Details of Enterprise Season 2 on bluray, and movie DVD releases

TrekCore have posted details of the special features coming with Enterprise, Season Two, on bluray. As we've come to expect with these new season box sets, there will be a three part documentary, this time called “Uncharted Territory”. They describe it as follows:

...a three-part retrospective providing an inside look at the challenges faced by the writing staff and creators during the creative development of the second season, which ultimately inspired the controversial Xindi story-arc that kicks off in the season finale, “The Expanse.”

Another regular feature on these sets will be a reunion, “In Conversation: The First Crew” reunites the Enterprise cast for this set:

...a look at an intimate and candid discussion with members of the main cast and recurring guest stars, who reveal their most memorable stories from the set and their favorite behind-the-scenes moments. The reunion is moderated by series co-creator/executive producer Brannon Braga.

As with previous sets, the existing DVD features are also included. In addition there are a few new audio commentaries:

• Carbon Creek, with Chris Black and Mike and Denise Okuda.
• Regeneration, with John Billingsley and Bonita Friedericy.
• First Flight, with Chris Black and Mike and Denise Okuda.

See TrekCore for a full disc contents lists. In other home video news, Amazon have added loads of new DVD and bluray listings, all coming in September. The most original sounding is Star Trek: The Original Series - Origins. There is no information on what exactly this is; at about $25 I would guess a two-disc highlights set. Origins is a pretty flexible title, could be key character episodes, introductions to Star Trek species, or concepts in Star Trek? Sure we'll find out soon enough.

Also coming is the Stardate Collection, on DVD and bluray. This is the latest release of all ten prime movies, exactly the same as the sets already released in Europe earlier in the year.

Finally all the prime movies are also getting individual DVD releases. The most popular films got separate releases back in 2009, and now it seems the rest of the series is being filled out. Additionally they are releasing all ten films as five two-movie sets.

More international variation from the Into Darkness soundtrack, plus limited edition bluray in France

Last week in my round-up of all things relating to the Into Darkness soundtrack I posted details of five different versions of the track from the bar scene in the film - Depending where in the world you see the film, or buy the MP3 version of the soundtrack, you will get different vocals by local artists, over the same backing music. It appears I missed one though, as in addition to the US, UK, Australian, Mexican, and Brazilian variations, there is also a unique take on the track for French audiences. In France you'll hear "[I Wanna] Race With You", by I.V.. Here's what it sounds like:

I think I'll stick with the Mexican version as my favourite. Meanwhile, in other news from France, Into Darkness is now available to pre-order on DVD, bluray, and 3D bluray there from Amazon.fr. It is also available as the limited edition bluray with the phaser, so far the only country outside the US to offer that. That particular listing is using a poster stand-in for now, but does mention that, in France at least, the deluxe edition will also be coming in steelbook packaging.

One more little Into Darkness bit, check out a video Bad Robot poster on Twitter, showing how their screening room became multiple sets for the filming of various scenes in the film.

Universes collide in so many Trek crossovers!

Crossovers just keep coming to the Star Trek universe. It seems the TNG/Doctor Who crossover, Assimilation² is next in line to get the deluxe treatment from IDW Limited. The series artist, J.K. Woodward, has been tweeting unique artwork he has been working on, to be included in the higher end versions of IDW Limited's edition of Assimilation², Volume 2. He says he is working on one-hundred-and-thirty of these one of a kind pieces of art, which include Doctor Who aliens assimilated by the Borg, Star Trek characters being converted by the Cybermen, mirror universe doctors, and all sorts of other creative crossovers. Here are just a few of my favourites, check out Woodwards Twitter for many more!

Meanwhile, at the San Diego Comic Con, Bif Bang Pow! and Entertainment Earth will be offering a Star Trek/The Twilight Zone crossover, in the form of a pair of monitor mates in a lunch tin featuring William Shatner, as both Captain Kirk, and the character Bob Wilson from The Twilight Zone episode Nightmare at 20,000 Feet. You can see more images of each element of the set on IGN.

Finally, Things From Another World have added a listing for another T-shirt in the Star Trek/The Big Bang Theory crossover collection. This new design features Sheldon doing his best Picard:

Latest Star Trek innovations from DST

StarTrek.com has announced a new variation of the Diamond Select Toy's Klingon Bird of Prey. Coming as San Diego Comic Con exclusive will be a cloaked version of the ship, made out of clear plastic plastic. Unlike the existing "partially cloaked" variant, this one doesn't include any of the electronics, giving it extra see-throughness. This version also comes with landing gear, which haven't been included before, but are expected with the HMS Bounty variant at some point in the future. There will be just two-hundred of the cloaked version available.

 

If you'd prefer a transparent Federation ship, the latest DST product to appear on Entertainment Earth might appeal. Expected in December is a TNG silicone ice cube tray. The tray includes combadge and Enterprise-D shaped molds, in two sizes.

Entertainment Earth also added a listing for the Spock bust bank, which they also expect in December. That listing includes the first photo of this Spock-shaped money box, which looks like this:

Latest Star Trek art

Bye Bye Robot have released two new posters in their range of Star Trek art. Their third piece from Drew Johnson, is his first TOS-era image, and his first not to feature a starship: Landing Party depicts the TOS crew beaming down to a planet, using a paint splatter effect as the transporter beams:

Meanwhile, Jeff Foster continues his impressionist style series with Bye Bye Robot's first depiction of Deep Space 9, in a piece called Terok Nor:

Bye Bye Robot aren't the only ones making Trek art, QMx's latest Star Trek creation is a poster print as well. Coming later in the year will be Ode to Spot, a piece by Jonathan England, featuring Data and Spot, sitting in Sherlock Holmes' chair:

September IDW Star Trek comics

IDW have released their solicitations for September, which for the fifth month in a row includes just one wholly new Star Trek comic, the latest issue of the ongoing series.Still no sign of that John Harrison prequel! It appears August's Gorn comic is a one-shot, with this latest issue picking things up with Klingons and Romulans again. Here's the solicitation blurb for Star Trek ongoing #25:

War breaks out across the stars as the Klingon and Romulan Empires fight for supremacy, with the Enterprise caught in the middle! Don't miss this epic all-new story set after the events of the blockbuster movie STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS, overseen by STAR TREK writer/producer Roberto Orci!

As usual, it's written by Mike Johnson, while Erfan Fajar returns to do the artwork again. Fajar will also be doing the cover, including a sketch version.

There is also to be a photo cover, offered as "subscription variant", which will be available "only for loyal subscription box customers". IDW released this photo with the solicitations, one of the existing promo photos for Into Darkness, although it doesn't seem to have been formatted as a cover yet:

Also listed in the September solicitations is the second book in the comic strip omnibuses series, the first time the US comic strips have been reprinted since they were first published in the early eighties! Amazon currently suggest this will actually becoming in early October. The cover is unchanged from the previously released version. Here's the slightly different blurb from the solicitations:

Collecting the second half of the rare daily and Sunday newspaper strips. Ten complete missions from October 26, 1981 through December 3, 1983. Stories by Sharman DiVono, Larry Niven, Martin Pasko, and Gerry Conway; art by Ron Harris, Padraic Shigetani, Bob Myers, Ernie Colón, Dick Kulpa, and Alfredo Alcala. Edited by Dean Mullaney with an introduction by Rich Handley.

Looking further ahead, Amazon now have a listing for the sixth ongoing omnibus, which they expect to arrive in November. Judging by the page count, and previous books in the series, this will probably include four issues; the three-part After Darkness story, and the Gorn one-shot.

Into Darkness Catch-Up Part 4: Artwork

The final part in my round-up of all things Into Darkness, having worked my way backwards through the production cycle I'm looking at the inception of the look of the film from the concept art (see previous entries on the effects, music, and promotion). Hopefully we'll get something similar to the last film's Star Trek: The Art of the Film book at some point, but until then the many artists that worked on designs for Into Darkness have been busy sharing their work online.

Comic Book Movie and Film Sketcher posted artwork from, and in the case of a latter an in interview with, Harald Belker, who worked on concepts for ships early in the pre-production of the film. He was instructed to develop some very exotic designs for Klingon ships, which featured towering structures.

 

Belker also worked on a design for a small Starfleet ship, which appears to be the basis for what became John Harrison's small-craft that he attacked Starfleet HQ with:

You can see more artwork for both designs on Comic Book Movie and Film Sketcher. Film Sketcher also posted artwork and an interview with Andrea Dopaso, who worked on location design for Into Darkness, including stunning stuff like this concept for Nibiru:

Dopaso also worked on the look for Qo'noS; his comments on that design give some interesting insight into what they were aiming for in the production:

Scott wanted to achieved a red warm, seductive atmosphere for the primitive civilization of the Red Planet. But for the Klingon world he was looking for a planet devastated not only by continuous war, but the nature of the planet itself, consumed by toxic eruptions and chemicals spills of all sorts. This created a miserable condition for the life of its inhabitants.

Clothes on Film and Film Sketcher have also done features on the costume design, featuring the work of Keith Christensen, Michael Kaplan, Neville Page, and Constantine Sekeris. Here are a few examples: Klingons, Starfleet space dive suits, and alternative looks for the Nibirans:

 

Finally, Inventing Interactive have done an extensive feature on Jorge Almeida's work on the displays and interface designs in the film. The article includes lots of images at the images used on the displays, giving us a great look at the design of these sometimes difficult to make out bits of artwork. Here are a few examples:

Almeida noted how they approached the design of the Vengeance monitors:

The “Vengeance,” like the “Enterprise,” featured 4 sets of monitors that wrap around the top half of the bridge walls and act as a 360º radar monitor. Some of the images Scott had provided us felt like nautical maps, so I kept that in mind when coming up with ideas. Thinking of the monitors as windows of a submarine, I tried to make what was happening outside feel slightly ominous and alive.

You can see many more examples of the user interface designs on Inventing Interactive, as well as Jorge Almeida own portfolio, and the company he work's for, OOOii's website.

Into Darkness Catch-Up Part 3: Production and effects

Next stop on my round-up of Into Darkness related bits and pieces (see previous promotion and music articles). This time I'm looking at the filming and effects of the movie; which with a film so effects heavy required close coordination. There are some great articles starting to show up on this subject now the film is out, but the most comprehensive and in depth by far is FX Guide's fantastic coverage. FX Guide TV has a brilliant twenty-six minute minute piece talking with members of the effects team, discussing their work in detail, they also have an article going through film sequence by sequence exploring how they made it. Some of my favourite facts revealed include:

• They were considering filming the Nibiru scenes on location, but still wanted to do a red jungle. They did tests, with the idea in mind that they could use make-up and costume designs in false colours, so they could then change the colouring of all the footage to shift the foliage to red, and make the characters the normal colours again! In the end they just built a red forest, but cool idea!
• Also from Nibiru, the animal Kirk shoots, McCoy's "ride" is in fact the "polarilla" from Delta Vega in the first film, they just took the hair off! They call this version a "niborilla".
• There was an animator on set when the attack on Starfleet HQ was filmed. They used animation sequences they had already planned to control the lighting rig that shone practical lights into the set, where the ship would late be added with CGI.

CG Society has also posted an article looking at Pixomondo's work on the film, in particular looking at the Qo'noS sequence. The article talks in depth about some of the technical challenges they faced building the huge digital city the ships zoom through, and also includes some beautiful stills showing off the new Klingon Bird of Prey, like these:

 

The Guardian has also had a look at the production of the film, getting several members of the crew to comment on various aspects of their work. Their article includes all sort of factoids, my favourite is an insight into the Qo'noS sequence: Production designer Scott Chambliss noted:

Kronos has quite a classical influence. The quadrant of the city where the action takes place is sort of an interpretation of the Roman Colosseum, the warrens below the Colosseum floor.

For a less in-depth look at the production, Paramount has released a slightly longer version of the making-of promo featurette:



For more on the production of the film, the July issue of Cinefex is set to feature Into Darkness, and also has an excellent starship filled cover:

Finally, Simon Pegg tweeted this photo, showing off his brilliant shirt from the bar scene!

Into Darkness Catch-Up Part 2: Music

Welcome to the second part of my catch up of all things Into Darkness. Working in reverse production order, this time I've got some music related stuff to share. First up two behind the scenes videos from the scoring of the soundtrack. The first, released by Paramount, includes some very pleasing footage of Michael Giacchino playing the start of Harrison's theme on a cool little instrument (which despite a background in percussion, I fail to identify):



The second video, from Soundworks Collection, gives us a another, longer, look at the soundtrack recordings, this time guided by Music Conductor and Orchestrator, Tim Simonec:



Now for a slightly different flavour of music. Did you know the music in the scene with Scotty and Keenser in the bar is slightly different depending where in the world you saw Into Darkness? The instrumentation is the same everywhere, but there are five different songs sung over the top of it. Continue after the break for samples form each, as well as news of the next Star Trek music concert, and tracks from the Star Trek: The Video Game soundtrack.

Into Darkness Catch-Up Part 1: Promotion

In the weeks since Into Darkness' release the film makers have been able to start to open up about the film, revealing insights into the design and production, and of course generally promoting it. This is the first of a four part catch up of Into Darkness info. Working backwards in the production cycle I'm starting with promotional stuff:

First up, something TrekMovie found hidden away on the Are You the 1701 website: A Starfleet report on John Harrison's activities prior to his seeking vengeance. There are lots of redacted bits, but it has a few nods to Countdown to Darkness, and gives us a curious incite into how Marcus was using Harrison; sending him to spy on the Klingons for some reason it seems (click to embiggen):

Harrison related, on the Conan show, J.J. Abrams released a short deleted scene with John Harrison showering the brig. I didn't notice this is added into the novelization; I wonder where it came in the film:



The final character profile video released was also based John Harrison:



If you were lucky enough to go to one the first IMAX screening sof the film you might have got yourself one of the special prints they were giving away. IMAX has posted a report by the artist, Mark Englert, in which he explains every detail of his design process for the poster; from the first sketch, to the decisions on the choice of colours for the red and blue versions. Here's a sketch of what the poster might have been, having the Enterprise facing off against Harrison in space:

And here's the glow effect on the poster. Englert highlighted a very cool feature, which I hadn't noticed on my own poster until he pointed it out in this article; if you look very closely there are two tiny figures space jumping from the Enterprise to the Vengeance:

See the full IMAX report for lots more progress and detail images.

Finally Paramount released a couple more clips from the film. If you've seen the film already these wont be anything new, but maybe you want to relive the moments... See them after the jump: