Saturday 27 February 2021

Eaglemoss starship updates: Picard Romulan Bird of Prey, XL La Sirena, STO's USS Shran, and more

Eaglemoss' latest round of solicitations have given first looks at several new starship models, including a couple of Picard ships and the latest in the Star Trek Online collection. Continue below to check out all those, and other Eaglemoss starship updates.

First up, the third issue of the new Star Trek Universe collection, which will eventually include ships from all the currently in-production live action series. The first ten issues are all set to focus on Picard though, and issue three is the refit classic Romulan Bird of Prey(ad). Eaglemoss have released several images of the model, but alas teases that they are, they're not showing off the underside and it's Bird of Prey print just yet!

Star Trek novel updates: First Coda blurbs, details of next DS9 novel, and audiobook covers

More Star Trek novel news! Following the recent reveal of the 2021 line-up of Star Trek novels, Simon and Schuster have now updated their Online Catalog with blurbs for the books coming towards the end of the year, including the first details of the Coda trilogy. Continue below for all the details.

The Coda trilogy is set to tie-up the reality of the Star Trek litverse which has been told over the last couple of decades, but was alas shunted into an alternate timeline by the new canon events of Picard. All three of the new blurbs start with the following intro, which confirms we are getting one last enormous TNG/DS9/Titan/Aventine crossover:

The crews of Jean-Luc Picard, Benjamin Sisko, Ezri Dax, and William Riker unite to prevent a cosmic-level apocalypse—only to find that some fates really are inevitable.

Book 1: Moments Asunder(ad), by Dayton Ward kicks off the trilogy in September:

REALITY ITSELF IS UNDER ATTACK.

The epic Star Trek: Coda trilogy begins when the unexpected arrival of an old friend triggers a desperate mission to avert a fast-spreading temporal disaster.

James Swallow continues in October with Book 2: The Ashes of Tomorrow(ad):

THE FUTURE IS AT WAR WITH THE PAST.

The epic Star Trek: Coda trilogy continues as friends become foes, the Temporal Apocalypse accelerates, and the catastrophe’s true cause is revealed.

And David Mack closes the trilogy in November with Book 3: Oblivion's Gate(ad):

THEIR MOST DAUNTING MISSION WILL BE THEIR FINEST HOUR.

The epic Star Trek: Coda trilogy comes to a shattering conclusion as the Temporal Apocalypse forces Starfleet’s greatest heroes to make the greatest sacrifices of their lives.

Temporal Apocalypse!! Blimey. Who is the mysterious old friend, what is the nature of the disaster, how will this all mesh the litverse with the canon reality? I cannot wait to find out!

USS Voyager-J Janeway class comes to Star Trek Online

Star Trek Online have revealed the first of the 32nd century Starfleet ships to join the video game, the USS Voyager-J type, Janeway class Command Science Vessel. Thanks to lots of pictures and video, that means we all get to enjoy our best views yet of one of the more prominent ships of Disco's future. Continue below to check it out:




Wednesday 24 February 2021

First look at Prodigy's alien crew, plus other Trek TV updates

ViacomCBS have released the first image from the forthcoming animated Star Trek series aimed at younger viewers, Prodigy, revealing one of the most diverse cast of characters of any Star Trek series, which for the first time will have a main crew that's all aliens! Check them out below, plus some other Trek TV updates.


There are no additional details of these characters yet, but from we we can see, we've got a non-humanoid robot, a shorter humanoid with a cybernetic arm, a tall blue-skinned humanoid, with really interesting metal-work in their costume, a purple skinned humanoid, a blue-blob creature, and an enormous crystalline-skinned being. You can read from their expressions and attire a diverse grouping of attitudes and backgrounds, sure to cause some drama when the series begins later this year.

These are "outcasts", which together form "a group of lawless teens who discover a derelict Starfleet ship and use it to search for adventure, meaning and salvation." Part of that salvation will come via the leadership of Kathryn Janeway who returns in this series - It's not yet known when it is set (in relation to Voyager), or how she interacts with this crew of youngsters.

Monday 22 February 2021

Year Five heads towards its finale in IDW's May comic releases

IDW have released their solicitations for May, which include a double dose of Year Five(ad), as the final three-part story in the series begins. Continue below for all the details of those, other updates from the series, and more comics news.

Year Five's finale, Ithaca, begins in issue 22(ad). The original creative team that began the series is returning; writers Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly, and artist Stephen Thompson. Here's the blurb:

For five years, the U.S.S. Enterprise and her crew have journeyed to the edge of the known universe, tackling impossible challenges and menacing foes along the way. But the biggest challenge of all awaits them here at home... and no matter what happens, the lives of Captain Kirk and his crew will be changed forever. The grand finale of Star Trek: Year Five begins here with a new issue from showrunners Jackson Lanzing & Collin Kelly (Gotham City Garage, Green Arrow) and artist Stephen Thompson (Satellite Falling, Die Hard: Year One).

The book is offered in the usual choice of two covers, with Thompson also behind the main cover, which features Kirk departing the Enterprise bridge. Alternatively the rarer retail incentive cover is by JJ Lendl, who is this time drawing on the ancient Greek theme of the title:

Saturday 20 February 2021

Next Picard novel is a Rios adventure, plus titles for the mysterious C trilogy

Some Star Trek novel news today, with lots of new details for the next Picard novel, and teasing titles for the mysterious trilogy until now only known as Untitled C. Continue below for all the latest.

First up, Simon and Schuster have released the title, author, cover, and blurb for the next Picard novel, John Jackson Miller's Rogue Elements(ad). As the cover makes clear, this book will help us get to known the captain of La Sirena, Cristóbal Rios:


Thursday 18 February 2021

More Star Trek trains from Lionel

Last year model train makers Lionel launched a range of Star Trek trains(ad), inspired by TOS and TNG, and this year they've come back with some additional rolling stock to add DS9 and Voyager to the mix, alongside more TNG releases. Continue below to check out the new additions to this O gauge collection.

First up, the Dilithium Crystals Hopper, which features an illumination effect to give them a tempting pink glow - Very tempting for citizens of the 32nd century no doubt, but this hopper is marked up as belonging to the Enterprise-D rather than P (or whichever one they're up to by then).


Tuesday 16 February 2021

Year Five #19: On the Death of a Friend, part 2 preview, and other Year Five updates

Out this week is issue nineteen(ad) of IDW's TOS comic maxiseries Year Five(ad), which is part two of the Doctor McCoy focused medical mystery story, On the Death of a Friend. Continuing from the previous issue, the book is written by Jim McCann, with art by Angel Hernandez, and colours by Fran Gamboa.

As usual you can pick this up in two different covers; either the main cover(ad) by Stephen Thompson (coloured by Charlie Kirchoff) which features Isis, Sulu and Chekov, who also feature prominently in this chapter. Or alternatively there's a rarer retail incentive(ad) design by JJ Lendl, with a quarantine twist on their ongoing series of travel poster designs.

Continue below to check out the covers and a five page preview, plus other updates from the series.

FanSets latest Star Trek pins ask you to Choose to Live to seek Jamaharon

Those busy pin makers at FanSets haven't been slacking lately, with loads of new Star Trek pins in a variety of formats coming every couple of weeks. Their latest pins include a lot of love for Picard, plus TOS, TNG, DS9, and Discovery pins. Continue below to check them all out.

First up is this Elnor, "Choose to Live" pin, in a new format for Trek featuring a quote in a speech bubble!


Fun! FanSets have already dubbed this format MicroQuotes on Twitter, and are open for idea for more characters. So get tweeting with your favourite pithy Trek quotes!

Star Trek Online introduces cool new variants of classic starships

Star Trek Online have launched their latest big starship offer, the 2021 Anniversary Legendary Bundle. This set of ships includes every existing variant, plus a brand new take for each of the Starfleet Ambassador class and Excelsior class, and Klingon Vor'cha class and B'rel class Bird of Prey. Continue below to check out the new and classic designs.

First up, surely the snazziest of the ships in the bundle is the new Horatio class variant of the Ambassador class, which brings the ship best known as the USS Enterprise-C up to date to STO's 25th century aesthetic. Perhaps most notably this includes giving it a duel neck between the saucer and engineering sections.


Here's STO's in-universe intro to the design:
Recent efforts to revitalize an old set of plans for the Ambassador class yielded the Narendra-class Support cruiser. While the Narendra performed well during its initial deployment, the Advanced Starship Development Board felt the design’s use of early-24th century assumptions put it at a bit of a disadvantage compared to newer cruisers. Starfleet still desperately needed more medium-sized units to backfill its long-range exploration and support needs, and a medium-tonnage cruiser meant more ships could be built and crewed faster. Starfleet engineers took the lessons learned from the Narendra and iterated on them in a new cruiser design, the U.S.S. Horatio. The Horatio is a very flexible long-range exploration and support platform meant to fill the gap of mid-size units that Starfleet needs to fulfill its various mandates inside Federation territory and beyond.

Friday 12 February 2021

Book bits: New blurbs for Discovery, TOS, and TNG novels, plus other prose updates

Simon and Schuster have released a rather exciting selection of new titles, blurbs, and other details, for forthcoming Star Trek novels, revealing some interesting sounding new books on the way, and filling out much more of the 2021 release schedule. Continue below for all the details.

First up a very promising sounding new Discovery novel from Una McCormack. Due out in May is Wonderlands, which is set to fill in the details of Michael Burnham's first year in the 32nd century waiting for Discovery to show up. 

UPDATE: Here's the cover (possibly not final per the Simon and Schuster online catalog):

And here's the blurb:

An all-new novel based upon the explosive Star Trek TV series!

In a desperate attempt to prevent the artificial intelligence known as Control from seizing crucial information that could destroy all sentient life, Commander Michael Burnham donned the “Red Angel” time-travel suit and guided the USS Discovery into the future and out of harm’s way. But something has gone terribly wrong, and Burnham has somehow arrived in a place far different from anything she could have imagined—more than nine hundred years out of her time, with Discovery nowhere to be found, and where the mysterious and cataclysmic event known as “the Burn” has utterly decimated Starfleet and, with it, the United Federation of Planets. How then can she possibly exist day-to-day in this strange place? What worlds are out there waiting to be discovered? Do any remnants of Starfleet and the Federation possibly endure? With more questions than answers, Burnham must nevertheless forge new friendships and new alliances if she hopes to survive this future long enough for the Discovery crew to find her....

Very exciting for this one; hopefully we'll get a much wider understanding of what the 32nd century is like than has so far been sketched out on-screen.

Wednesday 10 February 2021

Seven's Reckoning #4 covers and preview pages

Out this week is the fourth and final issue(ad) of IDW's Voyager comic miniseries, Seven's Reckoning(ad). The series has been written by Dave Baker, with art by Angel Hernandez, colours by Ronda Pattison. This final chapter, titled The Endless Echo of Hate, sees Janeway and Seven at odds with what to do about the aliens they have encountered in this series.

As has been the case throughout the series, this issue is available in three different covers: The A coverA cover(ad) is also by Hernandez and Pattison, and is one of those covers that features a scene not exactly in the comic, but sums up separate events in the book. The B cover(ad) is a photo-cover featuring Tuvok. Or there's the rarer retail incentive cover(ad) by Jeffrey Veregge, which offers a touching epilogue to the series

Continue below to check out a five page preview, and all the covers for this issue.

Mego's lost Star Trek toys

Mego were among the first makers of Star Trek toys, and the first to make any Star Trek action figures. They produced quite an assortment of figures and playsets, along with various human-scale role-play items. But like any toy company they also worked on several ideas that never quite made it. Some photos of prototypes have appeared on Ebay(ad) giving us a rare chance to check out some of those lost releases. Continue below to check them out.

So first up is this really impressive USS Enterprise bridge AND sickbay playset! This is scaled for use with Mego's 8-inch action figures, so would be a pretty substantial piece. The mini sickbay, encased in bridge-style railings is accessible via a turbo lift that runs up the support that holds up above the bridge. 


Monday 8 February 2021

Paramount+ celebrates all things Trek, after Spock, Burnham and Pike climb Paramount Mountain. Plus Trek TV updates

Ramping up for the launch of the rebranded Paramount+(ad) streaming service (soon to replace CBS All Access), CBS have released a trailer focused on how Paramount+ will be the home of all things Trek


This comes after a couple of weeks of adverts featuring various Paramount characters and celebs ascending the iconic Paramount mountain in some rather peculiar crossovers. Continue below to check out the ads so far. Plus some other Trek TV updates.

Tuesday 2 February 2021

The lost Klingon art of Star Trek: The Manga

Between 2006 and 2009 Tokyopop published the first ever, and so far only, Star Trek manga books(ad). They published four volumes in all, starting with three TOS anthologies, and finishing off with a single TNG release. But their original plan was to start with TNG, in a book containing stories that alas were never published. 

Back in 2004 Newsarama reported some details of this first planned book, including some amazing Klingon artwork by artist Shin-Ichi Hiromoto for a story called Skin Deep, by Jim Alexander. Alas the original article is no longer online, and only partially archived by the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine, so when I was thinking back to this cool artwork recently I was disappointed not to be able to find it all again. Then months later when digging through some old folders, there they all were! I was delighted to discovered I'd saved a back-up of my own years ago. So now I thought I'd get them back online so others can see to. Continue below to check out some really cool Klingons!

Monday 1 February 2021

Star Trek 55th anniversary logo

CBS have revealed a new 55th anniversary Star Trek logo, to mark the latest anniversary moment this year. The logo features a whole gaggle of TOS icons: The Enterprise, a Starfleet delta, the three uniform division colours, and the title text! 

Continue below to check out the first 55th anniversary merch you can find this on, and a look back at previous anniversary logos.

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