Star Trek Concordance

Zine
Title:	Star Trek Concordance
Publisher:	Mathom House Enterprises/Mathom House Publications, then Ballantine Books, then Citadel Press
Editor(s):	Bjo Trimble
Type:	resource
Date(s):	1969, 1973
Medium:	print
Fandom:	Star Trek: TOS
Language:	English
External Links:
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cover of advertising flyer

Star Trek Concordance of People, Places and Things is compiled and written by Dorothy Jones, and edited by Bjo Trimble. The zine is a resource of people, places, air dates, lists of actors and episode synopses. It includes an extensive index.

It was first published in summer 1969 and had 84 pages. Star Trek Concordance had a supplement, published in 1973 (adding Third Season entries).

In 1974, Ruth Berman, one of the Concordance's proof-readers, published the unauthorized Additions and Corrections to the Star Trek Concordance and Supplement. Bjo Trimble was NOT a fan of Berman's publication.

There are at least two for-profit, professional versions which included more Trek franchise updates. In 1976, Ballantine Books published a pro version of the Concordance, which was later endorsed by Paramount as an official guide. This version also included Star Trek: The Animated Series content. In 1996, Citadel Press published a version that included the movies and some relevant-to-TOS episodes of TNG and DS9.

The Concordance is one of the very earliest Star Trek zines published. For others, see List of Star Trek TOS Zines Published While the Show Was Still On the Air.

Conflict

Bjo Trimble had many public conflicts regarding the concordance and its supplement.

There was conflict regarding her co-compiler, Dorothy Jones and Jones' level of work and compensation.

There was conflict about official support from Roddenberry and Paramount, and the trials and tribulations of publishing the third supplement.

There was conflict regarding Ruth Berman's Additions and Corrections to the Star Trek Concordance and Supplement.

There was also conflict regarding Trimble's use of fandom labor that was later used for professional, for-profit products.

Dorothy Jones' Contribution and Compensation

In 1977, four years after the Concordance was published:

Bjo Trimble would like all doubters to know, once & for all, that Dorothy Jones Heydt does, indeed, get her fair share of royalties collected from The Star Trek Concordance sales.

From an August 1999 interview:

[Interviewer asks]: Your Star Trek Concordance has long been considered the definitive guide to the original Star Trek television series. What inspired you to write the book? What the extent of Dorothy Jones Heydt's involvement in the book? Without videotape, how did you manage to gather such detailed information from each episode?

[Trimble responds]: Dorothy was a very focused person in the 60s, with only 2 interests: Star Trek and her religion. She began making notes on 3x5 cards about everything Trek. I have always liked encyclopedias, and said that would make a book, and we began to work on one. Dorothy and I both watched episodes on TV and on a friend's early VCR (it was tape, wound through the machine much like an old audio tape recorder). We both make many notes. I did the actual writing, though I stupidly credited Dorothy as the total author in the fan edition and me as only the editor. Dorothy's cattiness about females shows up in the original edition. When time came for re-writes, Dorothy had lost interest and turned the project over to me. I took it from there.

In an August 2011 interview, Bjo Trimble explained:

The Concordance started with a young lady taking copious notes on episodes as they were viewed. I started helping her. When she had shoeboxes full of 3x5 index cards, I suggested that we put together a sort of encyclopedia fanzine. But it began to take too long and she lost interest. When we finally produced the Concordance fanzine, I was foolish in giving the young lady all the writing credit, which was not entirely true. For subsequent publications of the book, she had no input at all. John and I produced the first fan-published edition on an offset press in our basement. If you purchased a copy and happened to be in town, you had to come to our house to collate your own book!

In an August 2016 interview, Trimble said:

Well the concordance was actually started by a young lady named Dorothy Heydt and her entire interest in life was religion and Star Trek, that was it. And she started making notes on just about everything she could. And I said, “you know this has got possibilities as a book” and she hands me all the cards, she has no interest in doing a book. And so, I went to Gene and I asked for scripts and for the first two season I got scripts. For the third when they cut me off and I had to wait a while. But then I started using the scripts and really putting in all the other additions and so on. And when the book was sold I told Dorothy about it and I said “you know from the royalties you know you'll get a percentage”. And she said “yeah okay fine”. And she really had no interest I don't think she even has a copy of the book. And so for a while that went on. And then after while she, you know, it really wasn't that much money anyway, she said, “No, never mind.” So, basically then it became my baby and I just took it and ran with it.

The Third Season Supplement

The Hassle

From 1971, a statement about the Third Season Supplement, which at that time, was still two years from publication:

We have had almost more trouble than it is worth, trying to get that Supplement put together! First, our printer has problems with his love life, and loses interest in printing, and then Dorothy Jones finds that real men are loads more interesting than TV heroes, and gives me this paper bag full of notes, see... which is all the work done so far on the Supplement. I cry a lot when pople do that! But to the rescue comes young Scott Pearce, who is helping me put this mess in some order, and getting things check out. This time more people will also help with the porfreading , and with luck we'll catch most of the misteaks. And the artwork we've gotten in so far will make the whole project worthwhile; it is beautiful!

From the zine's editorial in 1973, Bjo Trimble scolds fans, highlights her personal sacrifice and the hassle factor, and alludes to the falling out the Trimbles had with Gene Roddenberry and Majel Barrett Roddenberry regarding Lincoln Enterprises and access to that company's power, visibility, and profit:

[A lot of] letters have come our way; mostly wanting to know when we were going to publish the book you now hold in your hot li'l hands....and I have really wanted to tell the story of how the Concordance got published in a garage that listed to starboard, with John standing in the rain-water that was runneling round his feet and through the old wet garage; about the @#$%<:&*** offset machine that gleefully grabbed whole reams of paper and chewed them up and spit them out all over the floor ; of collating madly to get enough copies put together to meet a sudden rush of mail orders, all the while keeping small kids (my own and assorted neighbors') out of the bookshelf-full of newly printed Concordance pages; about mailing out over five dozen so far that have never reached their destination; about the snotty letters from people barely able to sign their own name swearing about Concordances never received — never, of course, considering that maybe we never got the check, either; about all the interesting con-games we have discovered that youngsters will pull to get a free copy of your book....

I'd tell you about all that, but it would only sound like a fancy set of excuses. Who would believe that all the Concordances we planned to have out by Christmas sat around, uncollated, in boxes because we didn't realize that you cannot get any paper drilled just before the holidays; the drills are being used by all the people who give out calendars! Who would believe the super-helpful fan who assisted our last move, and went around for several weeks with the boxfull of Concordance pages (numbers 19 through 36) in the trunk of his car while we tore the house apart looking for the missing pages? And I don't even believe the apprentice who drilled holes on the right (but wrong) side of all the covers.

So it should be a simple matter to turn around and put out a Supplement, right? Wrong.

First, one needs a bit of cooperation from the show itself; yet I could not get even the loan of a script from anyone in the ST offices, and had to wait until the show was on the air, to tape it , and then try to reconstruct the show from that. Try it sometime; it's more fun than biting fingernails, anyway. Then they didn't show "Turnabout Intruder" until well into the re-runs, and I had to wait until the network dropped that shoe; had there been any cooperation from the people over at Paramount, the wait would not have been necessary, but... by the time the show came on, I was deeply involved with other things. I had been collecting art for this Supplement, but really was not too sure I wanted to bother with it. But all the people out there kept at me. This whole project is just to get everyone off my back (It won't work; I have already been asked if I plan to continue with the Star Trek Animation series, and who knows? It might be sort of fun....). Each time I thought I could get back to the project, something else came up. For one thing, this involves pasting up the whole job at once, or risk losing bits and pieces of the copy. So far, I have managed to take up the den, the living room and the dining room, with a bit of overlap into the breakfast room (by the way, some people wonder why we think we need a big house!).

The Support, and Non-Support, of Gene Roddenberry

The Trimbles included a blurb from Roddenberry in a 1973 flyer:

Dear Bjo, thank you for the STAR TREK CONCORDANCE. I was delighted at the wealth of detail and the overall accuracy. Please do send me a copy of the third season supplement when completed.

It was good seeing you at the convention.

Sincerely yours, Gene Roddenberry

The third season supplement, however, appears to not have had the cooperation of Paramount and/or Roddenberry. In the editorial to that issue, Trimble complained that "one needs a bit of cooperation from the show itself; yet I could not get even the loan of a script from anyone in the ST offices, and had to wait until the show was on the air, to tape it, and then try to reconstruct the show from that. Try it sometime; it's more fun than biting fingernails, anyway."

In 1973, Bjo Trimble expressed interest in creating a similar concordance for Questor Tapes after she'd been to a private screening of the show, but she cited a falling out she'd had with the Roddenberrys (likely due to the conflicts regarding Lincoln Enterprises) as a reason this would probably not work.

Originally Heavily Promoted as a Fan Publication, Profit

From a 1973 flyer:

THE STAR TREK CONCORDANCE OF PEOPLE, PLACES & THINGS is an incredible fan project involving over two years of collecting information, double-checking and writing it up, more than 200 hours of typing, plus layout, pasteup, and preparation, and ridiculous amounts of time and the man-power in printing it up on an old offset machine in a friend's garage! This, plus the time and money involved in communications to obtain art and assistance from interested people must make the STAR TREK CONCORDANCE one of the largest fan endeavors ever presented.

For "Mathom House" is NOT a business, but a fan (i.e. non-profit) publishing venture. THE STAR TREK CONCORDANCE is a fan project, written, edited, illustrated and published by non-professional people who loved the show!

In 1976, the whole non-profit thing was jettisoned. From the Equicon (1976) program book:

As of the end of April, Mathom House will cease to publish & sell the amateur Concordances: all 3 seasons & and both animated seasons will be gathered in one professional book on the general order of the STAR-FLEET MANUAL (not a pocketbook).

This book is the main reason for extra problems in putting on Equicon/FILMCON at the same time: we hope you will understand the double strain of trying to meet a book deadline & handle a large con, too when Bjo also has the problem of getting tendonitis to slow everything down considerably.

Getting all the Concordance material into one book (& out of our hair!) is a big thrill but lots of hard & strenuous work. Correlating material, adding, correcting & retyping everything has taken almost every waking hour for some time now, but we think it will be worth it & and hope you will, too.

In a 1999 interview, Trimble explained the role of money and copyright, and how it affected the Concordance:

Interviewer: The Ballantine edition of the Concordance is copyrighted by both Paramount and yourself. Franz Joseph's Star Fleet Technical Manual is copyrighted in its author's name. None of the recent licensed Star Trek publications are copyrighted by any party but Paramount. What conditions permitted you to obtain partial copyright of the Concordance, and what caused Paramount to become more possessive of Star Trek merchandise?

Trimble: In those days, nobody at Paramount thought Star Trek would last 30 years! So they didn't care. They signed over all rights to Tribbles to David Gerrold, too. He produced them to sell, and paid for his house with them and the writing he could do because tribble sales gave him the time to write. Lincoln Enterprises got many rights that Par [Paramount Pictures] tried to get back from Majel. Nowadays, Par and Viacom realize they have a major cash cow here, and are far more careful of things. I suspect that our collective sales made Par realize they should be merchandising things better. They still aren't doing so, because they have never hired anyone (me, for instance) who understands fandom or the merchandising of Star Trek.

The Unofficial Additions and Corrections Issue by Ruth Berman

Ruth Berman was one of the Concordance's eight fact-checkers.

In 1974, Berman created a 24-page supplement to this zine called Additions and Corrections to the Star Trek Concordance and Supplement. It includes excepts from letters to Ruth Berman from Kay Elliott (Stella Mudd), Patrick Horgan (Chairman Eneg), Frank Vinci (Leonard Nimoy's stand in), Jane Wyatt (Amanda), Gene Dynarski (Ben Childress), Booker Bradshaw (Dr. M'Benga), and Ed McCready (numerous characters). The zine was mimeographed and stapled. Berman emphasized this was a very private publication, not to be sold, and asked fans not to advertise it in any way. In 1979, Berman herself included the additions and corrections publication in the last issue of T-Negative, calling it a "review" of the Concordance.

Bjo Trimble was quite negative about this fanwork. In 2009, on a Star Trek forum, Bjo Trimble said about "Additions and Corrections to the Star Trek Concordance and Supplement":

I have a copy of Berman's snippy little fanzine, which she published without telling me or showing me a copy before it went out. I had to find out by having another fan send me a copy. But it is a file copy and I am not inclined to share it. Much of the info is erroneous but she had a grudge against me and went out of her way in those days to show me in a bad light. Some fans lapped it up, but fortunately, she never achieved her goal of running me out of fandom and she is now out of my life.-- Bjo

The Different Editions and Issues

The Original Concordance

The original printing of the Star Trek Concordance by Dorothy Jones. March 1969. Edited by Bjo Trimble. 84 pages. Mathom House Publications. Art by Alicia Austin, JB, George Barr, Greg Bear, Mattewillis Beard, Bonnie Bergstrom, Johnny Chambers, Tim Courtney, Katherine Cribbs, Nancy Criss, Wendy Fletcher, Greg Jein, Tim Kirk, Cathy Hill, T. Rhodes, Don Simpson, Bjo Trimble, Robert Wadey, Bernard Zuber, and John Tenniel (illustrations from Alice in Wonderland). Printed offset, brad bound.

The updated version of the Star Trek Concordance by Dorothy Jones. 1969 (no month specified). Edited by Bjo Trimble. 84 pages. Mathom House Publications. Updated and with an added index. The first few pages are in a different order, and there is an added early photo manip by "C-tein," as well as some art by Walt Simonson. The last two pages are also different. Otherwise the artists and art are the same as the original edition. Printed offset, brad bound.

Much of the art shown below was parodied in Satire Trek Comicordance.

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  a fan's 1972 handwritten flyer, printed in The Babelian Council #1

• 

  a flyer from 1972

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  cover of the first issue, Johnny Chambers

• 

  from the first issue, illo by George Barr, editorial by Heydt

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  from the first issue, Nancy Criss

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  from the first issue, George Barr, portrays Gene Roddenberry

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  from the first issue, Tim Kirk (detail), portrays a Tellerite

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  from the first issue, Alicia Austin (detail)

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  from the first issue, Tim Courtney (detail)

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  from the first issue, Tim Courtney (detail), portrays T'Pau

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  from the first issue, George Barr (detail), portrays David Gerrold and a tribble

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  from the first issue, Tim Kirk (detail), portrays The Romulan Commander

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  from the first issue, Tim Courtney

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  from the first issue, George Barr (detail), portrays Christine Chapel

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  from the first issue, George Barr (detail), portrays D.C. Fontana

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  from the first issue, Mattewillis Beard

Reactions and Reviews: The Original Concordance: 1969

As stated in the introduction, this Concordance covers the first two seasons of Star Trek (1966 to 1968), but we are promised supplements for other seasons.

[...]

Within this general framework, which quickly became clear to the viewers, individual adventures or episodes were written by a variety of authors, whose names are available in the Concordance. Assuming no pseudonyms, I count 39 authors or co-authors, the most frequently recurring of which are D.C. Fontana and Gene L. Coon with respectively seven and nine script authorships attributed. We might expect this wide range of authors to fly off in all directions like sparks from a grindstone, but the general framework of the series. presumably with some editorial work by script consultants for the series has kept the adventures channelized enough not to offend the sensibilities of the enthusiastic viewers who have developed into fans of one stock character or another and who have object ed vociferously when one script or another has placed a favorite in a role out of character. This generalization is not so true of the names used in the episodes, and that is our paramount concern here.

The Concordance begins with solid material to replace the ephemeral flicks on the TV screen — a summary of each of the episodes, giving title, with a code identification usually pertinent initials (MT = "The Man Trap"), the "Star Date" fixing the time, the date of the initial airing, the the author, the names of any characters other than stock characters, and a list of other persons who appear and special names used, then a one-paragraph summary of the episode. For admirers of the series this part promises invaluable information.

We are told that the data presented come from (1) audio-tapes of the episodes (evidently fans copied the words with tape recorders) (2) supplemented by script (a valuable source if you can get them), (3) the Writers-Directors Guide, and (4) some help from the Studio, Spellings were taken from the scripts.

Some very appropriate black-on-white drawings illustrate certain entries.

[...]

Meanwhile the fans of Star Trek will find good help in this reference work as they await the supplement with the same data on the remaining episodes.

The Third Season Supplement

The 3rd Season Supplement to the Star Trek Concordance by Bjo Trimble and Dorothy Jones. 1973, 70 pages. Mathom House Publications. Art by Alan Andres, Alicia Austin, Terri Austin, Stevie Barnes, Randy Bathurst, Greg Bear, Liz Danforth, Ron Demers, Frances Evans, Karen Flanery, Jackie Franke, C. Lee Healey, Barbi Johnson, Clair Mason, T'Eri Moore, Rosalind Oberdieck, D. Carol Roberts, Clarica Dee Scott, Bob Short, Walt Simonson, Sylvia Stanczyk, Bjo Trimble, Kristina Trott, Ev Turner, Bill Warren, and Ellen Winder. Printed offset, brad bound. From Boldly Writing: "The Third Season Supplement to the Star Trek Concordance... On the title page, the credits include "compiled and edited by Bjo Trimble and Dorothy Jones" and "edited by Bjo Trimble." In her editorial comments, Bjo added, "My detail-and-source checkers: Ruth Berman, Debbie and Devra Langsam, Carol Lee, Mickey [Michelle] Malkin, Joyce Yasner, and Maureen Wilson...."

There is a small amount of art reprinted from the original Concordance, but the rest is unique to this zine. While the artists' names are listed next to the art, they are not credited on the table of contents.

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  a 1973 flyer printed in Hyperlight #1

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  cover of the 3rd Season Supplement, Kristina Trott portrays Flint's castle

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  title page: Greg Bear portrays "building The Big E in space"

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  Bjo's commentary

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  Claire Mason portrays Spock and Zarabeth

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  Kristina Trott

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  Ev Turner portrays "Spock and girl 'space hippie' with musical instruments"

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  Karen Flanery

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  Clarica Dee Scott portrays the engine room on the Enterprise

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  illos by Bjo Trimble, C. Lee Healy, photo is uncredited by likely by "C-tein"

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  M.L. "Steve" Barnes (Stevie Barnes) portrays Spock, the "photo" of Spock is by C-tein (the latter an early photo manip)

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  Alan Andres portrays "Indian Woman" (Miramanee's handmaid)

Reactions and Reviews: The Third Season Supplement

[regarding an edition that came out in 1976]:

A hefty volume containing a wealth of information concerning the Star Trek episodes, both live-action and animated. The volume is divided into three main parts: Fan Art, Summaries, and Lexicon.

The Fan Art section has reproductions of artwork by fandom's best-Alicia Austin, George Barr, Tim Courtney, and others; some of these artists have gone on to become professionals. This is a good representation of artwork, taken from the original Concordance series. This updated version, though, has a welcome addition by Robert Wood depicting the different styles of insignia used on various ships.

The Summaries, listed in order of air date, contain a brief, but complete, synopsis of each episode. There is a cast listing and cross-reference to the Lexicon after each summary. The animated episodes have somewhat longer summaries, which are enhanced by the animated artwork of Robert Kline and other Filmation artists. Like the previous live-action episodes, there are cast listings and cross-references.

The Lexicon, a Star Trek dictionary, lists all the people, places, and things related to Star Trek. After each description is a reference to the episode it is taken from. Not only are terms defined, but where possible, brief biographies are given on characters; also information listings on Weapons and Armament, Vulcan words, Diseases and Drugs, Computers, Medical Terminology, Ships and Shuttlecraft, Starships, and Slang.

Further reference materials include a listing of episodes by Star Date [Time Line), and are in alphabetical order.

The cover is a wrap-around view of the Enterprise against a starry background. Though unimaginative in itself, the front cover is a useful "index wheel" placed on the saucer section. Any episode can be located quickly not only by page number, but by Star Date and call letters as well.

An 8 1/2 x 11 inch paperback with attractive, easy-to-read type, the "STAR TREK Concordance" is a valuable reference addition to any Star Trek fan's bookshelf.

1976

The Star Trek Concordance by Bjo Trimble. October 1976. 256 pages. Ballantine Books. "The Concordance has a special cover featuring an above view image of the saucer of a starship on it, with the secondary hull and nacelles on the back cover. Integrated into the front cover is a turn wheel which could be used to locate any Star Trek episode. As you turn the wheel to the episode you wish to locate, the associated stardate, call letters (abbreviated letters used to identify the episode by) and which page the episode summary can be found." This issue includes Star Trek: The Animated Series. It also appears to have the original comments by Dorothy Jones.

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  a 1976 flyer for the Ballantine Books edition, promoted by Nova Enterprises

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  cover of the 1976 Ballantine Books edition

1985

In 1985, Trimble described " the new, updated STAR TREK CONCORDANCE" in a letter to fans about fanart. It's possible this was a updated version of the 1976 issue, or she was referring to the edition that was to be published in 1995. See Dear Artist: Under-Draw!.

1995

The Star Trek Concordance by Bjo Trimble. November 1995. Citidel Press/Titian Books. This for-profit book incorporates the original Concordance, and also has information about Star Trek: The Animated Series as well as sections on Next Generation and Deep Space Nine, and the Trek movies (up until the date of publication).

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  flyer for the 1995 reissue

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  cover of 1995, pro book edition

Reactions and Reviews: The Pro Book Versions

[For the 1976 version]: If ever there was a book that fitted the description of containing more than one cared to know on a subject, this is it. Included are plot synopses of the episodes, each of which is followed by the cast, list of characters, and vocabulary. Fully half of the book is occupied with the lexicon, a painstaking listing of every conceivable character, planet, scientific term, etc, mentioned throughout both the live action and animated series. Both regular and guest actors are also highlighted, in addition to the production crew member. This large-sized edition (8 1/2 x 11") is pleasing to the eye as well as to the intellect. Reproductions of scenes from the animated series are interspersed throughout the lexicon section, and a gallery of fan art is very impressive. To refer to this as "fan art" is perhaps misleading, as the quality of most of the renditions are of professional caliber. Some works will be remembered from the original fan publication of the Concordance. The Concordance is a prime example of the lengths to which Trekkers will go to amass trivia. Originally a fan effort by Dorothy Jones derived from the live action series, the Ballantine version details all 18 animated episodes as well. The quality of Trek fans to not remain content with existing materials, but to create more for their imagination, is undoubtedly a significant factor in the realization of this book. When an answer is needed for a technical or trivial question, this is the source one should consult first. The few errors that have been discovered are usually so esoteric that only a grand master of trivia could detect them, and do not spoil the quality of the rest.

Inspired Fanworks: Parodies and Commentary

• Star Trek Concordance Color Book (1973)
• Additions and Corrections to the Star Trek Concordance and Supplement (1974)
• Comicordance (1975)