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Mezco expands its Star Trek action figure range with tribbles, chairs, and more

July 28, 2016, 6:38 pm
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At the recent San Diego Comic Con, Mezco announced some new Star Trek additions to their One:12 Collective range of highly detailed 1/12th scale action figures. Continue below for a look at the new figures, and the latest on the rest of the range.

The newly announced figures include a Trouble with Tribbles variant of Captain Kirk, in his wrap-style uniform, which of course comes with lots of tribbles!


Also announced is a captain's chair to fit the figures, which will have light and sound features.


And displayed for the first time, a new Mirror Spock variant. I believe this will be a ThinkGeek exclusive, but has yet to go on sale.


All the new figures, and previously announced characters in the range, were on display at the Mezco booth at the Comic Con. Tomopop got these shots of them all:






The Cage version of Spock pictured above was released recently, exclusive to Vegas Dead Dolls. He comes with all the cool landing party uniform extras and Pike era equipment.





The regular Spock, and Sulu figures, are out already (see previouscoverage), Captain Kirk is due out in the next few weeks. Here's a closer look at him too:












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Super cute Pin Mates bridge playset

July 28, 2016, 7:22 pm
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At the San Diego Comic Con the Entertainment Earth booth had plenty of Star Trek stuff on display, including one of the most charming and adorable Trek toys in an age: The delightful Pin Mates bridge playset. Designed for play and display with the tiny wooden peg renditions of the TOS crew recently released by Bif Bang Pow, the playset appears to come with three extra Pin Mates, which add Nurse Chapel to the crew, alongside a wrap-uniform variant of Captain Kirk, and Spock equipped with a painted on tricorder.


The Entire bridge has been recreated, with the front portion removable so you can look into the bridge from the front as well as above. In the Comic Con display the two sections were stacked on top of each other.



Also newly revealed at the Comic Con was a The Naked Time Sulu bobble head.


Most of Bif Bang Pow's previous releases were on display too, including loads of bobble heads, the Pin Mates crew, and several The Big Bang Theory crossover ranges.





Images above variously via Toy Ark, Awesome Toy Blog, and Toy Hype USA, all of which have galleries of the entire Entertainment Earth booth, including many more images of all the Star Trek stuff.

Entertainment Earth


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Cool new South Korean Star Trek Beyond posters

July 31, 2016, 10:01 am
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Star Trek Beyond might be out in some parts of the world, but plenty of countries are still waiting, with releases in August for many in Europe and Asian, most of South America having to wait until September, and poor old Japan not getting it until October! Which means months of continued marketing for the movie still to come!

I wouldn't expect much more than localised versions of the posters and trailers we've already seen in most cases. But in South Korea, where the film is out in a couple of weeks, they have decided to do their own thing, and released two brand new posters with a totally different look to all the others so far. This first one shows off Starbase Yorktown in all it's gravitational bending glory:


And in a parallel arrangement of images, the orb of Yorktwon is replace by the crashed saucer of the Enterprise in a second poster:


Meanwhile in the US, Paramount have released a load of new trailers, now featuring quotes from reviews, or pointing out how well the film is rated on Rotten Tomatoes. I've added them all to my Trek Collective Archive of Star Trek Beyond trailers - Most of them are 15 second TV spots, though here's the longest of the batch, a rousing minute:



Paramount have also released another clip, featuring Krall and Uhura:



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 other trailers, clips, posters, promotional stills, and featurettes.



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New Star Trek role play game coming from Modiphius Entertainment

July 31, 2016, 7:58 pm
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Modiphius Entertainment have announced they are working on a new Star Trek role play game, Star Trek: Adventures, which is set for release next summer.

The game will span the entire prime timeline, and will also make use of miniature models of characters, as Modiphius describe in their announcement:
Star Trek Adventures will use the Modiphius 2d20 game system (Mutant Chronicles, Infinity, Conan, John Carter of Mars) designed by Jay Little (Star Wars: Edge of the Empire, X-Wing Miniatures Game). Modiphius is also sculpting an accompanying Star Trek miniature figure line, the first to be produced in 17 years. 
Modiphius say that the focus will be on telling new stories, but will have plenty of familiar faces:
Yes there will be pre-generated characters for many of the well known personalities from Star Trek including Picard, Kirk and more, but the focus will be on creating your own stories in the Star Trek universe. 
They also emphasis it's not all fighting:
In Star Trek Adventures the ability to solve problems, deal with moral dilemmas, unearth conspiracies or ancient mysteries, will be as important as being able to command a ship in action or lead an Away Team under fire. 
The initial core book will focus on playing using Starfleet characters, but Modiphius promise later supplements will enable playing as other non-Federation species too. The wide range of figurines they describe certainly make it sound like they have extensive plans for the game. The first two of those figure, Kirk and Picard, will be available this year at preview playing events:
There will be a wide range of Star Trek Adventures miniatures including many of your favourite characters as well as generic crew, away teams, boarding parties and aliens. Accompanying the range will be geomorphic map tiles of Federation, Klingon and other ships, space stations, lost colonies, ancient ruins as well as dangerous and mysterious worlds to explore.

The figures will be single piece and multi-part, and available in collector's blisters as well as crew packs giving you whole away teams or bridge crews from different eras. As you can see from the scale picture example above they are 32mm and made in a soft resin. These two initial figures of Captain Kirk and Picard will be available to those signing up for the official playtest at the Modiphius stands at GenCon, Essen Spiele and Dragonmeet and later as part of various sets.
The game will have some simple starship combat play, but there will not be miniature ships joining the crew as other licensees (Wizkids) already do that.



Modiphus will be the first Star Trek RPG game in well over a decade, following Decipher who last held the license, and Last Unicorn Games, FASA, and Heritage Models before.



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Amazing video of the Smithsonian's USS Enterprise restoration process

July 31, 2016, 8:52 pm
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Star Trek visual effects artist Bill Geogre just posted this amazing video chronicling the restoration and reconstruction of the original USS Enterprise filming miniature, before she went back on display at the heart of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum new look Milestones of Flight Hall (as recently reported).

The ship was taken apart by the conservators at the Smithsonian's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy facility, with almost the Entire ship painted anew, save for the top of the saucer, the only place where the original paint had been preserved. This video shows that process in detail, and it makes me tense just watching it - Can imagine the sense of responsibility handling that half century icon?



Thanks to Doug Drexler for pointing me towards this!

The beautiful fully restored miniature, complete with with full lighting and spinning bussard collectors, is back on display right now at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. Which is wear SpockBoy got footage for the delightful tribute below, that brings the model back to life in universe as well:



These clips are just a tease of what's to come, in September the Smithsonian Channel will be airing Building Star Trek, a two hour documentary looking at the restoration of the Enterprise, as well as the rescontruction of the bridge set for the current touring exhibitions, and a look at Star Trek's influence on technology.



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USS Franklin production art by Sean Hargreaves

August 2, 2016, 5:02 pm
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Star Trek Beyond production artist Sean Hargreaves is responsible for many of the most eye-catching designs from the film, and has been sharing some of his work from the production. Continue below for a look at the the USS Franklin, and how it became the ship we now know.

These first few renderings show the more or less final form of the ship as we see her in the film, including what has become quite a familiar image; the first piece of concept art that introduced us to the design months ago.




Here are some nice elevations, giving us a good sense of the ship's form:


But perhaps most interestingly some images from earlier in the design process, when the nacelles used to be under-slung and the ship was known as the USS Pioneer. As you can see, early on the ship has quite a different saucer shape, and apparently it's quite coincidental that the final form ended up looking a bit like the NX class, with the similar shapes happening to line up once the nacelles were flipped.

The Pioneer, before it became the Franklin, in a early script buried in the sand. A different design here somewhat......
There would be panels missing here, but they wanted it to appear airtight and preserved, almost mummy like.
Franklin when it was called the Pioneer, in an early script where it had to lift off vertically. Note at that time the engines and arms were flipped down.......
Here are some bridge concepts (I like the reflection of the saucer hull shape in the bridge floor area).





And here's a later iteration of the bridge, which by this time had input from other designers, Hargreaves stakes a claim to about a third of the final design.


This is the transporer room, as rendered, but not designed by Hargreaves:


And finally the engineering room:


I will be posting more of Sean's work in the coming days, looking at the design of the stunning Starbase Yorktown, and the... ship that appears right at the end of the film (who am I kidding, like anyone reading this needs to avoid spoilers by now!)

To keep track of all the latest information on the film, including other behind the scenes coverage, visit my Star Trek Beyond guide page. And of course, make sure to visit Sean Hargreaves' website; he doesn't have his Star Trek Beyond work up there yet, but you will find interesting production art from many other projects.



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Starships Collection's run up to issue ninety announced

August 4, 2016, 8:44 am
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Eaglemoss have announced, via StarTrek.com, several new ships coming soon to their magazine and model series, Star Trek: The Official Starships Collection. Continue below for a look at those newly announced ships, and other updates from the collection.

So working back from the furthest ahead, due out as issue ninety is the Romulan scout ship (which will arrive first in the UK in January, and as ever follow later in other markets as the series progresses in each part of the world). This isn't the first model ever released of this design, but I believe it will be much larger and more detailed than any previous release, following little Micro Machines and Wizkids game miniature versions.


The long awaited USS Enterprise-J, almost the last of the current prime timeline Enterprises in the collection (still holding out for you ringship Enterprise), will also be arriving in January, the first UK release of 2017, as issue eighty-nine in the series. See previous report for a look at the actual model. This will be the first ever model of this 26th century ship, as is indeed the case for most of the other ships coming to the collection these days, with most of the really well established designs having been covered earlier in the series.


The final issue of 2016 (in the UK at least) will be the latest Enteprise-era Vulcan ship in the collection, the Vahklas, first and most prominently seen in Fusion.


From much later in the timeline, the little 29th century timeship UTS Aeon, from Voyager's Future's End, is issue eighty-seven.


Rather surprisingly there has been a model made of the Gorn ship previously. This design was made for the remastered version of TOS's Arena, but never seen up close on screen, With a final colour scheme as envisioned by designer Mike Okuda, this will give us our best ever look at the design, previously released only as a small Attack Wing miniature.


Before we get to all the wings and narrow nacelles of the above ships, issue eighty-five is a little more, brick-shaped... The Federation holoship from Insurrection.


Issue eighty-four was revealed in the latest round of solicitations, so we have a look at both the model and magazine cover for the NX Alpha.



Issue eight-three, coming in October, has been announced before, but the solicitation gives us a new look at the Bajoran troop transport model. There has been a model of this once before, but again, only a miniature in Wizkids games.



Several issues that are already out the UK have now been added to Eaglemoss' online shop, with a smattering of new images for each. The newest of those is issue seventy-seven, the Romulan shuttle, which arrived a couple of weeks ago.




Issue seventy-six was Neelix's ship, the Baxial.





And seventy-five was the Enterprise-E captain's yacht, the Cousteau. There have been a couple of models of this ship before, but it's still something of a rarity, this is certainly the most accessible release of it so far.





Notable absent from the recent announcements are any ships from Star Trek Beyond. We know Eaglemoss have been working on at least three designs from the film, with a stated aim of releasing something near the film. So hopefully we should soon have news of the first of those as an imminent special issue (as the nuTrek ships are always released as those larger issues outside the regular run of the series).

For a listing of all the ships in the Star Trek: The Official 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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The art of Starbase Yorktown, from Sean Hargreaves and Milena Zdravkovic

August 4, 2016, 5:47 pm
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My new favourite thing in the entire Star Trek multiverse is Starbase Yorktown; that staggeringly beautiful structure is one of the most amazing creations to ever grace the screen, and a perfect icon of the Federation utopia. Indeed, designer Sean Hargreaves put that rather perfectly when I talked to him about it:
Yorktown was what Roddenberry's entire source material was about. Living together in harmony, with other planets and cultures we have all discovered.
As a big fan of the design, I am of course really pleased that Sean has shared much of his artwork from the production of Star Trek Beyond, which details how he and other artists created this beautiful thing.

Let's start on the outside, with the outer doors that let starships fly into the very heart of the base. The first image here shows an earlier iteration of the design, which was later widened.



This next sequence continues the Enterprise's journey inside the base, showing the staggering scale, and glimpses of that lovely see through quality of the design that makes the cities visible from within the arms, and lets ships travelling within be seen under the waterways in the arms.





Here's another interior image, this one of the USS Franklin manoeuvring around the central area of the starbase.


The air-side of that central area is perhaps the most amazing part of the whole station, where different planes of gravity collide in dizzying fashion. Sean described what is going on here, and how he worked with others to create it:
This oxygen fan and 4 gravity plane area was a collaboration between myself and Art Director Dan Hermansen. Milena Zdravkovic also did a beautiful rendering with more green and trees. I always thought of this as an industrial hub. Dan Designed the Cool circular room at the end of the film where the fight takes place, known as the 'Zero Point Chamber'. Note the 2 Dubai Burg buildings on the right which were an agreement between the production and Dubai as we were shooting there.

And here is that other greener version, from Milena Zdravkovic:


Leading to this central point are those huge arms, with cities built along them. They are apparently 17.5 miles long!



And finally, lets travel to another strange new world from the film. Sean has also shared the following image from the prologue of the film, what would eventually become the planet Teenax. It seems the joke on scale was played to an even greater extent early on:
Heres an early image of Kirk on the opening planet, before script changes. The planet was sulfurous and bubbly at this early point in the script. The creatures were even smaller and lived in these termite like growths. Kirk puts his hand in and........

I will be posting more production artwork from Star Trek Beyond in the coming days, including a very special ship also designed by Sean Hargreaves. To keep track of all the latest information on the film, including other behind the scenes coverage, visit my Star Trek Beyond guide page.

Sean meanwhile has made some of his work publicly viewable on his Facebook profile, and you can see more of his wider portfolio on his website.



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The latest FanSets collectable pins, featuring ships, characters, and more!

August 5, 2016, 4:26 pm
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Back in June FanSets launched, with the promise of making numerous pins featuring characters from several media franchises, starting with Star Trek. They apparently have some sixty pins already available or at some point in production in their Star Trek collection alone, including "MicroCrew" representations of characters, and "MicroFleet" ships with a sort of mission patch feel. Here are many of the ones they have so far released/announced, and continue below for a look at all the most recently announced additions to the collection:


I really like the ship designs! Last time I posted about them, FanSets had only released artwork that they intended to turn into pins for most of their ships, but more recently they posted this photo of several of the finished objects; and don't they look splendid!


Here's a closer look at the Enterprise-D:


Incredibly, the SS Bonaventure, from TAS is also on the way! FanSets have promised they will provide a wide ranging and diverse assortment, including plenty of obscure stuff that most Star Trek licensees never get near, and they are certainly delivering here! Surely this must be the first piece of Star Trek merchandise to feature this ship?


There will be a second series of ship pins with interact with an app to make them come alive in augmented reality. FanSets founder Dan Madsen explains some of the features these will have to Larry Nemecek for a piece on Trekland:
We are working with a company out of Indonesia that is one of the top three Augmented Reality companies in the world. Essentially, what this is, is—let’s take the Enterprise pin: You'll be able to take an app that we’ll provide and, when you see that pin on anyone, hold your smartphone or your tablet up to it for a second–and suddenly the Enterprise will come alive, out of the pin: it will literally be 3-D and move—shoot off into warp drive, with music and sound effects.
The different pins will also be able to interact via the augmented reality, as Madsen described with the example of the Enterprise and a Klingon ship:
The Enterprise will come out of the pin, the Klingon will come out of the pin, and they’ll have a space battle right there on your phone! Firing back and forth at each other.
The Enterprise appears to be the first of these on the way. You can see the finished pin in that group shot at the top of the article, and here's a closer look at the artwork:


Another unusual format has been revealed this week at the Star Trek Las Vegas convention, a huge six-piece pin set to celebrate the 50th anniversary. Limited to an edition of 1701 (of course), the series will start in September with the center-piece, Kirk, and Picard segments. Sisko, Janeway, and Archer will then follow each month, completing the set by the end of the year.


Also offered at the San Diego Comic Con a couple of weeks ago were two exclusive pins, one featuring the USS Enterprise, and the other a memorial transporter scene noting the late Deforest Kelley, James Doohan, and Leonard Nimoy:


Further exclusive pins will be available via the FanSets Members Club, which will offer exclusive designs every month when it launches later this year. FanSets have previewed the first two of these, both Kirks: The first in the green wrap uniform variant, and the second in an EV suit.


According to Trekland, other types of pins planned include some with moveable parts, autograph pins with a space to get signed by the featured actor, and alphabet pins (ie. S with a Spock).

The vast majority of the FanSets releases and announcements so far however are the MicroCrew, and since my last post they have revealed the final form of many more of those pins:








They have also released artwork for even more designs (I think Q looks especially good):





It sounds like FanSets have plans to bring us much more, so I'm sure it won't be long until I'm bring more news of their efforts. In the mean time, check out my first report on them for a look at the other designs they have so far revealed, and visit their website to browse what they currently have available.



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Star Trek Beyond's new USS Enterprise, by Sean Hargreaves

August 5, 2016, 5:29 pm
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Erm, spoilers? Sorry folks, but this article is about a certain ship that appears at some point in Star Trek Beyond. As even those who have not yet seen the film must know, Star Trek Beyond sees the final mission of the Kelvin timeline's USS Enterprise, and so it was surely inevitable the crew would need a replacement... Continue below for a look at that iteration of the Enterprise.

The task of designing that new Enterprise fell to Sean Hargreaves (who also designed the USS Franklin and Starbase Yorktown). As you can see in the images below, which Sean has released, he skillfully blended the key shapes from the original, prime timeline, Enterprise, with new organic forms, that makes this new USS Enterprise-A both familiar and very new.


Sean described his brief when he shared these images on Facebook:
This was the design I gave visual effects, so any changes beyond what you see here were out of my hands, but looking at the film its pretty close.

The brief was to beef up the neck and arms, but I took it upon myself to go further. Certain details and livery are not present as I took it to a certain level, time permitting. Also the classic red graphics were placeholders at the time.

I worked many long hours at work and after work and weekends on this, knowing the weight of the responsibility, which I didn't take lightly.

From growing up watching Star Trek in the countryside of Northern England, this was a great honor to be one of the few to be given the great responsibility to design this ship.




I especially like the rear view above, the way the pylons blend into the engineering hull and create on continuous form between them is pleasingly Calatrava-esque.

Paramount have yet to release any official images of the new Enterprise-A; indeed the shots of her were some of the only ones in the film not revealed at all in any of the trailers! So it will probably be a while longer before we can really scrutinise the final design as seen on screen. But the artwork above gives us pretty good idea, as not too much was changed, and I think she looks like a splendid ship!

You can see more of Sean's work from the film in my previous reports on the USS Franklin and Starbase Yorktown. Sean has made some of his work publicly viewable on his Facebook profile, and you can see more of his wider portfolio on his website. To keep track of all the latest information on Star Trek Beyond, including other behind the scenes coverage, visit my Star Trek Beyond guide page. I'll be posting even more concept art from the film in the coming days.



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Keepsake USS Franklin coming, and other Hallmark Star Trek updates

August 7, 2016, 3:29 pm
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Every year since 1991 Hallmark have released at least one Star Trek ornament in their Keepsake range of Christmas decorations, including a model ship every year. At this week's Star Trek Las Vegas convention they announced which ship is coming next, and I'm sure it will be no surprise that 2017 will be bring us the ship of the moment, the USS Franklin. StarTrek.com released this image. While not noted in StarTrek.com report, I expect this model will have light and/or sound features.


Meanwhile this year's range of Keepsakes have just recently gone on sale, and include several Star Trek designs. Continue below for a look at them all.

The 2016 ship is the USS Enterprise, specifically The Cage version of the ship, complete with spires on the front of the nacelles. Alas Captain Pike has already moved on it seems, as it is Captain Kirk's voice who can be heard from the ship at a push of a button, which plays the opening monologue and a section of the theme tune (you can hear the clip on Hallmark's website).

To mark the 50th anniversary the ship is presented in gold. And despite the rather dulled version Hallmark display on their website, the actual ornament has a brilliant shiny metallic finish. I should think this looks rather splendid on a Christmas tree.



If you don't fancy a gold Enterprise, the same model has been released in a more typical finish. Although this version is more difficult to get hold of, offered exclusively at the San Diego Comic Con, New York Comic Con, and Star Trek: Mission New York convention.


Another convention exclusive will be offered at the two New York events noted above. From Hallmark's Crabby Road cartoons is Maxine, in Star Trek cosplay.


Meanwhile, the rest of the regular Star Trek range this year is of course TOS all the way. This year's diorama is from The Man Trap, featuring Kirk being Salt Vampired. This ornament also has sound features (which you can preview on the Hallmark website).


There's also a figurine of Chekov, which complete the Star Trek Legends series of similar figurines of all the main TOS characters. Chekov is a limited edition though, only available at Hallmark stores.


This year also brings us an additional table-top decoration, Called To Boldly Go, the scene features a section of the bridge, with Kirk, Spock, and McCoy gathered. It has both light and sound features. This decoration isn't out yet, it's expected in October.


For a look back through all Hallmark's previous Keepsake releases, see my Trek Collective List.

Meanwhile, Hallmark are also offering Star Trek items in some of their other ranges. Out already is a four character set of Star Trek itty bittys cuddly toys. Included are Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and Uhura.



And coming soon, Star Trek will be one of the first brands in Hallmark's new Squeelys range of vinyl figures. As you'll know if you follow this site, small stylised figurines are all the rage these days, including no shortage of Star Trek offerings. So Hallmark have found an interesting angle here to offer something distinctive: In their new series the characters are driving classic cars. The Kirk figure teased is in a rather brilliant USS Enterprise-styled car!




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Star Trek Beyond ship and location concepts from Victor Martinez

August 8, 2016, 5:13 pm
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Following the release of the film, it seems to production artists of Star Trek Beyondare keen to show off what they've been working on to bring the film together at super speed. Victor Martinez worked on ships and locations for the film, including a small Federation fighter than didn't make it into the film. He posted the following on his Facebook page:
Here's another look at the aircraft I designed for "Star Trek Beyond", dubbed the "Battle Shuttle". It was created for an earlier version of the script, and unfortunately was cut from the final script, but perhaps influenced the enemy "Swarm Ships" we do see in the final film. Both are small, dart-like fighters, ultra-maneuverable, and can carry a pilot and 2-3 passengers in a toboggan tandem style seating. 


Martinez also did lots of work designing the planet Altamid. He posted lots of different variants on his Facebook page, I've picked out my favourite of the surface and underground here, but you'll find more on Facebook:



He did even more work on Altamid, interestingly quite late in the production:
Here are some concepts I did for the Altamid Mines in "Star Trek Beyond" showing the docking bay for the enemy swarm ships, the mine shafts, and prisoner restraints. These were actually part of additional scenes that were added after the film was shot and edited, and the director felt it needed these additional designs to better round out the movie. It was great working with Production Designer Andrew Murdock on these as well as Set Designer Jeff Markwith!




You can see more of Martinez' work from the film on his Facebook profile.To keep track of all the latest information on Star Trek Beyond, including more concept art and other behind the scenes coverage, visit my Star Trek Beyond guide page.



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Andorians coming to Star Trek: Discovery?

August 8, 2016, 6:23 pm
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Star Trek: Discovery show runner Bryan Fuller tweeted the following tease of a photo, captioned simply "#StarTrekDisco MAKEUP TEST". Now is we assume Star Trek Disco does indeed refer to the TV series, rather than the exciting new 50th anniversary pop-up dance venue... It sure looks a lot like there's an Andorian due to visit the USS Discovery.


Of course this could be some other alien with antennae. But surely we all want Andorians back? And surely the obvious connection is not unknown to super trekkie Fuller.

For any nitpickers about to complain they don't look like the Andorians we got used to in Enterprise, lets not forget the Andorians have been redesigned in ever era they have appeared (check out Therin of Andor's Rogues' Gallery and you'll see many variations). Which is great as it means we've seen fantastic racial diversity in the Andorians over the years!

In other Discovery news, Netflix (who will be the distributor everywhere except the US and Canada) have now added a page for the series on their website, including a little blurb:
The iconic franchise returns with a fresh series, new characters and a new ship. Their mission: Explore new worlds, bring hope to a new generation.
Hope hmm? Was this new generation lacking in hope? What's afoot here?

The Netflix deal has apparently already made the production of Discovery profitable. As TrekCore reported in comments from CBS CEO Les Moonve:
We also struck a significant international deal with Netflix for ‘Star Trek,’ licensing our new series ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ to 188 Netflix countries around the world – virtually everywhere but North America.

In addition, we licensed all 727 previous episodes of our ‘Star Trek’ library. Plus, we struck a similar deal with Bell Media for Canada.

As a result, ‘Star Trek: Discovery,’ our new series, is profitable – and we haven’t even begun production.

We still have additional windows to sell the show in second and third cycles down the road. It’s also safe to say that ‘Star Trek’ will lead to a significant bump in subscribers for CBS All Access here in the US.
Moonve also hinted that the series will continue beyond the currently planned thirteen episode run, and sees prospects in spin-offs already:
Going forward, obviously, we’re doing thirteen episodes initially with ‘Star Trek,’ we are fairly certain – although we haven’t done one day of production – that the series is gonna go on for a while.

We have spin-offs of spin-offs, you know? It’s a very, very valuable franchise that can turn into hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue for us.
Star Trek: Discovery is due to start in January next year, it will be distributed almost everywhere in the world on Netflix, except for the US where is will be available on CBS All Access, and Canada where it will be on Bell Media channels and services. To keep track of all the latest details from the new show, visit my Star Trek: Discovery guide page.




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New details of Discovery setting and characters

August 11, 2016, 6:25 am
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At the Television Critics Association’s press tour in Beverly Hills yesterday, Bryan Fuller, show runner of the new Star Trek TV series, Discovery, reveals lots of new details about the show's setting and characters. Continue below for all the latest.

The show will apparently take place about ten years before The Original Series, and focus on a previously established event in Star Trek history, something mentioned in TOS:
There’s an incident and an event in Star Trek history that’s been talked about but never been explored. To do this series, we’re telling a much more serialized story, to dig deep into a very tantalizing storyline. And we have a character who’s on a journey, and in order to understand something that is alien, she first has to understand herself.
While the exact natural of that event has not been revealed, a few thing have been ruled out by Fuller, it will not focus on the Battle of Axanar, the Kobayashi Maru scenario, or the Romulan War (although that suggestion was apparently remarked on as being "close"). Section 31 will also not be the focus but “might be some marble through the meat of our season”.

Being so close to the setting of The Original Series we can expect to see some of the iconic designs of that era, but don't expect it to be treated like a period reproduction:
That allows us to bridge the gap between ‘Enterprise’ and the original series and redefine the visual style of the universe. We’re much closer to Kirk’s mission so we get to play with the iconography of those ships and those uniforms.
Since we are doing this series in 2016, and all of the other series have been produced [at a time that] isn’t as sophisticated as we are now with what we can do production-wise, we’re going to be reestablishing an entire look for the series — not only for the series, but for what we wanted to accomplish with Star Trek beyond this series.
We have to update the style of the effects, the style of the sets, the style of the makeup.
The setting also of course opens the possibility of many familiar faces being able to turn up, with younger TOS characters very possible, and older Enterprise ones surely also an option. Fuller noted the series wont look to exploit that potential until the second season:
There’s so much about the history that once we get through this first season and establish our own Star Trek universe with the crew that going to be reimagining a lot of Star Trek elements, we’ll be looking in the second season to open up to more familiar characters and how they can feed into the [show]. First and foremost, I think we really want to convince you and establish the greatness of the [new] characters that are going to be introduced.
Amanda Grayson (and Sarek?) to return?
Of all the characters that could reappear it seems Amanda Grayson (Spock's mum) is on Fuller's radar:
I love that character. I loved Winona Ryder’s portrayal of her [in the 2009 movie] and it’s a great character. It would be fun in some iteration of this show to incorporate her and her storyline she’s not a central part of the show but we love that character.
Moving on to the new characters, the lead character will be a female, which Fuller described as a "Lieutenant Commander … with caveats".  Yep, the captain won't be the star this time:
We’ve seen six series from captains’ points of view, so to see a character from a different perspective, who has a different dynamic with the captain, with subordinates
She will apparently have:
...a strength and sensitivity and an amusing neurosis that goes with exploring space.
Her personal arc will be a major part of the first season, and sounds ripe for allegory with several present day social and political issues:
In order to understand something that’s completely alien from her, she has to understand herself. It’s so easy to look at someone different from ourselves and think how we would think in their shoes, but we cannot imagine how they’d think because we are not them. It’s part of the character’s journey in this first season.
A recent tease of aliens to come
The role hasn't been cast yet, but Fuller is looking to build a diverse cast, with seven main characters, including at least one gay character, and one assumes from all the talk of diversity some decent racial diversity too:
Star Trek started with a wonderful expression of diversity in its cast … our lead of the show is going to be subject of that same level of who’s the best actor and also what can we say about diversity on the show. We haven’t cast her yet, so we don’t know what level of diversity she will be, but that’s forefront in our minds. We’ll probably have a few more aliens than you typically have on the show. We wanted to paint a picture of Starfleet where we’re going to have new exciting aliens and also new imagining of existing aliens.
Apparently one of the new aliens will be called Saru. And the show will also feature robots in some capacity!

When asked about bringing in actors from previous projects Fuller stated that:
We’re looking at a lot of folks, we’re trying to figure out if their schedules permit.
And also agreed when it was suggested to him that Lee Pace would make a great Vulcan (yes please!).

Fuller also spoke a bit about the structure of the series, again referring to it as being more like a novel:
...with each episode being a chapter of that novel, and within that chapter there's a beginning, middle and end. We will have episodes that exist by themselves but are a part of a much bigger story.
It was also noted, as I imagine many assumed, that the first episode will be two hours long.

Quotes and notes via CBS, TV Line, Variety, and Entertainment Weekly.

Star Trek: Discovery is due to start in January next year, it will be distributed almost everywhere in the world on Netflix, except for the US where is will be available on CBS All Access, and Canada where it will be on Bell Media channels and services. To keep track of all the latest details from the new show, visit my Star Trek: Discovery guide page.




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Comic previews: Connection part 2, and Star Trek Cover Celebration

August 22, 2016, 7:33 pm
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IDW's latest Star Trek comic releases include the final issue in the Kelvin timeline ongoing series, and a special cover gallery book to mark the 50th anniversary. Continue below for previews of both.

Issue sixty of the ongoing comic series completes the ingenious TOS/nuTrek corssover story Connection, continuing the split-page style of the first half of the story. This is just about as perfect a way to end the series and mark the 50th anniversary as you could get, and comes after a run of some of the strongest stories in the series. Hopefully the relaunched Boldly Go series, picking up events after Star Trek Beyond, will continue that line of great story telling.

As ever the issue was written by Mike Johnson, and features the art of Tony Shasteen. It is available in two covers, with the main Shasteen cover completing the diptych from the previous issue. The subscription cover is by Jorge Fornés, with colour by Mark Roberts.







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, Things From Another World, Forbidden Planet, iTunes.

The other recent release is the 50th Anniversary Cover Celebration, a book which showcases some of the Star Trek comic covers. The book features a wide range of cover art from many of IDW's Star Trek books, plus a few Gold Key covers, and one from the Wildstorm days.

The book itself is available in four covers. The main one is another Tony Shasteen piece, while the other three are all by J.K. Woodward, forming a triptych which features prominent characters from the entire on-screen Star Trek multiverse - The three triptych covers are going to require some hunting, as they are convention exclusives, available in an edition of 250 a piece at the Star Trek Las Vegas convention, Star Trek: Mission New York convention, and the New York Comic Con.



And here's the full original artwork. Artist J.K. Woodward has posted a process blog looking at how he created the piece.


Preview pages from the book:







You can continue checking out the rest of the covers by picking up a copy at your local comic book shop, or from online retails like these: Amazon.com, Things From Another World, Forbidden Planet, iTunes.

You can find reading lists for several Star Trek comic series on my Trek Collective Lists site, including a full listing of issues in the nuTrek ongoing series. 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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More model ships coming with Star Trek Beyond home video releases

August 22, 2016, 9:58 pm
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The first batch of announcements for the Star Trek Beyondhome video releases included a set that comes with a model of the USS Franklin, and now it seems even more little model ships will be joining the Beyond discs.

Available via Amazon in Germany is a set which includes three little ships: The USS Franklin, USS Enteprise, and a swarm ship. I'm fairly these are the same models previously offered as cup-toppers, but it's ice they're being made available by another route if you couldn't find any at a cinema.


In the US Walmart are also listing a set which comes with three model ships, and I think it's a fairy safe bet that will be the same collection seen here,with the US version of the bluray of course.

Germany will also have the option to get the set with the single larger model of the Franklin, the latest country to have listings for it, joining the US, UK, and Canada.

StarTrek.com recently revealed the various home video releases are expected to arrive on the 31st of December, which seems oddly late to me, and misses the Christmas season entirely!

UK listings for the steelbook version of the bluray have also been updated with a new version of the cover, now using the Motion Picture inspired poster design. Is this the final form?


Another steelbook, containing all the nuTrek films, is also available from Zavvi in the UK, and they have also updated their listing with a new cover, this time updating the previous Star Trek: The Compendium artwork to reflect the three films offered in the new set.


In other home video news, Amazon in Canada recently added a listing for a bluray release of The Animated Series, which they are expecting to come in November. I assume listing will appear in other markets soon too. This is pleasingly not too long a wait for a standalone release of the series, following the first bluray offering in the TOS mega set (which includes all of the TOS TV and film titles) in September.

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Starships Collection's Holoship and Gorn, and other Eaglemoss news

August 24, 2016, 12:37 pm
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Two new ships from Eaglemoss'Star Trek: The Official Starships Collection have been previewed in the latest round of solicitations. Continue below to check out them, plus other Eaglemoss news.

Due out first in the UK in November (and following in other markets as the series progresses around the world) is issue eighty-five, the Federation holoship. This boxy ship make a surprisingly interesting looking model! The first ever produced of the design.


Issue eighty-six, which will also debut in November, is a fun one, the latest design from the remastered version of TOS, the Gorn ship from Arena. This ship has been produced nice before, as a small Attack Wing gaming miniature, but the Eaglemoss version should be much more detailed (although the picture does make it look like one of the smaller ships in the collection).


Preliminary cover designs have also been released for both issues:


Meanwhile the most recently released issues are now also listed on Eaglemoss' website, with lots of new images of them. Issue seventy-eight was the Aeroshuttle, seen in every episode of Voyager and none, permanently docked to the underside of the saucer.





And issue seventy-nine was another of the TOS remastered designs, Harry Mudd's J class ship, Stella. For a blob with nacelles I found this a strangely satisfying model.





In other Eaglemoss news, in a recent tweet, series manager Ben Robinson noted we should expect news of the next special oversized issues (presumably Star Trek Beyond ships) at the Star Trek: Mission New York convention, which is early in September.

Eaglemoss have also released an audio recording of their starship design panel from the San Diego Comic Con, which included starship talk with designer Rick Sternbach and effects artist Dan Curry.

Finally, you might recall a few months ago Eaglemoss quietly launched a test run of a Star Trek comic book reprint collection, Star Trek: Graphic Novel Collection. As is typical for many part-work collections, Eaglemoss trialled this in a limited geographical area in the UK, but also launched a subscription website for it (which is where I signed up). Given it was a test run, it comes as little surprise when my first two issues turned up, they came with a letter explaining the series isn't continuing, for now at least:
Unfortunately, I am writing to let you know that we are suspending publication of the collection until further notice.

However, we do hope to resume publication in the near future and we will contact you as soon as we are able to do so.
The same sort of thing happened with the Starships Collection, and assuming there has been enough interest for the series to be launched proper, I'd expect more news on a full launch in the not too distant future.


For a listing of all the ships in the Star Trek: The Official 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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Non-fiction updates: Beyond book, Picard and Klingon blurbs, and more

August 24, 2016, 2:24 pm
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Lots of non-fiction updates today, including blurbs for new Picard and Klingon focused books, a video preview, and a limited edition. Continue below for all of those.

First up though, a look inside the much anticipatedStar Trek Beyond Collector's Edition, which is perhaps a little anti-climactic. While the book promises to take us behind the scenes on the movie, if you're a reader of the Star Trek Magazine, it might seem familiar, as it appears the book is the latest in Titan's Star Trek Magazine article collection reprint books. Continue below to check out some preview pages (via Amazon):




In new book news, via the Simon and Schuster online catalogue, here is a first blurb for the second travel guide book from Insight Editions, Hidden Universe Travel Guide: Qo'noS and the Klingon Empire. After his recent travels to Vulcan, author Dayton Ward has embarked on another interstellar adventure to tell us about the touristic highlights of the entire Klingon Empire! The book is expected in August next year.
Explore the homeworld and vast dominion of Star Trek’s most formidable race, the Klingons, in this thrilling travel guide.

nuqneH! Bored of standard vacations to places like Risa or Wrigley’s Pleasure Planet? Want to discover a unique and ancient culture not bound by standard niceties and social mores? Then Qo’noS and the vast Klingon Empire are for you! This one-of-a-kind travel guide will give you all the information you need to plan, enjoy, and survive your trip to the very heart of Klingon territory, from an overview of Klingon history to tips on what to wear (fur and leather are very popular) to a glossary of important phrases like “mamI' DaneH'a'? nItebHa' mamI' DaneH'a'?” (Would you like to dance with me?). Every major location in the Klingon Empire is covered in-depth, with tips on where to eat (you’ve not lived until you’ve eaten Klingon skull stew), how best to get to and from your chosen destination, and what to do if you find yourself challenged to a bat’leth battle to the death. Locations include the homeworld Qo’noS and its famous locales such as the First City, the Caves of No’mat the Hamar Mountains, and the city of Krennla, plus neighboring moons Corvix and Praxis, and many, many more must-see areas. The book also features exclusive maps and illustrations that bring to life the Klingon Empire and form the perfect reference guide for any visitor. So what are you waiting for? Qapla’!
Another sequel of sorts comes from Price Stern Sloan and author Brandon T. Snider, who will be following up on this year's What Would Captain Kirk Do? With What Would Captain Picard Do? Due out next May.
Fans of of Star Trek: The Next Generation's Captain Jean Luc Picard explore a galaxy of advice in this fun pop philosophy book narrated by Captain Picard himself.

The cosmos is filled with a great many wonders—uncharted worlds, bizarre life forms, chaos, and calm. Keep your mind open as you navigate through this collection of scenarios as Captain Picard teaches you how to handle even the most challenging situations. The possibilities are as limitless as the universe itself.
One if this year's books is Redshirt's Little Book of Doom, which is pretty hilarious. Insight Editions have released a video preview:



And finally, due out in September is the book of the Star Trek art exhibition 50 Artitsts 50 Years, but if you got to the San Diego Comic Con Titan Books had an exclusive hardcover version with a slipcase. A few of this limited edition are now being offered by Forbidden Planet too.




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Kelvin timeline USS Enterprise joins the F-Toys model ship range

August 24, 2016, 4:56 pm
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Back in 2008 Japanese maker little models (which come packaged with sweets!) F-Toys released a range of Star Trek starship models. Now they are reissuing that original "Starfleet Collection", with one new ship in the range; the Kelvin timeline USS Enterprise (original configuration).



I don't know where that USS Excelsior style dark ring on the saucer came from, but I kind of like it!

Distributor Platz has this set for release in October. The rest of the range is reissues of the previously released Enterprises NX-01, NCC-1701, and NCC-1701-D, plus the two pack USS Defiant which comes with a second cloaked version of the ship.





The original line-up also included a refit USS Enterprise, but the Kelvin timeline Enterprise appears to have taken its place this time. See my Trek Collective List for a look back through all the F-Toys releases.



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John Eaves' prop designs for Star Trek Beyond

August 24, 2016, 7:32 pm
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Star Trek production artist John Eaves has been working on Star Trek productions since The Final Frontier. He is something of a rarity among the the Star Trek old-guard, in having continued to boldly go, in working on all three of the Kelvin timeline movies. For Star Trek Beyond he worked on several prop designs, the artwork for which he has been sharing on Facebook.

His favourite prop for the movie is what I am sure will be a favourite scene for many of us, when Spock the younger finds a photo among the belongings of Spock prime.


Apparently early on they planned to use a TV era image of the crew, but thankfully that changed to the promo image shot for The Final Frontier - Spock seeing his older self and crew has so much more impact on his decision making in the film.

You might find something familiar in the repeating diamond pattern, and that would be because it draws inspiration from the architecture of the Vulcan Science Academy council building seen in the first nuTrek movie. The same motif can be seen in some of the other Vulcan designs done for Beyond, including this cool new take on a Vulcan harp which sadly didn't make it into the film:



Eaves also designed Uhura's (tracker) necklace. The Adventurine have run a nice piece on this, discussing with prop master Andy Siegal how the piece was made, using a synthetic opal.

As you can see, the final piece is more like the diamond motif seen in several of Eaves' Vulcan designs here, while he also played with a cool lirpa-style design.




Eaves also worked on concepts for phasers, including this fun design where the standard hand phaser gets amped up by plugging it into a phaser rifle caddy.


Eaves also designed these really chunky "blasters":


UPDATE: Eaves has posted another design, for Jaylah's staff:


If you enjoy Star Trek concept art, then you must visit John Eaves' website, where you will find galleries of his work from many years of work across various Star Trek productions, and elsewhere.

To keep track of all the latest information on Star Trek Beyond, including more concept art and other behind the scenes coverage, visit my Star Trek Beyond guide page.



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