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Book bits - Non-fiction edition: Vulcan, mini-models, self help from Kirk and Spock, and more

January 9, 2016, 11:37 pm
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We're in a bit of a golden age of Star Trek non-fiction lately, and this fiftieth anniversary year is a great excuse for even more books exploring Trek from both the real world perspective, and would-be non-fiction from within the universe. Continue below for news of all the most recently announced books, new covers, previews, and more.

First up, from Insight Editions, is a Hidden Universe: A Travel Guide to Vulcan, by Dayton Ward. A preliminary cover for this has been floating around, featuring a lovely new image of Vulcan with a very nuTrek-styled Vulcan city:


The release of this has been pushed back a few months than was earlier suggested, with it now expected in July. Here's a reminder of the blurb:
Set in the Star Trek universe, Hidden Universe: Star Trek: A Travel Guide to Vulcan explores all that Vulcan—Spock’s home planet—has to offer in an interactive guidebook.

Plan your next trip to the planet Vulcan with Hidden Universe: Star Trek: A Travel Guide to Vulcan! Find restaurants that serve the best fried sandworms and Vulcan port. Take a trip to the Fire Plains or experience spring break at the Voroth Sea. Learn all about the native Vulcan people and their unusual customs. Discover how to correctly perform the traditional Vulcan salutation (you really don’t want to get this wrong). Learn key Vulcan phrases such as Nam-tor puyan-tvi-shal wilat: “Where is your restroom?” Find out what to do if you suddenly find yourself host to a katra—a Vulcan’s living spirit—at an inconvenient moment. All this and more can be found within the pages of this essential travel guide to one of the most popular—and logical—destinations in the known universe.

Hidden Universe: Star Trek: A Travel Guide to Vulcan draws on 50 years of Star Trek TV shows, films, and novels to present a comprehensive guide to Spock’s iconic home world. Modeled after real-world travel guides, the book will explore every significant region on Vulcan with fascinating historical, geographical, and cultural insights that bring the planet to life like never before. Also featuring a dynamic mixture of classic Star Trek imagery and original illustrations created exclusively for the book, Hidden Universe: Star Trek: A Travel Guide to Vulcan is the perfect way to celebrate 50 years of Star Trek and will thrill pop culture fans and hardcore Star Trek fans alike.

Also on the way is The Star Trek Book, part of Dorling Kindersley's Big Ideas Simply Explained series. There aren't many details on this yet, other than a release date, in June, and the author, Paul Ruditis - That's the same author who worked on DK's previous Star Trek book, Star Trek: The Visual Dictionary, and like that, the Big Ideas Simply Explained series has a distinctive style which I'm sure will make it a very engaging book; we can look forward to an information dense layout with lots of images and infographics. Should be fun!

Also returning to Trek is Running Press, who have two new Star Trek book and model sets in their miniature editions series. Coming in May is the Light-Up Shuttlecraft, and the Light and Sound Communicator. Both feature small models of the given subject, and come with a small book, authored by Chip Carter. These follow Running Mills's previous USS Enterprise and phaser model and book sets.




Also due in May, from Price Stern Sloan, are two books aimed at younger readers, for which the covers have now been released. The Starfleet Logbook, by Jake Black, is an activity book, challenging readers to aspire to the Starfleet careers of the TOS heroes.

Star Trek: The Original Series is the spark that launched a sci-fi phenomenon! Now a younger generation of fans can move up the ranks at Starfleet, with help from Captain Kirk, Spock, and the rest of the crew on the starship USS Enterprise. Starfleet Logbook is filled with writing prompts, fun activities, and creative games that will help kids' imaginations boldly go where no man has gone before!

And then there's What Would Captain Kirk Do?, by Brandon T Snider, a guide to life from the captain of the Enterprise:

Dig through the many pages of advice in this fun pop philosophy book as narrated by Captain Kirk, based on the characters from Star Trek: The Original Series.

The cosmos is filled with a great many wonders—uncharted worlds, bizarre life forms, chaos and calm. Tread carefully as you navigate through this collection of scenarios as Captain Kirk teaches you how to handle even the most challenging situations. The possibilities are as limitless as the universe itself.

Meanwhile in the past, there are a few bit to share relating to recently released books too. Released in hardcover last year, and due out soon (May again) in paperback, is The Autobiography of James T. Kirk, "edited" by David Goodman. Said author has been discussing the book, including an in-depth discussion on the Literary Treks podcast, and an interview with Larry Nemecek on Trekland. Check them both out for more on how the book came to be, and how he worked out the details of Kirk's life.

Trekland also recently posted another Larry Nemecek interview, this time with Mike McMahan, the writer of the TNG parody book, Star Trek: The Next Generation - Warped, An Engaging Guide to the Never-Aired 8th Season, which was published in October.

Also out last year was one of the best behind the scenes Trek books ever published, Star Trek Costumes, the first Star Trek book from Insight Editions, which was written by Paula M. Block and Terry J. Erdmann. You can get a sense of the book in the video trailer (below) Insight Editions have put out, and you can also read about how the authors put it together in an article on StarTrek.com.



Finally, another book published last year, which I had completely failed to notice until now, was Spock's Logic Puzzles, which is pretty much as the title describes! This was written by Tim Dedopulos for Carlton Books, and you can get a sense of what it's like from the excerpt below:

"Once you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains -however improbable - must be the truth." Spock

Mr Spock is famed throughout the universe for his mental prowess and emotionally removed ability to think clearly and logically. Now there's a way to pit yourself against his mind and learn his "highly logical" way of thinking in the officially licensed Spock's Logic Puzzles. The half- human, half-Vulcan has come up with a series of fascinating and highly challenging puzzles of many varieties. One of popular culture's most enduring characters, Star Trek's Spock is famed throughout the galaxy as a highly intelligent being and this book gives you a chance to gather greater insight into his "interesting" thought process!



There are several other non-fiction books on the way this year (which I have no updates on at this time), visit my schedule page and click the Non-Fiction button at the top for full listings of forthcoming releases.


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Ships from before the Battle of Wolf 259

January 10, 2016, 3:05 pm
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Star Trek production artist Rick Sternbach provided a real treat for starships fans this week when he posted on Facebook some amazing photos of the kit-bashed miniatures used for the ships seen wrecked after the Battle of Wolf 359 in TNG's The Best of Both Worlds. Better yet, these images are of the models before the art department turned them into wrecks, as Sternbach described:
Discovered while looking for images from COSMOS in 1979, pawing through boxes of thousands of 35mm slides (remember film?). Apparently I/we shot a few dozen pix of the poor ships from Best of Both Worlds on ST:TNG. Models made from AMT/Ertl kits of different scales, plus bits like highlighter markers and other plastic chunks. IIRC we then took Dremel grinders and X-Acto saws to them and added some airbrush burn damage.
He has posted four images out of those tantalising dozens so far, giving us rare views of the New Orleans class USS Kyushu, Cheyenne class USS Ahwahnee, and the Springfield class USS Chekov:





It's a shame none of these ever got more screen-time in the TNG era, I find what in-universe is a barely seen era of Starfleet design fascinating, and the New Orleans and Cheyenne are among my very favourite starship designs too. Thankfully they will be getting their moment of glory in the not to distant future, as there are plans for some of the Wolf 359 ships to be included in Eaglemoss'Star Trek: The Official Starships Collection.

Keep your eyes on Rick Sternbach's Facebook, hopefully there will be more photos from the archives. If you're interested in behind-the-scenes stuff, Rick also sells reproductions of his artwork, including quite extensive documents detailing many of the ships he has worked on, available on eBay.



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2017 Star Trek calendars revealed

January 13, 2016, 1:54 am
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You will have no shortage of Star Trek calendars to choose from for 2017, with no less than six designs from US publisher Universe Publishing alone (there are normally also a couple of UK designs, and sometimes others too). Amazon have posted the first details of the range, with what I am sure is not final art, but probably indicative of the formats once all the artwork is finalised, which we should start to see later in the year.

The most notable of the six is an entirely new Star Trek calendar for 2017, the Poster Calendar, which, despite only have twelve pages,  is intriguingly titled 50 Artists. 50 Years. I am very curious about that title; if it is just twelve images in this publication, might this be just the calendar version of a larger 50 Artists. 50 Years. project? Or maybe the start of a multi-year series of calendars? Hopefully more details about this won't take too long to arise. Here's the official description, which includes some of the notable contributing artists:
STAR TREK™ 50 Artists. 50 Years. 2017 Poster Calendar showcases the work of artists from around the globe who created original pieces to celebrate Star Trek's 50th anniversary. With easily detached perforations above and beneath the image, each calendar page becomes an 11x14-inch easy-to-frame poster perfect for display in a standard gallery frame.

Star Trek™: 50 Artists. 50 Years. 2017 features work by Leonard Nimoy, Tom Whalen, Nick Walker, Johnson Tsang, Derek Charm, Susan Beatrice, and others.



Also new for the 2017 range is a Star Trek Beyond calendar, although there have been calendars tied into the previous films close to their release. Naturally at this stage the promo art for this one has nothing to do with actual images from the film.
Based on the highly anticipated blockbuster film starring Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, and Idris Elba, this collectible Star Trek Beyond 2017 Wall Calendar celebrates the action and intrigue of the U.S.S. Enterprise™ 's new cinematic adventure.

Star Trek Beyond™, the 13th Star Trek™ feature film, is scheduled to beam into theaters in July, 2017.



The rest of the range is what has become the familiar four calendars published by Universe, including of course, the beautiful starships dedicated Ships of the Line. For 2017 it appears the calendar will focus exclusively on the classic USS Enterprise. Though the preview images here, borrowed from previous years, are a bit more diverse for now:
In celebration of Star Trek™'s landmark 50th anniversary, the 2017 edition of this fan-favorite calendar is dedicated to showcasing spectacular images of the most famous vessel in the Federation: the U.S.S. Enterprise™ (NCC-1701), in a variety of iconic scenes and settings.

The panoramic Star Trek:Ships of the Line 2017 Wall Calendar opens horizontally to maximize the detail and drama of each stunning piece of art.



The other long running wall calendar is dedicated to The Original Series, which of course returns among this fiftieth anniversary collection.
From the “#1 cult television series of all time” (TV Guide), Star Trek 2017 Wall Calendar features full-color photos of the entire original bridge crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise™, including Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner), First Officer Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy), Dr. Leonard McCoy (DeForest Kelley), Lieutenant Sulu (George Takei), Lieutenant Uhura (Nichelle Nichols), Ensign Chekov (Walter Koenig), and Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott (James Doohan).

Star Trek™: The Original Series celebrates its 50th anniversary throughout 2017. It is the base from which of an entire philosophy for generations of lifelong fans is formed, and continues to inspire and entertain millions.


The 2017 Engagement Calendar has also gone all out for TOS this time around.
From the “#1 cult television series of all time” (TV Guide), Star Trek 2017 Engagement Calendar features full-color photos of the entire original bridge crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise™, including Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner), First Officer Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy), Dr. Leonard McCoy (DeForest Kelley), Lieutenant Sulu (George Takei), Lieutenant Uhura (Nichelle Nichols), Ensign Chekov (Walter Koenig), and Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott (James Doohan).

Featuring more than 40 fan-favorite images from Star Trek™: The Original Series, this 16-month engagement-style calendar will captivate casual fans and die-hard Trekkers alike.
Star Trek™: The Original Series celebrates its 50th anniversary throughout 2017. It is the base from which of an entire philosophy for generations of lifelong fans is formed, and continues to inspire and entertain millions.


And finally, there's the 2017 Daily Calendar, which stays true to its regular format.
Every Trek fan's ultimate source, the Star Trek™ Daily 2017 Day to Day Calendar celebrates the landmark 50th anniversary of the iconic sci-fi franchise with canonical quotations, Trek trivia, character biographies, alien languages, and lore from more than four decades of Federation history every day of the year.

Star Trek™ 2017 incorporates every corner of the ever-expanding Star Trek™ universe, including each broadcast series and film-even the animated series.




Almost the entire range is currently scheduled for August release, with the except of the Daily Calendar, which is due in September. All the above are likely just place-holder images to indicate the style of each release, I would expect finalised art to be released in a few months time (which I will of course post as soon as it turns up).



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New soundtracks now available, and more on the way

January 14, 2016, 5:43 am
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The two recently announced soundtrack releases are now on sale. Mondo's vinyl version of the complete Wrath of Khan soundtrack, one of the most beautiful Star Trek products ever released, has gone live. This is a limited edition, although Mondo haven't said of how many; I'd snap one up while you can if you want one. They also posted the original interior art, from Matt Taylor, on Twitter, so you can see it without the fold line:


Meanwhile La La Land's Star Trek: The Next Generation Soundtrack Collection, Volume Two, is also available, and also a limited edition, this time of three-thousand units.

There is news of even more Star Trek soundtrack releases on the way! Posting on the Film Score Monthly Forums, founder Lukas Kendall confirmed not just the expected Voyager soundtrack collection, but also a 50th anniversary release, to feature fan requested tracks from multiple series:
Coming this spring/summer is the long-awaited 4CD Collection for Star Trek: Voyager...and then after that we have a "50th Anniversary" Star Trek collection that we're going to do a little differently...because we're TAKING REQUESTS!

This 50th Anniversary album (# of discs TBD) will have music from across the 50 years of the Star Trek franchise—including previously unreleased cues from TNG, DS9, VOY (beyond the upcoming album) and ENT.

This is not to say there may not be future volumes for DS9, ENT and the other shows, but for now, we are concentrating on this 50th Anniversary collection to present as much previously unreleased music as we can.

So...if you have favorite scores and/or cues, please list them here in this thread! Be as specific as you want from the episodes—give me Netflix timecode from the episodes and I will make sure to try to include the correct piece!
Kendall also teased at hopes for a TAS soundtrack release:
Folks, we are researching the Animated Series and hope to be able to release it in some form, at some time. That's all I can say—there are licensing as well as technical hurdles.


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Trek-wear: Amazing prints, cosy jumpers, sportswear, maternity, and more!

January 14, 2016, 7:03 am
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A bumper Trek-wear update for you today, with enough Star Trek inspired clothing to fill a wardrobe! That includes, jumpers and jackets, legging and socks, boots, sportswear, maternity wear, dresses, and more.

First up, these amazing kaleidoscope print designs, which are available from ThinkGeek. Both feature a TOS inspired print, made from images of the Enterprise and various icons, in a floral/firework style burst. A yellow toned version is used for a skirt, while a red-infused variant makes up the skirt of a dress.


Here's a closer look at the detail of the print design:



For a more obvious dose of Star Trek, but still pretty stylish, you might wish to turn to Mighty Fine, and their splendid USS Enterprise maxi dress, which is also available via ThinkGeek:


ThinkGeek also have some printed legging, featuring either the surface of a Borg Cube, or a Starfleet Academy styled computer:


The patterned trend continues, woven into the fabric of these socks, again from ThinkGeek, which come in a two-pack, with one pair featuring various Starfleet deltas, and the other just the command delta in an Argyle pattern. These are available as regular or knee-high socks:


If those socks are jut a bit too subtle for you, then Ugly Christmas Sweaters have the solution, with their Star Trek Ugly Christmas leggings, which are relentless in their Star Trek-ness, but not so specifically Christmasy that you couldn't wear them whenever you pleased.


If you are feeling the chill of winter, then Burlee Australia might have the solution, for your toes at least, with their sheep-skin boots, based on the TOS uniform, and available in all three TOS department colours via the StarTrek.com Shop.


Keeping you warm up top ThinkGeek have TOS uniform styled fleeces available too, in all three department colours of course. They feature embroidered details: The phrase "To boldly go" on the back shoulder, and tiny phasers and tricorders on each of the sleeve thumb cuffs.




For a bit more glamour, there is this golden delta pullover from Her Universe, featuring the classic Starfleet emblem, made out of lots of tiny raised gold foil versions of itself:



If you prefer a TNG look, then ThinkGeek have another golden infused design, from Mighty Fine, a dolman cardigan, featuring the TNG delta.


Mighty Fine also have options from DS9/Voyager, with their uniform inspired sweaters, available in yellow, blue, and red department colours. There's a Wesley Crusher styled one too.



There are yet more uniform options from ThinkGeek, who are offering TNG uniform styled track jackets, again in all three department colours.


And if you're feeling active, ThinkGeek also have Starfleet Academy issue plus-sized yoga pants available.


Mighty Fine have also found a demand for yoga-wear, from 23rd century Starfleet officers, so have delivered a complete outfit, with TOS uniform styled yoga tank tops in yellow, blue, and red, and matching shorts, in the same delta print fabric used on the side panels of the tops.



If you are currently functioning as the personal transport for a parasitic organism (aka pregnant), then ThinkGeek have options for you too, with two different maternity shirts. You can either boldly claim to have a future Starfleet captain on board, or attempt a mind meld with the baby with the handy hand-placement guides on a Spock-style shirt:


If you're just looking for comfort, then ThinkGeek also have a couple of different lounge pant designs, either Starfleet Academy or Enterprise-D prints.


And if you're feeling sleepy, then there are also sleep shirts, featuring either the classic USS Enterprise, or icons of the Borg (sleep tight, don't like the nanoprobes bite):


Finally, more uniforms, in the smallest format, with ThinkGeek's TNG uniform styled panties. These have boldly come and gone already, as ThinkGeek are currently out of tock, but if they ever return, they come in a pack of three, one pair for each department colour.


Star Trek


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Reunion, Part 1 preview

January 14, 2016, 2:18 pm
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Out this week is the latest issue (number fifty-three) of the nuTrek ongoing comic series, which is the start of a new Orion-focused two-part story, Reunion. This story comes from the regular creative team for the series; written by Mike Johnson, with art by Tony Shasteen.

Shasteen also provides the regular cover, while Cat Staggs did the artwork for the subscription cover. Both feature the focus Orions of the story, Uhura's old roomate Gailia, and the Enterprise's security officer, Kai.

Note this is the first issue of the nuTrek ongoing series to feature IDW's new cover layout style (with the little tab of information top left). In the process of redesigning they seem to have dropped the 5 Year Mission subtitle which has featured on the last several stories.

Continue below for a five page preview from the issue.






You can continue reading this story by picking up a copy at your local comic book shop, or from online retails like these: Amazon.com, Forbidden Planet, iTunes.

For a refresh of all the stories in the ongoing series, check out my reading list on my lists sub-site. And to keep track of all the latest Star Trek comic releases, hit the comics button on my 2016 schedule pages.

Find Star Trek comics, toys, statues, and collectibles at TFAW.com!


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Star Trek movies reissued on bluray and DVD

January 15, 2016, 8:06 am
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All the prime-timeline movies are returning to bluray and DVD, with bright new artwork. Due out in February the films will be split between TOS and TNG collections. Aside from the artwork, and being in thinner packaging than before, there is no indication of there being any other updates to these releases - So still no bluray edition of the director's cut of The Motion Picture, or any additional bonus material. In fact both sets omit the extra bonus material discs included in the 2009 TOS and TNG sets! But at least they look nice!





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Roddenberry Vault: Week 2

January 15, 2016, 10:51 am
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Throughout 2016 the Roddenberry Facebook page will be posting artefacts from their archives, including behind the scenes documents, production artwork, and photos. Dubbed the Roddenberry Vault, there will be new posts every day, some times multiples. To make sure you don't miss any of these insightful glimpses into the production of Star Trek, I will be posting weekly summaries.

It has been a good time to be starship design fan in the second week of posts form the Roddenberry Vault, with oodles of concept art showing us some quite exotic forms the USS Enterprise could have taken, plus images of the early filming miniatures. Continue below for information on this week's posts:

There were a few pieces of concept art posted in the first week, but the Enterprise has found many more unusual forms in the most recent posts. In this first image, posted on day eight, we can almost see the familiar shape of the Enterprise, yet it is also quite different, and oddly enough seems to pre-empt one of the most recent starship designs, the USS Vengeance!


Most of the rest of the posts from the week are described as being from the fourth phase of design, which seems to have taken the Enterprise down many possible paths. This image from day nine has an almost submarine feel to it.


Also from day nine is this promo photo of James Doohan, aka Scotty:


Day ten gave us a double dose of concept art, with a small-scale ship with landing gear, and a something much more familiar, with a saucer and nacelles, but also a sphere at the other end!



A different iteration of the sphere with nacelles was posted on day eleven, along with a rather more generic concept.



And the holey saucer returned on day twelve!


On day thirteen we get the Enterprise in her (almost) final form. Not the OK, signed off by Gene Roddenberry.


And from drawings the ship becomes reality, in this images also posted on day thirteen, with Gene Roddenberry and small version of the filming miniature.


The final images of week two is one that seems quite familiar, after it went a bit viral last year, picturing three of men who built the full size pilot episode miniature, Richard C. Datin, Jr., Mel Keys, and Vernon Sion, standing with their creation.


And that was week two. Make sure you follow the Roddenberry Facebook page to catch posts as they come out each day. And be sure to click through to the original posts to check out more images and join the discussions.



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Another Star Trek Beyond set visit, and an interesting Sulu development

January 15, 2016, 8:22 pm
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Entertainment Tonight have been on-set for the filming of Star Trek Beyond, and have now posted some videos, including interviews with the cast, revealing some interesting new titbits, particularly regarding Sulu. If you're spoiler averse I doubt they've let anything big out of the bag, but there is some new info.



So Sulu has a daughter already in the new timeline!  This would bring his daughter's birth ahead about a decade of his prime-timeline Demora Sulu, who we met on the Enterprise-B in Generations.

It seems missing his daughter will be one of the reasons Sulu in particular is starting to find the mission a bit of a drag, as John Cho explained:
At the beginning of the movie, we're all sort of getting to a, uh.. We're all home sick. And we're getting into our ruts, and we've been around each other too long, and that's sort of where it starts. And Sulu has a heartache for his little baby, and has brought his picture to his console. 
But there might be even more going on, as Cho teased:
There is another revelation you'll find out in regards to this baby, but you'll have to wait to see the movie.
The other really interesting note to me, came from Karl Urban, describing how the production is meant to have the ship seem a bit more worn and used than before:
On this one you'll notice there's been ageing. It's like there's two years into the mission, so there's wear and tear on the ship.
And of course those new phaser rifles and uniforms catch one's eye:



Entertainment Tonight have posted several videos from this set visit on their YouTube channel. Some of the footage is repeated across the different videos, but they all offer something new as well. The second video focuses more on looking back to classic Trek and marking the fiftieth anniversary, as well a noting the legacy of Leonard Nimoy.



The third video explores the sets a bit more, and gives us a few more glimpses at filming.



They seem to have been shooting two scenes when the Entertainment Tonight crew were around, one with Spock and McCoy wondering the Enterprise's corridors, including finding injured or dead crew, and apparently also suffering problems with the artificial gravity.




And there's also Sulu in what looks like one of the escape pods seen in the trailer.


For further behind the scenes glimpses from Star Trek Beyond, check out the previous report from Access Hollywood. And to keep track of all the latest information on the film, visit my Star Trek Beyond guide page.



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New big Borg Cube coming to Attack Wing, and previews of latest releases

January 16, 2016, 6:14 pm
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A little over a year ago Wizkids released their first oversized models for the Star Trek: Attack Wingminiatures game, including a big Borg Cube model, and now they have plans for the Borg to return, this time with a Borg Cube that can launch its own Borg Sphere. ICv2 report, that June will see the release of the "Borg Cube with Sphere port", which will include two ships, Borg Cube 384, with the new Sphere launch port detailing, and Sphere 936, ready to launch from it.


The Borg Cube is different as far as the port goes, although the detailing looks otherwise quite similar to the previous release on the CG mock-up. The Sphere will be a new paint-job compared to previous releases, designed to match the finish of the Cube.

Meanwhile, monthly releases of Wizkids normal sized Attack Wing expansions continue as ever. Read on below for a look at this month's new ships.

January has brought us wave twenty-two in the series, which includes the Federation Defiant class USS Valiant, the Romulan scout vessel RIS Pi, and the Andorian battle cruiser Kumari. The Andorian ship is a brand new mold, and only the second model ever of this design, following Eaglemoss's version last year. Here they all are as they come packaged.


And here's what you'll find inside:





StarTrek.com have posted details of the cards included with each pack, which you can find here, here, and here.

For a look back at all the previous releases, and other forthcoming waves in Attack Wing, see my list on Trek Collective Lists. And if you're a fan of Borg Cubes, you might also find my Borg Cube models list of interest.



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First ever Star Trek: Enterprise stamps, from Liberia!

January 18, 2016, 5:49 pm
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More Star Trek stamps! Following the recently DS9 stamps from Guyana and Palau, and news of the forthcoming United States TOS stamps, Liberia have now chipped in with the first ever postage stamps focusing on Star Trek: Enterprise; including a Shran stamp!

The Inter-Governmental Philatelic Corporation, who produce and promote special stamp designs from various countries around the world, report these latest stamps were issued at the end of December, and focus on the alien species featured in Enterprise. As well as the Andorian, also featured are Silik of the Suliban, the Klingon Doctor Antaak, dearest Doctor Phlox of Denobula, and two Vulcans, T'Pol and Suval.


Phlox features again on a separate sheet, on a higher value stamp.


These aren't Liberia's first Star Trek stamps, they have previously issued several TOS designs. You can check out those, and all the other previous Star Trek postage stamps, on my philatelic Trek Collective List.



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The Best of Both Worlds could have been a much longer story-arc

January 19, 2016, 5:35 pm
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Well here's something a bit interesting: Roddenberry's Mission Log podcast has recently done an episode focusing on TNG Borg episodes, The Best of Both Worlds. To support that they have posted a couple of memos sent by Michael Piller and Ron Moore, discussing how to resolve what we now know as a two-parter. Only back then they had plans to make it a three or even four part arc, with the story seeing the Borg starting to assimilate Earth, and Riker remaining in a command position for longer, and leading the resistance to the Borg occupation!



I'm kind of glad they did keep it to two episodes; the effort to stop the Borg getting as far as starting to assimilate Earth is a pretty neatly constrained story. But it's fascinating to think what could have been, and how much longer arcs could have come to Star Trek years before they came to that format in later series.

This sort of story was eventually told too anyway, in The Worst of Both Worlds, a four-part arc in DC Comics'TNG comic series. In that story the Enterprise-D crew and pulled into an alternate timeline where the Borg did indeed start to assimilate Earth, and eventually help the alternate Enterprise-D finally stop the Borg, some years after their initial attack! If you're curious, IDW reprinted the whole story in their Best of the Borg omnibus a few years ago.

For many more behind-the-scenes documents and photos from TNG and TOS, check out Mission Log's Documents section. And if you're looking for more behind-the-scenes stuff from The Best of Both Worlds, check out the recently revealed photos of the unique ships scene in the wreckage from the Battle of Wolf 359.


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IDW's titles for April, and other Star Trek comics news

January 20, 2016, 5:22 pm
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IDW have published their solicitations for April, which include lots of new Star Trek comics, with both the start of one miniseries, and the end of another, and a good dose of TOS too. Continue below for all April's titles, and more Star Trek comics news.

The big news of the month is the start of a new four-issue miniseries, Manifest Destiny, a story featuring the Klingons. This is being marketed as a fiftieth anniversary event series, and will be released fortnightly, so April will see two issues.

Manifest Destiny #1
Written by Mike Johnson and Ryan Parrott, with art by Angel Hernandez.
Celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the STAR TREK franchise in 2016 with this all-new bi-weekly comics event beginning in April! It's Captain Kirk and the Enterprise crew vs. the Klingons in the ultimate showdown! Art by STAR TREK/GREEN LANTERN fan-favorite Angel Hernandez!
This first issue will apparently be longer than usual, noted as a forty page book (rather than the usual thirty-two). It will also be issued in a Klingon-language edition!

There will be at least six different covers/editions. The standard cover is from the issue artist, Angel Hernandez. The subscription cover is a homage to Bob Peak's The Motion Picture poster, by Tony Shasteen. There will also be a variant cover from Rachael Stott (not revealed yet). Then there will be Klingon language editions from the same artists (none have been released so far, so it's not clear if the same artwork will be reused for these or not).



Manifest Destiny #2 
Written by Mike Johnson and Ryan Parrott, with art by Angel Hernandez.
The blockbuster mini-series continues as Captain Kirk and the Enterprise crew face off with the Klingons in deep space... a conflict that could ignite all-out galactic war! Don't miss this special event celebrating the 50th anniversary of the STAR TREK franchise!
This issue is back to the regular thirty-two pages. There will be three covers, with the standard cover again by Angel Hernandez. Tony Shasteen continues the poster homages for the subscription cover, this time based on Bob Peak's Wrath of Khan poster. And J.K. Woodward provides a further variant cover (not released yet).



J.K. Woodward did recently post this snippet of something he is working on, on his Instagram. perhaps a suitably Klingon cover for this book?


Starfleet Academy #5
Written by Mike Johnson and Ryan Parrott, with art by Derek Charm.
In the epic finale of IDW's new hit mini-series, past and present collide as our new crew finds the most unlikely allies in the heart of uncharted space! Can they finally come together and change the future of Starfleet forever?
There will be three covers for this issue, the main one by Derek Charm, a subscription cover by Stephen Thompson, and further variant by Malachi Ward. Only the Charm cover has been revealed so far, which curiously features an NX class ship:


Star Trek (nuTrek ongoing) #56: Legacy of Spock, Part Two
Written by Mike Johnson, with art by Tony Shasteen.
"Legacy of Spock" continues here, in this special story celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Star Trek franchise! Spock Prime reflects on the alternate timeline he left behind... but he faces a new threat in the present, as the Romulan Empire threatens to end the Vulcans' search for a new homeworld before it begins!
There will be two covers for this one, the main cover by Tony Shasteen, and the subscription cover by John Watson. The latter cover is part of IDW's Art Appreciation Month, which will see various titles released in covered inspired by classic works of art. I'm not quite sure which original work this Star Trek cover is referencing; looks sort of Rembrandtesque to me. Any guesses?



Part one of this story, in the previous issue, will be available in a cover by J.K. Woodward, who has recently posted a blog detailing his process for creating the artwork. If you're interested in how this picture came together, you should definitely go and have a look!


Gold Key Archives, Volume 5
Written by Arnold Drake, John David Warner, George Kashdan, and Allan Moniz, with art by Alberto Giolitti.
Boldly going… where it all started! Presenting the first comic book adventures of the U.S.S. Enterprise and her crew! Fully remastered with new colors, volume 5 collects issues #25–28 and #30–31 (#29 was a reprint of #1), including stories "Dwarf Planet,""The Perfect Dream,""Ice Journey,""The Mimicking Menace,""Death of a Star," and "The Final Truth."

This book has a new cover by Michael Stribling:


If you're a fan of John Byrne's New Visions comics you might notice no mention of issue eleven, which was already delayed from the usual bimonthly release for that series when it was missing from the March solicitations. Posting on his own forums, Byrne seemed to be expecting it here:
Bit of bad news. Chris Ryall informs me that the tsunami of 50th Anniversary material IDW is publishing this year has caused NEW VISIONS 11 to be pushed back a month, to April.
Maybe May now??

Finally, you can get another dose of classic Trek in the forthcoming Star Trek: The Classic UK Comics, Volume 1, the first reprints of the very rare UK comic strips that are finally getting a reprint in March. Rich Handley recently wrote an article for StarTrek.com explaining the history of the series, and it's path to this long-awaited reprint; check it out for all that an a few more preview images like this:


For full listings of all the upcoming Star Trek comic releases, and links to my previous coverage, hit the comics button on my 2016 schedule page. You can also find further comics series reading lists on Trek Collective Lists, including a look back through the entire nuTrek ongoing series, and details of the Gold Key Archives books.

Find Star Trek comics, toys, statues, and collectibles at TFAW.com!


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Eaglemoss' Breen and Voth ships, New Orleans class preview, and other Starships Collection updates

January 21, 2016, 7:43 am
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Eaglemoss have released their latest solicitations for Star Trek: The Official Starships Collection, giving us new looks at two forthcoming models. Continue below to check out those, and other news from the magazine and model series. UPDATE: Also below is the first look at Eaglemoss' New Orleans class.

Due to arrive in the UK first this March (and following later in other markets), issue sixty-nine will be the Breen Warship. Getting the colours right for this one was apparently quite a challenge, and the new image of the model released does look rather vibrant. But series manager Ben Robinson has previously posted another image with more muted tones, so I wouldn't panic just yet! I believe this is only the second ever model of this design, following the smaller Wizkids version.


Issue seventy follows, in April in the UK, and is one of the biggest ships (in-universe) in the collection, the Voth City Ship. This is our first look at this model, the first ever of this ship, and it looks pretty snazzy to me!


Here are the draft covers for those two issues too, via Big Bad Toy Store:


UPDATE: Looking much further ahead in the series, due some time later this year (it has now been revealed) is the first of the Battle of Wolf 359 ships, the New Orleans class USS Kyushu. There is no existing CG model of this ship of course, so one of Eaglemoss' regular ship re-builders, Fabio Passaro, has been on the job, and created a gorgeous new model of one of my very favourite starship designs. Eaglemoss'Hero Collector site have just posted some images of it:





In other news from the collection, Ben Robinson also recently posted on Twitter photos of the forthcoming USS Enterprise NCC-1701 and Enterprise NX-01 dedication plaques. He also mentioned an Enterprise-E one is in the works.



Ben also replied to a request from Mark Rademaker to get the ringship Enterprise into the collection. The response seems positive:
Not especially soon, but I'd like to think so.
Looking back in time, there are lots of new images around of the most recently released ships. Arriving this week in the UK is the Phoenix. Ben tweeted some photos of this one:



And the Eaglemoss online shop has some new images as well:


Also from the Eaglemoss shop are a couple of angles of the Antares:



A top view of the Voth Research Vessel:


And a couple of shots of the Norway class too:



For a listing of all the ships in the Starships Collection, including links to all my previous previews and reviews, see my index page.

Find Star Trek starships on TFAW.com!




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Roddenberry Vault: Week 3 - Talosians on the Edge of Forever

January 22, 2016, 9:41 am
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Throughout 2016 the Roddenberry Facebook page will be posting artefacts from their archives, including behind the scenes documents, production artwork, and photos. Dubbed the Roddenberry Vault, there will be new posts every day, some times multiples. To make sure you don't miss any of these insightful glimpses into the production of Star Trek, I will be posting weekly summaries.

The third week has been a fairly even mix of documents, and photographs of the cast and production staff. The last couple of weeks has concentrated on the genesis of Star Trek, and this week continues to explore the pilot episodes, but also gave us glimpses behind the scenes from later in the series too, specifically looking at the episodes The City on the Edge of Forever, and The Deadly Years. Continue below for details of all this week's posts:

Day fifteen gave us a slide, a frame from the TOS opening titles.  On day sixteen there was the story outline for the second pilot episode, Where No Man Has Gone Before. Only the first page was posted on Facebook, but you can find a pdf of the whole document on the Roddenberry website.

Day seventeen was when this week really got good for me though, a delightful picture of Gene Roddenberry hanging out with the Talosians on the set of the first pilot episode, The Cage.


Also posted on day seventeen was a call-sheet from the production of The Cage. Day eighteen skipped further ahead in the series, to possibly the most celebrated episode of the entire run, The City on the Edge of Forever. The were two posts about this episode, some production notes from Bob Justman to Gene Roddenberry regarding details of the "final draft" of the script, and indeed a call not to make the episode at all due to concerns it will cost too much - Again, the full document can be found as a pdf on the Roddenberry website, where you such wisdom as this:
Why do they have to transport down to an area of the planet that forces them to travel on foot for many miles? No wonder our Captain and Crew keep on getting into trouble all the time. They don't have enough sense to save show leather.
The other post of the day was this photo of William Shanter and Joan Collins (aka Kirk and Edith Keeler):


Day nineteen brought us Nichelle Nichols, looking cheerful in the transporter room:


Day twenty is another photo, a nice moment between the Roddenberrys and William Shatner. I especially like the location of this photo, perched on the edge of the bridge set, revealing the reality of its construction.


The final post of week three is a nice little montage of shots showing William Shatner being aged, for the episode The Deadly Years:


Make sure you follow the Roddenberry Facebook page to catch posts as they come out each day. And be sure to click through to the original posts to check out more images and join the discussions.



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Mezco's second Star Trek action figure is Sulu

January 23, 2016, 9:03 pm
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Mezco have announced their second Star Trek action figure in their One:12 range, and in a refreshing bucking of expectations it is not Kirk! Expected in June or July, Mr Sulu will be joining the previously announced Spock figure in this series.


Like Spock, this highly detailed figure will come with an insignia display base, and feature no less than twenty-eight points of articulation. He will have a fabric uniform, and a good selection of props, including a sword! He will also have a load of different hands ready to strike various poses, and two heads to give different expressions. Continue below for a close look at all those details:









In other Star Trek action figure news, at the other end of the fabric clothed scale, Diamond Select Toys are currently reissuing and expanding their retro cloth range. The most recently announced characters to return are Uhura and Mugato, who should also be arriving this summer.



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Eaglemoss' Starfleet Academy trainer, and other updates

January 23, 2016, 9:42 pm
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Eaglemoss'Hero Collector website has posted another set of renders of one of their new CG recreations, ready to make a future model in Star Trek: The Official Starships Collection. This time we've got the Starfleet Academy training ship, seen in TNG's First Duty. Continue below to check it out, and other updates from the series:





This new model was built by Ed Giddings, who also used it to create the Kolvoord Starburst, as seen in the episode. You can check that out on Hero Collector.

Prior to posting these images, series manager Ben Robinson had a game of guess-the-ship on Twitter, and confirmed several forthcoming ships in the process. So we now know coming at some point will be the NX-Alpha, the Soyuz class (aka the USS Bozeman), the scout ship from Insurrection, and the timeship Aeon!

Ben also posted this image of the boxed soon to be released sixth special issue, the NX-01 refit.


For a listing of all the ships in the Starships Collection, including links to all my previous previews and reviews, see my index page.

Find Star Trek starships on TFAW.com!


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Original USS Enterprise model ready for restoration

January 28, 2016, 5:46 pm
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As you might be aware, the original USS Enterprise filming miniature is in the possession of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. Later this year it will find a new home within the museum, in the redesigned Boeing Milestones of Flight Hall, claiming it's rightful place as one of the most important vehicles in the (future) history of human flight.

Before moving to her new home, the Smithsonian team are busy working to restore the Enterprise to her former glory, making repairs after years of display a model made for shorter term use in television production was never designed for. They are also reversing some of the not entirely faithful previous restorations. The plan is to return the model to how it appeared in The Trouble with Tribbles, when the last alterations were made during the production of the series. The Smithsonian have just posted a blog with an update on their work, revealing right now, the Enterprise is in pieces!


Some of what the Smithsonian are planning for the Enterprise has now been detailed. The upper surface of the saucer is the only section with the original paintwork intact, and this will be kept, and cleaned up. Other surfaces will be repainted, covering the previous restoration work with new paint perfectly matched to the original, as sampled from a well protected patch of paintwork accessed during the dismantling of the model.


The restoration team have used lots of different photography, scanning, and sampling techniques to gain an understanding of the model, and work that has been done to it over the years. But sometimes the simplest things are among the most insightful, such as this view inside the secondary hull. As you can see, there is no internal support structure; the model is rather miraculously still held together just from glue between the panels that make up the shape of the hull. To ensure a stress-free and long life for the model, during in the restoration a new internal support will be fabricated, to ensure stability of the hull, and prevent the nacelles dropping.


Also in the works are new lighting systems, to illuminate all those windows (the squarish chunks you can see in that interior photo are the window slots), and bring the nacelles back to life. Using the latest programmable LEDs, the iconic swirling nacelle effect can be achieved without hot bulbs and motors risking damage to the model when on display.

To see and read much more about what the restoration have done, and are planning, check out the Smithsonian blog. And if you're anywhere near Udvar-Hazy Center, where the restoration work is being done, make sure you visit this Saturday, when an open day will let you see work in progress first hand!

For a look back at the plans for, and recent journey of, the Enterprise, see my previous coverage on the moving of the model and plans for the new exhibition, and the first phase of analysis of the model prior to restoration.


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Lots of Star Trek events for the 50th anniversary

January 29, 2016, 6:01 am
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It might not come as too much of a surprise to learn that CBS have big plans for this year, what with it being the 50th anniversary of Star Trek n'all. Details of several of the latest events planned for this year have been revealed in the last few days; there should be lots to keep us entertained and help us celebrate this golden year.

Art

The highlight of the planned events in my mind, is the 50 Artists. 50 Years. project which USA Today have now revealed will be a worldwide travelling exhibition of Star Trek inspired art, in many forms, including illustration, photography, and graphic design.

This exhibit will first open at the San Diego Comic Con in July, before moving on to other venues. We've already had our first glimpse at this thanks to early previews for a calendar using some of the artwork - I find it hard to imagine we won't see what will surely be a rich source of Star Trek imagery turn up in other places and products down the line too. USA Today have confirmed the exhibit will include work by Leonard Nimoy, and the credits for the calendar suggest other contributors will include Tom Whalen, Nick Walker, Johnson Tsang, Derek Charm, and Susan Beatrice.

Music

Already under-way is another touring art form, in Star Trek: The Ultimate Voyage, a concert of music drawn from all the Star Trek series and films. This made its debut late last year in the UK, and has now started making its way around the US, where it will be visiting a hundred cities! Check out the tour's website to see if it's heading somewhere near you. Here's a trailer:



Education

Also announced by USA Today, are Trek Talks, which they describe esentially Star Trek teamed TED talks:
Think TED Talks inspired by tricorders, alien species and the Prime Directive. Starting in July, schools, science museums and entertainment venues around the world will feature experts leading discussions on topics examined in Star Trek, including space exploration, medical technology and cultural diversity.
Sounds excellent! Star Trek's cultural impact, and messages on all sorts issues of science and ethics is hard to underestimate, I'm delighted CBS are making an effort to celebrate this as well as the ore obvious iconography and celebrity. Hopefully like actual TED Talks these will be made available online too!

Education is also an element in the latest touring Star Trek exhibition, Star Trek: The Starfleet Academy Experience, which is set to combine the tour of costumes and props we've seen in many guises over the years with new interactive and educational elements based on real world science and technology combined with Star Trek tropes. StarTrek.com recently made note of some of these features:
...there will be interactive activities and unique technology, including Leap Motion, voice recognition to communicate with a Klingon, a Medical Tricorder table with RFID sensors, planet projection mapping, holograms and a shooting game using Star Trek’s iconic phasers. Visitors also will have a chance to learn about the real-life inventions inspired by Star Trek as well as the science behind them.
The whole thing is set-up in a (for some reason) 26th century version of Starfleet Academy, where "cadets" are guided through nine different zones, based on different Starfleet specialisms, such as language, medicine, engineering, navigation, command and science.

The Experience will first open in May, in Canada at the Aviation and Space Museum in Ottawa, and then in June at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in New York in the US.

Conventions

There is no shortage of conventions this year. There is of course the regular official Star Trek convention in Las Vegas, organised by Creation Entertainment, which this year will be held from the 3rd to the 7th of August. But if you're on the other side of the US then you'll have another option this year, as CBS and ReedPop will also be running Star Trek: Mission New York from September the 2nd to the 4th. And then if you're in Europe, you'll be wanting to head to London, for the latest Destination Star Trek convention from the 7th to the 9th of October!

Naturally you can expect all sorts of Star Trek guests, panels, exhibitions, and general stuff, at all of these, although there haven't been many announcements of exactly what or who will be at each of them so far.

Looking to 2017, there is also a floating convention! Star Trek: The Cruise, which sets sail in January 2017 with a host of Star Trek actors on board with other two-thousand trekkie passengers. Alas that ship has sort of already sailed, as the cruise has sold out already!


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Star Trek Beyond's USS Franklin!

January 30, 2016, 10:27 am
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A new ship from Star Trek Beyond has been revealed! The Omaze fundraising campaign last year, which included a competition to win visits to the sets and a walk on roll in the film in exchange for a charitable donation, also offered backers the chance to buy extra goodies depending on levels of donations made. One of those options was to get some concept art from the film, and it seems some of that is already been sent out. TrekCore have posted the following image, sent to D.B. Wilson, which pictures a brand new Starfleet starship, the USS Franklin.


We've had hints this ship had some part to play in the story, with uniform patches seen in the trailer sporting that ship's name. Presumably this is the older looking ship the crew appear to reunite in, also seen in the trailer, perhaps allowing them escape from the planet they have been marooned on.

This is a much smaller design that most of the ships we have seen in the nuTrek films so far, it appears to be largely a single deck across the saucer, with the bridge, featuring the usual window/viewscreen, perched on top. I rather like that is a vaguely reminiscent of the NX class too. If as I speculate it is an older ship than the Enterprise that would make it something of a bridging design. Keep in mind this is billed as concept art, so might not represent the exact final form of the ship.

Head on over to TrekCore for a close look at the new artwork, they also have some higher res views of sections of the image.

To keep track of all the latest information on the film, visit my Star Trek Beyond guide page.



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