This week on The Trek Files: warp coils, dilithium chambers, and a whole lot of gamma rays.

Returning guest Rick Sternbach joins Larry Nemecek once again for a lively exploration of Star Trek: The Next Generation's scientific backbone. Using early technical memos and a classic 1987 warp engine sketch, Rick walks us through how the team brought real-world physics into the heart of the Enterprise-D's design and when they just had to make it up.

From working with Los Alamos physicists to devising the ejection system for the warp core, Rick shares stories of how he and Mike Okuda grounded the show's tech in reality while still serving the drama. Ever wonder why deuterium goes on top, antimatter on the bottom, or how a photon torpedo really works? This one's for the technobabble lovers and science fans alike.

Documents and additional references:

• "TNG Warp Engine Concept Sketch" by Rick Sternbach, February 18, 1987

• Excerpt from the internal Star Trek: TNG Technical Primer, May 1, 1989

The Trek Files Season 14 on Memory Alpha

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Long before The Next Generation brought LCARS to life or 3D printers made cosplay easier, Star Trek fans relied on one book to make the Enterprise feel real: The Starfleet Technical Manual by Franz Joseph.

In this week's episode, Larry Nemecek welcomes back Karen Schnaubelt, daughter of Franz Joseph, to mark the 50th anniversary of that seminal 1975 publication, just weeks after its surprise appearance atop the New York Times bestseller list. More than just a how-to guide for warp drives and turbo lifts, the Tech Manual became a cornerstone of Trek fandom and helped lay the foundation for the Star Trek revival that followed.

Karen reflects on her father's unique journey from retired engineer to pop culture icon, how the Technical Manual grew out of lunch-hour sketches and club meetings, and what it was like watching fandom embrace a book that treated Star Trek like a living universe. Plus, Larry and Karen discuss how that very success may have stirred some tension in Gene Roddenberry's orbit.

Documents and additional references: The New York Times Book Review – January 4, 1976

The Trek Files Season 14 on Memory Alpha

All episodes and documents: The Trek Files on Memory Alpha

Visit the Trekland site for behind-the-scenes access and exclusive merchandise.

The conversation continues on Discord with live chats and the Roddenberry Podcasts community! Join today!

Writer/producer Mike Sussman returns to The Trek Files with a personal favorite: the creative and very meta preface to Gene Roddenberry's novelization of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. In it, Gene (writing as himself and as Admiral Kirk) casts the original Star Trek series as a fictionalized dramatization of real events. Wait… what?

Join Mike and Larry Nemecek as they unpack Roddenberry's playful (and possibly defensive) retcon of Trek canon, written at a time when Gene was emerging as a sci-fi thought leader in the post-Star Wars, post-lecture-circuit era. It's Roddenberry as revisionist historian, spinning group consciousness, mind control revolts, and alternate human evolution… all in the introduction to his own movie tie-in novel.

You may never look at the "real" Kirk, or Trek canon, the same way again.

Documents and additional references: Admiral Kirk's Preface, Star Trek: The Motion Picture novelization by Gene Roddenberry (1979)

Reference: Star Trek: The Motion Picture novelization – Memory Alpha

The Trek Files Season 14 on Memory Alpha

All episodes and documents: The Trek Files on Memory Alpha

Visit the Trekland site for behind-the-scenes access and exclusive merchandise.

The conversation continues on Discord with live chats and the Roddenberry Podcasts community! Join today!