Trek Throwback Thursday: Star Trek Technical Manuals

Throwback Thursday

Star Trek Technical Manuals

Star Trek technical manuals.  The favorite reads of the geekier fans and generally hard core trekkies who want to learn more about their favorite ships and technologies from an in universe perspective.  From schematics and cutaways, to diagrams of shuttlecrafts, bridge layouts, and even the inner workings of warp drives, phasers and transporters, Star Treks various technical manuals, both official and unofficial, licensed and unlicensed are a gold mine of starship design and treknology information.  Here, in chronological order, are four classic fan favorite Star Trek technical manuals.

Star Trek Starfleet Technical Manual by Franz Joseph

The original, the classic.  Despite its status as unlicensed and non canon Franz Josephs 1975 Technical Manual covers the original series Starfleet, the ships, the equipment, the uniforms and much more.  In additional to giving blueprints and specs for the classic TOS Constitution class starship, Josephs book also gives designs and specs for several new designs, based on the components of the Constitution class: the Hermes, Saladin, Ptolemy and Federation classes.  Blueprints of these designs have been used as background graphics on the Enterprise refit bridge in Star trek I-III, earning these ships a "semi-canon" status.  Those ship designs, like the book itself, has become a bona fide fan favorite. 

Mr. Scott's Guide to the Enterprise by Shane Johnson

Published in 1987, Mr. Scott's Guide to the Enterprise covers the movies refit USS Enterprise from Star Trek I-III, with a section at the end covering the USS Enterprise-A as seen briefly at the end of Star Trek IV.  A fan of Franz Josephs book, Lora Johnson (then known as Shane Johnson) took inspiration from the earlier book, while also covering the ship in depth, deck by deck, complete with floorplans and blueprints of the major rooms on each deck of the ship.  It's inconsistencies with what has been established since its publication (and it not being written by people involved directly with the series production) have unfortunately rendered this book, like its inspiration, non-canon.  regardless, it's still a worthy addition to any trekkies bookshelf. 

Star Trek The Next Generation Technical Manual by Rick Sternbach and Michael Okuda

In 1991 Star Trek production designer Rich Sternbach and scenic art designer Michael Okuda produced the Star Trek The Next Generation Technical Manual.  The staple of many Star Trek fans bookshelves in the 90s, the 192 blue and white pages cover the USS Enterprise lineage, the Enterprise-Ds construction history, layout, bridge, engineering, sickbay and all the main and secondary systems from the perspective of an in-universe technical reference written during The Next Generation's timeframe.  The book also includes behind the scenes information on the various topics in the form of footnotes and a section on the future of starship design and several conjectural designs for the NCC-1701-E.  One graphic in this book, created by Michael Okuda to illustrate the concept of the saucer section being used as a lifeboat and landing on a planets surface provided the direct inspiration for the saucer crash sequence in Star Trek Generations.  Overall, a trek reference shelf staple, and a must have for fans of the Galaxy Class.

Star Trek Deep Space Nine Technical Manual by Herman Zimmerman, Rick Sternbach and Doug Drexler

In 1998 art director Herman Zimmerman, production designer Rick Sternbach and artist Doug Drexler produced the Star Trek Deep Space Nine Technical Manual.  Its 178 full-color pages plus foldouts cover both the titular Cardassian-built space station as well as the USS Defiant and Danube class runabouts in depth, as well as giving specs on Dominion War era Bajoran, Klingon, Romulan, Cardassian and Dominion ships and a section with graphics and in universe descriptions of the Dominion War Starfleet "Frankenstein fleet" kitbash ships seen in the background in some of the fleet battle scenes in DS9s sixth and seventh seasons (the "Curry class", USS Yeager Intrepid class variant, and several not seen on screen designs).  Unlike the other books on this list, the Star Trek Deep Space Nine Technical Manual has never had a reprint or rerelease, resulting in used copies being rarer and more expensive than it's predecessors.