Fans pick 100 books like Deep Space Nine Companion

Rod Serling’s fantasy anthology (where he was narrator and chief writer) was a favorite of ours back then and still is. Despite a skimpy production budget, the show’s quality scripts, acting, and imaginative themes usually transcended the sparse settings.

Having seen most episodes several times, we still turn to Zicree’s handy book to refresh our memories of the show. This was one of the first of the “companion” books to document a memorable TV series, presenting each episode with cast and crew information, airdate, sample photo, the text of Serling’s intro and outro narration, plot summary and revealing analysis, and background details. The expanded 3rd edition (from 2018) also covers the various later revivals of the series.

I have no idea why this book was made. Star Trek was a cult show that was nearly canceled after its second season until the first fan campaign helped it earn one more run. So whose genius idea was it—in the midst of production—to create this book detailing how the show was made from soup to nuts? My thanks to the writers, editors, and publishers who made it happen. Because the result is an extraordinary contemporaneous look at a television show from the 1960s that changed the world. And my life, too. I found Star Trek as a child and this book as an early teen. Its insights made me determined that I, too, would somehow become a part of Star Trek production. Even if the show had finished filming before I was even born. Bless my Trekkie English teacher who had this book on her “borrowing” shelf. 

While The Making of Star Trek was a miraculous and uncalled-for contemporaneous title focused on the creation and production of the series overall, David Gerrold’s subsequent release, The Trouble With Tribbles, took one script and broke it down from beginning to end on exactly how the sausage—or rather a television show—was made. Filled with his witty observations combined with a writer’s frustrations of dealing with production limitations, it’s a fascinating insight for aspiring writers and Star Trek fans alike. This book, based on one of the most popular television episodes ever made, was originally published just a few years after production ended so all the stories were still fresh in his head. This one made me want to write for television but warned me why I shouldn’t.

David Gerrold had a lot to say about the experience of writing his first episode of television in The Trouble With Tribbles. But that wasn’t all the insight he had behind the scenes of the Star Trek series. So he wrote another entire book about the show and the fandom that adopted it. Once again filled with wit and wisecracks, this book is another must-have for fans of the Original Series. At the time it came out, it was a book about a show that had only just begun to make its mark on popular culture. So the production and studio “machine” was not yet in control of what could and couldn’t be said about the property. Another raw and fascinating book by someone who was actually in the room where it happened. And one that made my entry into Star Trek fandom more understandable.

This is the companion book for Des Doyle's acclaimed documentary with the same title (also highly recommended).

Described as “the first ever feature-length documentary to explore the world of U.S. television showrunners and the creative forces they employ”, the documentary is an insightful overview of the TV creative process, featuring interviews with some of the best showrunners in the business.

There is simply nothing that beats this if you want to get a sense of how the industry works and measure the stakes, the energy, the pressure, the creativity, the professionalism, and the humor experienced or displayed by these awe-inspiring storytellers.

The book features a foreword by Hart Hanson (Showrunner of Bones, The Finder, Backstrom), an introduction by Doyle, and expands on the interviews featured in the documentary.

I recommend this book not on the basis of my co-editorship with Lisa but rather on the basis that the essays contained in it speak to the unexceptionality of premodern female power and influence in both the fantasy fiction world and in historiography and how these sometimes reflect one another—without forcing the issue. The germ of the idea for the essay collection came with the screening of the sixth series HBO television cultural phenomenon when all of a sudden the female characters started to emerge as leaders and belligerents in the quest for the Iron Throne and all that that entailed. 

Alpha & Omega is a novella by Patricia Briggs, but it’s not one to miss! It starts the story of Charles and Anna (who are mentioned but not really seen or featured in the Mercy Thompson series) and slides right into the first book—Cry Wolf—in the Alpha & Omega series.

If you love a heroine who is a little broken but still fighting, this is for you. Anna has endured so much when she meets Charles, and their romance arc from the novella to the latest release is epic. There are six novels in the series + the novella, and honestly, I might like it even more than the Mercy Thompson series.

Charles’ taciturn nature, his soft side that only Ana gets to see, and how everyone else in the world fears him as the second most dangerous werewolf make him incredibly swoon-worthy.

Williamson was one of the first people (after me) to critique advertising from a feminist point of view. I could have chosen her earlier book, Decoding Advertisements: Ideology and Meaning in Advertising, which also had a big influence on me, but this one is less academic and more readable.

Her discussion of how advertising channels people’s desire for progressive change into a need for products was one of the themes of my doctoral dissertation (written before this book). There are many gems, such as the fact that the ideal body type for women in ads has sometimes been that of a teenage boy!  

This book came out a few months after the first edition of my book, and I remember being really frustrated because it added so many important ideas.

I still find its interrogation of interfaces and how they interact, open as different tabs, intriguing. Johnson focusses on how online TV functions within an internet ecosystem. This leads to interesting ideas about what TV distributed via the internet means.

I love reading, rereading, and teaching with this book. Whenever I open it, I learn something new or remember crucial aspects that enhance my understanding of television as a medium, my enjoyment of specific shows or genres I watch, and find new ways of engaging with production, representation, and performance aspects.

I have now taught with it since his earlier 2011 volume (Critical Approaches) and am only sad that this one appears to be the final edition. It is chock-full of intriguing case studies and deft explanations of what makes television television.