Tuesday, 18 December 2012

Second Star Trek Into Darkness trailer

Paramount has released the second trailer for Star Trek Into Darkness. Have a watch:



This time Admiral Pike gives us a voice over (with a short bit from John Harrison later). While not as chilling and mesmerising as Cumberbatch's voice, it does perhaps give us an idea of the ground that will be explored with Kirk:
There is greatness in you. But there is not an ounce of humility. You think you can’t make mistakes. But there is going to come a moment when you realize you are wrong about that. And you are going to get yourself, and everyone under your command killed.
Screencaps, shall we begin? There's a fair amount of stuff from the first trailer in this new one, but also lots of new things (and indeed lots of clips haven't reappeared). Most exciting for me, is new ships! There's this small one, which Kirk seems to be shooting at earlier in the trailer (note the Motion Picture style Starfleet insignia on his uniform, neat):

 

There's also this fighter sort of thing, that doesn't look very Starfleet, chasing a saucer or ring shaped ship that looks more Federation, through, somewhere:


And of course the Enterprise is back, though she doesn't look to healthy; look at her poor deflector dish!:


Beyond ships, the most intriguing shot in the trailer has to be this room full of pods. Cryogenic pods maybe? That would certainly play into any sort of tie with Khan and his followers in suspended animation, or even a new take on Eugenics Wars leftovers, like the story arc in Enterprise. Or it could be totally different, we know there's some sort of medical plot introduced early in the film from the IMAX preview. Or it might not be cryogenics at all of course. Also, maybe my mind is playing tricks, but is there a slight sepia tint to this shot? Maybe indicating a flashback?


Another interesting new scene shows us Spock jumping from the top of a building. Maybe part of the urban chase sequence seen in the first trailer:

 

Also in a city, we have what looks like John Harrison watching an explosion below him. Maybe up to his terroristy tricks?


We also see a Federation flag being folded, perhaps part of the gathering (memorial?) seen in the first trailer:


Back in space, Kirk is zipping around in a spacesuit, in a shot very much like one seen in the first trailer for the forthcoming Star Trek video game. His suit looks badly damaged in another shot:


Meanwhile inside the Enterprise we see the bridge and corridors empty, and the same sort of slow roaming camera shot later on when we see John Harrison in the brig. Has he been left alone on the abandoned Enterprise?

 
 

We are also introduced to a new character, dropping a Starfleet Academy ring into a glass of water:


And just so we know all our favourites are back, there are various shots of the regular crew, looking concerned, running, falling into massive spaces and, well, mostly looking concerned; I guess because Kirk is due to get them all killed if Pike is accurate...:


In other Into Darkness news, Cinema Blend has an article looking behind the scenes at the design, special effects and music of the film; here's prop master Andy Siegel talking about tweaks to the designs of some of the props in the film:
They already reinvented a lot of the stuff for the first movie, so you don’t want to go too far afield of that because they did a great job. The reinvention of the phaser was really terrific – we just tried to do what I would do if I had a second chance at anything. ‘Oh, what kind of refinements can you make?’ You get a new iPhone every year, you get a new tape recorder every year, so we kind of did that... With communicators I put the mesh back on because that’s sort of a nod to the old communicator.
The article also reveals the Starfleet delta badges have been tweaked a little, and now incorporate rank insignia somehow. It also discusses the design of the new Klingons, 23rd century London, and the films soundtrack. Have a read.

Monday, 17 December 2012

Comics update

IDW have announced their March solicitations, and it's all new-timeline stuff in their Star Trek comics. The ongoing series continues its origin stories phase with a Scotty story for the nineteenth issue:


Written by Mike Johnson, art by Claudia Balboni, covers by Tim Bradstreet, plus a photo-cover.
The lead up to this Spring's STAR TREK film sequel continues here, in this official prequel mini-series overseen by writer/producer Roberto Orci. Captain Kirk and his crew will face an all-new adversary that threatens the future of the entire Federation. An exclusive all-new story that sets the stage for the upcoming movie!
The fourth omnibus for the ongoing series is also out in March:
The countdown to the Star Trek movie sequel continues here! In "The Redshirt's Tale," experience life on the Enterprise through a redshirt's eyes! Also, find out how Scotty and his alien sidekick Keenser first meet. Plus, an all-new re-imagining of the classic "Mirror Universe" story!
The Into Darkness prequel, Countdown to Darkness, will conclude in April, and Amazon now have a pre-order listing for the omnibus, which like the original Countdown omnibus will come out the same month as the last issue, so you can get the whole thing before the new film comes out.

But before then issue three will be out in March as well, and it looks like this:


Written by Mike Johnson, art by David Messina, covers by David Messina, plus a photo-cover.
The lead up to this Spring's STAR TREK film sequel continues here, in this official prequel mini-series overseen by writer/producer Roberto Orci. Captain Kirk and his crew will face an all-new adversary that threatens the future of the entire Federation. An exclusive all-new story that sets the stage for the upcoming movie!
IDW have also recently released an updated cover for the first issue in the series, as well as a B cover using the movie's poster:

 

Thursday, 13 December 2012

Books updates

Lots of book bits to share: Starting with the first look at the cover for Tony Daniel's first Star Trek novel, Devil's Bargain, which is set to feature the Horta in a TOS adventure. Sadly there are no Horta on the cover, just a lot of Spock - But not bad for a head cover (via StarTrek.com):


Another of next year's TOS books, William Leisner's The Shock of Adversity, has a new blurb, added to its listing on Simon and Schuster's online catalogue:
Located far beyond the boundaries of explored space, the Goeg Domain is a political union of dozens of planets and races. When the U.S.S. Enterprise arrives in its territory to investigate an interstellar phenomenon, Commander Laspas of the Domain Defense Corps is at first guarded, then fascinated to discover the existence of an alliance of worlds much like his own, and finds a kindred spirit in Captain James T. Kirk. And when the Enterprise is attacked by the Domain’s enemies, crippling the starship’s warp capability and leaving its crew facing the prospect of a slow, months-long journey home, the Goeg leader volunteers the help of his own ship, offering to combine the resources of both vessels to bring the Enterprise to a nearby Domain facility to make the necessary repairs.

But what at first seems to be an act of peace and friendship soon turns out to be a devil’s bargain, as Kirk and the Enterprise crew learn that there are perhaps more differences than similarities between the Federation and the Domain. When the Goeg’s adversaries strike again, the Enterprise is drawn deeper and inexorably into the conflict, and Kirk begins to realize that they may have allied themselves with the wrong side…

Later in 2013, the TOS block gives way to the five-part TNG-era crossover series, The Fall. So far we know David R George III is starting the series with a DS9 novel, Revelations and Dust, and that both Dayton Ward and David Mack are also contributing books to the series. Now James Swallow has also announced his involvement, with a Titan book on the way -Which pleases me no end, as his previous Titan novel, Synthesis, was one of the best in the series.

A bit less far away, listings have popped up lately for three new ebook omnibuses, all coming in January:

Finally the second episode of TrekFM's new Literary Treks podcast is available for listening now. This time they talked to Kirsten Beyer about her Voyager relaunch books. She talked extensively about how she has developed the series, so if you're a fan it's well worth a listen (and if you're not a fan, what's wrong with you?). She also reconfirmed that her next book wont be getting to us until early 2014.

Wednesday, 12 December 2012

Star Trek: The Newspaper Strips, Volume One preview

StarTrek.com have previewed the forthcoming Star Trek: The Newspaper Strips, Volume One, due out this month. Finally collecting the elusive US comic strips, this first book contains the first ten stories in the series. The StarTrek.com preview is a little low res, but even here you can see they've done a great job reproducing the artwork, which looks sharp and vibrant:


Trekweb recently ran an interview with Rich Handley, who collected all the old US and UK comic strips and has been trying to get them reprinted for years. Here's how he described that bumpy road:
In past years, Pocket Books' John Ordover and Wildstorm Comics' Jeff Mariotte both tried valiantly (pun intended) to reprint the U.K. and U.S. strips. However, Paramount nixed the idea each time, reportedly due to legal concerns. I was not privy to all of the details of those discussions, so I don't know specifically what transpired, but John, Jeff and I were disappointed not to be able to see the project through.

The Star Trek comic strips, while admittedly uneven in quality, are great fun to read nonetheless, sometimes because they're genuinely well written and/or illustrated, and sometimes from a Mystery Science Theater 3000 "This is so ridiculous, it's wonderful" perspective. And yet, at the time, most Trek fans didn't even know they existed, since the U.K. strips had never been marketed overseas, while the L.A. Times strips had been poorly distributed. The three of us were thus determined to put these strips into fans' hands. Sadly, it didn't happen.

In 2010 (if I recall correctly), I decided to give it another try, and so I reached out to IDW's Chris Ryall. Chris was very open to the idea, and put me in touch with Dean Mullaney, the editor of IDW's The Library of American Comics imprint. Dean decided to start with the U.S. strips, and worked with me and several other fans, most notably Allen Lane and Mark Martinez, to find the highest-quality versions possible for each daily strip. Dean was determined to do as great a job on these books as he feasibly could, given the strips' age and relative unavailability, so he didn't want to limit himself to just the versions in my collection. To that end, he mined Allen's and Mark's archives, as well as those of Comics Revue editor Rick Norwood, and also purchased numerous bulk sets on eBay and elsewhere, then used the best of what he'd amassed.

Unlike Pocket and Wildstorm, IDW did not run into the same legal entanglements, presumably due to Star Trek's ownership having changed hands in recent years. Whatever the reason, the hurdles were lifted and the strips are finally being reprinted. Having seen the final product, I believe fans will love the end result.
He also described his involvement in this book:
In addition to helping Dean compile the strips, I also looked over each PDF proof page for him and was allowed to come up with titles for the un-named storylines. In addition, Dean invited me to write an introduction to the first volume, and I'll also be doing something fun for volume two. Our hope, if these two books sell well, is to eventually do the same for the U.K. strips (so tell all your Trek-loving friends to buy five copies of each book).
So it sounds like volume two, with the rest of the US strips is a done deal, while the next two books, with the UK series are dependent on the success of the first. So make sure you buy a copy of this first book, as the UK strips have some truly amazing artwork!

Oh no! Not John Harrison!?

Paramount have finally revealed the name of Benedict Cumberbatch's Star Trek Into Darkness villain. And that name is *drumroll*... John Harrison! Here he is hanging out with the Enterprise gang in the maybe-brig, in the latest image from Into Darkness:


Name not ringing a bell? Well Tor.com have joined the dots up to a TOS extra, Harrison. If there is any relationship to that character I'm sure it's pretty limited; it would have to be considering there is basically nothing to build on! TrekMovie, reporting from a press event at Bad Robot, are quite adamant this isn't a ruse, and this is what the character is called in the film, rather than a place holder.

Other news coming from TrekMovie at that event include the identity of Alice Eve's female Starfleet character, who turns out to be Carol Marcus!


The Klingon planet seen in the trailer is apparently Qo'noS


Keenser will also be back for the sequel. Check out TrekMovie's report for a few more titbits.

Friday, 7 December 2012

Non-fiction update

I was rather disappointed a couple of weeks ago when the first utterly uninspiring cover for the Okuda's On Board the USS Enterprise book and CD-ROM tour appeared. Thankfully it turns out that was just a stand-in, as now Amazon have posted a much more impressive cover for the book, with a brand new picture of the Enterprise flying past a ringed planet. Snazzy:


Amazon have also posted an updated version of the cover for DK's Star Trek: The Visual Dictionary. It has kept the same trio of characters in the center, but has scaled them up, and rearranged some of the other items so it all looks a little less cluttered than the first draft. It also adds the promise of a forward by John De Lancie (aka Q):


Finally the very impressive Federation: The First 150 Years is now out. Finishing of the impressive publicity campaign for the book, there has been a flourish of coverage to mark it's release: TrekCore posted an interview with the book's editor and design, and a two-part interview with the writer. SF Signal posted some new excerpts, and so did io9. So if you've still been indecisive over whether to invest in a copy, go have a look at all those. I for one recommend it; it's got loads of brilliant art, and is also a really enjoyable read; detailing some of the least explored parts of Star Trek history.

Here is Joe Corroney's Romulan War propaganda poster from the book, which he recently posted on Facebook:


Thursday, 6 December 2012

First Star Trek Into Darkness trailer!

Oh wow, oh golly, oh gosh, this looks exciting! The first trailer for Star Trek Into Darkness:



The trailer is introduced by the commanding and menacing voice of Benedict Cumberbatch's character, stating:
You think your world is safe - It is an illusion; a comforting lie told to protect you. Enjoy these final moments of peace; for I have returned, to have, my, vengeance.

So, shall we begin?

So whoever he is, he's been around before, and doesn't seem to happy about things. Which does fit both the most rumoured candidates for his character; Khan Noonien Singh, and Gary Mitchell. But it could just as easily be someone wholly new.

Shall we take a moment to look at some stills? Well ok, lets start with the the villian of the piece, who seems content to fight Starfleet and Klingons alike:


Top of my list in the "wow" area of this trailer is the crashing of the Enterprise (or a starship at least), which we got a glimpse of both going into the water, and rising up out of it again:

 

It looks like she's crashed right into San Francisco bay, and there's certainly no shortage of that city (or one with the same colour palette in action) in this trailer:


We also get some more exotic locales. Such as this very red place, which Kirk and McCoy decide to go for a run through, before jumping off a cliff!

 

Of course we already knew Spock was going into a volcano for some reason. Here he is, re-enacting Revenge of the Sith:


Most of our familiar crew are back, and out of uniform rather frequently:

 
Plus there's a new girl in town, who doesn't always look entirely pleased:

 

Not sure who she is, but she sure is channelling Doctor Elizabeth Dehner's hair (Where No Man Has Gone Before).


My biggest concern at the moment though: Why isn't it May yet?!

UPDATE: The Japanese version seems to be compensating for the late release of the film there with ten second more footage on the local trailer, including a very familiar looking shot!:

Surely not?

The trailer also adds an extra line for Cumberbatch, asking: "Is there anything you would not do for your family?". The extra few moments also allow a very pleasing little sting of one of the themes from the soundtrack of the 2009 movie.

TNG season 3 blurays, and beyond

Season two is just making it's way to our bluray players, but we're already set for TNG remastered season three. The first two seasons have their good episodes, and have been remarkable ground breaking examples of TV restoration; but I'm sure I'm not the only one that is really waiting for the good stuff to start pouring out of the later seasons. As the season three trailer demonstrates, it's only going to get better from here:



Here is the season three cover art, premiered in the trailer:


TNG bluray producer/director Roger Lay, Jr. talked a little about some of the extra features coming with the season three set in a recent StarTrek.com interview:
In season 3, you had Michael Piller taking over the writers’ room and really shaping the type of storytelling that defined the show. Fans will get a glimpse at the process which led to the formation of the writing staff that went on to run the course of the series and they'll also get to see them reunited again for a really insightful and fun piece we call "Inside the Writers' Room," which is hosted by Family Guy creator and TNG super-fan, Seth MacFarlane. I'm really proud of that piece, as well as of a really emotional tribute to Michael Piller which we've put together exclusively for the season 3 Blu-ray set.
CBS Digital's Eric Bruno also mentioned some of the challenges the remastering team faced dealing with the more ambitious effects work in season three, in an interview by TrekCore:
They definitely upped their game with this season. Many more ships, more complex ship moves, more complex alien transporters, more complex alien phasers, lasers, explosions – you name it. They hit their stride in Season 3 as far as that’s concerned, and they were definitely pushing the envelope. While Season 3 may have a smaller number of visual effects shots compared to Season 1, the complexity is such that it’s taking us more time to finish them because they were top of their game back then.
Looking further ahead CBS's David Grant mentioned in another TrekCore interview that the schedule for releases has been accelerated a little from the original two seasons a year plan. They now hope to release three seasons in 2013, with the final two coming the following year.

Perhaps it has something to do with the sucess of season one, which according to Grant has performed well above expectations:
I think what they estimated for a couple of months, or a month or so, sold in a week
While not yet officially green lit, this initial success can only help build the case for DS9 to follow. So lets hope things only get better as the best stories are yet to come in TNG.

Thinking even further into the future CBS Digital's Craig Weiss commented on the HD standard they are working to in another TrekCore interview - They are not making 4K copies, but the work they are doing will make that easier if it's ever called for:
We have – the most important thing – the time code of how the show was mastered, which has been the bulk of trying to figure this out. So we can go back and remaster the film in 4K. Due to just time and the schedule, there would be no way for us to be able to manage that kind of data for an HD release at this point. And nobody really knows what the specs for 4K are going to be, or for 4K televisions. So we decided we didn’t want to scan with today’s technology and then a year from now the specs might be different so we’d have to re-do it, so we decided to just stay within the specs for this Blu-Ray project.
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