Harry Mudd to return in Discovery

CBS have announced an exciting bit of casting for Star Trek: Discovery: Rainn Wilson will be joining the show as the notorious Harcourt "Harry" Fenton Mudd. The conman and criminal appeared in two episodes of The Original Series, Mudd's Women, and I, Mudd, plus the Animated Series episode Mudd's Passion, and as a significant recurring character in TOS has also appeared in many novels and comics since. Hopefully the new episode(s?) featuring him will carry on the tradition of being named in his honour!

Rain Wilson is of course best known as Dwight Schrute from The Office, and has also appeared in Galaxy Quest, Six Feet Under, Backstorm, and many other TV and film roles.

Lots of new Fansets pins on the way

Makers of Star Trek collectable pins FanSets have recently announced numerous new plans, celebrating the 30th anniversary of TNG, entertain the Kelvin timeline, and more. Continue below for the latest news and releases.

Available for pre-order now is their TNG 30th anniversary pin. This is a somewhat more complex deisng tan usual, made form three layers: The base is the combadge and title, the 30 then sits on top, and the Enterprise-D atop that. This is also the first pin to be offered as either a regular pin, or with a magnetic back.

La La Land's The Motion Picture vinyl soundtrack

La La Land have released a new vinyl edition of the soundtrack for Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Available from today, the release features new cover art by Daren R. Dochterman, and snazzy blue coloured discs reminiscent of the V'Ger cloud. The two disc set is a limited edition of 1500.

USS Discovery gains more crew

CBS have announced two more members of cast for Star Trek: Discovery, and both are something of a rarity so far: Crew of the USS Discovery itself!

The ship's captain, who unlike previous Trek series is not the star of the show, is to be Captain Lorca, played by Jason Isaacs. You might recognise him as Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter films, or from numerous other TV, film, and animation roles, including A Cure For Wellness, The OA, or voicing the Inquisitor on Star Wars: Rebels.

At the other end of the chain of command, Mary Wiseman will play Cadet Tilly:

 ...a Starfleet Academy Cadet in her final year of study, also assigned to the Discovery. 

Wiseman, as you might expect being a lot younger, has fewer credits to her name, with a handful of TV roles including recurring character in Longmire last year.

New starships Enterprise model kit set

Round 2 Models have posted a new blog giving details of their forthcoming USS Enterprise model kit set. For the first time the set includes models of every Enterprise from the NX-01 through to the NCC-1701-E at the same scale, 1:2500. Most of these are reissues of previous Cadet Series kits, but the NX-01 is brand new for this release. Continue below for more details.

Star Trek Cats previews

Star Trek has had no shortage of unusual books in the last few years, with the likes of A Very Klingon Khristmas and Fun with Kirk and Spock now gracing our shelves. The latest release from Chronicle Books is exploring an even stranger new world though, with the entire crew of the USS Enterprise turn into cats by artist Jenny Parks, for Star Trek Cats.

The book has just been releases, and to mark the occasion StarTrek.com and Amazon have released numerous preview pages, which you can see below.

People have also posted a short interview with Parks, who described how this book came about:

I’ve been a cat person for as long as I can remember. Combine that with a scientific illustrator’s passion for drawing animals and all things nerdy, and you get a series of my favorite pop culture characters as cats. Somehow it all became more than just a ridiculous hobby, as I realized how many people out there loved these cats, too.

Naturally each character is a very specific cat, as you can see below:

One of the things I enjoyed most about working on Star Trek Cats, was figuring out what breeds to make each character. Obviously Scotty had to be a Scottish Fold, but it took some searching to find a cat for Spock with appropriately distinctive ears, which I eventually found in the Oriental Shorthair.

Voyager soundtrack collection out now

La La Lands latest Star Trek soundtrack release is available now, their first Star Trek: Voyager Collection. The four disc set includes over five hours of music from across the run of the series, and is a limited edition of 3000 units. Here's how La La Land describe it:

La-La Land Records and CBS proudly present STAR TREK VOYAGER COLLECTION, a stellar 4-CD presentation of score highlights from the acclaimed television series starring Kate Mulgrew, Tim Russ and Jeri Ryan. Series composers Jay Chattaway, Dennis McCarthy, David Bell and Paul Baillargeon expand their remarkable work in the STAR TREK universe with thrilling and inventive music to such fan favorite episodes as RISE, THE VOID, BASICS parts I and II, LIFESIGNS, SCORPION parts I and II, and more!

DISC 1 features music by Jay Chattaway, DISC 2 showcases Dennis McCarthy, DISC 3 highlights music by David Bell and Paul Baillargeon, and DISC 4 includes fan faves by Chattaway and McCarthy!

Produced by Ford A. Thaxton, James Nelson, Mark Banning, and Lukas Kendall, and edited and mastered by James Nelson, this special limited edition release of 3000 units includes a 36-Page booklet with exclusive, in-depth liner notes by writer Jeff Bond. Art designer Mark Banning complements this mission with sharp, Federation-worthy packaging.

Continue below for a full track listing, which you might note includes a couple of Captain Proton tracks (probably worth getting just for those theremin heavy delights!)

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)

First look at the new Star Trek roller-coaster

Last summer I reported news that the Movie Park theme park in Germany had begun work on a Star Trek roller-coaster; and now Movie Park have released the first promotional images of the forthcoming ride, which is due to open this spring.

The TNG inspired ride will see "cadets" boarding shuttles to help rescue the Enterprise-D from impending Borg assimilation. Here's the story behind the ride (English language version via StarTrek.com):

Speed is of the essence. There’s no time to think. Every maneuver has to be perfectly executed. There’s only one attempt. Starfleet's enemy the Borg have the U.S.S. Enterprise locked in their tractor beam. The ship and its crew have been captured. The bridge of the Enterprise is deserted. The only hope of rescue is to send Starfleet cadets on a bold rescue mission.

This rescue mission isn’t going to be easy. The Borg ship’s deflector shields will have to be breached so that its main systems can be destroyed. It’s the only way to save the crew of the Enterprise. Despite an incredible adrenalin rush, the cadets have to fully focus on the task at hand. That’s the new mission in deep space for Movie Park Germany’s guests.

More Discovery cast announced, plus music hints

CBS have revealed another trio of actors who will feature in Star Trek: Discovery. This latest batch are all members of Starfleet, and continue to paint a picture of a very diverse range of settings for this series, with a variety of positions being filled, and not one of them described as serving on the USS Discovery itself (in fact only one member of the cast has been so far!). Here's how CBS describe each:

Terry will play Admiral Anderson, a high-ranking official of Starfleet.

Terry Serpico has a long list of TV credits to his name, with long running roles in Army Wives and The Inspectors.