A Spicy Dish: The Official Starships Collection Issues 117 and 118

The time of the kitbash continues as for the fifth subscription delivery in a row we have a ‘made up’ ship out of the gate.

This time it’s not from Wolf 359 but from the other big military encounter of Star Trek, the Dominion War in The shape of the Curry Class.

Featured once and only once in Deep Space Nine’s A Time to Stand pre-titles sequence, the USS Curry is another one of those oddments that fans have revelled in for years along with those Wolf 359ers. 

A clear combination of Excelsior Class parts, I was fully expecting the Curry to be a letdown; a horrid matchup of leftovers slammed together just to fill a screen gap. Now in the case of the original that might well have been the case but with the Eaglemoss replica there feels to be something more to this one the second you pull her out of the box.  

Just getting your hands around this one there’s an immediate sense that the Curry has been well-constructed. It feels solid, it looks detailed and not the hitch-potch it could have been. For starters the reconstituted Excelsior saucer section is a solid metal circle and you can appreciate how much more this model ‘gives’ in regards to detail as opposed to the very small scale Excelsior and Enterprise-B. That upper hull carries a rather gorgeous weathered aztec paint scheme coupling an off-white base colour with a mottled grey which adds depth to the hull.

The paint isn’t over-applied either as we have seen on multiple occasions where the panel lines have been almost lost under layers of grey. We also get to have a really close look at the impulse engine block to the rear of the saucer and the very impressive two-blue finish Eaglemoss have managed to work on here. The precision panelling is spot on with each piece defined by the tone on top of that base off-white coat. 

The raised detail is fantastic and I definitely recommend a quick compare of how well this scale has worked for the Curry as opposed to the same tiny and over cluttered section on the Excelsior. Eaglemoss even manages to work a third colour, gold, onto the bridge dome and add to the depth successfully because it's a clean marking up.

Ok, let's drop down slightly because the metal dome of the saucer also extends down onto the warp engine pylons. Good shout there because it adds to the overall strength of the ship and you can never have too much metalwork when it comes to engine attachment. The metalwork does end with the standard middle plastic insert into the underside of the saucer that connects the primary hull to the modified Excelsior Class Engineering section.

Again the scale here allows a much clearer analysis of the fan favourite starship class first seen in The Search for Spock and you can only imagine how great the XL version of the Enterprise-B will be. The hull plating is stunning, azteced and with a ton of colour and easter eggs to boot.

The secondary hull is connected by the chunky Excelsior Class neck but a close look and you'll spot a reconditioned half a hull from a Type 6 shuttle chucked in there as a greeble. cool move and it's mirrored on the underside of the secondary hull to the back with another butchered shuttle but hold that thought.

The fact that we have this recreated is amazing - it shows the attention to detail that Eaglemoss have gone to that even a really well hidden feature such as this is there to see. The upper part of the hull is again superbly finished with that familiar grey sectioned paint scheme in evidence but with the noticable difference of the shuttlebay being switched to the front rather than the rear. It also has the addition of the Starfleet delta emblem riding on the nose which wasn't evident in the distance shot from A Time to Stand thanks to the severe battle damage the ship had incurred. This model in comparison means that we get a complete vision of the "mint" version of this Frankenstein starship rather than the battered version we saw limping from battle.

The challenge with the secondary hull is that the placement of it - quite centrally under the saucer - means that the top detail is only just visible in the right light and up close. Flip over again and take a look at the rest of the hull. Marked up with the usual Starfleet pennants to both port and starboard, the deltas point the same way to the front and in the font you can make out the ship name and United Federation of Planets but it's hard to see even at this level. For once it's great to have a deflector that is accurately painted. It's a good, clean circle set slightly back from the lower edge of the recess with a lovely smooth finish wrapped around it. Here's one to check out on the bottom - those two red stripes are actually raised hull features and not just decals which I suspected before running a finger nail over them. They're actually raised and painted!

One more thing here is the quality of the finish on the deflector and the recess. It's just on more point as to why the Excelsior Class ships should have been just that bit bigger.

That underside on the secondary hull is awash with features. Immediately the unusual curvature of the hull draws you in and then back to the rear where the photon torpedo tubes are still evident but there's also, slapped right between them, another cut up shuttle section. Good reuse of materials and quite unexpected but that's some of the beauty of these replicas is that they contain the errors, the mini jokes and the outside-box-thinking that was all part of life on Star Trek when it came to building real, physical starship models. The inclusion of these two different shuttles is genius and for Eaglemoss to honour that is brilliant - it truly is trying to bring these to life in their most realistic form possible.

The stand positioning is decent with the Curry, with the clip sliding firmly over and under the saucer in that familiar position it seems 98% of Federation ships seem to have. No problems with this one keeping its place on the stand.

Finally the Curry is tipped with two warp engines. There's no translucent sections on these and the warp field grilles are opaque. In contrast to the rest of the ship these two propulsion units are from the older Miranda Class starships (ie USS Reliant, USS Saratoga...) but are in their largest reproduced form to date. The detailing is slick with the backs marked up with the ship registry. Also there's a lot of blue highlights on these engines and when you spot this it draws your attention to the colouring that's to the rear of the main hull and the paintwork at the back of the saucer. Must be one of the more brightly detailed Federation ships in t\his respect. Only minor gripe is the join lines around the engines are very visible and there were a few gaps around the edges on mine which were very noticeable when you look from the bottom.

Frankly though this is a magnificent kitbash and I'd say it's one of the best, certainly a better result than the lovely Centaur Class we've already had. The inclusion of these kitbashes is a brave move but it means we are getting to see some of the more weird and wonderful ship designs from the last 30 years of the franchise.

The magazine offers up the full backstory and reasoning as to why the Curry Class looks like it does and how it came about. Being from Deep Space Nine it allows the narrative in the ship profile to cover the events of the Dominion War and the part that the Curry played in at least one encounter. 

The CG images are wonderful with the plan views in particular emphasising the mottled paintwork on the hull as well as the multiple colour shades that are in play. 

The creation of the USS Curry model is well documented and it's a pleasure to see a ton of images of the finished, onscreen, starship replete with its extensive scarring and damage. The speed that Dan Curry came up with the design is incredible and this double page just covers off the details of that lightning quick process from concept to screen.

Closing out the issue is, in fact, a whole section dedicated to the starship;s namesake and the work he put into Star trek be it as an occasional director, the creator of the mek'leth and bat'leth or one of the original team that worked on creating the effects for The Next Generation, Dan Curry has had a huge impact on the look and feel of the 24th and 22nd Centuries of the franchise and this article goes some way to show exactly what impact that was.

Second up for this delivery is the Ferengi Starship from Acquisition in Enterprise's first season. Only the second Ferengi ship in the collection with the first being the Marauder back in issue 16 (102 issues ago!!!). I suspect the next time we see these guys will be the shuttle from Little Green Men and The Price.

I wasn't waiting eagerly for this one yet, as with most of the Enterprise entries it doesn't disappoint on the quality.

The overall golden brown paint scheme is a distant shot from the sandy brown of the Marauder but the metallic finish is spectacular especially plastered across the metal top section of the ship. It sparkles away nicely but don't get caught up in the funky paint because the hull has more to reveal. 

Afterall, there's that distinctive scarab beetle shape to the ship with the plating resting on each other in the same way as shell armour does on such a creature. It's a simple organic shape and given the single colour across the whole of that top surface, it needs something to give it some life and raise the interest. Fortunately it does and the metal surface works splendidly, giving rise to a rather intense collection of panel lines and surface features from front to back and side to side.

Right from the angular pincers at the front there's an overload of crisp etched markings across the top and over all of the varied structures that appear on the hull. About half way along on either side is a docking port with a golden hued hatch offering a quick way out or passage onto another craft to pillage. Even these have tiny hatch detailing on them which really surprised me when you think of all the things that Eaglemoss haven't marked correctly that would have been easier to do.

Y'see it bugs me that I love this ship not for the overall design, shape and feel but for the actual attention to detail that oozes from every millimetre of its hull. To the back of the smooth and sleek shape is the engine block which is highlighted with a touch of gold and stands out only slightly from the sandy (and still quite golden) main hull colour.

The top of the ship is a glowing advert for quick, sharp and futuristic tech but it's on the bottom that the Ferengi ship that everything really comes to life. That flat underside reminds me of how I used to draw spaceships at the age of five or six but while it is a very sharp edge and odd for a Star Trek craft to have a flat underside, check out all the detail that John Eaves managed to fire at her.

For a start there are the six distinctive landing legs which fold away underneath. Even the nuances on these feet are amazing - just squint closely and look at the panel lines on each of them, the recess around each of them which gives the feet that retracted depth and even the central tiny markings and alternate colour which stand each of them out against the hull. 

But just look at the work on this underside. Every millimetre carries some form of differentiation to the next millimetre and it's as though we have a ship of two very distinct halves; a serene upper hull and a belly that hides away all the workings and gubbins - very swanlike in its design and by that I mean graceful on the surface and paddling like f**k under the water. Somehow this one has managed to pull at my starship heart-strings and I kinda like it.

Centrally and protruding from the flat underside is what can only be described as a radar dish. Even that has some classy little finishing touches and you can't help yourself but love what's been done here. It actually puts some of the other ships to shame once you stop and take stock of what has been achieved on what should - and could - have been a mind-numbingly bland entry to the collection. I mean, come on, adding this in mid 110's isn't pushing it as a star attraction is it? 

But *sigh* once again, a ship from Enterprise has delivered and it hurts to say it but it's a visual masterpiece in regards to both the metal and plastic detail. The underside's more flimsy construction material suits the larger amount of ups and downs that the jigsaw feel of the floor gives off while the metal topside is perfect for the elegant curves of this Ferengi craft. It actually makes me want to see the shuttle even sooner because it's so ridiculously beautiful. I just can't stick it anywhere near the Vidiian or Kazon ships because this paintwork makes those two look particularly bad and I can guarantee it ain't sitting on the same shelf as the Malon freighter.


The stand arrangement goes for a normal rear grip over the engines and between the two raised shoulder sections to the back but what did give me a head-scratch moment is the height that the ship stands at when in place - it's very, very high given the slimline nature of the Ferengi Starship.

The magazine doesn't disappoint either because there's a full background on the ship and just how it was operated as well as how the internal space was divided up - let's say there's a lot of room for cargo in here.

John Eaves was once again called on to come up with this design and it was one of three that he initially proposed with some clear parallels to the 24th Century The Next Generation craft that we might be more familiar with.  

More unusually we have an in depth interview with the four actors who played the Ferengi in the first season episode which included three people who had previously worked in Star Trek namely Ethan Phillips, Jeffery Combs and Clint Howard plus newcomer Matt Malloy. It's a damn good read covering the making of the episode from the actors perspective and while there are mentions of other appearances in other series, the article remains nicely focused on the Enterprise story.

February will bring us the Freedom Class from Wolf 359's graveyard and the Hirogen Holoship from Flesh and Blood in Voyager's seventh season.

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Two By Two: S1 E12: Vaulting Ambition

With the revelation that Georgiou is the Emperor of the Mirror Universe, the future doesn't seem to be too positive for Burnham.

And rightly so since her former - and dead - captain is in this universe a seditious ruler who feeds her guests Kelpien ganglia on chopsticks for dinner before having them carted off for execution; but that's only the start of the troubles in this shorter than usual 37 minute episode (35 and a half without the recap). 

The main thread of this week sees Lorca brought before Georgiou as a traitor to the Terran Empire before being dumped into another agonizer chamber to suffer lengthy punishment until death. Meanwhile Burnham dines with the Emperor whom, we discover, became something of a mother figure to her and Michael's safe return from this foolish mission to capture Lorca has put her mind at ease. 

Or it would have had Georgiou not surmised that Mirror Burnham had actually been conspiring with the Lorca from the Terran Empire to bring about the Emperor's downfall. To save her own skin for another day, Burnham reveals that she is from a different universe, using the schematics of the spore drive on the Discovery as a bargaining chip for her freedom. Thing is it's during this final exchange with Georgiou that Burnham suddenly puts together the pieces and realises that her captain is not actually the man she thought he was.

It is Burnham's desire for this Georgiou to be like the captain she knew both acts as her downfall and the tool by which the Mirror Emperor manipulates her into a position that will benefit the Terrans and the Terrans alone in acquiring the technology on the Discovery and simultaneously killing their plans to use interphasic space to return to their own universe. Michelle Yeoh is better here as her bitter Mirror self than she ever was as the captain of the Shenzhou, playing Burnham at every angle while Michael is totally blinded by the belief that her dead captain's duplicate could be the same woman she knew. My thought is whether or not Burnham would be this blinded considering what she has witnessed in this universe along with the mental butchery she has encountered with Tyler/Voq that nearly got her killed last week.

Back on Discovery we have two arcs which both use Saru as their crossover point. He's not doing such a bad job commanding the ship but now he has not just Stamets to be concerned about because Tyler is having some major internal conflict with Voq.

In regards to the former, Stamets is somewhere on the mycelial network with his Mirror Universe counterpart from the ISS Charon (Emperor's ship) who helps him to understand more about the spores and helps him to escape back to his body. From the perspective of Tilly and Saru his return is nothing less than miraculous and does suggest that there might be a chance of getting back using the spore drive - that is until Stamets checks the mycelial forest which is already decaying. With one stroke we get Stamets back and the hope of salvation but with the other it’s dashed by the news that there are no spores to harvest. At least with this story thread we can't say we know how it's going to pan out which leads nicely to my next point...

OK, let's deal with the biggie here and move on. Lorca.

Is actually Mirror Lorca. It's not come as the biggest shocker of all time since the signposts have been very obvious and it's been difficult to avoid the rumours and theories right across the Star Trek crevices of the internet. It's well executed here with Lorca choosing to not give in to one of his captors whose sister, it seems, lost her life in Lorca's service. His choice to take the pain right to the end where he is freed in error by said officer shows his determination but more than anything we as the viewer feel vindicated that the un-Starfleet-like nature of Lorca can be easily quantified because he isn't Starfleet. It explains the war room, it explains the eye drops, it explains the Burnham fascination; it explains everything and Isaacs does a superb job of ditching some of the "Prime Lorca" facade when he gets out of the Agonizer booth, putting the boot into his former torturer - and also remembering the name of the girl who died thus confirming he is the Mirror version.

It all kind of makes sense when you piece together a lot of other bits too because god knows how many times Lorca has gone against Starfleet's wishes - his rescue of Sarek, that war room, his obsession with defeating the Klingons - it's all there and sets his apart from not just Picard and Kirk but also strides away from even the darkest aspects of Sisko. What's the score with the "real" Lorca though? Is he still alive? Will he be back for season two or will Mirror Lorca continue to command the Discovery with only Burnham knowing the truth - this would in turn allow for some future twist and meet up of the two of course.

This season has been almost exclusively about hidden layers, multiple layers to personalities, switching roles which is, very effectively, all summed up by the appearance of the Mirror Universe. If nothing screams out about two sides to everything then I don’t know what does and Vaulting Ambition represents the culmination of that with both of Burnham’s most recent commanding officers both being seen here in Mirror form and both having more to reveal than we first see. Everyone has two sides be it Burnham with her Human and Vulcan upbringings clashing or a more literal one in the form of the Tyler/Voq equation, Discovery has firmly been about the diversity not just of its cast but of the range within each of their characters. One thing I can guarantee is that I'll be watching Context is for Kings pretty much bang on after the season finale just as a means to compare the start and end points aboard the title starship.

Vaulting Ambition is a good episode but after the tumult of the last two weeks this face to face with the Emperor and the Lorca reveal feel a lot slower even in a 37 minute story which should help speed things up.  Lorca’s secret has been signposted and called out a long time ago and perhaps this over emphasis on being clever and plot twisting has taken a little of the wind out of Discovery’s sails. For me this week didn’t have the same level of tension, excitement or character when it came to the main story.

Saying that, even the subplots felt a bit plodding. Stamets and Mirror Stamets within the mycelial network was interesting and at least gave us an understanding of what the he has been seeing in his visions as well as what all the Mum kings about forests and palaces was about but add this into the pot with the Lorca reveal and it feels as if we were privy to a 37 minute info dump with not a lot behind it.

The Tyler/Voq and L’Rell story seemed to be wrapped up at lightning pace although it does mean Doug Jones gets another excellent monologue opportunity. In fact he does get a lot of the best lines doesn’t he?

Voq is clearly unstable within the confines of Tyler’s body, destroying not just sickbay but his own body leading Saru to come to a deal with L’Rell to save what is left of one of the personalities crammed into the one body. It’s actually rather terrifying how much Shazad Latif manages to throw himself around here but the end result, a bit of sciencey bobbins from L’Rell sees, it seems, the Voq personality die although I’d put money that this will show its face again. Amazing how she's the only one who can sort it out and it's all resolved in less than two minutes.

The inclusion of the Klingon Death Howl does signify the finality of the Voq storyline and leaves Mary Chieffo’s character as the sole remaining Klingon in the show and also at something of a loose end in Discovery’s brig. She now has truly sacrificed more than Voq, allowing her lover/co-conspirator to be eliminated for the sake of a Starfleet officer. 

Vaulting Ambition does take something from it’s title in that it is openly ambitious in its scale. The acting and action are great all through and while those twists have been anticipated we now have the question of What Now?

What exactly is going on and how is this season going to come to a close? Where will this ship end up and will it be the same Universe they left in episode nine? We as fans might have worked out the twists so far but with three episodes still left to air there has to be more coming our way.

What were your impressions of this week's episode?

Track back through our reviews of every episode HERE

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Never Forget a Face: S1 Ep11 The Wolf Inside

My initial thought that Despite Yourself was going to be the pinnacle of season one were blown out of the water with The Wolf Inside.

Burnham is fully undercover as her Mirror self although she is beginning to lose herself within the facade. While this isn't a wholly evil universe she is struggling to come to terms with the casual racism, slavery and the brutality that the Terran Empire has brought to the galaxy.

Tyler is proving to be her only support since Lorca (whom we see very little of and may be compromised) is still locked away in the Agoniser booth. The challenge Burnham faces is to pass the heavily encrypted data files on the USS Defiant and its passage to the Mirror Universe back to the Discovery and has that weight added to with the Empire demanding the destruction of a suspected rebel outpost.

Burnham sees an opportunity to reach out to the rebels and save them in return for an understanding of how the alliance of Klingons, Andorians, Tellerites and Vulcans was formed. When Burnham and Tyler do get down to the surface and avoid being blown apart by the rebel forces, they discover that the fabled "FireWolf" is in fact Voq, the Klingon we saw back in the first trio of stories as the Torchbearer and heir-apparent to T'Kuv'ma.

Also there, suitably goatee-adorned is one Sarek of Vulcan aka The Prophet. He confirms via mind-meld that Burnham is telling the truth about her origins however Voq's words manage to activate whatever has been laying dormant within Tyler. Of course the reimagined Andorians and Tellarites are as big a draw for fans in these scenes as that legendary Mirror Universe beard and I think that the makeup artists of 2017 have done a stunning job in adding their own twist to these classic Star Trek aliens. Heck, the Tellarites get better every time they're resurrected.

Yes, it's finally out that Tyler is Voq (picture to the right via Entertainment Weekly). The Starfleet version goes hell for leather at his rebel-leading Mirror self but the real issue chimes in when we get back to the ISS Shenzhou because the facade of Tyler slips and the Klingon comes to the surface, attempting to kill Burnham and only being stopped by slave Saru.

The fight is great as are the more graphic flashbacks to Voq's transformation into the traumatised Starfleet security chief but after all the ramblings of the internet it does feel that Discovery's worst kept secret is a bit of a let down because, well, we all worked it out back in episode four.

Sentenced to death Tyler is spaced only to be quickly "rescued" by the Discovery. Seems Burnham had slipped the disk with the Defiant data on it onto the disgraced officer...

The Mirror Universe isn't quite that straight mirror that The Original Series made it out to be because here we see the strain of maintaining that false front, to act like the "savages" we might believe them to be. Burnham is placed in a horrible situation and looks certain to circumvent genocide however the arrival of the Emperor puts paid to that. The roles of her and Lorca are totally flipped within this Mirror Universe arc with the captain and prisoner in opposite places. Sonequa Martin-Green is the driving force behind this episode, commanding a dark starship, facing the news that her lover is not what he seems and, erm, that final one which really screws with her world.

With Burnham's life being pulled down around her, the tour de force of the episode comes from Shazad Latif as Ash Tyler. My god this guy is pushed to the limit playing a range of both Tyler and Voq's aspects as well as, effectively, playing both the sides of the character on screen in the same episode. The sequence in which he finally trips into Voq is truly chilling as his Klingon beliefs and motivations come to the fore. Breathtaking.

The Mirror Universe given the life it is here is being given the chance to breathe more than ever and for us as the viewer to explore more than ever before. The inclusion of the nameless Saru here and the systems of contempt in operation drive home the darkness but at its core, is The Wolf Inside really about seeing past the layers to what's really at the heart of us all?

In a literal sense the title is shouting out the plot twist around Tyler/Voq (Wolf inside...get it? Voq's the WOLF inside...yeah...you see where I'm going...) but it also betrays what might be lying deep within Burnham too. Her action to sentence Tyler to death may have an alternate reason to it however there's not even a flicker of regret when he gets spaced. It's a far cry from her voiced concerns during the diary entry at the start of the show (and part of the longest pre-titles sequence ever?). Plus there's the fact she omits to tell Saru on the Discovery about his Mirror self while he in turn decides not to reveal that Culber is dead allowing that to be left to the vengeful Tyler/Voq. Cleverly it seems that the main characters are taking much darker turns in personality since crossing over and the reorientation back to normal life on the de-Empire'd Discovery could be a treat to behold.

While all this is going on aboard the Shenzhou, Saru is left in command of the eponymous starship and allows Tilly to attempt to save Paul Stamets. The lieutenant is at the cliff-edge after discovering that Culber has been murdered (Tyler admits this to Burnham before trying to kill her) but Tilly believes that she has the solution to bring him back. Her answer, probably one of the most technobabble filled explanations of the whole series, at first looks set to get her on the command track but ends up killing Stamets. Never fear because he's soon back to life however he's out on the mycellial network and encountering his alternative self. More on that I suspect, next week.

It is a much smaller part of the episode but the final scene of Saru and Tyler plus the speech which he gives the troubled officer/Klingon is one of the best of the series to date and reminds us just what Starfleet is about even though the ship is stranded in a morally-corrupt universe. If there was doubt about how the writers' room sees Star Trek this was the 30 seconds that proved they know precisely what they are on about.

On another note it's important that we see Saru in this command role given just how much indecision and troubles his last attempt at command was when Lorca was captured by L'Rell. He has come on a great deal although there are still a few seconds of wavering judgement in there around whether or not to provide medical aid to Stamets or allow Tilly to get her way however it's a far cry from where he was.

From the pacing and the feel of the episode I suspect we might be in the middle of a min-arc that will come to an end next week ahead of the final three episodes that will, I would think, close off the Klingon War and the Voq storyline. While The Wolf Inside is a great indulgence episode that gives a lot of nods to fans, there are some inherent issues with it which come from the two plot twist revelations however amazing they are on screen. They are, sadly, predictable because of the wonders of the internet in regards to Tyler/Voq and because, well, it just had to be that character as the Emperor didn't it? I mean, there was such a big thing made about That Person being included in the cast! As stated already though, the decision not to drag these "revelations" out any longer is a wise move and viewers will appreciate it.

I firmly believe that episode 12 will end the Mirror Universe line and return the Discovery home but not as cleanly as we might have expected. I think there will be casualties and maybe a crossover but that might be reading into things way too much. What we are promised is that the season will end but not as we might expect and for the sake of the show I really do hope that the twists and turns that come up are as unexpected as Culber's untimely demise...

How do you rate The Wolf Inside? Predictable or gloriously indulgent Star Trek?

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Unparalleled; The Official Starships Collection Issues 114 and 115

A fourth new arrival from the seminal battle of Wolf 359 has joined the series with the USS Buran.   

A twin-nacelled Challenger Class starship, the Buran is named after the Russian version of the space shuttle and, now that we know Lorca’s previous command in Discovery, is one of two ships to have borne the name. The similarities to the other Wolf 359 wrecks as well as the Galaxy and Nebula classes are striking from the very front curve of the primary hull. Namely because all the screen-fill wreckage was cobbled together from model kits and available bits. 

The Challenger Class is the smallest of the Wolf 359 ships to be featured both in the show and as a model as well as being one of the smallest Federation craft to grace the series. Oddly for me this feels less detailed than the others from the fleet probably because of that size variation and partially because there’s not a lot to this one when you compare to the three already available. The saucer carries the major panel lines spreading from,the central bridge module as well as the painted on windows which avoid the trademark Eaglemoss misalignment thank goodness. 

The phaser bank too is highlighted in a darker grey than the main hull allowing all the essential elements to be distinguished easily. Thing is that with the distinct registry and name, the lifeboat hatches don't stand out at all, they appear more as slightly raised hull plating. If you do do,take a step,back the lighter colour contrast of the square hatches is more apparent and you can see the difference just in the pictures ive taken here.

That saucer upper part is the standard metal element of the build in the Challenger Class. The underside centre section of the saucer and everything backwards is in plastic of some description. 

Step back from the saucer and we have the secondary hull moulded straight into the back of it. Here that trademark grey paint scheme continues without missing a beat. There are more distinct panelling lines and windows again painted on rather than being lined up with hull recesses. Then protruding up and down from the rear are the two warp nacelles attached via two very chunky pylons. While there are other ships with vertically paired engines this is the only starship where 1) there are just two warp engines and 2) they are unusually - and purposely - misaligned with the top one being set back slightly over its lower twin. 

The warp engines do feature translucent blue engine grilles and crimson bussard collectors to give that more realistic feel to the ship and with this affording the larger scale it is something that could not be avoided; painting them on would have looked shoddy. The one thing that is missing from the back though - and in the magazine - is the tiny registry across the very narrow rear edge. Very small space, not easy to detail. I get it and at least the phaser strips are in place.

Flip this one over and for a second you're not sure if it's the same on both sides but fear not, the belly of the ship is instantly distinguishable with the rows of escape pods littering the sides of the pill-shaped secondary hull and also across a good proportion of the saucer. You can just make out that inlaid plastic section which is boundaried by the ventral phaser bank and the ship name is omitted with only the NCC- number in place as per most (if not all) Starfleet ships.


Note too the smoothing off of what would have been the Captain's Yacht on the Enterprise-D right at the centre of the saucer. In fact if you look even more closely you can see that this is actually two upper hull sections from that ship glued together for the Buran as the elliptical frame around the yacht space is only on the top of a Galaxy Class saucer. Great reuse again!

The slim, vertical construction of the Buran makes for a unique silhouette but of the ships from Wolf 359 this does feel like the least inspired design and certainly the one with the least parts to really get your teeth into. What it does have is some nice decalling especially when it comes to some tiny finishing touches at the back end. It’s not the prettiest of ships either and you can tell more than any other that this was designed as something that would only ever be in the background. Oddly it managed this feat twice with a second appearance in Unification’s starship graveyard.

The magazine skims across some very sketchy background, tending to focus more on the events of Wolf 359 coupled with a few facts and figures around this small Federation ship.

Backing this up we have a fantastic trawl back through the Borg Timeline taking us over the key moments from the series' encounters with the cybernetic lifeforms in chronological order rather than episode order so we start off with First Contact in the 21st Century and run through to Endgame and Voyager. It's a different way to do things and helps place events in a new way especially when you drop in the events from Enterprise's Regeneration.

Continuing the season four themes that have been appearing in recent issues covering the Wolf 359 ships, this edition takes us into the makeup world and Michael Westmore recounting the creation of Noonien Soong, Gowron's unique Klingon forehead, the Cardassians and even the blue-skinned Bolians. Whether intentionally or not, the collection has given us a wonderful overview of one of Star Trek's most successful and well-written seasons.

Second out of the stable this month is the Tellarite Warship. I’ll be honest, it took me a good couple of days to get this out of the box due to all the seasonal festivities yet I knew it would be quality since it’s from the Enterprise fold. These inclusions to the collection rarely disappoint since they were CG created from day one and it seems Eaglemoss are working directly from those images to create their replicas.

After such a long run of high quality Enterprise models it was only going to be a matter of time before we got a bit of a duffer and this is it.

Offering up a rather aquatic aesthetic, the warship comes in a metallic green with only a couple of light green and red highlights giving a second colour to the model. It's also a model where the metal sections themselves are hidden "deep" within the main structure. The whole outer casing here is plastic with an inlaid section between the nose and the tail being the only metal piece present.

For an Enterprise ship this one has very distinctive panelling across the whole ship with that crescent-shaped forward section showing off a range of different levels of hull casing. It’s not got the intricate aztec scheme or small panel lines you find on the Buran but it’s a distinct look which relies on the contours of the craft rather than multiple colours to give it depth and form. 

To the front there are two groups of antennas formed in plastic and a decent thickness which means they shouldn’t suffer collision damage if the worst happens.  Unusually there’s a good bit of detail going on around the leading edge with further recessed details and also features highlighted in that lighter green colour. That colour is also present in the two crescent-edge formations giving some variety to the metallic green overcoat. Now to be fair these could have done with being translucent to give a stronger feeling of the mechanics of the ship as the cover and the plan views show there are some form of bussard collector evident inside them. Also those exhaust ports to the rear of the engine crescents just look a bit unwieldy. As we’ll see it’s almost as if they worked on this one from the back to the front and kinda got bored along the way.

If we look closely at this one, the form of the Warship is actually quite clever because from behind that raised bridge section it tapers back to the significant engine block but not before we have a section where the middle of the craft has open space within its frame. 

This has to be one of the few - if only - occasions where this has been achieved and I would think it’s a lot easier than it looks on the model. It appears therefore that the metal section which is buried in the middle of this is there more as a structural support rather than an afterthought of where the metal pieces could go. It makes total sense to drop in here as I suspect a complete plastic ship especially in this central area would be very flimsy.

Ok, let’s follow the slender top section to the rear and the vertically stacked engine block. 

There’s a hint of colour here both on top and below with a red highlight indicating (maybe) a form of bussard collector set back into the frame. It’s also here that the Warship seems to contain most of the detailed elements of the design. That vertical engine is unique but doesn’t set the whole design alight. The detail is good but a final few greebles at the back end aren’t enough to save what is a very average ship design.

The stand clip fits right around the rear of that semi-circular main hull giving a central balance to the ship and an even keel for display. Nice and steady with this one and no tipping concerns.

Into the magazine for a bit now and it’s an alright read but, because the ship isn’t one of the stellar collection attractions it doesn’t make this a must-read. 

The background of the warship suggests that some of the elements within the vessel would be later absorbed into the designs of future Federation craft. It also covers the events of the the Romulan arc from the fourth season of Enterprise in which the Tellarites played a part alongside their Andorian nemeses.

Cleverly the third section here, after some rather good plan views which (as noted) highlight a few shortcomings of the model's construction at the front end, opens up the tetchy subject of Tellarite appearances. It's a title that covers a multitude of sins for sure.

In between these two articles we actually have something relevant to the ship. The designing section covers four pages and reveals that the Tellarite ship began life in season one of Enterprise as something completely different in a quick appearance before being resurrected for more screen time three years later. The sketches and concepts for the ship are as interesting as ever with Eaves' ship being one of the rare occasions where they utilised CG to allow for the open spacing, something that hadn't really been explored in that format before.

Exploring the terrible attempt from Journey to Babel, the more suitable reworking for Whom Gods Destroy through to the fleeting appearances during the movies before reappearing fully realised if you will during the Star Trek prequel series. Not only does this discuss the makeup of the Tellerites but also how these aliens were written and how they evolved over the course of the franchise's TV history. It's a good solid read because these guys received such little airtime but there was still a great amount of development put into their background.

Ok, overall these two are a steady pair to induct into the Starships Collection. These "scene fillers" as you could call them does really push home that the series is now getting into serious completist territory with most, if not all of the series most recognisable ships ticked off the list. Of the two the Buran is easily the better product in my eyes because of its place within the Wolf 359 set although it could have done with being a shade bigger.

Next month's Curry Class from Deep Space Nine and Ferengi Cruiser from Enterprise continue this trend of kit-bashers and one-ep wonders. Hoping that prequel entry is back up to the usual standards!

Buran or Tellarite? What's your call on this time's ships?

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Be Careful: S1 E10 Despite Yourself

The destination of the USS Discovery couldn't have been any less of a surprise as the series returned for the final six hours of its first season.

Yet this managed to be one of the most surprising episodes of the series right from the start.

So we can now categorically confirm that the Discovery becomes only the second starship ever to cross over into the Mirror Universe leaving the crew in a desperate situation to return to their own universe in order to alert Starfleet with a way to crack the Klingon cloaking device.

Problem is the Spore Drive is now inoperable due to an exhausted Lieutenant Stamets who is unable to act as the conduit for the distance (and dimension) jumping engine. Fortunately it appears that 1) the ISS Discovery jumped out of its universe when the USS Discovery popped in and 2) there might be another way back if they can locate some information about a starship called Defiant that might have appeared there some time before. Still with me? Excellent because don't forget that we also have L'Rell, the Klingon battle commander/traitor apparent locked up in the brig mindf**king with Lieutenant Tyler.

Discovery's arrival in the Mirror Universe fooled absolutely no-one but it has raised questions as to whether Lorca is actually his Mirror self or not. He seems to want to return back to the other universe and integrates himself into the plan to make that a reality. From the start of this we get a really good look at the machinations of the Terran Empire since the last time we saw it in In a Mirror, Darkly; the Emperor is a faceless despot, the Empire is trying to quell a rebellion from all the other races  including the Klingons, Vulcans and Andorians who are identified in the wreckage near to the Discovery and we find out what has happened to all the main cast in this parallel time.

Burnham is of course the central piece here, drawing together the plan that will get the ship home but it seems Martin-Green takes a backseat to Isaacs' Lorca and Mary Wiseman's Tilly in this thread, The captain puts himself at great risk by playing his alternate self so Burnham can "retake" her command of the USS Shenzhou and acquire information that will help them escape. My one query is that the Mirror Lorca is stated to have escaped in a shuttle after killing Burnham and was never seen again. My brain did suggest this might mean he is the Mirror Lorca after all but there has, honestly, been no hint of this sort so far. Wiseman is also exceptional at playing Captain Killy, her parallel self, hamming it up in the captain's seat after some initial trepidation. Also of note was Lorca's lie to Burnham and Saru that Stamets was keen to explore other dimensions once the mission was over.

This interpretation of the Mirror Universe is an exciting yet grim addition to Discovery. The parallel universe always excites a large proportion of fandom but this show has gone further than ever before with this thread, making the alternative versions of the cast achieve some of their inner goals in life but through twisted and darker paths than they would have planned to walk in their own universe. It’s a far cry from the snarling alternates of Mirror Mirror or the virtual caricatures that Deep Space Nine’s Resurrection and The Emperor’s New Cloak spurred into.  

The reflection of this exposition of the Mirror Universe does feel a little tougher and more brutal thanks in no small part to the metallic uniform additions and the worn weaponry. Cleverly the delta shield is flipped vertically and slipped behind the recognisable world/sword emblem on the uniforms with each officer also carrying an array of medals on their breastplates which do indicate several different awards.

The choice to disguise the ship as it's "evil" self with a tweak of registry and some software updates is inspired and forces the crew to step a little outside their comfort zones as Starfleet personnel. But here's another thought - for a show that has added a less than positive outlook for the Prime Universe, this could be the more insightful trip through the looking glass of all time - is the Mirror Universe not quite the dark territory we have come to expect in comparison to the events of this Klingon war.

Burnham's return to the Shenzhou is a harrowing experience as she faces multiple ghosts from her past including a very-much alive Captain Connor (previously Ensign Connor played by Sam Varthemelos) and an uninjured Detmer. Indeed, the Connor/Burnham confrontation in the turbolift has a cluttered claustrophobia about it as they fight for their lives and command of the starship. 

It’s a brilliantly tense plot line with darker tones than the (later?!) Deep Space Nine arc but positively continuing the bleak and totalitarian regime we saw in Enterprise.  The new style to the Empire and it’s return is most welcome with a clever twist that it’s all linked back to The Tholian Web which might well be one of the most pivotal episodes in the history of the franchise - who would have imagined that in 1968? On that point, yes, the Defiant does look slightly different with saucer cut-outs and amendments to the engine pylons but I would expect that over the time since it’s been in the Mirror Universe it might have received more than a couple of modifications and repairs to keep it operational. 

While that story dominates the 48 minutes of Despite Yourself, there are two further threads which weave in and out of the narrative. Firstly there’s Stamets who is recovering in sickbay and is now receiving, it appears, prophetic visions of the future leading him to warn Doctor Culber that the enemy ‘is here’. Anthony Rapp might not have the most to do this week but his appearances are significant in hinting at other elements of the plot and I’m interested to see how this ‘Spore Drive Vision’ is worked as the season continues.

But, with the impending doom of encountering more than just some rebel Vulcans and boarding the Mirror Shenzhou you might well have forgotten there’s a Klingon festering in the brig. 

Mary Chieffo’s L’Rell has been one of the biggest wins of the show for me since day one and in Despite Yourself it feels that some of the promises and plans we saw hatched right at the genesis of the series are beginning to bear fruit although it seems some of it has gone a little aray.

Her relationship with Tyler is the centrepoint. There might be a whole new universe out there to try and escape but the Klingon war is still raging and L’Rell is our constant reminder. Here she is also the confirmation that Ash Tyler is not what he seems in any way, a theory backed up by Doctor Culber’s analysis that the lieutenant has received some significant surgery altering bone structure at the least. The Tyler personality is an overlay and we have to be plain dumb not to know that it’s Voq hiding underneath. I’m certain the flashbacks - which apparently will reveal more as we go - are memories of his surgical alteration and love affair with L’Rell rather than torture and rape. It all makes perfect sense and I’m glad that the writers haven’t dragged this line out for too much longer and respected the intelligence of their audience. 

Tyler’s dramatic and unforeseen disposal of Culber when he puts the pieces together left me speechless. It stamped a clear mark on the show that no-one is safe at any time and my god was it a jaw-dropping moment. It's unexpected, abrupt and perhaps for Tyler a moment out of control for his human side. 

Now we have more understanding of the darkness around Tyler and L’Rell it really has become a fascinating element of the season and both actors should be applauded for their excellent work as it’s some of the best in the show. Added cudos for the fact that L’Rell’s attempt to ‘wake up’ the sleeper agent buried inside Tyler didn’t work as planned. At least not everything we might have expected came to pass all in one go.

Despite Yourself has opened the second half of the season with a swagger and a strong sense of purpose. All the set up and suggestion from the early part of the year is coming to fruition and the show is really forging its identity. Already there seem to be grumblings about the show’s choice to dive into the Mirror Universe so early and at all but on the quality of this entry I think it was a brave move to do so and has paid off, giving this concluding batch of stories it’s own identity and differentiation from the Klingon war which dominated the first nine episodes.

What this episode has also done is restored my faith in the Mirror Universe episodes, removing the dodgy comedy elements and actually made this parallel dimension feel the same yet noticably different. It oozes danger that I haven’t seen in this type of story, honestly, since Crossover. Everything here works. Yes, it is going to be different from The Original Series vision (like 50 years ago...can we get over these "inconsistencies" please...) but the core of our understanding of the Mirror Universe and its part within Star Trek lore has been maintained and even strengthened by its inclusion and also by the inherent links to both the Kirk era and Enterprise.

For a return to our screens after a short and unwelcome(!) break, Despite Yourself has raised the bar again and could well prove to be highlight of Year One. The questions have just got harder to answer. Is Lorca the Mirror Universe version that escaped? How will Culber return? What's the score with Tyler's muddled mind and what else can be thrown at us?

What's your take on Despite Yourself? 

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