Star Trek: Federation - The First 150 Years

Real world article
(written from a Production point of view)

Author(s):	David A. Goodman
Artist(s):	Joe Corroney, Mark McHaley, Cat Staggs, Jeff Carlisle
Editor(s):	Kristin Mehus-Roe & Dana Youlin
Publisher:	47North and becker&mayer! Titan Books (UK)
Published:	4 December 2012 11 October 2013 (UK)
Pages:	176
Timespan:	22nd-24th century
Reference(s):	ISBN 9781612184173 (US) ISBN 9781781169155 (UK)

Star Trek: Federation – The First 150 Years is a 2012 hardcover reference book from 47North and becker&mayer!. Written by David A. Goodman, the hardcover book features illustrations by Joe Corroney, Mark McHaley, Cat Staggs, and Jeff Carlisle.

There is a deluxe edition which is presented in a pedestal display marked "Memory Alpha", with a button initiating light effects and an audio introduction by George Takei, in character as Admiral Hikaru Sulu, "Commander in chief of Starfleet Command". The book can also be bought by itself.

As David Goodman stated himself at the end of the book, it is not consistent with the events described in the Enterprise relaunch novels. Although these books also describe the Earth-Romulan War and the first years of the Federation, most of Federation – The First 150 Years had already been written at the time the novels were released.

Summary

Publisher's description

Assembled as a Special Exhibit on Memory Alpha, Star Trek Federation: The First 150 Years celebrates the 150th anniversary of the founding of the United Federation of Planets.

This unprecedented illustrated volume chronicles the pivotal era leading up to Humankind's First Contact with Vulcan, the Romulan War, the creation of the Federation, and the first 150 years of the intergalactic democracy. Meticulously researched, this account covers a multitude of alien species, decisive battles, and the technology that made the Age of Exploration possible. It includes field sketches, illustrations, and reproductions of historic pieces of art from across the Galaxy, along with over fifty excerpts from key Federation documents and correspondence, Starfleet records, and intergalactic intelligence.

Housed in a pedestal display complete with lights and an audio introduction by Admiral Hikaru Sulu, this deluxe edition also features five removable documents from the Federation Archives, including Zefram Cochrane's early sketch of the warp 5 engine and his speech for the Warp 5 complex, a handwritten letter from young Jim Kirk, and the first-known diagram of a Trill symbiont.

Excerpts of copyrighted sources are included for review purposes only, without any intention of infringement.

Contents

• A Note on Sources
• Prologue, Cochrane's Flight: 2063 – 2120
• Chapter 1, First Steps: 2120 – 2155
• Chapter 2, The Romulan War: 2155 – 2160
• Chapter 3, The Federation: 2160 – 2245
• Chapter 4, The Edge of Night: 2245 – 2290
• Chapter 5, The New Era: 2290 – 2311
• Selected Bibliography

Xindi-Avian (p. 56)

Trill Medical Diagram (Insert)

Background information

• Interviewed by StarTrek.com in August 2012, illustrators Staggs and McHaley indicated Staggs was primarily responsible for portrait (like James T. Kirk, Spock, and a Xindi-Avian) and McHaley contributed chapter-opening art. Overall, the two estimated the project took them nine months "from the first conversation" to completion. [1]
• In a September 2012 interview with StarTrek.com, illustrators Carlisle and Corroney indicated the publisher described the project to them as "an official, 'real world'-type journal chronicling the history of the Federation that would make the reader feel like they are living in the Star Trek universe and reading a history book that actually existed for the characters." [2]
• Illustrator Carlisle was originally brought onto the project for "some late artwork" in Spring 2012. He was originally commissioned for the Trill anatomical diagram and USS Enterprise schematic, but was asked for two additional pieces: a sketch of Surak's katric ark and Cochrane's envelope (on which Carlisle's handwriting stood in for Cochrane's.) [3] [4]
• Author David A. Goodman was brought onto the project by Dave Rossi and John Van Citters, who indicated CBS Consumer Products was "looking for a television writer to write the history of the Federation." [5] Editor Youlin expanded that a television writer would be better able to write from multiple voices. [6]
• The project timeline was considered "ambitious" and "pretty intense," with Goodman given roughly three months to write the manuscript. [7]
• This book was intended to be a Star Trek-version of a "coffee-table companion book to David McCoullough's [1776: The Illustrated Edition], which had an abridged version of the text but included replicas of famous documents from American history." [8]
• The pedestal design originally included a locking clamp and keypad, but mechanic issues caused the design team to shift to an audio component featuring Takei. [9]

External links

• 2012 interview with the editor and designer at TrekCore
• Federation: The First 150 Years at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works