It's a good month for
TOS fans, with books, DVDs, clothes, toys, and more inspired by the series spanning everything from the Pike era to
The Motion Picture. And there's plenty to keep fans of other eras happy too in this bumper month of
Star Trek releases. Continue after the jump to check out all the latest
Star Trek stuff appearing this month.
ProseIt's a double prose month, with both a novel and ebook out. The first
TOS novel of the year is
Savage Trade, by
Tony Daniel, the second
Star Trek novel from the author following his 2013 book,
Devil's Bargain. Here's the blurb for the five year mission story, and if you visit
Amazon, you'll also be able to read an excerpt from chapter one.
The U.S.S. Enterprise under the command of Captain James T. Kirk is en route to the extreme edge of the Alpha Quadrant, and to a region known as the Vara Nebula. Its mission: to investigate why science outpost Zeta Gibraltar is not answering all Federation hailing messages. When the Enterprise arrives, a scan shows no life forms in the science station. Kirk leads a landing party and quickly discovers the reason for the strange silence—signs of a violent firefight are everywhere. Zeta Gibraltar has been completely raided. Yet there are no bodies and the entire roster of station personnel is missing…
Also out this month is the first novella of the year, a rare
Motion Picture era story - set right after the movie in fact - from first time
Star Trek writer, Scott Harrison.
Shadow of the Machine has been a long time coming,
the first news of it came way back in July 2013, when it was suggested it would have a release in December that year!
After its recent encounter with V’ger, the U.S.S. Enterprise has returned to dry dock to finish its refit before commencing its second five-year mission. The crew has been granted a two-week period of shore leave before preparations for their next voyage begins. Shaken by their encounter with V’ger, Kirk, Spock, and Sulu travel to their respective homes and must reflect upon their lives—now forever changed.
Both of these books are available already, and indeed it will only be a few days until April's novel,
Christopher L. Bennett's
Uncertain Logic, the latest in the
Rise of the Federation series, will be hitting shelves.
ComicsIt's a packed month for comics readers too, with three new titles out from IDW. In the
nuTrek ongoing seriesissue forty-three is the start of a new three part story,
Eurydice, which has the crew of the Enterprise visiting the Delta Quadrant! There were no
Voyager cameos in this opening to the story, but IDW's
Star Trek editor Sarah Gaydos did hint at something
Voyager related coming this year in
an interview recently, so surely this opportunity wont be missed? Mike Johnson wrote this issue, with Tony Sashteen returning for art duty. Here's the blurb, and you can read the first few pages in
my preview article.
The lead-up to the next STAR TREK film continues here, in an all-new adventure produced in association with Roberto Orci! Captain Kirk and the crew of the Enterprise find themselves in uncharted space on their Five Year Mission of exploration… but a new alien threat may end their journey prematurely!
After a hiccup in the bimonthly release pattern, we have the first 2015 issue in
John Byrne's
New Visions photo-comic series.
A Scent of Ghosts guest stars Number One, now a Commodore, with this comic acting as a prequel of sorts to her role in Byrne's previous
Romulan comics. While Number One gets to meet Kirk and crew, the other Pike era characters also pop up, as this story features both crews of the Enterprise. As ever there is also a short secondary story,
Memoriam, which oddly enough is another
Motion Picture era story. You can read preview pages from the main story in
my earlier report, and a single page preview from
Memoriam in
another article.
John Byrne continues his new Star Trek photoplay adventures with “A Scent of Ghosts” and “Memoriam.” Past and Present collide, as the Enterprise takes aboard a special figure from Spock’s past, only to find themselves haunted by an mystery from years before. Plus, a sad farewell.
The final IDW release of the month, due out this week, is the
penultimate issue in the five part
TOS/
Planet of the Apes crossover,
The Primate Directive. Written by Scott and David Tipton, with art by Rachael Stott, the preview hasn't been released yet, but until then, here's the blurb:
An uneasy alliance has been forged between Captain Kirk and Colonel Taylor! But will it be enough to prevent Commander Kor and his Klingons from toppling the regime of Doctor Zaius?
Model shipsThere's no shortage of ships this month either, with plenty of larger models joining the regular Eaglemoss and Attack Wing releases this month.
There are two issues in
The Official Starships Collection out this month.
Issue forty-one, the Klingon Raptor class is out in the UK already, and is a pleasingly solid model. While
issue forty-two, the Olympic class USS Pasteur is due out this week. As ever these will follow in other markets around the world as the series catches up.
In
February's This Month report I also suggested the fourth special issue in the series, the
Klingon D4 class Bird of Prey, might have been released. Since then Eaglemoss have confirmed that will be coming in April. Check the
Starships Collection index page for full coverage of everything from this series.
Wizkids'
Attack Wing also delivers three new gaming miniatures this month. Wave thirteen includes the refit Constitution class mirror universe ship ISS Enterprise, Cardassian Galor class Reklar, and a Gorn ship - This will be the first retail model of the Gorn design, which appeared in the remastered version of
Arena. Although the same model has been previously released in limited quantities as an organised play event prize.
Pinning down exactly when Diamond Select Toys will release things is never easy, but it seems reasonably likely that the
USS Excelsior NX-2000, that's the version with sounds and configuration based on
The Search For Spock, should finally be arriving this month. See
my recent report for a video demonstrating all the light and sound features on this release.
The Undiscovered Country edition of the USS Enterprise-A might also be out this month, but some retailers are reporting later release dates for that now, so I'm erring on that not happening just yet.
If you want to build your own ship, then Round 2 Models have a new release waiting you, the
1:1000 scale TOS Romulan Bird of Prey. You can find images of a prototype of the model in
an earlier report.
And finally, the wackiest model of the month comes from ThinkGeek, an April Fools joke turned real product, the
USS Enterprise flying disc.
FiguresYou could crew a starship with all the action figures and other character based releases this month!
New from DST is the fourth character in their seven-inch scale
Star Trek Select range.
Worf is presented in
TNG TV era style, with lots of alternate arms and weapons to hold with them, plus a Klingon themed display stand. You can see lots of photos in
my recent report on this figure.
Half the size of Worf, and decidedly more retro, the first wave of Funko's three-and-three-quarter inch Kenner-style
ReAction figures are out now. Wave one includes
Spock,
Uhura,
McCoy, and
Sulu, and there are four more characters due in wave two later in the year.
Also freshly released by Funko are the
TNG crew in Pop! vinyl form. Joining the
previous TOS and The Big Bang Theory crossover characters, this new assortment includes
Picard,
Riker,
Data,
Worf,
Troi, and
La Forge, plus
Locutus and
a generic Klingon.
DST have their second bust bank out,
Captain Kirk joins the
Spock bank released last year.
And finally the first
Star Trek Uglydolls are out too. Five Uglydoll characters have been reborn in
Star Trek rolls, available as both plushes and smaller clip-ons. I like to imagine these are just an assortment of aliens in Starfleet, but officially they are:
Wage as Captain Kirk,
Ox as Spock,
Ice-Bat as Scotty,
Babo as Doctor McCoy, and
Tray as Uhura.
Clothing and Props ThinkGeek have brought
Star Trek to yoga, with their new
USS Enterprise yoga pants.
For more formal
Star Trek attire, Anovos's
Enterprise-era rank pips should be on the way this month.
And then there are some toy props which might be showing up soon, but probably not: DST's
Search For Spock phaser looks likely to now be coming out later in the year, and Forbidden Planet are still saying they will have
chirping combadges by the end of the month - I wonder if they will actually appear this time!
HomewaresAnother of ThinkGeek's amazing creations, the
USS Enterprise sushi set, featuring an Enterprise shaped soy sauce saucer, with the warp effect nacelles being cunningly concealed chopsticks.
From DST there's the
Borg Cube ice-cube mold, ready to make one-and-a-half inch miniature menaces in ice, chocolate, jelly, or whatever other form you can ease out of the six-sided silicone mold.
You can add a bit of colour to your newly minted ice-cubes by placing your glass on Westland Giftware's new
lighted coasters. The four-pack of
TOS character design ceramic coasters feature a built in colour-changing light feature!
And also ready for coaster application, there are a couple of new drinking vessels from Vandor; a
twenty-four ounce acrylic travel cup featuring the Enterprise, and a
twenty-ounce ceramic mug featuring a heat-reactive transporter room design.
Home VideoWith the
Star Trek bluray project on hold for the foreseeable future, we're back to home video offerings of the repackaged variety. Out this month is a new compilation set, the two disc
Captain Kirk's Boldest Missions, which features eight episodes:
The Corbomite Maneuver,
The Conscience of the King,
Balance of Terror,
Space Seed,
The City on the Edge of Forever,
Mirror, Mirror,
The Doomsday Machine, and
Return to Tomorrow. There are also a few extra features, all previously released on the
Fan Collective: Captain's Log set, from 2001.
Captain James Tiberius Kirk (William Shatner) steps squarely into the spotlight in this thrilling Star Trek collection that features his greatest interstellar adventures! And the commander of the star ship U.S.S. Enterprise finds a galaxy full of intriguing missions as he and his crew are destined to boldly go where no man has gone before. From an encounter with the mysterious Balok in The Corbomite Maneuver and attempting to rescue survivors from a planet-killing weapon from another galaxy in The Doomsday Machine to the critically acclaimed, Hugo Award-winning The City on the Edge of Forever, this collection of eight thrill-packed, heart-pounding adventures from the original Star Trek series will have you joining Captain Kirk and the Enterprise crew as they soar off on exciting quests and unforgettable encounters.
Foreign LanguageAnd finally, Cross Cult always have something to offer German readers. This month's new novel is
Unwürdig,
Kirsten Beyer's 2009
Voyagernovel, originally known as
Unworthy. And there's also a
Corps of Engineers ebook novella,
Der Außenposten, otherwise known as the 2001 US release,The Riddled Post, by Aaron Rosenberg.And that, is all, for now. But there are almost always new bits and pieces announced throughout any given month, which I shall of course report on as they appear.
You can find out more about all these items, and everything else out this year, with links to all my previous coverage on
my schedule page.
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