New Star Trek martial arts clothing from Fusion Fight Gear

Fusion Fight Gear have revealed a new range of Star Trek fighting apparel, with designs drawing from TOS and TNG. If you're not much of a fighter they're good for all sorts of other sports and activities too, with a wide range of rash guards (tops) and spats (bottoms), plus a unique Star Trek gi. Continue below to check out all the designs.

If you want to simply dazzle your opponent then the "Tokyo Invasion" rash guard might be the top for you. This is covered in what I would normally describe as (very bright!) Gold Key-style artwork, although Fusion have identified a slightly different origin for these retro images:

The colorful Star Trek Tokyo Invasion rashguard is inspired by artwork created exclusively for the Japanese market when the original Star Trek series gained popularity there during the 1970’s.

ThinkGeek's new Star Trek maxi dresses

Ever fancied cosplaying as Captain Picard's ready room? Well now you can thanks to ThinkGeek! Their latest maxi dress features the painting from said room, originally created by Rick Sternbach and Andrew Probert, set into a larger starfield, and actually I think looks pretty cool. Continue below for a closer look, and their new TOS dress too:

Star Trek Beyond's USS Franklin!

A new ship from Star Trek Beyond has been revealed! The Omaze fundraising campaign last year, which included a competition to win visits to the sets and a walk on roll in the film in exchange for a charitable donation, also offered backers the chance to buy extra goodies depending on levels of donations made. One of those options was to get some concept art from the film, and it seems some of that is already been sent out. TrekCore have posted the following image, sent to D.B. Wilson, which pictures a brand new Starfleet starship, the USS Franklin.

Lots of Star Trek events for the 50th anniversary

It might not come as too much of a surprise to learn that CBS have big plans for this year, what with it being the 50th anniversary of Star Trek n'all. Details of several of the latest events planned for this year have been revealed in the last few days; there should be lots to keep us entertained and help us celebrate this golden year.

Art

The highlight of the planned events in my mind, is the 50 Artists. 50 Years. project which USA Today have now revealed will be a worldwide travelling exhibition of Star Trek inspired art, in many forms, including illustration, photography, and graphic design.

This exhibit will first open at the San Diego Comic Con in July, before moving on to other venues. We've already had our first glimpse at this thanks to early previews for a calendar using some of the artwork - I find it hard to imagine we won't see what will surely be a rich source of Star Trek imagery turn up in other places and products down the line too. USA Today have confirmed the exhibit will include work by Leonard Nimoy, and the credits for the calendar suggest other contributors will include Tom Whalen, Nick Walker, Johnson Tsang, Derek Charm, and Susan Beatrice.

Original USS Enterprise model ready for restoration

As you might be aware, the original USS Enterprise filming miniature is in the possession of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. Later this year it will find a new home within the museum, in the redesigned Boeing Milestones of Flight Hall, claiming it's rightful place as one of the most important vehicles in the (future) history of human flight.

Before moving to her new home, the Smithsonian team are busy working to restore the Enterprise to her former glory, making repairs after years of display a model made for shorter term use in television production was never designed for. They are also reversing some of the not entirely faithful previous restorations. The plan is to return the model to how it appeared in The Trouble with Tribbles, when the last alterations were made during the production of the series. The Smithsonian have just posted a blog with an update on their work, revealing right now, the Enterprise is in pieces!

Eaglemoss' Starfleet Academy trainer, and other updates

Eaglemoss' Hero Collector website has posted another set of renders of one of their new CG recreations, ready to make a future model in Star Trek: The Official Starships Collection. This time we've got the Starfleet Academy training ship, seen in TNG's First Duty. Continue below to check it out, and other updates from the series:

Mezco's second Star Trek action figure is Sulu

Mezco have announced their second Star Trek action figure in their One:12 range, and in a refreshing bucking of expectations it is not Kirk! Expected in June or July, Mr Sulu will be joining the previously announced Spock figure in this series.

Like Spock, this highly detailed figure will come with an insignia display base, and feature no less than twenty-eight points of articulation. He will have a fabric uniform, and a good selection of props, including a sword! He will also have a load of different hands ready to strike various poses, and two heads to give different expressions. Continue below for a close look at all those details:

Roddenberry Vault: Week 3 - Talosians on the Edge of Forever

Throughout 2016 the Roddenberry Facebook page will be posting artefacts from their archives, including behind the scenes documents, production artwork, and photos. Dubbed the Roddenberry Vault, there will be new posts every day, some times multiples. To make sure you don't miss any of these insightful glimpses into the production of Star Trek, I will be posting weekly summaries.

The third week has been a fairly even mix of documents, and photographs of the cast and production staff. The last couple of weeks has concentrated on the genesis of Star Trek, and this week continues to explore the pilot episodes, but also gave us glimpses behind the scenes from later in the series too, specifically looking at the episodes The City on the Edge of Forever, and The Deadly Years. Continue below for details of all this week's posts:

Day fifteen gave us a slide, a frame from the TOS opening titles.  On day sixteen there was the story outline for the second pilot episode, Where No Man Has Gone Before. Only the first page was posted on Facebook, but you can find a pdf of the whole document on the Roddenberry website.

Day seventeen was when this week really got good for me though, a delightful picture of Gene Roddenberry hanging out with the Talosians on the set of the first pilot episode, The Cage.

Eaglemoss' Breen and Voth ships, New Orleans class preview, and other Starships Collection updates

Eaglemoss have released their latest solicitations for Star Trek: The Official Starships Collection, giving us new looks at two forthcoming models. Continue below to check out those, and other news from the magazine and model series. UPDATE: Also below is the first look at Eaglemoss' New Orleans class.

Due to arrive in the UK first this March (and following later in other markets), issue sixty-nine will be the Breen Warship. Getting the colours right for this one was apparently quite a challenge, and the new image of the model released does look rather vibrant. But series manager Ben Robinson has previously posted another image with more muted tones, so I wouldn't panic just yet! I believe this is only the second ever model of this design, following the smaller Wizkids version.

Issue seventy follows, in April in the UK, and is one of the biggest ships (in-universe) in the collection, the Voth City Ship. This is our first look at this model, the first ever of this ship, and it looks pretty snazzy to me!

IDW's titles for April, and other Star Trek comics news

IDW have published their solicitations for April, which include lots of new Star Trek comics, with both the start of one miniseries, and the end of another, and a good dose of TOS too. Continue below for all April's titles, and more Star Trek comics news.

The big news of the month is the start of a new four-issue miniseries, Manifest Destiny, a story featuring the Klingons. This is being marketed as a fiftieth anniversary event series, and will be released fortnightly, so April will see two issues.

Manifest Destiny #1
Written by Mike Johnson and Ryan Parrott, with art by Angel Hernandez.

Celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the STAR TREK franchise in 2016 with this all-new bi-weekly comics event beginning in April! It's Captain Kirk and the Enterprise crew vs. the Klingons in the ultimate showdown! Art by STAR TREK/GREEN LANTERN fan-favorite Angel Hernandez!

This first issue will apparently be longer than usual, noted as a forty page book (rather than the usual thirty-two). It will also be issued in a Klingon-language edition!

There will be at least six different covers/editions. The standard cover is from the issue artist, Angel Hernandez. The subscription cover is a homage to Bob Peak's The Motion Picture poster, by Tony Shasteen. There will also be a variant cover from Rachael Stott (not revealed yet). Then there will be Klingon language editions from the same artists (none have been released so far, so it's not clear if the same artwork will be reused for these or not).