A serious media correction. Or not.

Haynes, a worldwide publisher of automotive manuals, has published a manual for the USS Enterprise of Star Trek fame, which is already available in the US and UK. Haynes' Australian operation is soon to release it in Australia.

Yesterday, News Limited's online news.com.au, reported that

The 160-page guide covers the entire range of USS Enterprise models, from Captain Jonathan Archer's original NX-01 from the most recent TV series through to the NCC-1701 under the control of Captain Kirk and her replacement, the NNC-1701-E.

The online article attracted a number of comments including criticisms of incorrect information.

Today, news.com.au published a correction titled We're sorry for claiming Captain Kirk was in command of Captain Picard's starship, which began with

* There were many USS Enterprises
* Kirk didn't captain them all
* Patrick Stewart is handsome

YESTERDAY, a news.com.au article incorrectly stated that the Star Trek starship USS Enterprise-E, otherwise known as model NNC-1701-E, was the successor to Captain Kirk's original USS Enterprise.

It has since been brought to our attention that the NNC-1701-E in fact came two models after Captain Kirk retired and was under the command of Captain Jean Luc Picard.

The correction then apologised "unreservedly for the error", linking back to the "original, poorly researched article", which then later included a disclaimer apologising for "any errors in this apology".

Unfortunately, there was not only a typo in the original article, but in the apology - as NNC should actually read NCC. The attracted an even greater number of comments pointing not only this out, but a number of other errors.

However, it might have been intentional - to go along with the photo of Picard's hand gesture and a fake poll on "What's the coolest starship class?".

I can't wait to check out the manual when it is eventually on sale in Australia. As for another apology and correction, I won't hold my breath.

Any media outlet reporting on Star Trek matters should know by now that they should be meticulous with the (fictional) facts as geekdom criticism knows no bounds.