Behind Enemy Lines: Eaglemoss Tackles Adversaries

It was always clear from the start that once you discount the multitude of Enterprise's, the Starships Collection would have to delve into non-Federation territory and particularly vessels belonging to opposing forces.

In fact, the last "title" ship was back in issue nine (USS Defiant) if you don't count the recent special on the JJ-Enterprise. Already we've had Klingons, Borg and Romulans which means that Deep Space Nine's Big Bad's are conspicuous by their absence. Not now however as Issues 13 and 14 cover two of their most prevalent enemies with the Dominion and the Cardassians. 

The Jem'Hadar battlecruiser is a heavy, heavy beast with probably the most solid feel of any ship yet to feature in the range (and I'm including issues 16 and 17 which we've already reviewed). The build quality is absolutely superb although it is slightly shiny due to the majority of the ship being made from metal. The extremities here are the plastic sections - fuel pods, cargo bay and upper ion and impulse engine (tail) sections but for once they're very, very solid. There's no wiggle or bend which is a significant improvement over the nacelles on models such as the refit Enterprise or on the USS Reliant. 

(CB)

Just be a bit careful however as it's got some nice sharp points reinforcing that these aren't toys and most definitely better placed on a shelf - preferably a high shelf away from prying fingers. While admittedly my son (he's two) has had his hands on Voyager this is one he's going nowhere near.

The colouring is excellent and having both a physical and CGI model to refer to have been a big benefit here. The thing that gets me is that on the page it's a a shade more purple than silver but  It's origins and design as something that would provide more of a threat than the smaller,  nimble Jem'Hadar fighters provides a great insight to some fairly odd designs that didn't make the grade.

The focus section talking about the development of the Dominion as the anti-Federation also reveals some fascinating information that originally a larger group of races was intended to be on a par with their Alpha Quadrant peers however time, budget and scope meant a tighter window on the Founders,  Vorta and Jem'Hadar. The images accompanying the text aren't anything new but this does seem to be building up into quite an extensive background resource to fill out the pages. 

Straight and true in all respects -
not my model then! (HA)

Given that there have been a chunk of books over the year I'm beginning to believe that there won't be much head scratching over even the more oddball issues down the line when it comes to finding relevant content. One thing through, don't dedicate a section to Neelix or Porthos.

Issue 14 adds to that Deep Space Nine universe with the Egyptian-influenced Cardassian Galor class.  Chalking up a ton of appearances through The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine it has to be classed among the more unusual designs to feature. Unfortunately mine is even more unusual with a wonky tail-fin (managed to bend this straight) and a slightly off-centre head piece which makes it look like she's looking to the right for traffic. For note the image to the left is not mine!

Coming after the metallic solidity of the Jem'Hadar battlecruiser it's a face palm moment if ever there was one. I like the ship but these two things are a real blow with not even 20 issues under their belt. It's also has only one single coloured plastic section - the main deflector on the front which is in red - and also isn't set flat in the hull. 

(CB)

That's nothing against the Eaglemoss team who have tried to recreate this as faithfully as possible. The shame is that it's not that accurate either. The hull detailing noted in the magazine around the temple-like structure is absent and the underside seems awfully plain in comparison to both the top and also the images in the magazine. Colour-wise she's also a different shade to the one in the magazine. Inconsistencies certainly reign with this one. I've included an image of my model here to show the underbelly's lack of detail - also not the off-centre head section.

If we look back, the strengths of the series have been where Eaglemoss has been able to work in metal and in big chunks. Doing fiddly nacelles and blue plastic venting is an unavoidable factor but it does detract from the good points. She's nicely balanced and, hallelujah, sits well on the stand. Maybe I should just be happy with these improvements over all the other stuff we've mentioned? I may just superglue that Warbird in place y'know and call it quits.

How about the magazine? Usual fare really but there are some great pics in here especially the opening shot on the Ship Profile section which not only reinforces the colour but also the detail missing from the underside. Interestingly we get a profile of Gul Dukat rather than the creation of the Cardassian people that you might have expected (I did) and goes some way to providing a satisfactory overview of just who he was from start to finish. At times I did warm to the character and reading this certainly refreshed my knowledge albeit in very brief form. It even brought home the fact that Deep Space Nine really is all about opposites in every respect - and not just the Mirror Universe.

Designing the Galor Class is probably one of the best behind the camera sections yet, really getting Rick Sternbach's vision and the path that led to the final model. This is not just a simple designed and built journey as its physical creation was a very detailed process, perhaps more so than actually imagining it in the first place. Watch out for the unexpected image from Voyager and when you do, try and remember what actually appeared on the screen....

CB

Rounding of this trio of our missed issue reviews is my favourite of the three which just bangs home just how many great ship designs featured in Voyager; USS Equinox.

For those in the know the Nova Class name at the least has been banded around since the early 1990s as a suggested replacement for the Galaxy Class however the ship from the Voyager two parter can trace it's origins back to the early design suggestions for a little known ship over on Deep Space Nine called the Defiant. 

The top of the primary hull is cast from metal and detailed well with windows, phaser strips, registry, the sensor array as well as the unusual recessed bridge which is one of the remnants from that pathfinder project. Turn her over and even the orbital shuttle, the Waverider has been clearly marked out. It's a great finishing detail that helps the Equinox stand out a bit more. Even the nacelles are nicely decalled and the whole thing is a pleasure to see slotted onto her stand. 

CB

So you're waiting for the grumble aren't you? Well OK, the sprue flash is still attached to the nacelles and they haven't been cleaned up very well at the joints when you look underneath but I'm almost prepared to forgive them as she's still a good display piece. Could we also have had her battle damaged perhaps as portrayed in the magazine to add that element of "realism" to the ship? Maybe that would have been time consuming so let's step away from the super nitpicking!

There's a lot of little extra facts and figures about the Equinox dotted through the magazine this time and it's a welcome surprise as this, like Dauntless in issue 17 was a one story ship that never saw another outing thus limiting the data available to fill pages. For the discerning collector I can confirm that the numbers on the lifeboat hatches DO match the ones that are featured on the plans - oh and definitely worth mentioning that the colour of the ship pictured matches the model. Full marks. 

While key appearances is a foregone conclusion before you even get to the back page I'm not sure if Voyager's journey back to the Alpha Quadrant really warranted an entry here. Admittedly the Equinox story was to give us the "what would have happened if..." notion and a comparison article would have well-rounded the story of Ransom and his crew. 

Notably now we've dropped away from talking about filming a lot of the models as a separate section, combining it instead with the building and design aspects of the story which leaves room for other "human interest" pieces if you will such as more backstory and character related material which is fleshing out the series and allowing it to explore more facets of the franchise with some relation to the vessel in question.

What really bugs me at the moment with this collection is that I truly want to be ecstatic over every single model and magazine because there's nothing like it and nothing has ever come close to getting it this right. The trouble is I always feel just a step away from perfection. I should be satisfied with the ships, the attempt to nail each one and the fact they are hand-painted, well presented, boxed and delivered. It's like being given an unopened box of Quality Street only to find that (in my case) it's 75% full of coffee creams - really happy...but not just there....
Moving away from chocolate related analogies, due to our erratic writing the next two under the spotlight will be the Bajoran Solar Sailor and the USS Stargazer due for April and here they are...

With Australia now being added to the list of countries stocking the Collection it's worth a drop by the site if you're looking to order back issues. Currently issues one through to six and nine are out of stock as well as the JJ-Enterprise. The Deep Space Nine special is now (after a long time) showing as back in stock as is the USS Excelsior which should please +Mark Thwaite who has been waiting for these for an absolute AGE.

Taking a ganders over at the Entertainment Earth site is always a good call and now they're showing images of everything up to issue 24(!) and we've included these below just to keep you all in the loop. Clearly we have to advise that these are likely to be suggested and not the final artwork. As yet there's no model image for issue 24, the Xindi ship but you can still see the cover at least.

You can subscribe to the Eaglemoss Official Starships Collection by clicking the link to the left and dropping over to their site right now - we're only 17 issues through and you don't want to get too far behind!

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Magazine covers and model images for issues 20 - 24 from Entertainment Earth

Issue 18 and 19 images from startrekstarships.com

Model shots attributed to CB (Clive) and HA (Hayley) from SKoST archive

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Ensuring Dominion: Arise Big Threat

No other way about it; I am a bigger fan of the Dominion than I am of the Borg.

Which means that hitting the second season of Deep Space Nine meant I could hunt out those blink-and-miss references that pervaded the series and marked a brand new direction for the space station drama. First off it was rare for Star Trek to lay any kind of clues as to what might be coming in the future. The Original Series certainly avoided it and the only time The Next Generation attempted something along these lines was in The Neutral Zone and the lines referring to the attacks on the outposts which was intended as a nod to the upcoming Borg of Q Who?

Indeed these dropped lines have been used a lot and the two that I am most aware of would be the Shadows of Babylon 5 and more recently Bad Wolf in the first series of the relaunched Doctor Who. It's become a bit of a staple but I remember that I didn't even catch some of the references until I returned to the second season in the last few months.

The first line is in Rules of Acquisition where Quark travels to the Gamma Quadrant to do business. To acquire tulaberry wine the Ferengi must meet with the Karemma (whom we would see later in Starship Down)  and if you deal with them, you deal with the Dominion of which they are a part. Nice one liner, thrown in there and easily forgotten. In fact it wasn't until a few episodes later in Sanctuary that the senior officers first hear of the force on the other side of the wormhole and again it's done marvelously off the cuff as though we've known about this organisation all along. The Skrreea had fled through the wormhole after their homeworld was conquered by the Gamma Quadrant power, leaving them refugees.

While the Skrreea are a tragic civilisation it is an important note that the Dominion have displaced such a large number of people, demonstrating possibly their mercy as well as their might. A similar situation is suggested when Odo and Dax investigate a mysterious world in Shadowplay. Not only do we have a reference that Rurigan, the only person in the Yaderan village to be real, travelled there after his home planet was conquered but also the fact that the word "Changeling" is clearly known although putting the two pieces together would take until the beginning of the following year.

Notably the season is actually light on the references - the first forgettable but the later more prominent in the script. Babylon 5 more than slammed home the references to the Shadows in its first and second season but here the time between announcement and reveal seems about right. The only way that could be done is with the season finale and one of the episodes that can proudly wear a badge saying "Game Changer".

Let's set the scene a little before we talk about it.The Jem'Hadar aired on June 12th 1994 with The Next Generation's finale All Good Things... having only been premiered weeks before on May 23rd. In some respects the build up had to pay off here as for the first time since it's arrival, Deep Space Nine was on its own and would be until Voyager turned up in January of 1995. There was something for the episode to prove and make fans want to remain engaged with this more diverse offering from the Star Trek universe. This was the flagship now and there had to be a kick, something to draw in the attention; a viable threat to the stability of the Star Trek universe. A reason for its very existence.


Introducing both the Jem'Hadar and, although we don't appreciate it at this point, the supervisory Vorta replete with never-seen-again telekinetic powers. Also here the Jem'Hadar have black tubes for their ketracelwhite intake. By The Search these would have turned clear with the controlling substance pulsing through. Again it would take some time (The Abandoned) before we appreciated what that was all about. Their appearance and demeanour were set clearly from this point and even the suggestion that we might get to see a Klingon fight one was just another dose of temptation. Indeed, The Jem'Hadar is all about feeding fandom titbits of information and could-be's to build and secure the audience for season three. 

The key destruction of the USS Odyssey was not only that key game-changing moment when we realised that not even a Galaxy Class starship could strike fear into the Dominion but perhaps something of a salute to The Next Generation fans that the voyages of Picard and crew were over on the small screen. The Dominion were coming and through the actions of the Jem'Hadar and Eris (whatever happened to...) they were going to be a force that would pose a considerable threat. Maybe at this early stage of proceedings we didn't realise just HOW much of a threat. Could we have envisoned a galactic war or were our thoughts that it would all be over by the conclusion of the following year? That explosion and the suicide run still send a shiver down my spine two decades later. This was true danger and right on the doorstep; not everyone could blow up a Federation starship with such ease. I always manage a small chuckle when Captain Keogh expects the Dominion to have "sharper teeth" than the Maquis. Oh dear is he going to be proved right.

The Dominion themselves were the ultimate deep space gangsters when fully fleshed out. Here they simply seem to be brutal - the seemingly unstoppable edge of the Borg coupled with the individuality of the Klingons or the Romulans. That attack on the Odyssey would have been unthinkable from the Borg but here that pure drive is about winning no matter the cost. Enterprise tried something similar with the Xindi and effectively buried the show even though I personally felt the show got better in the last two years. Voyager meanwhile fell back on old faithful the Borg while also passing through Kazon, Hirogen and Vidiian space amongst others - here were several big evils rather than one. In the sense of nemeses Deep Space Nine here created a great that would affect and be referenced in the movies and later fiction - most recently in The Fall series.


The Jem'Hadar might not have had "cliffhanger" labelled on it and the traditional season-closing To Be Continued... tag but there was no question that the story here would have to be concluded and at the very least continued. The structure of the Dominion would be explained over the next few seasons and the Vorta cloning process would only arrive in season five with the second appearance of Weyoun but this was a story showing that there was real grit and danger in the Gamma Quadrant. The days of exploring and meeting cuddly aliens was over; now there would be a reason for heightened alert. Sisko's role as a builder would be truly explored and even deconstructed. 

In The Jem'Hadar it's just the beginning of that realisation for the commander (above) and it is he who will face the most changes following the events of the story. Initially it seems just a nice trip out to an uninhabited world and some father/son time but at that key moment where he and Quark finally start to talk the show is spun on its head and the real action begins. While Quark might bear a phaser rifle and the boys, Jake and Nog, come of age to some degree this is definitely all about Ben Sisko. As we see in season three he certainly handles change well.

Think of the change of direction that the introduction of the Dominion would bring about. The revelations of Odo's past, the arrival of the Defiant and later Worf, In the Pale Moonlight...I could go on and probably will in the next few months. While we'll look at the rest of season two another time it's important to appreciate how significant that final episode really was. 

The edge of the frontier was a lot sharper than we might have been led to believe and there was a lot more to the show than a lot of Bajoran religious mysticism, Quark's dodgy dealings and Bashir's overexuberance. For fans who had been watching from Emissary this was pay day. I personally felt that we'd been given a fitting end to the year which showed an abundance of promise and meant that my faith in continuing to watch Deep Space Nine had been vindicated.

Yet I've failed to answer that original point - better than the Borg? In my mind, yes. While Voyager diluted the lethal assimilators over the course of seasons four to seven when they should have stayed property of The Next Generation, the Dominion were solely the responsibility of Deep Space Nine. The show deserved this strength of enemy and used it in so many ways thanks to the layers of story that could be built in over six years, bringing in brilliant recurring characters such as the Female Shapeshifter and Weyoun. Remember as well that the Borg were focused on Earth but here everything was at stake. While Deep Space Nine might be noted as the dark, unloved child of the franchise, the Dominion were responsible for shaping the quadrant and therefore the Star Trek universe forever after.

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Audio Frontier: Star Trek: Starfinder

When I was asked by the guys behind Star Trek: Starfinder to review their pilot episode,  "The Back of Beyond" I was filled with excitement and Fear.

While this is brand new Trek in an audio format and therefore a brilliant experiment I was terrified that saying anything which didn't involve superlatives would result in me being hunted down and fed to their pet Targ in very, very small pieces. Luckily I was reassured by writer/director George Silsby that this would not be the case - so wish me luck.

Set during the early 2400s and more significantly in the time frame populated by the Starfleet of Star Trek Online,  we are privy to the first mission of a new crew aboard the Odyssey Class starship. Starfinder. Essentially that's what this first 59 minute instalment is about; an introduction to this scifi audio experience and within it we meet an incredible array of characters who will be our guides through the evolution of the series. It's difficult to know where to start in fact as there are so many. We have an synthetic AI captain with the memories of several experienced captains to make him the ideal commander,  a Romulan first officer, a Breen security chief, an Andorian Aenar who is linked to a liberated Andorian Borg (certainly a duo my interest is peeked to see more of),  MACOs (Military Assault Command Operations) and a sprinkling of 155 Jem'Hadar accompanied by their Vorta supervisor, Alura. Alongside these diverse individuals there are a plethora of Star fleet crewmembers who help flesh out events in episode one - and one of them has a link to the shadowy Section 31. Still with me?! Good.

I've been fortunate enough to have some time to sit and listen to Starfinder uninterrupted and this is possibly one of the things that the ST:S team need to consider going forward. Running to nearly an hour is a big commitment for an audio series listener.  Lopping it down to 44 mins as per a standard TV Trek episode could be the way forward as at times it did feel as though we were getting rushed from one incident to the next to fit everything in under the one hour mark.  There are a lot of characters introduced and if you are listening to it in bits it might become quite confusing. The first fifteen minutes put us into contact with the majority of the list above and more as well as several pieces of key plot and background exposition around the ship, the mission and the crew themselves. While I thoroughly enjoyed this take on Star Trek from the beginning I felt that "The Back of Beyond" could have done with double length treatment just to allow the characters room to breathe and not feel that we're having things pointed out for the sake of them being said. 

There's a lot of chopping and changing in this hour as we meet everyone and get snippets of information about their characters that will (I hope)  be explored in episodes to come. From an action point of view this is brilliant as you really don't get the chance to be bored by anything that's happening. The one time that does stand out as some great potential for the relationships on board the Starfinder is between the Breen security chief and the MACO Trill Naveera. You can feel the hatred bubbling under and let's hope this gets a fair amount of time dedicated. However, one of the strengths that I felt TNG and DS9 handled well and could be something for the writers to develop over the course is to provide longer scenes that flesh out the crew naturally. I suspect there's a good deal of talent and enjoyment among the actors here and it would be great to see them properly chew through my headphones so to speak.

Before you worry that an audio Trek series is just going to be one long talk, don't. The Starfinder series kicks off with a number of key action sequences. There's an attack on the Starfinder as they enter the unexplored Outback and later on an away mission to an M-class planet old with less than welcoming inhabitants. These are both well handled considering this is a first attempt and you can feel a lot of work has gone into the production to ensure that we can feel the tension and suspense as events unfold. We get Tholians and Klingons as part of a two-for-one battle, again introducing us to more characters as I understand the Klingons will be returning. How their relationship with the Starfinder crew will go is yet to be seen as the two ships explore the mysterious Outback and the planets and lifeforms contained within it.

In the respect of the away mission, it seems to be over in minutes and that includes other pieces that link directly to what is happening on the surface. I would have loved to see more of this mission rather than have the crew planted straight into danger. There are a lot of different elements into this sequence and here the quick changes between involved parties does work well - but I wanted more! Have to say though, the solution dreamed up from Captain ANN-D (Artificial Neural Network version D) nicely nods the hat to one of the prior generations of Trek but I'll let you find that out for yourselves. In fact that brings me nicely to my next point.

Actually, it's a niggle.  The acting is fine and there's some white noise on the mixing but that's not what I'm here to look at. Those issues will be dealt with in time as cast and background crew become more familiar with their roles,  the script and what can be done to make a smooth audio production. However, there is a mass of character intros which just seem packed into a very short time and then we have a quickly executed mission. Perhaps with an expansion into "pilot length" and a two-part split there could have been the chance for some longer introductory sequences with less "forced" explanations of character motivations and backgrounds. Ideally the arrival at the Outback could have slotted nicely into that "cliff-hang" position as we're even told its a two week trip to get there from Deep Space Nine. Script-wise it's a good job overall and will progress as the show develops and other writers are involved - potentially I'd suggest being aware of the occasional colloquialism slipping in! 

As a secondary note I was granted access to Starfinder some first two mini-sodes and a teaser for the second episode. As things go I'll warn you that the following section is specifically about these three audio files so if you don't want to know, look away now! 

Introducing agent T'Kayla and her timeship and the half-Vulcan Sadera in the first mini-sode there's some nice referencing to a certain JJ-verse. T'Kayla's mission will undoubtedly bring her into contact with the Starfinder as it dallies with the temporal anomalies of the Outback. It's hard to review two minutes where it's a dialogue between two individuals but here we do get a nice teaser which works well in that format. The second mini-sode introduces us to Lieutenant Valor who is the deputy security chief. Nicely we get to see events from the first episode from a slightly different perspective in another part of the ship. The friction between the MACOs and the Jem'Hadar is again touched upon here so there's clearly a bigger plan in action. This is a very personal log which provides some excellent exposition of this new character - and means there's another potential story thread for us to follow if the previous mini-sode is anything to go by. I'm sure we can count on her Vulcan relationships coming into conflict with those she will have with the crew of the Starfinder. 


The trailer for episode two gives some great hints at whats to come - more Breen, more T'Kayla, more action, more conflict and more temporal happenings. So when can we get to hear this?

I'm quite excited to see where they will end up when compared back to this initial effort and all the signs point towards this being a great success because you can feel the passion for the topic from everyone involved. There is a drive to succeed and I for one will be proud to say I was there from the start of this, I suspect, epic adventure.

Episode One of Star Trek: Starfinder; "The Back of Beyond" is available for download now.