Last Two Up: STO Starships Collection Issues 19 and 20

We knew this was coming but good grief did it take a long time to get hold of the final two issues from Eaglemoss' 20 edition run of the Online Starships Collection.

Just to say before we start here that this has actually been a really, really good selection of ships from day one with a good spread across the main fleets with a couple of curveballs thrown in and, of course, an Enterprise for all those completists out there.

The end of the collection so early was a surprise - at least it was then - however in hindsight it sort of told us collectors and fans that the writing may well have been on the wall for some time.

But let's not go down that rabbit hole another time and instead focus on the two great ships that finish off the set.

With issue 19 we have the Cardassian CUV Damar starship and bookending the series with a Federation vessel we have the impressive Concorde Class.

Carrying a lot of the hallmarks of the Galor/Keldon Class ships commonly seen throughout seven years of DS9, the Damar Class/CUV Damar vessel dons a darker overcoat and actually seems to devolve to some degree. The very form of the ship takes it back even more closely to that of a scorpion. For example right at the front the ship carries two elements which suggest pincers as well as retaining the long forked tongue of a tail to the rear. Deadly at both ends!

While it also does away with the standard sandy Cardassian paint scheme of its forebears, the Damar model is actually...class. The paintwork on this one is fantastic. There's a god contrast and a whole ton of panel detail on just about every surface. Even better is the choice not to emboss the window points onto the hull and just paint them on. This look a lot more accurate and aligned than previous editions.

What also impresses with this Online Cardassian ship are the sharp RCS thruster points and blue grilles which stand out very effectively. The CUV Damar really is one of the best and most visually impressive from the collection. Multiple colourings, accurate window placement and perhaps the pinnacle, the layered hull.

From the front this is much clearer with the segments of the ship stacked up and enhanced with the use of negative space between the two main pieces. These are securely fixed together with the joints all hidden away within the depths of the layered hull.

What I did spot as well is the slight colour shift between the upper and lower hulls when the ship is flipped over. There's a more matt finish to the ventral side of the Damar as well as a direct continuation of the fine detail that marks out the upper levels of the ship. 

The Damar is a real gem. Well constructed, well replicated from the game and one of the more expertly finished vessels that Eaglemoss produced over nine years. It's just a surprise to find one that's so impressive this late in the day. Clearly its assisted in a large part by the design itself but for once the collection has a model that looks solidly built, finely turned out and well painted especially when it comes to the highlights and features.

Issue 19 remains solid and true to the Damar with details of its in-universe development, nature and role as well as a discriminating examination of the ship's design for STO. There's a ton of graphics and in-game images of the ship as you would expect but I would jump to say that the model easily blitzes every single image of the Damar on these pages; it's that nice a model. 

Rounding out the issue alongside its in-game stats is a section broadly covering The True Way (a Cardassian revolutionary group) and the Union itself after the climax of the Dominion War and the years to the 25th Century. Well worth a read and very comprehensive in a surprisingly small amount of space.

The USS Concorde NCC-94500 looks like a mash up of several different ship classes. The main chunk of it does appear to take inspiration from the Excelsior with its dipped hull and thinned rear section. Yet, this design tweaks even that classic with the quad warp engines and a more "eye" shaped deflector dish. 

Now, I'm not a huge fan of this ship but personal opinion on the design has never been a factor in determining if the model itself is any good. 

The thing with the STO ships is that the Federation ones tend to have this light/dark, black/white contrast going on which I can't quite accept on most occasions. I get that it's more striking when you see them in the game and makes them more easily recognisable but I'm more used to the flatter colours from the show and movies. 

Yet the Concorde cuts quite a mark as the final edition in the 20 issue series. The contrast of the two opposite shades works well and there's little to no colour bleed between the segments. The speckled finish we've so often seen in the series also returns to break up what would otherwise be a very stark white base coat. What I also love about the finish to this one is the alignment of the lifeboat hatches which hang right across the black/white border but are absolutely spot on in their placement and colouring.

The alignment of the red striping towards the rear of the primary hull is a little off when you compare starboard to port. Neither is crimped or marked but the two aren't quite aligned if you dropped a mirror down the front to back centre line.  It also clashes in with the black arc around the middle of the saucer if you look even more closely and from memory it's unusual for the lining decals to be this out of whack with the hull.

Also the red hatch markings are way off and worse since they adorn the very front and centre of the primary hull. That said, the windows are nicely applied because they aren't relying on specific hull dips or rises.

But the Concorde gets much more interesting the further back you go. Once past the registry (very basic) and the bridge, the rear of the primary hull expands out with an array of mechanics, sensor platforms and more. This effectively acts as both the rear of the saucer but also as the very rigid and secure pylons that hold the four warp engines. 

The detail along that spinal section is pretty good, mixing in greys and blues to draw out the elements however the finish does look chipped in places and the decals once again (on very close inspection) just don't quite line up in all aspects. The chips in the paint are a real disappointment as once you see one, there's a second and then you're scouring the whole thing to spot any more - which sadly there are.

But onto the engines where we have two larger warp nacelles slung tightly underneath a shorter pair. The wise folks at Eaglemoss did mange to incorporate translucent bussard collectors but chose to paint in the warp field grilles since they are very, very slim elements here. The paintwork for those grilles is ok at best with some feathered edges and again some paint "chipping" where the engines have black segments. The bussard collectors fairly hefty in size which does mean you can clearly see the peg elements which are holding it all together.

Across the whole of the 20 issues this seems to have been a constant factor. This black mask always seems to be worn in some form be it at the edges or frayed within the striping and it's detracted from the visual brilliance of more than one Federation starship, present company included.

The underside of the Concorde continues the speckles over white paintwork but once more features a lot of misaligned decals marking out key pieces of the starship whether cargo  hatches or lifeboat ports. The real issue has always been the scale and application, something that the XLs have managed to walk a fine line with on most occasions.

It is a little blotchy as well with the grey areas coming across as blobs rather than distinctive elements on the tail piece. Both the black and grey pieces of the bulbous forward area do avoid this but there are signs of some sloppy paintwork that indicates quality control wasn't p to scratch on this day. Fortunately the panel/shield grid lines are very prominent here as they are across the majority of the underside of the Concorde. The bottom of the saucer too is well finished if somewhat smooth. The red striping decals are crisper here and line up more precisely with the curves of the hull and inlaid sections although the hatch markings are all over the place as they are elsewhere.

It's a decent model to finish this short-lived series though and throughout, the unusual Federation ships have been well presented and well-represented. In a sense the Concorde fittingly demonstrates the best and worst of Eaglemoss. Great base colours, a learning that we as fans want to actually see the panel linings and surface undulations but god forbid you want decal or window accuracy at this scale.

Issue 20's magazine offers up similar material to all of its 19 predecessors with details of the battlecruiser's in-game existence and reasons for development as well as some rather nice plan views of the class. These do illuminate that the speckled paint finish is a design choice rather than an element that is seen in the game. 

Some of the CG images in here are spectacular especially the one which opens the issue. There's more from the real world as we are taken into the design process for the Concorde Class before, fittingly, the final article of the whole line - and also Eaglemoss' smaller starships collections - covers Starship Design within the STO universe.

So that was indeed that and this marks the final review from this collections and as noted, the final review from a starship (numbered edition) collection of this scale. We still have some review of older Discovery lines and bits to wedge in but for now, this is really how it comes to an end. The STO Collection was tragically underrated and clearly undersubscribed but 20 issues have covered Klingons, Romulans, Tholians, the Dominion and a ton of Starfleet vessels of all shapes and sizes.

In no way a let down, the collection has replicated the game's starships as best it could and in some respects (Damar) actually produced something that may well be superior to the original source piece.

I've been lucky to review this series and I hope for anyone who is a fan of starship design and never got the chance that these will be back online to purchase not too far in the future. While you might not go for all of them there are definite must haves in here on the brilliance of their original design and also some that work better as a model than on screen.

Eaglemoss - it was great while it lasted and thanks for these great additions for any fan collection.

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Shoot the Runner: The Official Starships Collection Issues 54 and 55

OK. Let's deal with the fallout first.

For those people in the UK who subscribe, this week was somewhat trying as Saturday came and went, the Bank Holiday vanished, Tuesday and Wednesday fluttered by and then the Steamrunner Class issue 54 hit news shelves....without a single subscriber seeming to receive their ship.

So for a few days we subscribers were reliant on quality pics and the solid opinions taken by those who got it off the shelf. It just made us even hungrier to see her for ourselves because everyone was saying she was damn good. 

Apparently this delay was due to some stock issues (with issue 55 perhaps?) but they did start to ebb out over the weekend accompanied by a lovely flyer stating that the cover price of each issue is going up to £10.99 from issue 56. Happy days. I suppose it was inevitable but couple with the fact that the issues were late and you could drop into a newsagent for a copy from the 3rd September it will surely have left a few people a little disgruntled. I've also spotted the continued frustration that binders are in horrifically short supply. I'm starting to horde issues and I hope they turn up soon. Please!!!

Now as some of you who I regularly chat with across our media platforms will know, I'm a big fan of the Steamrunner, on occasion referring to her as the juggernaut of Starfleet. She's a truck, pure and simple. Thick hull, encased nacelles and shoulder-pads that would make an 80's pop video embarrassed. I love her which means that the gripes I have with this model really bug the s**t out of me.

OK. First off my stand is appalling. The clear plastic peg barely fits the base and since the morning of unboxing she's been wobbling like your auntie at her 50th birthday party. One minute fine and the next all over the floor with a little difficulty standing back up. The weight distribution is a little iffy with this being a rear grip on the nacelle pylons but where else you could have put it is a difficult question to answer. Secondly the underside of my primary hull (saucer/wedge shape bit) doesn't quite fit right. In fact when I opened the box I had to clip it into place and still there's a bit of a lip and a gap.

Ok, phew, that's out of my system so let's press on. I LOVE this ship. Marked out as the USS Appalachia from First Contact, Mike McLeod on Twitter was blown away by the "insane" level of detail on the ship and add to that the fact that for the first time ever the windows on the hull actually aligned with the recesses they were supposed to. Given the two issues I had with this model I got past caring about them as fast as it's taken you to read this paragraph. Seriously this is one mega model and if the Norway and next month's Sabre Class ships are anywhere near as good, the First Contact fleet could well be the pinnacle of the collection.

That level of hull detail is, as Mike so rightfully noted, absolutely insane. Not only are we getting perfect window alignment on the metal top of the primary hull but there's a subtle aztec pattern going on there plus a ton of lifeboat hatches and decals all spot on and just A-grade all the way. Even the tiny, tiny writing on the nacelles bearing the Federation name is letter perfect (looking at you Akira Class) and there's even small ship registry markings right at the tips of the engines. I just love the result here.

Given the scale we have translucent bussard collectors buried in the saucer plus blue clear venting on the nacelles themselves. This might have the most coloured plastic parts on it as the impulse engines are also in the same plastic as the collectors. To the rear of that saucer the two shuttlebays are clearly marked out - ok they're numbered and it's a grumble that the doors aren't etched out a bit better but I'd suspect that's a factor in the production process that couldn't be achieved. Mind, whoever is responsible for overseeing the decalling needs a medal because the precision here is quite exemplary, I'm most impressed with the lining around the pylons and just how straight an edge had been achieved. 

The only significant single piece of plastic is the primary hull underside and even that has sublime detail - the aztec pattern, the windows, the hatches with the only let down being that you can see the join line around the edge (sigh). The bottom of the tiny secondary hull is also plastic but you don't really notice until you spot the crease through the deflector dish but that doesn't ruin any of the effect. This is a total 100% must have for your collection and I expect this is going to be damn hard to find very soon.

Heck I could go on for hours about this ship because she is firmly one of my all-time favourites in the franchise and definitely one of the (I repeat) THE best examples of what this collection can and has produced in the last two years. So to the magazine. To be fair I've skimmed it because the ship is flipping awesome and I've spent too much time just drooling over those compact, heavy-set lines to really care.

I jest my friends; the magazine is a perfect companion to the Appalachia, explaining the design process in making her a more tactical ship than one built for exploration. A smaller size ship than something like the Enterprise-E, the class takes some leads from the Defiant and its trends are echoed across the First Contact fleet designed by Alex Jaeger. Comparing the ship to the plan views in the pages of issue 54, the two are virtually idential. There's a bit more lighting on the illustrations but overall, for once, the two marry up pretty well.

Indeed, Alex's design process for this notable class is detailed here with a lot of drawings I'd never glimpsed before today. None of the thought processes even compare to the final design I have to say because she really is one of a kind. Also there are some visions of ships that might have - but ultimately didn't - appear in First Contact. Now that's a real treat for fans as we don't tend to see a lot of this kind of stuff!

It seems that this is very much Alex Jaeger's issue as we get a superb analysis of how the Borg assimilation process was designed. If you think about it, we'd never actually seen someone being assimilated until First Contact. There were some slight hints and minor fiddlings when Picard was being converted in The Best of Both Worlds, Part II but aside from that we'd never seen anything with any real substance. I've come across some of this before in a few "Making of..." books from the '90's but this is certainly a good refresher with some top quality sketches to illustrate the possibilities of the process on screen.

Closing out is the Appearances page. Now, why oh why do NONE of the pictures on this page have a Steamrunner Class ship in them?! Most odd. I think that someone got confused with the one at the top which features the Borg Cube in destructo-mode. There's a Sabre Class there but that's next month...!

Righty; to issue 55 and the D'Kyr Type Vulcan ship from Enterprise. This is only our second Vulcan ship to date and I'm thinking that we're potentially only going to get one more in the form of the T'Plana-Hath from (nice link this) First Contact.

We do have some aztec-ing here with a two-tone dusty red/brown paint scheme. Luckily it's not the torrid muck brown of the Malon Freighter and is much more thinly painted allowing the detail of the scheme and the nuances of the hull much more chance to shine.

The thing is that this month the D'Kyr just gets eclipsed by the Steamrunner Class. Any other month and she would be a winner. I like the design, the smooth lines, the minor window detailing here but she pales in comparison to the accompanying Federation ship.

The hull does have some class touches here with different levels of plating, that distinct curved aft section and the vertical warp ring. Sadly it doesn't fold flat nor do we have any translucent sections to reflect the purple hue of the engines online however the replica of the CG ship is still first class. I'm no Vulcan fan and wasn't blown away by the Surok Class some time back but here I think the scale has worked in Eaglemoss' favour allowing a much better and tighter model to be produced. One thing that was avoided probably due to their size was making the impulse engines translucent but given how big they are on the ship I can guess why they didn't.

Here we can really get to see what the surface of the ship is like and even get a glimpse (if somewhat basic) at the unusual centrally-docked support craft within that warp ring. She's also a lot lighter than the chunky Steamrunner and one with a higher percentage from plastic than metal. Only the upper hull is in the harder material with the whole of the rest of the ship (including the ring) made from plastic. It works well with the seam traversing the centre of the upper and lower sections avoiding a lip and almost fading into the lines of the ship. Comparing stand fittings, she's very firmly in place, gripped on the warp ring and the base fits perfectly with the clip stand. No issues to report ladies and gents - in fact it's the same fit style as the Surok Class.

While she is a good and well built model, the D'Kyr just doesn't inspire me as some of the other ships have. Quality-wise she's great and there's no bends or wobbly bits I need to glue or be careful not to wiggle. I can see she's much more of a "completist" ship than an essential however lovely. I just don't know of a lot of people who will be relishing the chance to get hold of this one after some of the other more significant alien craft to say the least.

Issue 55's magazine supplement covers the usual basics with a nice rear shot of the D'Kyr type so we don't get a repeat cut and paste of the front cover which has been appearing a few times recently. Covering the class appearances during the prequel series with the usual assortment of screencaps fills out the profile section easily. The plan views match up very well, again, with the model but I will continue to champion the need for more labelling. Between three angles there are just seven (SEVEN!!!) points noted and one of those is "Main Bridge" twice. Poor, poor, poor.

John Eaves' work gets the focus this time in the always impressive design section of the magazine as usual detailing the origins of the ship which in this case aren't totally straight forward and owes a little something to the US Navy. There's a good bit of time devoted to the support craft too and this does make up for the fact we never really got to see her in any detail during the series. She'll go don as another of those "captain's yacht" concepts I suspect!

A real gem of the issue is the piece tackling the reformation of the Vulcans within the Enterprise story. The race are incredibly different to the people we know from The Original Series and the subsequent series of the '80's and '90's which made for some great viewing. I'm giving this bit of the mag a real thumbs up and I hope they do more deep-dives into cultures particularly from the prequel show as the series moves forward. At the very least Eaglemoss have managed to keep this issue 100% relevant to the ship and its builders rather than venturing into offshoots as has happened a couple of times.

The onscreen appearances do look, as you would expect, to Enterprise and round out a good solid and informative issue. September has brought two very good, well-sourced and well-produced ships and magazines. I honestly can't complain and if I've missed a typo somewhere what the heck; it doesn't really matter in the big scheme of things. I'm sure that while there have been some unexplained (!) delays to the latest two issues no-one can be put out by what they have received. Top grade, Eaglemoss and well done on a superb month's work. No pressure then for next month's Sabre Class (at a slightly higher price) I'm sure....

What did you think to issues 54 and 55? Were you as impressed as I was? Comment below or chat on one of our media platforms!

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And on the Opposing Side: Klingon and Romulan Fleet Additions on Attack Wing

Last time we covered off my purchases to enhance Starfleet and this time it's the turn of the Klingons and Romulans to get a bit of the limelight.

I'm Starfleet through and through, stashing a bit aside for the Equinox and the upcoming Prometheus but what's the fleet without something to head off against? Also it means my dad is happy since his alliance of choice, the Klingons, have gained two ships. But first, the Romulans.

She's a predator. That was according to Jean-Luc Picard in Nemesis and cracking open the expansion pack you can hardly disagree when you take a look at the Scimitar. Aside from the high SP score for the ship alone, it's rammed with some killer features that make other ships pale in comparison. I think I'd be worried if I was going up against it with a couple of smaller ships and I'd doubt the Enterprise-E would survive in a head-to-head.

The miniature itself is one of the best. I didn't get it for the ship but the detail given the scale is fairly good and shows up how poorly presented some of the ships from the earlier waves were (Voyager and Defiant step forward please). Colour scheme is good and the all round markings are very distinct so top marks to WizKids for this one.

Already I've faced off against this formidable opponent in a three-way transgression with Voyager and the Negh'Var. Put it this way, if you get in the way of the one-off-use Thalaron Weapon you're in for a bad game since it can wipe out a good portion of your shields and hull in it's one hit which requires ten attack dice (note to self buy another set).

But is that all it can do? Not at all. Aside from the standard expectations of a cloaking device, sensor echo, evasive maneuvers and target lock, the Scimitar also comes complete with Shinzon for captain which effectively gives you free reign over your choice of Elite Action. This captain card only adds to prove that everything about the Reman warship is BIG and deadly. Improved cloak is another killer move allowing you to go invisible whether or not you have active shields or any auxiliary power tokens and it's evident that there are quite a few which are only applicable to this massive warship. 

In fact for most of the game I played against her I spent it running cloaked trying to find a way to take out Voyager first. And did we mention it's stupidly high hull points or the secondary shields? Probably not but if you want to last a while it's a good ship to go for. Only concern I would have is that you'll get slapped with a lot of critical damage cards to deal with in the later stages of the game but then that's the payoff for choosing one of the more powerful vessels available outside of the Borg Collective.

You also do give up some maneuverability with having the larger ship which is one of the drawbacks of using the Klingon flagship, the Negh'Var too. In the three-way dogfight Voyager easily outmatched the other two for pace proving to be a rather slippery target to hold down. On the flip side of that though the Klingon flagship is a bit of an enigma. It's definitely middle-of-the-road material with pretty impressive primary attack power and a decent hull score but gets let down by its lack of upgrade spaces, maneuverability and shield strength.  In fact lining her up against the Vor'Cha cruiser from the Starter Set there's one single point difference between the two and that's on hull integrity. 

Playing as a single ship does mean that the captain cards of Gowron and Martok are fairly pointless giving their leaning to assist other ships in your fleet (Martok does specify "friendly" rather than "Klingon" which might be key in battle) so you might end up picking a commander from another faction ship if it's a one-on-one situation. I did pick Martok purely to use the Elite Action option but would think again next time.

I do like using the Negh'Var with the photon torpedo advantage card but that's not an exclusive to this ship as many ships do have that feature although not always rear-firing however once you're in the middle of a firefight there's not much room to escape unless you're timing cloaks and sensor echoes to perfection. 

Which leads nicely into my third ship acquisition, Chang's Bird of Prey. 

I had promised myself I would stay true to the later The Next Generation and beyond timeline but when your dad's a massive fan of the Klingons and you want to ensure you have a worthy opponent in battle you have to make some concessions and this was mine.

This Bird-of-Prey came out in the same wave as the Scimitar we've already mentioned and in line with that ship the hull detail is decent (but not quite as good) with the wings down in the flight position. For note the previous Bird-of-Prey release had the wings in the lowered attack configuration and was a specific ship class. Here with Chang's prototype we simply have it listed as the Bird-of-Prey rather than B'rel or K'Vort.

One of the big draws here for me as a player/collector was the Chang card which lets you add in an extra sensor echo during maneuvering. Oddly it also comes with Gorkon (potential Fleet Admiral there) and Brigadier Kerla as your alternate captains. I suppose there weren't a lot of options between this one and Kronos One which was released earlier in the series. Notably against the Negh'Var it comes with many more ship-specific features and nuances only adding to a level of disappointment with the Klingon's flagship from Deep Space Nine.

For my dad though the selling point of Chang's ship was indeed one of those game-changing features - the ability to fire while cloaked. Now if I'd used this instead of the Negh'Var I think it would have helped push the advantage my way and given me more to do than duck and cover for most of the encounter (damn you Scimitar) however given that the trade off is the ship's main stats vs this one unique selling point you would have to verge towards the Klingon flagship. If you were points limited to smaller ships then I'd probably plump for this one to take on a Romulan scout or the Defiant for example (three-way cloaking!) but against the bigger ships there wouldn't be that much hope for success.

The Bird-of-Prey also benefits from some superb Elite Actions in Cry Havoc which links attacks and cloak while The Game's Afoot takes advantage of firing and moving making this small ship a dangerous beast to tackle. Looking forward to putting her up against the Defiant which I've recently acquired from across the pond.

Also these three give you the chance to get into the Star Trek universe with their packaged scenarios.  The Scimitar returns us to the end of Nemesis with the warbird taking on a Starfleet ship and a Romulan ally while the Negh'Var has Klingons vs the Federation to Destroy the Space Station in a revisit of The Way of the Warrior.  Finally Chang's Bird-of-Prey replays the two on one hunt that closed Star Trek VI.  All three are classic scenarios but playing them without the correct ships is sure to bug players who have chosen not to buy every ship every month.  Sad to say but another one player story wouldn't go amiss for those of us who can't get a regular two player fix or able to get to any of the events.

The Bird-of-Prey and the Scimitar easily outclass the Negh'Var on their features and specs making them valuable in any fleet but they do show up just how average the Klingon flagship is and the potential it's missing. OK so it didn't have a lot to do in it's limited appearances but I would have hoped for more than just picking up the surprisingly average Gowron and Martok cards. I guess from the fact this is from the earlier waves it's also why neither of these two managed to make it as Fleet Admirals. I still have to get to grips with this new slice of the game and will update on my experiences shortly.

Any recommendations to add to my fleet? What's your preferred non-Federation starship in Attack Wing? Why not let us know below!

The Starfleet Escape Podcast: Listen Up!

If it wasn't for the rather excellent Google+ Star Trek community I would have missed out on a gem of a podcast.

Now up to their 17th installment (with number 18 coming soon),  the SF Escape Podcast looks set to become one of my must listen to Star Trek audio shows of 2013. Hosted by Aaron, Marty and Eric it's informative,  funny and exceptionally accessible to fans both new and well-established.

You might ask how that's possible considering the amount of material that's out there (and what you're reading!) but Trek Trio manage it with ease. I like to think I have a fairly decent understanding of the subject however I even realised a couple of things during the Borg show that I hadn't noticed in the TV shows after several reruns. That, for one thing really impressed.

It's a straight forward format to the podcast; 90 minutes (approx) of chat and banter separated into distinctive sections. For a starter in this Star Trek audio restaurant there's news and opinion followed by a main course of good wholesome and filling debate into the topic of the podcast.  Once that's been cleared then you get to enjoy a dessert of subspace comments from a range of social media channels where a question of the podcast has been asked.  Bringing it all together as the coffee and mints at the end are a few moments to air some grumbles they may have over the subject which just helps to remind us all that it is a work of fiction and open to the wonders of human error and almost 50 years of attempted continuity.

Due to a bit of a hectic home, blogging, work life recently I'm combining my reviews of The Borg and The Romulans podcasts into one piece.

Now I really enjoyed Episode 16 and the Borg discussions,  possibly because I was fortunate enough to get my comment on the cyborg nemeses read out (sorry it was only slightly shorter than War and Peace gents,  I'll be concise next time!)   but it's great to get some clever,  witty and genuinely entertaining words on Star Trek even when you might think think that everything there is to say has been said. The news section was good although I would have liked to hear a bit more opinion than news fact which we can pick up at the newsagents or off the web. When there is, it lifts the show and makes you listen because it's absolutely worth taking in. I would say for newer Trekkers and those who are just getting into the franchise with the most general audience friendly reboots it's an excellent avenue and devoid of technobabble I can assure you. As you would expect there's talk If of the new JJ Abrams movie but also fan productions such as Star Trek Continues, the Green Girl documentary and Star Trek Renegades. Upcoming releases such as the timeline video game are also covered but there does seem to be an absence of printed Star Trek be it novels or comics. The good thing is with this piece of the show is that if you're not keen on trying to sieve your way through the internet the news section will help you out admirably. Also there's a great bit where our hosts consider whether or not they would purchase a chosen Star Trek product. Have to agree that the Bye Bye Robot posters are very good but I've got very little wall space opportunity to display them ! While it took a few pauses to listen to,  I was still surprised to find an hour and a half had warped by.

So what did I get out of listening to their take on the Borg? Running through their appearances in Star Trek universe chronology rather than episode transmission order does help realise how there was an attempt to tie everything together, and even the perhaps poorly conceived Enterprise story, Regeneration. What you become aware of is how Picard and co effectively are the reason the Borg become aware of humanity with an ending similar to TNG's Conspiracy. There's of course a good deal of discussion on the seminar two parter,  The Best of Both Worlds (is it now the most overrated episode of all time? As well as Q Who and I, Borg but yet there's a Descent shaped hole only touched on during a reflection on the Borg ship designs we've seen over the years. I was always of the thought that this was a captured ship however the distinctly non geometric design and does suggest their more fragmented and individualistic nature as portrayed in the double-hander. While not classed as one of The Next Generation's stronger installments I would have liked more opinion on where this might have led in the future.

The majority of of the discussion does end itself more towards Voyager and by default everything that comes after Seven of Nine's arrival on the ship at the beginning of its fourth season. What you do get from the chat is how inconsistent Borg history is. I tend to distinguish between Borg Version 1 (TNG) 1 and Borg Version 2.0 (First Contact and later)  but even then flashbacks in Voyager and the Next Generation movie aren't correct on wardrobe for starters. Then there's consoles, backgrounds...Picky but noticeable. While it was noticeable that Descent was sidelined, the podcasters did manage to spend some time looking at the variations that appeared in Star Trek: Voyager ranging from the future-Drone, the Borg children, Seven's former associates in Survival Instinct and the wonders of Unimatrix Zero from the final two seasons. There's a lot of information on the Borg meaning certain episodes such as Blood Fever and Unity were skated over in favour of some of the later, larger stories such as Dark Frontier and Endgame. This also meant curve-ball angles such as Hope and Fear didn't even get a look in when they deal with the effect of life after an attack on Borg survivors. Even some conjecture on their origins was played out citing non-canon novels and the story of the NX-02, the Columbia. I would have enjoyed some more non-canon moments within both of the podcasts but I get that time is limited and for the sake of the audience who will be more aware of the televised material this is probably a good choice although it might be a good suggestion to do something non-canonical in the not so distant future? Or maybe even something on the library of excellent Star Trek reference materials that exist? (I know a good guest host you could get for that...runs a blog....English....) 

The additional comments from Twitter and Google+ mean we're not restricted to the views of our hosts - although I they are pretty varied anyway - and I'm going to have to add a disclaimer because they had the patience to read out my Borg essay. Thanks guys! It showed there's a lot of love for TNG's first two parter as well as for I, Borg and Scorpion which is interesting as there's a lot more love for Janeway and crew than I thought.

What is good is that this podcast is just like getting a group of your mates round for a couple of beers and having a chat over an episode. It's informal, relaxed and very easy to listen to. I also didn't feel that I was getting an opinion forced down my throat, only provided with a few more angles to see the series which can only enhance future viewings - especially now I realise that Geordi is the one who starts up the deflector dish and not Worf as Riker requested at the end of The Best of Both Worlds, Part I! Never spotted, but another example of Worf getting neglected. There's also the good old subject of the Borg Queen and the drones from Star Trek: Enterprise that don't seem to fit too well with the space/time continuum but that kind of discussion is probably best left alone until a few more cans are drunk. What I had forgotten until this side of fandom came up was the potential Borg/V'Ger link that's been banded around for some time. Kudos for picking this one up as it's always been an interesting concept (although it goes out the window in David Mack's Cold Equations trilogy). However disappointed Peter David's classic Vendetta didn't get a mention - now that's how to deal with the Borg!

The Romulan podcast (Episode 17), which followed a couple of weeks later trod a similar concept in it's setup. Kicking off with the news section as before, the topic quickly turned to the Star Trek isolationists and conspirators extraordinaire, the Romulans. In comparison to the Borg I actually found this to be a better  structured discussion focusing on sections of the species rather than chronological appearance. Leading with subjects such as technology, clothing, footwear culture and ships it was great to reflect on how the Romulans have been portrayed since their first sighting in The Original Series episode, Balance of Terror. 

Now I just want to take a second here actually because I was perusing Terry J. Erdmann and Paula M. Block's Star Trek 101 this week but couldn't get this podcast far from my mind when flicking through it. While it's designed as mini reference and ideal for the Star Trek new starter I would say that the SF Escape Podcast is a better and more comprehensive way to understand the series and what is all about. As with the Borg for example, if the introduction to the Romulan discussion kicks off with some useful background which would help newbies. Take note Mr Erdmann, sans-serif this is a much better way to break in some new fans. Aaron, Marty and Eric ensure that the scene is clearly set for discussion and then we're into the "good stuff". Gets a big gold star from my box of reviewing badges, gents. 

I really enjoyed this different approach and while it made me reconsider how the structure of the Borg episode had been crafted I also realised that this meant these guys are more than aware of the need to keep their audience awake and listening not turning for the stop button. There are certain things that will be heard on each installment but it's how those sections are made which provides the interest. The Romulans as a podcast was much more about their subject as a people and its portrayal over the various films and series; reuse of wardrobes, the difficult and yet managed appearance of their technology in Star Trek Enterprise when it has been made clear that they were not seen until Balance of Terror. A lot of time is given over to Enterprise in particular because of how things might have progressed into the now mythical season five and how the Romulans had infiltrated the Vulcan High Council.

My particular area of interest here was the ship designs over the course of Star Trek history - how they altered, how models got lost along the way and all the variations in between including the Nemesis revamps and the Next Generation scout ship version. 

While The Borg virtually stepped over Star Trek: Deep Space Nine to talk about the Delta Quadrant residents in Star Trek: Voyager, the space station saga got its fair share of air time here, most notably in reference to the classic and much revered In the Pale Moonlight. This seemed to be a much more comprehensive and flowing discussion with very little, but if anything being overlooked. From their origins through female commanders, the shoulder pads of the 80's, cloaking technology, peace treaties, neutral zones and even up to the destruction of Romulus itself in the 2009 reboot, then there's an opinion to hear on it all backed up with more subspace thoughts from fans on social media. Interestingly no mention of the fact that Denise Crosby's Sela is the only ever blonde Romulan within Star Trek but with the onslaught of information contained within Episode 17 this is such a minor detail that I can let it go. For those of you who do find there's a lot to take in during the SF Podcast then there's also a handy show notes download available. It helped a lot when covering these reviews it's a nice touch to add to the overall experience and for fans of all ages. Great to see the listeners comments included too.

I've got to applaud these guys for their enthusiasm through out the 90 minutes of run time. There are no uneasy silences, nothing too much and a very focused agenda that keeps the conversation and topics flowing. I didn't know whether I would get anything out of it as a long term Trekker but I was pleasantly surprised, sans-serif maybe because my 'specialism' doesn't lie in Star Trek: Voyager where we get the most information around the Borg so I got a lot from the reviews of that time frame. I have to agree with one thought at the end - the Borg have had their day and a decent run now on the big and small screen. They ended up being the main nemesis in Star Trek: Voyager by default and held their own until the end. In conclusion though the Borg could have probably managed another 30 minutes to look at some of their lesser appearances and references but when you have a broad audience to satisfy it once again comes down to ensuring common and referable ground is covered and covered well. 

The balance of understanding across the franchise is well proportioned with no particularly overwhelming part of this Trek Trio holding all the cards. I indeed I having the varied experience with the franchise makes it all the more accessible, sans-serif importantly reassuring us that Star Trek fans are human and not just huge memory resources of fictional information. As I've mentioned above though it would be good to hear more on non-canon material out there and perhaps even a section that allows listeners to air their though ts on the previous installment and anything contained therein. While one can always point for things that could be done differently this is still a supremely enjoyable production and clearly a lot of work goes into producing the information to fill the show. I'd guessing that all three hosts aren't in the same location either (?) for the production which must take some level of co-ordination just to manage that. The audio is crisp and there's not a moment wasted throughout either podcast.  I have to say this is well worth listening to and has helped me refresh my mind on some pieces of Enterprise and Voyager I'd completely forgotten about in respects to the two races featured in episodes 16 and 17. Good work gents - you're managed to secure my time and I look forward to your next recording!