Tuesday, December 4, 2012

It's FEDERATION DAY—exclusive art from the new non-fiction Trek book, on sale today

Well, this is exciting.

All joshing aside, as when we "opened our box" to unwrap the incredible FEDERATION: The First 150 YearsI've known author David Goodman mainly from his day job—from when he signed aboard ENTERPRISE for its two middle seasons off the strength of his comedy writing for the classic "Where No Fan Has Gone Before" Trek homage on Futurama. Since then, of course, he's gone on to the Seth McFarlane Hit Factory and worked on both Family Guy and now American Dad.  

And just TODAY came news David's pilot for another animation comedy MURDER POLICE has just sold to series by Fox—so congrats, busy man.


But for today's EXCLUSIVE bit here: This original artwork of the founding UFP ambassadors and Charter signers—a full-page piece* by Mark McHaley, and just one of those to be found in FEDERATION amid a slew of original art concepts and graphic documents (click it open for it's full glory!).



To explain: That "unwrapping" vidpost is also where I told the improbable and personal story of all those various names that David uses here surrounding the Federation Charter ... and a refresher on its origins. And it's why FEDERATION's publishers and promoters allowed us the honor at Trekland of unveiling it for you. Suffice to say, I WISH I could tell my dad he had such a hand in Federation history ... and that my son really does not argue quite as much as a Tellarite.  And to think I owe it all to the TNG Companion and Penny Juday, the art department coordinator for Generations who said, "Hey, we can use some cool filler for the Picard scrapbook! Everyone is pitching in!" See how these goofy life stories snowball?

So to sum up: a must-have book with a cool concept (an anniversary exhibit on Memory Alpha), plus great artwork and removable goodies ... including this one, with an unexpected bonus personal "1994" touch for me. Just one more chink in the millions of stories that make up the Trek City. (And this one comes in time for gift-giving, of course, via Amazon.com).

And if this awesome art and our "unwrapping" tease are not enough—tomorrow follows with  another Trekland surprise: our EXCLUSIVE vidchat with David Goodman, in two parts. Stay tuned...




*The caption for McHaley's Page 90 chapter-opening artwork reads:  
Jonathan Archer speaking at the signing of the Federation Charter. Behind him, left to right, are Ambassadors T’Jan of Vulcan, Gort Sarahd of Andoria, Admiral Douglas, and Ambassador Natha Kell of Tellar

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