Review by C.J. Bunce
The sixth volume of the encyclopedia of Star Trek ships has arrived as publisher Hero Collector continues its library where Star Trek Shipyards: The Borg and Delta Quadrant (reviewed here at borg), left off. Continuing the voyages chronicled over seven seasons of Star Trek Voyager, Star Trek Shipyards: The Delta Quadrant Volume 2 documents, in a coffee-table class, full-color hardcover edition, the ships of the alien races in alphabetical order from Ledosian to Zahl. It’s available now here at Amazon. Star Trek Shipyards is known for its colorful, high quality illustrations, providing an in-universe guide–with the goal of creating an exhaustive library–to the seemingly endless array of the franchise’s highly-detailed spacecraft.
Included are photographs and story background for 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. As with the first volume, because of the timing of the cutting edge computer-generated design during the seven years of Star Trek Voyager, writers Ben Robinson and Marcus Riley were able to compile images for this volume from the franchise archives thanks to the actual renderings used by the show’s art and visual effects departments, for all but one ship from the show.
Volume One covered the ships of The Borg Collective, and began an alphabetical journey from Abaddon’s “Junk Ship” seen in the sixth season episode “Alice” and the Akritirian freighter seen in the third season episode “The Chute” through 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. Volume Two begins with the cloaked Ledosian patrol vessel discovered by Seven of Nine in the late seventh season episode, “Natural Law,” and Lokirrim ships from the seventh season episode, “Body and Soul,” and ends with the Zahl starship from the “Year of Hell” two-part episode from season four, and the ship of unknown origin left behind in Captain Janeway’s first glimpse at the Hirogens in “The Hunters,” also from season four.
Check out this look inside Star Trek Shipyards: The Delta Quadrant Volume 2:
Each ship profile features artwork from the original visual effects models, detailed technical specifications, service history, and annotated views of the ships’ features. Appendices cross-reference ships and episodes. Many of the ships feature breakout details and photographs of characters in screenshots from the relevant episodes. As with the first volume, 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. Although some of the original images use artistry over some of the finer detailing, the images used are crisp and detailed, and printed on sturdy paper stock.
This is a must-have for fans of the first volume, and all Star Trek Voyager fans will find familiar episodes and aliens that will take them back to their love for the show. Star Trek Shipyards: The Delta Quadrant Volume Two is available now here at Amazon, from Hero Collector. And don’t forget to pick up the first volume here.
