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From: ph@wucec2.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.startrek
Subject: Re: The World of Startrek--David Gerrold
Message-ID: <1466@wucec2.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 10-Mar-86 15:41:56 EST
Article-I.D.: wucec2.1466
Posted: Mon Mar 10 15:41:56 1986
Date-Received: Wed, 12-Mar-86 02:53:08 EST
References: <65@utecfc.UUCP> <755@ihwpt.UUCP>
Reply-To: ph@wucec2.UUCP (Paul Hahn)
Organization: Washington U. in St. Louis, Engineering School
Lines: 61

In article <755@ihwpt.UUCP> knudsen@ihwpt.UUCP (mike knudsen) writes:
>>         "The World of Star Trek" by David Gerrold (DelRey/Ballantine)
>> 
>> I think the book is out of print but if it is not someone let me know.  Also,
>
>	It's just a few months since I got the book (paperback)
>in a local bookstore chain (Crown Books), so I bet it's still
>in print.

	    There have been two editions of THE WORLD OF STAR TREK; the
	first was written in 1973 and is (as far as I know) out of
	print, while the second came out in 1984 about the same time as
	ST3:TSFS did.  It is indeed an excellent reference for Trek
	fans; I am about to post some information from it concerning two
	topics that have been discussed here recently.
	    First, regarding STAR TREK Adventure-style computer games, a
	quote (remember that this information is now almost two years
	out of date; no small thing in this field):
	    "The most sophisticated and complex STAR TREK computer game
	of all is STAR TREK Colossus.  It took Dr. Phillip E. Bailey
	more than two years to write, and it is obviously a labor of
	love; the game fills two floppy disks, and the rules fill a
	third.  The documentation includes a detailed set of blueprints
	for the Enterprise, and a complete crew and equipment list.  The
	player is not only responsible for moving his characters
	throughout the ship--putting out fires, delivering dilithium
	crystals to replace broken ones, etc.--at the same time, he must
	do battle with a Klingon battlecruiser that is stalking the
	Enterprise.  The game also produces a variety of rather
	startling graphics; using only the alphanumeric characters of a
	standard video terminal, the program displays long, medium, and
	close-range scanning views of the Klingon battlecruiser--
	approaching, retreating, flanking, and even exploding, should
	the player be skilled enough to outfight the Klingon commander.
	(There are several different battlecruisers and captains.  Your
	computer will give you the appropriate identifications when the
	ship shows up on the screen.)  There are also starbases for
	refueling, repair and replacements of injured or deceased
	crew.[*]  (When the real Enterprise is finally, built, this will
	be the simulator they'll train Kirk and Spock on.)
	----------------------------------------------------------------
	[*]I was so upset when I accidentally killed Dr. McCoy that I
	haven't played the game since."

	    Second, on the matter of scripts existing for episodes which
	were not produced because of the cancellation: NBC commissioned
	only half a season's worth of episodes right from the start of
	the third year; there would have been no scripts waiting around
	to be filmed when the series was cancelled.  On the other hand,
	David mentions some story ideas which were actually pursued as
	far a script form, but not so far as to be actually produced.
	De Forest Kelley, for example, wanted to do a story in which
	McCoy (a Southerner) and Uhura were trapped on a planet on which
	the blacks were the masters and the whites were the slaves.
	    Sorry to have gone on for so long.  Thanks for listening.

						--pH
/*
 *	    "You Klingon bastards, you've killed my son.  You Klingon
 *	bastards, you've KILLED my SON!  You Klingon bastards--you've
 *	killed . . . my son . . ."
 */