STO Issues 17 & 18: USS Edison and Tholian Recluse

The Discovery era Hoover Class gets a shiny update in STO with the USS Edison.

One of the ships featured in the Battle at the Binary Stars, the class was hidden from view with many others when the repair base was lost in a dangerous region of space only to be relocated once the radiation had died down in the 25th Century.

Tech'ed up to the levels of "modern" Starfleet in STO, the reimagined USS Edison model is a stunningly compact vessel packed out with a load of crisp details for fans of the franchise to pour over.

Continuing the theme of Starfleet ships, HeroCollector have base-coated the Edison with that pixelated white then layered her up with a series of greys through to black which accentuate the stepped hull levels and panels. There is a whole range of colours going off across the hull here and the windows are added as a decal rather than being painted in or recessed and marked up. As always, this coy move makes a huge difference since the decals for the lifeboat hatches and the "brackets" for the phaser strip ends don't line up quite correctly. Nor do the black marks for the RCS thrusters which means that, tragically a lot of this ship seems to have decal shifted about 3mm to the left.

Yet all of the painted sections are spot on. The domes for the warp field coil and the bridge are aligned, for the most part so are the darker hull patches but what is frikkin' terrible is the ship registry.

Slapped on the front of the hull, the NCC-95160 is almost unreadable due to the clash of colours - only legible if you flip the Edison over and read it from the underside. Carrying on the inspection, the pennant stripes across the forward hull and also at the sides seem perfectly in alignment with the curve of the hull right to the tapered rear end.

While the engines don't contain translucent bussard collectors, they do have blue warp field grilles set into the plastic and again carry that pixelated paint job and dark grey feature panels. The painting here is much better and the decals are far straighter than elsewhere on the Edison. 

But turning her over reveals a ton more. The ship might be one of the slimmest designs to have made its way into the game and onscreen in Discovery, but those wonderful people have maxed out on the visual upgrades when it comes to the underside. For one you can get a much better look at the engines and a second set of translucent warp grilles and even more of that rather excellent dark panel finish. 

Bizarrely the decals on the bottom around the phaser strip ends and the thin red stripes on the pylon edges are all straight as a dye and perfectly in place. The colouring for both the bussard collectors on the underside plus the central sensor dome are also great and you have to kick yourself a little bit to realise that this is just the ventral section. How the finish on two sides of the same thing can be this different eludes me but I do love the work that's gone into the build underneath.

Even at the front we have those legible registry details and there's a much more finished and uniform feel about the whole setup here. 

The magazine for issue 17 offers up a good level of depth to the in-game starship class and not just in reference to the Yard 39 spin that came off the back of Discovery airing. aligned with that is an article detailing the upgrades to that original 22nd Century design as well as images showing the changes made. Interestingly and actually in line with my own thoughts, the secondary/Engineering hull was the main piece that attracted the most design work. Flick back to the ship and review here and it's clear that the effort was a success.

Finally the STO Lore section expands on the Allied Cooperative Starship Development Board which saw the combined efforts of the Federation, Klingons, Romulans and Jem'Hadar to take the next steps in their navies. Resulting in some instantly recognisable designs (such as the Enterprise-C concept, Narendra Class), the ACSDB article covers how the big powers in the quadrant came together and the progress they are making to utilise the technology of each.

Issue 18 takes us into Tholian realms with their Recluse battlecruiser. Something completely different here that evokes the angular design of the classic from TOS as well as the tweaks from Enterprise and the remastered original episode. 

The Recluse is a Tholian webspinner on drugs. Pumped up and taken to another level, this makes for a terrifying adversary. Arched forward with a triple-pronged formation, the ship oozes aggression and is one of the most impressive craft to be included in this limited run.

The build work on the Recluse is amazing. The central section is held in place with struts running from the three outer forks and seem to gel back into that larger piece of the ship. The struts themselves have small window detailing and markings which was unexpected. The black blends smoothly into the rest of the hull, adding a valleyed effect to the surface and breaking up the grey overcoat. There's a lot of surface changes on the Recluse and it genuinely looks and feels unique amongst the 20 issues. 

Even the recessed sections carry minor detailing and brings a sense of life to the craft. What I also really like on this one is the "scarred" effect on the grey panels. It adds more depth to the model and makes it seem used and somehow imperfect. The fact that these lines do seem fairly random assists in taking the expected uniformity away and creates a much more realistic effect.

Check out that there are some further lighter sections on the ship and how nicely the engines to the rear are painted up. With all the differences in hull levels I was thinking there would be a ton of paint errors on this one but it's quite the opposite with one of HeroCollector's most impeccable finishes for several years. This does look the part, right down to the lighter blue weapon emitters at the tips of the arms. 

Acting as a carrier for the smaller Widow Class fighters, the Recluse magazine covers a bit on the Tholian Assembly as well as how the large vessel lines up with the web-spinning vessels of the fleet in quite substantial detail. This is excellent, expanded background on what are a scarcely explored race within Star Trek. That's one major plus point with Online in that it has worked to tell much more about some of those lesser known aliens.

This issue is a cracking read because the section covering the designing of the Recluse also includes the work done to update the Tholians themselves as an Online adversary. It explains how the levels of the Assembly were devised and ultimately how the ships and Tholians themselves aligned. As you would hope, issue 17 rounds out with a more in depth look at the Tholians themselves with more CG images and concept work to flesh out their story from their rare episodic appearances.

These are two great issues of the Online Collection with the Recluse being a particular highlight. The rendering, recreation and detail on it is beautiful and in keeping with the "reclusive" race. The Edision is only let down with those decal issues but remains a strong redesign and model maybe only because the secondary hull is such an impressive section. No big complaints with these two and certainly worth adding to your ship set up any day of the week.

Check out all our Online Starships posts HERE

You can find out more on the Star Trek Online Official Starships Collection by visiting the Hero Collector website HERE

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A Tangled Web: Tholia One Attack Wing Expansion Pack

Coming out of one of the best episodes of Star Trek's third season and, may I also say, one of the best classic episodes; is Tholia One.

Unnamed in the episode, only the race and the name of the first ship's captain, Loskene, are identified. Here with this pack, Wizkids have expanded the background to the secretive Tholians as well as drawing on key elements of the episode to make this quite a unique pack.

The blister-packed Tholia One is a striking replica of the craft from the remastered version of The Tholian Web. As with the (fairly) recent Eaglemoss edition, I'm still grumbling about the fact we don't have anything that provides a reproduction of the ship as seen in The original Original Series from the 60's.

However, what we do have is a very well presented starship utilising both translucent and standard opaque plastic parts to complete what is a very, very small ship - even smaller than the Maquis Raider but not quite as flimsy or microscopic as a shuttle or the Denorios solar sailor.

The colour palette is a mottled silver with fiery orange inserts representing the engines on the small, one man craft and even on this scale, the simplicity of the design and finish makes this one of the best in the game - and definitely head and shoulders above the recently reviewed Maquis Raider. The stats on the other hand don't match my level of excitement for this ship with Tholia One sporting two points for attack, defence, hull and shields. Good thing then that it's got exceptionally fancy footwork to... sorry what? Oh...right....erm...we;ll come to that in a second....

The named, unique vessel also has the advantage of being able to use the Energy Web as a free Action which does offer some mayhem on the board. Also Tholia One can add a further two Weapon upgrades as well as perform the Evade, Target Lock and Scan Actions. The generic ship loses one of those Weapon upgrades and one of the Shield points to reduce the cost from 16 to 14 points - not really worth it considering the power you ditch off. Loskene from The Tholian Web is the top captain option but with a skill of four and a cost of three points that's not saying a lot for him. 

Loskene can field the fabled Elite Action but he does offer more manoeuvrability to your fleet as long as its a ship outside of range three and has a lower captain skill than he does. That second part and potentially the first part are booth incredibly situational given the nature of combat in Attack Wing. Having a captain with a lower skill than a four would work in favour for moving but means your fleet may find itself outgunned very quickly.  If these conditions are met then Loskene provides the chance to perform an extra - and free -  one or two maneuver. 

The Tholian Pilot (cost of one and a skill of two) is an odd second choice in that his Action can only be utilised when on a Tholian ship making him only effective in one role on one craft.  Going green on your moves with this guy equipped allows one shield token repair as your Action which will aid in keeping this cannon fodder around a little longer.

Tholia One does come prepared to strike even if its basic levels are almost laughable. Out of the box we have three Weapon options with a cost of five, four snd three points individually. The three point Photon Torpedoes won’t be a shock and operate using the Disable feature since this is one of the earlier wave expansions before Time Tokens came in. It utilises the Target Lock and any blank results can be re-rolled. Usable at ranges one and two, Photon Torpedoes may have limited use due to the need to reactivate them rather than waiting for them to re-arm with Time Tokens. It also doubles the weapon effectiveness of a Tholian ship hitting an opponent with four attack dice instead of the standard two.

Tricobalt Warhead fills that range three gap missed by Photon Torpedoes and surprisingly offers a better hit ratio. Using six dice and operating at range three, this Weapon works the same as Photon Torpedoes with the card disabled and a Target Lock used. The Warhead is, given the range, a very powerful tool to have in your arsenal especially if coupled with Photons for closer range strikes.

Finally there's the iconic Energy Web and this is THE unique feature of the pack hands down. A five point cost is understandable given the importance of this weapon which can be reused throughout the game. By performing a forward ‘one’ maneuver you can then use your Action to place one of the included Energy Web threads onto the board behind your ship. So what is the benefit? Well, should one of your opponents cross the line during their turn then it acts as an obstacle and will cause damage to their ship. While its pretty cool to action in the game I would recommend having at least two of the Tholian ships in your fleet to properly instigate a network of these web threads in order to incapacitate your enemies.

Last up, unusually, are two Elite Actions. Given that this is a single person craft we are deprived of any Crew but also the Tech options. Tholian Assembly costs three points and acts on every Tholian ship within range three of your vessel. These can all then perform an additional ‘one’ forward. Of course this then means that they would ALL technically be able to place a web thread and fully utilise the key Weapon feature of the craft. Only a Tholian captain can field this one but it does lean to using the pack with a pure Tholian fleet mentality.

Tholian Punctuality (four points) does mean that even if you do choose to single ship the Tholians as part of an Independent fleet for example, it’s not going to be as outgunned as you might think. For a discard here you can add an extra attack die for one round bringing you up to a mighty three red cubes. One to have in the back pocket perhaps for an end of game move rather than blowing this one early on shield damage. 

The Tholian Web mission gets as close to the original episode as possible with a Federation ship attempting to retrieve a Starfleet captain from interphase utilising mission tokens to reflect attempts to get him or her back. To represent this, your Federation captain card is face down until successful - and you can only attempt a rescue at range one to the interphasic rift. The Tholian player has a hefty 50 points to use against the Federation player which has to include ships with a hull value of two or less - which would indicate at least two!

The Tholia One pack is, initially, a bit of a disappointment. The low starting abilities, the average to poor Captain skill and the minimal slots for upgrades do edge this craft more into a support role than a front line starship. I would feel the most effective way to use the Tholians would be as part of a swarm fleet that could all utilise the web feature in line with the Tholian Assembly Elite Action. The Energy Web is a neat draw to this pack but on a solo ship it’s near useless unless you’re very close. It can place obstacles across the board but with some planning these can be avoided.

As a fan of the Tholians it does pain me that this expansion isn't a more attractive offering. Running it as part of an Independent fleet it could be the annoying, buzzing fly BUT it would need to be paralleling something with at least twice its capabilities to make it worth while. 

What's been the best way you've found to use Tholia One?

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Radiant Defiance: Eaglemoss' Luminescent Bonus Edition

Surely with the release of the USS Enterprise, the Mirror ISS Enterprise and the SS Yorktown there are enough versions of the classic Constitution Class to go around?

Apparently not as Eaglemoss have now presented us with the first (and so far the only announced) Glow in the Dark starship, the Constitution Class USS Defiant as featured in The Tholian Web. Now, being a total sucker for that episode I had to have the Defiant. One because it's the guest starship and two; so it can sit alongside the other Defiant. But what exactly is it that makes this worth the punt at £14.99?  

Good question and there is the straight forward obvious answer because this classic does exactly what it says on the magazine and glows in the dark. As you'll spot straight away there is a distinct hue to the paintwork on the Defiant and it's nowhere near as grey as the issue 50 USS Enterprise NCC-1701. This is down to the point that the whole thing is finished off with a layer of luminescent paint which allows it to give off a radiant green glow and appear to be slipping out of phase with our universe just as she did in The Tholian Web.

It's a simple and genius idea that was neatly coupled with it's release around Halloween as something a little bit spooky and unusual. Having it glow in the dark is a cool and unique move which meant that this became an essential addition. I must at this point thank Rob Gibson for gifting this ship to me as part of a starship exchange programme(!) and I have to say I was eternally grateful for this arrival. It doesn't need too much of a tan to get that paint glowing either and within a few minutes you can see the colour change as the Defiant gives off a green, very visible tinge; it’s just as if you’re about to be transported into the Mirror Universe.

At its core though this is simply a re-registered version of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701 model as featured in issue 50 but what else is there that might interest and make you want to part with your hard-earned moola?

The other clear difference is the yellowed bussard collectors tipping the warp nacelles and which give off an equally lovely green glow in low lighting. Taking a look over the hull we evidently have the NCC-1764 registry to denote that this is the USS Defiant and that’s spotted on the underside of the saucer and on the war engines along with being emblazoned across the top and front of the circular primary hull.

The primary hull, in metal is nicely detailed with a few call outs, minor red stripe decals and a smooth finish mirroring her more famous sister ship from the collection. There are a couple of smudges around the registry but they are almost unnoticeable unless you're really, really looking. We still have that annoying gap around the lower third of the secondary hull however but on the Defiant it seems that the slight tonal change in the paint and the choice to dowse her in a final luminescent overcoat has almost hidden the seam. I say almost because near the shuttle bay it is all too evident and just as gappy as version one - which is pretty much what we have here anyway. 

At the from of the engineering hull there's that glaring orange translucent deflector dish. After the various attempts at this model you would have thought Eaglemoss could have AT LEAST for it painted a more appropriate colour? I understand the yellow bussard collectors because it adds to the glow in the dark effect but the deflector is just damn wrong. Can we get one a more golden colour in the future IF there's another variant? (Wait for a USS Comstellation to be announced)

In reference to the underside of the saucer its good to point out that the raised triangular hull sections do align perfectly to the darker grey paint which highlights them and that all the windows aren't out of sync as there are no recessed window bays on the whole model. The white markings for the bridge, lower sensor dome and two at the rear of the saucer are tightly painted in with no bleed into the rest of the hull - something i also noted about the four grey piping sections at the rear of the warp engines.

The challenge I would have with this one is that the finish does seem a little sloppy in places with the paint being scuffed in a couple of spots which does - and will - play havoc with my OCD.  Watch out for that stand clipping as well as I noted in the original NCC-1701 review it was tight then and nothing has really changed with the Defiant. The last thing you want is to rub off the glow in the dark paint effect with two perfectly straight stand lines behind the bridge. Also, minor that it is, but my port warp engine does have a slight lean towards its starboard relation at the back end. Ever so slight but you do catch it out of the corner of your eye on occasion. 

What does make the price tag a little sweeter is the inclusion of the USS Defiant Glow in the Dark bonus edition magazine. Now, I may have mentioned my love of The Tholian Web in this article and maybe the odd occasion before so I continue to be obsessively biased towards this one. The magazine, for me, is a huge indulgence going into the background of the Defiant not just in the classic episode I cherish so much but also into the sequel/prequel that was Enterprise’s In a Mirror, Darkly.

It is a real treat covering the creation and then the REcreation of the classic bridge for the starship plus we have words from writer Judy Burns who was responsible for coming up with the concept of The Tholian Web and the starship Scimitar (they'll never use that name...!) that would morph fully into the realised TV installment. 

At the heart of this bonus edition there is very little new as we saw with the three Mirror Universe editions however the background included in the magazine and the minor tweaks plus the rather personal love of the story make it a must in my books. Maybe for some it’s the issue too far and that gimmick that doesn’t need to be bought - heck, I felt the same about the SS Yorktown and the change of a few decals. Cool if repetitive addition that might well be a money-grabber but hell, it’s something different!

For the full review of the original USS Enterprise from The Original Series follow the link here or you can visit the full Some Kind of Star Trek Eaglemoss The Official Starship Collection vault here.

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Spinning a Yarn

After a rather leisurely five year stint to watch all of Star Trek I've finally come to the end of watching The Original Series.

Not that it's taken me five years to watch everything from The Cage to Turnabout Intruder but I only ever intended to watch The Next Generation which led to Deep Space Nine which led to... you get the picture. 

Anyway, it's been too many years since I last watched the show that started it all and as part of that, one of the greatest episodes the show produced in probably one of its darkest times; The Tholian Web.

When I started Some Kind of Star Trek back in 2013 I intended to do a lot more episodic reviews and talky bits about the show but then others things crept in - the books, Attack Wing, starship collections... and while all this is great I realise that an element I always wanted to hold on to was discussion about the show itself. Starships are great but there's more to the show than that and I wanted this site to offer that alternative.

Which brings me back to The Tholian Web because ever since the day I realised I would be going through every episode I would eventually wind up coming to one of the episodes that helped lure me into Star Trek in the first place. So here I am; doing just that and I've been really looking forward to it. This is my love letter to one of the episodes that drove me to Trek.

Produced in the severely budget-restrained third and final season of The Original Series, it was the ninth episode made and also the ninth to air which was unusual considering how the order was chopped and changed over time. How early in my viewing of the show it actually came I can't remember but it's iconic imagery of the USS Enterprise gradually being encased in the net has stayed with me for decades.

In a nutshell Kirk is stranded in another dimension while Spock commands the Enterprise and has to deal with the Tholians but I actually think this is one of the most multifaceted episodes of the show as a whole, added to by the legacy of the show as it later unfolded. However, more on that in a bit.

At it's heart, The Tholian Web is a rescue story as Spock balances diplomacy with a non-humanoid race against the necessity to confirm Kirk's death and later engineer his retrieval. It's an unusual time for Spock in this episode because for the large majority of the time the captain is out of the picture which sets up a more explosive dynamic between the Vulcan and McCoy. Without Kirk to balance the pair they are initially much more confrontational before setting aside their issues to bring their friend home. I love the fact that one of the instrumental elements of the show is absent for a good portion of the episode and by his absence you realise how key Kirk actually is to the balance of the crew.

For a bottle show (one filmed entirely on the existing Desilu starship sets) this is easily Star Trek's finest example. We get two starships out of one with the appearance - and disappearance - of the USS Defiant but yet that restraint takes nothing from the intensity of the episode. The initial visit to the Defiant introduces the stunning atmospheric suits for their one and only outing and the teaser cleverly avoids stranding Kirk instead focusing on the phasing from reality of the Enterprise's sister ship.

Spock's turn in command is, unsurprisingly logical and of course we get Kirk back but look again at the episode and you'll see that this loss of the captain and his return is only a piece of the puzzle here. But is there just a smidgen of emotion in there? Should he really have stayed to confirm the captain's demise or was there something more in there - a trace of his humanity leaking through? I suspect so.

The danger posed by the Tholians as well as the danger posed by the region of space that the Enterprise is waiting in also add elements to the story (crack out your fish-eye camera lense). Then there's Kirk's ghost-like reappearances throughout which actually give Uhura a lot more to do than just open hailing frequencies or contact Starfleet. We get to see her quarters and the comms officer off-duty all at once plus it's a character expanding moment that wasn't afforded to all as well as Uhura was provided.

The Spock/McCoy dynamic is at its most exposed in The Tholian Web but by its conclusion they are perhaps at their most united in their denial of viewing Kirk's final orders. Most un-Vulcan-like but fitting that the captain's absence has cemented their friendship to a higher point.

The episode is a goldmine of concept and brilliance and we're not just talking about those spacesuits. The Tholians themselves are a standout moment for the series. Refraining from simply dressing up another actor we have non-humanoid species distinctly different from anything else we'd seen. Admittedly Enterprise would later expand beyond the head and shoulders we see here but the spark was there. Their ships too are a landmark even in their non-remastered format. Combined with their intricate lattice-work web it takes them away from the standard warp nacelles and phasers compliment that we've had from the likes of the Romulans and the Klingons. It's all hugely forward-thinking and like nothing else that appears in The Original Series. 

The Tholian Web, for all its budgetary restraints is a classic of The Original Series due to its scope and vision. It truly offers character exploration, a threat, true danger for the ship and multiple smaller events throughout the show which all play a key part in the episode. Amazingly it's all crammed into less than one hour of TV and works tirelessly and in fairness it's one of the more complex stories given the ton of angles it tackles the incident from. A lot of the episodes in the third year are linear in their nature and steer away from smaller incidents and keep on a straight and narrow from the beginning. The Tholian Web is a huge exception adding elements to the whole and exploring a time and a place rather than one single story thread. Look to other episodes in the last year and you'll see that the core story is pretty much the focus of the whole show without deviation.

Now we move to matters that only come to light many years later and The Tholian Web becomes a huge piece of the Star Trek universe puzzle. In fact before we even reach a certain Enterprise episode there's Deep Space Nine. Yes, the episode's influences are there even by 1994 and the arrival of a prototype starship - USS Defiant. Originally the Valiant (which did actually come later...), the Borg-busting starship was indeed named as a part homage to one of The Original Series' most prolific guest ships (or ghost ship?).

There have been nods to the Tholians during the course of the franchise's history in The Next Generation and again lip service in Deep Space Nine during the Dominion War but it's the short-lived prequel that cements The Tholian Web even more profoundly.

In a Mirror, Darkly is widely regarded as one of the defining stories of the final year and - personal opinion - the show as a whole but aside from a brilliant two-part story it actually reinforces how spectacular and seminal The Tholian Web - an episode that aired 37 years previous - is to Star Trek.

The key to the whole thing is the USS Defiant and the decision to attempt its capture from the Tholians of the Mirror Universe. The high-temp loving hexapods are very alike to their Prime Universe counterparts in their technology and it raises the question for me that perhaps the two versions of these creatures are in communication? Are the Tholians of the Prime Universe aware of the rifts and where they are sending items. As a side point how come there's not more of the Prime Universe stuff (and vice versa) floating around in either universe?

Enough of that mind-melting material though because the arrival of the Defiant is a universe-defining moment which changes the political overview and gives (spoiler) Empress Sato a massive advantage over her rivals.

But look more closely at the episode than just the plot because In a Mirror, Darkly is one of those great visual experiences which shows the love and honours its forebears. Yes it's effectively a sequel to the brilliant The Tholian Web by answering the question as to where the hell the Defiant and provides a prequel to the sublime Mirror, Mirror yet there are some key touches that are too good to ignore.

Check out the initial sequence of the NX-01 crew beaming into the Defiant and the positioning of the crew on the bridge. It's a perfect recreation of the duplicate scene from The Tholian Web. The actors are in precisely the same spots as their 1960's originals were when that episode was filmed. The original starship sets are of course recreated with love but we have the Defiant emblem rather than the USS Enterprise delta (take note Timelines because Mirror Archer has the wrong emblem on his tunic). The remastered version retains the mythos fortunately but does change one significant point - the design of the Tholian ships become more akin to their Enterprise CG counterparts than the simple lines of The Original Series models.

Undeniably the arrival and use of the Defiant should have more influence on the development of starships and general technology in the Mirror Universe but how were they going to know in 1968 that this prequel/sequel would be made let alone dreamt about? So it does make continuity less than perfect but the return of the Tholians in full body form breathes new life into that original episode and I think makes it stronger than ever. Being able to relate later events to it makes The Original Series even more integral to the franchise as a whole. 

Deep Space Nine certainly honoured its illustrious forebear with the return of the Tribbles, three legendary Klingons and the Mirror Universe saga but The Tholian Web retroactively becomes a cornerstone of the franchise because of the way its legacy has been woven into the later (or earlier?) generations of Star Trek. It's a clever twist in that it gains importance due to a later story. Perhaps this is only the case in one other episode, that being Trials and Tribble-ations and even then that is more a "reworking" of a classic than a story which builds more onto an existing tale.

For me, The Tholian Web is one of those late signs of Star Trek that even in those harsh production times there were still some shining lights and this Judy Burns written episode is one of those that illuminated the final year. Burns has the characters down-pat even though there's a piece missing and turns in a winner that is always in my top ten episodes of the franchise. Visually it's stunning thanks to the unique way in which the Tholians choose to capture and eliminate their opponents but the script cannot be ignored. It overcomes the boundaries of being a bottle show to create a genuinely thrilling experience that actually has something for all the cast to do while being original and creative.

Everything here comes together and over time I've seen The Tholian Web from different perspectives; the action adventure as a boy through to the character-defining moment that it is for Spock as he commands the Enterprise and the exploration of the Kirk/Spock/McCoy triumvirate with the removal of the balancing element. Unique and brilliant, The Tholian Web still firmly remains my favourite episode of The Original Series. So thank you Judy Burns, you were a big influence on my life!!!


What are your memories of The Tholian Web?

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Your Crew to Command: Timelines

Good news, good news - we're getting a new Star Trek game!

From the team that have developed and recently released Game of Thrones (Disruptor Beam) onto Facebook, Timelines looks set to satisfy the fan-base of every series in one, massive online hit. Second good point is that we can actually play as characters we recognise and know!

While Star Trek Online takes players beyond the end of Nemesis, Timelines will effectively allow a mix and match system from across all the different pieces of the franchise. Put Kirk in command with Dax at sciences and Worf running tactical - surely every fan's dream and perhaps one of the cons of Online. Add into that the ability to visit new planets, dangerous encounters and make tactical decisions and it's got us clammering to play it right now (bless hype, it really does blow things up to a whole new level so we can get critically disappointed).

Announced as a strategy, role-playing game it won't just be available to play on your PC but also your tablet which will more than likely draw a larger audience than Online gets at the moment due to the platform flexibility. Based on what we're being told so far (which isn't much) we're going to see huge storylines in which you'll be able to make decisions to impact the outcomes. Sounds fairly standard if you ask me. Said CEO of Disruptor Beam Jon Radoff in an interview regarding the imminent project: 

“Star Trek: Timelines will encompass all of these concepts, allowing you to explore the vastness of space along with your friends — letting you live out the ‘where no man has gone before’ mantra we all love — but will also allow you to make decisions that impact your future, your friends, and even the fate of the galaxy.”

Available initially at no cost, there will be a ton of in game purchases to ramp up your ship (a la Online and multiple other games) which will drain the wallet of many a hardcore fan looking to get involved. It's a big gamble digitizing your favourites and allowing them all to interact - but then risk is our business as someone once said. Taking the chance could make this a brilliant experience from start to finish.

From the perspective of the crew creation this is absolutely what many people will have wanted to do for years and will now be truly able to realise. The challenge for Disruptor Beam will be in keeping it interesting and immersive, developing exciting missions for your crew to complete and also making the stats of the characters believable. Also there's no mention of whether or not we'll be given the choice of Prime or JJ Kirk - I can see the conflicts now....

Considering the head start that Star Trek Online has with the gaming market it will be a hard battle for Timelines to win but it will provide some variety into the mix. A contrasting game to Online would make it a draw for fans, focusing more on moral dilemmas and clever situations rather than load torpedoes and blast everything in sight which, for me has led to to stay away from the Online universe thus far (although I am up for being persuaded otherwise).

For those of you who are now chomping at the bit, why not drop over to the official site here where you can follow the project on Facebook (also available on Twitter) as well as register with the potential to be involved with the beta testing of this amazing concept. Without question this will be the place to find out all the latest updates as and when they happen.

Now this announcement also made me think of something I've never ever done - pick my dream crew. So, for the first time ever I thought I'd put it down on screen. I've picked out a range of positions more in line with The Next Generation than anything else. Should raise some opinions (plus a couple of extras). Why I've never done this before I'll never know - maybe I've been in denial. Some fairly obvious choices in here with a few that will raise the odd temperature.

More detail on the upcoming game, Star Trek: Timelines, can be found in this interview with Jon Radoff on VentureBeat and this shorter article on startrek.com.

You can also view the announcement trailer right here... So what do you think? Is this the right way to encourage gamers into the Star Trek fold? Why not add your comments below!

Cold Equations Book Two: Silent Weapons

Silent Weapons picks up a short time after the events of Book One, The Persistence of Memory and from the off this is a very different beast to its predecessor.

Now before we go any further - SPOILER ALERT. If you haven't read the first book, be warned as I WILL be referring to it during this review!

While The Persistence of Memory skipped through time to provide the autobiographical narrative of Doctor Noonien Soong, this is a much more linear affair but much more complicated in the nature of the plot. It does require a bit more concentration to keep track of events right from chapter one - yep, David Mack kicks this sequel off with a lot of balls in the air and the art here is very much in the catching.

I was hesitant as to where this was going to go as Book One really left things open for interpretation. After getting into the heart of the book at about 150 pages I realised that it's as close as Star Trek could come to a taut political thriller. While the Vaslovik plot is carried over from the first novel in the trilogy, it spends a considerable amount of time on the proverbial backburner in favour of political machinations which I found to be more interesting but we'll come to that in turn. Book Two focuses more on the discovery of the android factory from the concluding section of The Persistence of Memory and the way in which the Breen are utilising this find for their own devices. There are numerous locations for the action, namely the Breen homeworld, a control centre for their acquired androids, a secret conference on Orion and then the Enterprise itself. Now you know that at some point they will all come together, the fun is in working out just how Mack will achieve this by the last page. I can assure you it does and - well, I'm not going to ruin it! I will say that it's a "thinker" and you need to be on your toes to keep up with who is doing what, where, when and how otherwise you might be in a big narrative mess by about page 160. 

My interest in this novel was piqued more than with the first not just for the multi-faceted thriller but also thanks in no small part to its supporting cast. The Gorn, one of my favourite alien races in the franchise (kudos for that, Mr Mack), are heavily featured and we get name-checks for the Tholians and the Tzenkethi too as part of the shadowy Typhon Pact. Even the Romulans manage an appearance to remind us that they're still a power to be reckoned with in this quadrant. I hope that Mack utilises the Gorn again in the future and that we get to see the Tholians in action and not just as a technology reference.

Reading this purely on my journey back and forth to work could have been a nightmare due to the strands that Mack lays out but I kept up with a couple of flick-backs to earlier chapters and previous pages so it was well worth it. Occasionally there are plot reminders from the cast which helps keep you in the picture. Everything has a purpose (as we know!) and no action is there for the sake of filling a page. As with my first review I don;t want to give too much away as it would ruin the experience that I was lucky to have upon opening chapter one - needless to say the Breen are up to no good here and Data gets implicated very early on, bringing the Enterprise to the Orion homeworld. Some of the initial chapters might seem irrelevant in some of the details described and you are left wondering - but persevere and you will not be disappointed. If there's one thing I'm learning from David Mack is that everything has a purpose!

One thing that I do enjoy within Mack's work is that he just loves playing with known Star Trek concepts. It happened in The Persistence of Memory and it's in action once again here. We're reintroduced to Captain Morgan Bateson, formerly of the USS Bozeman and it was impossible NOT to think of him as anyone other than Kelsey Grammer in "Cause and Effect" from The Next Generation. Orion was never visited in the multiple TV series but Mack builds on his visual impressions littered into Book One and fleshes them out further, even to the point of taking us deep into their slums and teaching the reader about the nature of their society. Fascinating stuff but my hat truly has to come off for his insights into the Gorn who have only managed two story appearance across the five series and ten films.  In particular their view of art is intriguing and I was quite envious of how Mack has established their culture, hierarchy and motivations within this story. While you would think it would be enough to focus on providing an insight into just the one race as part of the narrative, don't be deceived as the Breen get their own fair amount of page time in which we learn much more about the structure and taboos of their society while we watch them unfold their plans section by section.

Twisting thriller into mystery into action, Mack weaves the after-effects of The Persistence of Memory into this new story with deadly androids doing their masters' bidding, secretive Breen and even the UFP President thrown into the soup for good measure - one gripe; why did the President's bodyguards have to verge on the cliched CIA-style agent with dark glasses and a suit? Minor point but it's the 24th Century....! 

This new Data is something of an oddment and whenever I was reading this character I felt about as uneasy as Geordi - it's Data but it's not. The memories are there but this is Data version two and while you can see the character is there, if only through the absence of contractions in his speech, he feels different just in the way he carries himself through the narrative and on more than one occasion I made myself question who this character was. David, if this is part of the plan, I applaud you because it worked. The "new" Data is centre-stage for a good portion of this novel as are Picard, Geordi and Worf and all four characters are well defined and seem to work better within this story than they did in Book One. While the latter three characters are familiar the resurrected Data really is intriguing and slightly eerie. Indeed  it is his predicament which drives the story initially and the trail of crumbs and events from that which power the story along.  The pacing is great as we move from one set piece into investigation, to diplomacy, to private moments and then back into action once again - there's no let up so if you have to put this book down beware of what point you take a break - what you've just read may be very relevant in a few pages time or you might need to recall it in a few chapters!

Anyway, a lot of this book as you will have gathered, is focused on androids and Soong-type androids to be precise. They instill a great deal of paranoia into the story because you just don't know where or when they will turn up, what will happen when they do and whether or not they will succeed in their actions. Some of the descriptions of their actions are brutal and we can see that they are focused solely on their mission's goal. The androids are expendable but there is definitely more to them than you first think considering what they are capable of doing and who is in control of their minds. Manipulation is the name of the game.

Alongside the main story is a sub-plot revolving around Picard and Crusher which does link into the main thread at one point later on. I felt this was a particularly effective thread as it dealt with the nature of their relationship as a family and as shipmates. Mack drops in a note about the age difference between La Forge and Smrhova at one point - because these guys aren't getting any younger and it does waft up scents of nostalgia because of the length of service we have seen the main characters over. 

The Jean-Luc/Beverly plot reminds us that they are human and that at some point things have to change, especially as the captain is no longer single and there are important matters to consider for their future and the safety of his son. I'll be interested to see if this transitions into the final book, The Body Electric. I'm also fascinated to know how the Vaslovik plot is going to be continued in the finale as we have effectively skipped over it from the first few chapters of Silent Weapons. It was the reason for Data's presence on Orion but other things got in the way!

Overall I probably enjoyed this story much more than I did with The Persistence of Memory, possibly because I understood a bit more about the expanded Trek universe and also because the first book had "broken" me back into the TNG universe. Looking back, the first novel is very much a set up piece which lays a lot of seeds and possibilities for the second book and doubtless the third will bring all the threads together neatly (I say that now!). Not a book to pick up on its own but if you've pounded through the first book this is certain to satisfy your curiosity and leave enough questions unanswered (again) to ensure that the concluding book is an essential purchase.

Star Trek: The Next Generation: Cold Equations Book Two: Silent Weapons is now available  from Simon and Schuster ISBN 9781451650730 priced £6.99