Path Not Travelled: USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D All Good Things Future Version

There was a ton of excitement when the subscriber gifts for the Official Starships Collection were announced. Along with the binders, Enterprise-D plaque and infamous light up Borg Cube, perhaps the most eagerly awaited was the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D as seen in the alternative future of All Good Things....

While this version would never come to pass in the Prime Timeline due to the destruction of the Enterprise in Generations, it proved to be an unforgettable arrival into the Star Trek starships canon.

The subscribers version was made on the same scale as the 180 issue "regular" collection but once Eaglemoss expanded into the XL line it was only a matter of time before it joined the series. Indeed, the second of the XLs had been the NCC-1701-D. 

In essence this is the XL-D with its future alterations so for the most part this is an absolutely identical finish to the model we've already reviewed. Indeed, lining them up it's very easy to see that the two are - at a basic level - identical.

The aztecing, the decals, the window alignment is bang on a copy but where we get exciting is in the extra parts that were attached for The Next Generation's seventh season finale.

On the top of the saucer we have the least updates to the design with the probe-like guns added either side of the bridge module and then what seems to be an additional torpedo launcher just behind it. The larger scale shows up the slight misalignment in the registry decals with the red border a few millimetres out to the right but aside from that there's nothing major to note here... unless we want to cover those pesky windows once more.

The three structures added to the dorsal side of the saucer might just be bolt-ons but they do mesh perfectly with the green/blue (duck egg) colour scheme of the ship overall. Following just how the original studio model was updated for the series, the All Good Things... Enterprise has the glue on third nacelle structure.

Stretching from the new impulse engine at the rear of the saucer, this element traverses the spine of the ship down the neck connection and along the Engineering hull before rising up to bear that prominent third nacelle. There is a good level of new detailing on here including what seem to be additional transporter emitters along the sides and a raft of new windows as well as continuations of the Starfleet pennant stripes.

Flip her over and the most evident addition is the huge phaser weapon slapped right down the centre line of the saucer. Ok, it does mean saucer separation is out of the question but for pure "wow" factor it nails it. Detail on this has been scaled up and comparing to screenshots of the episode, the colours and patterning appear to be aligned. What is good with the XL is that there's much more definition to the panelling on these extra pieces. Certainly with the cannon the muzzle area has had some nice upgrading and recessed areas although the fit to the hull on the saucer curvature is a little patchy.

All three nacelles feature the additional top "lumps" indicating a new, larger mould to accommodate those elements which add in new phaser placements and modified decals. The engines do retain their translucent blue and red inserts although on close inspection the joint lines are a bit gappy.

Moving just a little further back and the last of the mods to the ship is evident with the two wings dropping away from the curves of the pylons. This has to indicate the upper half of the Engineering hull is actually a different mould to the original since these are definitely part of the structure and not add ons as with the other All Good Things... upgrades.

The finish overall with the future Enterprise-D is superb and actually enhanced with all the clip on parts. The Eaglemoss model carries the original paint scheme on too with the third engine pylon and raised areas of the secondary hull actually blending seamlessly in regards to colour matching.

The magazine gives some brief coverage to the episode and the ship's appearance but the majority is dedicated to the development of All Good Things... as a story. Lining up after that is a short article on the new ships for the finale in the form of the Klingon starship that would become the Negh'Var and the USS Pasteur medical frigate.

Admittedly this is a bit of a "take it or leave it" XL given that the "real" Enterprise-D returned as seen in The Next Generation for Picard's final season. This might in turn just twist collectors to re-label the secondary hull of their XL to match its onscreen swansong. Good finish, lovely design and well executed. 

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Endings...Beginnings...Picard

25 years ago Jean-Luc Picard fought to save humanity one more time.

Rather unexpectedly 25 years to the day after All Good Things... bade farewell to The Next Generation on TV - 23rd May 1994 - CBS dropped the first minute long teaser trailer for the next chapter in Jean-Luc’s story. 

"15 years ago today you led us out of the darkness. You commanded the greatest rescue armada in history. Then; the unimaginable. 

What did that cost you? Your faith? Your faith in us? Your faith in yourself?  

Tell us, why did you leave Starfleet, Admiral?"

As a trailer it's more about the monologue quoted above than the visuals. Nice to have it all tie into the vineyards of the Picard estate that we've seen before in Family and, of course, in All Good Things... but this Jean-Luc didn't become an ambassador, didn't grow that wispy white beard and certainly doesn't look like he'll be donning a straw hat anytime soon.

Loving the hovering crop dusters at the vineyard and of course the sweeping shot of a case of Chateau Picard to confirm that we're talking about a certain former Enterprise captain. 

This is 100% scene setting and leads us to believe that following some major incident Picard just walked away. Now, if we go by the hints given early in the development of the show that event has to be the destruction of Romulus but what caused him to step back from the final frontier?

So All Good Things... took place in 2370 with the destruction of Romulus logged as 2387 that would put Picard starting in 2402 (15 years later). That's if Romulus is the jump point for the series and why would it not be? We have to assume that whatever event that shaped his life took place after Nemesis and that's 2379 which means the earliest Picard could be set is 2394 at a push. Yet, when the series was announced we were told that it would be 20 years after we last saw Picard in action so shouldn't it be 2399?

I think Picard is more likely to take us into the early 25th Century which will also surpass the "future" date of 2395 set in All Good Things...  and fit perfectly with the dates established. It could be that the "20 years" comment was just there to indicate how far in the future we would truly be going for this next chapter.

The questions asked by someone who sounds not unlike Sonequa Martin-Green show how drastically Jean-Luc's life has changed from the man we knew on the Enterprise - how much of the captain remains? What effect is the memory of Locutus still having on him? What faith is being referenced?

At the end we have just a single shot of Sir Patrick Stewart back in the role and in civilian clothing. Now one suspects that this isn't actually what he's wearing for the show and just done for the tease but it does cement the point that JLP is back!

Also check out the teaser posters which have taken a bit of a lead from the Discovery posters with the vineyard now replacing the rocky planet surface to form the shape of the Starfleet Delta - you can see this in the pic in the sidebar to the right now.

OK, I'm stopping myself there. Over the next few weeks I'll probably drop back in to the Picard fold to work out any new suggestions and ideas. One that did play through my mind today was how similar that ensign uniform in the bookmark clip seemed to be with the discarded, collared uniforms that should have appeared in Generations. Maybe these aren't as formal but a glance at the Playmates range which was released with that design did have me thinking it over.

Picard is set to debut on Amazon Prime later in 2019. US and Canada can view the show on CBS All Access and you can trial a week by clicking the link in the sidebar now.

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Predicting 2019

Once more we’ve completed a spin around the Sun and welcome in 2019. But what will this year hols in store for Star Trek?  Here's our top ones to watch

1. Discovery

The item at the top pf any Star Trek list has to be the continuing success of the latest series. Frankly, screw the doubters because its back for a second series and treading into the territory of recognisable characters with Pike, Number One and Spock all showing up this year. The premiere for season two is but 15 days away so how can this show be failing especially as there are at least two shows in the pipeline that will launch in the next 18 months. I'm predicting a renewal for the show for season three with a 2020 launch date probably announced at the midpoint in the 15 episode run but I also think that we won't be getting any more Short Treks past the four we have received this time around. Nice placeholder and I hope they use the material contained therein within the show itself.

2. Picard

Probably timed to coincide with the end of Discovery’s second season I believe that we will have the first teaser trailer for the new Picard series by mid-year. 2019 will most likely see further main castings for the show plus hints at what the future holds for the former Enterprise captain. Can we be more specific than this? Not at this time. What we do know is that Patrick Stewart was heavily involved with the initial talks about the direction of the series and how Jean-Luc would be treated within its framework which was part of the reason that he agreed to come back to the franchise after a 20 year gap.

3. Lower Decks

As with Picard's return we'll be getting more hints on what the future holds for this spin off from the franchise. I think this one might be set between the original six movies and The Next Generation since there's a good 70 year gap we've never explored. Big concerns are that this is going to be a humorous animated encounter like nothing we've seen before in the Star Trek universe. Truly the unknown - also well worth paying attention to the last of the Short Treks; The Escape Artist which was written by Mike McMahan and might give a hint at what this new show will be like tonally. Plus, any excuse for a Rick and Morty pic...

4. Novel Series Restart

Yay! So 2018 was a bit of a dud year for the Star Trek novel series but with a new deal completed we are going to be seeing a good flood of Star Trek book titles in the new year from all aspects of the franchise and that, it seems, includes the Kelvin timeline as well as the Discovery era. I'm predicting a return of the time travellers from Dayton Ward plus the continuation of the Deep Space Nine Gamma Quadrant saga which kicked off so well late in 2017. 

5. DST 2019

George Takei and Michelle Forbes are already confirmed for the 2019 event which nobody expected since it took two years for the event to return to the UK after the 50th anniversary. Last year's October-fest was a much more streamlined and organised celebration of Star Trek than before with much more for fans to get involved with across the weekend including tabletop and video gaming, talks, fantastic displays from Discovery and the first 50 years. The 2019 event has to equal this so I'd expect more props from the latest TV series as well as guests from the show (Anson Mount must be top of that list with Ethan Peck). Personally I'd love to hope Avery Brooks drops in but that's a long shot at best. What about an appearance from John de Launcie? Is a drop in from Patrick Stewart an option?

6. End of the Starships Collection?

Is it finally time for The Official Starships Collection to call it a day? I think this is the year it could come to a close with the Discovery collection striding on plus the Graphic Novel and Busts series also still in play. It's been going for a fair few years now and the majority of the craft from the show that anyone generally cares about have all but been announced. Recently it was confirmed that the Fesarius as well as Baran's Raider and the Scimitar would be included so I'd give this one a maximum of 12 months before it's closed up. Watch me be horrifically wrong on this one.

7. Confirmation of Star Trek 4

As in if it’s on or off. The lack of news on this makes me think that the Kelvin timeline may have drawn its last breath with the 2016 Beyond and, honestly, that's not a bad way to go out. The quality of the three films has been on the whole decent but another year without any progress on story at the least will kill it off and leave the way very open for the vaunted R|-rated Quentin Tarantino movie. Prediction for 2019 on this one is that we'll be in exactly the same position in a year's time. Neither of these projects will move forward and they'll be rotting in Development Hell for a little bit longer. Almost certain we'll have no action in regards to big screen Trekking this year.

8. 30 Years of The Final Frontier

 Who isn't going to want to celebrate this gem of an anniversary?! Yes, 2019 will mark 30 years since William Shatner asked God what he needed with a starship. A highly maligned Star Trek movie that's never mentioned anywhere else in any context ever and is almost considered the most un-canon item of canon just ahead of Threshold. I'd look forward to lots of reminiscing over filming of The Final Frontier, what went wrong, a ton of comparisons to Discovery and a few oddball rants about how this was the sign that the franchise was failing before the year is out.

9. 25 Years Since The Sky Was the Limit and It Was Fun 

...And on a more positive note, it's 25 years since The Next Generation drew to a close on TV before stepping in front of another set of cameras to take the voyages of the Enterprise-D to the big screen with Generations back in 1994. Definitely an opportunity for the cast to get back together and maybe a reason to get Malcolm McDowell along to Destination Star Trek along with Shatner and Stewart for a rather expensive but damn fine photo shoot?

Expect 2019 to revisit best episodes from the show's run as well as offer up potentials for what could have been the eighth season. Remember too that this will also mark 25 years since Shatner's last onscreen appearance as Captain James T Kirk.

10. Axanar Rolling On

It's off, it's on, it's off, it's... who knows. Even now we're two years down the line from THAT decision which changed the face of Star Trek fan films as we knew them, Axanar still exists and I think we'll be hearing more from this one in 2019. The plan, apparently, is to launch two 15 minute slices of the story rather than the epic independent movie we were initially promised. Maybe 2019 will see the first footage from Alec Peters other than the now infamous "Vulcan Scene" filmed oh-so long ago.Love it, loathe it, despise it more than anything ever, you still can't get away from it and this story will continue!

What do you predict to be the big Star Trek stories of 2019? Will we be wrong on any of these?

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Delivering the Endgame

To quote Dirty Harry "...in all the excitement I kinda lost count myself..." as I totally missed it was 15 years since Endgame first aired last month and therefore brought Star Trek: Voyager to an emotional close.

Indeed it's been a big month for series finales with this week also marking the 47th anniversary of the first airing of Turnabout Intruder, the episode that should have been the end of Star Trek back in 1969 however we all know what happened there...

Over the course of my slow and steady re-watch, I've had the chance to reacquaint myself with the three feature length finales. All Good Things... is still the pinnacle of them yet I was previously a much bigger fan of What You Leave Behind (which also turned 17 just last week) from Deep Space Nine than Voyager's Endgame. Over the last 12 months though - and through the course of that re-watch - I've actually started to lean towards the return home of Janeway and crew as a better series closer. So why has that come to pass?

Since Deep Space Nine debuted in 1993 I have been utterly in love with the show. I liked The Next Generation, I adore The Original Series but the story of the space station at the very edge of the frontier really captivated me from day one. It was so refreshingly different, so raw, dark and filled with a widely diverse range of main and secondary characters that every episode, even the bad ones, was a pleasure to watch because I was sold on the people. Deep Space Nine for me had everything - drama, development, ongoing stories, payoffs, humour...everything and when Voyager came along I was loathe to like it. 

As I've said before there were two of us at school who were obsessed with Star Trek but once The Next Generation had passed our interests diverted into Deep Space Nine for me and Voyager for Steve with each of us sitting firmly pro our series with no chance of swaying. So it stayed for the best part of the 15 years since Voyager left the airwaves and while I had to make do with Janeway and her adventures in the Delta Quadrant after Sisko bought it in the Fire Caves, I never felt quite satisfied. Hell, Endgame was nowhere near as good a finale as What You Leave Behind - check out the build up not just in the previous eight episodes but in the seven seasons before! Endgame had nothing on it and I readily dismissed the finale once I'd seen it on VHS.

Last year however at the age of 35 I got round to hitting through Voyager one more time from beginning to end after finishing my Deep Space Nine marathon and here's where things began to change. Perhaps a certain middle-aged maturity has finally kicked in but What You Leave Behind actually left me a little cold. There's no question it's a good finale because it wraps up the Dominion War, ties off the Sisko/Prophets thread and places the crew at the end of their association with that era of the station however its not the highlight of that ten episode arc and as such I now feel a little bit gutted by it. Even more so it's not a final episode that's an easy watch on its own. You need to have a good grasp of what the heck has been happening (especially in the final season) to really "get" where it's going.

The eight episode build-up is amazing, well paced and exciting with numerous threads from Section 31 to Rom becoming Nagus, Sisko's marrage and more all being ticked off the big list but in retrospect the final episode just can't deliver on such an incredible narrative. It also has the weirdest passage of time ever. Just how long are Winn and Dukat in the Fire Caves while Sisko is off at Cardassia Prime for example? Anyway, it does a good job but after seeing Worf kill Gowron, the Breen smash the hell out of the Defiant and Kira in a Starfleet uniform how could the last episode live up to it? Well when I watched it through now, not as well because the pay off is not as strong.

So as I dived into Voyager I found myself refreshingly surprised by the show. My blinkers had been lifted and I made myself open to be entertained by the series. Seven seasons sped past as we moved from Kazon space to Hirogen to Borg via sick cheeses, alternative timelines and a lifetime of coffee. We even made contact with the Alpha Quadrant and not too late in the process either I might add. 

Every season had closure, every year brought something new and a concept that only Voyager could make work. Full year in two episodes? Tick. Future museum butchers the ship's history? Tick. Rogue Starfleet ship? Tick. The list goes on and while Voyager was back to the single-episode story trait of The Next Generation because of its transient nature it still managed to load story arcs and offer some form of continuity plus being the most "out there" thinking of any Star Trek series.

When Caretaker aired I was 100% certain the finale would be the other creature they mentioned but that was done with by the early part of season two which left the ending very, very open and suggested that Voyager was going to be around for some time. What could they do? How could it all come to an end?

The arrival of the Borg as an adversary late in season three and Jeri Ryan's addition to the cast at the beginning of the fourth season changed a lot of things and the final four years are a lot more self-contained than seasons one to three which brings me to Endgame.

Ultimately the show does pay off on the promise from the pilot in that the ship does get home (whoops...spoiler!) but it doesn't allow itself to be dragged down by that point because there's a lot more to it than that. As with All Good Things... and to an extent These Are the Voyages, there's an element of time travel locked in here but check out how the strands from the show are wrapped up. The Pathfinder Project and Barclay are integral to the finale, Kim finally gets a command even if it is a ship where the name is bigger than the saucer but there are still things that shouldn't have happened specifically Tuvok becoming gravely ill and the death of Seven.

Of course we all know how it pans out with Admiral Janeway heading back, boosting the abilities of the Voyager from her past and seemingly putting an end to the Borg in the process. All in a day's work of course and many fans might rejoice more to realise that Neelix is only present for a matter of two minutes via subspace. Winner all round.

Endgame draws on some of the show's best and most inventive elements from the off. Indeed, if you think about it the ship actually gets home twice - at either end of the episode plus it demonstrates how far it had come from the planet/cloud/enemy of the week formula that was prevalent throughout the first two years of the series (give or take a Kazon instalment). In fact Endgame is a great example of Voyager learning from its 174 episodes. Yes there were errors and learning curves (!) but in the final 90 minutes it draws on its strengths by focusing on the biggest of bads and drawing a line in the sand.

The finale is indeed all the stronger for expanding the story to Earth and by default the secondary Earthbound recurring cast since Pathfinder had been brought into the series on more than one occasion over the final few years and provided a very different slant to the series that none of the other shows had been able to exploit. For once there was a group not aboard the title vessel who were integral to the story and Dwight Schultz as Barclay is a much better character here than he was in The Next Generation. Odd to think that his association with Voyager actually goes all the way back to season one and Projections. Who would have thought he would become such a major factor in the show?

Endgame explored, very much like All Good Things..., where our cast of familiars had ended up for good or bad but it also did something that no other series had ever done - destroyed a major enemy for once and for all it seemed. Deep Space Nine may have ended a war but the Dominion still existed while here Admiral Janeway not only brought technology resistant to the Borg to the table but affected their demise at the same time. At its core - and just as with All Good Things... and What You Leave Behind it's about family and the completion of something very special. Seven years have passed, we've lived and died with these people (several times in some cases) and experienced some life-changing moments as they've explored beyond the final frontier but there's always been that underlying unity. A unity that interestingly never once references the Maquis and the crew's formation in the last episode.

There is no big save for humanity here, it's just one crew and one final attempt to get back home which is, as you will know, a success although it was criticized for that moment coming right at the end credits but if we look at the show as a whole we always knew they would return to Earth at the end it was, please accept this cliche, always about the journey and on that level it most certainly delivered.

The finale is pure action/adventure and keeps with the ethos of the previous seven years. Everyone has their time to shine and share the limelight which is possible because the cast never became as large as its space station based sibling and the relentless pacing plus the singular storyline of Voyager versus the Borg means there is very little (if any) baggage carried through these last 90 minutes of the show.

Endgame remains a pure and uncomplicated finale to the show which still marks to this day the latest episodic moment in Star Trek history (of course Nemesis and the destruction of Romulus in 2009's movie go beyond this point) making it very much the bookend to the franchise on TV. With all the hype and interest around the upcoming series for 2017 that is a record it may no longer hold especially if the anthology concept is going to be the way forward. I also suspect the omission of a subtitle for the show (i.e. The Next Generation etc...) may well be linked integrally to that possibility.

That aside, Voyager's Endgame is a finale that has bettered with time and one I now find I can happily watch again and again. All the cast give solid and meaningful performances throughout and while the end of What You Leave Behind is bitter-sweet this remains firmly positive with the bookending of the show in every sense. The journey was indeed well worth it and remains just as good - if not better 15 years on.

NOW check out and subscribe to our monthly podcast. You can find us on iTunes, Soundcloud and Stitcher by searching "Some Kind of Star Trek". Episode one is live and ready for you to listen. We are recording episode TWO this week!

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Where's Ten Years Gone?

With a flypast from two starships named Enterprise as Archer, Kirk and Picard recited the now famous "Space, the final frontier..." opening, the titles rolled and that was it.

Ten years ago today, 13th May 2005, These are the Voyages..., the last and by no means best episode of prequel series Star Trek: Enterprise aired. Yep, it's a decade since the crew of the NX-01 skipped a few years of adventures to tell one last story and become guest stars in their own finale. Jonathan Frakes and Marina Sirtis tried their best to play Riker and Troi as if they were actually discussing events that happened during The Pegasus. Note to fans, that was an episode made 12 years earlier so any form of consistency was lost to begin with however much effort was put in.

From recent reports it continues to be nailed into our skulls that there's going to be no new series on TV. While the cash is rolling in thanks to the rebooted JJ Abrams universe which has already seen two multi-million dollar movies take the big screen by storm and a third, suggested to be titled Star Trek Beyond, lined up for 2016 it's movies or nothing. Think about this though - it was ten years from the end of The Original Series to the release of The Motion Picture and we've been lucky enough since the end of Enterprise to get two new movies and a whole ruck of fan series and flicks that have satiated some of our thirst for original Star Trek content. In some respects the future never looked so good especially in comparison to that barren decade of the 70's.

Now Some Kind of Star Trek has given a fair amount of column inches to the rumours, the stories, the suggestions and even THAT Captain Worf series. We could easily spend this 10th anniversary of the end of first run Star Trek by crying into our blood wine and lamenting its passing or moaning about the way in which JJ chose to take the franchise or that the likelihood that a new Star Trek TV series is an eternity away (please let's not get into that Jonathan Frakes angle).

So instead of picking over old bones once more, let's be uplifted. While These are the Voyages... might have been a poor way to say goodbye, what were the five best ways that Star Trek closed a season? What were the best finales the show produced over 49 years? I'm going to take a pot shot and select my favourites. Be free to disagree.

The Best of Both Worlds

Let's start with the obvious one and work away from it. Undoubtedly one of the biggest episodes of all time and arguably the defining cliffhanger in Star Trek history. The Riker sub-story, Picard captured, the return of the Borg, a seemingly lost cause, a magnificent, haunting soundtrack; all add to make this hit every single marker you could want. The conclusion is nowhere near as good simply because there was no way it could live up to the hype of part one. Those final few moments where we realise it really is that bad are seminal.

Notable Quotable: "Mr Worf - fire". - Riker

Key Moment: The cube ship appears for the first time accompanied by that haunting choral theme which plays out across the rest of the episode - we have engaged the Borg.

Cliffhanger: Jeez. Millions went into meltdown as resistance seemed to be 100% futile. Boxsets make it do much easier. Note that in part two however it's not Worf that does the firing but Geordi....!

All Good Things...

It formulated the way to make a show finale for both Deep Space Nine and Voyager with both series attempting to provide a "full circle" experience. Returning Q, linking three distinct time periods and bringing back a couple of our favourite characters made this a must see in every respect. Let's not forget it also marked the first time a Star Trek show had chosen to finish rather than being cancelled. Science fiction was growing in popularity thanks to the show and the future for Star Trek was increasingly bright with Deep Space Nine closing a second season and Voyager due for premiere in the following January of 1995. We all loved that final scene at the poker game and the whole episode was an exhilarating experience that did the show 200% justice and I can watch it again and again and again in a heartbeat. It's not about the suspense here, it's about the experience.

Notable Quotable: "Bye bye Jean-Luc it's been such fun but alas all good things must come to an end." (either than or the last line...) - Q

Key Moment: Admiral Riker's suped-up Enterprise-D blows the hell out of two Klingon warships.

Cliffhanger: Not applicable. This was the end. Until Generations....

In the Hands of the Prophets

Deep Space Nine planted itself firmly on the map with the closer from it's first season. In the Hands of the Prophets is all about the placing of key characters, a reflection on the pilot episode and the preparation for season two. Usually we'd expect (as we'd come to see on The Next Generation) that the finale would be simply concluded in the first episode after the summer break. Deep Space Nine broke that mould by introducing Winn and Bareil ahead of the election for Kai that would take another year to occur plus examined the pairing of Sisko and Kira and their journey since Emissary. A masterstroke that firmly said they would be back for a second year and that it would develop from the events of the first season. Still a tense episode, it's a lot more about the people and the Starfleet officers' acceptance that the station is becoming their home just as much as it's about the assassination plot. Watch it back after a thorough rewatch of the show and it's still brilliant. Bajoran politics never seemed so amazing.

Notable Quotable: "Is the Emissary of the Prophets blaming me for this act of terrorism?"

"The commander of this station is." - Winn and Sisko

Key Moment: The bombing of the school. Hands down that's one way to make fans take note of your season closer.

Cliffhanger: None. All about the set-up.

Call to Arms

It was a toss up between this and The Jem'Hadar because both of them were huge Deep Space Nine game-changers that altered the way in which the series progressed. Call to Arms finally delivered the long-awaited Dominion War in dramatic character-driven style that became the show's trademark. Dark, as far from optimistic as you could ever expect and grounded in the reality that Starfleet are on the back foot, there's a foreboding that this is going to get even worse before it gets better. Losing the station to Dukat and his Dominion allies was a masterstroke we would never have predicted when Emissary aired. This was a close knit family who had come to see the gloomy Cardassian mining station as home and didn't want to leave - a big change from where we were at the start of the show. I won't bore everyone about the whole baseball scene but needless to say it's simply one of the best episodes ever made and far better than Janeway losing Voyager in Basics.

Notable Quotable: "...But no victory could make this moment any easier for me. And I promise, I will not rest until I stand with you again. Here; in this place where I belong." - Sisko

Key Moment: Sod it. The baseball bit. I love it.

Cliffhanger: Not officially but that fleet sure isn't just for show. Deep Space Nine didn't like to do proper cliffhangers because almost every week was one by this point.

Equinox

The what-Voyager-could-have-been story which was one of the best things the show ever did. A similar small science vessel forgets its principles for the sake of a quick trip back to the Alpha Quadrant. John Savage is perfectly cast as "Rudy" Ransom and the chilling modifications to the ship's EMH are a horrifying twist, showing just how far the captain is willing to go. Ultimately it's a comparison of how far the show and the cast have come since Caretaker. Experimenting on aliens is always a winner for the moral dilemma and while we kind of knew that Voyager would be OK, it was more about what the heck was going to happen to the Equinox crew. Personally I also think it's Voyager's best ever two-parter with the quality just as strong in part two and I'm a sucker for the Nova Class.

Notable Quotable: "May I ask you something, captain to captain? The Prime Directive: how often have you broken it for the sake of protecting your crew?" - Ransom

Key Moment: Hard choice but switching the two EMH's was a clever twist.

Cliffhanger: We never thought Janeway would be killed but it's all about the set up of where the characters are and how Voyager has been abandoned for dead by Equinox.

And now you're wondering about The Original Series  and also Enterprise? Fair enough. For me none of their season closers came close to the quality of these five. For The Original Series there was no real season close feeling - it was just another episode to turn out and for Archer's shift, it never reached the levels of excellence that I decided to go with. I, of course, look forward to your suggestions and reasons!!!

So what was your favourite closer or are you still lamenting the passing of Enterprise? Let us know in the comments below!

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The Ship of Future Past and Fluid Flights: The Official Starships Collection Issues 42 and 43

It's a lot longer than I thought.

No euphemism here, merely an observation on the shape of the USS Pasteur from All Good Things... which marks the first of this month's Eaglemoss starships.

Built and devised by ILM's Bill George, the Pasteur was notorious for being a homage to Matt Jeffries' original design for the USS Enterprise in The Original Series but was partially modified from a sphere to a saucer along the way to the now-iconic ship design.

With Issue 42 we get one of Starfleet's more diverse concepts with the Olympic Class hospital ship which, as I've already said, is a lot longer than I recalled. In fact on screen it looked a lot more squat. In reality the Pasteur seems a bit spindly with that oversized golf-ball primary hull, thin secondary hull and dwarfed warp nacelles capable of the miraculous warp 13.

On this occasion the lower half of the sphere and the secondary hull as a whole are in metal while everything above the top deck line of that secondary hull are in plastic. The detail - and for once the windows - are all in alignment; even my nacelles point in the same direction so no complaints on build quality from that side. Nor are any of the joint lines evident here between the two build materials. 

There are a couple of discrepancies between the plan views and the model in that there's a red stripe near the deuterium fuel port which is missing on the pics and there are also two black circles on the bottom of the sphere which don't appear on the very same image on pages eight and nine of the magazine. Those details missing in the pictures do turn up on the original studio model a few pages later however so we'll take that as the best source material!

That aside, even the number of lifeboat hatches mirrors the views and while it's only a small thing, I am impressed with the recessed deflector strip which I'd always thought was a phaser emitter. A couple of the hull details such as a "greyed" panel at the front of the sphere and the dashed line around it's centre aren't absolutely perfect but they're so tiny it's easy to forgive.The only thing that the pictures or studio model don't really give you a good comparison for however is the colour of the Pasteur which looks a lot more duck-egg blue than white.

The thin nacelles do feature our favourite red translucent plastic bussard collectors as well as the ship's registration. Notably the NCC-58925 emblazoned on the nacelles at four points is in The Next Generation title font rather than Starfleet ship standard you might have expected. Taking a glance at the model images in the magazine though you can see that this was how she was seen on the TV episode.

This is one of the models that I was pressing to see in the series and it's come earlier than I thought it might. I like the end result but perhaps I was hoping for something a bit more weighty and maybe just a slight bit larger. Just me probably but as  an end result the USS Pasteur passes muster for accuracy and will be one of the key ships fans will have been waiting to tick off their lists in 2015.

Issue 42 of the magazine does provide us with a superb CGI rendering of the ship on the opening profile section which concisely retells the story of The Next Generation's finale to the point where the Pasteur ends up in small pieces thanks to the attacking Klingons. As we've said, there's some nice plan views in here followed by a six page overview of the seventh season from The Next Generation and not a single picture from Gambit, Phantasms, Parallels or The Pegasus; oh the shame - but at least they are covered in the text. 

Why this takes over six pages when we get six paragraphs on Bill George's studio model is anyone's guess because I would have liked to see more of this vessel in detail. No other ship in Star Trek history looks like her and a few close-up shots of the hull would have been great as well as something on how they filmed her since there's a degree of 3D flying in that final episode. Maybe we could have even had some bits on the refitting of the "D" as well? We know that Doug Drexler turned up the third nacelle recently as part of a clean-up but what about the reasons all the bits were added for the finale? Perhaps for another issue...

Jumping from 1994 through to 1997 and the leap in technology is made very evident with the Species 8472 bioship which only ever existed within the framework of a computer. It's also the first organic ship we've had in the collection and there's every possibility that Gomtuu from Tin Man will be along at some point as suggested in a recent Twitter Q&A held by collection guru Ben Robinson.

This one's 80% plastic with the three fins cast in metal but this in no way detracts from the simple, slender design of the bioship which may also be one of the smallest and lightest models produced. Each panel bears the samel grey/brown "living" pattern surrounding the weaponised core  Eaglemoss have nailed the markings but the lack of lighting evident on the magazine cover does take something from the presence of the ship.

It's design is perfectly symmetrical along each fin which does remind me of the (later realised) Xindi Insectoid ship we had a while back but carries it off a little better (and that wasn't precisely symmetrical). Given it's small size - and a similar criticism I levelled at the Pasteur - this could have done with being just a little bigger to pick out some of the smaller detail on the tips of the forward prongs or in the centre module detail. It's nice but in comparison to the Starfleet ship from the previous issue there's not a lot to look at or investigate. 

In fact it's not been that easy to review given the repeated nature of the design. We can say that it's of a good build quality without question and that the precision taken to make each of the panels is very precise with no poor edges or, fortunately, sharp points on those fins. It's also incredibly sturdy but then the stabilising fins are metal so they will take a decent battering if the floor makes an attack. It's also mounted by those very fins in a stand which isn't the best of fits if I'm honest and on a couple of occasions the bioship has easily popped out of the grips which I've done a close up shot of here.

In the magazine the bioship looks a heck of a lot more exciting and way more cool than the model even if the pic on the profile page is a bit grainy. There's a good level of background on the ships and their most significant appearance in the two-part Scorpion story from Voyager. Split into two sections, this is comprehensive when it comes to the creation of the bioship which does make up a little for the disappointment of the model. The story of the craft is just as much a departure from the norm as the first Star Trek CGI aliens were when they took to the screen against the Borg. Certainly the text reflects the individual and instantly recognisable nature of the bioship at least making it one of Voyager's most impressive and notable enemies.

As with the Pasteur, the key moments for the bioship are limited to the one story it featured in and we round off the issue with the upcoming Intrepid in all it's blank-hulled glory.

In other related Collection news, Ben Robinson took part in a Twitter Q&A, revealing that there are some great plans ahead for the collection which suggest there's a ton of ships waiting to get their own issue.

Definite models include the NX-01 refit (never seen onscreen however) which is destined for the sixth special after the Klingon D-4 and the USS Kelvin. Ben also suggested that we'd get to see the K-7 space station, the glimpsed USS Enterprise-J and the Scimitar at some point although the latter is causing some headaches due to all those fins (note that he was even discussing this or a large scale Enterprise-E for a special release). The Romulan shuttle from In the Pale Moonlight was also alluded to and talking of shuttles, that set of four currently available in Europe will be heading to the UK but marketed differently.

Two of Ben's dream ships for the collection were mentioned. One being the Fesarius from The Corbomite Maneuver (which was listed on the back on the Issue Two promo pack) and the Breen warship from Deep Space Nine's final season. Apparently we'll be seeing the Breen ship first. Pushed further on upcoming issues Ben confirmed that there will be a mirror version of the Enterprise from Mirror, Mirror too. If that is the case I'd like to think we'll see the Avenger and the NX-01 mirror version at some stage. We will get to see the Enterprise-A dressed in an aztec paint scheme that was tragically missing from the refit right at the start of the collection.

Little additions of information did drop that Ben would think of adding the smuggler ship from Unification as well as Gomtuu from Tin Man, the Tamarian cruiser from The Next Generation's Suddenly Human as well as the Batris from Heart of Glory, the Merchantman from The Search for Spock and various Borg cubes.

And finally....Ben is now on Twitter and dropped a stunning pic last week that showed off some of the yet-to-be-released ships. I could four here - personal favourite the Steamrunner Class, the Sabre Class, the Romulan Bird-of-Prey from The Original Series' Balance of Terror and in the background a pair of nacelles that might well be attached to the NCC-1701. Then today we got an additional shot of the USS Appalachia close up which kinda made my weekend of Star Trek complete. Note with this one the rear stand - must not be a lot of weight in the front of the Steamrunner Class model to make that work.

And that's it for March's editions. Good but we've had better double selections and the teases we're getting indicate some stellar models to come - and even the possibility of USS Defiant and USS Voyager dedication plaques. One last point, apparently those annoying back issues we're missing will be resolved in the near future and seeing as it came from Ben Robinson I tend to believe it's true.

Liked this month's ships? Enjoyed Ben's Twitter Q&A? Let's discuss below!

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