FosterDennis ClarkJack SowardsSteve MeersonPeter KrikesDavid LougheryRobert WiseNicholas MeyerRobert SallinHarve BennettAndrew Probert – The Special Effects Teams – and many more.
Learn the entire saga and read of the Star Trek films you never saw, including a version of Star Trek II that featured all of the elements of The Wrath of Khan with the exception of Khan; as well as the aborted Star Trek VI: Starfleet Academy, which would have been a prequel to the original series.
The 25th Anniversary celebration continues!
From the back cover (Boxtree edition)
Now completely revised, The Making of the Trek Films takes readers on a guided tour through the history of the Enterprise's cinematic voyages. From the first feature film, 1979's The Motion Picture through to the 1994 Next Generation debut, Generations, every Trek film is covered in the greatest depth.
Featuring interviews with: Gene Roddenberry – William Shatner – Leonard Nimoy – DeForest Kelley – James Doohan – George Takei – Walter Koenig – Nichelle Nichols – Ricardo Montalban – Kirstie Alley – Kim Cattrall – Robin Curtis – Lawrence Luckinbill – Catherine Hicks – Harold Livingston – Alan Dean Foster – Harve Bennett – Jack Sowards – Steve Meerson – Peter Krikes – David Loughery – Mark RosenthalDennis Martin FlinnMaurice HurleyRon MooreBrannon Braga – Robert Wise – Nicholas Meyer – David Carson – Robert Sallin – The Special Effects Teams – Jonathan FrakesLeVar BurtonBrent SpinerGates McFaddenMarina SirtisMichael DornPatrick Stewart – and many more.
Learn the entire saga of the Trek adventures you never saw, including the Eddie Murphy version of The Voyage Home, the lost ending of The Final Frontier, the aborted Starfleet Academy, which would have been a prequel to the original series, and the proposed first meeting between Captains Kirk and Picard.
The Trek celebration continues!

Excerpts of copyrighted sources are included for review purposes only, without any intention of infringement.

Contents (2nd edition)[]

  • An Introduction
    • Road to the 23rd Century
    • The Press Conference
    • Gene Roddenberry, An Unpublished Interview
    • A Wise Move
    • The Script's the Thing, So Where Is It?
  • The Wrath of Khan: An Introduction
    • Project Genesis
    • The Search for Nimoy
    • The Scripts of Wrath
    • The Meyer Connection
    • F/X & Costumes (originally: "Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan", Kay Anderson, Cinefantastique, Vol 12 #5/6, 1982, pp. 50-55, 57-61, 63-68, 70-74
    • Production Design
    • Amazing Places
    • Spock's Ears
    • ILM Effects, Part II
    • Computer Imaging
    • The Score
    • "He's Dead, Jim"
    • Commenting on Khan
  • Beginning the Search
    • Starship Security
    • Dressing Up the Search Party
    • Designing the Search (originally: "Special Effects; Industrial Light & Magic", Ron Magid, Cinefantastique, Vol 17 #3/4, 1987, pp. 40-47
    • The Search for Genesis
    • Exit: Stage 15
    • Shooting Spock
    • A Fruitful Search
  • The Voyage Begins
    • Penning The Voyage Home
    • Blue Skies & Star Fields (originally: "Blue Skies and Starfields", Ron Magid, American Cinematographer, December 1986, pp.2-74)
    • Eye of the F/X Storm (originally: "Special Effects; Industrial Light & Magic", Ron Magid, Cinefantastique, Vol 17 #3/4, 1987, pp. 40-47
    • "There Be Whales Here"
    • Beams Up & Warp Drives
    • Splitting the Red Sea... Almost
    • Bringing The Voyage Home
  • Captain's Log: The Final Frontier
    • The Final Screenplay...?
    • Nobody Said It Was Gonna Be Easy
    • F/X in The Final Frontier (originally: "Effects for Trek V Explore Uncharted Territory", Ron Magid, American Cinematographer, July 1989, pp. 76-92)
    • "Hi, Bones. Mind If We Drop In?"
    • Props & Make-Up
    • Singin' the F/X Blues
    • Oh, God!
    • The Lost Ending
    • Summing Up The Final Frontier
  • The Undiscovered Star Trek VI
    • The Undiscovered Country
  • Appendices
    • Appendix 1: Gene Roddenberry, 25 Years Later
    • Appendix 2: The Bennett Years
    • Appendix 3: Star Guests
    • Appendix 4: The Unfilmed Star Trek II

Background information[]

  • The cover of the first two editions was a specially-made painting by Andrew Probert, originally done for the fanzine Enterprise Incidents, Issue 11, 1982. [1](X)
  • The book is not an original piece of writing, but essentially an edited collection of articles written by authors which have appeared in periodicals like, predominantly, Cinefantastique, Starlog, and American Cinematographer, with some texts originating from Enterprise Incidents, in the vast majority of the cases sans the original accompanying imagery. Some of the interview material in this book is identical to information from such publications as Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages, and Charting the Undiscovered Country: The Making of Trek VI. Edited by Edward Gross, the book therefore featured contributions for the aforementioned publications from writers Mark A. Altman, Kay Anderson, Dennis Fischer, Jean-Marc Lofficier, Randy Lofficier, Ron Magid, Wendy Rathbone, Tom Rogers, Marc Shapiro, Sheldon Teitelbaum, and Edward Gross himself.
  • Being an unlicensed book, i.e. not sanctioned by the franchise, the work was legal nonetheless, as it was published making the fullest use of the "works of journalistic/academic nature" exemption clauses in copyright laws, resulting in that occasionally more critical opinions by some of the interviewees were voiced, the franchise itself would have preferred not to see in print. However, this also meant that this publication could not legally feature any Star Trek copyrighted imagery. Thus, the (publicity) cast imagery on the third edition cover actually and formally constituted a copyright infringement, as were some of the featured interior imagery (but not all, as some pictures were taken on personal title – as was Probert's original cover art – when reporters wrote up their original constituent articles).
  • The third and last edition was also released, slightly enlarged with information pertaining to Star Trek: The Next Generation, in the UK by Boxtree, and it was this edition that saw at least one other international release as the German language edition Die Entstehung der Trek-Filme: Ein Blick hinter die Kulissen in 1996. Translated from English by Hans Sommer, it in turn saw at least one reprint in May 1998.

Cover gallery[]

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