Jefferies Ideas: The Official Starship Collection Bonus Editions; Galileo and Phase II

It’s 1966 and Star Trek needs something. 

While the transporters are fantastic and save having to find a way to inexpensively land the USS Enterprise, the good starship needs a shuttle.

Who better to design it therefore than Enterprise creator himself Matt Jefferies. So was the shuttlecraft born however before it did make an appearance it would go through a drastic change to look like we now know it from what it was originally conceived.

Jefferies has a much broader and more unrestricted vision for the Enterprise’s supplementary vessel and Eaglemoss have wisely chosen to highlight it as part of the bonus editions of the Official Starships Collection.

So ignore the box on legs that was the Galileo and check out the smoother, swept finish to this beauty of this model, the Al-Biruni. Wider at the front, the forward section of the ship is dominated by the triple window offering almost 180 degree visibility. Eaglemoss have definitely encapsulated the art deco feel of Jefferies concept with an admirably smooth hull finish and a shape not too dissimilar to the sub from Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. The dual hatches are a subtle indent into the metal body either side of the windows which is then succeeded by the USS Enterprise moniker and NCC-1701/5 registry. This takes up a large proportion of the shuttle's sides, covering the very light grey/white scheme 

The retro feel continues down the spine of the shuttle which seems more movie era than The Original Series with venting evident as well as a much more industrial theme than is evident on the rest of the ship. It's not overly filled with gimbles although the layered panels do look more like armour. This darker grey section extends down the rear of the shuttle and also out along the sides, recessing into the hull with a heavy grilled effect. 

One thing that is particularly striking is the way in which the warp pylons seem to sweep out from the main hull into a wonderfully unusual double arch which results in the warp engines. These warp engines are almost identical to the ones on the USS Enterprise complete with "golf ball" exhausts. These are a little larger in scale to the ones on the Enterprise and also have white bussard collectors fitted rather than the glowing red on the starships. 

The overall paintwork is immaculate for the body however around the windows, the black does seem to have chipped/not quite covered at all points and slips in a teeny bit of disappointment given how much I love this craft.

A more tragic misfire with this otherwise exemplary model is that you can't display it without the stand as you would with the other shuttle sets. The wing "feet" do sit slightly proud of the main struts as indicated in the magazine and the original designs but without the rear support strut it just falls backwards.

The nature of the strut probably makes it incredibly fiddly and expensive to add on here but I do know of at least one person that has managed to build and fit one...(thanks to @bobmat for the pic...)

If you don't manage to build yourself a third leg(!) then the underside of the Al-Biruni is somewhat plain with only the dividing line between plastic and metal around the lip of the central structure being a visible "feature" if you will. To give credit, the ventral section of the shuttle is completely smooth and blemish-free, continuing the off-white paint scheme across the full surface. Does it need any extra detail here? Absolutely not because there's a real awareness of a functional minimalism that does transfer across from the original starship of Jefferies design. 

This is one cracking design and the Jefferies Concept special issue magazine dives straight into the initial story around the necessity for a shuttle, the fact one was missing for some time and also the point that the Matt Jefferies concept while brilliant and in keeping with the look of the show was not feasible when it came to a quick construction schedule - enter AMT and Gene Witfield who came up with the Galileo that we know today.

The whole magazine covers this story and is filled with a ton and a half of design work from Matt Jefferies. Some of it is very familiar but there are even very early almost alien-esque/Jetsons craft that wouldn't have looked right on the flightdeck. Damn good read here and a lot to look over.

Skipping forward just over a decade we get to one of the most fascinating sections in Star Trek history with the never-made Phase II. 

Eaglemoss have already included the concept for the USS Enterprise into this series as part of this bonus line and now we have the Matt Jeffries Concept Shuttle to add in and it's just as impressive as his vision for The Original Series.

Stepping away from the conventional design of a box with nacelles, this one is actually a redesign of a ship from a never produced War of the Worlds TV series. Opting for a more tubular shape, the NCC-1701/9 shuttle takes a line from a winged rocketship or an airliner and certainly shows the influence of 70's styling. Bizarrely it does carry some parallels to the Enterprise NX-01 shuttlepods especially to the front.

The curved nose arcs out to provide the craft with an oval shape from all sides and under that nose there looks to be some form of sensor or navigational deflector sunk back and painted very precisely. This upper hull section carries a decent amount of weight - it's a very large metal piece making up two thirds of the resulting model. There is a lot of space taken over by the blacked out windows and the fuselage is marked up with The Original Series livery including the pennant and blocky registry. Eaglemoss have also included clear lines sunk into the metal to demonstrate where the entry hatches are on both sides of the shuttle.

The detailing is pretty crisp and minimal with only red stripes across the nose and around the rear of the passenger compartment, just ahead of a very inconspicuous engine painted in the same light grey as the hull. I would have thought this would have warranted something more striking to lift it from the rest of the ship.

To the back there are the swept wings which make this appear more like a plane than a shuttle, jutting sharply back and out from the hull, these are attached to the plastic "flat" bottom and are surprisingly strong. To the front they are wider due to the grilled effect, tapering to a sharper edge at the rear. The panel detail on the wings is slim at best with the upper sides probably fairing better and looking more "winglike" than the ventral surfaces.

Now from some angles the odd vertical fin arrangement doesn't look right and is a distinct move away from the shuttles of ol'Star Trek. In reality all this aerodynamic fluff would offer nothing in space but on the flip it might work more in favour of the ship once it's heading down to a planet. Quibble here has to be that the probes sticking out from the wing tips on mine are ever so slightly bent down. Very, very minor I know.

The underside provides a flat base so this one can be displayed without the standard black base and clear grip piece.  Aside from the wraparound grey, the base has a series of metallic painted ovals and circles which could be magnetic locks or some form of landing thrusters - your guess is as good as mine.

The Phase II Concept magazine offers lots of dribble-worthy CG images of the shuttle steering more towards how the design was forged and then swapped to the Star Trek show. The story of Jon Povill takes over the majority of this one though, covering his journey with Star Trek through its multiple revival attempts in the 1970's right up to Phase II itself before splitting into a second secton looking at the development of the proposed return of Star Trek that would eventually mutate into The Motion Picture. A veteran of TV, this section covers Povill's work plus his relationship with Gene Roddenberry in great detail and as a fan of this era of the franchise it's an insightful read.

Both craft are available now online from Eaglemoss.co.uk.

What's your take on the concepts? Is there one that stands out more? Are they in the Star Trek mould?

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Third Time's a Charm: Star Trek Continues: Fairest of Them All

If I was in the Phase II fold right now I'd be getting seriously concerned.

While we still await the release of The Holiest Thing which has been delayed since February,  Star Trek Continues have now launched their third installment - and the second one in just six months.

Filmed during March with second unit filming in mid-April 2014, their latest episode takes us back to not just The Original Series but one of its most influential episodes. Mirror, Mirror spawned a whole series of Deep Space Nine episodes and the standout story from Enterprise,  In a Mirror Darkly. As with that two parter,  Mignogna and the Continues crew have set this story purely in that universe and cleverly continued the narrative from Kirk's original venture there.

Indeed, the opening scene is word for word and move for move a "Mirror, Mirror" of the Shatner and Nimoy conversation we've seen more times than we dare count and then the new script kicks in. If you ever wanted to know just how the Mirror Spock began the reforms that Kira talks of in Crossover, then this is the episode for you.

Taking place directly after the events of the original this is the Mignogna and Haberkorn show from the off, placing the characters of Kirk and Spock in opposition. It's unusual to see the two characters not continuing some form of bromance and instead be at loggerheads as "Prime" Kirk's influence begins to manifest itself. At first it's logical suggestion to spare the Halkans but over time it evolves into mutiny and the desire to reform the Terran Empire.

Storywise it's straight-forward bottle show material with all the action taking place on the ISS Enterprise as captain and first officer go head to head for control of the starship. Without doubt Kirk and Spock are front and centre here with the two actors putting in sterling performances all the way. I made some comments in the review of Lolani that Vic Mignogna was channelling a little Shatner but now I think it's the right direction and in Fairest of Them All the nuances and intricacies of the original Kirk actor are superbly recognised and recreated making this a true Continu-ation.  Todd Haberkorn is excellent as Spock, charting quite a change in the Mirror universe version of the character from cold, calculating officer to peacemaker in 40 minutes. His performance previously was described as a bit stilted but in this episode he's nailed the role and adding the beard seems to have worked wonders. Maybe having the chance to play with the character away from the "norm" was just what the doctor ordered and the final scene is just the icing on the cake - but we'll say no more on that to make sure you watch!

Mignogna does enjoy a good scene-chew as the more evil and less-morally restricted Kirk, doing what the hell he likes and screaming blue-murder to the last. There's also several wonderful occasions where there's a typically 1960's Star Trek drop in the lighting to place the captain in some shadow to add to the mood (and some soft focus for good measure). Continues really has hit the mark to recreate The Original Series - music, lighting, atmosphere, even the way in which the Tantalus Device is revealed and activated are authentic to the memory of The Original Series; you would easily believe that this story could have been slipped into the fourth season and the script, from a story by Mignogna, would have suited Shatner and Nimoy to a tee.

A bottle-show this may be but the story does explore the idea of change and reform while adding a lot of action elements at the same time. There aren't a lot of effects moments either which means this relies more on the power of the cast and the story to keep your attention. From memory there's a couple of phaser shots, a transporter beam and an Agoniser in use which isn't a lot but then it doesn't need more to keep you watching for the duration.

However, I do have some reservations no matter how good I think the end result is. For a start the characters of Uhura and Scotty seems almost identical to their Prime alternates in fact the former seems far from aggressive or adversarial, seeming more like a pushover when it comes to choosing or switching sides. While Scotty does side with Spock he too just comes across as "normal" Scotty. I have nothing against Chris Doohan's performance but would this engineer really have survived so long to make chief in the Empire given his relaxed attitude? How cool would it have been if this Scotty was a raving alcoholic with a wry twinkle in the eye and a penchant for slitting the occasional throat or two? Just a thought. 

McCoy does elate some more disturbing qualities and remains loyal to Kirk as he coldly tortures a crew-member for information and I would have liked to have seen more but he's sidelined as with the majority of the crew in this story to maintain the focus on the Kirk/Spock dynamic. Larry Nemecek will be missed from the production by fans at the least but new arrival Chuck Huber does an admirable job providing the chills here.

Chekov spends some of the episode in and out of the Agoniser booth or acting as cannon fodder given the captain's mood over his attempt at dethronement and as such doesn't get to do a lot. Sulu is perhaps one of the few to be allowed some exploration of his Mirror personality, complete with scar and redshirt. He certainly is just slimy as we might remember George Takei's performance originally and Grant Imahara looks to have enjoyed taking a more liberal role here as the security officer out for blood. Sadly he's the only one who gets any time with Michelle Specht (Doctor Elise MacKennah) who turns up in a brief role as his girlfriend when called to the captain's aid.

Taking up some bridge duty is Kipleigh Brown as Smith. It's a decent enough part but again leaves little for the actress, familiar to Star Trek fans for a role in Enterprise, to spread her wings here. She does manage to get berated by Kirk as a highlight but beyond that she remains steadfastly at the helm and I do hope she comes back in the next episode and gets more involved in the action!

The biggest revelation has to be the actress onboard to play Marlene Moreau. Asia DeMarcos could well be a clone of Barbara Luna who played the part in Mirror, Mirror. Her mannerisms are very close to Luna's and she does a great job here as a foil to Kirk as well as one of the architects of the deluded and increasingly erratic Enterprise captain's downfall.

Fairest of Them All may not venture to new worlds or new civilisations here, choosing instead to make use of the standing ship sets but that takes nothing from the excellent result. Cutting the running time to 40 minutes certainly makes this a tighter and more refined episode, moving from beat to beat and maintaining a high level of energy and momentum throughout. My one point of concern though is just how fast this revolution seems to be happening given that it's taking place right after the Prime versions of Kirk, McCoy, Scotty and Uhura have only just returned to their own reality. That aside, this has to be one of those episodes that should have been made and never was. The Original Series really was owed another stab at the Mirror Universe. 

Spock's motivations and Kirk's opposition fit perfectly with the original if we if we ignore the speedy transition and you do sense that we're getting payoff and answers to questions we've always had about the Mirror Universe. It also confirms that this isn't just some twisted evil place rather a twist on the characters that we would get. from the subsequent Deep Space Nine revival in the '90's.

I have to admit that some of the comments we made about Lolani seem trivial now with a third episode of such calibre produced in such a short space of time and no doubt another in close behind. Indeed that timescale is impressive given that to produce this episode the crew looked back to the original story to accurately recreate not just those "minimal" uniforms in all their shininess but also used Mirror, Mirror as a benchmark to repaint the bridge set as it appeared in the second season. Now that's attention to detail and it all shows right from that scene recreation at the opening of the show. 

Everything here is just perfect and there's no question that the crew and cast have a genuine love for their work and apparently a few other people do too since Michael Dorn (Worf) acts as the voice of the computer and the recently rebuilt and restored Galileo shuttle makes a triumphant appearance and that guy who turns up as a Halkan? Well he's only Bobby (Gorn) Clark who played Chekov's henchman in the original episode. That's three episodes in a row where notable alumni have been directly involved onscreen and we're even getting defections from Phase II as that series' Kirk's nephew actor, Bobby Rice, gets agonised.

Even down to the rewriting of the opening titles monologue,  this web-series has done everything in its power to produce something special.  While Phase II seemingly struggles to get material and Continues is improving quality with each release. Mignogna and the team have done exactly what it says on the tin and continued the five year mission not providing a new take or a weird parody but instead playing on the strengths and adding new elements and angles to the classic Star Trek show. This is the show that could have been if we'd had a 1969 — 70 season. OK, so it's definitely more in the action/adventure realm than digging deep and looking at thought-provoking themes but there are signs that these elements could well be further developed as with the Spock story here to reform the Empire. Giving time over to the action element does mean that this could do well with the younger, modern day Star Trek fan who is more familiar with the lens-flare and big explosions of the JJ Abrams universe.

When we found out that this show was being devised,  Phase II was the series to beat and the one to watch. We expected Continues to take a while to mature and find its feet but in a remarkably short time it has gone from being the young upstart to the head of the pack and should be proud to stand tall against the competition. Star Trek Continues is now the level to which all fan produced shows based on the franchise have to aspire to match at the very least and no doubt their next adventure will raise that bar a touch more.

To view the new episode from Star Trek Continues, click here and to visit their website click here

What did you think to Fairest of Them All? Was it the episode you'd been hoping for? Let us know in the comments below!

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Trekollections: The Formative Decade

It was on a black and white TV that I first encountered the crew of the USS Enterprise.

Which episode it was I'm not sure and there's no way I can remember what happened because I suspect I was about two years old and maybe even smaller than that. Moreover it was all my Dad's fault. He is indeed the architect for this facet of my life.  Since the days of the original airings of The Original Series back in t'day he had been a fan and his love of the show passed to me....and grew.  I wouldn't go as far as to say "avid" in relation to his relationship with the series but he has told me in the years since that it was one of his favourite TV shows and to this day we have many a Trek related conversation either about an episode one of us might have caught on TV or a book that I might have added to the Trek library.

However let's get this all properly into perspective.  Flashback a bit here. It's 1979 and two major defining events occurred.  One was my arrival (of course) and the second was the premiere of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. While for me this was a speck on my viewscreen, for Dad it was quite a big thing as this was the first new Star Trek in a decade and the first big screen outing thanks in no small part to the arrival of the Star Wars juggernaut a few years earlier. Some years later Dad let slip that he'd got hold of some stills from the film and had them up at home following it's release.  Unfortunately for the growing Trek fan in me they had been filed under "B" for Bin a number of years before my obsession took control. What TMP did was ensure that his interest in the series didn't wain and he, in turn, passed that love of the original series to me.

The strange thing is that had it not been for George Lucas and his epic trilogy then we probably wouldn't have had the films, TNG, DS9, Voyager or Enterprise.  Would I have become such a big fan?  Probably not as I suspect we would have had Phase II and then that would have been it. So thanks Mr Lucas - my love of Trek may be partially your fault/responsibility!

Anyway; The Motion Picture happened; critically not that great, but it kicked off a whole sequence of events that have become intertwined with my life and continue to be as I enter my 33rd year. Oddly I had an idea to do something life this when I was 18 and it only managed to make three lines of text.  This is already a greater success five paragraphs in.

Right, so, where were we now....

I was born in Lancashire before we moved to Crewe and in a quirk of fate I now live quite close to the same place.  We were there for a couple of years before uprooting for Cornwall in 1984 and this is where my interest truly began.

For a few years it was something I would look forward to on a Wednesday night with dad. It even got to the point where my primary school teacher, Miss Nicholls would remind me it was on at 6pm - and the weeks it wasn't just didn't feel the same.  It now dawns on me that it was an essential part of my routine and my week would be planned around this TV event.  In 2012 I still have to have order and regiment to make sure I cope with life's little "tribble-ations" so to speak.  Back in 1985/6 knowing that a week had come round again and that I would get to see another adventure with Star Trek added more to the structure of my life.  To this day I get lost if part of my morning routine is out of sync let alone the rest of the day.

As I mentioned in my first Trek blog, Star Trek has the distinction of being the first programme I watched at home in colour on a Ferguson telly. We bought it from Dixons on Truro high street and as we were tuning it in at home I caught sight of those familiar titles and distinctive theme tune. It was the second season episode of "The Apple". I still remember Dad being amazed that the turbolift doors were orange! My clearest memory of an episode comes from "The Tholian Web". An installment from the third season it was an absolute stand out so much that today it is still one of my all time favourite Original Series episodes. Why? Well, when you're six or seven and there are some cool non-human aliens, spaceships building a web and Captain Kirk as a ghost it really can get no better. 

At this stage I probably hadn't seen many of the earlier episodes from 1966 or 1967 which is in a way good as the best was literally still to come for me. What other episodes I saw I couldn't tell you but I know that I enjoyed every single one for very different reasons to what I would take from them 30 years on. That's probably one of the major reasons my love affair with this show has been maintained for so long.  Whichever episode I watch I always seem to find something new that I've not experienced before and "The Tholian Web" is no exception. I loved it because of the action and that they went onto another ship that was slowly disappearing in the form of the USS Defiant. There was a genuine threat and the captain was nowhere to be seen (literally). Big shame it took until Star Trek Enterprise to revisit the Tholians, the superb Gorn and the Defiant in probably that series' finest hour(s), "In a Mirror, Darkly Parts I & II" from 2005.

Looking back at this episode now in a different and more middle-aged light I still appreciate the episode for its style, miniature work and especially the character development of the cast as they come to terms with the loss of their captain - good thing they never viewed his final orders, huh?! When it's compared to the rest of the third season it's a brilliant episode along with "For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky" and also I'm a bit of a sucker for "All Our Yesterdays" with its nifty time travel plot if we're going to be laying all the cards on the table here.  Now let's be clear, I'm not going to preach and moralise that Trek has turned my life around etc etc - this is about how Trek has functioned as part of my life and why I've loved it so much.

Now around the time I was watching the series for the first time, my Dad built the Enterprise. It was the original AMT kit that had remained unchanged since the 1960s' release and it was awesome. I don't recall the construction process or where it resided while we lived in Cornwall but what I still have is the decal sheet that came with it. You could pick to rename it as any of the original Constitution class vessels including the ones featured in "The Tholian Web", "The Ultimate Computer" and "The Doomsday Machine". We of course plumped for the good old Enterprise. Incredibly this kit has survived seven house moves, about 25 years of my life and while the decals are a little time-worn, its credit to AMT and my Dad that it's still in one piece and with the stand (pictured here, left)! Admittedly the deflector dish spike has cracked a few times but otherwise it seems to be bombproof unlike the movie Enterprise which we'll come to in a future piece. When I was younger it was the best thing ever - I had my own USS Enterprise. Cool.

In 1986 I first saw Star Trek II. I would have been about seven and I suspect it was a trimmed version as it was on in an afternoon. From what I can recall so there would have been minimal appearances from close-up shots such as the ceti eels entering Terrell and Chekov's ears. It was amazing and soon became a heavily viewed VHS tape (with adverts thanks to it being a recording from ITV).  With my heightened interest that also meant a trip to the cinema in Truro close to where we lived in Cornwall to see Star Trek IV with my parents and Mark Pascoe (where are you now?!) which was released that year.  This was the first Trek that I saw at the cinema and since 1986 I've seen every one at the flicks as undoubtedly every Trekker reading this also has. Even Nemesis. 

As you will have no doubt noticed that means I skipped a third of the Genesis trilogy (we'll get to that later) but at the tender age of seven as long as there was action, adventure and spaceships I really didn't mind and the little recap at the beginning meant I got to see the Enterprise blow up anyway. 

For a seven year old it was a really enjoyable film and it kept me wrapped for the best part of two hours. Plus we got to see the new Enterprise at the end of the film... even though it was identical to the one they'd blown up in The Search for Spock.The movie refit is the best version of the ship in my opinion so I was quite happy at that result as the model survived for another two encounters. What I now realise about this period is that my liking of Trek was purely at an action/adventure level.  Getting character motivation, plotlines and themes wasn't in my repertoire at this time. Trek was something that I enjoyed that my Dad also enjoyed and it was a common interest that I could talk to him about.

For Christmas 1985 I received one of my first pieces of what is now "memorabilia".  I retrieved it from the loft just the other day and can still remember spending many an afternoon playing the cassette and waiting for the communicator chirp so I could turn the page.  It was of course the Book and Tape The Wrath of Khan (I still have the tapes as well).  The pictures were brilliant.  Full colour and took you all the way through the film.  When we went to Plymouth for a day out in 1986 I had some pocket money saved up and bought The Search for Spock.  At least I got to see some bits of it even if it was just 24 stills!  It seemed for a few years I was jinxed when it came to seeing the third Trek film as you will see!


A year later and I caught my first glimpse of something new to the world of Star Trek.  They were making a new series.  Wow.  Big news.  The only way I found out was by watching Wogan one evening on BBC One and seeing some English guy called Patrick Stewart interviewed about becoming the new captain.  Dad wasn't impressed.  It was going to be rubbish and no-one could better Kirk, Spock and McCoy. " Hell," he said; "there was even a Klingon on the bridge and Kirk would never have allowed that!"  

The ship looked dreadful and the scene they showed from "The Last Outpost" didn't instill any sense that this would be a suitable sequel to the original series - and what was a Ferengi?!  How I remember this I do not know but what it tells me now is how much of an effect, even subliminally, Star Trek has had on me. After the interview I put thoughts of the new show on a back-burner and wouldn't encounter The Next Generation again until 1990 mainly because back in Them Days you had to wait YEARS instead of HOURS for anything to cross the Atlantic.

We moved to Derbyshire in 1989 and life changed a lot for me. It was during the two years that we lived there that I was almost continuously bullied at school.  What stood me out from the rest was that I had the full school uniform including tie. The remainder of the school wore what their families could afford.  I was most definitely Odd Man Out on a daily basis.  

Star Trek was my escape and having no-one liking the showt meant it was even more special and somewhere I could retreat. From the years in Cornwall to those in Derbyshire I was provided with numerous repeats of The Original Series which meant I got to see "The City on the Edge of Forever", "Arena", "Piece of the Action", "Mirror, Mirror" and "Space Seed" among others.  While these are all the classics it was the more action orientated episodes that kept my attention. Phasers, photon torpedoes and lots of explosions always proved a winner. While not a classic, "The Galileo Seven" was a top slice of all these with a splash of a shuttle craft thrown in for good measure. Reading about the fate of the original full size mock up is an incredible story and I recommend you take a look on the web for it. Funny now that when I was younger I didn't appreciate that the were things called seasons and that the run wasn't endless. I just knew that Star Trek was always on on a Wednesday night before I had tea and usually before Dad was home from work.

Either for best or worst no-one in Ilkeston liked Star Trek and it was another sign that I was a real outsider because it wasn't real.  Star Trek was a "dead" series from the 1960s with "rubbish" monsters, spaceships on strings and wasn't a patch on the stuff that was being churned out on a Saturday by ITV.  To be honest even today Star Trek is still in a class of its own (personal opinion) and makes a lot of the programmes we have now look very unimaginative and cheap (Red or Black, X-Factor, The Only Way Is Essex).  It was escapism with some real issues; clearly way "too cerebral"!  I wasn't a supporter of either Nottingham Forest or Liverpool FC and didn't like to spend my lunchtimes beating other kids up which just added to a painful two years of physical and verbal abuse. My "peers" saw it as something that wasn't normal because I didn't conform in interests or appearance. I wasn't allowed to go roaming the streets in the evenings or weekends and spent my time writing, drawing and watching Star Trek. 

Leaving that school and the town was one of the highlights of my early years but before I did I would get my second trip to the cinema, the jinx of The Search for Spock would continue and I finally saw what all the fuss about the French starship captain was...