I hear Star Trek

Something I've often intended to do is to compile a checklist of all the Simon & Schuster Audioworks' productions of "Star Trek" fiction. When I got up yesterday morning, a poster on TrekBBS had asked for a definitive list, or at least some help checking if a (now-defunct) online list they'd found at SFF Audio was complete or not. Since I do own all of these tapes (or CDs), and they are located rather close to the computer (but not so close as to be affected by the magnetic field!), I figured I'd bite the bullet and work on the list.

Simon & Schuster Audioworks started their "Star Trek" fiction line in 1987, making audios of their sister company's licensed Star Trek novels and novelizations. The first one rode the tail of the publicity and marketing frenzy for the movie, "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home". They followed up quickly with some solid sellers from the Pocket fiction line, somehow squeezing two of the new "giant" novels into 90-minute presentations. The early audios were read by either George Takei or James Doohan, "with Leonard Nimoy as the voice of Spock", a clever compromise to cash in on the pulling power of busy actor/director Nimoy, and yet not be too taxing for the ever-popular Mr Spock to squeeze a little narration into his schedule.

The audios, especially in those early days, were abridged by their own authors, although as deadlines became more difficult to meet, George Truett became "the man" behind most abridgments. Music and sound effects on the productions are unique to this audio line, although some use is made of the key TV theme music for TOS by Alexander Courage.

As we approached the 21st century, S&S Audio (as they are now known) pulled back on frequency of their Trek releases - they had settled into adapting mainly hardcovers (simultaneous with the release of each one), and dropped the regular use of Trek alumni as narrators, but the ST audios were still a fascinating, and always enjoyable, aspect of the Trek licensing juggernaut.

The audios have survived some interesting package format changes, and then embraced the rising popularity of CDs (replacing audiocassettes) and now downloadable e-files. If not indicated otherwise, audio productions are assumed to be abridged by the authors. (From October 2019, this blog entry's lists have been consolidated and expanded on a new REGULARLY UPDATED PAGE - please click the link!)