David Borgenicht On Star Trek: Book Of Opposites

David Borgenicht never became “a true Trekkie,” but instead likes to think of himself as a “closet Trekkie.” He was introduced to TOS as a kid, at 9 or 10, via repeats, and attended his first Trek convention right around the same time. “It just really resonated with me,” Borgenicht says. “It was funny, of interest and thought-provoking, and it had cool sets and toys. At the same time, I think I was also aware that it was kind of campy. It didn’t look quite like reality, the colors were all very heightened and the acting was sometimes a little over the top… William Shatner So it just resonated on many levels.”

Borgenicht grew up to be an author and, later on, a publisher. He’s best known for penning the Worst-Case Scenario book series. As a publisher, his company – Quirk Books – has released Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, not to mention Night of the Living Trekkies, among many other titles. And now Borgenicht is combining his talents, penning Star Trek: Book of Opposites, a board book set for release today via his company. Designed for very young tykes – or Trek fans seeking to tickle their inner tyke – Book of Opposites is precisely as it sounds. For example, there’s “Calm” and “Surprised,” “Happy” and “Angry,” “Big” and Little,” all accompanied, on opposite pages, by appropriate TOS images designed to educate and amuse.

“I think the primary buyers for this book will be the longtime fans, but I think those fans have kids and have friends who have kids,” Borgenicht says. “I also think Book of Opposites is entertaining and visually arresting enough to work for any kid, whether or not you know the show. Parents who buy it for their kids really may be buying it for themselves, to read and to be read to. If this book had existed when my kids were babies, I absolutely would have bought it and read it to them. My kids are a little too old now for a book of opposites, but they’re not too old to appreciate the show and the humor and the show's place in pop-culture history.”

The humor will most definitely elicit smiles and laughs. Borgenicht chuckles when asked if he came up with the opposites and then found photos to match or if, ahem, the opposite was the case. “It was a mix,” he replies. “I started just by looking at the world of opposites and synonyms and antonyms. I made a long list of opposites. Then I did some initial development on the concept, to see how much Star Trek imagery there was out there that I could associate with those words, just to prove the idea. Eventually, when we did the deal with CBS for the license, we worked with great people at the archive, who provided us with access to dozens of different Star Trek images.

“So we worked it from all angles,” Borgenicht continues. “I sent them the list of opposites I thought we’d want to use. I’d say things like, ‘But I know we need the Tribbles in there,’ or ‘We need to represent all the (TOS) characters.’ It had to work on the level of being a book of opposites, but also as a Star Trek book, with classic and iconic images. And sometimes it was just a great image that I didn’t necessarily remember, but that was so on-target that it worked. So, it’s a lot of fun and I think people will really enjoy it.”

Star Trek: Book of Opposites runs 24 pages and costs $9.95. To purchase it, click HERE.