Set Phasers to Stun: 50 Years of Star Trek

Marcus Berkmann

Softcover |13.1 x 2.1 x 19.5 cm | 320 pp

Abacus | 2017 | 9780349141152

Forty-seven years after NBC killed it off, Star Trek celebrated its half-century in a state of rude health. Boldly going where several other people have been before, Marcus Berkmann tells the story of this sturdy science fiction vehicle from its first five-year mission (rudely curtailed to three), through the dark years of the 1970s, the triumphant film series and The Next Generation, to the recent ‘reboot’ films, with a younger cast taking on the characters of Kirk, Spock, McCoy and co.

With wit, insight and a huge pile of DVDs, the author seeks to answer all the important questions. Why did Kirk’s shirt always get torn when he had a fist fight? What’s the most number of times Uhura said ‘Hailing frequencies open, sir’ in a single episode? (Seven.) And what’s the worst imaginable insult in Klingon? (Your mother has a smooth forehead.)