Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Journal

The Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Journal is a licensed reference work published by Starlog Press in . Written from an in-universe perspective and illustrated by Shane Johnson, it contains by Johnson created extensive schematics, covering locations aboard the , uniforms, technology and alien species.
== Contents ==
*Author's Dedication, p. 6
*Introduction, p. 7
*United Federation of Planets, pp. 8-9
*Starfleet, pp. 10-11
*Enterprise Layout, pp, 12-27
*Starfleet Uniforms, pp. 28-38
*Medical, 40-45
*Personal Equipment, pp. 46-53
* starships, pp. 54-67
*Defensive Arms, pp. 68-72
*Principle Cultures, pp. 73-82
==Background information==
*The starship blueprint schematics are presented on fold-out pages.
*Published at a time when started to truly surge in popularity, the work was published by Starlog Press as a spin-off publication of their . As such, the work retains the characteristics of a magazine, though more constraint had been observed with the advertising contained within.
*Because of its very Star Trek friendly nature (the two founders were "Trekkies", see: ), Starlog Press was selected by the franchise to serve as a primary publicity outlet partner for anything related to live-action Star Trek, hence the "official" – as in formally endorsed and licensed – in the titles of their Star Trek publications in that era. As a consequence Starlog reporters and editors were given near unrestricted access to sound stages, performers and production staffers, resulting in imagery, such as set photographs, exclusive to their publications, several of them also included in this one. Author Johnson therefore had access to the Star Trek: The Next Generation Writers' Technical Manual internal studio document, from which he could draw upon for his schematics.
*However, in the wake of the franchise's 2002 re-evalution of the older reference works written from an in-universe perspective, only the Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual (based on the same internal document, and released six months earlier), and the were retained by the franchise as "official" – as in compliance with established (onscreen) canon. All other reference works released prior to the 1993 Chronology lost their "official" status in this sense, and were demoted to the apocrypha status of comics, novels, non-production art (such as Star Trek: Ships of the Line calendars) and (computer)games. () Superseded by The Next Generation Technical Manual and despite its pedigree, this included Shane's work as well – as did all his other Star Trek writings for that matter.
*The publication has served as the template for the successful "Star Wars: Technical Journal", which was released three years later in 1995 by Del Rey.
Next Generation Technical Journal, The