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Hot Wheels' tiny Spock, and other new Star Trek cars

June 12, 2016, 5:01 pm
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A round-up of Hot Wheels' latest Star Trek releases below, starting with their newly announced Comic Con exclusive. Available at the San Diego Comic Con in July will be 1964 Buick Riviera, with a tiny model Spock sitting on the bonnet. This recreates a well know photograph of Leonard Nimoy with his car, taken during the production of Star Trek. The car and figurine come in a display case emblazoned with the 50th anniversary logo, and with a backdrop recreating the original photograph.




Images via Toy Ark and StarTrek.com. And here's the inspiration:


Hot Wheels also recently released a set of six car in their Pop Culture range which feature TOS character designs. Those include Captain Kirk on a Quick D-Livery:





Spock is shown on Deco Delivery vehicle:





Doctor McCoy looks groovy on a VW T1 Panel Bus:





Uhura stands out on a bright yellow Ford Transit Super Van:





A Baja Breaker features Scotty:




And finally (sorry Chekov), Sulu pulls in on a '70 Chevelle Delivery:





Also available at the same sort of scale is Hot Wheels'smaller version of the nuTrek Enterprise, a re-release of the model which has been re-issued several times since it's 2013 debut. This time it comes in 50th anniversary packaging:



For a look back through all the previous Hot Wheels releases, see my Trek Collective Lists for starships and cars.

Thanks to Darth Duranium and Carwyn John for pointing me to some of the above on Twitter.
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Star Trek Beyond round-up: HPE tech revealed, coffee tie-in, music teases, and more

June 12, 2016, 10:35 pm
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A few Star Trek Beyond updates for you today, including samples from the soundtrack, and some tie-in coffee! But first... Last week Hewlett Packard Enterprise revealed their advertising campaign and and product placement plans tied to Star Trek Beyond, which included them working with the crew on Star Trek Beyond to imagine several future technologies inspired by the potential of HPE's The Machine technology (see previous report for the advert and details of what that tech actually is). Three technologies this collaboration generated made it into the film, and now details those have been revealed.

Those include, the Diagnostic Wrap, a type of portable medical scanner and augmented reality display. HPE's Marissa Freeman told IT Buisness that:
It analyzes the inside of the creature that it’s wrapped around and the data populates on the screen in real time, which is the future of mesh computing.
HPE had the prop on display at the HPE Discover event, which IT Business got a good shot of:


Concept art was also shown (via CNet):


CNet also released a still from the film, showing the Diagnotic Wrap in action, scanning someone in a red uniform, who worryingly for them has a "critical alert"!


The second device is a new Star Trek tablet computer called The Book. The concept art (via CNet again) shows that it can be configured in multiple ways, although it's not clear if this made it to the final design, or if we'll see all the utility on-screen.


Designer Chris Carlozzi explained its use to CNet:
The goal of The Book is to learn plus teach an aid to exploration. It educates plus documents life, adding to a database.
Another still shows this in action (though this hasn't been released in pure digital form, yet, below is a photo of the photo via IT Business):


The prop was also on display, slotted into its case/second surface. You can see it here with Carlozzi (via Grommet):


If you look closely you can also see a third still (on the left of the above image), showing the third technology in action. The largest innovation, The Quarantine appears to be an entire room (and so was not on display itself). According to IT Business:
It is used in the ship’s Sick Bay, providing a complete biological scan of an alien that sits in the middle of the array. A beam of light shines on the alien, simultaneously scanning it and displaying information about it.
Carlozzi talked about it to CNet in a more general sense of data handling and cloud computing:
How would I get something to report back to a ship? How would I get something to report back to Starfleet? How would I have databases, when we're talking about things that are like light-years, or different solar systems apart??
Here's the concept art for that too (via IT Business):


As noted in my previous report, HPE's logo/mark, The Element, will appear in the film. It seems to have been done so quite subtly though, as Marissa Freeman describes:
It’s a bit of an easter egg, a hint in the movie about Hewlett Packard Enterprise.
It seems to make up the frame of the Diagnostic Warp, appears as a floating holagram below The Book, and if the concept art was followed through, will be used to highlight panes of information in The Quarantine.

As I previously posted, also on display at the HPE Discover event were some props, and it turns out there were in fact two of the new escape pods. Here are a couple of extra photos, including a good look inside (via Storage Review and HPE's Instagram):



HPE aren't the only company with a Star Trek Beyond tie-in. Over in Malaysia Min Kaffe are launching a special Star Trek Beyond promotional coffee! Called Beyond Coffee, it is a blend of robusta coffee beans and bamboo salt. Here are a couple of packs (via Min Kaffee's Instagram):


They've got their own trailer/advert too:



Back behind the scenes of the film, composer Michael Giacchino released a couple more teaser videos (via Instagram) from the final recording session for the soundtrack:



A video posted by Michael Giacchino (@m_giacchino) on

And finally, here's a huge frame-busting billboard, spotted on the Sunset Strip in Hollywood, and shared on Instagram by Jonny Teboe.


Star Trek Beyond will be arriving in cinemas around the world from the end of July. To keep track of all the latest information on the film, visit my Star Trek Beyond guide page, and see the relevant pages on Trek Collective Archives to find all the trailers, posters, and promotional stills too.



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Fansets pins offer a universe of Star Trek characters and ships

June 12, 2016, 11:26 pm
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Fansets, makers of pop culture pins, have entered the world of Star Trek, with a huge new range of pins featuring Star Trek characters and ships from all the prime timeline series (even TAS!). As Fansets state in their mission statement:
At FanSets, we are fans too and we want to make pins that we would want to collect. That means you won’t just get the same well known characters that everyone does but you’ll get the ones that only real fans know. 
In fact Star Trek will be the first universe they draw from (with the promise of Harry Potter and DC Comics ranges coming soon). So far they're making good on their promise to offer a wide variety of characters, with main characters from all the series joined by significant but rarely seen friends (heck, offering anything outside of TOS and TNG is a rarity!).

There are currently twelve character pins available, each two inches tall, with a further ten already announced:











Joining all those characters are some really cool mission-patch style ship badges, which are each about two and a quarter inches across, The Klingon D7 is the only one available right now, but twelve more have already been announced.














The Fansets website has only just launched, but also promises it will host a member's club, which will offer monthly exclusive pin designs. Details of signing up to that have yet to be announced.



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First Star Trek VR game, Bridge Crew

June 14, 2016, 9:55 am
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Ubisoft have announced a new Star Trek video game, Bridge Crew, which will be the first virtual reality Star Trek game.

Due out in the autumn, Bridge Crew is set on a new ship from the nuTrek timeline, the USS Aegis, and allows up to four players to assume roles on the bridge, as either captain, helmsperson, engineer, or tactical. It will be available on PlayStation VR, Oculus Rift and HTC Vive.

The game was announced at E3 (the Electronic Entertainment Expo), where a trailer debuted, showing game-play, with a special crew of generation spanning Star Trek actors: Levar Burton (Geordi La Forge), Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine), and Karl Urban (Doctor McCoy):



StarTrek.com have described the mission of the USS Aegis as follows:
The overriding mission is as follows: Explore a largely uncharted sector of space known as The Trench, in hopes of locating a suitable new home world for the decimated Vulcan populace -- while coming into direct conflict with the vaunted Klingon Empire.
CNet have a good report up from playing the demo at E3, and note that the Vulcan mission is just the starting point for the game's story. Additionally the game will be able to randomly generate exploration missions.

Using the hand tracking the virtual reality environment will bring all players to life accurately, right down to lip-syncing. And if you don't have four friends with VR equipment, AI can fill in any unoccupied roles, right down to playing solo, in which case you will default to being captain, but can swap between roles as the mission demands.

Here are some screenshots released from the game:






Plus the crew of actors playing:





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Pop, pin, bobble, cube, titan - All the latest stylised Star Trek characters

June 14, 2016, 6:49 pm
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It's terribly popular these days to make quirky stylised action figures and figurines, and there's certainly no shortage of such things on offer in the Star Trek world. Continue below for a round-up of the latest releases and announcements.

First up, an extra figures has joined the Star Trek Beyond range of Funko Pop! vinyl figures. A second Captain Kirk, in the new "survival suit" uniform, will be available exclusively from Fye.


Meanwhile, due out in October from Titan Merchandise is a collection of TOS characters in their Titans range of three inch tall vinyl figurines. Fourteen characters have been announced in the Where No Man Has Gone Before collection, with two extra mystery characters to be found in the blind boxes.



Additionally, Titan have announced an exclusive Captain Kirk, in a Red Sox variations of his uniform, which will be available exclusively at the Boston Comic Con. (Thanks to Mark Martinez of the superb Star Trek Comic Book Checklist for pointing me towards this one)


Bif Bang Pow have a more traditional take, with their Pin Mates range, which is due out this month. So far seven characters have been announced, comprising all the main TOS crew, although if you look closely at the back of the packs in the image below it appears there will be three more characters coming along at some point.








From Wish Factory, Star Trek characters from TOS and TNG will also be coming in the Kawaii Cubes range of strangely cuboid plush characters. The unique selling point of these appears to be that they are stackable...


Kawaii Cubes from other properties are typically released at three different scales, two of which were on display for the Star Trek characters at the New York Toy Fair (image via Adventures by Daddy). Not sure on the release dates for these yet. (And thanks to Carwyn John for alerting me of their existence!)


Back with Bif Bang Pow, announced as a San Diego Comic Con exclusive, but also available to order from Entertainment Earth, is the latest Star Trek bobble heads; a pairing of Kirk and Spock based on Amok Time. Rather fantastically the base will play the classic fight music from that episode at a push of a button. This release is a limited edition of the peculiar number of 2502.


Bif Bang Pow have also re-released the Wrath of Khan Spock bobble head (now with 50th anniversary packaging). He's available now from Entertainment Earth.


Finally, no images yet, but according to Awesome Toy Blog, Jada have announced Star Trek will among the licenses joining their new Jada Metal range of die-cast figures.

To keep track of all the other Star Trek toys out this year, hit the "Models, toys, and games" button on my 2016 schedule page. And for listings of various Star Trek toy ranges and more, visit Trek Collective Lists.



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Mega Bloks Guardian of Forever and Klingon sets revealed

June 14, 2016, 7:23 pm
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This year Mega Bloks have a new range of Star Trek construction sets coming out, and while not officially expected until later in the year, they have been sneaking out early. Two more sets have now joined those that are already in the wild, and once again that means lots of pictures have been released. Continue below to have a look.

The latest two sets are the smallest in the range, both essentially figure packs, ideal for building up armies of (in this case) red shirts and Klingons. The red shirt set is based on The City on the Edge of Forever, and includes Kirk and McCoy as well as two generic red shirts, and a brick built Guardian of Forever:






The Klingon focused set is based on Day of the Dove, and includes Scotty and Chekov, as well as two Klingons and an engineering console:






If you fancy more Klingons, the box are the the Klingon D7 set has also been released now:


In fact, with these two most recent sets now out, that leaves just one set to go in the initial TOS range; the huge and rather impressive model of the USS Enterprise, which you can get a taste of in this trailer:



To check out the entire Mega Bloks Star Trek range, make your way to my Trek Collective List.



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Star Trek Beyond round-up: New stills and props, costumes, interviews, and more

June 15, 2016, 4:59 pm
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More Star Trek Beyond updates today, including a look at some of the props and costumes, new interviews, and another promotional tie-in. But first, the Star Trek Beyond Omaze fundraising campaign has been re-awoken to offer fans the chance to win the highest degree of access to the world premier of the film at the San Diego Comic Con.

You might recall last year Omaze ran a campaign to win set visits, as well as being able to pick up all sorts of other bits and pieces from the production (most excitingly the concept art of the USS Franklin came from that). This time you can get a ticket to the premiere - But not just any ticket, this one will keep you in the company of the cast at the after-party too. Entries come in the form of donations, this time being made to Mission Continues, a military veterans support charity. The level of donation made will also entitle you to other perks, such as T-shirts, pins, concept art, and props (more on those below).

To mark the launch of the campaign, Omaze and The Hollywood Reporter have also released two new stills. One of those is of the crew on the bridge, looking rather sombre (about to be swarmed maybe):


Note at the center of the scene is the new alien member of the crew who also appeared in a couple of shots in the first trailer. I hadn't been able to make it out in those previous shots, but it's clear here she doesn't wear a standard Starfleet uniform, and has something curiously metallic going across the top of her chest. I wonder who she is!

The second shot shows Chekov off duty, chatting to a particularly impressive alien (check out her amazing fingers!)


Higher level donations to the Omaze campaign will be rewarded with props used in the production. Those include what is described as Scotty's broken communicator, which was apparently "used and damaged during in the filming" (not sure if that means it was damaged as a story point or not):


Then there's Spock's cargo transponder - Who knows what role this plays:


And Jaylah's staff:


If you want to get your hands on any of these goodies, or win that premiere ticket, you'll need to head over to Omaze to make a donation.

I'm sure you recall a couple of weeks ago the second trailer was released at a fan event Paramount put on. The event was hosting by Adam Savage of Tested, and now they have released their own video follow-up, including lots of close-up looks at the costumes on show, and a new interview with the cast who were there, Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, and Karl Urban. Check it out:



Paramount UK have also released a new trailer/promo video thing, with a really cool new treatment of the title made from a swarm of Starfleet deltas:



Finally, another promotional partner of the film has been revealed. The appropriately named Enterprise care rental company have launched a competition, with the opportunity to win more tickets to the premier.

They also plan to have Star Trek imagery on some of their vehicles and locations over the summer, and the press release about their partnership also mentioned we have another video to look forward to:
Enterprise will also debut a mockumentary-style video that features new vehicles available for rent that will boldly take customers where they've never gone before.
Already on the Enterprise website the USS Enterprise can be spotted among the different vehicles available to hire.

Star Trek Beyond will be arriving in cinemas around the world from the end of July. To keep track of all the latest information on the film, visit my Star Trek Beyond guide page, and see the relevant pages on Trek Collective Archives to find all the trailers, posters, and promotional stills too.


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Beautiful new Jaylah poster

June 16, 2016, 3:54 pm
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Paramount have released another poster for Star Trek Beyond, this time giving us a beautiful close up look at our new alien friend Jaylah:


I really love Jaylah's design, it's so gloriously crisp! And those eyes! It's not something that was as easy to create as you might think at first glance, as /Film noted in their set report article:
The make-up for Sofia Boutella‘s alien character Jaylah is a mix of prosthetics and traditional makeup techniques and a wig. Harlow says its of the hardest make-up applications on the show because it’s “so clean.” The entire forehead is an appliance and everyplace you see black is a silicone prosthetic. Every day Sofia works she has to undergo three and a half hours of application and a half hour of removal at the end of the day.
I wonder if this is the start of a second round of character posters, or whether Jaylah is just being singled out for being so eye-catching.

You can find a gallery of all the Star Trek Beyond posters on Trek Collective Archives. To keep track of all the latest information on the film, visit my Star Trek Beyond guide page.



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The Bradford Exchange's Star Trek collectors plates

June 17, 2016, 6:44 pm
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The Bradford Exchange, makers of all sorts of collectables, have released several new Star Trek collectors plates to mark the 50th anniversary. Continue below to check them out:

Commemorating the series' dates on either side of the 50th anniversary logo, and described as the "Premiere Collectible", is a round plate, featuring all the main cast. For the golden anniversary, this twelve inch porcelain plate features a twenty-two karet gold trim, including a quote from the oening monologue, more Starfleet deltas, and a braid design inspired by the captain's rank on the uniform sleeves. This is a limited edition of five-thousand pieces.


For a more substantial display, they have also released (what they gloriously alliteratively describe as) a "Porcelain Plate Panorama", titled The Exploration. Four five-by-seven inch plates form a single image, which again features all the main crew, as well as still from several notable episodes. They all sit together on a bespoke display stand.


And finally, released last year to commemorate the passing of Leonard Nimoy, is the Spock-focused Live Long and Prosper plate. The sixteen-and-a-half inch wide plate comes in a oval frame, and is also a limited edition of five-thousand pieces.




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New starship cross-sections, and other Star Trek Beyond updates

June 17, 2016, 7:26 pm
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A bunch more Star Trek Beyondupdates for you today, including more interviews, notes on the soundtrack, and another trailer variant. But first, a very exciting release for starship lovers!

Available now in the July/August edition of Popular Mechanics is a gorgeous spread of new cross-sectional artwork featuring the major starships of Star Trek Beyond: The USS Enterprise, USS Franklin, and one of the swarm ships.


The artwork was created by Kemp Remillard (who last year illustrated Star Wars: The Force Awakens Incredible Cross-Sections) and gives us the best (first) ever look at the internal arrangement of the nuEnterprise (with new swept back nacelle configuration), and also describes the Franklin as "an early prototype ship that was the first to reach warp 4", further enforcing the design's link to the NX class.

The spread, which isn't even hinted at on the cover of the magazine, is the major feature of a four-page Star Trek piece, so I'm going to resist posting at high res. You can get a digital copy of the magazine right now though, at Magzter, which lets you zoom in too a pretty decent resolution, and of course print copies (which I will certainly be hunting down) should be available too. Found via The Babel Conference.

Now can we please have a full cross section book for the nuTrek movies??

Star Trek Beyond also features in the latest issue of SFX magazine, and definitely does make the cover this time! It's not out for a few more days, but TrekMovie has some excerpts, including Chris Pine (Captain Kirk) pondering how overt Star Trek movies can be with their social commentary these days:
You can’t make a cerebral Star Trek in 2016. It just wouldn’t work in today’s marketplace. You can hide things in there – Star Trek Into Darkness has crazy, really demanding questions and themes, but you have to hide it under the guise of wham-bam explosions and planets blowing up. It’s very, very tricky. The question that our movie poses is “Does the Federation mean anything?” And in a world where everybody’s trying to kill one another all of the time, that’s an important thing. Is working together important? Should we all go our separate ways? Does being united against something mean anything?
Director Justin Lin also discusses exploration from a creative point of view:
What was so great about Star Trek in the last 50 years was not only the characters, the sense of exploration, and these themes that connect to us as human beings, it also had the ultimate mission statement — which is to try new things. I think sometimes that gets lost. Let’s sometimes go to places where we’re not that comfortable. If anything, this is the one franchise where you can do that.
And Sofia Boutella gives a summary of her character Jaylah:
Jaylah is a survivor, and she is someone who thinks outside of the box. She’s an alien warrior, but her look is relatable to humans; her alien appearance in the film is not extreme. She has more in common with Kirk than anyone else in the film; they’re both very independent, and they’re both very honest and direct in their approach. She makes her own weapons.
TrekMovie also has some preview pages, including this new shot:


Another interview was posted by StarTrek.com, features composer Michael Giacchino, who is particularly interesting in discussing how Star Trek Beyond has quite a different tone to the previous nuTrek movies, and the effect that has had on the soundtrack:



The interview was released to promote the latest screenings of the nuTrek movies with a live orchestra (something I experienced a couple of years ago and highly recommend if it comes near you).

Finally, here's another variation of the Star Trek Beyond trailer, this time featuring footage within the title itself. Posted by Universal, who are distributing the film in The Netherlands:

A video posted by Universal Pictures Nederland (@universal_nl) on


Star Trek Beyond will be arriving in cinemas around the world from the end of July. To keep track of all the latest information on the film, visit my Star Trek Beyond guide page, and see the relevant pages on Trek Collective Archives to find all the trailers, posters, and promotional stills too.


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QMx's 1/6 scale Kirk and Spock, now with extra accessories

June 18, 2016, 5:02 pm
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QMx have announced the full details of their forthcoming sixth scale Captain Kirk and Spock action figures, including news of exclusive versions with extra accessorises, and loads of new images. Continue below for all the details.



Both figures feature unnervingly realistic head sculpts, a diverse assortment of hands to allow many different situations to be recreated, and cloth uniforms. Both also come with a delta shaped base, a utility belt, hand-phaser, and communicator. The standard Kirk also includes a tablet and stylus.









If you order the exclusive version directly from QMx you will also get a phaser rifle.




The standard Spock figure comes with a tricorder instead of the tablet.








And the QMx exclusive version comes with a Vulcan lyre!



Here are some more shots of the two together:






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New Legacies and Prey covers

June 19, 2016, 10:23 am
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This year there are two Star Trek novel trilogies on the way (three even, if you count the German-language Prometheus series), and now Pocket Books have released the covers for the last book of one, and the first of the other. Continue below to check them out.

Due out in September, and bringing to an end the TOS trilogy Legacies, is Purgatory's Key, by Dayton Ward and Kevin Dilmore. Thew new cover features the Enterprise swooping down on the mysterious structure that was first revealed on the cover of the previous book in the series.


Here's the back cover, including the blurb:


Like the rest of the Legacies series, there will also be an audiobook release of this title, featuring an extended version of the cover art - That has yet to be revealed however.

A new adventure begins in October, with a (mostly) 24th century trilogy featuring the Klingons: John Jackson Miller's Prey. The cover for the first book in that series, Hell's Heart features both the Enterprise-E and the Enterprise-A, as well as a couple of Klingon Birds of Prey (via StarTrek.com):


The back cover for this one hasn't been released yet, but here's the blurb anyway:
When Klingon commander Kruge died in combat against James T. Kirk on the Genesis planet back in 2285, he left behind a powerful house in disarray . . . and a series of ticking time bombs. The Phantom Wing—a secret squadron of advanced birds-of-prey. A cabal of loyal officers intent on securing his heritage. And young Korgh, his thwarted would-be heir, willing to wait a Klingon lifetime to enact his vengeance.

Now, one hundred years later, while on a diplomatic mission for the United Federation of Planets, Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise are snared in the aged Korgh’s trap—and thrust directly in the middle of an ancient conflict. But as Commander Worf soon learns, Korgh may be after far bigger game than anyone imagines, with the key being in a discovery made long ago by another first officer of the Enterprise—confronting the Federation-Klingon alliance with a crisis unlike any it has ever seen!

To keep track of all the latest releases, hit the books buttons on my 2016 and 2017 schedule pages. You can also find series reading lists and author bibliographies on my dedicatedStar Trek lists site.



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Star Trek for your desk

June 20, 2016, 3:47 am
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If your office lacking that dash of final frontier? Your desk just not going boldly enough? Well continue below for a look through the latest Star Trek stuff to spruce up your home office, including all sorts of gadgets, bookmarks, and magnets.

But first, paper weights! Icon Heroes' latest creations are Kirk and Spock statue paper weights. Captain Kirk is seven-and-a-half inches tall, while Spock is almost eight. Made of resin, they should arrive in October.


Coming in August from the Star Trek Shop, there is an LED light-up rendition of the USS Enterprise. It runs on batteries or by USB, and can switch between multiple colours!


Another version of Kirk and Spock are coming from Massive Audio, and these ones work as bluetooth speakers. They also have built in microphones, so you could even make phone calls by, uh, talking to them... And, they both have a button which will play character quote sound-clips. Entertainment Earth is expecting these to arrive in August, and according to Massive Audio there are more characters to follow in the range.



Ugly Dolls return to the Star Trek world with a new Wage as Captain Kirk MimoPowerTube from Mimoco. The USB backup battery provides 2600mAh for devices of your choice.


There's a larger selection of characters available in That Company Called If's range of magnetic bookmarks. (Thanks to Carwyn John for pointing me towards these)


And if you don't fancy a member of the crew pocking out of your book, there's also a metal clip-style delta bookmark:


Finally, for decorating any metal surfaces you have around, Aquarius have a big range of chunky magnets, including characters with quotes, a Gorn, and a Starfleet Command logo.








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New Star Trek anthology comic series: Waypoint

June 20, 2016, 7:21 pm
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IDW have announced the launch of a new Star Trek anthology comic series, Waypoint, that promises to deliver short stories from the entire Star Trek universe, from a variety of creative teams.

The first issue, due out in September, will feature two stories: A TNG tale starring Data and Geordi, by Donny Cates, with art by Mack Chater. And then a TOS Uhura story, titled Daylily, which will be written and illustrated by Sandra Lanz. Continue below for more details - Starting with the covers, by Marc Laming, and blurb:


A blockbuster bi-monthly anthology to celebrate 50 years of STAR TREK, featuring short stories across all Treks, by the top talent of today and yesterday!

First, a NEXT GENERATION story by Donny Cates and Mack Chater. Unable to decipher a mysterious ship’s coded messages, Starfleet has enlisted its two greatest scientific minds, Captain Geordi La Forge and his best friend Data, to investigate. What they discover will alter the course of scientific human history as we know it!

Then, an ORIGINAL SERIES story by Sandra Lanz, where a crewmember, stranded on a strange planet, encounters a bizarre alien creature. They must learn how to interact, but how?
The series has initially been announced for six issues, which running bimonthly will mean it spans then entire 50th anniversary year. IDW editor Sarah Gaydos has already indicated she would like to continue though, tweeting:
really, really want this series to be evergreen, so we can keep telling new short stories in the Trek-verse
Excitingly, that tweet came in reply to Star Trek author John Jackson Miller enquiring about writing for the series!

Even more excitingly is the promise this series will span the Trekverse: Could we finally get an Enterprise era comic (we've had cameos, and some time travel antics recently in the Starfleet Academy series, but never visited the NX-01 herself on the comic page before). DS9 or Voyager are also a rarity (IDW have never done a Voyager comic either), and even TNG is a bit of a treat, the last comic from that series was three years ago! And then of course there are more exotic possibilities; Titan, a visit to the Enterprise-E under Captain Data, DTI, Gary Seven, and so many more. Such an open ended series is very exciting!

IDW is following in the footsteps of other publishers. When Marvel was doing Star Trek in the 90s they had the Unlimited series, which delivered a variety of TOS and TNG stories, and then Wildstorm's Star Trek Special in 2001 used a similar format to deliver an impressively diverse assortment of stories and styles. Hopefully this new series will be as varied and interesting in what it brings us.

Announcing the news, io9 has posted interviews with the creators, including this tease from writer Donny Cates at the TNG story:
When I thought about this story I asked myself “If this is the first and last Trek story you ever write, what would it be?” and the answer was obviously Geordi and Data being awesome science bros solving space-science mysteries with ethics and math together across the universe. It doesn’t get much better than that.
Meanwhile Sandra Lanz pulled on a TNG classic for her TOS story:
“Darmok” is one of those episodes that really stuck with me after I first saw it; it was definitely in my thoughts when I came up with my story for Waypoint. It made me think a lot about the origins of speech, evolution, and the process of learning to speak, which are the ideas I built my short around.
io9 also posted a couple of preview pages of Lanz' (not yet coloured) art for that story:



And on her own website Lanz has posted some character studies:


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.



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Rihanna joins the Star Trek Beyond soundtrack

June 24, 2016, 1:51 am
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It appears Rihanna will be contributing to the soundtrack for Star Trek Beyond, and has a single on the way, called Sledgehammer. Here's the cover (via Rihanna Fenty):


No news of a release date yet, but iTunes apparently have this banner up (via FOTP):


This wouldn't be the first time a pit of pop has found it's way into nuTrek. Of course Beastie Boys music has appeared in both of the films in the series so far, and Into Darkness also had a nightclub scene which featured several different versions of a track performed by various artists (different groups for different markets around the world, see previous report for a look at some of those).

Meanwhile Rihanna appears to have trekkie credentials - Just recently she launched a new range of Dior sunglasses, which according to WWD were inspired by Geordi La Forge's visor!
La Forge from “Star Trek” as her inspiration for the frames. “I’ve always been obsessed with his eyewear, and when I got to Dior and saw all the materials I could play with, it all just came together.



Details of the orchestral soundtrack have also been announced recently, see my previous report for a track listing and samples. Star Trek Beyond and the accompanying soundtrack release will be arriving around the world from the end of July. To keep track of all the latest information on the film, visit my Star Trek Beyond guide page.



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Behold the huge Mega Bloks USS Enterprise

June 25, 2016, 2:53 pm
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This year Mega Bloks have returned to the world of Star Trek with a range of TOS construction sets, which include playsets of key locations, and models of ships. All but one of the sets in the first wave have already made their way into the world, and now that final set, the largest in the range, has joined them on Amazon, where it can be pre-ordered ahead of an expected July release.

The huge USS Enterprise set is made from 3,098 pieces, which build a model that is 85cm long. It also features light-up nacelle caps with built in LEDs, and two figurines, Kirk and Spock in dress uniform variants. To top it off, the display base features a miniature recreation of the ship's dedication plaque. Continue below to have a look at the many new images that show off the impressive model:















To check out the entire Mega Bloks Star Trek range, make your way to my Trek Collective List.



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Book bits: Prey cover, new TNG, DS9, Voyager, and Section 31 blurbs, and more!

June 26, 2016, 9:28 am
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Lots of book news today, including brand new blurbs for the first four novels on the 2017 novel schedule, which continue the adventures of the Enterprise-E, new-DS9, Voyager and the Full Circle fleet, and Docotr Bashir's efforts to thwart Section 31. But before we get to all those exciting stories, there's new cover!

Coming in November is the middle book in John Jackson Miller's Prey trilogy, The Jackal's Trick. The TNG era story is Klingon focused, and the cover, released by StarTrek.com, certainly demonstrates that, with a couple of Klingon ships and a big--scary-demon-thing (anyone recognise what that is?).


Here's a reminder of the blurb:
The Klingon-Federation alliance is in peril as never before. Lord Korgh has seized control of the House of Kruge, executing a plot one hundred years in the making. The Klingon cult known as the Unsung rampages across the stars, striking from the shadows in their cloaked birds-of-prey. And the mysterious figure known as Buxtus Cross launches a scheme that will transform the Klingon Empire forever.

Into danger flies Admiral William T. Riker and the U.S.S. Titan, charged with protecting the peace forged nearly a century before during the Khitomer Accords. Aided by Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the U.S.S. Enterprise, Riker and his officers scour the stars, seeking to find the Unsung and uncover the truth behind the conspiracy before time runs out.

Yet even as Commander Worf departs on a deeply personal mission of honor, hidden sinister forces seek to turn the crisis to their advantage. And the conspirators’ plans threaten to spiral out of control, jeopardizing the very empire they aspire to rule...

Looking to next year, Amazon have now added listings, with blurbs, for the first three novels on the schedule. The February book (which as always will arrive a little before, in this case in last week or so of January), is the next TNG mission following the Prey trilogy, Dayton Ward's Headlong Flight.
An exhilarating thriller from bestselling author Dayton Ward set in the universe of Star Trek: The Next Generation, following Captain Jean-Luc Picard and his crew as they explore the previously uncharted and dangerous Odyssean Pass.

Surveying a nebula as part of their continuing exploration of the previously uncharted “Odyssean Pass,” Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the crew of the Starship Enterprise encounter a rogue planet. Life signs are detected on the barren world’s surface, and then a garbled message is received: a partial warning to stay away at all costs. Determined to render assistance, Picard dispatches Commander Worf and an away team to investigate, but their shuttlecraft is forced to make an emergency landing on the surface—moments before all contact is lost and the planet completely disappears.

Worf and his team learn that this mysterious world is locked into an unending succession of random jumps between dimensions, the result of an ambitious experiment gone awry. The Enterprise crewmembers and the alien scientists who created the technology behind this astonishing feat find themselves trapped, powerless to break the cycle. Meanwhile, as the planet continues to fade in and out of various planes of existence, other parties have now taken notice….

In March the DS9 saga will continue with David R. George III's The Long Mirage, which appears to pick up right where his last book, Ascendance‬, left off.
Continuing the post-television Deep Space Nine saga comes this thrilling original novel from New York Times bestselling author David R. George III!

More than two years have passed since the destruction of the original Deep Space 9. In that time, a brand new, state-of-the-art starbase has replaced it, commanded by Captain Ro Laren, still the crew and residents of the former station continue to experience the repercussions of its loss. For instance: Quark continues his search for Morn, as the Lurian—his best customer and friend—left Bajor without a word and never returned. Quark enlists a private detective to track Morn down, and she claims to be hot on his trail. Yet the barkeep distrusts the woman he hired, and his suspicions skyrocket when she too suddenly vanishes. At the same time, Kira Nerys emerges from a wormhole after being caught inside it when it collapsed two years earlier. She arrives on the new DS9 to discover Altek Dans already there. While inside the Celestial Temple, Kira lived a different life in Bajor’s past, where she fell in love with Altek. So why have the Prophets moved him forward in time…and why have They brought him and Kira together?

Then April takes us back to the Delta Quadrant, for Architects of Infinity, to pick up some of the tantalising threads left dangling at the end of Kirsten Beyer's latest Voyager masterpiece, A Pocket Full of Lies.
An original novel set in the universe of Star Trek: Voyager, from the New York Times bestselling author.

As the Federation Starship Voyager continues to lead the Full Circle Fleet in its exploration of the Delta Quadrant, Admiral Kathryn Janeway remains concerned about the Krenim Imperium and its ability to rewrite time to suit its whims. At Captain Chakotay's suggestion, however, she orders the fleet to focus its attention on a unique planet in a binary system, where a new element has been discovered. Several biospheres exist on this otherwise uninhabitable world, each containing different atmospheres and features that argue other sentient beings once resided on the surface. Janeway hopes that digging into an old-fashioned scientific mystery will lift the crews' morale, but she soon realizes that the secrets buried on this world may be part of a much larger puzzle—one that points to the existence of a species whose power to reshape the galaxy might dwarf that of the Krenim.

Meanwhile, Lieutenants Nancy Conlon and Harry Kim continue to struggle with the choices related to Conlon’s degenerative condition. Full Circle’s medical staff discovers a potential solution, but complications will force a fellow officer to confront her people’s troubled past and her own future in ways she never imagined…

UPDATE: One further blurb has appeared on a new listing on the Simon and Schuster website for Section 31: Contorl, David Mack's sequel to Section 31: Disavowed, which had previously been put on hold release due to competing demands, but will now be coming in May!
From the New York Times bestselling author David Mack comes an original, thrilling Section 31 novel set in the Star Trek: The Next Generation universe!

No law…no conscience…no mercy. Amoral, shrouded in secrecy, and answering to no one, Section 31 is the mysterious covert operations division of Starfleet, a rogue shadow group pledged to defend the Federation at any cost. The discovery of a two-hundred-year-old secret gives Doctor Julian Bashir his best chance yet to expose and destroy the illegal spy organization. But his foes won’t go down without a fight, and his mission to protect the Federation he loves just end up triggering its destruction. Only one thing is for certain: this time, the price of victory will be paid with Bashir’s dearest blood.

Finally, some bits of news of books further ahead, via Jeffrey Lang, who recently appeared on TrekFM's Literary Treks podcast to discuss his recent DS9 book, Force and Motion. As you might recall, Lang has been itching to pick up the adventures of Data, following his last Data and Lal story, The Light Fantastic. Editor Margaret Clark has set a high bar for the use of the resurrected Data, which has held off any more books featuring him so far - The latest pitch certainly sounds ambitious:
In Terminator 2 you have Arnold, he's the terminator; what can you possibly throw at him where you have to have the next generation, you have to have your T-1000. With Data and Lal you have to have a T-1000, you have to have something that you can throw against them that has even more agency. So that's the concept that I'm working on - The problem with that is, when you introduce that kind of character or threat to the 24th century, that's just not going to be something that going to effect them. So I think that's the problem that we have to solve if we're going to do this sort of story; where does it land, what impact does it have, is it something that we can absorb into the bigger picture.

Essentially we are introducing a new threat that is on the level of the Borg, or... what else? What else have been at that level, the Dominion maybe? And that's what I've pitched, and I think Margaret is kind of sitting there going "Do I want to do this?", or is this too much?
To keep track of all the latest releases, hit the books buttons on my 2016 and 2017 schedule pages. You can also find series reading lists and author bibliographies on my dedicatedStar Trek lists site.




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Star Trek Beyond trailer #3 dazzles

June 27, 2016, 5:13 am
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The third major trailer for Star Trek Beyond has been released, and it's simply stunning, and features Rihanna's new single that is attached to the film, Sledgehammer.



Continue below for the usual screencap breakdown, and as ever, proceed with caution if you are spoiler adverse; looking at stills can tell you a lot more than fleeting glimpses of video:

So we start at the absolutely stunning Starbase Yorktown. Could Earth Spacedock have a contended for the most beautiful starbase? I think so!




Kirk with that big holographic display officer thing:


Then a shot of the bridge, I assume with the swarm approaching, as you can see something in the reflection of the window:



Very interesting new shot here, the swarm either appears to move as one entity before it attacks the Enterprise, of there's a mothership of some sort:





This shot seems to show a variant of the swarm ships, which are mostly two-pronged, this one seems to have a three way symmetry. perhaps Krall's personal ship?


Events inside the Enterprise:




This shot fascinates me, what are we seeing here? It looks Federation aesthetic, and seems to be launching in a way similar to a captain's yacht. What is this?



And another mystery capsule (beautiful space shot too, this looks so real!)




The last moment of the engineering section, possibly with a lot of shuttles making a last attemt to escape?



And a slightly longer version of a shot we've seen before, confirming Kirk stays on the suacer until the very last moment!



Later, on the Franklin I assume:


An extra shot of Kirk and Chekov escaping the saucer, again.


More swarm:


The mysterious pink alien in the non-standard uniform. Who is this??


And another stunning shot, this time the crashed saucer. If nothing else this film is going to be beautiful!


Kirk and Jaylah on the motorbike:


A new alien:


And his amazing red shirt ray!



The three pronged ship again:



Spock fighting hand to hand; is this how he gets injured?


Very interesting shot, the swarm seems to be able to evade the torpedo, like a shoal of fish!





And some magnificent fiery action around the Franklin. Have they somehow been able to set the entire swarm ablaze?






Several new TV spots have also been released recently. The most recent also features quite a lot of new footage, with a new emphasis on the closeness of the crew:



Two further spots are just recuts of previous trailers:





Star Trek Beyond will be arriving in cinemas around the world from the end of July. To keep track of all the latest information on the film, visit my Star Trek Beyond guide page, and see the relevant pages on Trek Collective Archives to find all the trailers, posters, and promotional stills too.



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New Visions Gorn and Swarm issues

June 30, 2016, 8:15 am
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Fans of John Byrne's New Visions series of photo-comics will be pleased to learn that September will be bring two new issues! One of them comes via unconventional channels though. Continue below for all the details.

IDW have once more teamed up with Humble Bundle, to offer a large selection of Star Trek comics in a bundle, with revenues split between the publisher and charities. In this case Traveling Stories and the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, plus a third charity of your choosing if you so desire. Currently digital copies of twenty-eight different titles are available (with the promise of more to be added), representing a diverse range of IDW's titles. All you have to do is decide how much you want to pay, with as little as $15 granting access to the entire collection (which would cost hundreds at normal prices). If you want to pay more, you can, and thus more will go to IDW and the charities.

This time there's a very enticing bonus though. If you donate $25 or more you will also be able to claim an exclusive brand new issue in the New Visions series, More of the Serpent Than the Dove, which features the Gorn. As StarTrek.com describe:
...a brand new story that picks up where the fan favorite TOS episode “Arena” left off. Master photostory artist/writer John Byrne presents the comic-book return of the Gorn, as the Federation’s first attempts at a Gorn peace treaty take a dire turn. 
The book, which unlike the rest of the bundle will will be delivered as a printed volume, will also reprint the first issue of Byrne's Leonard McCoy: Frontier Doctor.


The Humble Bundle is available until the 13th of July, while the exclusive comic is expected to ship in September.

Byrne has also posted a teaser page from this on his forums, where he regularly documents his work in progress on the series:


He also posted this costume test for a potential alternate uniform option:


Meanwhile September will also see the release of the next regular issue in the series. Issue twelve is Swarm, and this is how the solicitation describes it:
An alien threat that numbers in the millions, and star systems are already dying. What can the crew of the Enterprise do—alone!

Finally, Byrne's recent forum postings also included an update on his planned multi-era story, which now looks set to connect two rather than three periods of TOS:
I've been planning a crossed-timeline story for a couple of years. Now that the 50th Anniversary is going to slip by without my getting to it, I've decided to eliminate one element and make the story simpler
Originally I was planning a story with three parts, Pike, TOS Kirk and Movie Kirk switching to each other's ships. I've decided to drop TOS Kirk's part, and just have the "bookends" switch -- so Move Kirk on Pike's Enterprise and vice-versa.

Probably have McCoy go along with Kirk, too play the "Robin" part. Haven't decided yet whether Movie Spock will actually remember Pike telling him of this event, or if I'll play it as "cumulative" time travel so it's all new to everyone.

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 list of all New Visions comics.


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USS Enterprise and more join Rihanna in Sledgehammer video

June 30, 2016, 9:11 am
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We got our first sample of Rihanna's new single Sledgehammer, which is attached to Star Trek Beyond, with the release of the third trailer for the film, and now the full song has been revealed, complete with Star Trek filled music video. We get some especially nice shots of the Enterprise, along with Rihanna summoning swarm ships, levitating rocks, and dancing about on a planet near to Starbase Yorktown:



Here are a few choice stills:









EW have posted an interview with the video's director, Floria Sigismondi, who gave some interesting insights into what was and was not inspired by Star Trek Beyond itself. (Floating rocks?)
We wanted to use some of the elements from the film. I watched the film and gravitated towards some, like the floating rocks. I thought that could help elevate my world and make it otherworldly. We used the broken moon, we used the swarm ships, and we used [Starbase] Yorktown—that’s the big floating thing that looks like a planet but is actually a base where people live.

We tried to incorporate those elements but create a standalone piece where Rihanna is a mystical being on this otherworldly planet. She has her own character not rooted in the film. She’s harnessing her power to manipulate the elements. She is able to conjure light and stars and ultimately transform into the universe itself, becoming the stars and the planets. I love the idea of transcendence. When you listen to the lyrics of the song, she’s this sledgehammer breaking things down. It’s about pushing through your boundaries, and Star Trek is also about exploring the unknown, so I drew from that. I wanted to leave the audience with the feeling of an expansive universe, one we all live in yet know so little about. I wanted to evoke that feeling on a really large scale.
Paramount have also released a video with Rihanna talking about her love of Trek:



And this image of her facial marking from the video:


And a Latvian distributor posted this combination of the Beyond trailer and a promo for the single on Instagram:

A video posted by Uz Kino (@uzkinolv) on




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