It’s approaching that time of year when you may be wondering what you’re boldly going to get your favourite Trekkie/Trekker for Christmas. And although ‘A Very Klingon Khristmas’ is still on the shelves, you might want to get them something a little less seasonal and a bit more perennial.
‘Ships of the Line’ would be a good choice. It is perhaps the only book ever to spring from a calendar – the popular Ships of the Line series that graces the wall of many a fan’s ready-room – and collects together the images in glossy hardback form to create the kind of book that should appeal to every Starfleet aesthete.
It’s a visual log of Star Trek‘s most famous vessels, posed against galactic backdrops. The kind of book that it’s nice to pick up and paw through, or to leave open on your favourite image. Especially as now that image won’t have a month of numbers below it.
Accompanying each picture, popular Star Trek graphic designer Michael Okuda has written a short and often evocative precis to add drama and context to what you’re looking at. Not that fans will need it; many of the images are snapshots on iconic moments in Trek lore, given new and often dynamic visual perspectives by the artists, including fan favourites Doug Drexler and Koji Kuramura.
It should be noted that this is an updated edition of the previously released ‘Ships of the Line’ hardcover from 2006. An upgrade from the last book brings 75 new images for you to scan. Whether that will be enough to tempt owners of the previous book into buying it remains to be seen. There might be a few more of the original issue copies up for sale on eBay very soon.
If you, or a Trek fan you know, hasn’t already cut out their favourite images from past calendars and pasted them into a scrapbook, then this is a lovely collection; an art book for anyone who knows their warp nacelle from their deflector array.
Published on Thursday 4 December 2014 by Atria Books.
What’s your favourite Star Trek ship? Let us know below…