Review by C.J. Bunce
The fifth volume of the encyclopedia of Star Trek ships has arrived. This time Hero Collector is taking on the ships of Star Trek: Voyager. It’s all in the new full color hardcover book Star Trek Shipyards: The Borg and Delta Quadrant, Volume One, available now here at Amazon. Star Trek Shipyards is known for its colorful, high quality illustrations, providing an in-universe guide to the seemingly endless array of the franchise’s spacecraft. Because of the timing of cutting edge computer-generated design during the seven years of Star Trek Voyager, writers Ben Robinson and Marcus Riley were able to compile two volumes worth of images, using the actual renderings used by the show’s art and visual effects departments. But first it takes a look at the ships of The Borg, the cybernetic race first seen in Star Trek: The Next Generation.
These are the very ships designed by Rick Sternbach, Dan Curry, Steve Burg, and Tim Earls, envisioned in physical models by the likes of Greg Jein and Tony Meininger, and in digital form via several internal and outsourced visual effects shops. Thanks in part to fan and Trek guru Jorg Hillebrand, the Delta Quadrant features work from the actual show archives for all but one ship.
After forty-five pages devoted to the vessels of The Borg Collective, the book chronicles the story of the Voyager crew via the ships in alphabetical order. Volume One begins with the ships from Abaddon’s “Junk Ship” seen in the sixth season episode “Alice” and the Akritirian freighter seen in the third season episode “The Chute” and it concludes with the ships of the Krenim, the time-correcting peoples directed by Kurtwood Smith’s memorable villain Annorax in the two-part “Year of Hell” story arc.
Check out this exclusive look inside Star Trek Shipyards: The Borg and Delta Quadrant, Volume One, courtesy of Hero Collective:
Each ship profile features artwork from the original visual effects models, detailed technical specifications, service history, and annotated views of the ships’ features. Vessels of The Borg Collective include a size comparison rendering. Appendices cross-reference ships and episodes. Many of the ships feature breakout details.
All of the ships feature Michael Okuda’s familiar Okudagram design layouts, so readers will be immersed inside the world of Star Trek’s future as if they are onboard a craft researching a vessel via Memory Alpha or any modern Starfleet computer.
This is a much better look at the ships than seen in the classic Star Trek technical books and magazines. The images are crisp and detailed, and printed on sturdy paper stock.
It’s a great trip back to those familiar stories and ships for Star Trek: Voyager fans, and a solid in-universe guide for all die-hard Trek fans. Star Trek Shipyards: The Borg and Delta Quadrant, Volume One is available now here at Amazon, from Hero Collector. You can also pre-order Volume Two here, due out in June.
