Memory Alpha
Register
Advertisement
Memory Alpha
Real world article
(written from a Production point of view)

The Worlds of the Federation is an officially licensed in-universe reference book written and illustrated by Shane Johnson, incorporating cover art, painted by Don Ivan Punchatz, which is drawn from a color insert (painted by Punchatz) that the book includes.

The Worlds of the Federation has since been relegated to apocryphal status, owing to contradicting information from the television programs.

Summary[]

From the paperback book back cover
Shane Johnson, bestselling author of Mr. Scott's Guide to the Enterprise, takes the reader on an imaginative, fictional journey into the Star Trek universe. Based on the Star Trek adventures (including Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: The Animated Series), this book uses hundreds of star charts and line drawings as well as a rich text to outline the history of the worlds visited by the starship Enterprise.
The Worlds of the Federation also investigates the unaligned and hostile alien races of Star Trek, from the fierce warriors of the Klingon Empire to the enigmatic, all-powerful Organians. And as a special bonus, we've included a spectacular, full-color insert of Star Trek's most exotic alien lifeforms featuring paintings by noted science fiction illustrator Don Ivan Punchatz.

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

Contents[]

  • Preface
  • Introduction (Written by LCDR Data)
  • UFP: An Historical Overview
  • Planetary Classification System
  • Page Key and Symbols
  • Member Worlds
    The worlds are listed by their official names followed by their respective planetary classifications, their indigenous names if any, and the names of the primaries of the star systems that contain them. (These are followed by X-Y-Z Cartesian coordinate numbers, all of which are considered apocryphal.)
  • Neutral and/or Independent Worlds
  • Hostile Worlds
    • Ferengal (M), "Primary Unknown, Coordinates Not Established" (contradicts later references to Ferenginar as a neutral and/or independent world)
    • Tau Lacertae IX, Gornar, Tau Lacertae
    • Romulus (M) "Indigenous Name Unknown; Primary Unknown; Coordinates Not Established" (fails to mention the planet Remus which is mentioned, though not actually shown, in Star Trek Nemesis)
    • Tholia II, Tholia "Primary Unknown, Coordinates Not Established"
  • Appendix
    • Featured Planets and Their Primaries
    • Planetary Ambassadors

Background information[]

  • A softcover, or paperback, book, it measures 11×8.5×0.5 inches. A similarly sized hardback in dust jacket Book Club Edition was concurrently released in a substantial print run, though issued without ISBN as was commonplace for such releases. A UK edition was shortly thereafter released by Titan Books, albeit as a paperback edition only.
  • Several US reprints were released afterwards, already starting in 1989. But for unknown reasons these reprints were endowed with a new ISBN, the earliest known one featured on the 4th edition of November 1989.
  • The section detailing the Sol star system indicates that it contains ten planets, referencing another planet after Pluto. This tenth planet, however, though identified variously as Persephone and as Proserpina, has never been shown, or even mentioned, in any other Star Trek production.
  • Writer Ronald D. Moore hated Johnson's description of the Klingons in this book so much that he went out of his way to contradict every detail of it that he could when writing his Klingon-defining memo during the writing of the episode "Sins of The Father". (Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 1, Issue 19, pp. 64 & 65)
  • Despite having been fully licensed and endorsed at the time of the book's publication, Moore's stance bore fruit with the official Star Trek franchise itself, when it in 2002 re-evaluated the older in-universe reference works, hitherto considered as "semi-" or "quasi-canon". Works they deemed to have deviated too much from later established (on-screen) canon were subsequently demoted to the apocrypha status of comics, novels, non-production art (such as Star Trek: Ships of the Line calendars) and (computer) games. In no small part due to Moore's work on depicting Klingons, The Worlds of the Federation too was among those losing its "official" – as in compliance with canon – status, as indeed were all other books written by Johnson. (Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 2, Issue 11, p. 71)
  • At least one other international edition is known to exist, the German language Star Trek: Die Welten der Föderation, translated by Claudia Kern and released by Heel in 1999 as paperback only.
Advertisement