The Fifty-Year Mission: The Next 25 Years: From The Next Generation to J. J. Abrams bookcover

The Fifty-Year Mission: The Next 25 Years: From The Next Generation to J. J. Abrams

The Complete, Uncensored, and Unauthorized Oral History of Star Trek
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Description

This is the true story behind the making of a television legend. There have been many books written about Star Trek, but never with the unprecedented access, insight and candor of authors Mark A. Altman and Edward Gross. Having covered the franchise for over three decades, they’ve assembled the ultimate guide to a television classic.

The Fifty-Year Mission: Volume Two is an incisive, no-holds-barred oral history telling the story of post-Original Series Star Trek, told exclusively by the people who were there, in their own words—sharing the inside scoop they’ve never told before—unveiling the oftentimes shocking true story of the history of Star Trek and chronicling the trials, tribulations—and tribbles—that have remained deeply buried secrets... until now.

The Fifty-Year Mission: Volume Two includes the voices of hundreds television and film executives, programmers, writers, creators, and cast, who span from the beloved The Next Generation and subsequent films through its spin-offs: Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise, as well J.J. Abrams’ reimagined film series.

Product Details

PublisherThomas Dunne Books
Publish DateAugust 30, 2016
Pages864
LanguageEnglish
TypeBook iconHardback
EAN/UPC9781250089465
Dimensions241.1 X 157.5 X 1.6 mm | 2.4 pounds

About the Author

EDWARD GROSS is a veteran entertainment journalist who took his childhood passion for film and television and turned it into a career. As a student at Hofstra University, while most of the staff of The New Voice was interviewing the likes of student senators and faculty members, he was speaking to people like playwright Neil Simon (awarded an honorary degree by the school), Curtis Sliwa of New York’s Guardian Angels, Dr. Daniel Schwartz, the police psychiatrist who interviewed both David Berkowitz and Mark David Chapman; and James Bond director John Glen. Early on he sold pieces to New York Nightlife, Starlog and Filmfax magazines and was on his way.

Over the years he would not only become a correspondent for Starlog, but part of the editorial staff of Fangoria, Cinefantastique, SFX, Cinescape, Sci-Fi Now, Not of This Earth, RetroVision, Life Story, Movie Magic, Film Fantasy and TV Magic. Online he was Executive Editor, US for Empire Online, Film and TV Editor at Closer Weekly, Life & Style, and In Touch Weekly, and Nostalgia Editor for DoYouRemember? Currently he is senior editor at Geek magazine, and editor and podcast host for Voices from Krypton (devoted to the superhero genre), TV RetroVision (classic television) and Vampires and Slayers (the name says it all).

In addition to the oral history books he’s written with Mark A. Altman, Gross’ other titles include Secret File: The Making of a Wiseguy and The Unofficial 25th Anniversary Odd Couple Companion; X-Files Confidential; Spider-Man Confidential; Planet of the Apes Revisited with Joe Russo and Larry Landsman; Rocky: The Ultimate Guide; and Stargate: SG1 — In Their Own Words.

MARK A. ALTMAN is a television and motion picture writer/producer/director who is the showrunner/executive producer of the sci-fi series, Pandora, distributed globally by Sony Pictures Television. Previously he served as Co-Executive Producer of The Librarians (TNT), Agent X (TNT), Castle (ABC), and Necessary Roughness (USA) among others. He also recently completed work on the gonzo documentary spotlighting the pop culture touchstones of the seminal moviegoing year of 1982, Greatest Geek Year Ever!

His first motion picture was the award winning, Free Enterprise, starring William Shatner and Eric McCormack, which he wrote and produced and for which he won the Writers Guild of America Award for Best New Writer. In addition, Altman has sold numerous pilots and feature films and produced the $30 million film adaptation of the bestselling video game, DOA: Dead Or Alive, which was released by Dimension Films. He is also a producer of the House of the Dead series, based on the videogame from Sega, released by Lionsgate. In addition, he produced director Craig Mazin (Chernobyl) and writer James Gunn’s feature film, the superhero satire, The Specials.

Altman has also directed several comedy specials including Aries Spiers: Comedy Blueprint for NBC/Universal and Comedy Dynamics and in 2019, he launched the Electric Surge video podcast network with producer Dean Devlin (Independence Day, Stargate) which produces and distributes numerous podcasts spotlighting pop culture topics with notable experts in their field. The video podcasts which include The 4:30 Movie and Inglorious Treksperts, the only podcast for Star Trek fans with a life, which he co-hosts, along with Best Movies Never Made is also available on the streaming OTT platform, Electric Now, as well as through traditional podcast providers.

His bestselling two-volume book with Edward Gross, The Fifty-Year Mission: The Complete, Uncensored, Unauthorized Oral History of Star Trek, was released by St. Martin’s Press in 2016 to unanimous critical acclaim, including raves in The Wall Street Journal, Booklist and Publishers Weekly. Altman and Gross have since collaborated on oral histories of Battlestar Galactica (So Say We All), the James Bond films and Spymania (Nobody Does It Better), and the complete Star Wars saga (Secrets of the Force).

Altman is a former entertainment journalist as well. In the past, he has contributed to such newspapers and magazines as The Boston Globe, Written By, L'Cinefage, Film Threat, The Guardian, Brandeis Magazine and many others, including the legendary genre journal, Cinefantastique for which he launched their independent film division, CFQ Films, which produced numerous successful genre features for both DTV and VOD release.

He has also spoken at numerous industry events and conventions, including ShowBiz Expo as well as the Variety/Final Draft Screenwriters Panel at the Cannes Film Festival. He was a juror at the prestigious Sitges Film Festival in Barcelona, Spain. He has been a frequent guest and panelist at Comic-Con held annually in San Diego, CA and a two-time juror for the Comic-Con Film Festival. In addition to being a graduate of the Writers Guild of America Showrunners Training Program, he is a member of the Television Academy.

Reviews

“The oral history of the Star Trek franchise boldly continues. Writer and producer Altman and Gross who did a terrific job in their first volume, have once again meticulously selected and chronologically arranged a massive number of comments from more than 200 people involved in the TV shows and movies.” —Kirkus Reviews

Praise for The Fifty-Year Mission: The First 25 Years

“Breathtaking in scope and depth, this is a must-read for Star Trek lovers as well as anyone who wants a better understanding of how television and film production works.” —Booklist, starred review

“An absolute must for any Star Trek fan.” —Kirkus Reviews

“As a lifelong fan, I thought I knew everything there was to know about Star Trek. Thankfully, I was wrong. Thanks to revealing, honest and — dare I say it? — fascinating interviews from the insiders who were really there,The Fifty-Year Mission is an epic tome that's full of so much fantastic information, I felt like I was discovering the incredible behind-the-scenes story of Star Trek (and Hollywood, for that matter) all over again. It's a page-turner in every sense of the word, and I could not put it down.” —Scott Mantz, Access Hollywood

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