The amazing aliens of Star Trek Beyond

Star Trek Beyond featured more than fifty different alien species, with multiple unique beings for each race seen among the citizens of Starbase Yorktown, the corridors of the USS Enterprise, and on Altamid. The make-up department lead by Joel Harlow created such an incredible menagerie, that there's an entire book dedicated to their efforts in the production! Harlow and his team have also shared much of their work online, giving us a better chance to get to know many of the only briefly glimpsed species of Beyond. Continue below to check them out:

One of the most exotic designs was known as Shlerm, photos here from Joel Harlow's website show off both the impressive character design and their grand costumes:

Alternate worlds of Star Trek Beyond concept art: Altamid, Starbase Yorktown, swarm mechas, unseen ships, and more

Star Trek Beyond took us to several exotic strange new worlds, and every one of them was conjured from the minds of concept artists, who also thought up plenty of other ideas that never got picked to go to screen. Continue below to check out Altamid as we never saw it, Starbase Yorktown when it wasn't an orb and was full of Galaxy class ships, swarm drone mechas, and unseen starships.

Let's start with a visit to Starbase Yorktown, not quite as we know it. Concept artist Milena Zdravkovic has shared a large selection of her work from Beyond on her ArtStation profile, including this radically different take on Yorktown, as a long ribbon structure, with Galaxy class ships visiting (don't panic timeline fiends, just standing in for designs to come later I'm sure):

Another really striking image shows us a Galaxy-esque ship under construction:

Kelvin timeline behind the scenes round-up: Prosthetics, costumes, props, concept art, and photos!

Do you enjoy a visit to the Kelvin timeline? Then dive below for a look back at some behind the scenes goodies to recently surface from the production of all three films! Including lots of on set photography, concept art, alien prosthetics, costumes, and props!

We can start almost right at the start, with Alnschloss K'Bentayr, a crew member on the USS Kelvin. The prosthetic mask for this character is currently up for sale from The Prop Gallery, giving us a great chance for a closer look. Check her out:

Latest Star Trek pins from Fansets and Anovos

Lots of pins to look at today, starting with the latest updates from Fansets' ever expanding range. Their newest release in the MicroCrew range of character pins is April Cornwell from Discovery, available since yesterday:

Fanset's latest Discovery Episode Pins, and DS9 and Voyager character designs

FanSets have got up to speed with their Discovery Episode Pins, with the reveal of three new pins based on the most recent episodes. But that's not all, they've also released and previewed several new DS9 and Voyager pins. Continue below to check them all out:

The latest batch of Episode Pins, previewed by StarTrek.com, start with Into the Forest I Go, which wasn't included in the first chapter block of releases due to the mid-season break being shifted an episode later. This busy design features Kol and Burnham, with the Discovery and the Sarcophagus ship doing battle behind them, and Captain Georgiou's insignia badge and a mak'leth in front of them!

Ship bits: DST Reliant, Eaglemoss concept Enterprise-C, and Moebius Franklin

I've got a few different starship models updates today, including new images of Eaglemoss' concept art Enterprise-C, and an update on Moebius Models' USS Franklin.

But first, something we've been waiting for a long time... We have our first look at Diamond Select Toys' next Starships Legends release, the USS Reliant.

The Reliant is the next ship in DST's range of models with lights and sounds, and was announced almost two years ago now. Since then we've not had so much as a tease, and we still don't know when it's actually coming! This image is a "resin prototype" (which doesn't fill one with hope at an imminent release!), and was revealed by the Facebook page of The Toys That Made Us, a new Netflix documentary series about toys, which has a Star Trek episode coming up later in the year.

Eaglemoss Starships previews: Beyond-Enterprise, Discovery ships, prototype Enterprise-C, and more

Eaglemoss have released new images of several forthcoming releases in Star Trek: The Official Starships Collection and the Discovery spinoff. Continue below to check out updated versions of the first two Discovery models, the concept art USS Enterprise-C, and the USS Bozeman.

But first... the next oversized special issue, expected in March, is the Star Trek Beyond refit version of the Kelvin timeline USS Enterprise. A listing has appeared on the Eaglemoss shop, giving us several new images of the model, plus the magazine cover:

Book bits: Discovery novels and comics, scheduling, non-fiction, and more!

Lots of books bits today, including updates for Discovery novels and comics, scheduling updates, non-fiction books, and a journal. Continue below to check them all out:

First up, a little nugget regarding IDW's first Discovery comic: The series, written by Kirsten Beyer and Mike Johnson, with art by Tony Shasteen, is set to be the first of several miniseries based on the series; with this one filling in the backstory of T'Kuvma. Until now though it has simply been referred to as Star Trek: Discovery; annoyingly indistinct from the series as a whole. Well good news folks, the Amazon listing for the series omnibus book (due in May), now lists it with a title! The Light of Kahless.

IDW have also recently released a promo video for their Star Trek comics, which includes the first look at a comic-book rendition of the USS Shenzhou:

QMx reveal loads of new action figures and props at San Diego Comic Con

At the past weekend's San Diego Comic Con QMx revealed lots of new Star Trek goodies, including many new characters in their 1:6 scale action figure range, a variety of new props. Continue below to check them out:

Stealing the show was the Wrath of Khan Khan figure, with an impressively detailed costume scarily life-life sculpting. As images here, via ToyArk and Qmx show:

New Star Trek action figures revealed

Over the weekend there were pretty slim pickings for Star Trek collectors at the New York Toy Fair, but the handful of newly revealed items were pretty impressive at least. Continue below for all the details.

QMx had several Star Trek figures on display, from their 1:6 scale (12 inch tall) range. Newly revealed is a Star Trek Beyond Captain Kirk, featuring an incredibly detailed recreation of his survival suit. (Image via ActionFigss.com)

Star Trek Beyond complete soundtrack available now

Varèse Sarabande have released Star Trek Beyond: The Deluxe Edition, Michael Giacchino complete soundtrack for the movie. This release now comes as a bit of a surprise, as it comes much closer the the film than the extended soundtracks for the previous Kelvin timeline movies, which were released a year or more after the films.

A limited edition of 5000, the new expanded release features 47 tracks over two discs, including some beautiful new themes (especially those for Yorktown and Jaylah). I cannot wait for my copy to arrive! Continue below to check out the covers and track listing.

All the latest super-deformed Star Trek toys

The trend in super-deformed cartoon/caricature style toys shows now signs of slowing down, and in just the past few months the world of Star Trek toys has seen many new examples. Continue below to check out all the latest releases.

Just out from Funko, is the first Star Trek figure in their new Dorbz line. Like the long established Pop! vinyl range, Dorbz have a particular style that is used across the various licensees Funko have. This first beaming Spock figure is exclusive to GameStop, although I'm sure it's just a matter of time until a regular Spock comes along as part of a larger Star Trek Dorbz collection.

Star Trek Beyond merchandise in China

In addition to unique poster art and music in China, Star Trek Beyond has been the subject of a huge merchandise range unique to the Chinese market. CBS announced details of the licensing agreements with Alibaba, China Film, and Mtime, via Licensing.biz: A bewildering range of products are on offer, including toys and games, electronic accessories, clothing and accessories, and homewares of just about every form you can imagine! Continue below for a look at the highlights from the extensive offering:

While the rest of the world only has the option of Funko Pop! vinyl figures of Star Trek Beyond characters, Alibaba are offering several different ranges of action figures and figurines, from a company called Emen. The most detailed seem to be 1/6th scale sculptures of Jaylah and Krall, which are standing on based styled after the USS Kelvin's saucer.

Star Trek Beyond's Chinese posters and more

Paramount made a big push when they launched Star Trek Beyond in China, and it paid off, with significantly higher takings than Into Darkness. Among the promotional efforts China got its own posters, music, and more. Continue below to check out the highlights from Star Trek Beyond's visit to China.

The film got some unique new posters for it's Chinese release. Similar art was used in landscape and portrait formats, featuring images from the film forming the wake of the swarm-chased crashing USS Enterprise (via Star Trek China Twitter):

Loads of new ships announced and other Starships Collection news

At this weekend's Star Trek Mission: New York convention Eaglemoss ran a panel on Star Trek: The Official Starships Collection, in which series manager Ben Robinson announced loads of new ships,and other news. Continue below for a round-up of what we learnt:

The big news is that once again the collection has been granted an extension, and will now run for at least 130 issues (plus specials and other additional issues), which is almost twice the originally planned 70 issue run!

Ben announced a whole load of new ships during the panel, but by far the most exciting to me was confirmation that the USS Titan issue will be coming, off the back of the petition to find support for it championed right here on The Trek Collective. And better yet, Ben also confirmed the USS Aventine will be released too! Both ships are due out in 2017.

Star Trek Beyond's costume design

Star Trek Beyond introduced several new Starfleet uniforms, plus a whole load of clothing for all those aliens roaming around on Yorktown and Altamid.  So the costume designers certainly had plenty to get their teeth into! Continue below for a look through some of their work from the film.

Sanya Hays was the costume designer on the film, and worked with several other concept artists to develop the look of what we saw on-screen. These first couple of images looking at Jaylah come from Christian Cordella:

Star Trek Beyond's alien prosthetics

Star Trek Beyond makeup designer Joel Harlow boasts there are no less than fifty aliens in the movie, packing in dozens of new species as a nod to the fiftieth anniversary. In fact by the time his team were done there were some fifty-six different species featured in the film, many represented by multiple unique character designs!

A team of about seventy makeup artists and designers worked throughout the shoot to bring the aliens of the film to life, and now many of those artists, as well as the actors they transformed, have been sharing their amazing creations. Continue below for a look at some of the many new aliens from the film.

One of my favourite images to appear so far is a fantastic split screen photo posted by actor Joe Taslim, showing his character Manas as both the alien we saw throughout the film, and his original Human form as Anderson Le of the USS Franklin:

Star Trek Beyond tie-in adverts

Several companies have arrangement promotional partnerships with Star Trek Beyond, with a few of them releasing TV adverts in the progress. I've previously posted Hewlett Packard Enterprise's Starfleet Academy field-trip to Iceland. But by far the more interesting element of HPE's association is that they designed several props for the film, integrating their own technology concepts of The Machine, and their rectangular logo. I've posted some details of those before too, and now HPE have released a couple of videos giving a closer look at what they helped design.

John Eaves' prop designs for Star Trek Beyond

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.

Non-fiction updates: Beyond book, Picard and Klingon blurbs, and more

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 anticipated Star 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):