That Young Ferengi: FCD Interview with Aron Eisenberg

I'm going to kick off and say that Aron Eisenberg is one of the nicest and most accommodating people I have ever interviewed. Fact.

Life recently has not been easy for the Nog actor as he explained on stage at First Contact Day 2016. He underwent a kidney transplant in December last year and it really has been a very emotional rollercoaster of a time. But he's fighting back and keen to work. Judging by the seemingly endless queue of people looking for an autograph, he's as popular as ever although it didn't quite start out that way as I discovered.

A part of the show from the first episode and almost the first scene, Eisenberg had no idea that his then-unnamed character (referred to as Quark's nephew only in Emissary) would become a recurring role; "I honestly didn't know how long I was going to be on the show or how long they were going to keep writing Nog in. Every episode, I thought, might be my last so even up to the seventh season I thought I could be done at any time. 

"That's probably my own insecurities thinking this  could be it. Once I got to the last episode of season seven I thought that's it I'm in it for the long haul and I was finally able to mellow out a little bit. I was always worried that I would get a script that would have me flying out the airlock if I didn't keep myself at the best level I could."

For seven years Eisenberg challenged himself with each story he was given; "The script dictates what I had to do so I couldn't change anything. The challenge never went away because they were always giving me new stuff to work with and it was always wonderful and exciting because they gave me such great stuff to do with Nog. Such a great arc with the pinnacle being Seige of AR-558 and It's Only a Paper Moon which was really the story of Nog. There were more stories done after the show that I would love to explore but I don't know if I'll ever have that opportunity."

Even in the novels Nog has been a major character such as in the latter stages of The Fall series for example. "I always hoped that some show would bring him back," continued Aron, "but I kinda lost hope with the new show when I heard that it was going back to the original timeline."

Whether that jump back to The Undiscovered Country is purely for ethos rather than the setting is still speculative of course but Aron is realistic that his character won't be returning given one speculative idea about the proposed time period.

One of the things that always struck me with Deep Space Nine was just how strong the supporting cast was and Aron appeared to agree; "It was such a large cast of people and it needed to be that way because it was on a space station so they had to bring stories to the station rather than The Next Generation that was going to the stories.

"Since the station was there they needed people constantly coming in and out...but they still kept everything connected to the story they built the foundations with and we had such a wonderful group of actors that were all immensely talented." Aron is quick to name Marc Alaimo, Casey Biggs, Jeffrey Combs and of course JG Hertzler among the  amazing cast that joined the show in recurring roles and made the show the unique Star Trek experience it became.

It was a very wonderful show and one of the reasons that the show was so good was because Paramount really didn't care about it. They jumped onto Voyager because it was their sendoff for [the] UPN [network]. We were the black sheep of the family which I think gave a lot more freedom to the writers to tell the stories that they wanted to tell without someone else saying they couldn't do things and got left to their own devices."

Deep Space Nine certainly went against the formula when it came to how it used the cast, even giving Nog his own episode in the final season; "They entrusted that episode to me (It's Only a Paper Moon) and I feel I did a god job and I've got many compliments especially from veterans and hats off to the writers for telling that story. At first I was the B story and they couldn't seem to fit enough of what they wanted to into it so they tried to make it the A story with a B story and they still couldn't make it work. They looked at it and asked "what is the story we want to tell?" They wanted to tell the story of Nog, a young officer dealing with the effects of war and that's what happened."

"I was so honoured they trusted me and a few years ago I asked one of the writers why they kept giving me stuff for Nog and he said it was because they knew I could handle it and I kept proving I could do it. I pushed myself to do the best I could and cared about every episode, every scene I was a part of and it paid off because it kept giving me more work. I wish it could have given me more work after the show!"

Eisenberg's passion and love for Deep Space Nine is evident in spades as he talks about his experiences which saw his character develop from the thieving nephew of the bar owner to a respected junior officer over the course of the series. In my personal opinion and something I put to the actor, was that Nog actually had one of the best and most encompassing story arcs of anybody in the show.

"Max and I had some of the best character development," recalled Aron, "We did! Sometimes you hear actors talk about their show - and not just in Star Trek - and they don't want to talk about the show that made them famous and brought their celebrity to them. I have the complete opposite point of view on that. I loved that show. I was so blessed to have what I have and if I never work again at least I have that. It's more than a lot of actors can say. I will always be a part of Americana. 

"During the (FCD) panel we were asked about how it felt to be immortalised [by TV] and when you're asked that you sometimes don't talk about what you want to discuss because you don't want to monopolise other people but the truth of the matter is its amazing to be part of something."

So did Star Trek go above Aron's expectations? Was it more than he had hoped it to be?

"When you start out as an actor you don't know what the road is going to be. You just want to work and do something you love, be part of shows, to grow, to excel and do the best you can just as anyone in any job; to go up the ranks and do better and something you love to do. That's all I wanted and then to get Star Trek and all these great things and great stories from Heart of Stone to Valiant to It's Only a Paper Moon and to be able to do what I love and have this range - I couldn't have asked for more.

Thinking of all those big Nog episodes of which I would also include Empok Nor, Eisenberg had the chance to star alongside such luminaries as Andy Robinson and James Darren. "It was a blessing and to go head to head with these amazing actors was incredible."

Eisenberg actually got a call from casting that James Darren wanted to rehearse with him. "I was like wow!" Said Aron who was invited to go over to Darren's house to run through the script for It's Only a Paper Moon. 

"It led to a stronger relationship with James that I think came through on set and in the episode. With Avery Brooks it was the same. Avery has a very strong personality and it comes across on the screen and it comes across when you're working with him. It's a wonderful feeling working with Avery because he's right there with you and I mean right there."

His most memorable experience with the Sisko actor came during the third season of the show just as Nog's Starfleet journey was beginning; "In doing Heart of Stone I remember we rehearsed it with the line "Tell me Nog, what is it you want?" he never grabbed me and in the first take we got to that scene he grabbed me and pulled me into him and I remember thinking "This is awesome, right here, right in the moment!" and I remember telling myself very quickly in a heartbeat that I can either go "holy s**t what's going on?!" or I can run with it. I made the right decision and went with it and it was such a wonderful scene to do because he's right there with you. He throws the ball, you thrown it back, he throws it again and you throw it back."

While Aron offers a lot of praise to Brooks for that scene, he's most complimentary in relation to all who were associated with the show; "To be honest you feel that way with everybody. I couldn't have had a better show to work with. The crew was awesome, the production was awesome and the cast was awesome. Sometimes I don't think I can ever get something as good as that ever again."

So what's ahead for Aron Eisenberg? Well, he's just out of recovery after his kidney transplant and now trying to find his way back. During his First Contact Day talk, Aron talked emotionally about his kidney transplant, how the first kidney had seen him through the birth of his sons and the seven years of Deep Space Nine, willing that it would stay healthy and give him that bit more time before requiring a replacement.

"I put acting on the back burner because I was raising my boys," explained Aron whose sons are now 17 and 19. "I really want to get into production and make movies and I miss acting so much. I'm trying to figure out how to get back."

Recent news from the Star Trek lines is that Eisenberg will be returning as Nog in the upcoming second instalment of Renegades. "But it's not just about Nog." he's quick to point out, "I would love to play him again, even in the new TV show but I don't think that's going to happen."

So for Aron Eisenberg the future offers a lot of possibilities and it was great to see him looking well and captivating the crowd at First Contact Day. I wish him all the best for the future.

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In the Presence of the Chancellor: JG Hertzler at FCD

He's played several Klingons on TV, fan films and games, a Hirogen, a Changeling (technically twice), a magazine illustrator and appeared in the very first scene of Deep Space Nine.

In person, JG Hertzler is just as powerful a presence as every one of the roles he portrayed in the Star Trek franchise and was gracious enough to spare a few minutes of his time at First Contact Day 2016. A very decent chap indeed!

Our interview was opened up with us searching for fairground sounds which we discovered were emanating from a replica Enterprise captain's chair but having quickly solved the mystery of the electronic chimes we turned our attention to the franchise that put him into a lot of prosthetics.

Aside from Martok though, would JG want to play any of his other characters again? 

"No," said the actor very quickly, "Kolos would be fun who was the Klingon lawyer [in Enterprise] but there's so much to Martok . He's such a conservative as well as being the most progressive Klingon ever but I so identified with Martok. In an actor's life you get the chance to maybe do five projects in your lifetime that you are ever really dedicated to and mean everything to you. Martok is perhaps the biggest at this point."

"I've been on stage, on Broadway, but Martok and being able to work on it for four years is also a gift. To have the writers writing for you, for the character is wonderful."

JG sees that Martok evolved from a very standardised, generic Klingon character being loud, oppressive, overbearing, angry all the time into the old leader, a Churchillian character or perhaps if Kennedy had lived to be an older man that I would have been like that. He's my personal hero in world relations. JFK was incredible."

The Martok actor drew parallels between the American president whose rise to the top was partially due to his experience in the US Forces. "He was a true hero in the strictest sense," explained JG recalling an incident where JFK had to drag an injured colleague through the seas and island to island seeking rescue. "He never bragged about it and there's no boasting in Martok either."

Herzler's parents bred that into their son too. From humble origins they made sure he understood that "it's about doing your job and not broadcasting yourself."

Certainly Martok's popularity was never something that Hertzler expected nor was the opportunity to play the role after his initial appearance in The Way of the Warrior which opened Deep Space Nine's fourth season; "I never thought about it. It was only supposed to be for that two-part episode and originally it was going to be Gowron who was going to be duplicated and was causing the trouble but they thought that was too easy so they made it the Martok character. After that appearance Ira Behr came up to me and said 'We're gonna bring you back because Worf needs a friend'.

Of course the next time the general showed up was In Purgatory's Shadow and By Inferno's Light in the fifth season. Herzler was told again he would be back and not to worry because they would be giving him an artificial eye.

"I said not to give Martok the new eye because it wouldn't be Klingon to get an artificial one. He would rather wear the scars visibly which is why he ended up with one eye. The other reason is that pirates work and secondly I have a bad left eye anyway!"

As Mini-Martok had joined me for the day it felt only right to ask his bigger, real life model how it felt to be miniaturised; "It's very rewarding!" he joked, "It's like Caesar who must have had their face on every coin. It must have an effect and to have an action figure it's a big step in an actor's career. It's a big thing that you're iconic enough to have something built of you."

One thing that I spoke to both Aron Eisenberg and JG Hertzler about was the strength of the cast in Deep Space Nine; "Ira Behr said to us that he was so proud of the cast of the show as the executive producer. He didn't cast the original people but he cast a lot of the later guys. He wouldn't let us go and he would keep finding reasons to get us together after the show was over."

Currently JG is on the town board for Ulysses in New York but is also a keen writer. "Writing a script is the hardest thing I've ever done," he noted, "I've written eight now and the latest one is out there. It's about the uranium and the race to the atom bomb and the countries involved. It's information I've never heard about and it's a hell of a story so that's what I'm writing."

Thanks again to JG Hertzler for his time at FCD 2016.

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SKoST LIVE @ FCD 2016

It's now 6.58am and I'm somewhere between Stoke and Stafford on the way to Telford and the Park Inn ahead of First Contact Day 2016.   

A full year in the making its not been the easiest of trips for the team as we discussed in yesterday's short preview post but now the big day is here and fingers crossed that it will be 100% clean sailing for the organisation team helmed by Wil Ross and David Limburg.   

Throughout the day this will be the live Some Kind of Star Trek feed on what's happening, who's talking, what they're talking about and (hopefully) some pics of events as they're taking place from 10am this morning. As I mentioned via Twitter, if you are able to drop by and say hello, please do and why not even write a few lines on Some Kind of Star Trek and let us know what you think of FCD 2016 while you're there?!   

Ok. I'm off to level up some crew on Star Trek Timelines but I'll be back shortly once I've reached the venue itself!

Natalie and Keith Polkinghorne as Lyta Alexander
and Kosh with organister David Limburg

8.18am - room is looking set and ready. Really warm greeting from Wil and David on the way in. Did I just spot JG Hertzler crossing reception to breakfast?!

Just for note Mini Martok will be joining me throughout the day to help with the site and keep me on my toes. If you spot him, come say hello!

9am - doors are about to open and we'll be seeing the first attendees in. Excitement level is building but that might just be the Earl Grey at this point.

9.15am and the first few guests are making their way in. Lots of activity and lots of stuff for fans to be tempted with from ships to jewellery, books and everything between and either side of the spectrum. Good thing the wife curbed my spending today.

9.33am kicking off and we have an impromptu lightsaber fight plus potentially one of the greatest cosplays I've seen. Not Star Trek but hey, credit where credit it due!

9.45am and The Engage Podcast have (finally) rocked up. Good to see you gents!


We're sitting right by John Carrigan and Aron Eisenberg which is fantastic!!! All the guests are in the house and start time is getting close.


10.21 caught up with these guys as they entered - (l to r below) Andre Smith, Derek Wheatland and Lee Bradley aka Riker, Picard and Data - look fantastic and a rather impressive phaser rifle.


10.30 Mega opening ceremony from Wil and David. Not the event they wanted but the support here is phenomenal. Standing ovation for the organisers and a surprise anonymous donation. What an incredible and emotional start to the day.

11.07 and Aron Eisenberg takes to the stage! Ferengi heads were two pieces. Aron's was actually one piece - head and nose - when he started on Deep Space Nine at the age of 23 (heckled by JG who says he's 62!).

JG and Aron make a great double act. Seriously. They should do a comedy circuit. 

Aron's makeup took three hours and then got down to 90 minutes. 

Aron's new kidney (from December 29th transplant) is going well. Great to see him looking fine and well today.  Aron very concerned that his original transplant would last through Star Trek and the arrival of his kids. It lasted 29 years. Emotional memories from the Nog actor. His kids are now 19 and 16.

First time he's talked about the kidney transplant with an audience. Lot of support from his wife and also launched a GoFundMe campaign and received amazing support for the operation.


Questions now - how about when Nog squared up to Martok? Jokes about Martok's depth perception and difficulty with the single eye makeup. Aron loved the scene with JG. Wanted to do more with Martok and also with Worf. Kinship with him? Never played on it.

Thought he was done when they sent Nog to Starfleet. Very blessed with the role and the material given.

Should never have done a character voice because of the teeth!

And the Rules of Acquisition? He'd have bent them to be used Aron suggests. Winning the battle as a profit and use them to his own needs in Starfleet.

Aron did voiceover work for Nog in Star Trek Online but doesn't know about how the character has been developed in the game. He's a captain by the way but Aron's not a follower.


Aron's going to be in Renegades 2 - no script yet but apparently Ryan Husk has just text him that it's been delayed. Has to stay true to the character for him.

Captain Nog for 2017 series? Would be great says Aron but he's not had any news or rumours. Maybe worth starting a few?! he suggests! Love to see how Nog advances and we got a little bit in The Visitor. Does miss him and would love to revisit.

Aron's asked about The Siege of AR558 and It's Only a Paper Moon. Was it difficult to add in the element of losing a leg? Doesn't remember it was difficult and saw it an opportunity to learn more about the character every couple of weeks. Shows different places he's going.

JG is playing cards at the edge of the stage while Aron's on form explaining the character development and why Star Trek is so loved - it's about that journey.

Great question about The Magnificent Ferengi which Aron doesn't have a lot of memories of. He has more recollections about the major Nog events but does remember sooooo many Ferengi in makeup during the making of the episode plus Iggy Pop!

Aron rounds off with a great story about the tongue-twisting self-sealing stembolts lines from Deep Space Nine which took 15 takes - but then Cirroc cracked up and lost it because he managed to get through the line (19 takes in the end)!

11.51am and a showing of Reptile Rangers starring Aron, Robert O'Reilly and JG. Cool little 10 min film in the memory of Steve Irwin filled with a lot of laughs.

11.58am and JG will be up for his talk very soon!

JG is answering questions on the hoof. He's not writing any more books but he has just recorded an audio book which is set in the distant future. With a quick lesson on iPhone, JG gives us an exert from the book on the mic.

He's played numerous characters aside from Martok but who is your favourite? He loved Nog "so pathetic"(!) 


Who's more evil - Dukat or Trump? Trump's not evil he's just a moron according to JG. He's a Bernie fan but he may not make it. He'd support Gowron for Chancellor of the American Empire.

John Carrigan takes to the stage. A friend of Gene Roddenberry, John has appeared in Of Gods and Men, Phase II and most recently in Renegades.

He actually attended the first Star Trek convention in the UK! Full interview with this guy coming soon!

A lifetime fan of the show he's explaining about a visit to the bridge set for The Wrath of Khan and the engine room (wooooow!!!). He tried to replicate Kirk's ladder slide but failed. Badly!

When he discovered Star Trek he also discovered martial arts. Two posters on his wall - Kirk and Bruce Lee!

Good friend of Walter Koenig and discovered he's a big joker during the making of Of Gods and Men. 

Only Klingon in Renegades believe it or not but didn't have to have the teeth!

Lunch is all done and we're kicking off with Claudia's Q&A. Starting off we have one about outtakes - there's one with Bruce Boxleitner in his first season of Babylon 5 which seems to be worth a rewatch!

As for props from the series - Claudia accidentally managed to acquire several of Ivanova's earrings which have since been released for charity!

Claudia auditioned for Seven of Nine but is happy to be remembered as Ivanova.



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Out of the Ashes: FCD 2016 - the Ongoing Mission

With just two months to go, plans for First Contact Day 2016 were unexpectedly postponed.

 

In February I spoke to Wil Ross and David Limburg about their plans for the upcoming April event and everything seemed to be heading in the right direction. I had some really good info and had, as always, a great chat with the two gents who were as passionate as ever about this event for UK fans. Sadly only a few days later things took a turn and their Facebook page bore the news that due to apparent conflicts with CBS the show would be delayed for 12 months until April 2017.

It seems CBS were unhappy with the use of anything Star Trek related to which they held the copyright that had been used to promote the event. Compromises had been made during 2015, material had been removed or altered to appease the network and everything seemed rosy for a time however it wasn't to be and CBS came back with more issues at the beginning of 2016. Not only that but ticket sales had slowed even after significant financial input to a hefty marketing campaign which had also meant switching to a smaller venue before the brakes were firmly applied.

While many would have seen this point as the final nail and the time to pull out, Wil and David have pushed on and this weekend will see the Park Inn, Telford host a one day special event - FCD Out of the Ashes.

Free to all First Contact Day ticket holders and just a tenner for anyone who wants to go, it still promises to be a fantastic day packed from 10am all the way through to 5pm and after that there's the option of an evening meal and a party to finish off.

So what can you expect from this one day Star Trek event? Well the itinerary is out and available to see. There will be four guests in the form of Deep Space Nine's Aron Eisenberg and J G Hertzler plus Babylon 5's Claudia Christian and Renegades actor John Carrigan. Trekyards will also be in attendance plus there's a chance to come and ask questions to myself and other media platforms including The Engage Podcast and Geek Apocalypse in a special media summit during the afternoon (really excited to do this!)

This makes the second Star Trek linked project I know of to be hit by the CBS/Paramount juggernaut in regards to Intellectual Property. It seems very likely that the reasoning is linked to the 50th anniversary and only multiplied by the upcoming Beyond and the 11 month-distant series in 2017. It seems that FCD is not the only event to be affected by these Cease and Desist notices as a few posts I've seen on various forums has indicated. Will this mean that they'll be going after other series, sites and the like?

As a non-profit event it's even more of a mystery why they're coming down on FCD with a heavy hand but fingers crossed that Wil and David will be able to stage the event in 2017 at the same venue and with the full stellar line up which will also include Garrett Wang, Gwyneth Walsh and many more.

Out of the Ashes does mean that we'll get to see some of the announced guests on UK shores if only for a one day event and, as said, Some Kind of Star Trek will be in attendance to support the FCD team alongside the other media partners. While this may be a much-scaled down event, the efforts of the organisers has to be recognised and I have no question it will still be an amazing day. 

Look forward to seeing you there and hey, come and have a chat!

Do you know which Star Trek related events are being affected by CBS/Paramount? Are you still going to the event?

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2016 - Things to Watch in Year 50

Whoo hooo! Here we are, the final post of 2015 and in our now annual fashion, here's my thoughts on what 2016 - the 50th anniversary of Star Trek - will bring...

Looking back at my predictions at the end of 2014 I got a couple right. There was a trailer for the third movie, we had Green Lantern crossovers in the comics and we got confirmation that the Enterprise-A would make it into the Official Starships Collection. As for 50th anniversary announcements there were very little - a cruise, a special - oh and the news that we'd be getting a new TV series. Talking of anniversaries there were a few hookups of the Voyager cast celebrating 20 years but with the imminent 50th I think a bit of shine was taken off this event.

In regards to fan series, Star Trek Continues smashed it out of the park, bringing two new episodes to the screen with The White Iris and Divided We Stand, both of which were excellent stories. We're still waiting for The Holiest Thing from Star Trek: Phase II/New Voyages which only produced Mind Sifter in 2015. A story produced for an anthology many moons ago, it was a very different spin that brought Brian Gross to the show as the "new" Kirk.

The novels from Simon and Schuster did indeed head into more singular territory after the five book The Fall  series but we did get the third and fourth Seekers stories but the big hitter this year had to be Sacraments of Fire taking us back to Deep Space Nine. In terms of reference the long awaited Costumes book landed and was without question one of the best tomes to come out of the franchise since the Deep Space Nine Companion. Saying that I also think a worthy note has to go to the Captain Kirk autobiography "edited by" David Goodman if only for the note that I stormed through it on a weekend (now there's an endorsement). One final point from 2015's want list -  can we get Deep Space Nine in HD sorted this year?

While not everything did come to fruition,  what were my Star Trek highlights of 2015?

In terms of Some Kind of Star Trek I posted our 400th article and celebrated three years in existence. I managed to chat to Garrett Wang, Starships Collection master Ben Robinson and Larry Nemecek (and fanboyed out both times). The Starships Collection delivered the Enterprise-C plus the magnificent ECS Fortunate and has gone from strength to strength improving quality on the models every issue. Shame the customer service isn't as good as the build quality. Oh and there was that rather adventurous 30 day challenge in October.

One final highlight is having some fantastic and loyal readers and friends who have shared, commented,  written and on occasion hacked a few posts to bits for me when  it wouldn't quite work so thank you to all of you including: my wife, Melissa, for putting up with my constant Trek talk, my son Joshua for knowing all the starship classes on sight at age 3, my Dad for indulging me, Rob Gibson,  Damien Devlin,  Tiffany Groves,  Chris Groves,  Aaron Gallo, the Engage Podcast, the Geek Podcast, Mark Thwaite, Matt Goddard, James Patrik, Nils Walter Khan, James Rye, Dan Adams, Dan Foster, the team at Star Trek Anthology, Tim Hitchin from Esdevium, Rhedd Lewis, Kate Barber, Paula M Block,  Mark Cushman, Una McCormack, James Swallow,  Wil Ross,  David Limburg,  Katie Postma and Elicia Basoli from Disruptor Beam.  If I've missed you off I'm soooooo sorry but your help has been much appreciated in the last 12 months. 

So that brings us to 2016. What can we expect from the biggest anniversary in Star Trek history??? What are going to be the big things I can guess at? 

1. Star Trek Beyond

After a trailer that made it look like The Expendables rather than Star Trek we are promised that the finished product is more in line with the ethos of The Original Series than the miss-hitting Into Darkness. Simon Pegg has aired his views on the action-heavy Beastie Boys blasting 90 seconds we received a couple of weeks ago. Without question we'll be getting a few months of trailers, posters, (viral campaign?) and a lot of other promo work ahead of the July release. Am I excited? Yes because it's Star Trek on the big screen. No - because it's Star Trek on the big screen and we know what happened last time. There's a lot of promise from Pegg but having spotted the Enterprise getting obliterated AGAIN my level of optimism did diminish. For now though, I remain on the fence but other events in the world of fan films may also have a more direct and financial effect. More on that shortly.

2. The TV Series

Is this actually bigger and more important news than Beyond?

Twelve months from now we will be in a total frenzy. We will know the cast, have probably seen the ship, know the plot of the pilot and most likely the number of episodes in the first season. In fact we'll be weeks if not just days away from the premiere of the first new Star Trek series since Enterprise launched in 2001. The bad feelings already coming from fans when not even a frame has been shot is just ridiculous. How you can pass judgement on a show that's not been made is crackers. How big will this be? I don't know. I think it will have a huge audience for the pilot even if that's just because of the way in which CBS are planning to show it but I'd like to kpee fingers crossed that this is the dawning of a new age for the franchise in it's 51st year.

Tick list if you're reading this, Mr Kurtzman - space, final frontier, continuing voyages, Starship Enterprise. Job's a good 'un.

3. Fan Series

I have zero doubt that Continues will wow us all once more with Come Not Between the Dragons which is due Spring 2016 and for the last three years I have always flown the flag for both that webseries and Phase II however I'm very, very excited about three other projects that we'll be seeing more of in the new year. 

I could note Renegades too but after the first one I'm somewhat sceptical and reserve judgement until a more suitable time. In terms of the other big hitters we've seen fizzle a bit, maybe one day we'll hear more from Equinox and Captain Pike but for now there are a few which are gathering pace and interest.

First there's the much-hyped Axanar which will finally make its long-awaited appearance, we need to address Axanar. I had hoped we'd be getting some more footage but recent events have potentially sealed its fate for 2016 as the production team swap the bridge of the Ares for the law court. I hope there is an amicable solution to this which will shone favourably on both parties. For the moment though fans seem particularly anti-Paramount and CBS which could have implications on both Beyond and the 2017 series. However, will anyone outside of the hardcore fandom actually give a monkies and boycott "official" Star Trek? (thanks to +JamesRye for that point).

Second there's Horizon that will launch in February and finally there's the high concept Anthology set to explore three different aspects of the franchise. We're probably going to see Challenger and maybe early work in Mother in 2016 and I know how much passion and work the team is putting in. Must do a review of that trailer very soon... Good luck to all!

4. Merchandise

To say there's going to be a lot is the most stupid thing I could write but well, there will be. There are a couple of items I'm really looking forward to seeing. The Megabloks USS Enterprise looks far superior to the buildable version of the Into Darkness flagship. In terms of a model, the Weapon Zero game piece for Attack Wing has gone top of my "must have" items as both a keen player and collector. In terms of novels, I think that the next in David R George III's Deep Space Nine series, Ascendance, will be a must-read this year after the way in which he left us all hanging at the end of Sacraments of Fire.

On a side note I'm also looking forward to hearing the new soundtrack to Beyond from Michael Giacchino. His work on Into Darkness was easily the best thing about it and I don't expect to be blown away by any of the merchandise that will be associated with Beyond unless it's very, very special.

And finally, for the first time in 15-odd years there will be a brand new, updated edition of the Star Trek Encyclopaedia. Covering the whole history of the franchise it's more than overdue since the last edition only just covered Voyager let alone Enterprise. Can't wait for its arrival.

5. First Contact Day

Maybe a little Brit-centric this one but 2016 will see possibly one of the best Star Trek event lineups in the UK EVER (exception of Destination of course)  at this fan funded convention. Here we go; franchise actors Garrett Wang, Robert O'Reilly, JG Hertzler, Aron Eisenberg, Nana Visitor, luminaries  Larry Nemecek, Doug Drexler, Battlestar Galactica's Richard Hatch, Renegades' John Carrigan, Babylon 5's Claudia Christian, authors  Una McCormack, James Swallow... Oh and we'll be there too alongside media partners Star Trek Risa, Visionary Trek,  the Geek Podcast,  Trekzone and the Engage Podcast.  Three days of total Trek out in Telford. Book NOW. For those on other continents it might be the 50th Anniversary cruise or the Las Vegas conventions which will be floating your starship in 2016 but for us on this side of the water, this will be the biggie.

6. Timelines 

I cannot wait for this. Having been granted a short chat with exec producer Rich Gallup and following the story as Timelines has developed this is sure to be the Star Trek game of the year. Play virtually any character in numerous versions from across the franchise on board one of many ships and make the game what you want it to be. It's different,  it offers a ton of options making no two games and no two players have the same game.  Gowron as your doctor?  Sisko as ship's counsellor? Intendant Kira as your bartender? You can Make It So.

Graphically there seems to be nothing else close in the mobile gaming sphere even though Trexels gives you space and one on one combat to a degree. Watching the character, ship and mechanics evolve and be revealed has been really interesting since this team genuinely appear to have listened to fans and garnered a lot of information from their testing process. Timelines is as near to "the real"  thing as you'll get on a phone or tablet anytime soon and I believe this could mark a big change in the way Star Trek games have to be produced in the future. We won't accept second rate!

Let's just keep our fingers crossed there's no game to accompany Beyond after the last travesty and that the arrival of Timelines in January is everything we could hope for.

So there's my six things to watch out for in 2016. What are you looking forward to? What will your highlight of the year be?

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