Product Review: Incredible Gifts for Trekkers and Trekkies

On Friday, November 30, 2012, the 50+-year-old nuclear powered aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN 65) was decommissioned in Norfolk, Virginia. At the decommissioning ceremony, actor William Shatner, the first to portray Captain James Tiberius Kirk on Star Trek's NCC-1701 Constitution Class Enterprise starship, was to speak to the gathering. On the same day, press releases announced upcoming products related to the fictional starship Enterprise.

At 43 years of age, Star Trek® rebooted with the film Star Trek® (2009), starring Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, and Karl Urban as a younger Kirk, Spock, and McCoy. The sequel, named Star Trek Into Darkness and resulting in a 3-frame film clip in 2012 on late night talk shows of Spock inside a volcano, gave rise to fan excitement. it also resulted in new Christmas gifts.

This book should prove useful as a reference for college theses and dissertations about Star Trek® and science-fiction in general. The aspects of the TV series that became actualities - artificial skin, cell phones, iPads, growing new organs, and many others make fascinating medical research as well.

This is something I would never have imagined to create.

Television writer David A. Goodman completed a detailed text that provides the history of the United Federation Of Planets, its spacecraft, historical figures, events, and more. It is designed to sit in a display stand that, at a touch of a button, provides an announcement by Admiral Hikaru Sulu (actor George Takei).

This book is named Star Trek Federation - The First 150 Years. The text includes printed histories as well as original illustrations of events and people like Kirk, Spock, Khan, Zefram Cochrane, and others. A special pocket in the book also contains copies of important documents - a letter from James T. Kirk to a relative, a diagram of the first Trill joining, and three others.

As a history analog, the book seems to be as complete as it might be, compiling and meshing information from all of the television series from TOS through Enterprise, the animated series, and all the Star Trek® films. It is billed as a Special Exhibit on Memory Alpha, where the latest updates for the next film, Star Trek Into Darkness (May 2013) is placed. The book contains narratives on Earth's First Contact with Vulcan in 2063, the Romulan War of 2156, the creation of the UFP in 2161, and the first 150 years of operations to 2311. Fans will be excited by the book and the uninitiated can learn all about Star Trek® by reading it.

High school, college, and university students can use this product as a reference for various theses and dissertations on the world of Star Trek®, science fiction, and space exploration in general. Since the 1970s, colleges have offered literature courses on various groups of Star Trek® novels and that world of this sci-fi series has provided materials for hundreds of PhD projects.

I am impressed with a faux history book on the UFP and Starfleet, because it is written by an author with 24 years experience in script writing for the various shows, including Enterprise. it is a clever idea

Pre-orders are accepted and some sites are offering the book at half price..

DESCRIPTION AND SPECS:

• Pedestal stand with electronic lights and sound (13.5” x 13.5” x 4”)
• Verbal recorded introduction by Admiral Hikaru Sulu (George Takei)
• 176 pages bound in hardcover, with four-color illustrations.
• Special pocket with an envelope containing 5 historical documents.
• More than 50 excerpts from UFP documents and memos, from Starfleet records, and from intergalactic intelligence.
• Total dimensions: 14.2" x 14.2" x 5.2".

A graphic novel prequel is available related to the May 2013 Star Trek Into Darkness. The first issue comes with two different covers that are collectible. Altogether, the prequel comprises a 4-issue miniseries called Star Trek: Countdown To Darkness. Rumor has it that the character Gary Mitchell dies in the first installment, eliminating the possibility of the villain played by Benedict Cumberbatch being Mitchell. However, we know that it is now Khan and one of the posters for the film shows Cumberbatch with glowing eyes, such as glowed in Gary Mitchell in the original TV series. Possibly, if Marshall dies in the graphic novel, he'll come back somehow in the film.

Speculations continue about just what villain will cause Kirk trouble in Darkness.

The miniseries includes a story created by Roberto Orci, who is the co-writer and producer of both of J.J. Abrams' reboot films, and Mike Johnson, actively involved in IDW's Star Trek® series in the reboot universe.The artist is David Messina.

Alan Dean Foster wrote the novel tie-in for the film with a book release date of May 21, 2013. It is formatted in hardcover (352 pages), audio, and Kindle versions. All are available on Amazon

• The gold metal pizza cutter in the shape of the Enterprise NCC-1701 is a Limited Edition release of only 1701 total units. Each is numbered and Laser-etched, with a stainless steel blade. The body is 24-carat gold plated. This is an officially licensed Star Trek® collectable item.
• Blade diameter is 4" and the total length including the blade is 8.5".