Be There Klingons? Be There New Cast?

We start by wishing Andrew Mackay all the best for the future.

Because he's gonna need it after snapping away on the set of Star Trek Discovery and probably ending his career as an extra forevermore. Thanks to Stella the Star Trek dog (Nick Meyer's pooch) for letting us know he's gone on Twitter.

Bless him as he has given us a nice shot of what might be Klingons. Admittedly on his caption Mr Mackay does note he is hanging around backstage with his "Klingon crew" but there have been suggestions they aren't Klingons and Mackay himself has indicated he might have got his facts wrong and was just guessing that these are the legendary Star Trek nemeses.

The armour they are wearing in the leaked photo is consistent with the outer wear that appeared in the teaser trailer for the release-date-TBC series and that in turn bears the layered hallmarks of Klingon armour from the movies and TV series. In some senses it also looks not too dissimilar to the costumes worn by the Remans in Nemesis and therefore (due to reuse) the Xindi Reptilians from Enterprise. Personally I think that these are going to be Klingons and that Discovery is re-imagining the warrior race. From the back though it does bear a striking resemblance to the Klingon uniforms of the movies in the shape of the lower half. The shoulder spikes are an interesting touch and so is the fan-like design at the top which does look distinctly reptilian. 

After all The Original Series didn't have the ridges (Enterprise explained that away nicely) nor the armour and The Motion Picture upped the ante by adding those elements - effectively a re-imagining itself. Notably though in the movie the ridges extended right around the skull which is only evident again on General Chang and "confirmed" to some degree in Ethics when we got to see Worf's ridged back during his spinal operation. Interestingly the armour itself has a very similar spinal, ridged design...just saying....

Indeed the look of the Klingons stayed solidly the same from 1979 through The Next Generation up to Enterprise. The look is familiar, the style is settled and the next big change came firstly from the helmeted guards in the cut Rura Penthe scene from the 2009 reboot and then from the adversaries encountered on Q'onoS in Into Darkness. The ridges were still present but less prominent and ornamented by chains and a lot less facial hair.

L to R: TOS Errand of Mercy, The Motion Picture, Star Trek Into Darkness

Now fans are getting all wound up over this suggested Klingon return and re-imagining once again. Hey, they might not even be Klingons but it does look like there are similarities such as those full head ridges and the stylised armour. These could be any old (or new) aliens and on one hand I'm not wholly convinced they are Klingons purely due to the lack of hair and the longer face shape which seems to indicate full facial prosthetics rather than just a forehead. I can't see what all the fuss is about because this is a new show and while it does/has to fit - eventwise - into the canon Prime Universe visually it's going to be different and we've seen a lot of that more than evident in the snatched glimpses of uniforms, costumes and sets in that key teaser trailer. This ain't 1966 anymore and neither is it 1987 if you get my drift.

What I don't comprehend is why people are giving this picture such a hard time. Again and again I keep noting that we have yet to see the show on the screen and should really leave our judgement until the show has aired. Makeup and costume will naturally develop and evolve over time and that will definitely be true of Discovery. It would just look weird if it remained true to the aesthetics of The Original Series or even Enterprise. Times change, processes take leaps and there's a natural progression. It happens, get over it.

I'm quite excited to see exactly who these guys are and what their agenda is within the series. Getting a sneaky peek might have cost Mr Mackay his job but think of all the great publicity it's nurtured and the interest in the show it is helping to maintain. It does need help especially with all the launch date changes.

The sheer number of these costumed extras also indicates in itself that they must play a key part in at least the first episode of the show. If they aren't significant would you really need so many? That too might push me towards confirmation that they are Klingons given that we have three of them in the main cast list so far announced. 

We also received news of three new cast members joining the ranks of Discovery. Our most senior Starfleet officer seems to be Terry Serpico who is taking the part of Admiral Anderson while Maulik Pancholy will be the USS Shenzhou's Chief Medical Officer Doctor Nambue and Sam Vartholomeos will also be on Captain Georgiou's (Michelle Yeoh) starship as a junior officer from the Academy called Ensign Connor. 

Serpico's biggest role is in 108 episodes of Army Wives (never seen it) although he has had multiple TV and film roles since 1997. Pancholy has performed voice work on Sanjay and Craig and Phineas and Ferb plus a 63 episode stint on 30 Rock between 2006 and 2013. Finally Vartholomeos is best known for his work on The Secret Life of Walter Mitty although IMDB seems to have no record of him whatsoever. I would say that Discovery is going to be his big breakthrough role so this could be the start of something big for him.

This is becoming quite a sizeable cast list although whether all these characters will be in every episode or make it into a second season is highly doubtful. It does seem to be a very ensemble-focused series much more than it's predecessors which were much more zoned in on a select eight or nine characters for the whole duration of its lifetime. I would expect that for a second season only a selection of this initial roster will return.

Liking the Klingon look? What about the new cast announcements?

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State of the Independents: Attack Wing Borg and Gorn Expansions

Ahhhh the Soong.

Derided by many it was the enemy vessel that carried Lore and his individualistic Borg through many a transwarp corridor before finally being vapourised through some clever manoeuvring from Doctor Crusher and her rag-tag crew on the Enterprise.

This was actually released one heck of a while ago for Attack Wing (Wave Six and we're now up to 28) but at a fraction of the original retail price I'm always one to strike for a bargain and grabbed it for under a fiver. For a while I've been playing as the Federation, occasionally changing to the Romulans but I wanted to see how effective an Independent faction could be. Yes, the Soong does fall into the Borg team as well but I actually think its presence on its alternative side are much greater.

It's the only Borg designated vessel which can fly "normally" instead of straight with 90 degree turns and has fairly average stats meaning it's actually possible to beat it in a fight. As a model it might be a teenth of the size of the Eaglemoss craft but I actually think the colouring is much more 'realistic' than its larger counterpart. 

It's an utter beast, clocking in with a starting score of 38 backed up with six attack, one defence, seven hull points and five on shields. Basic actions include Evade, Target Lock and Scan and there's a lightning fast top speed of five (incurs auxiliary power token) if you're looking to get in and out of trouble. Along with the usual banks and 90 degree turns at speed three there's also the eve-useful 180 turn to put you right back in the fight. 

As a unique action for the Soong you can perform a free Evade action if you've just run at speed five and have no enemy craft in your forward firing arc. Effectively it's allowing an action even though you've just incurred one of those auxiliary power tokens. Very useful indeed! For upgrades there are two slots for Crew, one Tech, one Weapon and one Borg option available offering a good range of additional features of which there are a fine few in this set.  It's certainly filled packed with opportunity and the chance to deal some big damage for either faction it can represent.

If you choose to use he generic version of the ship - the Borg Type 3 - you will lose one of your shield points plus the unique action and one Crew upgrade slot for a cost of 36 points. The ship can only be used by the Borg and not as an Independent craft in this instance which might put you off choosing to save a couple of points here. Even as a generic version it's still an expensive ship to field although the result might be heavily in your favour.

Captain choices are rather cool with the option to take either Lore or Hugh. For note you can also find the young, individualistic Borg as a captain or a crewmember over on the Borg Scout Cube. Lore comes aboard with a skill of seven and can field one of those Elite Actions.  This Independent faction captain will cost you four points but there's the chance to add another Crew upgrade to your options for starters and you can subsequently use Lore to discard one of your Crew to add another die to your attack. Talk about a flexible command option because he can also field ANY Elite Action regardless of faction without fear of a penalty.

Hugh is also an Independent captain allowing you to add Crew upgrades for a point less than their card value. Like Lore he's pretty flexible and for his two point cost, Hugh will also allow you to add Borg upgrades to your ship but without that faction penalty.  These are two very strong command options for the Independent faction and certainly this is a much better High than we got with the Scout Cube.

To the Elite Actions and we have two to choose from here. Experimental Link harks back to the attempted and failed experiments Lore was performing on some of the freed Borg drones in Descent. In the Soong pack this is the Borg Elite Action where you can either discard the card and up to three Drone tokens or Disable up to three Crew upgrades to re-roll the equivalent number of Attack dice. While his can only be used for a Borg captain, Diversionary Tactics let's you target a ship at a maximum of range two as long as it's not in your forward firing arc for the cost of the action card and one of your Crew upgrades. It means the opponent targeted cannot attack you that round and loses one of its own Crew upgrades. Again I just can't fault the ferocity of this vessel and the additions it brings to the game. These actions just add more fuel to the fire.

The Soong carries space for a few Crew options and the pack comes with four which can all be used on either Borg or Independent ships - Crosis, Bosus, Goval and Torsus. Key character Crosis is the most expensive at five points but his upgrade results in quite spectacular results. By discarding him you can disable a Crew upgrade on an opponent's ship and then steal a Crew upgrade to use on your own craft even if it exceeds your own point and spec limit. A very useful card well worth the high points cost although it might be better on an Independent ship since using it on a Borg ship will cost you an additional two Drone tokens on top of the points just covered. 

With Torsus you'll also be using a Drone token if your ship has a Borg captain. You can discard him to increase your Captain skill by two points until the end of the phase more than likely allowing you to fire first in the combat step and most useful if it's a you-or-them situation. Both he and Bosus cost two points to equip.

Again though for two points Bosus is a damn useful upgrade even if he has to be chucked at the end of it. Should any of your upgrades be discarded as the result of an enemy attack/action then they can be placed under this card and when you choose to cash in Bosus you can add an extra attack die  that round for that action card and those underneath it. Potentially this could add four dice to one attack; utter madness. Of course if you stick him on a Borg ship it will cost two Drone tokens.

Rounding out the four is Goval. While the others are extremely aggressive options for the Soong, this one point costing upgrade offers some form of defence in that he can be discarded to stop another Crew upgrade from being disabled or discarded. Rather a useful card once again that provides this expansion with some excellent points from every angle. Goval will cost one of your Drone tokens if he's on a ship with a Borg captain. Best using every single one of these Borg on an Independent craft!

We have two Borg Weapon upgrades available with Photon Torpedoes costing six points and the spending of a Target Lock plus the disabling of the card to be used. Five attack dice are in use here and you'll spot there's no rear firing arc but this card will let you damage one extra shield point if the attack is successful in any way. Good that this is available given the limited firing options of the Soong and the fact that it can already fire with six dice from its primary weapon. Secondly there's Forward Weapons Array that provides a multi-targeting option. 

Costing six points you can attack up to three ships in your forward firing arc each with three dice. Attacking just one ship adds three dice to the attack (six) while attacking two let's you hit each with a four dice attack. Able to be used at everything up to range three this is really opening up the options to use this ship as your lead craft and be a ship to be feared. Shame you can't use either of these on an Independent ship though.

A big feature of the Soong in Descent was its ability to open subspace distortions and the lone Tech upgrade offers this and you can discard the card and roll the same number of dice as your starting shield value. Add to that the chance to re-roll any blank results up to the amount of active shields you have and the Soong becomes seriously armour-plated. Also tracking that quick travel feature is Transwarp Conduit. Again a Borg feature it is a Borg upgrade so that kind of makes sense.  

It's the equivalent of the Quantum Slipstream drive or the Picard Maneuver where you can remove the ship from the field of play, discard the card plus any tokens on the ship (except Auxiliary Power Tokens) and then drop her back into play outside of range three of any enemy vessel. Is there's anything that this expansion doesn't offer? It has to be one of the strongest offered by Wizkids and offers the Independent player some chance of a decent game plus gives the Borg faction a more flexible moving ship and some more powerful upgrades.

Descent is the name of the game too as the two-player scenario has a 70 point Federation ship taking on a 70 point Borg Type Three. In this case though the Federation ship can have nine Crew upgrades assigned but not Data. However only the usual number of allowed Crew upgrades can be active on the ship with the others disabled and used only as Away Team. The objective is to use your crew to beam down to the MS-1 colony and rescue Data and victory is secured when he's aboard and the Away Teams are recovered or if Data is recovered and the Borg ship destroyed in that specific order. The Borg can win if Data is not rescued by the time the Federation ship leaves the area or by destroying the Federation vessel.

It's a cool pack overall however there is a distinct lean towards the Borg options rather than the Independent. That's not saying Indy players get a bad deal out out what is available just that there is a distinct weighting towards the cybernetic lifeforms.

A second very inexpensive expansion I managed to acquire this month was the Gornarus. Again with that goal of building a decent Independent faction I chose to hunt out one of my favourite Star Trek races and their rather unimpressive starship. Recently reproduced by Eaglemoss on a much bigger scale it's not one of the franchise's most memorable designs and between the two replicas there are some clear differences.

Carrying a basic score of 22 rather than the Soong's 38, the Gornarus lands with three in attack, one in agility, three hull and four shield points. There are singular slots for a Weapon, Tech and Crew upgrade plus a standard payload of Evade, Target Lock, Scan and Battle Stations to start you off. The unique action is a wee bit nifty too even considering its less than intimidating stats; if Critical Damage is inflicted on an enemy ship's hull then you can find either Structural Damage or Weapons Malfunction in the Damage Deck rather than having your opponent select a card at random. As usual the generic version of the ship loses a shield point plus it's Weapon upgrade option  and the unique action, dropping its cost to 20 points.

One question here has to be why is the shot on the generic card and the movement card the rear view of the Gornarus? Strange one but it doesn't change how you play the game - more of an off the cuff observation!

As for movement the Gorn starship lands in very general territory with a four forward maximum speed, a full range of moves at speeds two and three (tight right and left at three are red) as well as a useful (and also red move) 180 degree turn at speed three. No big spectacular options there and it was an early sign of what we ended up with a lot in the 20 plus waves.

At least our main captain choice is a familiar face and is this time named S'Sesslak. He has a skill of five for a cost of three points with the Elite Action emblem present to give that extra boost. His unique action is quite similar to how torpedoes operate, offering the chance to convert a dice - in this case a blank result - into a Damage result or a Damage result into a Critical Damage. Certainly a way to up the ante with no penalty for its repeat use. As an Independent fleet captain he makes a strong case. Slightly less costly is Slar costing two points with a Captain skill of three. Benefits here are singular allowing you to field the Salvage Elite Action upgrade only. Bit meh to be fair and probably one to leave in the deck.

Speaking of Salvage, it does provide a great chance to add some more muscle to your ship should someone nearby be knocked out of the game. If a ship is destroyed within range two you can discard the card, disable your Active Shields and steal a Tech or Weapons upgrade costing five or less points even if it goes over your own ship's limits. Means there's no hope of borrowing any Borg goodies but it might allow you to grab something decent that could come in handy. However, picking yourself a prize will mean incurring a Disabled token on the acquired item and an Auxiliary Power Token. Sounds harsh but you will eventually reap the benefits!

A second Elite Action option with the Gornarus is Faked Messages. For five points once everyone has been chosen (not moved) you can discard the card to force a ship within range three to alter its path to a single one forward. A very useful opportunity to get a player exactly where you want them - and if you have another part of your fleet with Salvage available it could be a big bonus.

There's one new Crew upgrade here in Gorn Raiding Party which provides the chance to disable two of an opponent's active shields and if there are no shields active then disable all upgrades on that craft. For five points the chance to put a huge spanner in the works of your adversary is one not to miss. Limited to a maximum of range two it might be but the results will be capability limiting for some time. Targeted Phaser Strike replaces Photon Torpedoes here increasing the Gornarus' attack from three to four dice. Costing four points with a maximum range of three it inflicts standard damage but for every Damage or Critical Damage result the enemy ship also gets a Weapon upgrade disabled. Seems that this craft is very much designed around a pirate concept and would work admirably as a background support craft causing havoc on ships while you have something larger inflicting the terminal damage. 

Improved Deflector Screens (four points) as a Tech upgrade utilises your active shields and for each you have still in operation you get to cancel a Damage or Critical Damage result. It's not a disable action but does become a discard if all shields are destroyed which is a nice twist in that it can't be used if you've suffered a certain level of damage - there aren't many of these in the game at all. Only ships with hull scores of three or less can use this one so it does back up that possibility of using the Gornarus (or other Independent craft) as a nippy little support ship. The other Tech upgrade provided is Impulse Overload for five points. Affecting a ship at range one, if you roll a Damage or Critical Damage result off three attack dice then your opponent must discard one of their Tech upgrades. Once more a chance to rid your enemies of their bonus skills. 

Finally we have Jammed Communications rounding out a trio of Tech cards. It keeps in line with the pack making this a very slippery little ship to face since it stops all ships within the maximum range three using any text abilities during the round. I'd take that as using any upgrade cards and by any I mean ANY ship including your own. How much of an effect might this have on a game if you're facing a player who likes to use multiple card combos in a round?!

Only Ambush at Cestus III could be the mission for this pack, harking back to the classic Arena. It places you one on one; Gorn versus Federation with 45 points a piece. The Federation player has a three man away team to recover from the planet and to then destroy the Gorn vessel while the Gorn must destroy the Federation ship while it has not recovered the whole away team. If it can't manage that then the Gorn ship must escape! A simple scenario but one that looks easier than it probably plays since beaming back is made all the more difficult by relying on certain rolled dice results.

The Gornarus pack itself doesn't offer big firepower but more the chance to level the playing field and take away the advantages of others. I think I can see this working best against mid-range craft with several upgrades - or Borg! It's one of the more unique sets and reviewing it alongside the Borg/Independent Soong made me appreciate how varied the options for the Independent faction actually are. They aren't as heavily armed but have a whole host of tricks out there to use. Of all the factions they are definitely the one that wins the most from picking the most effective upgrades.

Are these worthy additions to the fleet or should I be looking at other factions instead?

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A Fitting Legacy? The 50th Anniversary Trilogy

I'm still pretty shocked I burnt through these three novels in the course of just three weeks.

The Legacies trilogy consists of Captain to Captain (Greg Cox), Best Defense (David Mack) and Purgatory's Key (Kevin Dilmore and Dayton Ward) and spins a tale surrounding a mysterious object known as the Transfer Key that has been hidden aboard the USS Enterprise since the days of Captain Robert April with its secret transferred from captain and first officer to their successors which brings us neatly to Kirk and Spock.

The three novels follow on seamlessly but each has a very different story to tell using the Transfer Key as the cornerstone from which everything is built. Cox's first third of the story is the origins piece, cleanly establishing the nature of the device and relating it very closely to another item which made an appearance in The Original Series. An origins story might not sound that exciting but the gem here is that the story flips back in time to the era of April and it's discovery and concealment. 

Central to the whole thing is one character - Captain Una aka. Number One from The Cage who served under both of Kirks predecessors on the Enterprise. It is her arrival at the beginning of Captain to Captain which sparks events into motion and by the end you kind of wish she'd just stayed away and saved everyone a heck of a lot of haste. 

As a character never really explored beyond the hour of the unaired pilot, Number One is a huge blank canvas waiting to be sketched out. Or maybe not. As for background we do get some details as to her academy record and the reasons behind her numerical nickname and short chosen moniker as well as a cool nod to the Enterprise's computer voice and just how come it sounds the same as Una. 

Along with the Transfer Key at the core of the first book we also have the introduction of two alien races whom will also be featured across the anniversary trilogy and cross paths with the crew and the returning Number One. Captain to Captain however does not work solely as a standalone novel because Cox is tasked with a lot of set up and explanation which is handled well and does give the subsequent books a lot more room to breathe. I actually found this first book the most captivating for that very reason and that Cox seemed more aware of his environment than Mack who slipped in a couple of very out of place colloquialisms that did jar me a little when I was reading through. 

In relation to characterisation Cox also nails this very well avoiding turning the cast into all out action heroes and retaining a sense of The Original Series. In relation to Best Defenses especially I did sense that Mack went off on a big action adventure piece with apparent influences from the more recent reboots perhaps affecting the way in which the story evolved. While it was an enjoyable read I did feel that Captain to Captain created an epic path and prospects that weren't captured fully in the second part. While it's a good read there are a few final points that just seem to come out of nowhere to bolster the trilogy but fortunately they are managed very effectively by the subsequent writers.

Now Best Defenses is, fortunately, different to its predecessor taking that more action orientated slant but also drawing on Star Trek's rich character base to add a slab of continuity to the proceedings. Klingons, Romulans and Vulcans all have their place at David Mack's table including such franchise returnees as Gorkon (The Undiscovered Country) and Spock's father Sarek although whether all their presences are necessary is a bit borderline.

Again the action content is pretty heavy and there are now several different threads to manage so skipping book one is not an option. There's the conference, Number One's activities in the alternative dimension plus the goings on aboard a Romulan Bird of Prey to balance and remember. It's not as linear as Captain to Captain but the amount of information and development that happens in Best Defenses cannot be ignored in any sense. 

As for characters Kirk and the Enterprise crew are faithfully recreated and I find with authors such as Mack and Cox they tend to avoid the use of colloquialisms that jar you out of the 23rd Century environment. It's faithful to the show and with this being the Legacy trilogy it would be silly to expect anything less than an indulgent - and period accurate - read. While Mack has Sarek pinned well there are times he almost slips into an action hero role but one representation i just couldn't grip properly was Gorkon. The soft spoken statesman from The Undiscovered Country might be a fair few years away but there's very little hint of that personality within Best Defenses and more so in Purgatory's Key. For some reason he is most certainly cast in a more active and warrior-like Klingon role than you appreciate in the sixth classic movie. Sadly it's a blip that does give me a grumble in an otherwise highly enjoyable trilogy of books.

The supreme issue with this book and by association the trilogy is that the wrapping up of the various strands is done in a smattering of pages and seems to be over before it's even started. Ok there's a little bit of cleanup work after that but the drawing together of (most of) the story elements does feel a little rushed given the 900 page build up. As a trilogy it really does offer lots through the first two books with the second not just a place holder and instead building and adding to Captain to Captain. Problem is that there's a lot left for Purgatory's Key to do and even with a 340 page offering to round everything out it still felt a little incomplete and hurried.

The writing itself is solid and there's no schoolboy errors here but the quality of the end result is just tarnished by that breakneck pace to clean everything up nicely. I could have more than abided a few loose strands left floating for future stories but alas that doesn't happen although I would welcome some more novels to feature Number One now that she's stepped into the limelight here - so much potential. 

The Legacies trilogy is a grand milestone in the literary series however its memory might fade pretty quickly especially since there's the rather impressive Prey trilogy right after it...

Was Legacies the trilogy we deserved for the 50th anniversary? Were you wanting more or something totally different?

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Collective Intelligence: The Graphic Novel Collection Issue Three

Up to full price this week as issue three of the Graphic Novel Collection arrives on shelves.

For your £9.99 at newsagents you won;t even get a double size piece of backing cardboard as it's business as usual with Hive, our third representative from the folds of IDW.  Yes, we're here for some time too as everything to issue six is also IDW and therefore fairly recent in Star Trek graphic novel history.

However, Hive is a phenomenal read at every turn, giving us a twist in the future history of the franchise and paving a vision of what might happen should the Borg finally manage to assimilate everything and a last line of resistance in the form of a reborn android and his former commanding officer.

From a story by Star Trek writer/producer Brannon Braga comes a time-warping, generation-spanning adventure that should be the be all and end all for the malevolent Borg and stretches across five centuries from the re-assimilation of one Locutus to the events which unfold here. 

The four-part tale places the Federation under direct peril once again from their ultimate enemy but there might be a way to salvation with the help of returning Voyager character Seven of Nine. Rather less than a textbook encounter, writers Terry Matalas and Trevor Pickett keep the story moving at a searing rate flipping from the 24th Century into the more distant future and the post-Borg apocalypse across the volume and still manage to neatly bring all the elements together and, it goes without saying, save the day (I'm really not ruining the ending there, trust me). 

Illustration wise the art of Joe Corroney is much more sketchy and evidently darker than we experience with J K Woodward in The City on the Edge of Forever who was going more for a photo-realistic delivery but it is similar to David Messina's work which was the opening volume in Countdown. I find Corroney to be a little more interpretive than Messina with his artwork being a little more flourished and less restricted. Indeed, Countdown had to tie into a movie while Corroney has the opportunity to throw in some ship designs, tweak the Borg Queen and come up with a whole new concept for the 29th Century and its Borg-dominated landscape. 

What I am liking about the collection is the choice to add in a small history lesson around the writers and the time at which the story was originally written. It helps make these volumes accessible to all and adds a bit more depth to proceedings. The other inclusion of artwork is a nice move too with cover art work and some original page work to cast your eyes over. It's the inclusion of these titbits that make this all the better as a collection.

And then there's Gold Key number three, Invasion of the City Builders.

I'm sure everything that can be said has been said when it comes to this late 1960's attempt to bring Star Trek to the comic book market. All the great errors and misunderstandings that pervaded the previous two stories are still here but this time they even manage to cram in the Enterprise flying inside an atmosphere on its rockets. I have no words, honestly.

BUT it's a great action/adventure story that would have been greatly welcomed at a time where there was very little Star Trek apart from the episodes that were screened on the TV and then there wasn't a massive following as history purports to tell us time and time again. For effort it will always get high marks but with the quality we are presented in Hive and in the previous title stories, the Gold Key archive is a twee add-on to fill out the issue and "complete" the collection. Warning; we have at least two more coming in issues four and five according to the blurb on the back of the issue three packing card.

So far I've been very impressed with the quality of the collection and, because I've never read any of these stories it's all fresh so I'm getting value for money without question. I think the only thing I could point a finger at is the variety we've had to date - only Gold Key and IDW and none of the other publishers we've been promised on the backing cards from issues one and two. I would hope this is going to be corrected as soon as possible for a better spread across the years although I'm in no way saying that the offerings have been poor. Just give us something a bit different...!

Next up - and what should be my first subscription delivery (late starter what can I say...) is Spock: Reflections and The Next Generation's The Space Between. Counting the days now.

Subscribing or cherry picking your issues? What stories do you hope the collection will include? Let us know below!

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Trail of Discovery: First Glimpses

Fourteen months of waiting seem to be starting to pay off with our first proper look at some of the elements that will make up Star Trek Discovery.

Released on January 31st, the 60 second trailer for the show recalls the ambition of Gene Roddenberry in its opening words and his "Star Trek is..." pitch opening before taking us through a series of snapshots through the five series of the show including behind the scenes pics from The Cage, Tomorrow is Yesterday, Encounter at Farpoint, All Good Things..., Deep Space Nine, Caretaker, Code of Honor, These are the Voyages, Genesis plus candid cast photos from Deep Space Nine and The Next Generation - oh and watch out for the one of De Lancie as the Q-Borg which never went on screen.

However, the real exciting stuff kicks in from around the 22 second mark with the announcement that Star Trek Discovery (note the lack of a colon in there) will begin that sentence once again. In almost lightning fashion we get to see the construction of a set from a couple of angles although precisely what the set is can't be made out. From some of the curves it might be alien but then it could just as likely be the Discovery or Shenzou starship standing sets for the first season. Is that oval block to the front a turbolift? Is that a bridge ceiling?

We get a clapper board for the first take of scene 8B (VIIIB) for episode 101 directed by David Semel with the board still bearing the older "sketchy" delta. There's also a director's chair back with that same older logo emblazoned on it just to tease a bit more.

As we get the announcement that Production has begun there's our first look at some costumes. Now for me the armoured effect very strongly suggests these are Klingon outfits but how they fit into canon between Enterprise and The Original Series is a head-scratcher. There's a lot of detail on the panels with some rather brutal shoulder spikes on both outfits we can see. The arm plating is what really suggests Klingon in the way that it's layered similar to that which we are familiar with in the 80's and 90's series and movies.

Next up - external shots of the USS Discovery. Now if this is right there haven't been a dramatic amount of changes to the overall shape of the craft but more some final touches. The style is still clearly Planet of the Titans inspired and it looks as though there has been some retouching on the profiles of the warp engines making them a bit more rectangular and detailed to front and rear. At this distance though I can't see much else that's been tweaked since we got the teaser from Bryan Fuller all those months ago.

Fleetingly there's a shot of someone in an internally lit helmet so could we be getting some space-walking in the pilot? No real indication what this might be but I'm gonna throw that opinion right in there.  Now the BIGGIE for me has to be the "uniform fitting". As a side note you've got to follow this guy on Twitter because his vids are brilliantly entertaining. Anyway - we're getting a high collar on a blue uniform with gold braiding around the seams to the arms. Now given that this uniform has a Support Services reversed "9" on it I think we can say one of two things. Either all the uniforms are blue as with Enterprise or that this is actually the more formal dress uniform option and the duty uniforms are being held back for another day.  What I am liking is that the Starfleet delta - which I thought only came in after it was adopted by Starfleet from the Enterprise - has that vertical split akin to the series logo and that they are polished metal rather than being material patches. 

Maybe one of the controversial points in the new trailer for the show is the wire model of a starship. Potentially the Shenzou or the John Glenn (a starship noted as being in the show by designer John Eaves) it has some eerie similarities (as noted by a few persons online) to a certain USS Ares from notorious production Axanar. Co-incidence? Possibly, after all there can only be so many iterations of the design at this point in fleet history.  Look at the saucer design though and you can make out clear similarities to the profile of the NX-01 saucer with those side "humps" around the bridge. The warp engine design does seem a little too streamlined for my liking and has a profile not dissimilar to those on a Jem-Hadar fighter.

Once again we have a blink-and-miss production shot of what could be the bridge of a starship given the position of the doors and the overall shape but it's just too far away to make out any clear details. We follow this with a shot up an under-construction stairway and some kind of spinning device, both of which must be important to the plot of episode 101 although what precisely is, like much in this trailer, open to serious interpretation at this time.

Closing out we have a command chair with some rather nifty fold-out and down arms followed by the newly updated Star Trek Discovery logo. It's coming. Soon apparently. I do like the updated logo that keeps with the feel of the franchise as a whole however the "sketchy" version did have its own unique identity. Either way not a big issue I guess.

Google Images

As with all trailers there are some golden nuggets in there which will make a whole lot more sense in a few months or even weeks if we start seeing some cast and production pics. Meanwhile we got to hear of a further two castings this week in the form of (possibly) the Discovery conn officer who could be played by Emily Coutts (probably most well-known for appearing in Dark Matter) plus a vid of Chris Obi on the way to set had what Trekmovie.com believes to be Maulik Pancholy in the car but he could just be catching a lift... Coutts so far doesn't have much more than guest-star credits so appearing in Discovery could be her first regular TV role from what I can tell.

At least the trailer from yesterday shows that we have a programme in the making - Discovery is a real thing and it is happening although what date we'll get to see it is still to be determined by CBS' crystal ball.

Check out our other selected images from the new teaser below...

Beltran and Picardo on set; Voyager

New Discovery set - but what is it?

Bridge plans for the Discovery?

Q-Borg!

"Old" Discovery logo on director's chair

Klingon kostumes?

High, formal collars - dress or duty uniforms?

Taking command - is this the new centre seat?

Has the new trailer upped your anticipation for Discovery? What did you think to some of the sneak peeks?

All Discovery images screenshot from CBS trailer.

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