When
I was in the fourth grade, I bought at the school book fair a book titled A Star Trek Catalog,
edited by Gerry Turnball, and it changed my young life.
Why?
In the pages of this book were the titles and synopses of all Star Trek episodes, as well as episodes of the Animated Series, and there was also a listing of fan-clubs, and even merchandise, meaning toys. The book featured an interview with Gene Roddenberry, post-Star Wars (1977), and closed with the promise that Star Trek would someday return to our screens.
Why?
In the pages of this book were the titles and synopses of all Star Trek episodes, as well as episodes of the Animated Series, and there was also a listing of fan-clubs, and even merchandise, meaning toys. The book featured an interview with Gene Roddenberry, post-Star Wars (1977), and closed with the promise that Star Trek would someday return to our screens.
And
of course it did.
But
I loved this book (and then a year later, Allan Asherman's The Star Trek Compendium)
because, well-before the Internet, A Star Trek Catalog assembled the important data on Star
Trek in one place. I remember
memorizing the episode titles and descriptions and using them for reference
during series reruns on WPIX in New York. I began keeping a tally of which episodes I had seen, and which I hadn't.
I
don’t know for certain, but I have the feeling that, at age 9, A Star Trek Catalog
was my first experience with a TV-reference book. I later read The Making of Star Trek,
David Gerrold’s brilliant The World of Star Trek, and the
equally great Gary Gerani book, Fantastic Television.
But at first, it was A Star Trek Catalog that
whet my appetite to learn more about a science fiction TV series.
I
kept my original copy of A Star Trek Catalog for decades,
though it was supplanted by the titles above, and others. I finally threw away the book when the
binding broke, and I was reading it in three separate sections. But a few years ago, I found a copy at a yard
sale in great condition, and I’m glad to have it back on my shelf.
It’s
probably not a book that is mentioned often as a great Trek reference book, and
I understand that. But A Star Trek Catalog was there at
exactly the right time for me, and it is like a dear old friend…
John,
ReplyDeleteYou and I have experienced the same '70s boyhood moment in elementary school. For me, at the school book fair I purchased my very first TV-reference book which was The Making Of Star Trek by Stephen E. Whitfield/Gene Roddenberry. It changed my life too. I still have that copy. I next purchased in a bookstore in '76 The Making Of Space:1999. My science-fiction TV-reference interest was intense and I still have a large collection of books.
SGB
I had this one, too! It was one of three non-fiction Trek books that I had. The others were David Gerrold's The Trouble With Tribbles and Joan Winston's The Making of the Trek Conventions. I read all of them over and over again. As always, wish I had kept all of this stuff from my childhood.
ReplyDelete