Here are 100 books that The Trouble with Tribbles fans have personally recommended if you like
The Trouble with Tribbles.
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In a life that has thus far led from reader and fan to writers’ assistant to author and journalist to television story writer to editor, these are the books that helped define my passions for storytelling worlds as well as the path of my career and informed me along the way.
I remember the moment I walked into a bookstore and saw this book sitting face out on the shelf and thought; “Wait, they make books about every episode of a TV show?” Not just that but for the show that to this day I maintain was the greatest TV show ever made:The Twilight Zone. Marc Scott Zicree’s book was my beginner’s guide into the making of a TV production with an emphasis on my greatest love: the writers. From the day I bought this, I never sat down to watch the show again without it beside me for reference. My copy is worn and tattered but eternally loved. This was the book that made me want to work for and write about television.
The Twilight Zone Companion is the complete show-by-show guide to one of television's greatest series. Zicree's well-written account is fascinating reading for even the casual fan. Coverage of each episode includes a plot synopsis, Rod Serling's opening narration, behind-the-scenes stories from the original artists who created the series, and a complete list of cast and credits.
In a life that has thus far led from reader and fan to writers’ assistant to author and journalist to television story writer to editor, these are the books that helped define my passions for storytelling worlds as well as the path of my career and informed me along the way.
I have no idea why this book was made. Star Trekwas 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 Trekas a child and this book as an early teen. Its insights made me determined that I, too, would somehow become a part ofStar Trekproduction. 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.
In a life that has thus far led from reader and fan to writers’ assistant to author and journalist to television story writer to editor, these are the books that helped define my passions for storytelling worlds as well as the path of my career and informed me along the way.
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 theStar Trekseries. 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.
In The World of Star Trek, David Gerrold opens up dialogue on the people, places, and events that made Star Trek one of the most popular series ever. Gerrold discusses what was successful and what wasn't, offering personal interviews with the series' legendary stars and dissecting the trends that developed throughout the seasons.
The complete inside story of what happened behind the scenes of the Star Trek universe, from scriptwriters' memos to special effects and more, The World of Star Trek is the companion all Trekkies need for the most all-encompassing breakdown and analysis of Star Trek.
In a life that has thus far led from reader and fan to writers’ assistant to author and journalist to television story writer to editor, these are the books that helped define my passions for storytelling worlds as well as the path of my career and informed me along the way.
If The Twilight Zone Companion was my original bible, then the Deep Space Nine Companion was its extensively expanded new testament. The alpha and omega for what a book about the making of a television show could be, this massive compendium was made possible by the unparalleled access the authors had to everyone as the show was in production. This book blew my mind with all the details it included and all of the aspects examined. Simply a treasure for all Star Trek: Deep Space Nine fans.That said, this is an authorized book, meaning nothing was published without the studio’s oversight, which differentiates it from the earlier books on this list. Nonetheless, it’s the one I strove to match when I compiled my own study on the making of Gene Roddenberry’sAndromeda entitled Sailing the Slipstream (a book I plan to re-format and re-release in an anniversary edition).
Erdmann was given unprecedented access to every aspect of the production of Star Trek Deep Space Nine in order to compile this book which is considered, by some, the ultimate guide to Star Trek's grittiest and most complex series. Insight into the making of Deep Space Nine is provided by the set designers, cast and crew, and the writers and producers. Characters over the series have grown and developed, matured and met several challenges, learnt to cope with disaster and joy, defeat and victory. Each one has had his or her story played out around the space station Deep Space…
I’m a professional screenwriter with a passion for story structure. I’ve worked on film & TV projects for more than 25 years – not only as a writer for independent producers and studios such as Warner and Universal – but also as a development exec and creative consultant. Over time, I was shocked to see how many talented storytellers felt stuck between prescriptive paradigms and a “seat-of-the-pants” approach. So I set out to fill that void and defined a more flexible yet powerful method in my first book, Screenwriting Unchained, which I’ve now enthusiastically applied to TV series. I hope you enjoy the books on this list as much as I have!
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.
Showrunners is an insider's guide to creating and maintaining a hit show in today's golden age of television. The official companion to the documentary Showrunners, this highly informative book features exclusive interviews with such acclaimed and popular showrunners as Joss Whedon, Damon Lindelof, Ronald D.Moore, Terence Winter, Bill Prady, and Jane Espenson.
When I was a child, I was forever drawing pictures of princesses in elaborate medieval and early modern dress. I devoured history books—especially those containing artworks that helped me visualize the people whose names rang out from their pages. Inexplicably, I was passionate about France and French language and culture from my primary school years. Then, in my early twenties, I stumbled onto Umberto Eco’s, The Name of the Rose, which appeared in English translation around 1983. History has been, and remains, my passion (as do whodunits). I have been passionately obsessed with in my research for over two decades—uncovering the truth that lies beneath the spin and the ashes.
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.
Is the world of George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire and HBO's Game of Thrones really medieval? How accurately does it reflect the real Middle Ages? Historians have been addressing these questions since the book and television series exploded into a cultural phenomenon. For scholars of medieval and early modern women, they offer a unique vantage point from which to study the intersections of elite women and popular understandings of the premodern world. This volume is a wide-ranging study of those intersections. Focusing on female agency and the role of advice, it finds a wealth of…
I have been a fan of the horror genre since I was a kid. Even though sometimes I was so scared, I had to sleep with the light on or not sleep at all. Something about the darkness and the unknown has always seemed so alluring. I can't even count the number of horror movies I've watched or books I've read. That feel of the hair standing up on your arms or the back of your neck is a thrill like no other.
This collection of short stories are designed to be reminiscent of the old Twilight Zone TV series. As a huge fan of the show, I was interested to see how the interpretation to short story would work. It works very well. If you enjoyed the show (and/or the movie) you'll enjoy this book. Rod Serling would be proud.
There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. This is a dimension of imagination. In the case of these stories, it is where author Tom Sawyer’s imagination takes flight. Mr. Sawyer, as a popular Michigan horror fiction author of many delights ( From Paradise to Hell, Dark Harbors), pays an ultimate tribute to Rod Serling’s own imagination, which influenced viewers around the world since its inception decades ago with The Twilight Zone TV series. Here, Sawyer continues the tradition seamlessly on these pages. So sit back, relax, and cross over into the sight and sound and…
I am a freelance writer from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, specializing in media history and speculative fiction. I have been enchanted by animation since childhood and followed many series avidly through adulthood. My viewing inspired my MA thesis on the history of animation, out of which grew two books on the history and theory of animation on television, America 'Toons In: A History of Television Animation (available from McFarland and Co.) and The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows (available from Rowman and Littlefield). Hopefully, others will follow.
Murray, the creator of the wonderful shows Rocko's Modern Life and Camp Laslo, details in full the story of his own career in animation while at the same time exploring the mechanics of producing animation for television.
He includes interviews with his colleagues and contemporaries in the field which are revelatory about how many great programs of the 1990s and 2000s were produced, and fills a major research gap in the process.
This is a comprehensive, step-by-step guide to creating characters and the world they live in and what it takes to get ideas on the screen. The tone is approachable and encouraging, from an Emmy Award-winning artist. It features behind-the-scenes and in-progress storyboards, photos and art from several popular animated series, such as "Rocko's Modern Life" and "Spongebob Squarepants". This book targets the scores of aspiring cartoon animators who are seeking a comprehensive, step-by-step guide to creating characters and the world they live in. "Creating Animated Cartoons with Character" was born out of Emmy Award-winning illustrator and animator Joe Murray's experiences…
In 1968, I saw an ad that changed my life. It was typical—insulting to women, demeaning. Yet, at that moment, it somehow crystallized so many of my experiences—the sexist slights, the terrible jobs, the sexual harassment, the catcalls, the objectification. I thought, “This is atrocious … and it is not trivial.” I started collecting ads and lecturing on the topic. I made my first film, “Killing Us Softly: Advertising’s Image of Women” in 1979 (and have remade it three times since). Eventually I wrote and made films about alcohol and tobacco advertising. In 2015, I was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame.
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!
Writing with wit and charm and intelligence Judith Williamson explores the forces that channel our tastes and structure our lives: films, books, television, advertisements, photography, music, political movements, and even the royal family.
I’ve always been fascinated by film and television. No matter how challenging life can be at times, we're forever united by what stories captivate us on the gold and silver screens. Whatever challenges the world may throw at this type of storytelling be it a world war, the internet, Covid, or TikTok, nothing beats sitting down on your sofa to enjoy the finest entertainment the world has to offer. Critically studying our most treasured past time might sound like the best way of sucking the life out of it. But I’m here to show you how this isn't the case. Join me on a quest through the best writings that can capture your imagination.
If I asked you whether you fancied reading the entire history of British television from its beginnings on the BBC in the 1930s to its position today, you’d probably tell me to get lost.
But the evocative writing of Lez Cooke makes this a far more pleasurable experience than it otherwise ought to be. I guarantee you will be stimulated yet entertained as you are walked through the key creatives, technologies, dramas, and genres that captured the imaginations of millions of avid British telly addicts each decade. You will put down this book as an immediate expert in the field, guaranteed.
This widely-respected history of British television drama is an indispensable guide to the significant developments in the area; from its beginnings on the BBC in the 1930s and 40s to its position in the twenty-first century, as television enters a multichannel digital era. Embracing the complete spectrum of television drama, Lez Cooke places programmes in their social, political and industrial contexts, and surveys the key dramas, writers, producers and directors.
Thoroughly revised and updated, this second edition includes new images and case studies, new material on British television drama before 1936, an expanded bibliography and a substantial new chapter that…