Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 791.4375
EAN num: 9780140277982
ISBN number: 0140277986
Label: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 288
Printing Date: June 01, 1999
Publishing house: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Sale Popularity Level: 1779596
Studio: Penguin (Non-Classics)
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
The very first book to get behind the scenes (and under the skin) of the worldwide Star Trek phenomenon. Future Perfect is a Trek book like no other: an insightful, irreverent, and sometimes hilarious look into the myth-making machinery behind the world's most enduring TV show. Bestselling travel and science author Jeff Greenwald has traveled the globe in search of Star Trek lore and signs of its influence, including attending a Klingon wedding in the Black Forest of Germany; interviewing Leonard Nimoy about his tempestuous relationship with his alter-ego, Mr. Spock; visiting NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where a new generation of aerospace engineers are living out their Star Trek-inspired fantasies; and speaking candidly with the Dalai Lama--a longtime Trek fan.
Future Perfect also provides a rare glimpse into the hearts and minds of Trek's creators. With broad acess to the sets and stages of both Voyager and Star Trek: First Contact, Greenwald conducts probing interviews with series stars Patrick Stewart, Michael Dorn, and Kate Mulgrew--as well as with the writers and producers charged with bringing Gene Roddenberry's vision to life. For anyone interested in how American pop culture has taken over the world, Future Perfect is fascinating reading. For Star Trek fans, it's indispensable.
Includes new Appendix listing Star Trek Web sites
'It takes a lot of attitude--real-life, boldly-going attitude-to produce a book like this . . . [it's a book] you're going to have to have.' --San Jose Mercury News
'An exhilirating romp through the fellowship of Star Trek. It offers thoughtful insights into why a fair chunk of humanity has been touched and changed by its vision.' --Minneapolis Star-Tribune
Amazon.com Review:
Kurt Vonnegut, who is interviewed in this volume, has said many times and in many ways that humans are always seeking extended families. Author Jeff Greenwald looks into one of the largest artificial families ever created, the legion of Star Trek fans who know each other by secret signs, symbols, and addictions, and who turn out to be one of the most interesting subjects for sociological study ever invented by a major movie studio. Greenwald travels the globe, interviewing Klingon clans from Germany, Trek-heads in an English pub, and dozens of Americans who find fulfillment in the wearing of funny ears. Of extreme interest is the section on the Klingon Language Institute, an actual organization of linguists and scholars who are translating the Bible into Klingon. There's already a splinter group who've decided to do their own Bible translation that will be truer to Klingon culture. There's also a delightfully eclectic assortment of celebrity interviews, some of which are eye-popping. The final chapter, I swear to Kahless, is a talk with an unlikely Trek fan: the Dalai Lama. An engaging read for Trekkers, sociologists, and Buddhists alike. --James DiGiovanna
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Rated by buyers 
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This 'trekker' tribute was written by a Buddhist-loving fan of all genres in which 'Star Trek' appeared from 1966 on. He lived in Kathmandu for awhile and is a fan of Dalai Lama, also. He mentions the science fiction writer, Arthur Clarke as a guide to the motorcycle cop who invented the land of Captain Kirk and his crew along with the 'Enterprise.'
In 1997, Gene Roddenberry's ashes, along with those of LSD guru Timothy Leary and twenty-two other individuals whose families paid $4,800 for the tiny tubes the size of a cigar as they were fired into orbit aboard a Pegasus rocket. After six years, that would make it 2003, the satellite would become a shooting star as it disintegrated into the night sky. He had higher dreams for Roddenberry's (The Great Bird) legacy, "they should be tucked into the armature of some interstellar probe, with digitally encoded episodes of the 'Star Trek' series.
From the comic books to the t.v. series, the crew are still a part of the lives of fans in obscure areas of the world. The movies were not as well-received, reaping almost $100,000 for one of them. Examples of the show's lingo can be heard in Belfast, Tokyo, Berling, London -- anywhere television can be seen.
The 'Enterprise' may be the most famous vehicle since Noah's Ark; more popular that Dr. Who's telephone time-travel box, and Mrs. Peel's fancy car, even Get Smart's shoe phone. England's rocketeer can't be more newsworthy than Homer Hickman of West Virginia ('October Sky' film was made in Knoxville and the surrounding area). The stars are gone now, but the spirit will live on.
Since I didn't watch any of the t.v. '60s series (though my boys did), I saw some of the movies. "Beam me up, Scotty" was Greek to me, a landlubber. That space lingo sounded more like Fred & Wilma (Betty & Barney) in prehistoric fantasy world. Now, I did see all of the 'Star Wars' movies.
Jeff Greenwald's 'Star Trek' was a place "where humanity's highest calling was exploration" (like America's real space program) and its values were freedom and compassion. In America, we have a semblance of freedom but compassion is sorely lacking. Only a made-up comic book world can have both simultaneously. Jeff has also written FEARLESS SALES, SIZE OF THE WORLD, and SCRATCHING THE SURFACE (2002).
Rated by buyers -
Greenwald sets out to explain Star Trek's appeal, arguing that interest in the series soared only when the 'real thing' - the moon landings - had come to an end, and there was nothing else to serve as a vent for people's interest in space travel. The author spent time on the set of 'First Contact,' and he travels the world to interview Trekkers in the UK, Japan, Hungary, Germany, Italy, and India, where he describes how each culture puts its own spin on the Trek legacy. As well, he interviews a variety of celebrities about the impact of Trek. It sounds like a great formula, but somehow the end result falls short of its potential. The interviews of fans get a bit tedious, and Greenwald's style of writing up celebrity interviews puts too much emphasis on the interviewer.
Celebrities interviewed include Leonard Nimoy, Patrick Stewart, Gates McFadden, Kate Mulgrew (who comes across as the nicest of the bunch), Michael Dorn, Producer/writer Brannon Braga, Kurt Vonnegut, Arthur Clarke, and the Dalai Lama (yes, really).
Rated by buyers -
To start off, I would not recommend this book to pre-teen readers, or anyone whose beliefs lean more toward the prudish side. Greenwald occasionally spins explicitly saucy yarns about various interviewees. The use of quoted explicatives is also prevalent.
Aside from the above, "Future Perfect" is a decidedly informative behind-the-curtain book that details both Trek's worldwide fan-base and the lives and thoughts of its creators. On the whole, nothing ground-breaking is discovered or brought forth that any left-of-casual fan wouldn't already be aware of. However, the MTVesque way the author abuts divergent ten page chapters against one another is refreshing for a non-fiction book.
My only true reservation about "Future Perfect" is that Greenwald seems to abandon interesting events, incites, and people just at the moment the reader becomes entranced. Depth obviously was sacrificed for the sake of slap-dash page turning.
If ratings allowed, I would give the book 3.5 stars.
Rated by buyers 
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Greenwald has done an excellent job in explaining, through various interviews done all across the globe, the popularity of Star Trek. From the people who actually create each new episode to the fans who put the 'fan' in 'fanatic', it's a wonderful real life adventure for the search of the meaning of Star Trek. It's also a real insight into the current masters of Star Trek; those who have taken up the work left by Roddenberry's passing. Highly recommended!
Rated by buyers -
In this unprecedented view of how and why Star Trek has captured the psyche of the entire world, Jeff Greenwald has gone where no author has gone before. He has taken an objective view of the Star Trek craze (making this book a must read for not only ST fans, but for everyone!) from the far east to America. With unprecedented acess to the sound stages of ST First Contact and Paramount's Hart building (where the writers weave their magic), this book is a ST fan's dream come true. Only after reading Mr. Greenwald's "away missions" can people truly understand how a 35 year old American-made TV show can capture the minds and hearts of people all over the world. Interview with cultural icons such as the Dalai Lama, Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Arthur C. Clarke, Leonard Nimoy, Patrick Stewart, and others help make this book the superb creation that it is. Make sure to eat a good meal and have a long nap before attempting to read "Future Perfect," because once you p! ick it up you won't be able to do anything else until you finish it. Mr. Greenwald's clear and concise method of writing allows you to dive into the book, only to resurface once you have read it in its entirety. The only thing I didn't like about the book was that it ended. I could have easily read another 500 pages full of the author's amazing insights and sense of humor! Copywrite 1998.
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