THE STAR TREK STAR FLEET TECHNICAL MANUAL

(Redirected from Star Fleet Technical Manual)

'''The Star Trek Star Fleet Technical Manual''' (ISBN 0345340744, Ballantine Books 1975, reprinted in 1986, 1996, and 2006) is a "fiction reference" book by Franz Joseph about the workings of Starfleet, a military, exploratory, and diplomatic organization featured in the television series ''.
Although a work of fiction, the book is presented as a collection of factual documents from the future sent back in time to the 20th century describing Starfleet in the 23rd century.

Contents

Contents

History

Use as reference material

The Federation Seal

Legacy

Contents

'''The Star Trek Star Fleet Technical Manual''' features detailed technical information, though non-canon, about Starfleet's organization, ships, and members, and was used as the basis for many elements of the strategy game ''Star Fleet Battles''. At the time this book was first published, it ''was'' considered so canonical as to be beyond question, despite its clear depiction of several elements that openly contradicted the television series (such as the presence of a second exit to the bridge, and the placement and internal arrangement of the conference room).
The manual presents a number of different starship designs beyond the standard ''Constitution''-class design exhibited by the USS ''Enterprise''. The book gives has diagrams of the following classes:

★ ''Ptolemy''-class tug

★ ''Hermes''-class scout

★ ''Saladin''-class destroyer

★ ''Constitution''-class heavy cruiser

★
★ ''Bonhomme Richard'' subtype

★
★ ''Achernar'' subtype

★ ''Federation''-class dreadnought
All the blueprints were presented to series creator Gene Roddenberry who signed off on all of them, and claimed them to be 'completely accurate'. Around a decade later, he retracted these statements, however, claiming the book to have 'always' violated his rules for the Star Trek Universe, despite using it in the first three motion pictures, under his close supervision.
It provides some detail on the workings of the technology used in the original series, including ships, weapons, personal communicators, tricorders, universal translators, and medical equipment. There is even a blue-print and electronics diagram of a working communicator built using 20th century electronics.
The book also contains plans for 3 dimensional chess and lays out some basic rules for the game.

History

In 1973, Franz Joseph and his daughter joined a San Diego Trek appreciation society called STAR, members of which spent time making their own Trek props and costumes. Using his aerospace design talents, he began making technical drawings of phasers and tricorders. He quickly amassed a large collection and sent copies to Gene Roddenberry, who was wowed. Since wife Majel Barrett's company Lincoln Enterprises was producing Trek memorabilia at that time, he encouraged Franz Joseph (who wanted to create a manual) to ask her for help. Gene considered the franchise dead, but gave his blessing anyway, and granted privileged access to original props and carpenter blueprints.
The book, published by Ballantine, took the number-one spot on the New York Times trade paperback list, breaking the existing record for profitability. Its success hinted at the brand's great potential, and within a year of its publication Paramount and Roddenberry contracted to begin work on a Star Trek movie.

Use as reference material

The book was culled for background imagery in the first three Trek films. Elements from the manual that appear on screen include

★ its listings of starship names, adapted for opening-scene backgrounds at the communications outpost in '';

★ its starship-class schematics, seen in background bridge-simulator displays in the Kobayashi Maru test in ''; and

★ its Enterprise plans, used in '' in a monitor display when the seal on Spock's living quarters is broken.

The Federation Seal

The seal seen in the first movie echoed Franz Joseph's design but framed its starfield in laurels, rather than the faces in silhouette he used in the original. (His UFP presumed Earth was only one part of a large alliance of many sentient races, but Paramount's use of laurels to symbolize peace would not have held meaning away from Earth. This may have reflected Paramount's, and Roddenberry's, more terracentric take on the Federation. For instance, they placed both the Federation HQ and Starfleet Academy in San Francisco, but Franz Joseph located them in neutral space, at the station Starbase One.)

Legacy

As an unexpected legacy, the book spawned a subgenre -- blueprints and schematics of fictional vehicles and locales, which later science-fiction projects would move to exploit. These have included

★ List of Star Trek Technical Manuals;

★ The Moonbase Alpha Technical Manual from Space 1999;

★ Battlestar Galactica blueprints;

★ The Star Wars Sketchbook;

★ ;

★ ;

★ Mr. Scott's Guide to the Enterprise;
and any number of fan fiction publications.
The Star Fleet Technical Manual was a major source for Amarillo Design Bureau's line of Star Fleet Universe gaming products.