Starship Spotter (Star Trek (Unnumbered Paperback))

I have read so many pejorative reviews of this little book, but to me, it's a gem. So it's not a new technical manual; it's not supposed to be. It is a very concise collection of CG images of Star Trek's most famous starships. Any Star Trek collector should have this little marvel in his bookcase. Besides having a two-page photo of a gorgeous CG full-color image, each starship also has a page with a wire-frame model and technical information. The weakest part of the book is the description of each ship. There are a few misspellings, and clumsy phrases. Moreover, the writers took a few creative liberties regarding their subjects. Nit-picky Trek-techs probably object to the latter. No matter, I like the images. The paper quality is also great; glossy and smooth. Buy one!

This guide features histories and artwork of some of the many ships featured in the Star Trek movies and TV shows up to 2001 when it was published. Each ship gets 2 pages of background, and then a two page CGI art spread.This is a fun little book that really is no longer needed, but nice to page through. Starting with the Starfleet Handbook back in the 70s the major science fiction franchises would produce in-universe guides to their settings, filled with fictional histories and nice art this is a fun book to page through if you're into Star Trek or just cool space ships. I question some of the choices, I'm not sure the Work Bee deserved a section more than say the Borg Cube or Doomsday Machine, but that's just quibbling.In these days of wikis and google image searches a book like this is not really needed. Any fan can waste days and days with Star Trek information, but it is nice.

The previous reviews are quite accurate, and should be read before deciding to purchase. For my part, I was overall content with the book, since I was more interested in the ship statistics and some of the "historical" descriptions than the artwork, so the admittedly disappointing nature of the ship renderings did not put me off as badly. However, the omission of key ships (see below) was a major disappointment, particularly galling was the insistence on describing things I could care less about, such as the Midas Array, "worker bees", etc. If one is going to limit oneself to 128 pages and 30 ships, then perhaps a little more common sense ought to have been devoted to selecting which "ships" to describe!Another problem I had with some of the more exotic alien ships was a lack of information on their statistics, especially the Species 8472 bioship. While one cannot reveal all secrets, having everything listed as "unknown" is more than a little unsatisfying. At the least simply state observed qualities (i.e. maximum warp (observed) 9.46) or something similar.I also agree that the line drawings of the ships were not as useful as they could have been. I would suggest either replacing or perhaps augmenting them with more standard 3 view drawings (front, profile, and top) as are given in the Star Fleet Technical Manual, for example.It is my sincerest hope that a revised and heavily expanded 2nd edition will be released. Should the author(s) read this, here are some glaring omissions in need of being added:- Excelsior class- Ambassador class- Constellation class- Oberth class- Daedalus class- Borg cube- Borg sphere- Borg tactical cube- Enterprise NX-01- Klingon Negh'Var battleship- K'Vort class cruiserVery nice and much appreciated additions would be:- Vulcan ships from Enterprise- Klingon ships from Enterprise (a number of new designs are in evidence)- The Romulan ship from Enterprise (the minefield episode)- Other Earth ships from Enterprise (particularly the 2nd season finale)- "Kobyashi Maru" Neutronic Fuel carrier- Freighter destroyed in STIII by Bird of Prey- Tholian ships- Kazon shipIn spite of the unflattering reviews, this is a neat little book. For the price (on Amazon, that is), it is not a terribly bad buy. Wouldn't pay any more for it, though! However, there is much room for improvement, and I fervently hope the authors will take it upon themselves to release a vastly enhanced manual in the near future.

I was very much looking forward to this book, but it was a major disappointment. I was expecting a piece of work of the same quality as the Ships of the Line calendar. Instead the renderings were muddy, poorly anti-aliased and lacking in any kind of dynamics. The renderings were further marred by being double-page spreads. To actually see the rendering properly you would have to break the spine of the book. Included with each entry is a pointlessly geeky wireframe model of the ship. The text is the one bright spot in this otherwise poor product. These guys are capable of much better work. I can only hope that in 2002, the long awaited Unseen Federation will be up to their previous quality levels.

was ok not really what was expecting but its good for reference material

Images were dark, so you couldn't see much detail. By the title I was expecting something reminiscent of the old aircraft spotting images they used to use back in WWII. Would have been soooo much cooler! Or at least some crisp, clear images.

The product arrived on time but the content was disapointing. Only a short description of the ship and it's history, and a single image of the ship. The very least we should have a standard 3 point view (left, right, either forward or top with stats and a diagram of the outer features(location of phasers, photon torpedo launchers, warp engines

This book is great. If you want the 411 on starships that are popular in the Star Trek universe, complete with amazing pictures, this is the book for you. Get this book and impress your geeked out friends.

The prose in this book is probably the best thing about it. It gives you a lot of info on the various ships from all the shows (except "Enterprise" ), but for tech buffs it's a good read. The bad side is that every single one of the photos of the ships is split into two images, making it extremely hard to get any idea of what they actually look like. I know, I know, EVERYONE knows what the Enterprise and the Klingon and Romulan ships look like, but not all of us have been able to keep up with "Deep Space 9" and "Voyager", so some of the ships in those shows are new to us. Not impressed by this method of showing pictures.

Given the generally positive reviews for this book I have to say I've been very disappointed with it and wouldn't recommend it at all, there's far better resources online.So first off, what do you actually get? The book contains a good variety of ships which have four pages each - this is broken down into one page of 'waffle' with a description of the ship and its purpose, a half page showing a wireframe model of the CG ship (not a more useful cutaway), the stats for the ship (which are not always correct) and then a large two page picture of the ship itself.The 'waffle' as I've called it is just that as there's no meaningful insight into the ship at all, a simple example is the aeroshuttle from Voyager. This is a small Captain's Yacht which you can see the outline for on the underside of Voyager similar to the one seen for the Enterprise-E in Insurrection. In the series it's never seen nor mentioned with the most common fan speculation for this being that Voyager was pushed out the door in a hurry and this part was not added. This book references the aero shuttle but doesn't actually mention why we never see this. Similarly for the other ships I didn't find any of this information of any interest whatsoever.The CG wireframe model is too small and rather badly aliased making it difficult to make out any of the detail, I don't really see the point in it as it doesn't show any of the fictional ship's inner structure as it should.The stats for the 'known' ships have various errors in that they are different to what was claimed in the actual TV series and onscreen evidence of the ships themselves and for some of the alien vessels where we have no idea of this information, it's all left blank as either unknown or classified making this aspect not much use either.Finally there's the two page view of the starship which to be honest was the main reason I bought this book I was hoping to see some new views of the ships. It certainly shows some different pictures but they're generally very dark and not always taken from a great angle. The picture of the Akira is a rarer shot from the rear of one of the nacelles but the saucer section is fairly dark which means you can't see any of the potentially interesting detail in the rear shuttle bays or similar. Just one picture is rather frustrating as well, I would have much rather had a series of pictures which highlighted the various aspects of the ship.Now you might be reading through this and thinking I'm nitpicking somewhat however I think this book is obviously for the more 'geeky' of the Star Trek viewers. Fan sites such as ex-astris Scientifica provide far more detailed and accurate information.So why did I buy this book then? Well I have to admit I do like having some items printed on paper for a change rather than all on screen and I've really enjoyed some of the Star Trek material such as the enclyopedia which has a wealth of useful information readily available.I don't like rating items low as I'd like to think I've given something sufficient research before hand that I'll enjoy it but I honestly feel let down by this book especially for the price and hope I've justified that rating reasonably well.

This is a comprehensive book that lists most Starfleet vessels, as well as some from other races.The format is a full page of data, with wireframe image and then a two page full colour spread of the ship in question. The problem for me is that the book spreads the colour pictures over the pages and this spoils the effect - I would have prefered these to be on single pages but that might just be me.Not sure how accurate some of the information in here is (I spotted a couple of basic errors), but it's certainly detailed enough and covers at least to the end of the Voyager TV show, including Species 8742, and the Borg as well as stock races such as the Klingons and Romulans. As mentioned, the Federation is well represented as you may expect and even has worker bees and experimental craft listed.It's okay, but most of the stuff you could get on the web - where it excels is in the (computer generated?) pictures that are unique and do look really good.It's really one for fans, as it's expensive for what it is, but I liked it. However after a first read though I'm not sure how much I'll go back to it.

Good packaging. Some wear on the book but overall still good. I could be wrong but im sure some information is very slightly wrong but im not swearing to that. All in all though a very interesting and fascinating book and a great add to any Star Trek collection.

Due to an accident with a mug of tea this excellent little book was ruined. I decided to purchase a replacement copy.Although published some time ago I would like to see an up-dated version which would include the Excelsior and Ambassador Class Starships which were omitted for some reason. In addition, Captain Archer's Enterprise could be included as well.Over to you "MOJO"!!!!!!!!!!

This book is an interesting guide to some of the more well-known Star Trek ships from the original series up to Voyager. The book is informative with a brief history and guide to each ship in question, alongwith a wire-frame diagram and double-page CG rendering. However, the book wasn't as big as I thought it would be, it would be even better if it was A4 size and had covered more of a variety of ships - but then you can't have everything!

An absolutely excellent book.An amazing collection of oddball information about a wonderful assortment of vessels,most of which are usually only glimpsed in the background at Spacedock or DS.9For a evening of relaxation,or one filled with daydreams - 'I Wish I could get one of those ships to fit into the office car park.'

This book is well put together, with facts and figures for the various craft depicted. Pictures of the line drawings and the completed computer renderings. In short a "nice place to dip into" when a break from reality is required.

THIS IS A GOOD IDEA BUT THE QUALITY OF ILLUSTRATIONS INSIDE IS NOT WHAT I EXPECT AND PHOTOS ARE USED TO SAVE DOING ILLUSTRATION I WOULD HAVE LIKED AS AN ARTIST TO AIRBRUSH ILLUSTRATIONS MYSELF

Low price, perfect condition.

Excellent quality and delivery - recommended

this item is as expected

Very pleased

Lovely book good pics. Speedy postage Thanks. The book was a Christmas present for my "Treky" son he was very pleased with it

Great book, good amount of infomation on each ship, diverse range of ships and quality artwork.