In Review - the Voyager handbook

A common viewpoint amongst Trek creatives and commentators is that the ships in the show are just as much of a character as the people that are being portrayed by the show, and this is often true. The ship is often the first thing we see in a Star Trek episode. As the vessel swoops into view, someone, the ships Captain, will usually provide a narrative of what’s going on, and then at the end of the episode, after the danger is resolved, and possibly our crew have had chance to meditate on the events of the past hour, it will be the last thing we see, as it travels off on the promise of the next intrepid adventure.

In between those to points, it represents so much. Home, rescue salvation. When our crew get into a jam, it represents something to escape to. It’s also something to protect when it faces some anomaly, or alien foe tries to destroy it.

Perhaps most of all it’s comfort. The interiors of the ship are immediately known to us, so even if we weren’t watching at the start, we know what each place represents, therefore what is going on in each scene. The bridge is the nerve centre of the ship. They key decisions are made here. The briefing room represents a place where crew are free to discuss the issues of the day and the Captain takes their views on board. Sickbay represents illness or injury, and the crew quarters are the spaces where are heroes are at their most vulnerable.

Its therefore no surprise then, that fans embrace the ships as much as we do. We buy and build models of the vessels, or build models from scratch in physical or digital media. We actively consume and create content that allows us to experience these ships as a crew member would.

From the mid 90’s to the 2000s, one such medium was the Star Trek Fact Files. They are a part work, a format that has been around in the UK for decades. Each week, you would buy a magazine, and dismantle it, filing each page into a growing selection of folders, covering information on races, starships, technology, and episode guides. The magazine’s biggest success was also its biggest drawback. The full set is 19 folders containing 204 magazines over thousands of pages. The hitchhikers guide to the galaxy in paper form.

Much of the extensive source material has been reused in recent years, the Starships Collection, another partwork which looks at individual ships, and a variety of hardcover books, including the official handbook range from Hero Collector.

I am going to say something controversial The books are a better format for most of this material. The Fact Files were a victim of their own success in that the material was so comprehensive they took up a ton of room Sure we want to know about Voyager from stem to stern, but are we really interested in pages on the Kazon, much less later on storing models of these less interesting ships?

Books on the other hand, can be limited to a specific ship in the case of the handbooks, or race in the case of the shipyards tomes, and these can save shelf room.

I was an avid collector of the Factfiles back in the day,due to space restrictions, my copies weren’t what you would call pristine, and space was at a premium. With the likes of Memory Alpha, I sadly let my set go. When the Starship Collection started, I kept out of that too, I pick and choose my ships, but I never wanted a complete set

I

decided to give the books a try, and the first one I tried was the Voyager Handbook. Again, if you know your Star Trek Factfiles, there is a lot of familiar stuff here. Schematics of the ship, and breakdowns of key areas, with accounts of functions, all written from an in universe perspective.

I am someone who has converted to eBooks for most of my novel reading, nevertheless this book creates an experience that just can’t be replicated. Beautiful high quality pages printed on sturdy paper stock, covering every function of Voyager and its key equipment in exquisite detail, in a more portable, shelf friendly format than the fact files.

Utterly fascinating stuff and highly recommended.