Starfleet Academy #1 preview and character profiles

Out this week is the first issue in IDW's new nuTrek Starfleet Academy series, a five-issue run which will feature both the Enterprise crew in their Academy days and a groups of cadets from the nuTrek "present day".

The series is written by nuTrek regular Mike Johnson, and Ryan Parrot, who wrote a couple of the previous Academy flashback issues in the nuTrek ongoing series. The book is illustrated by Derek Charm, who also made the main cover. A subscription cover comes from Jen Bartel, and a further retail incentive cover is by Elsa Charretier.

Continue below to check out all those covers, plus a five page preview of the issue, and character profiles for the new cadets:

Director Justin Lin on Star Trek Beyond's themes

So after seeing ninty seconds of Star Trek Beyond I hope many of you are looking forward to what looks to me to be some fun character focused romps, a pleasing dose of humour, exploring an actual strange new world, and yes, some budget-busting action. Yes? Good, well, for the doubters, Birth Movies Death has posted an enlightening interview with director Justin Lin, shedding light on his approach to Star Trek, some of the themes of the new movie, and more - If he makes a film as good as he talks about all those things I think we're in very safe hands. For instance, it sounds rather like the overriding theme of Star Trek Beyond is going to be an exploration of the ideas of globalisation (but at an interstellar scale) and colonialism, which should be a pretty good starting point!:

What would happen if you go on a five year journey and you’re trying to not only explore but also maybe introduce other people to your way of thinking? What would that mean? What are the consequences of that? You’re spreading a philosophy that you think is great - are there going to be any philosophies that counter you? That was something I thought about since I was a kid, and we got to explore that.

In particular this is manifested in the motivations of the villain, who is apparently called something like Kraal (spelling unknown):

Star Trek Beyond trailer released!

The first trailer, and first look at pretty much anything (officially), from Star Trek Beyond has been released! It's pretty different for a Star Trek trailer, and looks like the nuTrek crew are going to much more exotics places this time. Looks fun to me; check it out below! UPDATE: And continue below for screencaped scrutiny of everything we can see!

Starships Collection now to reach 110 issues!

Great news starships fans, Eaglemoss have announced the second expansion of the model and magazine series Star Trek: The Official Starships Collection, which will now run to one-hundred-and-ten issues (plus specials), up from the previous plan for ninety.

That will see the series running until almost the end of 2017, by which time hopefully there will be need for a whole load more issues to bring us the ships from the new TV series!

Posting on Twitter, series manager Ben Robinson has confirmed the expansion will see ships from all five TV series, and movies, with the official announcement emphasising there will be more ships from TOS remastered, models from the Battle of Wolf 359, Delta Quadrant ships, Federation vessels from Star Trek Insurrection, and oversized special issues with new ships from Star Trek Beyond.

Ben also tweeted that about half the ships will be Federation vessels, and by the current planned end of the series he thinks all the Klingon ships will have been made, and most Vulcan designs too. Two subjects have already been confirmed; the New Orleans class and the Daedalus class. He also posted this picture of the Daedalus miniature (made to illustrate the Star Trek Encyclopedia), which Mike Okuda sent him:

Additionally Ben confirmed the Jellyfish will be a forthcoming special issues, and expects there will be at least two more shuttlecraft models. One of the most exciting tweets suggested work on the Titan is top of the specials list, with plans to offer a pre-order.

He also mentioned that even this new expansion wont be able to cover all the Wolf 359 ships, but if the series continues to sell another extension is possible!

Preview of final issue in the Green Lantern crossover comic

As well as the final issue in the nuTrek ongoing series' mirror universe story, this week also sees the closing chapter in the six-issue Green Lantern crossover. The epic and cinematic story comes to a rather surprisingly close, the first five pages of which you can see below.

This issue has three covers, the main one by Stephen Mooney (coloured by Tamra Bonvillain), a Motion Picture style subscription cover by Cat Staggs, and completing his run for the series, another Garry Brown subscription cover (coloured by Doug Garbark).

Preview of the final issue in the nuTrek mirror universe comic arc

Out this week are two new Star Trek comics from IDW, both final issues in their respective story arcs, both featuring nuTrek interactions with alternate realities, and rather curiously both seeing a restoration of sorts of the planet Vulcan!

From the nuTrek ongoing series, we have the final issue in the mirror universe trilogy, Live Live. Written as ever by Mike Johnson, the story is illustrated by Tony Shasteen. There are two covers for this book, the main one by Shasteen, featuring a Khan as a religious icon, and the subscription cover by Dan Parent, which is part of IDW's wider Archie Comics cover collection, which see variants from multiple titles across their output this month.

Continue below for a five page preview of the issue, and look for a separate post with a preview of this week's other release, the final issue in the Green Lantern crossover.

Latest Star Trek figures: Retro cloth, Femme Fatales, Mystery Minis, Bobble-heads and more

A round up of the latest Star Trek action figures and figurines for you today, including TOS and TNG characters in quite a variety of styles.

First up, a new twist on a classic, in the latest retro cloth figures from Diamond Select Toys. After recreating the classic Mego figures a few years ago, and adding a few new characters while they were at it, DST are currently in the midst of reissuing the range in time for the anniversary year. But they're also expanding it once more! Due to arrive in May, the latest pair of figures will be a Cheron, and a red shirt. Now we've had a Cheron figure before, but this time they're switching the black and white sides, so you can complete your recreation of Let That Be Your Last Battlefield, with Lokai to pair with the previously release Bele. The new generic security man has a twist too, as there will be two variants on offer, with either brown or black hair, and one with officer rank stripes.

Enterprise and Archer coins

Perth Mint have released their fifth captain and coin set, this one featuring Captain Jonathan Archer, an the Enterprise NX-01. Like the rest of their Star Trek coin series, the coins have a face value of one Tuvalu dollar, although have been cast in silver. Continue below to check both coins and their packaging.

Cosy Trek stuff for all seasons

You can stay snug and warm at home in winter, or ready for the beach in the summer, with the latest Star Trek soft furnishings. Continue below for quirky new cushions, towels, and fabrics. And first, new from ThinkGeek, is the USS Enterprise-D rug:

The next generation to their previous TOS rug, this one ups the ante by being a more interesting shape than a plain old rectangle. Although if you do like your quadrilaterals, you're in luck, as they've also released a Borg Cube rug (ThinkGeek are really into the Borg lately!):

Here they both are in situ, for some idea of scale:

Lots of ways to drink something green

I hope you're thirsty, as I've got a drinks cabinet full of new Star Trek barware to share today. First up, a really fun new creation from ThinkGeek: The transporter pad coaster (which comes in a set of four), which has both light and sound effects that activate when you put your drink down, and pick it up. As you can see in the video below, it's a good effect, although you might also be relieved to know the sound can be muted to ensure you don't get transporter psychosis from all the noise!