Star Trek: Phase II: The Making of the Lost Series

by Garfield Reeves-Stevens and Judith Reeves-Stevens

Book Overview

In 1977, Star Trek fans shuld have been treated to a new series, Star Trek Phase II. All the actors were signed, sets and props were designed, new models were built, scripts were written and filming... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0671568396
• ISBN13: 9780671568399
• Release Date: August 1991
• Publisher: Star Trek
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 2.18 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 8.5" x 10.9"

Customer Reviews

You don't need to worry, Gene.

Rewind to 1977, when Star Trek was entering its seventh year of syndication, creator of the Original Series and the 22-episode Star Trek animated series, Gene Roddenberry, conceived of a new live Star Trek series. The show was called Star Trek Phase II, and Paramount decided to have the show on their new network. Sets and props and costumes were designed and tested. The writers also wrote a two-hour teleplay which is the pilot for Phase II. The cast almost reunited, but without Leonard Nimoy. When principal photography almost started, Paramount decided to cancel the network and the series. Instead of having Star Wars cancel them out, they decided to have a movie instead of a pilot... thus begins the story of the lost Star Trek series. They made the first episode of Phase II, which was "In Thy Image, Parts I and II" into the first movie, "Star Trek: The Motion Picture." Several Phase II stories are in this book and the design of the never-seen-before U.S.S. Enterprise are shown. The book is 360 pages of information on the almost-but-didn't happen Star Trek series. Hold on, Gene, there is some way to salvage the pieces of the Phase II sets. Now, fast forward to 2001-2004 where Star Trek movies are made more better on DVD. Watch the text commentary by Michael and Denise Okuda on the Original cast films, where they reveal stuff about Phase II, like what pieces were used in the six Trek films and "Nemesis." This great pair is more than you need for a Star Trek series.

The Missing Link!

"Star Trek: Phase II" was a planned series that would pick up where The Original Series left off. This project never materialized, but the ideas and concepts were later used in The Motion Picture and The Next Generation.This book is an interesting slice of the life of the Star Trek Saga, and you are given a peep-hole into the mind of Gene Rodenberry: what he wanted to do and where he was going.The illustrations are superb and well worth the pice.Personally, it is refreshing to see the gap between the Original Series and the later spin-offs filled. You sense that something severe has happened between "Turnabout Intruder" and "Encounter at Farpoint." The movies and the novels try to bridge the gap, but this book makes the link seamless.This book is Sci-Fi's "Lucy," the missing link!

Good info

This book contained information about the transformation from TOS to the making of "phase II", a TV series that eventually was scrapped and the pilot was morphed into ST:TMP. I found the information to be interesting, and would recommend it to any Star Trek fan, especially those of TOS. Most interesting to me was the analyses of how the scrapped Phase II produced characters and scripts that were eventually seen on ST:TNG. Xon "became" Data, Ilia "became" Troi, and Decker=Riker is fairly obvious. Additionally, scripts like "The Child" that were written for Phase II, were later filmed for ST:TNG. Also included is the full first draft script of the pilot for Phase II, which again morphed int ST:TMP. It's interesting to see how the drafts change and (mostly) become stronger. Furthermore,are 4-8 page descriptions of all each story that would have been in Phase IIs first season. I do recommend this book for any Trek fan. The background information is limited, as the majority of the book is the scripts, but it is still an interesting piece of ST history.

Star Trek Phase II: The Lost Series

Books like these seldom hit the bookshelves here so I bought it the first time I saw it and was not disappointed. The content is interesting specially for Original Series fans. It gives you an insight into Roddenberry's vision after the first three seasons. It even includes sketches, scripts, plots, behind-the-scene info. The story-telling is a little dull. Then again, this is not a novel, so I believe an exception is in order. All-in-all, an exceptional piece of literature.

A lot of interesting information, though a little dry

A fascinating look behind-the-scenes of the Trek that never was. Much of this information has been revealed before, but there is still plenty of information that will be new to even the seasoned Trek veteran. The scripts are a nice addition to the book as well. My only complaint is that the writing style tends to be a bit dry. This may have made a better documentary than a book.