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Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Star Trek Federation: The First 150 Years Review Sulu Talks A Lot

Star Trek Federation: The First 150 Years

Why whose voice do I hear? Could it be? Why, yes it's Sulu! Sulu welcomes you to Memory Alpha and all the info in this book base. Yes, this pure sci-fi nerd candy comes with it's own stunning base to display your book in and make friends jealous with rage. At the press of a button Sulu chimes in as well as turns off if you don't want to hear he's full speech. It's another fantastic piece in the vain of the Star Wars books released by 47 North  of Amazon. The base continues to enrage those who don't have it by lighting up the Federation logo in it's center.

What the base holds is none other than a history book of the Federation written as if it were all real. Moments of past shows came to life to me as memories of past shows beamed into my head.  For those who've been into Star Trek for ages it's like stepping through the past, but not the painful killing of someone who was meant to die in the original timeline, just warm memories. Oh, there will be Star Trek in-jokes as you read this.

Why read this when you could be reading about the first 150 years of the Federation. Learn about the start of the Federation, heavily expanding on what happened in Star Trek: First Contact and the forgetful and at sometimes painful prequel Enterprise. I know we want to forget Jonathan Archer, but his canon now, so deal with it.You'll read about his trials and tribble tribulations as well as the first space faring vessels of star fleet. If you'll recall things did not go well for those first vessels. If you don't recall now you'll know

Just like the history books from school, there are tiny excerpts from articles, treaties, children's books, etc that build up the universe. Each has an adjacent picture written in whatever alien language it started out as or looks like a graphic interface from a computer console. The water color pieces that start off each chapter also add an authentic history book feel.

The book ends with the death of Kirk, we don't make it to The Next Generation era, but hey there might be another book down the line. It's not only Kirk's death it's his life, his painful constant nightmare of a life where as the lead ship of Star Fleet he gets into all kinds of trouble with his crew. Their many adventures remembered in this tomb.

You have to give credit to author David A. Goodman, even if he wrote for Family Guy and Enterprise, the level of research he had to do in a fictional world must have been tiring. Remember, for Trekkies, he needed to keep it as accurate as possible, though no doubt what he filled in will be ultimately despised and talked about at conventions for the rest of time.

There's more in the back as you get special mementos just like the Star Wars Jedi and Sith books, instead of theses mementos dropping out, like in the previous books, you get a nice packet in back to store them. Now you can admire Zefram Cochrane's past due IRS envelope with warp core designs on it or an x-ray of the Trill symbiont and more.


This is pure Star Trek swag. As technology get better it will just resemble what Star Trek predicted,  so it's best now to get things that won't resemble future technology. This book will be a walk down memory lane or Memory Alpha as it says it is for any fan. Don't forget jealousy from your peers for owning such a fun piece that fits in as a centerpiece for any sci-fi collection.