Buried Treasure: The Official Starships Collection Issues 146 and 147

We've waited 145 issues since it was first indicated that the Fesarius would be included in the Starships Collection.

Well now it's here and I'm shockingly underwhelmed with what could be the shortest issue review ever.

It's a ball.

Done, dusted move on to issue 147? Probably should, but we have to give it at least some column inches and a fair trial so let's go.

The Fesarius originally appeared in 1966's The Corbomite Maneuver as a ball covered in cut in half ping pong balls and fairly out of focus. The version replicated here is, as with all of The Original Series entries, modelled on the version created for the remastered episodes.

Essentially it is that ball and is covered totally with a lot of smaller yellow dots to represent the domes across its surface. These are clustered into groups as they were onscreen  and are all perfectly painted on. 

The whole thing is purely made of plastic and in just two pieces which interlock along an equatorial line. It's also one of the largest ships replicated in the series and due to the scale one thing that is lauded in the magazine but tragically omitted on the model is the base patterning that lies beneath the yellow domes.

As for stand fitting, it sits straight on to the curved four strut plastic cup and...erm...yeah...that's it. It just sits there.

The Fesarius is one of those ships which is a necessity to the collection; it HAD to be included since it's the first alien starship encountered in the whole of the franchise full stop but is particularly uninspiring when it translates from screen to physical item. On a good note though, the magazine really earns its keep since the model is such a non-starter. 

The Fesarius magazine opens by recounting the tale of The Corbomite Maneuver since there was never any major detail of the giant space ball revealed in the episode. The new renderings plus shots from the remastered edition fill out the narrative but it's when we get to the Designing... section things get a bit better delving into the original build plus what was done to update the Fesarius for the re-release. The side-by-side comparison is polar although the model doesn't quite carry the update off as well as the page.

Six pages of Matt Jefferies' work on Star Trek takes up the remainder of issue 146. Filled with models and sketches and text which covers why consoles were a certain way, how sets were constructed and much more is a fantastic article for anyone interested in the background of The Original Series. Tons to take in and essential to understand how the look of the USS Enterprise was achieved and why.

Issue 147 does step up the quality a little with the arrival of another one of those ships that is essential in the form of the Miradorn Rai- sorry - reading the base of the stand - in the form of Baran's Raider from The Next Generation's two-parter Gambit. 

The raider is one of the franchise's more unique designs, resembling an insect complete with pincers and aggressive posturing, turning up in a few guises over the years and remaining instantly recognisable.  

The original filming model is something I've seen a fair amount of photos of but what is evident comparing the two side by side is that the top surface detail on the "real thing" has a lot more depth to it than Eaglemoss have added here. It's not that the panelling is in the wrong place more that the depth of the detail seems shallow with the grey overcoat almost washing everything out.

That's maybe an extreme but the grey finish does take away from the large amount of panel detail etched on the raider from the tips of its forward "pincer" disruptors all the way to the back. The lining isn't especially heavy but it breaks up the unusual hull shapes even more and adds texture to the small craft. 

It's not one of the lookers of the collection either with some fairly abrupt angles making their debut on the four extremities of Baran's ship. There are a few points where a yellowed hull segment contrasts to the base grey but this is a lot less exciting than I had hoped for. There's no "wow" factor; it's plain, very subtlety detailed on the ventral side with the odd bit of weathering in a corner or along a panel line to add some aging to the craft.

The pincers themselves are very stable and a lot less flexible than I expected given their shape. I was thinking they would all be metal but the only piece of metal on the ship is the middle of the underside and the front "snout", everything else is in plastic.

That underside is nicely detailed with some yellow and red highlights plus there's a very subtle hint of mottling on the base grey just as there is on the top giving that hint of an aging vessel. The panel lines for the most part on the bottom are much more clearly defined but in comparison to the version we saw in Gambit this model is horribly uninspiring and might have worked better if it had been painted up as the Miradorn Raider. Admittedly it has more to it than the preview pics suggested but that's not saying much when you plonk it alongside the spherical wonders of the Fesarius. 

Perhaps it's most interesting feature is the recessed triple engine exhausts to the rear. Not translucent but at least cleanly painted.The CG in the magazine and some of the screenshots go to show how slight the definition on this model is. Potentially that's down to the thin nature of the craft but it trades off against the end result which could have been so much better. 

Issue 147 tackles the standard details of the vessel gleaned from The Next Generation two-parter plus covers the plot of one of the shows most adventurous tales. Remember the Stone of Gol? Talera? Beaming weapons? Well it's all here to refresh you ahead of Ricardo Delgado's coverage of the ship design that was, as we all well know, originally made up for Deep Space Nine before appearing in The Next Generation and ultimately ending up guesting in Voyager. The design is one of the most distinctive from the franchise and I'm surprised they managed to get away with using it three times!

The final section takes us behind the camera to look at the work of producer Peter Lauritson who worked on The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and Voyager. His work can be seen in achieving fleet battles between the Dominion and the Federation as well as helping craft Species 8472, Star Trek's first CG aliens and directing Gambit, Part I - which is why he turns up in this issue. 

It's a good magazine that probably outshines the model it accompanies because of the quality of the material it contains - shame it also manages to show up the raider model for being lacking in that surface definition.

These two haven't set the starship collection world alight so I'm not even going to bother picking a favourite out of the two here. Quality is certainly variable with both editions saved purely on the strength of their magazines. Next month that should be resolved with the arrival of the Jem'Hadar Battle Cruiser and the Krenim Warship which both look fantastic in the preview images.

Disappointing month or worth the five year wait for the Fesarius?

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