Phil Farrand

I am a fan of many TV shows, present and past, but few can ever hope to rival my all-time favorite, Star Trek: The Next Generation. It's been said that the golden age of sci-fi and fantasy is when you were 12, and that's exactly the age I began watching TNG every night.

Phil Farrand's Nitpicker's Guide is one of the best supplementary books written by and for the fans. The attention to detail devoted to this collection has to be seen to be believed. And the writing delights with just that show more right dose of wit and humor. I can't help but smile, even decades later. show less

Y'know, in the fall of 2002, I picked up Phil Farrand's The Nitpicker's Guide for Classic Trekkers at the Friends of the Library sale and read it before all the other books I bought, as well as the ones I had already started. In the fall of 2003, I witnessed deja vu, save that I managed to stretch this one out over a couple of more days. This book is very trivial, yet very entertaining. It basically goes through the first six seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation and points out all of show more the plot flaws, continuity errors and general oversights of each episode. Now this concept could make for the most boring book in the world, but this book is anything but. Phil, I mean, Mr. Farrand writes with such an engaging style that I get the feeling that I'm sitting at the kitchen table with a buddy, quaffing a sociable beverage and talking Trek. (I know, I know, that would be a very one sided conversation. But hey, that's how it usually is in real life. Now you know why I write.) Anyway, I'm putting this one on my shelf.
(Unfortunately at the fall 2004 book sale, I failed to get volume 2 or a Deep Space Nine guide.)
--J. show less

I'm not really a fan of nit-picking shows. I was when I was younger, but as I've gotten older an error has to be really egregious for me to take umbrage with it and want to point it out. And there's a lot of things in this book in which I have little interest, particularly continuity errors, where an arm or cup moves from scene to scene. That being said, there's an obvious love of Star Trek here, and it is great fun to revisit episodes of this fantastic series. I also enjoyed seeing how show more things changed throughout the run of Next Gen (for example, how the Trill developed). I also appreciate that the author gives props to the creators for the many, many things they do well. If you love Next Gen, I can't imagine you wouldn't enjoy this book. show less

Did I ever mention that my wife has two bachelor's degrees? Well, she does, and she has a MA after her name as well. Me, I've got an associate's degree from a community college. How can such a charming and intelligent fellow such as myself be so lacking in academic credentials? Well, perhaps this will illustrate. Once I went to the local library sale and bought this book. I came home and did I continue with the academic volume, The Two Babylons, which I had on loan from the library? Of show more course not! During the next two days I managed to devote all my spare moments of reading to this volume, which I have already read! A book devoted to the little problems and inconsistencies found in a television series! (and subsequent movies.) Does it really matter that the Klingons changed their appearance between the series and the first Star Trek movie? What possible significance is there in the fact that the Mugato leaves rabbit prints? Who cares that Captain Kirk splits his pants in the episode "The Savage Curtain"? Unfortunately, Phil Farrand makes such minutiae quite amusing. So, not only have I read and enjoyed this book, but I'm putting it on my shelf. I've got an empty spot where I was going to put War and Peace, once I got around to buying and reading it, of course.
--J. show less