Bonus Edition: Talarian Observation Craft

Alas this is going to be a disappointment.

Even from just seeing this one in the box I was fairly convinced that the Talarian Observation Craft was going to be collection "filler" material. This is more relevant with the point that we've already had this ship in its more recognisable (later) form as the Tamarian ship from Darmok.

It's also very, very small. I guess that the vertical and horizontal dimensions forced it to be a certain size in line with the box but hey, it is what it is. In fact it's even packaged on its side.

At only just over the size of the black stand, the Observation Craft must clock in as one of the smallest (and probably most expensive) models released. 

Screentime for this ship wasn't extensive so comparisons have to be made more versus the CG images in the magazine. That said, the Talarian craft has a subtle two tone paint scheme that you can just catch in the light with some of its panels in a slightly more glossy finish. 

To be fair, surface detail is a little lacking here on both the metal and plastic sections of the main hull. The grilled portions of the two small rectangular wings are pretty clear but the mechanics that trim along the edges of the hull are barely raised. The scale utterly works against this ship with the differing levels of the hull surface blending a little too easily into each other. This in turn means that the darker brown paint detailing along the hull is patchy at best with the CG of the magazine showing up a lot of the challenges on this small scale ship.

At least the markings on the two vertical sail sections are spot on. At least. It also seems that the underside plastic insert has a degree more definition to some of its elements than the topside. Look in particular at the two pairs of circular elements two-thirds of the way along the hull and see how their shape seems that bit sharper in the plastic.

The same I think can be said for the grille work towards the nose. Now it's not that I don't like this ship. It's one of those I was surprised didn't show up in the 180 issues of the series instead of other multiples we endured that could have been left as bonuses. However, for the price Eaglemoss is asking (£19.99) it's a lot for something this small (also looking at you, Shuttles...)

The magazine recounts the events of TNG's Suddenly Human while also covering off the background of the Talarians and their various spacecraft. The designing section is awfully underwhelming and feels like it cuts off halfway through the story as you turn over after two pages into a piece on redresses of the model. Now I always love to see what else these things turn up as and this is no exception since it did the rounds quite impressively over the years.

Finally there's a much belated article on exec producer and writer Jeri Taylor who forged a good deal of Voyager's identity as well as key episodes from TNG such as Suddenly Human, Final Mission and the seminal Unification.

One hundred percent this is a completist ship that will leave a lot of collectors disappointed. It could have and should have been bigger to truly realise some of the detail but I guess this is all we're going to get. You're probably better digging out its incarnation from Darmok to appreciate the detail.

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Metaphorically Speaking: The Official Starships Collection Issues 166 and 167

Right - we're going straight into Issue 166 and get ourselves up to date with the regular collection.

 

Two bonus edition reviews are coming next week and now we're tackling the classic Tamarian Deep Space Cruiser. That's Tamarian not Tallerian which means we're talking Darmok from The Next Generation.

A slimline design cowboyed off the Tarellian (not to get you all too confused) starship from season four's Suddenly Human, the budget restrained cruiser still cuts a very distinct swathe through Star Trek mainly due to the impact of the episode in which it appeared.

A plain grey colour, the cruiser is one solid model. The whole body with the exception of the undersides of the engines and the central hub is one casting. As we've seen on other models this can be a big win in some respects with a nicely weighted starship and for the most part some good raised hull detail across all of the panels. The wedge-shaped forward section leads with the patchwork grey colouring and with a thin enough paint finish, the grilles and bumps don't blend into the background. 

The central hull piece is fairly thin and benefits from the metal build quality, strengthening both this and the four pylons which stretch out to the warp engines and wings. Here again the grilled panelling manages to stand out from the hull although it's the nacelles where the most distinctive part of the Tamarian ship resides.

The engines include inset red plastic pieces utilising the plastic coverings on the underside to hide how they are installed. The light seeps right through from top to bottom through the eight panels on each unit with the inset pieces even wrapping at the ends of the tubes to blend the materials. The join lines for both the engines and the central body piece are well hidden, almost inconspicuous as panel edges which does manage to bring at least a bit of life to the grey starship. As for the forward swept wings, these work well from the perspective of showing their panel lines in that the sections are noticeably raised versus the base hull level. 

The stand position clips the ship in from the rear and there's no give so she's firmly in place from the get go. Lovely design, definitely one that was missing from the collection and should have been included much, much earlier. In the magazine the CG images give a great, crisp look at this one-off ship from all angles alongside the recounting of the Darmok episode and the fact that the Tamarian ship was one of the ships more well-armed than the Enterprise. 

Issue 166 also covers the unique way in which the Tamarians communicated alongside some minimally detailed views of their starship. Honestly, by this point I've given up attempting to reason why these plan views aren’t more adequately labelled given the audience.

Rick Sternbach is once again in the hotseat for the double page spread explaining the transformation of the Talarian Observation Craft into the more distinctive Tamarian vessel. Minimal drawings again here with a simple before and after comparison between the two starships to line up the changes that were made to help reduce costs on the expensive opening batch of season five stories.

One of the most interesting articles perhaps of the whole Starships Collection appears here with an interview with Darmok writer Joe Menosky opening up about the background to this The Next Generation classic which began life in a very different form to what was eventually filmed. Beyond that the article also delves into Menosky’s further involvement with the fourth and fifth seasons of the series culminating in writing the season concluding/cliff-hanging Time’s Arrow. 

Over to another gorgeous Enterprise arrival and this one's from the early days of the first season with the Axanar Freighter from Fight or Flight. When we mean early, we mean episode two so this one is a real stab in the dark for the series as it found its feet. Luckily John Eaves was on hand to whip up a freighter design that's both familiar and also offers new twists on our expectations. The quality of course as you would expect from Enterprise is stunning. 

The model itself is spectacularly detailed from nose to tail starting out with the snout like front piece nestled between two overlapping side panels. The overall silver finish is also incredibly striking but where the Axanar Freighter wins for me is in the precision of the finish. Freighters as a whole aren't that exciting but this one almost feels like a work of art. The panelling is well marked and from above you can appreciate the segmented nature of the ship and that solid metallic silver covering. 

Each of the segments is individually decalled on the left and right as well as the nose carrying two sets of markings as well.  Perhaps infuriatingly the hull sections at the rear and behind the extensive array of cargo pods have a terrible join line especially at the top which ruins the overall, pretty decent, effect. The gap is very noticeable and jarring considering the tender loving care that has gone into crafting everything forward of this point. It's only on the top of the rear propulsion block although the high level of detail does appear to reduce the further back you get.

The rear housing has much more simplistic, flat panelling which leads back to the engine exhausts and aside from the gap on the top, the rest of this back piece is cleanly formed. The underside isn't quite as sparkling with a long and fairly evident gap running the length of the hull. Ideally, don't turn it over and you'll avoid any disappointment. 

Bizarrely the Axanar Cargo Ship starts off looking fantastic at the front with lots of great angles, overlaid sections and then those wonderfully detailed and three dimensional cargo pods but then finishes in a bit of a mish--mash. Honest opinion: Slight Annoying.

The issue 167 CG only works to highlight how inadequate the diecast metal and plastic cargo ship is. There are a ton more raised detail panelling especially around thr upper cargo pods plus how the ship has been imagined with a slight level of weathering to the forward plates as well as dirt markings to the nose which while not on the model were in the episode to give it a more used and worn look. We know this can be applied to some of them smaller craft and if so, why is this one being ignored?

The ship profile covers the main stats of the Axanar Cargo Ship and draws them into line with the events of Fight or Flight. This is one of those episodes where we never truly had a decent view of the ship and the model recreation from,Eaglemoss is our best hope of getting close up on the amazing detail that many would have ignored. Remember too that this was a time before HD so it might have looked spectacular...! 

Further in and we have the design plan for the freighter followed by a piece detailing first contacts with everything from the Ferengi to the Borg to the Klingons with some others in between. The design backgrounds are always a good read and here we can see how an early Enterprise alien ship came to be and retained a familiar shape to do so. 

Next month's combo of the Suliban Freighter and Kes' Shuttle look a little more interesting although the Axanar Cargo Ship displays that winning CG Enterprise formula that has raised many a model from obscurity in this collection.

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All Grown Up: Star Trek: The Next Generation Season Five

I've always considered there to be two eras to The Next Generation - the pre-Piller years of '87 to '89 and the remaining five seasons from '89 to '94.  Of the latter, season five is the one I approach with the most trepidation and following my re-watch over the last couple of months I still hold the same view.  

Of the "later" Piller years I find this to be the most uneven batch of episodes.  There are some out and out classics in here that would make it onto everyone and anyone's top list of TNG episodes and possible even a few that would challenge for some of the best installments ever but they are slightly tarnished by those they sit alongside and more-so than other seasons. 

So what's this season about? Originally I was going to call this blog Mortality and Morality as Sarek dies ("Unification"), Worf dies ("Ethics"), Geordi and Ro "die" ("The Next Phase"), Data 'dies' ("Time's Arrow"), everyone dies over and over again in "Cause and Effect" and that's just the main cast! You're hard pressed to find an episode where someone isn't on the verge of death or ending up on the slab during this year - and then there's the morality bit. The dangers of addictive gaming ("The Game"), homosexuality and conformity ("The Outcast"), mental rape ("Violations"), euthanasia ("Ethics"), enforced parenthood ("New Ground"), slavery ("The Perfect Mate") and dealing with horrific trauma ("Hero Worship") all get an airing this season but there seem to be chunks of these more serious and personal stories through the season providing that uneven keel and perhaps making it quite a hard series to access in some respects.

So what did I actually like about Season Five?  Quite a lot if I'm honest.  While it is uneven in places, it's still a cut above TNG's first two seasons. More importantly the fact that it's willing and able to tackle such difficult subjects through the year shows that TNG had really come of age. The first two years of the child learning to walk were distant memories, seasons three and four marked the show making itself stable, polishing the finish and then embarking on season five as a grown up; well experienced and prepared. However the placing of the more thought provoking episodes to the action-orientated installments could have done with a little bit more planning but on the whole it's a good effort.

The opening conclusion to "Redemption" was never going to live up to the hype of the previous season's cliffhanger but it's still an enjoyable start to the year. Commander Sela arrived and returned Denise Crosby to the Trek fold, popped up again in "Unification" - and then was promptly never seen again. It's OK but there was much better to come - virtually from the next episode when we encountered Picard in his trendy new captain's jacket and Darmok, at Tenagra of course. For me this was the real sign that TNG had grown up, as was the introduction of the semi-regular character, Ensign Ro in the eponymous episode. Semi-regular is perhaps a bit strong for Ro as she only made a series of fleeting appearances from here to "Preemptive Strike" right at the end of TNG's seventh year (mental note that I should do something about her in the future). The promised conflict wasn't to the levels that we would see from Major Kira in DS9 but her arrival did add a different edge that the Enterprise hadn't seen since its inception in 1987. It also introduced us to the Bajorans - a race whose actions and involvement with the fish-like Cardassians would affect the back stories of the two series that followed.

Indeed, as a year for "big" events such as the creation of the Bajoran back-story  they were pretty massive - and all I need to say here is Spock and probably "The Inner Light". The latter of which is, of course, rated as one of the great TNG moments. No question can be made of Patrick Stewart's performance here and no matter how many times I've watched it I still get a bit of a lump in my throat at the end. The story has everything that Picard can't have and all in less than 25 minutes. In the case of the former, what can we say - the return of a legend and finally a point where TNG became comfortable with its past. For more on this one, I would refer you to my recent blog on the seminal two-parter.

It was quite a season for returns in fact. The Crystalline Entity came back (and shattered), Sarek came (and went), Sela turned up (and went twice), Wesley came back (twice), Lwaxana appeared for her customary story and wouldn't be back until season seven (luckily); all that was missing was Q - but he would receive two installments the following year to make up for his notable absence. Another returnee who would be sticking around in the same "recurring" vain as Ensign Ro was Worf's son, Alexander. He would pop in and out over the course of the next two seasons and a few occasions on DS9. Alexander had the enviable ability to age at a phenomenal rate and also sadly gets lumbered with a heavy weight family stories this season. While they aren't my favourite installments by several country miles they do provide a lot of development for Worf as he becomes more comfortable with parenthood. Out of the whole cast he's probably the most used character this year however the shame is that the stories he is provided with are either Alexander related or honour related which is a shame because in other seasons we see much more to the character than these two facets which he becomes bogged down with in season five.

Brannon Braga is definitely one of the heroes of this season from a writing perspective. While "The Game" is a fair segment his real highlight is the mind-bending repetitive "Cause and Effect". Jonathan Frakes also deserves a fair amount of praise here for the direction here. It can't have been the easiest to work on especially as the whole episode effectively happens over and over again. Somehow Frakes comes up with something slightly different for each cycle to keep the audience attention and keep the story fresh each time. This is probably one of my favourites along with the classic "Darmok", Ronald D Moore's "The Next Phase" (which we would see a twist on in season seven) and "Conundrum" - if I'm not mistaken this was a few years before Buffy dropped Dawn into its fold without any explanation. It's also a wonderful occasion for the cast to play out of character and add a new "regular" for 30 minutes. Worf decides he's captain, Data mans Ten Forward and the mismatched Riker and Ro take their relationship to another level. If it had been made in the first two seasons it would have been an instant classic but dropping as it does in the middle of the fifth, it's overshadowed by others mentioned here. Still, one that is certainly on my "To Watch Again" list for the future.

I've mentioned it already but there are some highly moralistic episodes in season five, perhaps more than any other year of TNG. While this gets a bit of a drag later on, it's not the lowlight of the year. That honour has to be shared between two installments later in the year. First, "Cost of Living" , for the amusement park and mud bath sequences as well as the double hit of Lwaxana Troi and Alexander in the same 45 minutes. Way too much for me to deal with as I'm not a flag waver when it comes to Deanna's mother. I will watch them but it's against preference. I find this a particularly grating story that does damage to the character of Worf in some respects and is another Alexander/Worf family story where they have some issues to resolve in their father/son relationship. Writing this now I think this is why I'm not a great fan of this year. There's a lot of schmaltz and that goes for another story too.

Then there's the misfire that is "Imaginary Friend". While the story is solid enough I think the tragedy is that it is built around a young girl, Clara, who is not one of the cast and as such the emotional bond that has been built over years isn't there. In essence what happens to her isn't going to have much effect on the series on the whole. A nice little space filler but a shame when compared to some of the shows surrounding it. Kids are great; I'm happy to admit that, but the writers of TNG never really got to grips with them and in these two pieces it is very evident. Honestly, I feel a little sorry for Brian Bonsall getting lumbered with some of the scripts here in season five. Luckily he got "Rascals" and "A Fistful of Datas" in the following year which made up for it.

These are probably the only two episodes I could point to as being disappointing in the 91 - 92 season. My re-watch has discovered that "Unification" is a lot better than I remembered and "The Masterpiece Society" is a far better story than I thought aged 15. While we're mentioning that, it's also worth dropping in "Violations" - what a great story and so well played out. It's something a little edgy for TNG and the whole cast do a superb job with a great script from  Pamela Gray and Jeri Taylor. Not a bad result I would say considering this was a season I was not overly enthused to start watching again.

Getting later into the season the final four episodes are back-to-back brilliance; fast paced and jaw dropping sci-fi. The Borg are back; Geordi and Ro get to walk through everything in the budget-smashing "The Next Phase" and then there's the oft mentioned Picard-fest of "The Inner Light". However I must reserve my favourite moment of the entire year for the pre-credits sequence in the season finale, "Time's Arrow". While you just know it will be a cliffhanger and that there is absolutely no hope that the conclusion is going to do the first part any justice it contains one image that has stayed with me for many years and totally shocked me when I first saw a picture of it in the Star Trek Chronology (blast from the past!). It is of course Data's head on the ground in a cave under San Francisco. Apart from the face of Locutus on the Enterprise viewscreen at the end of season three I don't think that there's another image in TNG history that is burned into my mind as well as this one. I still get a chill seeing it now!

So what's next? Well, season six and the conclusion to Data's time-travelling predicament. Now I enjoyed season five but I have quite fond memories of its successor as all fans do. Will they be the same this time around and what episodes will cause a change of heart?

Oh - and what the HELL is going on with Riker's hair in Season Five?!