Retro Review: Titan's The Red King

As we come to the third book in the post-Nemesis list we are staying aboard the USS Titan with Captain Riker and his crew & continues the story set up at the end of the previous novel The Red King.

Admiral Akaar (The Original Series episode Friday's Child) and Commander Donatra (Star Trek Nemesis) are also back in this novel from authors Andy Mangels and Michael A Martin plus it features the Neyal (The Original Series novel The Sundered) and for anyone who has read this it does feel a little like a sequel to that story but you don't need to have read either this or the previous Titan book to enjoy this story.

In The Red King we learn that part of the fallout from Nemesis was a rift was caused in Romulan space when Shinzon's ship exploded. This created a rift in space which pulled in the Titan and Donatra's Romulan fleet to the Magellan cloud which is where they encounter the Neyal who are an offshoot of humanity not encountered in many years. 

We also find out that a Klingon ship has been sucked into the rift and Donatra is unusually willing to help out but we eventually find out her reasons for doing so. 

The Titan crew discover a small proto universe has been created due to the rift and is causing space around it to expand and erase itself. It leaves the crew with some scientific and philosophical decisions to weigh up & leads them to make some very difficult choices. 

As this adventure raps up there is a big party on the bridge for the senior crew and finally the Titan gets its dedication plaque - "Infinite diversity in infinite combinations". 

While this was a good read I did have a few issues with the book. As this is only the second book of the Titan series, we are still getting used to the crew but I feel the book spends more time focusing on the Neyal rather than our new crew. Also while it is great to see a diverse crew there are to many new species onboard and it is very hard to keep them all straight in your head. 

Two points that the authors dropped in; Vale, Rikers second in command having an issue with Deanna being part of the senior staff and being his wife causing conflict and also some of the crew noting that Federation starships are primarily commanded by Humans -hopefully will be picked up in future books. 

All in all a decent read but not probably one you would reread.

What are your memories of The Red King?

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Delta Blues: The Official Starships Collection Issues 82 and 83

September drew to a close and with it came our latest starship additions with the Warp Delta featured in Enterprise and the Bajoran Troop Transport from Deep Space Nine.    

Receiving these out of sequence meant I actually had hold of issues 84 and 85 two days before these finally dropped on the doorstep and after the disappointment of the Holoship this was a welcome relief in both boxes. 

Firstly the United Earth Starfleet Warp Delta. It's a classic devolution of the recognisable starship design from the prequel series and ultimately the iconic NCC-1701 USS Enterprise herself. A smaller 30-person crewed vessel the single 'delta' hull and stubby warp engines belay a craft from a previous era and in terms of Enterprise it shows how antiquated some of the ships were in comparison even to the Intrepid let alone the warp five capable NX class. Eaglemoss have brought this incredibly basic craft to life in superb detail. While, like so many of the ships in Enterprise, the Deltas were confined to a background role, the ship here displays the patchwork, layered hull plating extremely well. 

It also carries the silver/metallic finish more aligned to the NX class than the later greys of the Constitution Class or the duck egg blues of the Galaxy Class ships from The Next Generation. Having had the chance to look over the NX-Alpha first you can see how the show kept that basic finish concept alive through these early craft, keeping them grounded in basic techniques for functionality rather than aesthetic quality. That style also helps reinforce the more defensive activities of this class because of its limited warp capabilities and deep space functionality.

As a model the Warp Delta is beautifully finished from every angle with the dorsal and ventral planes of the hull bursting with that embossed hull plating. There's no hull registry here so decal-wise she's totally unmarked but that just adds to the simplistic beauty of the mini-hulled spacecraft. The metal underbelly extends out to the swept warp nacelle pylons again well finished and onto the pair of stumpy warp three engines. Line this up with the issue 84 NX-Alpha and you'll see the similarities right away between the engine design - quality bit of continuity there!

On the upper hull you can easily make out the lines of the very forward sitting bridge. Defensively this has to be just about the worst placed Starfleet command centre ever (set forward Holoship for this as well) especially when considering the major role they were expected to take in defending Earth. Obviously different times and different requirements were involved at the time of their construction!

At the rear of the Delta there's a very cramped Engineering 'area' marked out by the warp core dome. Note here that the rear is aligned to the episodes with the impulse engines present rather than the rocket engines seen in the title sequence. Hopefully Eaglemoss will provide us with the more basic Delta in future editions or as a web special since I can see collectors wanting to get their hands on this significant variant.  PS if you're waiting for the review of the SS Yorktown you'll be waiting a while as I'm not getting that one for just a change of a few stickers.

Stand attachment is a firm success here, locking to the rear of the ship over the warp pylons and then onto a small piece of the hull. No movement and a steady grip which is just what we like.

Issue 82 contains a broad overview of the construction and evolution of the Warp Delta design from its days powered by rocket engines through to the impulse refits and then into the role in which the class played during the Xindi threat and also in a couple of alternative timelines (Twilight, In a Mirror, Darkly). 

The development of the design for the Warp Delta is a great section given it was only originally designed at the back and later appearances in Enterprise meant that the rest was added at a later time compounding changes to the title sequence riding back end.

Next up; our third Bajoran ship after the Solar Sailor and the Bajoran Raider with the Bajoran Troop Transport. Not w when it was originally announced we all thought that the transport was the more wedge-shaped ship seen depositing Kai Winn at Deep Space Nine and used to board the station during season two's The Siege. However it turned out to be another more distinct design that had its most prominent role as Kira's command ship facing off against the Romulans in Shadows and Symbols from season seven.  

The Bajoran Troop Transport visually offers a break from the round of metallic Starfleet ships of late instead providing our eyes with a more subtlety coloured and relaxing ship with sweeping curves and a less 'blunt' look than we have seen for a while. Even with those forward swept wings it doesn't seem as threatening as the Xindi Reptilian Warship and has an almost spiritual feel to its smooth lines which I turn lies well with its creators' more religious background. 

The colours themselves do a lot to alleviate a dark and dangerous nature being more greens and browns than greys and blacks. Surface finishing touches are a lot less packed onto the surface with distinct colour differences marking out access panels, engine details and cockpit windows. It is a very precise piece and the concern I had was that the end product might have been a bit ragged at the edges however the end product is as smooth and defined as I could have hoped. 

Eaglemoss chose to carve the rear of the upper hull and wings in metal with the bottom of the Transport and the forward section of the hull made from plastic. Looking ahead maybe the choice to make the Holoship 100% plastic was due to the high metal use in this one(!). One important feature that wasn't just blacked out are the engine intake cowls on either side of the fuselage. Instead we have arched intakes with depth to them fitted over the hull rather than formed as a single lump with the rest of the craft. The clever use of the two regular construction materials is a work of genius here as the two almost meld together and initially it was quite hard to tell what was what. This makes a big difference to the overall effect and this attention to detail certainly lifts the Troop Transport out of the average.

It is easily the best of the three Bajoran entries to the collection ahead of the Solar Sailor and the Sub-Impulse Fighter and by some distance at that. It just works in all visual aspects and really the only thing I could push to criticise is the lack of weathering to give it some perspective of age as I suspect it would not be a particularly new craft and is used both in and out of planetary atmospheres. 

Again a rear grip stand clasps firmly around the spreading wings of the Bajoran ship providing that false flight illusion. I was truly prepared to be utterly disinterested by this one but have been pleasantly surprised because of the end result and the way in which these more unusual greens and soft browns have been used to highlight sections. For me this is actually a highlight of the last few months because it's so different. The two tone colour scheme works a treat lifting out different sections of the upper hull while the gold pieces on the bottom do the same to that face of the vessel. Every surface has some kind of patterning to it or structure and it feels very, very complete on every side. Some other ships have, in the past, felt a bit unfinished because the detail has not been 360 degrees - here it most certainly is, even to the tip of the wings.

The magazine veers into some interesting territory after the standard coverage of the craft history and use within Deep Space Nine from early season two appearances to season seven. There's a great designing section which looks over how the information about the Bajorans we learned in season one was pretty much the data used to give the Troop Transport a sense of belonging to the spiritual race. Have to note that the CG version is an incredible reproduction of the model as you'll see. 

What the issue does do differently is provide a step by step guide to Bajoran history and the key events which have changed and shaped their society for thousands of years right up to the end of Deep Space Nine.

OK - two great issues here both in magazine content and in model quality. Both craft have had fleeting appearances in their respective series and while we didn't get the best of looks at either of them on the TV, these models provide an excellent opportunity to laud over two ships that have slipped under the main radar for many years. These later issues have offered up more and more single episode and background starships but it has only helped enhance the franchise as we get to experience the weird and wonderful first hand. 

In other news, we also got a first glimpse of the new shuttles due out at the end of 2016 or perhaps the beginning of 2017 thanks to Ben Robinson on Twitter. We still have to see the executive shuttle from The Undiscovered Country but Ben dropped a great shot of the shuttlepod and Type-7 from The Next Generation and the NX-Class Shuttlepod One from Enterprise. 

These aren't final versions but the results here look great. Seems the shuttlepod from the Enterprise-D is labelled as Aldrin while the Type-7 is named Copernicus. Note it's a variant on the Type-7 with the window strip heading almost all the way to the rear rather than the shorter portals on the 01 Sakharov. There were a lot of changes!!!

Of the three we got to see (plus the graphic for the travel pod), Pod One is definitely getting me most excited. The detail on her looks stunning and while the craft from The Next Generation are all sleek and refined, it's the lumps and bumps on this one that make it. Really looking forward to this set being available.

Fan of the Bajoran Troop Transport or leaning more towards the Warp Delta?

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Schedule Fuller Than Expected

Dammit - it now seems that due to an outrageous workload, apparent saviour of Star Trek on TV, Bryan Fuller is handing over the main reins of the show to another.

News has emerged that Fuller is finding it difficult to manage the show and continue with other commitments leading Gretchen J Berg and Aaron Harberts stepping up to the plate.  

After the delay from January to May 2017 this is yet another grumble for fans to contend with. What started out as an amazing possibility and one that offered new hope for the franchise on the small screen one thing seems to lead to another. 

Fuller appeared to be the light at the end of the tunnel - someone who understood the franchise more than Alex Kurtzman and Heather Kadin and could steer the show in a positive direction that would honour the Roddenberry vision yet be something new and exciting. As of now that seems to be over.

Fuller will continue to exec produce and guide the story of the show but day to day will be in the hands of Berg, Harberts and Alex Kurtzman.

So who are these guys?

Both Berg and Harberts have history with our main man Mr Fuller, working with him on Wonderfalls and Pushing Daisies and working alongside each other on virtually everything from that time onwards - Mercy, Off the Map, GCB, Revenge and Reign. Clearly it's a strong pairing that's worked although my concern with this is that none of their works have been particularly long-lived. In Harberts case his longest producing role was 22 episodes for Mercy (although he did produce/co-produce Roswell High for longer - 39 - but not in a single role). Is this a wise move? Not sure because these guys don't seem to stick around too long in one place so we could have a new showrunner by the end of the first year/Fuller back depending on how they handle the vision. Might there be an option for Nick Meyer to have a stronger lean on the show for its second season IF it gets green lit?

So now we sit six months from premiere date (or one and a bit if we were still looking at a January start) with a few seconds of footage and a picture of some antennae to show since the announcement in November 2015. Supposedly a few rumours have suggested casting announcements will be forthcoming but with the continual changes going on I'm not holding out any hope - all we seem to be getting is negative and there needs to be some positivity!

The way that other sites are reporting this is that Fuller has utterly abandoned the project which is 100% untrue. He's written the first two episodes and remains in control of the bigger picture rather than dealing with the day to day minutiae. Rather than reporting this is surely just the first stage to it being cancelled (yes, seriously there are some sites pushing that), more that it's an evolution process for the show. What guarantee was there that Fuller would have remained for the duration anyway? Was he actually pulled in just to get the show back on the right track? 

Reports from io9 indicate that as well as our lead non-captain role there will be a male gay character, two admirals and a Klingon captain at the forefront of Discovery. If true then this does cement the possibility that we are going to see the Klingon War and by assumption the Battle of Axanar. Fuller has teased that the show will be very different to any previous Star Trek series and by having this Klingon role plus the two admirals you get the impression that Discovery is going to be set across several locations rather than the familiar single Starfleet vessel we have known since The Original Series. Heck, we might even spend a decent amount of time on an old Klingon ship.

While I remain enthusiastically optimistic I can also see where the doubt could be creeping in - the delays, no casting news, multiple production head changes -is it becoming a case of too many cooks or should it be more a case that there is a lot of creativity being mined to make this the best Star Trek show ever made?

Honestly I don't think we have anything to worry about since Bryan Fuller's imprint on the show has already been made and his overseeing gaze will keep the show pointed in the right direction. These are not new names in the mix and have been working with Fuller since Day One so let's give them a chance to make their mark. 

Concerned? Happy? Undecided if all this is a good move?

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Blocked Up: The Official Starships Collection Issues 84 and 85

Firstly my apologies fellow starship collectors for this comes out of sequence due to a house move and a missing delivery (should be here this week...).

So skipping (for now) issues 82 and 83 we arrive at a rare Starfleet coupling. Two issues in one delivery from another two ends of the timeline in Enterprise and the penultimate The Next Generation movie, Insurrection.

So first to the NX-Alpha and a ship featured in the episode First Flight. On appearance it's actually a fairly small craft with a slender fuselage and two very abrupt wings carrying the warp two engines.  It's also immediately apparent that the design is heavily influenced by the Phoenix which carried Zephram Cochrane into the Star Trek history books especially since the cockpit section of that craft was used to film the forward section of this test vehicle.

The nose section is virtually a carbon copy from the Phoenix and that missile structure echo continues as you head back along the body. Eaglemoss have replicated some beautiful detail onto the plastic upper hull section here including that cockpit canopy design and those twin tail fins connected laterally with a strengthening bar/stabiliser. On the underside that plastic twin fin/stabiliser is repeated with the same curve angle but on a slightly bigger scale and the fit and finish on it is perfection. 

The etched panelling and open engine details on top of the craft add to its experimental, early Starfleet history undertones as does the huge first-stage rocket exhaust that bursts from the rear. Worth noting that the join between the plastic and metal components of the NX-Alpha fit together exceptionally well here and there's little evidence of gaps or any misalignment between the two sections.  In fact the join is hidden by that rear fin stabiliser to some extent. 

The whole underside is forged in metal and continues the detail started on the dorsal section precisely and that's most evident around the raised sections marked out on that nose section. As you get further back the surface detail does lessen significantly on the underbelly but you can still make out the pylon fold lines at least. What is very prominent on the main hull are the understated Starfleet markings (red circle, yellow chevron) and the NX project emblem just behind the cockpit on the starboard side. Microscopic but yet these would have been conspicuous through their absence. Also on both sides of the starboard wing is the Greek "alpha" symbol indicating precisely which of the two ships from the episode this is. 

Ok; at the end of those strong metal pylons we have the stumpy warp three engines bearing the familiar red bussard collectors to the front and the "golf ball" exhausts to the rear. There is some finer red highlighted edging in place but what does catch the eye are the air bubbles used to give the bussard collectors a bit more definition and depth. Perfectly aligned they are clearly not an accident and bring the early warp engines to life on this great collection addition. The engines even have inset blue venting which you'll have to squint to make out but I can guarantee Eaglemoss have managed to squeeze it in beneath the piping.

On first look the NX-Alpha is fairly plain and almost a re-run of the more famous Phoenix we've already added to the collection but spend a few minutes to really get to know here and its the smaller details that make her stand out much in the same way as we saw with the ECS Fortunate in its finishing touches. The stand clip around the warp pylons is a sturdy fit here, holding the NX-Alpha from the rear rather than the mid section although the more central placing over the base works well on the eye.

There are a couple of gappy joins around the warp engines towards the rear yet this remains a decent replica to have. Fans will unquestionably prefer the Phoenix but the inclusion of this craft in the series does mark out a very specific journey from that converted missile through to the warp five Enterprise captained by Jonathan Archer. 

Issue 84 packs in a lot of backstory here, running us through the whole warp programme from the Phoenix to the warp three flights and then onto Enterprise. The section covers everything from the ship design through to the tests themselves and of course an overview of the episode First Flight as you would well expect. John Eaves' section on the realisation of the Alpha is essential reading as ever and explores a very different path before the issue of money and available, existing sets tightened the reins and made him steer into line with the craft used by Cochrane for his first warp flight. As always Eaves' sketches and thoughts are a delight to experience and understand what could have been had there been more cash on offer. 

There's also an unusually techie article here on The Road to Warp 5 which offers an impressive insight into the warp scale and precisely how it's supposed to work (if you ignore the bulk of The Original Series) in relation to speed and also in terms of construction materials and techniques. Definitely a great piece for new fans to read and understand some of the deeper parts of the franchise but also a handy bytesize refresher for us more seasoned fans!

Next up and jeez, this is a duffer. I could try and big this one up but I fear we may have one of the most disappointing results since records began with the Federation Holoship. It's wonderful that Eaglemoss are packing in the ships from Insurrection and this makes three after the Cousteau Captain's Yacht and the Mission Scoutship but in essence it's a moderately well detailed plastic block.

Referred to by the wife as "looking like a remote control", the John Eaves designed Holoship looks impressive on screen especially when cloaked in the Baku lake but sadly that doesn't translate well into a three-dimensional display item. 

It's not that it's presented badly because there's a good covering of detail from front to back and top to bottom it's just that, well, it feels a bit cheap given that it is two pieces of plastic stuck together. On the upper hull there's a ton of panelling detail, the prominent forward-placed bridge module as well as computer relay blocks and other greebles to break up the otherwise rectangular design. To the front are the reds of the bussard collectors and to the sides two blue lines indicate the locations of the warp engines themselves within the body of the craft. At the back; two yellow lined indents mark out the placement of the impulse engines and flipping her over there's once again a high level of surface panelling to feast your eyes on.

Problem is, that's it. No translucent engine sections, no metallic fiddly bits and a recess at the front which steps back to - a blank wall. Admittedly the surface is packed with various levels of plastic BUT it truly is one of the most bland and uninspiring ships in the collection. It might even give the Malon Freighter a run for its money as the worst entry to date. Even the rear-grip stand doesn't help it and instead makes it look even more clumsy than it is. I just hope that including this now wasn't just a knee-jerk reaction because there's been so little from Insurrection and nothing so far from Nemesis.

So once you've taken a cursory look over the details of the Holoship it's much more productive to open up issue 85 and get a recap on the craft's part within Insurrection to fool initially the Baku and then later (spoiler!) Ru'afo and the Son'a. There are a couple of new CG images of the flying brick as well as the standard views of the ship. Heck, I can see why there aren't a lot of points to note on those this time round.

Not only is it a double bubble Starfleet month but also a double John Eaves spectacular as he also worked on the design for the Holoship. His original designs were very cool and held those familiar Starfleet lines with a more bulbous shape before he was redirected (as with the NX-Alpha) towards something else; in this case a freighter/old tanker style craft and due to time constraints it's not actually the right way round... 

Closing out the magazine ahead of the standard Key Appearances (Insurrection) is a fitting piece on the screenplay for the ninth Star Trek movie. Given that Sandra Piller has recently had her late husband's book on writing Insurrection published. It's a movie that does come in for its fair amount of criticism but these few brief pages on its evolution do go some way to explaining Michael Piller's decision to take the story in a whole different direction to that posed in First Contact.

What a month huh? The NX-Alpha is a nice piece, well crafted and presented as has become the norm from Enterprise but the Holoship, despite the design work and efforts of John Eaves, just doesn't hold up. Sorry, it's poor and I was actually lost for words with the latter of this month's issues. End of. Nothing more to see.

What's your thoughts on the NX-Alpha and the Holoship?

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Time Twists in Elusive Salvation

Dayton Ward nailed a superb read with History's Shadow three years ago and the long teased sequel (of sorts) dropped earlier this year with Elusive Salvation.   

While this does act as a completely separate story to the events of History's Shadow, Ward's newest trek into the unknown returns familiar faces from episodes of The Original Series (Assignment: Earth), Deep Space Nine (Little Green Men) and Enterprise (Carbon Creek) in a tale which is set between the events of The Motion Picture and The Wrath of Khan as well as across the 1970's and 1980's.

Placing the action within several different years of human history does mean that you need to keep your wits about you from the first page as we move from moments in the 20th Century to the 22nd Century with fair regularity. Keeping up? Good because there's also a couple of new alien races to drop into the scenario at the same time who are the main reason we're flip flopping around the continuum in the first place.   

The pace at which Ward keeps us moving around definitely keeps you pinned to the story all the way through and it's a well-warranted sequel after the apparent success of History's Shadow. Elusive Salvation is a Star Trek novel that isn't quite a Star Trek novel given that it allows a lot of its guest cast a significant amount of room to breathe and exist. At times it almost comes across that Kirk, Spock and the rest of the regular USS Enterprise crew are there as the guest cast in this adventure which tends to focus more on the characters of Roberta Lincoln and the Vulcan Mestral (Carbon Creek). 

Elusive Salvation is a refreshing break from adventures on at the final frontier and the edges of the galaxy bringing the action - in a very reboot way - right back to Earth of two time periods. As for characterisation it did feel somewhat light this time round focusing more on the twists and turns of the time travelling protagonists and leaving them with very little to do. Ok there are a few Kirk quips, an occasional raised Vulcan eyebrow and a cantankerous comment from the good Doctor McCoy but the bulk of the book does rely on Roberta Lincoln for its energy and motivation. For a character who appeared in a single episode of The Original Series, she gets a lot of ground here but very little character depth and at moments I even felt she was coming off a little too much like a female Doctor missing only a TARDIS since the servo she carries is certainly akin to a sonic screwdriver in no uncertain terms. 

While characterisation might suffer here, Elusive Salvation certainly delivers when it comes to maintaining pace and shovelling out the goods in terms of action and suspense. We have the car and mouse hunt for the Iramahl in the 20th Century as well as the observations of Starfleet's finest admirals in Nogura and Morrow in the 23rd Century which are a tad deflated by the sporadic and two dimensional appearance of the Ptaen Hunters who are seeking out the Iramahl survivors. There is a lot happening within this story and some knowledge of the previous tome wouldn't go amiss. Admittedly I haven't read it and did have a furrowed brow at a couple of moments because I wasn't 'in' on past events but don't let this deter you from reading on and enjoy what I must describe as a 'temporal caper'. 

While not Dayton Ward's finest novel it's still a very worthwhile read and one I enjoyed at every turn. There's even some nice hat tips towards the end that will thrill every fan.  Not an essential for your collection but a good 390 page indulgence without question.

You can also read our chat with author Dayton Ward right HERE!

Elusive Salvation is available now from Simon and Schuster priced £7.99 ISBN 9781501111297

Second Half: Altman and Gross' 50 Year Mission Continues

Focusing on everything from The Next Generation onwards, Altman and Gross are back to finish their 50 Year Mission.

It's actually a little inaccurate to call this the second 25 years since it actually kicks off in 1986 but don't allow such a minor nit pick put you off because this is one killer book. 

While the substantial volume one took us from inception through to The Undiscovered Country and thereby a verbal history of the Kirk years, the second - and just as substantial - book explores the spin offs in all their brilliant and sometimes flawed ways. Picard's Enterprise and the four feature films clearly get the largest chunk of the book and rightly so because there's so much to tell and recount. William Shatner's recent Chaos on the Bridge might have unravelled the mess that was the first two seasons but Altman and Gross push even further into the challenges of seasons three through seven, the relentless pace of the show and the unforgiving challenge of maintaining the quality of The Next Generation in its later years. 

Once again no hold is barred here as everyone from Rick Berman down through the bucketload of constantly changing writers to the steady hands of the main cast are brought into play to explain their experiences for good or bad on the show and it's definitely an eye opening read. Usually these Star Trek histories are all nicey nicey and safely written but given that the authors are using material from decades of interviews, articles and convention appearances it allows a much broader and realistic story to be told. 

In the case of The Next Generation things generally were a team game on the studio floor while havoc reigned backstage but the real intrigue comes from reading about the three series that followed; Deep Space Nine, Voyager and Enterprise.

With the space station-based drama it's clear how much cast and producers felt it became the forgotten child while producing some of the most brilliant and groundbreaking episodes of the entire franchise although being allowed to exist in the shadows meant it could do as it pleased for a good proportion of its years especially after the arrival of Voyager in 1995. Most revealing is how the cast of this show actually worked together and related to each other. It wasn't all  happiness and joy it seems but that's nothing in comparison to what Altman and Gross cover in their section on Voyager.

Truly this feels like a proper warts-and-all history of Star Trek as related by the people who were there at all levels of the production and it provides a much more intimate and at times uncomfortable read. There are certainly comments that will make you watch scenes of Seven and Janeway very differently and you will pay much more attention to any dialogue that Robert Beltran was given as the writing staff became more aware of inherent issues surfacing behind the scenes. 

Both Deep Space Nine and Voyager get a good share of the book here. Perhaps not as much as I would have liked but it's significantly more pages than they receive in a lot of other publications commemorating the 50th anniversary. Ironically their lack of coverage just backs up exactly what people like Ira Behr say within this very work. It also shows how much of a free reign the "forgotten child" of the franchise was given in comparison to the more controlled/restrained Voyager that was leading the United Paramount Network in 1995.

Even Enterprise is given a good deal here with only Phlox actor John Billingsley conspicuously absent from any comments. The final series is served well from Broken Bow up to its cancellation which you do find yourself begrudgingly agreeing with once you've understood the challenges it was already facing during the Xindi arc of season three. Agreeably though there is a lot of praise for the fourth and final season which was helmed by Manny Coto and really attempted to provide an origins series and some of the short-lived shows most memorable episodes. The conversations and relationships that developed during those spin off series are truly fascinating reads as they lurch from close working friendships in some cases through to barely manageable working relationships.

The most juicy parts of this oral history though are in fact the parts that you don't know too much about - the in between years from the end of Enterprise's fourth season to the rebooting of the seemingly ailing franchise under the direction of JJ Abrams. It's these lost years, the lost series, the attempted animated web series, J Michael Straczynski's 14 page treatment and all the suggestions stuffed in between which get the pulse pounding - what exactly could have happened if the franchise had taken one of those directions? If that's not enough there's even reflection on the lost novels that would have come out following the 2009 movie but were ditched after being written and edited because they might have jeopardised future movie plot options. Instead we were treated to the graphic novels from IDW which are also covered in skating detail here.

Keeping the book confined to short and sharp quotes and memories from key contributors is a massively effective way of retaining your attention over the course of 700 pages of which I read every single damn word it was that entertaining and informative. As this is the 50th, the book does acknowledge the reboot trilogy especially the ease of '09 and the torments of Into Darkness from both an internal and external point of view. This section uses perspective most effectively gleaning a good angle from the production side and viewer side which includes the thoughts of such Star Trek luminaries as Ronald D Moore and Brannon Braga.

The Fifty Year Mission in both volumes pulls out the stops to provide an intensive reflection on the ups, downs and strife that has affected the show over five decades of success and failure. Splitting it between original Star Trek and the second book focusing just on the spin offs and reboots was a sound call since not everyone will want every aspect but Altman and Gross have to be congratulated for the extensive work that has gone into accumulating all these stories from such a broad spread of individuals across the last 30 years. For note and for those that might think it's out of date before the print has even dried, there is discussion of both Beyond and the "2017 series" although it is not named (in the version I had) as Discovery. Reading quotes from Bryan Fuller in both this and volume one is quite insightful when you consider that he had no idea he would be doing the new series when he was talking about the show over the years!

Sadly not an official production but it is as near as dammit as you could get since every word is the viewpoint of someone who has been closely associated with Star Trek since (in the case of volume two) 1986. I cannot recommend this enough to fans of the show. Not only is it a superb read from cover to cover but one of those books that you can slip in and out of with ease. I would stick my neck out and say that these two volumes are the most important Star Trek works to be produced in its fiftieth anniversary year. Top marks. No question. 

Volume One and Volume Two of The Fifty Year Mission are available now...

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