Picard behind the scenes: Lots of Romulans, Mr Vup, Chabon musings, and much more

Here's a round up of the latest Picard behind the scenes bits and pieces shared by the cast and crew recently. Including loads of different Romulans, a closer look at Mr Vup and Bjayzl, a couple of unfortunately battered characters, musings of Mr Michael Chabon on that and other subjects, and more! Continue below to check out:

My favourite Romulan is perhaps the most obscure of this batch, one of the Q’wat Milat nuns, seen here shared by hair stylist Maria Sandoval, who made this character's wig:

Fourth Castle planning Star Trek army-men, squishy starships, and more!

Fourth Castle, a company that under several different brands makes all manner of toys and novelty items, have revealed a wide range of new Star Trek toys and accessories at the recent New York Toy Fair - Including Star Trek army-men type figurines, squishy stress-ball like toys, and more. Continue below to see what they're planning.

One of Fourth Castle's brands is EMCE Toys (a name you might recognise as the producers of DST's Mego revival line a few years ago; an effort now handed back to the revived-itself-Mego), and they have several brands themselves. One of those is Nanoforce, a twist on the classic army-men type figurines, but using licensed characters. Star Trek is set to join this range, with several different series to be represented in forthcoming releases.

At Toy Fair they had, as reported by TrekCore on Twitter, 3D printed prototypes of their first TOS collection. This initial release will include twelve two-inch figurines, of most of the main TOS characters, plus six classic aliens. The set will also include a four-inch model of the USS Enterprise, and two-inch models of a tricorder and phaser (the latter two items were not previewed yet). Check them out, via images from TrekCore and Figures.com:

Picard: The Impossible Box stills

CBS have released a load of images from this week's episode of Picard, The Impossible Box. Alas not as much Borg Cube goodness in this batch as you might expect as the two main clusters of characters look to finally intersect this week, but plenty else to look at:

The sort-of-new character introduced in this collection is young Soji (played by Ella McKenzie Gross), who it would seem appears in a flashback - See previous report for a clip featuring her in the latest episode of The Ready Room.

Voyager Fluxx game on the way

Looney Labs have revealed plans for a new Star Trek edition of their Fluxx card game. The game of ever changing rules has been released under many themed variants before, including TOS, TNG, and DS9 versions, so naturally up next is a Voyager version, with all the Delta Quadrant goodness that should entail. This latest edition is expected to arrive late July. Here's how they describe it:

Journey home from the Delta Quadrant aboard the Starship Voyager! The fourth Fluxx-style excursion into the Star Trek universe features Captain Janeway and her crew along with plenty of their enemies: The Kazon, Species 8472, and of course, the Borg. You will also find several Timeships, the Holographic Doctor’s mobile emitter, and Janeway from the Future. The usual ever-changing rules of Fluxx apply, with a few new twists like the Caretaker and Ancestor’s Eve.

Discovery behind the scenes: ships, Ba'ul, and more

A round up of a few recent Discovery behind the scenes bits and pieces today, including a look at several of the ship models from early in the series, a gooey look at the Ba'ul, and even a little something from season 3. Continue below to check it all out:

VFX artist Hamza Butt has shared some of his work modelling several ships from season one on his website. Butt worked remotely from most of the production, modelling ships in the UK from concept art he was sent. The most obscure of those is the escape pod from the USS Europa, which looked like this at concept:

Red Sea Astrarium Star Trek ride concept art

Remember back in 2011 when they announced that Star Trek would be a key attraction in the planned Red Sea Astrarium resort in Aqaba, Jordan? Well as far as I can tell that never quite got built. But work was still going on for it as late as 2014, when it was reported Bad Robot were working on an innovative 4D film/ride as part of the attraction. Concept artist Bruno Werneck was part of the team working on that, eventually becoming the art director for the project. He has recently shared some work from the ride on his ArtStation portfolio. Continue below to check it out:

Here we have some familiar Starfleet elements, plus a new shuttlecraft that I would imagine to be setting of the ride from what we see in the artwork here:

Here's the shuttle flying over a futuristic vision Aqaba:

Most of the work though has strong Klingon vibes, taking a lead from the Qo'noS sequence in Into Darkness, which Werneck also worked on (see below). In this first piece you can see that new shuttle again, tailing a Klingon Bird of Prey:

Some new locales are revealed, a Klingon rail station, refinery, and a closer look at those giant skyscrapers:

Plus what is described as a "lava chamber", which from the architecture I was assume to be on Qo'noS too:

Click the links in the descriptions above to get to the original posts, with additional detail images from each piece.

Alas like many a Star Trek attraction, the Jordan project never seemed to make it to reality. A couple of updates on some others:

• The Spanish Paramount Park project was announced about the same time as the Jordan project, and after some flashy promo seemed to fizzle away. Local press reported a couple of years ago the land for that project has now be reclassified, and so that can be considered dead.
• The Paramount London resort cut ties with Paramount in 2017, and became the London Resort. But then last year they reconnected with Paramount to supply content to the attraction, while no longer taking the Paramount name. Construction still hasn't begun, but seems to be in planning still, with a promised Starport area is to be themed on the 23rd century, surely to be based on Star Trek.

I'll update on those and other attractions as and when updates come. In the meantime, let's continue to check-out Bruno Werneck's work on Star Trek, who as I mentioned, was part of the team on Into Darkness before developing the ride concepts above. Werneck worked on the chase sequence on Qo'noS, including concept art for the whole sequence, and working on matte paintings of the Klingon mega-structures and the landing site. Werneck has posted lots of artwork from the sequence on his website. Here are a few concept art highlights:

And here's some of the matte paintings used in the final sequence:

You can see a lot more from Werneck's work on the film on his website. And between his website and ArtStation portfolio you can also check out lots of other projects he's worked on, including film, TV, video games, and illustration for, among others, several different Star Wars and Marvel projects.

For a look at related Star Trek work, check out my concept art, Into Darkness, and attractions tags.

IDW Star Trek comics for May

IDW have released their solicitations for May, which include two new Star Trek comics, and an omnibus book. Continue below to check them out:

Too Long a Sacrifice #2
Written by David and Scott Tipton, with art by Greg Scott

With the murderer still on the loose, the inhabitants of Deep Space 9 are starting to divide into factions, made even worse when the Ferengi government gets involved. To make matters worse, conflict between Constable Odo and the Federation’s hand-picked criminal investigator threatens to derail the investigation itself! The DS9 murder mystery continues in this new space noir from David & Scott Tipton (Star Trek: Mirror Broken, Star Trek: The Q Conflict) and Greg Scott (Gotham Central, The X-Files)!

This book will be offered in three covers: The A cover by Ricardo Drumond, a photo B cover, and a retailer incentive cover by J.K. Woodward. Only the last of those has been revealed so far, and is marked as not final:

Picard: The Impossible Box trailer, and Stardust City Rag support shows

CBS have released a trailer for the next episode of Picard, The Impossible Box (uploaded here by Nación Trek, but also available on StarTrek.com). Here's how StarTrek.com describe it:

In "The Impossible Box," written by Nick Zayas and directed by Maja Vrvilo, Picard and the crew track Soji to the Borg cube in Romulan space, resurfacing haunting memories for Picard. Meanwhile, Narek believes he finally found a way to safely exploit Soji for information.

Year Five #10: The Wine-Dark Deep, part 2 preview

Out this week is issue 10 of IDW's Star Trek: Year Five comic series, the second half of the two-parter The Wine-Dark Deep. The story comes from writer Jim McCann, with art by Silvia Califano.

The book is offered in two different covers. The main one is as ever by Stephen Thompson (colors by Charlie Kirchoff), reflecting the underwater war, and Sulu's relationship with Ayal, that is the focus of this issue. Or if you prefer, J.J. Lendl's retail incentive retro cover series continues with a travel guide cover for I'Qos.

Continue below to check out those, a five page preview of the book, plus some artwork from previous issues in the series:

Picard: Stardust City Rag stills and behind the scenes photos

CBS have released a bunch of new images, both stills and behind the scenes photos, for the next episode of Picard, Stardust City Rags. StarTrek.com has also posted up this new episode description:

In "Stardust City Rag" Picard and his motley crew journey to Freecloud, searching for Bruce Maddox (John Ales). The arrival and assistance of Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) at first offers a way to negotiate for the scientist’s release, but not all is as it appears to be as there are old scores to settle. The episode is written by Kirsten Beyer and directed by Jonathan Frakes.

The new stills reveal a new character on Freecloud, Mr Vup (played by Dominic Burgess), a reptilian of some sort. They also show off the remarkable costumes of Cristóbal Rios and Jean-Luc Picard (Seven and Elnor are rather more tame):

Picard Absolute Candor behind the scenes photos and video

CBS have released a bunch of new material around the latest episode of Picard, Absolute Candor, including some more of their awesome travel posters, and a video focusing on Elnor and the Qowat Milat. Continue below to check out those, but first:

They've released a load of behind the scenes photos from the episode, mostly focusing on Jonathan Frakes' role as director and the obvious and abundant chemistry and joy of him working alongside Patrick Stewart again. It's darn right cute!

Review - Year Five: Valentine's Day Special comic

Out this week, just in time for Valentine's Day, was IDW's latest Star Trek comic special, this time tied into the current TOS Year Five series. Captains of Sea and War, so named for a quote of a quote in the story, does start in the time period of that series, but then continues into the TOS movie era, with sections in both The Motion Picture era, and around about the time of The Final Frontier, managing to tell a decades spanning romance in the progress. For one regular length (20 story pages) comic, it packs in an impressive amount of story, character, and emotional resonance. Continue belew for my thoughts on the book.

The book is written by Paul Cornell, his first Star Trek fiction as far as I can tell (he's done some articles and an unofficial episode guide before), but he has long list of credits on-screen, in books, and comics, including a lot of Doctor Who in all formats. Art comes from Christopher Jones, also new to Trek I think, but a busy comics artist, working on lots of DC books, and plenty of Doctor Who too. The pairing has delivered nicely here with an ambitiously wide ranging story calling on the art to delivery lots of distinct time periods and places.

Excelsior class miniature behind the scenes photos

I recently came across a fantastic collection of behind the scenes photos of the original USS Excelsior miniature. According to a couple of forums where they've also been shared previously, these originate from Star Trek visual effects artist and miniature maker Bill George.

The pictures show the miniature, prior to the Generations refit, in great detail, and appear to have been taken through the course of using the model on TNG and DS9, with several of alternate ship names used when the Excelsior class was seen in those later series shown here. Continue below to check them out:

Picard: The Last Best Hope previews, and other novel updates

Out this week is the first Picard novel, Una McCormack's The Last Best Hope, the first hardcover Star Trek novel in years, and a prequel to the TV series, setting up the entire Romulan evacuation history. Continue below for a look at some preview from the book, and some audiobook updates.

So first up, the back cover reveals different copy to that which has been online a while (which appears on the inside cover), the back is a quote from early in the book, and sets it up nicely:

Picard Stardust City Rag trailer, and Absolute Candor support shows

CBS have released a trailer for the next episode of Picard, Stardust City Rag, which looks gloriously eccentric. Check it out below, plus a round-up of the latest other Picard promo stuff (video uploaded by Nación Trek, and also available on StarTrek.com):

Non-Fiction book updates: Art of Discovery cover, and Illustrated Handbook blurbs and excerpts

A few Star Trek non-fiction books updates today, including new covers, new books, and excerpts. Continue below for all the latest:

First up we have a new cover for Titan Books' forthcoming The Art of Star Trek Discovery, which now sports some actual production art instead of the series poster used before.

New Star Trek model trains coming from Lionel

Model train makers Lionel are launching a new collection of Star Trek trains. With initial items based on TNG and TOS, they will be offering a complete train set, novelty Star Trek themed goods wagons, and character inspired boxcars, all in the O gauge. Continue below to check them out:

The major release at the center of the collection if the TNG themed Star Trek Lionchief Set, which includes a USS Enterprise-D inspired diesel locomotive (with working lights), and three cars, each representing a location on the ship; sickbay, Ten Forward, and holodeck 03. The latter features a train simulation on the holodeck, which when used on the included powered track animates the train moving around the car, and has interior illumination too! The set comes with a loop of track, power supply, and a remote control.

Picard inspired fashion, including fun new sublimated T-shirts

Several Star Trek clothing licensees have begun producing new Picard inspired designs, continue below to check out some of the more fun new additions to the Star Trek wardrobe.

Trevco are one of the most prolific makers of Star Trek T-shirts and other apparel, so they've of course come up with range to celebrate the launch of the new series. One of highlights of their offering is the use of sublimation printing, to create impactful full-coverage prints, and they've used the Picard posters to do just that. These and the other Trevco designs are available in a wide range of different T-shirts, vests, jumpers, and hoodies:

Year Five: Valentine's Special covers and preview

Out this week from IDW Publishing is a Valentine's special issue of Star Trek Year Five. The book, titled Captains of Sea and War, in fact spans rather more than year five, with a story extending well into the TOS movie era as well, with enjoyable distinct visuals coming from around the times of The Motion Picture and The Final Frontier.

Written by Paul Cornell, the book is illustrated by Christopher Jones, who also provides the main cover. A retail incentive wrap-around and cut-out-Valentine's card design comes from Derek Charm, and there's also a Galaxy Con exclusive photo cover, featuring tribbled Kirk. Continue below to check out all those, and a five-page preview:

Picard Absolute Candor stills, plus episode blurbs, new images, and more

Ahead of the release of the next episode of Picard, CBS have released another collection of stills. There are also some new episode descriptions, behind the scenes photos, and promo art. Continue below to check out the latest:

This week's episode is Absolute Candor, which is set to introduce us to Elnor (space-Legolas) the Romulan, one of the last major characters from the initial promo to join the show. There are new descriptions up for both this and the next episode. You might want to skip past the quoted sections if you don't want spoilers:

In the fourth episode of Star Trek: Picard, Picard’s search for Bruce Maddox takes a detour to the planet Vashti, where Picard and Raffi relocated 250,000 Romulan refugees 14 years earlier. He’s reunited with Elnor (Evan Evagora), a young Romulan he befriended during the relocation who now feels Picard betrayed his people. "Absolute Candor" was written by Michael Chabon and directed by Jonathan Frakes. 

Episode five, due next week, is Stardust City Rag:

The La Sirena crew begin an unpredictable and lively expedition on Freecloud to search for Bruce Maddox. When they learn Maddox has found himself in a precarious situation, a familiar face offers her assistance.

CBS have released several new images from Absolute Candor, focusing on Elnor, and Picard's visit to Vashti, plus a handful of the other main characters:

Star Trek Online 10th anniversary starships bundle introduces new variants for all the series hero ships

As part of Star Trek Online's ongoing celebration of their tenth anniversary, they are about to release a huge "Legendary" starship bundle, featuring just about all the hero ships spanning Trek (sorry USS Shenzhou, guess you don't count, and La Sirena, you're too new), each freshly specced out for refreshed game-play.

Included will be every variant design of those classes previously released in the game, which means anything up to nine different options for each class. Among those there will be a brand new variant for each class too, with the new options including concept art inspired designs, different era interpretations, and on-screen variants that haven't yet made it to the game. Continue below to check them all out (in rough chronological order):

The NX class has one of the more creative new looks, being reborn as the Columbia class light escort, following the basic layout of the NX-refit, but with a TOS movie era (specified as The Undiscovered Country 2280s) twist:

Review - Picard: Countdown comic miniseries

Coming to a conclusion by the time the second episode of Picard was released, the Picard Countdown comic series sheds a little light on events prior to the series, most notably Picard's relationships with Raffi Musiker, and his Romulan pals Laris and Zhaban. Continue below for my thoughts on the series.

The three-part series (each issue slightly longer, at 24-story-pages, rather than the normal Star Trek 20-page book) was brought to us by writers Kirsten Beyer and Mike Johnson; a team that have previously worked on all of IDW's Discovery comics. Johnson has been busy tying into the leading edge of Star Trek productions since IDW's first Countdown series for the first Kelvin timeline movie (subsequently writing most of the numerous Kelvin timeline comics that followed), while Beyer is no less than the co-creator of Picard, a writer on Discovery, and has a highly regarded run of Voyager novels to her name too. They are joined by artist Angel Hernandez, who has worked with them on several of the previous Discovery and Kelvin timeline comics too. So we enter this story in safe hands, very familiar with IDW's Star Trek house style, which baring a few more experimental tales is normally very screen accurate in visual style, and adapt at teasing out a prequel story to a new production.

This particular story jumps right to the point: We are joining Picard, and Raffi, as they work to bring to reality the Romulan evacuation in preparation for the Hobus supernova (not so named in the series), and before the attack on Mars that halted that mission. We are fairly quickly introduced to Laris and Zhaban, and then there are a few hiccups, due to a lot of sneaky twisty Romulan antics. What the story does best is set up Picard and Raffi's relationship, and give a rewarding backstory for Laris and Zhaban. Where I'd have liked more, is giving us a wider view of the Romulan evacuation effort; as this story is contained to one planet, and has a surprisingly upbeat ending; I suppose that works well for everything to then unravel after, as we've seen in the series so far. It's hard to talk about that without some spoilers though, so proceed with caution from here on.

Stunning vistas from Picard concept art

Star Trek: Picard concept artist Laurent Ben-Mimoun has added a sample of his work from the series to his website. Giving us a look at how the series was imagined.

Beware spoilers if you continue below, there are some unfamiliar scenes here which could either be from something we've not go to in the series yet, or maybe an alternate take on what eventually made it to screen.

First up what I imagine to be views of Mars, not so far away from what we did see in the series already:

New Picard merch reveals The Destroyer

Following the reveal of the Romulan pixmit cards and figure of Seb-Cheneb, or The Destroyer, in the latest episode of Picard, Star Trek merch makers have taken the opportunity to build upon Romulan mythology themselves - Or at least print some stuff, which means we can have a closer look at the artwork!

Picard behind the scenes round up: Ship, sets, aliens, costumes, and more

Here's a little round-up of the latest behind the scenes snippets shared by the cast and crew of Star Trek Picard since the show has begun airing. Continue below for a look at lots of characters, including both the main cast and some great background alien designs, lots of costumes and props, pictures from on set, and more.

First up, from showrunner Michael Chabon we have the clearest image so far of the gloriously colourful new hero ship of the series, La Sirena. I assume this is from concept art, but here it's been playfully reimagined as an AMT model kit box (and I dare say that will be become a reality in a year or so!).

Picard Absolute Candor trailer, and The End is the Beginning support shows

CBS have released a trailer for the next episode of Picard, Absolute Candor, which is set to introduce us to Elnor, and it seems some other Romulans. Check it out (thanks to Nación Trek for getting it online. UPDATE: Now also up on StarTrek.com):

Valentines fashion from Gold Bubble Clothing

Gold Bubble Clothing have launched a new range of Valentine's themed fashion, including cute tribble designs to warm your heart. Continue below to check them out:

They have a tribble heart available as either a cropped hoodie, or T-shirt:

Star Trek action figure prototypes at auction

PropStore have launched an auction of toys and collectables, which include numerous Star Trek lots. Among the items on offer are lots of well kept vintage toys, but perhaps more interestingly a whole load of prototypes from several different ranges. Continue below to check out the highlights:

One of the most unique items on offer is a prototype Klingon action figure, made by Playmates. At 6 inches tall, the quiet caricatured design would have been larger than Playmates normal 4.5 inch range. It seems a little reminiscent of the even larger Alien Combat figures that came towards the end of Playmates run; I wonder if this was an earlier take on the same idea.

Picard previews: Images from The End is the Beginning, character video, and Borg Cube poster. Plus Short Treks behind the scenes.

CBS have released a load of new stills from this week's forthcoming episode of Picard, along with a short video exploring some of the new characters in the show, and a cool Borg Cube travel poster. Continue below to check out all of that and more, including a new behind the scenes look at one of the recent animated Short Treks episodes.

First up, let's take a look at episode three of Picard, The End is the Beginning. The most notable new image shows us flashback Picard and Raffi, in their snazzy new-look Starfleet uniforms:

Round 2 Models reveal new TOS shuttle and Disco-Enterprise model kits

Round 2 Models have recently revealed plans for two new Star Trek models this year, the long awaited TOS shuttlecraft, and a new bigger version of the Discovery-Enterprise. Continue below to check them out, plus updates on other Disco and Wrath of Khan kits on the way.

Round 2 have been considering doing a TOS shuttlecraft kit as far back as 2012, and shelved it for a while after the costs of doing a kit with a full interior became prohibitive. But now they've returned to the idea, and expect to release it the 1:32 scale kit (making it about eleven inches long) later this year! In a preview video on YouTube of lots of forthcoming releases, we got out first look:

First Picard soundtrack arrives this week

With a pleasingly brisk turnaround Lakeshore Records have revealed the details of the first soundtrack release from Picard. Coming in just a few days time, on the 7th, the Picard Season 1, Chapter 1 soundtrack will include music by Jeff Russo from the first few episode of the series, plus the Short Treks prequel episode Children of Mars. Here's the cover:

New blurbs for 2020 Star Trek novels

Simon and Schuster have released a batch of new blurbs, and in one case a title, for four Star Trek novels coming later this year. These releases span wide range of series, with new TOS, Kelvin, Discovery, and Voyager releases all on the way. Continue below to check them out. Going in release order...

Coming in June is Dayton Ward's Agents of Influence, a TOS five-year-mission adventure, which it seems has a distinctive espionage twist:

For years, Starfleet Intelligence agents have carried out undercover assignments deep within the Klingon Empire. Surgically altered and rigorously trained in Klingon culture, they operate in plain sight and without any direct support, while collecting information and infiltrating the highest levels of imperial power. Their actions have given Starfleet valuable insight into the inner workings of Klingon government and its relentless military apparatus.

After three of Starfleet’s longest serving agents fear exposure, they initiate emergency extraction procedures. Their planned rendezvous with the USS Endeavour goes awry, threatening to reveal their activities and the damaging intelligence they’ve collected during their mission. Tasked by Starfleet to salvage the botched rescue attempt, Captain James T. Kirk and the crew of the USS Enterprise must discover the truth behind a secret weapons experiment while avoiding an interstellar incident with the potential to ignite a new war between the Federation and one of its oldest adversaries.

The End is The Beginning trailer, Picard support shows, and assimilation sign

CBS have released a trailer for episode three of Picard, The End of the Beginning, introducing the series' ship La Sirena and it's captain(?) Cristóbal Rios. Nación Trek has been good enough to get it online (UPDATE: Now on StarTrek.com too):



A clip from the episode also features in this week's episode of The Ready Room, which also has a great featurette on the Romulan makeup in the series, and long chat with writer and producer Akiva Goldsman (also on StarTrek.com, Facebook, or Instagram if you're geolocked our of YouTube below):

New TOS movie era coats from Volante Design

Volante Design have revealed their latest Star Trek streetwear creation, a range of coats inspired by the Starfleet uniform of The Wrath of Khan and the rest of the subsequent TOS movie era. Starfleet 2293 coat is available in mens and womens cuts, and a surprising variety of colours, continue below to check it out:

Star Trek Online celebrates 10 years with Legacy

Star Trek Online have announced a new tenth anniversary celebratory expansion, Legacy, which among other things will bring Jeri Ryan back to the game to reprise her role as Seven of Nine, in her new Picard style, and for the first time feature Sonequa Martin-Green as Michael Burnham.

The two distant characters would appear to be brought together by a new two-part "episode" in the game, The Measure of Morality, which sees captains visit Excalbia, where the Excalbians have begun a test of good and evil, akin to their original TV appearance in TOS's The Savage Curtain. Completing this mission will be another way you can win one of the recently announced Khitomer class starships in the game.

If the trailer is anything to go by, this game will be a nostalgic visit to STO's Star Trek universe spanning previous adventures: