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Uncharted Content from the Final Frontier - Since 1999 |
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Franz Joseph
Franz Joseph Schnaubelt (1914-1994) is best known to Star Trek fans as
author of the Star Trek Blueprints (also known as the "Booklet of General Ship's Plans") (Ballantine Books, 1975)
and the Star Fleet Technical Manual (Ballantine Books, 1975),
The Star Trek Blueprints were the definitive guide
to the exterior and interior of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701
as it appeared in the original Star Trek television series.
Fans could learn for the first time what the spheres at the front end of the warp
engines were called, and what path a turbolift would take from the bridge to
the hangar deck.
The Star Fleet Technical Manual was the
definitive guide to the technology of the Star Trek universe
during the original Star Trek television series.
Fans could find out for the first time what all the controls on a tricorder were for,
and that there were starships in the Federation Star Fleet that were of
different designs than the Enterprise.
Whereas the more recent Star Trek technical publications
have been largely produced with computer assistance, Franz Joseph created the
Star Trek Blueprints and
Star Fleet Technical Manual entirely by hand.
According to an interview given by Paul Newitt in a June 1984 special issue of
Enterprise Incidents, Franz Joseph spent 252 hours
researching and 248 hours drawing the Star Trek Blueprints,
and 400 hours researching and 1,000 hours drawing the
Star Fleet Technical Manual.
Franz Joseph's BGP and TM were a huge hit with science-fiction and
Star Trek fans. Both made the New York Times
Bestsellers list, and the works became the model for countless science-fiction
"technical" publications that followed.
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