No F'in Space: The Return of the XLs

A title like that needs perhaps a little explanation alongside it!

With the demise of Eaglemoss, the halfway house that was Master Replicas and their "found" stock we have now come to a point where FanHome have picked up the gauntlet and taken on the Star Trek Starships Collection.

Focusing exclusively on the Kurtzman era (apparently with the exception of Discovery), the model series has chosen to skip the small scale vessels that marked out Eaglemoss' 180 edition series and instead focus on the mid-scale replicas that, ironically, were showcased by the Discovery collection. 

Due to size, storage, cost and the chances that my family will disown me if any more space is taken up by undisplayed, boxed spaceships I've had to be a bit more picky when it's come to the new FanHome line.

Rather than collect everything I've taken the decision to focus only on the XL ships meaning that the next review after this one is likely to be the Enterprise-G Constitution III. 

But for now let us crack open the box on the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-F. A veteran of Star Trek Online, the F has already received three regular sized editions thanks to Eaglemoss. First there were the two different paint schemes of the original giving collectors the chance to display their Odyssey Class ship in the STO colours or the more "realistic" greys of the TV and movies. As part of the later 20 issue STO line there was also the Yorktown Class upgrade players would be familiar with.

Picard's third season chose, wisely, to remain faithful to the original set up when it debuted the Enterprise-F as it was about to be retired effectively making the Yorktown subclass upgrade a "What If". It also played more to the "realistic" paintjob rather than the striking whites and blacks of the online craft.

It's a solid and logical choice to follow and gives collectors a truly stunning model that ticks all the boxes and makes these XL editions a must.

Heavily detailed, the Enterprise-F displays one impressive hallmark that sets FanHome above Eaglemoss - they can line things up.

The hull itself is covered with white and black window markings, RCS thruster emplacements and lifeboat hatches as well as the distinct charcoal grey striping along the centre line. All of these points are perfectly aligned to the hull features whereas previously some of these might have been off by a fraction. It easily outdoes the smaller original given the increase in scale and therefore ability to emphasise the surface features of the Odyssey Class.

Comprising of a metal upper primary hull and upper secondary hull as a single piece, the lower primary and the remainder of the Enterprise-F are moulded in plastic and there is no distinction in detail between the two sections. Back in the earlier Eaglemoss days the metalwork would have less precision in some of the finer shapes but here the intricacies of the model traverse both mediums. It feels complete with the best examples of where the painting alignment has nailed it being found on the underside.

Certainly around the charcoal segments of the saucer and on the lighter grey underbelly of the secondary hull the marking out of the lifeboat hatches is spot on and I don't think there's been a finer example to date. Around the lower sensor dome this is also evident with the light and dark edging perfectly in place.

Trailing right to the back, the F even has a decent level of detailing around the support craft which is docked in the tail end. Known as the Aquarius, this looks almost as if you could lift it right out of its dock. The recessing on it works perfectly and even highlights the hull features of this small vehicle.

While we're back here, the warp engines are nicely finished. Retaining the hallmark translucent bussard collectors and warp field grilles of the original collection, there's a definite sleek finish to the warp engines on the Enterprise-F. There is a little "give" in the thin engines so be cautious however they are meticulously completed with Starfleet pennants, RCS thrusters and the ship registry right on their end points. 

It would be amiss not to mention the unique "double neck" feature that makes the Odyssey Class really stand out. While the deflector dish is rather striking in its bronze paint. your eye is easily drawn to the negative space just above it. You can just make out the detailing on the top of the secondary hull even if it is shadowed by the overhanging primary hull and FanHome have certainly ticked an important box in not lazily ignoring this part given that it's almost hidden away.

The effect of the two connecting arms between the hulls is very satisfyingly created here and the larger scale emphasises how magnificent the effect is.

What I really, really appreciate with the Enterprise-F is the precision in the painting and marking up. It's a grand step above the sometimes haphazard finish of the Eaglemoss line and cements that the new holder of the licence is keen to manage quality control a bit more astutely. They got it right and it shows. Solid ship and one you've got to get.

Vup To Something: Actor Dominic Burgess

PLEASE NOTE THIS INTERVIEW WAS CONDUCTED BEFORE THE CURRENT ACTORS STRIKE IN THE US

How many people can say that they have appeared in both Doctor Who and Star Trek?

You might jump immediately to mention Simon Pegg however there’s another name you should consider - Dominic Burgess.

Zapped by the Ann Droid during the first season of the Russell T Davies BBC reboot in 2005, Burgess would also add appearances in Batman Begins, The Flash and Agents of Shield to encompass the DC and Marvel universes plus a ton of others and more to come!

Hailing from my own neck of the woods in Stoke on Trent, Dominic would attend secondary school and go on to theatrical school before branching into TV and movies. Indeed, our conversations revealed a similar trend in TV viewing - Thunderbirds, Terrahawks, Knight Rider,  Lost in Space and The X-Files to name but a few. We may have diverted into memories of collecting VHS releases for the latter and THAT cliffhanger with Mulder in the buried box car. 

How about telling the Head of the National Theatre that your favourite media experience of the year had been Fellowship of the Ring and not Hamlet? He's even done that so yes, there was a lot of nerdy digression but let's stay on track here and now!

As a fan of Star Trek, nabbing a role in the franchise was always going to be on the bucket list and that’s exactly what came up for Picard’s first season episode Stardust City Rag. 

Born in Stoke, Dominic was brought up in Weston Coyney, schooling in Catterswall and Newcastle Under Lyme and having a summer job at nearby Alton Towers. Burgess remembers "...frequenting the haunts of Festival Park and Waterworld," as well as the Odeon Cinema where he saw First Contact.

Following that he chose to head off to Drama School; "there was no option to do GCSE drama or A-level drama. It was all very academically driven and I remember the career guidance counsellor pushing back saying I should do English with Drama...I was very adamant I would take a gap year, travel to the United States and work there at a summer camp and see the country."

"I'm very lucky to now be doing what I love," continued Dominic who is now working not only acting but writing screenplays and exploring the world of directing. "I had the best time at drama school and the way that mine operated was that the arts should sustain you and you should be working in a black box theatre on the Shetland Isles for £5 a night...and that wasn't my mentality. Los Angeles worked better for me than London because it was a business and network TV back then was eight day prep, eight day shoot, eight day post and a machine that you could quantifiably see a career. You could move from co-stars to guest stars and recurring guest stars and your career can get more elastic from there."

"Star Trek and Dr Who have parallels in how I went about getting them. I graduated from ALRA in 2004 and about that time they announced Dr Who would be coming back with Christopher Eccleston and I had grown up with the show. I tracked down the casting director, sent handwritten letters and that I would love the opportunity to audition. Andy Pryor the casting director brought me in for a couple of lines but that was enough to feed my soul!"

His memory of Eccleston is the complete opposite of how the actor was made out to be by the press at the time as he had stated that he would not be returning for a second series. "He was the first person I met when I got to basecamp. He was lovely and upbeat and ebullient. It was my only interaction with him but it was a delight."

However, his first job was actually in Batman Begins which he took a group of friends to see at the Odeon in Stoke, "only to find out Dominic was never in Batman." he recalled as the scene was cut from the final version however his name still remains in the credits!

Both these credits helped the actor to get his 01 visa to work in the US.  A visa that would lead to appearances in series such as The Thundermans, ANT Farm and also the recent Netflix drama, Dahmer.

Viewers may not know this but Burgess actually played the role of serial killer John Wayne Gacy. "I love working with accents and physicality. I watched a lot of video footage of the way he talked and moved. The way he processed information was so odd that right up until the end he denied any involvement in the murders and tried to pass them off on other people."

Not a subscriber to method acting, Burgess found it easy to separate himself from the part; "That first scene involved fight choreography and then next you cut to see Gacy holding a man's head in the bath...I was more concerned about safety and that I had it all down. There are other things which go through your mind while you're doing it so I can switch off."

But let's move forward once more to Star Trek. A self-confessed fan, Dominic's first introduction to he franchise was the films; "The Wrath of Khan, The Search for Spock and The Voyage Home. Then I remember school finishing quite late at about 4pm and the bus would take me 50 minutes to get back home. It was always a conscious effort to try and get back before The Next Generation started on BBC2 or Sky One. 

"I missed out on Deep Space Nine and whenever that was airing there was always a football match. When Voyager aired it was the first series I watched from pilot to finale and so it it always special to me and I got the whole Trek journey."

Dominic, like many Trek fans collected the Voyager VHS tapes and the films up to First Contact.  It then expanded into model kits of Enterprise, Voyager and the Klingon Bird of Prey "...which are still probably at home in Stoke-on-Trent. One of them might even be in the window!"

Even at home in Los Angeles he's not without the DVD sets of DS9 and Voyager and a model of Janeway's Intrepid Class starship in there to boot.

With Voyager as his favourite series, it must have been a lifelong dream come true to work with Jeri Ryan? Actually, I might have suggested it was like Christmas.

"It was kept top secret and they had accidentally sent me the script to the episode to mine and with the cliffhanger I was thinking 'Where am I?'

"It's still one of my career highlights just to be in that show and to have a scene with Patrick Stewart and Jeri Ryan and to be directed by Jonathan Frakes was incredible. I went up to Santa Clarita to get fitted for the prosthetics and wardrobe and the team asked if I'd like to meet Jonathan Frakes as he was just in the dining hall.

"Just in the middle of the canteen he stood up as I walked in, threw his arms out and said 'There he is, there's Mr Vup! Welcome to the family!'

"There was no feeling of those are the main people over there and I need to sit in the corner and not get in the way. It was so wonderful and so warm. Just a treat from beginning to end. The whole thing is something I will always, always cherish."

In regards to the prosthetics, Dominic thought it wasn't too bad; "I worked on a show called The Magicians and they took about five hours for that but the Star Trek one was about an hour and a half. It was designed by Neville Page and it was effectively a foam cowl over your head with your face visible. Then there' a single piece they put on for that. The hands were effectively gloves. They took moulds of my hands for those so it was overall a very quick process. Probably the quickest prosthetics I've ever been in."

In a similar fashion to his interest in appearing in Dr Who, Dominic contacted his agent to start the ball rolling the second he heard Patrick Stewart announce that Picard was returning. "I found out it was through a casting agent called Liz Dean with UDK and luckily they knew my work already from Feud."

The actor wrote her a handwritten card recalling his weekly rush home to watch TNG and how much it would mean to get on Picard which was not something that was the done thing. "Normally you're told don't send cards saying you would love to be on a show, you have to be specific on a role. On this occasion I just said I'll be a sliding door, I'll be whatever you want me to be!"

But it worked because Dominic was asked in for auditions; "Again I had an existential crisis because there was such limited information on the character, not even saying what species I was."

It was only when he walked into the audition room that it was revealed he would be playing a new alien species, a 600 pound, rock solid individual. "I'd got to  point where I could go to auditions, do them, get past them and go and do something else for the rest of the day but with Star Trek I just wanted it so much that in the audition room I could feel the pressure. I kept falling over the technobabble and tripped over it four or five times. Liz asked if I needed to step outside because she could see I wanted it so much. Bless her, she took a shot and wrote the technobabble down for me behind the camera.

"I left kicking myself and thinking I blew it but then I got the call saying that I had it and I'm pretty sure there were happy tears. When I met Jonathan Frakes I'm sure that Liz had told him I was a fan!"

The scenes for Stardust City Rag, were filmed at a nightclub in Universal City. "In between takes Patrick and Jonathan would sit down and talk about old times. Everyone was included.  talked to Patrick and when I said I was from Stoke on Trent he remembered playing at the Victoria Theatre."

One of Dominic's best experiences was getting to sit in video village which is where all the monitors are set up for directors, producers and writers to be able to see what's being filmed. This gave him the chance to see how Jonathan Frakes worked ("If you're not sure what to do, my advice is low and wide!")

"I did the voice as I did on set with prosthetic teeth which helped lower the voice. Four or five months after I went back to loop and do all the lines all over again at different octaves to try and overlay it to try and show that I had several vocal folds. For a time there was a thought about doing this fun layering of his vocals.

"In the cowl there wasn't much room to move my neck so you have to move very purposefully and you have to really move it so that it reads through the prosthetics. I really enjoy that and find the physicalities in the role."

No longer a time for physical scripts, Dominic does regret one thing; "When I went in for the makeup test I was given a set of teeth to practice with and when I went back I returned them. I wish I'd kept them when they gave me the set I used onscreen."

As for the future, Dominic has some TOP SECRET projects coming up so watch out for those and if they're ever remaking Battlestar Galactica he's definitely available.

Reviewing where he was in 2003, Dominic certainly sees a big change in his answer; "Back then I would have given a flowery answer in terms of something that is fun and creative but now having had the experiences of The X-Files and Star Trek that's where I want to be."

While fans might hope Mr Vup's exit from the episode wasn't quite so final, one might hope the Beta Anorian has a brother but that might not be the case. So, what about if Jonathan Frakes called him tomorrow and gave him the option of coming back for more Star Trek? Any series, any character?

"I would love to do Legacy because that's where my heart is as a fan. I love Strange New Worlds and I think that there are a couple of writer from The Magicians who have gone over there. I would actually love to do a Star Trek show where I'm not in prosthetics. You get there early to get made up so I never met Patrick Stewart or Jeri Ryan as me. Jonathan Frakes didn't see me out of prosthetics until three weeks after shooting and he'd forgotten what I looked like!"

"Your call time can be 3am so you can start shooting at 9am. There are always bits falling off and you need touching up so you don't necessarily get a chance to interact in a "normal" way. If Rainn Wilson doesn't want to play Harry Mudd again in Strange New Worlds, I'd be there!"

Picard: Third Try at the Greatest Adventure?

The third season of Picard might only be due in February but already the second trailer has the pulse racing.

Featuring, unsurprisingly, the whole of the TNG crew, the last season of Jean-Luc's story is set to be the biggest the show has produced and maybe even the biggest risk in the franchise's history.

I say that with just as much trepidation because the trailer throws all in perhaps with the exception of that kitchen sink cliche. 

TNG has been owed, some would say, a decent send off since the disappointment of Nemesis and the subsequent "final" movie that never happened. There was franchise lethargy back in the early 2000's and we wont retread those board here but this could be the closure that fans of the now 35 year old series may actually deserve.

Posing not one but three nemeses in its last run, Picard apparently has the crew reassembled to go hunting for Beverly Crusher and her ship but ending up in all sorts of trouble at the hands of incoming main baddie Vadic played by Amanda Plummer.

Perhaps more well known for her appearance in Pulp Fiction, Plummer is also linked to the franchise through her legend of a father Christopher who raised hell in 1991's The Undiscovered Country as renegade Klingon General Chang.

Alongside her there will be a return for Daniel Davis' Moriarty previously seen in Elementary, Dear Data and Ship in a Bottle. His character has seen further life in the expansive universe of the Star Trek novels but this marks his first onscreen appearance since 1993. As yet, his involvement in the season is unknown.

Many fans were also wondering how Brent Spiner would be able to return to the show and be alongside his fellow TNG crewmates for, as we have been teased, at least one scene. Featuring in both seasons as Data and also two family members of the Soong dynasty, that question has now been answered - Lore.

Looking significantly different to his last appearance in Descent, Part 2 from 1993, the new question is how did he come to be reassembled given the verbal reference in that episode and also in Picard's first season?

Alongside her father, Geordi we have a new La Forge in Starfleet with his daughter at the helm of possibly the Titan-A or... could it be the other ship we spot in the trailer?

Fans of Star Trek Online will have no doubt rejoiced at the confirmation that the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-F is an Odyssey Class with its first ever appearance in live action coming this season. STO has made a mark in the show already with the provision of ships from the game in the season two Starfleet armada including the Gagarin and Venture Classes yet this is the step that fans have been screaming for. We already had (via the Picard prequel graphic novel) known that the Odyssey Class existed with the USS Verity so it was only a matter of time.

News has it too that viewers will learn the fate of the Enterprise-E. If you think about it, that starship had a maximum life of 25 years which is pretty good for any craft with the name when you review its history!

The trailer itself looks near-cinematic with its battle sequences, enormous enemy vessels and a true feel of one last mission. Raffi and Seven are also back, being the only members of the original Picard ensemble to have made it through the previous two seasons fairly unscathed. Note that Seven finally has a Starfleet rank of commander, something that was teased heavily towards the back end of season two.

Yet even with the news, the trailer and the overall excitement for what will concretely be the final final season of Picard and the last time the TNG crew assembles, the show still has a mountain to climb.

For entertainment value it's been great and nostalgic if nothing more. Season one provided much promise with the return of Data and the closure of his narrative in a more suitable way. Indeed, that final scene with Picard was truly one of the show's greatest events. Season two likewise seemed to have gone big with the inclusion of both Guinan and Q, the latter receiving one heck of a final scene that eclipsed the Data version from the year before.

When watched on a binge viewing, the 20 episodes are a good run but there are so many timing issues, plot holes, pointless directions and a narrative in both seasons that doesn't hang together. There's either too much going on that not everyone gets to play a suitable part or there's filler that doesn't add a thing to the story. Season three has to iron these points out and provide a stable, cohesive story that will satisfy fans and ensure that this send-off is remembered for all the right reasons.

I openly admit I enjoyed both batches of Picard. Initially it was fortunate to be up against Discovery and quite easily trounced it for quality but both Lower Decks and Strange New Worlds have upped the expectation of fans in this Kurtzman era. Yes, it started well with seasons one and two of Discovery but I for one feel that the show has lost its way and the trailer for the fifth season doesn't look like it's trying anything new. Ok, season four was affected by Covid and they did what they could but the move to the 32nd Century hasn't been quite the success I would have hoped nor does it have the heart of those 90's iterations.

Picard's final journey looks to have ticked a lot of fan requirements but to do that and manage a coherent narrative will prove its worth. Can all of these elements - the TNG cast, a new villain, Lore and Moriarty (plus whatever else we don't yet know) work in a ten episode arc? Viewers won't just want to see those aforementioned boxes ticked but will want Star Trek to deliver a worthy story for one of its most beloved characters after a very uneven two series.

We can but remain hopeful and the signs do seem to point in a more positive direction yet we'll only really know how it works when the show returns on February 16th.

What are your hopes for season three? What DON'T you want to see?

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Picard S2: As Divisive as Before

Let’s get it out there to begin with. Picard season two was not perfect. Nor was season one but in many respects this second stint in the adventures of Admiral Jean-Luc marked a definite upturn - but in what precisely?

Choosing to utilise two of Trek's favourite things - time travel and Q, Picard jumped back into the 21st Century in a much more personal adventure than before.

It all started out with a bang and the return of the Borg, facing off against an assembled fleet of assorted Starfleet classes. This immediately made up for last season's copy-and-paste fleet of Inquiry Class vessels. Could season two actually be making headway and raise the fairly average height bar?

Setting up both this and Picard's family dilemma, the early part of the ten episode run took viewers into a parallel totalitarian Earth changed by a single event in the past. Certainly a new twist on the old Mirror Universe trope, the alternative path crammed a lot into its single hour of the show but it did bring us possibly the best Borg Queen to date.

Annie Wersching was perfectly cast in the role of a more speculative monarch and one torn from the collective by the galaxy conquering General Picard. A universe where the Borg were defeated and it's not good? An interesting concept if nothing else.  Wersching proved to be the perfect foil not for Patrick Stewart as we might have expected but for Alison Pill's Jurati. The use of the Borg Queen as a devil on her shoulder through the time in the 21st Century was rather chilling as she began to consume the doctor.

Jurati and the Borg Queen's relationship does take up a big swig of the ten episode run. The verbal sparring which leads to a standoff and unfortunate assimilation. Ok, it leads to what we would suspect is a break away Borg faction (lot of speculation in this season as to what things lead to...) and Pill leaving the main cast but it gives her an explosive and memorable arc in which to do so. Many will remember her for the red dress, singing Pat Benatar or being the Big Reveal but for me Jurati was the stand out character across the season, garnering the best screen time and perfectly partnered for a good chunk of it with Queen Wersching.

Tasked with investigating the 21st Century, Seven and Raffi continue some good hearted banter and relationship quibbles as they look for clues and also for Rios.

In a plotline that's been done over numerous times and certainly fits with Trek's choice to target current issues it's on the nose around illegal immigrants. For Star Trek though it used to be about subtlety and prodding these subjects in a much less conspicuous manner. Perhaps a sign of the times but it is quite heavy-handed in retrospect. Santiago Cabrera is great and at least Rios does have an arc this season  which isn't something that fits for Seven or Raffi. Bear with on this one.

While both the main story and the second line that follows Rios and his ultimate decision to remain in the 21st Century do have a clear path, the third line that traces Adam Soong's genetics work and "final" daughter, Kore does work on its own but it has zero payoff for the main threads. 

Yes, it manages to return Isa Briones to Picard as another Soong relative but it seems almost tacked in. None of the main characters interact with her and while the surprise cameo in the finale was more than welcome it doesn't quite make sense as to why the Watchers would choose to take her out of her time. Theoretically her disappearance would be realised by Adam Soong alone but I was surprised that it didn't play a more integral part to the story. Wil Wheaton's return did manage to raise an "Oh my f**king god" reaction because it was well worth including and seeing the being formally known as Wesley Crusher one more time.

So that's my issue in that this season has some really great, strong story threads but then when you combine them it all sort of falls apart a bit in terms of the bigger picture. The Rios story for one twists and turns with car chases, prison breaks, a more than inconspicuous nod to the US immigration policy and all the while you can't help but think this is just a way to take Santiago Cabrera out of the show. Spoiler; it's exactly that.

Of all the cast short-changed this season I did feel that Jeri Ryan got a short straw. Aside from losing the Borg implants following their sideways step into a universe where Annika was President, Ryan had very little to do until virtually the last scene of the season. Watch back when the crew are discussing Talinn's plan to jump into Picard's mind and Seven stands in the background and says not a single word for the whole of that piece. In some ways you can understand why there has been a slimming down of the cast ahead of the TNG reunion for season three.

Orla Brady's Tallinn and Laris roles are highlights of the season and bringing the actress more to the fore than she was allowed in season one. Tallinn is a bit of a plot device but does tie into the larger Trek mythology as does the brief return of another canon character almost at the very close of the season.

The big focus of the season though comes down to Q's fixation with Jean-Luc leading to the universe jump and then journey back to the 21st Century. Offering a chance for the admiral to get to know himself a little better, the concept that one of his relatives had to be on the mission to Europa does seem like a crucial moment in franchise timeline history but would she really have got this far in the programme with doubts this obvious?

Penelope Mitchell does a good job as the troubled astronaut and at least by the end there's the realisation that if she didn't complete the mission then Adam Soong's line of work would have taken precedent (for note there's a statue of him in the alternative 24th Century which is a massive clue in hindsight).

But there's more to this than a distant relative because Jean-Luc is obsessing over his own childhood at the chateau. This season chose to base itself around the Picard family estate and it uncovers a lot more than a few layers of dust. Why this only rears its head now when he's been back there for years is anyone's guess but the choice to cover mental health is hit and miss at best.

Played by Madeline Wise, the character of Yvette Picard initially scopes as a loving mother but there's mental fragility that the series explores but perhaps handles heavy-handedly on occasion, especially at its tragic end. Should there have been a warning of what was the season's most graphic piece of content? Maybe and I guess that depends on your perspective but it certainly shocked which you would hope it would given where it can lead if not handled carefully.

Now, knowing a little of Patrick Stewart's background, this mental health story may well have been borne from his mind although the father figure, played here by Battlestar Galactica's James Callis, is a more kindly figure than Stewart has described. His solution to Yvette's illness isn't what you would expect given the importance society places on such issues now let alone in the future.

It's also an odd season because there's no point I would say that there was a standout episode. I could rank all ten in order of preference but there's none that stand out more than the first and the last (maybe the alt-universe one too). Even in the middle there was a lot to like even if it was, on the other side, inconsistent and went from breakneck to dead stop at an odd rate.. There was a touch of humour, some great action  

Flashing back to an earlier piece I put together hurriedly at the beginning of the season, Picard has brought a real breath of fresh air to the franchise for me. I was missing the craziness of Lower Decks and the unexpected genius that is Prodigy. Discovery has tried to step up but each of the subsequent series have taken the lead and run with it. Even Discovery spin-off Strange New Worlds is a class unto itself and I can only see it becoming stronger.

Picard's second season did indeed feel like the intended homage to The Voyage Home but upped the ante. While that movie was played for a lot of laughs and lightness after the doom and gloom of The Wrath of Khan and The Search for Spock, this run of ten episodes hasn't shied away from both real world events and the darkness that previous generations have sprinkled into the timeline especially the 21st Century.

Season two does just have that bit of everything though. For the TOS fan we have the return of the Watchers first revealed in Assignment: Earth with Gary Seven, numerous Easter Eggs back to The City on the Edge of Forever in the set dressings. With TNG there's the well publicised return of Guinan played by both returning Whoopi Goldberg and newcomer to the franchise, Ito Aghayere who is superbly cast in the role. Importantly Guinan's return isn't stupidly overplayed with her only included at necessary points in the story rather than fully tagging along for the show.

OK, Picard worked for me at a "dark time" in my relationship with Star Trek and for a lot of people it just didn't and I can respect that just in the same way that I would hope others would respect my opinion that it was good enjoyable fun. One thing I would absolutely say that the season blew out of the park was Q's final scene with Picard. Season one's send off to Data was excellent after such an up-and-down year but with Q it went straight for the emotions and my god did it work. Best scene of the season, best scene of the show and possibly, maybe, the best scene of the Kurtzman era. What smarts is the fact it doesn't come from the best show of our present age. 

Picard always feels as though it's got a great idea but in the execution it just gets muddled in the middle. Season two starts strong with loads of prospects. There's the Borg, new ships, alternate times but then the 21st Century feels a bit bulked out. The Renee Picard story is high stakes but it never reaches the heights of tension and excitement that you would want. Guinan's role is inconsistent and we have almost a whole episode of interrogation by a "rogue" police officer that adds nothing to the plot and has no long lasting effect. Even the officer's flashback is pointless to the overall season.

But I still enjoyed it even though there were bloated moments of nonsense. At least it all came back round to the Borg arrival at the beginning. The problem there is that it makes you question the justification for Q to send Picard and co through time in the first place. What actually is the point to the adventure? What's the reasoning or sending them all over the place?

Maybe on a re-watch things will become clearer as they did when I sat down for a second viewing of the first ten episodes. With the knowledge of what is to come for season three, season two does come across as a hurried cut off for several of the show's characters to make way for the TNG cast. Is this a chance for a better send off than Nemesis or a cheap shot to grab at an audience that has, according to social media, had serous issues with where the show has gone so far?

The final batch will answer that definitively but for now Picard's second season lies in a pool of mediocrity that many hoped it wouldn't. I'll keep with my view that it was entertaining but there's a concrete fact it's not where fans would have wanted it.

Where's your head at after season two? Has it changed on a binge/rewatch?

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Restoring the Faith

The last few months have been some of my most trying when it comes to the Star Trek franchise.

Personal issues plus some challenges within the fan community brought my love for Trek into serious scrutiny. A change in jobs has meant a lot more travel time but provides the benefit of added family time at weekends.

Yes, that's meant less time to write for SKoST and so reviews have been a little difficult to keep up with. Fear not, normal service will resume but possibly at a reduced rate. 

Anyhow, I really, really struggled to get excited about Star Trek. Perhaps personal overkill, maybe just way too heavy immersion and effort on related projects but I had to stop. So I did and fairly abruptly which likely pissed a lot of people off. If it did and you were one of those, I apologise but it had to happen and while I won't lay my soul open here I hope you can understand my decisions.

So I did walk away for a while. There were a couple of reviews sprinkled in but the effort and the will just weren't behind them. For that, my apologies. Even the wonderful Prodigy didn't seem to lift my Trek spirits and the current season of Discovery felt as though it was dragging by the midpoint. Was I bothered about the 10-C? Did it feel like another Anomaly of the Season? Totally did. At least with the animated Prodigy it felt as though there was some form of closure to the first ten episodes. 

Prodigy was better than I expected. The plot, the characters; I actually connected with the show and it's links into Voyager were a big win. A Moral Star was a brilliant closer with everything you could want - except for it being live action. For a kids show the ending wasn't 100% positive

So what has changed? What's reignited my flame? 

Picard.

While Strange New Worlds' trailer might have shot the series in the foot before its even off the ground, Picard's trailers have teased something... spectacular. A supposed homage to The Voyage Home combined with more modern Star Trek elements, season two offered hope for the future of the franchise.

Only two episodes in (The Star Gazer and Penance) and it has delivered in blazing fashion. I would even go as far as to say that this is already building up to be the best season of Kurtzman-era Star Trek to date.

But why?

The anticipation was certainly a factor as was the chance to see Q and Guinan back on the screen after almost two decades but Picard's second season has importantly learned from the fan reaction to season one. Now that's something that does actually bear up better on a binge watch and aside from space flowers I can't pick too many faults. But let's hold that debate for another time.

Season two feels more tightly written. The choice to skip 18 months has brought Starfleet back into the picture more and that initially seems to have helped the show regain more of its Star Trek qualities. Maybe that's a very superficial change yet having the USS Stargazer, that expanded fleet of multiple ship types, Raffi and Rios back in uniform - it all makes a massive difference to the ambience of the series. No more copy and paste Inquiry Class fleet and the images we've seen off the back of it are simply gorgeous and make rather superb PC wallpapers.

I digress. Admittedly there's an anomaly in episode one and I did kind of start to apply the brakes however get past that and this season is clearly about the characters, Picard's choices in life, the drama of a changed historic event and Annie Wersching's amazing portrayal of the silenced, lonely Borg Queen. 

Robo-Picard doesn't feel as angry this year. Demons seem to have been exercised and he's at peace at least until a beautifully unhinged Q turns up. Picard never hit him but the boot is on the other foot this time. This is probably De Lancie's best performance as the omnipotent creation since Death Wish and to see this darker side of Q is addictive to relish.

Not since Q Who have the Borg and Q appeared in the same episode nor has the latter been as devilish in any way since that encounter back in TNG's second season.

An alternative take on reality is always going to be a winner and whatever Q's motivation s behind changing the past might be, the journey to see this adventure though looks to be touting itself as one of Star Trek's finest...possibly ever.  There's a familiarity here, a warmth to the series and a great sense of drama that Discovery just doesn't seem to be carrying at the moment. 

A significant win for Picard in relation to its characters is that their "wokeness" is not the selling point. There's no "Look at Me I'm X, Y or Z" and instead the characters exist in their own right not because of a certain thing and might, in turn by X, Y or Z. Picard is dealing with situations and allowing its characters to evolve because of the things they encounter not in spite of them. Discovery might take a look and learn a few things - and it's not all down to one person winning the day. Looking at you, Michael.

But I don't want to dwell on that since it gets into all sorts of discussions and to be fair I have nothing against Discovery, but it's just not satisfying my Star Trek cravings at the moment. 

The Star Gazer truly felt cinematic at points - the arrival at the rift, the attack on the bridge and also managed to max out on suspense with the return of those classic canon characters. Season two feels right. There's action and adventure but at the centre is a recognisable cast  facing a new challenge. Even Penance stepped up the game with its transition into the new take on the timeline and the return of the Borg Queen. There is a conspicuous absence of Isa Briones (Soji) after her turn in episode one and dare I say it the series benefits from that slight reduction in cast size with Seven effectively taking her place in the ensemble.

I have a renewed sense of anticipation for the next episode of Picard and what it will hold. The trailers tell us it will be in the 21st Century (2024) and already there are some more humorous tones that have helped shape the season. Even the suggestion of a potential romance between Picard and Laris proved to be a highlight and we know that Orla Brady will be back.

Picard has stepped up to the plate in rather impressive style in just two episodes and I for one am very happy to see the change in tone. Just a shame we know it's only going to last three seasons in total.

For now Jean-Luc and his associates have lifted the bar of standards and expectations for the franchise in its latest incarnation. Looks like there's strong hope for it still and at least 18 more episodes of PIcard to keep us entertained.

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USS Zheng He: Picard Starships Collection

The arrival of Starfleet in Picard's season one finale could have been incredible.

To a degree it was but perhaps not with the variety fans might have wanted to see. All that appeared on screen were two slight variants of a single design as Captain Will Riker swooped in to save the day.

The Inquiry Class USS Zheng He is allegedly Starfleet's most advanced ship at the end of the 24th Century and it takes its place as the second issue of the Picard starships collection. Issue one was the "regular" sized La Sirena but we've already covered that as part of the XLs where it has much more going for it.

Remember the days when starships were simple shapes and there was clear definition between the hulls? Yep? Well, that went out of the window a long time ago and now the Zheng He follows the more compact design process introduced in the run up to First Contact 25 years ago. 

Boxed up in the new black and silver packaging for the series, the starship is...ok. It's not a hugely inspiring design nor is it a departure from the familiar with the distinguishable saucer, engineering and engines assembly. The forward landing bay does make it look as though the ship has a bottom lip stuck out in a sulk but it makes sense to have a "fly through" design by this point. Also you can see in the "shoulders" either side of the primary hull a design lineage right back to the NX-01.

But what HeroCollector do convey in this one is just how basic the design is and how functional it needed to be for the appearance in Picard's finale. The model truly is skin and bones minimum and actually I really like that the model duplicates the "rushed" finish to the show that was needed - although there are a few videos out there that suggest it could have been done otherwise.

The mottled grey paint gives it a more realistic feel than a flat solid colour and takes away that plasticky feel that some of the models from this production house can give off from time to time. Note too how simplistic the panelling is. If it wasn't super necessary it didn't get done it appears although they did manage to put some windows in to add an element of life to the final creation.

Lifeboat hatches are embossed into the metal upper hull while the wise choice to paint the windows on has been taken and makes the effect work rather than having their outlines sunk into the surface. The shape of the Zheng He as it dives back towards the secondary hull is very reminiscent of the shape of Voyager as it sloped towards the rear shuttle bay. The curves follow a similar line and rise up towards the spine of the Inquiry Class ship with the same curve.

The panelling detail on the Zheng He is nice. There is definition and easily identifiable sections that look different to the main, flat hull surface. The warp engines themselves are another matter. The pylons are not the most durable and do bend easily while disappointingly  the bussard collectors are painted on and the warp grilles are grey/blue and lifeless. Perhaps this is the model's greatest weakness because it loses some of its onscreen magic without those translucent elements. In fact, on another look just now I've noticed even the bridge dome is unpainted. I was also the unlucky one to end up with two warp engines that were out of sync when viewed from the front with one pointing above the primary hull and the other below.

On the underneath, the Inquiry Class looks like a wider Voyager. The design remains simplistic and HeroCollector have done what they can with the material provided. The ship's problem isn't in the replication from the series to plastic and metal more in the fundementals of the shape. The forward deflector makes it look like a wide-mouthed frog and frankly fairly hideous - but once more it's not the company making the model that's to blame for that.

As it goes it's faithful to the screen but the lack of life in the warp engines and also in the impulse units at the rear of the primary hull take something away from the already very average result. This should have been an exciting issue release and the first of a few from that climactic battle sequence in Picard but instead the Zheng He feels like a bit of an apology in a box. There is also another variant out there for series subscribers - the USS Toussaint - which has slightly longer nacelles and a different colour scheme but not much else different. 

The magazine covers that variant in a sentence plus discusses the process of designing the most advanced ship in the fleet. There's the usual assortment of sketches, CG and views from John Eaves' work on the Inquiry Class but very little on the craft in universe. Maybe we'll see  more in the future and get some better information.

For now though, HeroCollector have produced a decent ship but it's one of the ultimate Marmite Starfleet ships. It's appearance in Picard was certainly a talking point but for the wrong reasons. Perhaps in that sense it's worth collecting up a piece of Star Trek history that might not see the screen again...?

Check out all our Starships posts HERE

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

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