Last Two Up: STO Starships Collection Issues 19 and 20

We knew this was coming but good grief did it take a long time to get hold of the final two issues from Eaglemoss' 20 edition run of the Online Starships Collection.

Just to say before we start here that this has actually been a really, really good selection of ships from day one with a good spread across the main fleets with a couple of curveballs thrown in and, of course, an Enterprise for all those completists out there.

The end of the collection so early was a surprise - at least it was then - however in hindsight it sort of told us collectors and fans that the writing may well have been on the wall for some time.

But let's not go down that rabbit hole another time and instead focus on the two great ships that finish off the set.

With issue 19 we have the Cardassian CUV Damar starship and bookending the series with a Federation vessel we have the impressive Concorde Class.

Carrying a lot of the hallmarks of the Galor/Keldon Class ships commonly seen throughout seven years of DS9, the Damar Class/CUV Damar vessel dons a darker overcoat and actually seems to devolve to some degree. The very form of the ship takes it back even more closely to that of a scorpion. For example right at the front the ship carries two elements which suggest pincers as well as retaining the long forked tongue of a tail to the rear. Deadly at both ends!

While it also does away with the standard sandy Cardassian paint scheme of its forebears, the Damar model is actually...class. The paintwork on this one is fantastic. There's a god contrast and a whole ton of panel detail on just about every surface. Even better is the choice not to emboss the window points onto the hull and just paint them on. This look a lot more accurate and aligned than previous editions.

What also impresses with this Online Cardassian ship are the sharp RCS thruster points and blue grilles which stand out very effectively. The CUV Damar really is one of the best and most visually impressive from the collection. Multiple colourings, accurate window placement and perhaps the pinnacle, the layered hull.

From the front this is much clearer with the segments of the ship stacked up and enhanced with the use of negative space between the two main pieces. These are securely fixed together with the joints all hidden away within the depths of the layered hull.

What I did spot as well is the slight colour shift between the upper and lower hulls when the ship is flipped over. There's a more matt finish to the ventral side of the Damar as well as a direct continuation of the fine detail that marks out the upper levels of the ship. 

The Damar is a real gem. Well constructed, well replicated from the game and one of the more expertly finished vessels that Eaglemoss produced over nine years. It's just a surprise to find one that's so impressive this late in the day. Clearly its assisted in a large part by the design itself but for once the collection has a model that looks solidly built, finely turned out and well painted especially when it comes to the highlights and features.

Issue 19 remains solid and true to the Damar with details of its in-universe development, nature and role as well as a discriminating examination of the ship's design for STO. There's a ton of graphics and in-game images of the ship as you would expect but I would jump to say that the model easily blitzes every single image of the Damar on these pages; it's that nice a model. 

Rounding out the issue alongside its in-game stats is a section broadly covering The True Way (a Cardassian revolutionary group) and the Union itself after the climax of the Dominion War and the years to the 25th Century. Well worth a read and very comprehensive in a surprisingly small amount of space.

The USS Concorde NCC-94500 looks like a mash up of several different ship classes. The main chunk of it does appear to take inspiration from the Excelsior with its dipped hull and thinned rear section. Yet, this design tweaks even that classic with the quad warp engines and a more "eye" shaped deflector dish. 

Now, I'm not a huge fan of this ship but personal opinion on the design has never been a factor in determining if the model itself is any good. 

The thing with the STO ships is that the Federation ones tend to have this light/dark, black/white contrast going on which I can't quite accept on most occasions. I get that it's more striking when you see them in the game and makes them more easily recognisable but I'm more used to the flatter colours from the show and movies. 

Yet the Concorde cuts quite a mark as the final edition in the 20 issue series. The contrast of the two opposite shades works well and there's little to no colour bleed between the segments. The speckled finish we've so often seen in the series also returns to break up what would otherwise be a very stark white base coat. What I also love about the finish to this one is the alignment of the lifeboat hatches which hang right across the black/white border but are absolutely spot on in their placement and colouring.

The alignment of the red striping towards the rear of the primary hull is a little off when you compare starboard to port. Neither is crimped or marked but the two aren't quite aligned if you dropped a mirror down the front to back centre line.  It also clashes in with the black arc around the middle of the saucer if you look even more closely and from memory it's unusual for the lining decals to be this out of whack with the hull.

Also the red hatch markings are way off and worse since they adorn the very front and centre of the primary hull. That said, the windows are nicely applied because they aren't relying on specific hull dips or rises.

But the Concorde gets much more interesting the further back you go. Once past the registry (very basic) and the bridge, the rear of the primary hull expands out with an array of mechanics, sensor platforms and more. This effectively acts as both the rear of the saucer but also as the very rigid and secure pylons that hold the four warp engines. 

The detail along that spinal section is pretty good, mixing in greys and blues to draw out the elements however the finish does look chipped in places and the decals once again (on very close inspection) just don't quite line up in all aspects. The chips in the paint are a real disappointment as once you see one, there's a second and then you're scouring the whole thing to spot any more - which sadly there are.

But onto the engines where we have two larger warp nacelles slung tightly underneath a shorter pair. The wise folks at Eaglemoss did mange to incorporate translucent bussard collectors but chose to paint in the warp field grilles since they are very, very slim elements here. The paintwork for those grilles is ok at best with some feathered edges and again some paint "chipping" where the engines have black segments. The bussard collectors fairly hefty in size which does mean you can clearly see the peg elements which are holding it all together.

Across the whole of the 20 issues this seems to have been a constant factor. This black mask always seems to be worn in some form be it at the edges or frayed within the striping and it's detracted from the visual brilliance of more than one Federation starship, present company included.

The underside of the Concorde continues the speckles over white paintwork but once more features a lot of misaligned decals marking out key pieces of the starship whether cargo  hatches or lifeboat ports. The real issue has always been the scale and application, something that the XLs have managed to walk a fine line with on most occasions.

It is a little blotchy as well with the grey areas coming across as blobs rather than distinctive elements on the tail piece. Both the black and grey pieces of the bulbous forward area do avoid this but there are signs of some sloppy paintwork that indicates quality control wasn't p to scratch on this day. Fortunately the panel/shield grid lines are very prominent here as they are across the majority of the underside of the Concorde. The bottom of the saucer too is well finished if somewhat smooth. The red striping decals are crisper here and line up more precisely with the curves of the hull and inlaid sections although the hatch markings are all over the place as they are elsewhere.

It's a decent model to finish this short-lived series though and throughout, the unusual Federation ships have been well presented and well-represented. In a sense the Concorde fittingly demonstrates the best and worst of Eaglemoss. Great base colours, a learning that we as fans want to actually see the panel linings and surface undulations but god forbid you want decal or window accuracy at this scale.

Issue 20's magazine offers up similar material to all of its 19 predecessors with details of the battlecruiser's in-game existence and reasons for development as well as some rather nice plan views of the class. These do illuminate that the speckled paint finish is a design choice rather than an element that is seen in the game. 

Some of the CG images in here are spectacular especially the one which opens the issue. There's more from the real world as we are taken into the design process for the Concorde Class before, fittingly, the final article of the whole line - and also Eaglemoss' smaller starships collections - covers Starship Design within the STO universe.

So that was indeed that and this marks the final review from this collections and as noted, the final review from a starship (numbered edition) collection of this scale. We still have some review of older Discovery lines and bits to wedge in but for now, this is really how it comes to an end. The STO Collection was tragically underrated and clearly undersubscribed but 20 issues have covered Klingons, Romulans, Tholians, the Dominion and a ton of Starfleet vessels of all shapes and sizes.

In no way a let down, the collection has replicated the game's starships as best it could and in some respects (Damar) actually produced something that may well be superior to the original source piece.

I've been lucky to review this series and I hope for anyone who is a fan of starship design and never got the chance that these will be back online to purchase not too far in the future. While you might not go for all of them there are definite must haves in here on the brilliance of their original design and also some that work better as a model than on screen.

Eaglemoss - it was great while it lasted and thanks for these great additions for any fan collection.

Check out all our Online Starships posts HERE

You can find out more on the Star Trek Online Official Starships Collection by visiting the Hero Collector website HERE

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STO Issue 16: AFS Khitomer

With only a slender few issues left in its sadly limited run, the Online Collection is pulling in some excellent editions to round out 20 volumes.

Issue 16 (apologies but the Enterprise-F refit was out of stock so this will be updated with that shortly) is the AFC Khitomer. Aptly named after the location of the infamous peace conference, the first starship to be designed jointly by the Klingons and Federation is a fairly recent addition to the game.

A slender design, the Khitomer attempts to meld two design strands together and does manage to pull it off. The front is very Federation and the back is very distinctly Klingon. But we're here to check out the model rather than offer opinions on the in game creation, more how does HeroCollector handle it.

Honestly, it could do with being bigger and would look stunning as an XL - which they also need to do with the Enterprise-F. Just as with the Excelsior and Enterprise-B, the length versus the box space on this one works completely against it with the ship seemingly squashed into a size that doesn't befit it. 

Windows are mere tiny blobs and barely recognisable out on that scythe edge to the front of the saucer and the distinct blue and yellow panelling seems totally lost on such a small canvas. Even the CSN-01 registry looks crunched up on the small primary hull. 

That's not saying that HeroCollector haven't done all they can here because it is still as STO accurate as possible with that unusual brown edging running the whole way round the Khitomer's leading edge. The mix of colours here is interesting too with that as noted brown linking in with the more typical white base of Starfleet to give an unusual starship look. 

Even in its small diecast form, the Khitomer still smells Klingon with that long neck assembly, replete with bridge-style module nestled on the top and those classic low slung dagger-like nacelles which almost look stolen from Discovery. The forked upper assembly is another distinct Klingon assembly and beautifully brings the combined strengths of the two formidable powers together in one shape. 

However, it still feels a bit crinkly. The mottled, pixelled paint job does convey the online nature of the ship nicely but there is still a lot going on. Some of the yellow striping is arrow straight while the curves are slightly wobbly and uneven. Lifeboat hatches and other miscellaneous decals are just too damn small to really take in with the undulating surface of the hull not helping their placement either top or bottom. 

Most of the best paint and decal work here is towards the rear of the Khitomer. The impulse blocks, warp grilles and markings around that winged section are quite precise with the bussard collectors standing out on the engines. Indeed, it's not that bad a result but as I've looked over her more, it's that primary hull/saucer that doesn't seem to be totally up to scratch on this one and mainly on the top. Underneath the detailing is nice and clean with a decent level of decalling that doesn't overcrowd the surface with a flatter finish for the hatches and ship registry. Even the more curved and circular features here are under better control and just sit right. There is a section of brown paint missing (?) from the edge of the primary hull (see pic on the left side) and continuing on, it seems to flake in and out at several points with a distinct white line in some places.

Under a bit more inspection, the ventral side of the Khitomer is it's best. The blocking is conspicuously better although still not perfect. There is some feathering towards the prongs of the back upper unit which again bugs me a little but it's a step up from the other side.

I cannot emphasise how much this really, really needs to be made into an XL. I think STO fans would go mad for it (and the F) if it were in a bigger scale because this just doesn't work. That's a big shame because I can see a lot of game fans looking forward to this one and coming out relatively disappointed because of the finish. There's nothing to quibble on when it comes to the actually build materials and construction, just how it's wrapped up.

Into the issue 16 magazine and we have an overview of the in-universe story behind the abilities of the AFS Khitomer as well as its journey to creation. This is followed with the real world story of its design and build which details how the team behind STO worked to combine elements of the two distinct cultures into the one vessel. Wisely we then complete the issue with ship stats from the game plus a briefing on the nature and history of the alliance between the Klingons and Federation as seen in the late 24th and early 25th Centuries.

The magazine this time rounds out the ship nicely and it feels as though this is a complete Khitomer package with all elements clearly interlinked and related to the featured vessel. As a bundle, great, but when it comes to some of the touches on the starship model itself there is room for improvement.

Check out all our Online Starships posts HERE

You can find out more on the Star Trek Online Official Starships Collection by visiting the Hero Collector website HERE

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Discovery: The New Stuff

930 years.

One ship.

One totally unexplored part of the Star Trek universe...

New York Comic Con broke not only the second Picard trailer but the first tease of Discovery's third season. What are the big clues and learnings from our first look at Star Trek's biggest ever time jump into a time we've never explored?

1. Burnham

She's our door into this trailer. Burnham is alone for at least a year, seeking out Discovery and longing for a call on her communicator from the starship. Shown through a series of three time hops we see Sonequa Martin-Green's look change subtley - but what ship is she aboard and where has this craft come from?

What I do think is that Book (David Ajala) will be there near the beginning of her adventure suggested by the fact Burnham is still wearing her Starfleet uniform and has short hair. Might we be getting to see the 12 months on her own as flashbacks through the season? It appears that by the time she finds Discovery he's not in the picture and Burnham specifically notes she's been alone for a substantial period of time which would all add up.

I would surmise that during that time she and Book have encountered the remnants of the Federation and its president who reveals the flag to Burnham. His words tell us that the Federation is in a poor state but is this due to it collapsing? Worlds losing their faith in it? Did the Federation become a darker organisation and the one responsible for Craft (in Calypso) being a lone war survivor? Has the Federation been pushed back by other forces and hidden waiting for the time to reassert itself? How about whom do the six stars on the flag represent? Is it the founding races - Humans, Tellarites, Andorians, Vulcans plus Lurians and Cardassians?

Burnham could be the one to do that if the trailer is to be believed. Oh - nice one to spot too is that Michael is going to be moving into the Command stream as she can be seen wearing gold as below!

2. Aliens

I'm impressed. Not only do we have humans, the crew of Discovery but also a Lurian (Morn's race), a Cardassian and definitely some slightly different looking Andorians. Now are these at war and if so who with? What's with all the sashes?

Note that most of the firearms toted in this trailer are that odd over-hand Dyson airblade-style blaster, one of which Book himself acquires sometime. There's also a weapon that resembles the Matrix of Leadership from Transformers even down to the central blue light. 

From some of the later moments in the trailer we do see Burnham engaged in hand-to-hand combat but it's difficult to make out if this is another instance or a continuation of this alien battle. 

Perhaps even more interesting is the arrival of the red-robed Trill, easily identifiable by their spots. At one point there's even someone floating in what clearly resembles the Trill symbiont pools from their homeworld so what are they doing? Will we get to see an even older Dax? Could this be the new Dax?

3. Discovery

Looks like the Crossfield Class ship made it through intact although a few of the crew are off ship for some form of mission with Saru and Tilly both going native in their clothing. We do get to see both Stamets and Culber again plus quick shots of the bridge crew and Michelle Yeoh's Georgiou shows up in there as well but check this shot out - it looks like the ship ends up held hostage at some point by the unknown alien to the right on the image below...hmmmm what could that mean? 

At least one canister of spores has been used too as you can see in the storage unit and the two individuals on the deck besides Tilly and Stamets are not in Starfleet blues...

Next, have a look here - is this one of those interlopers at work in the Jefferies tube? What might their plans be for the ship and her crew? The uniform doesn't belay any clues and is fairly non-descript from this distance. There's an indication that this is the same person as in the Trill pool but I'm not seeing any spots at this distance so I'm not wholly convinced...

The Picard trailer in retrospect is a very different beast; going for retro, the cameo drops and lots of little flashes of action and intrigue whereas the Discovery tease footage provides a taste of the state of the galaxy. The appearance of familiar races means we're not in totally "alien" territory yet there is enough here to tell me that it's not going to be anywhere near the Milky Way of the 22nd Century they left. 

My big question is how will that year away from the ship have affected Burnham? What has the Discovery been doing in that time and will we get to see those time periods played out over the season or intertwined with "present day" footage to uncover some mysteries along the road. Discovery has provided the bigger picture to the season - Book, the time travel and the fate of the Federation but has left out the intricacies of the story while on the flip side Picard has given us all the sprinklings but so far no real bones to lay our thoughts on. Clever or what?!

What do you expect from season three of Discovery?

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Two Sides of the Fight: The Official Starships Collection Issues 68 and 69

I really, really, really wanted to like the Federation fighter with issue 68 but for some reason I'm not getting as excited as I thought I might be.

One of, if not the smallest Federation ship to be included in the series alongside the two man shuttles, the attack fighter is a charming little craft notable for its fleeting - and speedy - appearances in both The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine either in the hands of the Maquis or fighting against the Dominion.   

Coated in familiar Federation grey, the fighter is about 70% metal with only the underbelly and the lower sections of the impulse engines made from plastic. What makes this even more noticeable is because the plastic areas are not weathered with a sort of irregular rust/damage effect that's splattered across the surface. That's a cool touch and one we don't see too often. 

Here it helps to age the vessel and suggest this is 'likely' to be a version servicing the Maquis cause. That surface detail extends into the panelling at every point on the craft from nose to the tips of the impulse engines. Just a shame that they aren't made from translucent plastic which would have topped it off. Nor are the warp engines that visible here with only minimal blue edging to indicate their location on the upper and lower hull.   

The actual shape of the Federation attack fighter is particularly gorgeous with a sweeping curve most evident when viewed from dead front and centre. That curve is absolutely perfect and with the choice to mould the wings in metal, it's damn strong. The choice of mounting the fighter using the gap between the hull and the engines as the balance point is particularly inspired and works to offer a more "suspended" impression of the tiny two-man craft.

While the fighter is impeccably finished, cleanly painted and with one or two highlighted sections on its top section including the blacked out cockpit window I still can't get super excited about it. Why? 

Because it just doesn't carry that "wow" factor that so many of the absolute best in this collection have presented. The rough paint finish is nice, the build itself is perfect but as a design it doesn't ignite my starships passion that the NX-01 did or the Fortunate managed with its modular structure. It is, quite simply...simple. A bit plain but that's not to say it's a poor model because as always Eaglemoss has recreated the original as much as they can given technology and the budget constraints imposed by an £10.99 cover price.

The magazine intro does focus more on the use of the fighter by the Maquis in Pre-Emptive Strike and The Maquis two-parter with some references towards the end of their use during the Dominion War and most prominently during the battle to retake Deep Space Nine. We do get a "designing" section albeit a two page skant overview of the process before this time looking at the behind the scenes work completed by Digital Muse during the sixth season especially for the monumental battle in Sacrifice of Angels. For anyone with the companion doe Deep Space Nine the info will not be new but it's a relevant addition to the appearance of the fighter.

Issue 69 next and the eye-catching Breen warship that entered the Star Trek world during the final ten-part arc in Deep Space Nine's closing season. You'll be hard pressed to find another craft as weirdly designed and asymmetrical as the warship and I've been expecting this to turn up for a fairly long time. I can understand why it's taken a while to get to this ship with so many other notables to include early on so its arrival was highly anticipated. Honestly, this might be another reason why I wasn't too fussed with the Federation fighter.   

With a solid metal arc holding the elements of the warship together just the design and work that has gone into making this impresses me. I believe this is the first time such a ship has been realised in miniature and Eaglemoss should be congratulated for the result. Even on this scale the model carries off the crazy, seemingly random design of the ship in what appears to be a collection of very, very bright colours. Certainly it contrasts well against the bland grey of the Federation fighter but even from the preview pics I wasn't expecting it to be quite so colourful. The reason for that is, as with so many of the more extravagant colour schemes, they were toned down on the TV. 

Odd it might be initially but this is one of those models that you're going to spend flipping ages looking over because the surface has so much to examine. Every surface has a lump or bump worth examining from the tip of its forward weapon to the rear of the engine blocks. On a detail level this has to be one of the most covered craft yet in the collection which is more incredible if you consider that it's actually a very big ship in universe so cramming a lot of raised and dipped areas is a big achievement.

The quality and definition of the detail on the plastic sections - the two pieces attached above and below the grey arc - is visually much better. That said, the colour palette used is large for a starship with green, yellows of the engines and forward energy dampener, browns, greys and blue of the main reactor with a dash of white and a sprinkle of red all evident in the design. It's detail and colour that is expressed in every inch and every crevice of the ship with clear definition of the weapons emitters, bridge module and engines as well as some extremely small differentiated panelling which really lifts the design out of the norm.

I mean, the shape is striking for one but with the overall effect of the paint scheme included it's an utter beauty even if she does look obscure from just about every angle (even below as right). The stand isn't the best this time with the clear plastic grip wobbling like hell on the base however the grip around the rear of the Breen ship is firm and steady. Good choice on the arm positions to make that happen!

Definitely a hidden gem of the franchise and certainly a shining star when it comes to the Starships Collection. Being from Deep Space Nine might not be to all fans' tastes nor will she be in every display, but I really think you're missing out if you don't add this one.

The magazine continues to Breen it up with coverage of their franchise history from a first, brief mention in The Loss from The Next Generation to their use as the never seen super-villain responsible for probably just about everything the Klingons, Romulans or Borg weren't right to their first on screen appearance in Deep Space Nine's Indiscretion and onto their pivotal role within the Dominion War and the final ten-part arc of the space station saga.

Within the pages we also have info on their origins and the reason why they were used on screen in Deep Space Nine plus - and what would the magazine be without it - John Eaves discussing just how he came up with and developed the Breen warship from a fairly standard craft into the curved beast we have in this issue and finally into a realised CG vessel capable of incapacitating the Defiant. Aside from Eaves' concept drawings, 99% of the pics are lifted from the show either of the ship or clips from the ten-part arc so nothing majorly new here. The ship views are actually a bit poor since there is no dorsal view included and therefore no way to really compare. We only get front, side and rear images which don't tell a lot since this is a very "flat" ship.

For two issues focusing so much on Deep Space Nine (which I must applaud) there is quite a difference in my opinion between the two ships mainly on their appearance. Certainly it's a dramatic contrast from the bright colours of the Breen to the subdued grey tones of the Federation fighter  and in this instance the alien craft is the clear winner for its impression on me this month. Neither is a dud, let that be said, but this month's Federation design doesn't pack its usual punch.

If you've missed it recently Ben Robinson from the collection has recently posted up pics of both the Romulan shuttle and the USS Voyager Aeroshuttle models which we have yet to have issue numbers confirmed for. Could the aeroshuttle be an online special since it was never properly seen in the show? Hmmmm. One for your thoughts there! Both of these ships look spectacular and got a lot of collectors excited so I'm hoping these will be appearing in the late 70's or early 80's at the latest. We also got another image of the soon-to-be-released NX-01 from the Mirror Universe. Looks great and definitely more changes than we saw on the ISS Enterprise M1 recently (pics here from Ben's Twitter feed).

Next month we have the Voth City Ship from Voyager and Goroth's Klingon Shuttle from Enterprise. Right now these two aren't floating my boat but let's wait and see what the models are like. Oh and if you're waiting to see my thoughts on the NX-01 refit hold your breath a little longer - mine has been delayed (not sent out) so it'll be here shortly.

So what are your thoughts on issues 68 and 69? Good to see more Deep Space Nine recognition?

As always...

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Star Trek: Enterprise: Rise of the Federation: A Choice of Futures

My last encounter with Enterprise as a series was the final episode back in 2005 and that was, as we will all remember, less than stellar.

So this latest Enterprise novel from the halls of Simon and Schuster is something of a voyage into the unknown. A lot seems to have happened since the final episode and in essence only the characters actually align this to the show in any manner. So be warned there might be SPOILERS as we open the pages and read on...

There is no Enterprise and for me the whole nature of the show was about those first exploratory steps and initial technological advances. It's a difficult concept to grasp but in some respects it is honouring the memory of the short-lived series by expanding the story into the evolution of the Federation.

In A Choice of Futures things have moved on and the beginnings of the Federation are starting to evolve but as always there are some dark nasties looking to cause trouble from the wings and disrupt everything. Our familiars from the series have all moved on, whether into command of other starships or more senior positions at least. Even dead ones seem to have, as seems to be the trend with Star Trek, the ability to return from beyond the grave.

I have two differing opinions on this novel. One says to me that Enterprise novels should be confined to the arc of the series but in another heartbeat I know that moving events forward in time and defining the galaxy of the 23rd and 24th Centuries. What we get is kind of a mix up of lots of things and at the end of it not a lot to show. 

I spent a great deal of the first 200 pages not really getting where this was going. There were some nice chats about promotions, lots of talking about what they might do, some chats about relationships, a few words about an enemy called the "Mutes", a bit of eating and two thirds of the book seemed to have drifted by. I was not impressed and I got the sense that there was a lot of filler here. Most of the focus is on Archer, T'Pol and Reed with Sato and Mayweather filling out the background. For a lot of the time they are barely more than bit parts which is a shame but reflects exactly how they were in Enterprise.

Don't get me wrong, Christopher L Bennett tries to make this interesting but it's as though he's not got a lot to work with and fills out the novel with lots of nice little character bits but no serious, hard-hitting stuff until much later but the problem is that by that stage I really didn't care. I was looking forward to getting into this book BUT the problem is that it's all buildup with a group of characters that just don't seem to lift off the page and do anything vaguely interesting.

Archer for one seems totally neutered as an admiral, spending time hoping around between ships and the Federation Council playing mediator. Sitting on that very council is Enterprise guest-star favourite Shran and his initial introduction belays that the character has chilled out since we saw him in the series. That in itself is a real shame as I would have hoped that this individual would have managed to light some kind of fire within this book and make it engaging. Sadly that's not the case and Shran spends a lot of time doing a lot of time sitting around...chatting.

The villain here in the form of the Mutes just don't get that threatening and I never really believe their case because the bulk of the book does what it does best - talks about them, builds them up and then leaves them in a position which can only make them something of a disappointment. Their reveal could have been great and pivotal to the plot but after dragging out the "action" for a long time I didn't care that much. Sorry; I just wasn't fussed.

Aside from the fact that Enterprise is missing the Enterprise in all but a few off-hand "oh yeah, this is based on that series" references the crew are just bland, even more so than many fans may regrettably recall from the series. Bringing Trip "back" from the dead might have seemed like a great idea somewhere along the line but it just adds a further insult to the injury that was These Are the Voyages.... While that might not have been the author's fault you do get the sense that he's had to work with it. Trip should have stayed dead because it only makes that error of a final episode even more horrid and his return feels apologetic - did we even need him to be in Section 31?!

OK, OK, it's pretty apparent that I am not giving this book a good review but there are some great redeeming points within the pages that are worth finding through all the misjudgements and stilted pacing. Bennett works a treat in around the transporter systems and their potential dangers. It's a great notion and something that only a couple of characters (McCoy and Pulaski) ever really hint at. Here those concerns are met and covered; the only thing is it's thought another one of Those Chats that litter this publication. 

Nicely for those who like a good bit of continuity we also get to meet one of the former Dax hosts, Tobin who is working on a project for the Federation of, without doubt, the utmost importance. It's a nice nod to the franchise and Deep Space Nine in particular which I would never have expected to be referenced in an Enterprise novel. There are more nods to the Kir'Shara, the Xindi and even, oddly at a time when I've just discovered a show is being made about Garth of Izar, Axanar which played such a pivotal role in his life and career (here's the link to their Facebook page)

Perhaps though a highlight of the book and one that did stick with me throughout was a section dealt with starship design and why the Federation would be going along the lines of Earth's ships rather than those of the Vulcans or the Andorians. It's a decent answer and I'll give that one to Christopher L Bennett, it's a question that I'd never asked but when it was proposed here it did make me think. The reasoning is particularly nicely explained. I also did like the way in which one story strand brought back the USS Essex and Captain Bryce Shumar who were featured in The Next Generation's Power Play. I didn't expect their addition so it was a nice diversion in the plot. The challenge with these s well as the extra crew involved on the Endeavour and the Pioneer is that they aren't the main cast and as such their relationships and input into the story just don't excite. Sorry, but while it does feel like they are essential to the story their personalities are a little on the flat side.

In the last year I've read a lot of Star Trek novels for SKoST and this has to be bottom of the pile by some distance. It would even make me reconsider reviewing any more Enterprise novels in the future. The recent Eaglemoss release of the NX-01 relit my interest in this much maligned spawn of Star Trek and when I come to rewatching the series in some months time I hope that time has been kind and that A Choice of Futures isn't how it was back in the day.