Blood Will Tell title.

I put off posting this a few days in the hopes we might get some more information, but nothing. So...

Klingons: Blood Will Tell, issue 1, was out just a few days ago, but oddly the comic did not have an individual title. I asked about it IDW's message boards and the writer Scott Tipton revealed the title is:

"Against Their Nature"

It didn't make it into the comic, no one has said why yet.

I also asked about the fleet composition, which on page 19 of the comic is a whole hoard of Constitution and D7 class ships facing off against each other. Personally I'd have liked to mix the fleet up but Tipton explained "we tend to think of the book in terms of the original show, and whenever they talked about Starfleet in TOS, they would mention the 12 Constitution-class starships, so that's what we wanted".

Taylor and Tischman interview

Newsarama have themselves another IDW interview, this time with Dan Taylor and David Tischman on the TNG series The Space Between, and specifically the third issue which was out last week.

As is a common theme in IDW gang interviews they strongly reiterate how they are very much trekkies themselves before looking at some of the creative decisions behind the episodic style of The Space Between.

Interestingly on issue four they apparently considered making the guest character Kommandant Ghud a Tiburon (as featured in the TOS episode "The Way to Eden") but decided on a new species in the end.

The full article can be found here.

Title for Amy Sisson short story

Amy Sisson, a two times Strange New Worlds winner and author of a short story in "The Sky's The Limit" the Star Trek: The Next Generation anniversary anthology coming out in October has announced the title of said story at the TrekBBS. It is:

"Twould Ring the Bells of Heaven"

Sisson's first two Star Trek stories can be found in Strange New Worlds VII and Strange New Worlds 8.

Johnney Lightning strikes again!

A few online shops are starting to list a new wave of Star Trek ships from Johnny Lightning, makers of little die cast ships.

This, the forth set of Star Trek ships from the company will apparently consist of:
-USS Enterprise-A With photon
-USS Majestic With explosions
-USS Defiant With phasers
-Borg Cube With Sphere
-USS Enterprise-D With extras
-USS Voyager With landing Gear

All coming in September.

DST "Where No Man Has Gone Before" Enterprise confirmed

After some speculation Rick Whitelock of New Force Comics has confirmed there will be a "Where No Man Has Gone Before" variant of Diamond Select Toys' USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) model. This variant will be the third variation of the model after the standard configuration and the "The Cage" version. It will also apparently be rather limited in availability.

Another IDW Klingon preview!

IDW seem to really be pushing the boat out for Klingons: Blood Will Tell, another art preview on their Art du Jour page, this time from the Klingon language edition. See it here.

New from Corgi

Art Asylum forum user "Mirror Mirror" has obtained the latest Forbidden Planet catalogue and scanned in a page confirming that Corgi will be expanding it's die cast ships lines with three new ships later this year. The ships as previously rumoured will be the USS Defiant, USS Voyager and a Romulan warbird.

The new ships will join Corgi's existing Star Trek fleet which consists of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701), a Klingon Bird of Prey and the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D). If the catalogue date is accurate they should be out in September.

See Mirror Mirror's original scan here, and join the discussion at Art Asylum's forums here.

Kirk Busted

Diamond Select Toys have updated their site with a listing of the first in a line of busts, starting with James T. Kirk, DST description:

The debut piece of the Star Trek: Icons bust line is none other than the illustrious Captain James T. Kirk! Whether commanding the U.S.S. Enterprise or romancing multi-colored alien women, now Kirk can be an interstellar addition to any collection. Sculpted by Bill Mancuso and limited to 1,701 pieces, look for more Star Trek Icons to follow! Features hand-numbered base with matching box and Certificate of Authenticity. Window Box Packaging.
Kirk is due in July with Picard and Sisko due to follow later in the year and plans for Janeway and Archer in 2008.

More Mirror Universe

In response to inquiries at Psi Phi's message boards author Kieth R.A. DeCandido has confirmed there plans for more Mirror Universe prose following up on established themes from the two mirror universe anthologies "Glass Empires" and "Obsidian Alliances" realised earlier this year.

IDW preview art

IDW have updated their site with lots of new art for Klingons: Blood Will Tell issue 1 and The Space Between issue 4, both out this week.

On the new releases page they have five pages preview for Blood Will Tell in English and Klingon!:
English: covers 1, 2, 3 & 4, pages 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Klingon: cover, pages 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

And on the same page a five page preview for The Space Between: covers 1, 2 & 3, pages 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5. Which includes this newly released Zach Howard cover:

And as if that wasn't enough on there Art du Jour page they have more pages from Blood Will Tell, the same page, either in pencils, or full colour!

IDW news

Newsarama has three articles on IDW's Star Trek efforts with lots of nice facts and previews.

In an article on Klingons: Blood Will Tell, the TOS miniseries starting this week the writers Scott and David Tipton interview each other on the series and Star Trek comics in general, also making light of their Gorn comic, part of the Alien Spotlight series later in the year. They then provide commentary for a five page preview of issue two of the Klingon series. Check out the article here for their thoughts and lots of new imagery. The article also included this David Messina cover for the third issue:

Another article dealt with IDW’s third miniseries, starting in July, Star Trek: Year Four. The article consists of an interview with the miniseries artist Steve Conley. Amongst the items discussed in the article, which can be found here, it's revealed Arex and M'Ress of The Animated Series will be making appearances. There's also some preview art.

Finally with an article sporting this polished bit of art for the TNG miniseries The Space Between:
There is a general overview of IDW's efforts, to be found here, the article includes a full list of writing credits for the Alien Spotlight series:

-Vulcans, by Rick Remender
-Gorn, by Scott and David Tipton
-Borg, by Steve Niles
-Andorians, by Paul D. Storrie
-Orion Slave Women, by Dan Taylor
-Romulans, by John Byrne

On future projects it suggested more TOS efforts from anywhere from TV to movie era, and potentially tie ins to the new movie due out next year. Also mentioned was the desire to do additional alien spotlights and a continued intention to work exclusively with TOS and TNG for the time being. Though worry not, the writer of the article and IDW editor Dan Taylor would also like to explore DS9 and has stated elsewhere he's interested in getting Peter David to work on New Frontier comics.

Star Trek Online concept art.

TrekCore have updated their section on Star Trek Online with this impressive bit of concept art for Starfleet Academy in the game:

Check out the rest of TrekCore's STO gallery for some cool images, including my favourite, the Aquatics Lab:

Star Trek Online, a MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game) is due some time next year.

Joe Corroney cover for Blood Will Tell 3

Joe Corroney has updated his myspace blog with his cover art for the third issue of IDW's Klingons: Blood Will Tell miniseries.

The issue available in June will center around the TOS episode "A Private Little War". The first issue is out later this week, as is issue four of IDW's TNG miniseries The Space Between.

Preview for All Our Yesterdays

StarTrek.com have put up a preview video for the latest remasted original series episode "All Our Yesterdays". And from thier remastered comparison gellery this image of the Enterprise in front of the supernova of Sarpeidon's sun:

IDW July covers

IDW have updated there own solisitations page with information on thier July releases with some new covers.

Kelsey Shannon's previously released cover for "Star Trek: Year Four" will be used for the behind the scenes publication "IDW Focus on: Star Trek". Joe Corroney's cover will be a varient cover for the first issue (and he'll be doing varients for later issues). And this cover by Steve Conley with colors by Leonard O'Grady will be the main cover for the issue:
And for "Klingons: Blood Will Tell" issue 4 we have this cover from David Messina:

Star Trek Magazine 132

The latest Star Trek Magazine is out this week, number 132 in the UK, 5 in the US. Here's some of the stuff you will find within:

-The big news of the issue, Star Trek Magazine get exclusive confirmation from J.J. Abrams that the new Star Trek movie will be featuring James T. Kirk, still no other details though.

-In a feature on Diamond Select Toys’ latest Star Trek efforts it's revealed that the season one Riker figure in the works may, like the early TNG Picard figure coming later this year, also be issued with his bridge chair.
-The upcoming productions section of the magazine also confirmed DST's Wrath of Kahn figure line will be including Spock, Uhura and a third Kahn variant amongst it's 15+ figures.

-On Star Trek remastered David Rossi noted he would be interesting in continuing the project onto Star Trek: The Next Generation, and that he and others involved in TOS remastered would be ready to go if CBS were interested.
-Rossi's confidence it could be done would seem to confirm that the original film footage of TNG must still exist, otherwise remastered in the series to HD would be impossible.

-This issues book excerpt is from the latest in the Vanguard series "Reap the Whirlwind" by David Mack.

-Other articles include an interviews with David Gerrold, George Takei, John Carrigan (on the fan film "Of Gods and Men"), Rich Berman and Susan Sackett (the last written by Michael A. Martin), a feature on the Orions and an extended feature on Star Trek: The Animated Series.

Preview for "A Piece of the Action"

StarTrek.com ave put up a preview video for the next remasted original series episode "A Piece of the Action". No images yet.

Peter David Q&A - New Frontier news

Peter David has been answering questions at his website, here. A few have cropped up about his work on Star Trek projects, highlights:

--The next New Frontier novel should be out mid next year (2008)

--On more mirror universe New Frontier (following the recent story "Cutting Ties" which was published in the anthology Obsidian Alliances) he had this to say; "I’m kicking around the possibilities in my head, yeah".

--On a new New Frontier comic this; "It has been discussed, yes. Anything is possible"

Peter David will be returning to Trek sooner than any of that though with his new TNG novel Before Dishonor later this year.

Have a chat about it at all at the Trek BBS, here.

IDW July releases

Comics Continuum has announced IDW's July releases including two new Star Trek comics, issue four of Klingons: Blood Will Tell and the first issue of Star Trek: Year Four, which it seems will have something a bit extra coming before it:

Blood Will Tell 4:
Another look at the struggle between the Federation and the Klingon Empire, from the perspective of the galaxy's fiercest warriors, the Klingons! This month, a handful of Klingons battle for control of a Federation starship in this alternate view of the classic "Day of the Dove". Will they be able to commandeer one of their enemies' most powerful vessels? Or are they themselves merely pawns in a larger plot?

Year Four 1:
Space. The final frontier. This is the voyage of the Starship Enterprise. Her five-year mission to explore strange new worlds? It continues here, with the launch of Year Four in the Original Series' five-year mission. Boldly going where no man has gone before are writer David Tischman and artist Kelsey Shannon, who is providing full art and colors on this opening issue, as well as a cover that hearkens back to '60s Star Trek comics. Up first, Captain James T. Kirk and the crew of the Enterprise discover the Strand, the multi-planet construct of a dead civilization, run by a brilliant genetic scientist who's obsessed with repopulating it. When Kirk discovers the scientist's secret, his creations revolt, forcing Kirk to make a hard decision and pushing the Enterprise into the crossfire!

and the bit extra...
IDW Focus On: Star Trek:
Premiering a week before the debut issue of IDW's new Star Trek: Year Four series, this special Focus On... comic book introduces Star Trek: The Original Series comic book to the IDW universe. Included in this issue is a special, all-new, standalone 5-page Star Trek story, written by David Tischman and illustrated by Year Four artist Kelsey Shannon. This introductory tale will only be available in this special 24-page issue, which also features behind-the-scenes sketches, additional artwork, creator interviews and more. Catch up with IDW's Star Trek universe before the story hits warp speed the following week!

The focus on is a nice little extra suprise, I look forward to that and of course the new comics!

IDW news

IDW's editors have been responding to questions in the Q&A thread about their Star Trek comics at IDW's message boards.

On the Alien Spotlights series Dan Taylor revealed one issue will be set in the TOS movie era. IDW's forth Star Trek project, Alien Spotlight will be a collection of six one off stories focusing on different species in the Trekverse; The Gorn, Andorians, Orions, Borg, Vulcans and Romulans. Other issues will be set within The Original Series and The Next Generation.

Chris Ryall talked about what IDW might be working on next, with projects announced already taking IDW up to the end of the year he suggested the next miniseries, possibly a TNG one, would begin around then. IDW have previously shown interest in doing something with TNG post-Nemesis. Pocket Books’ first batch of post-Nemesis novels come out in a few months, if IDW do choose to go with that I hope they work with Pocket to maintain consistency in the era.

Ryall also mentioned they'd been thinking about doing something with Dr. Pulaski, noting we might get some of her soon, possibly referring to the May issue of the current TNG miniseries The Space Between which will be set in TNG's second season.

Finally Ryall was able to confirm IDW efforts so far were selling well, and was confident with the various projects in the works they will continue to do so.

Titan mesh update

Sean Tourangeau has released another image of Ellery O’Connell's mesh for his competition winning design for the Luna class USS Titan, William T. Riker's command as featured in Pocket Books' Star Trek: Titan novel series.

This shot features the Luna class' Constitution class style shuttlebay doors, one of my favourite features.

For more images and to join the discussion on the design visit the thread here.

For more of Tourangeau's work check out his website and DeviantART page.

DS9 DVDs

Paramount Home Entertainment have announced the seven seasons of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine will be re-released on (region 2) DVD at the end of the month. The new sets will contain the same episodes and extras just in new slimpack cases with a lower rrp.

At £34.99 these will be more than half the original £84.99 releases, and as ever if you shop around you'll likely find them a good deal cheaper, last years TNG slimline releases can now be got for less than £20 a season. One imagines Voyager, TOS and Enterprise will all also be re-released in these cheaper sets in the years to come, and of course TOS and Enterprise should make there way onto at least one of the new HD-DVD formats.

Hallmark ornaments

Hallmark have released a new catalogue featuring this years Star Trek Christmas ornaments. This years two are:

Star Trek II: The wrath of Kahn - Bridge diorama, complete with a big picture of the reliant on the viewscreen and sound effects. Sculpted by Anita Marra Rogers.

Or, Star Trek: The Next Generation - All Good Things... USS Enterprise-D complete with three nacelles and pretty lighting effects. Sculpted by Lynn Norton.

They can be found listed in the catalogue here.

Update: Higher res images can be found here at Toy News International

Calendars

In discussion over at the Trek BBS Pocket Books editor Margaret Clark has announced there will not be a daily stardate calendar next year. And as she has just finished work on next year’s Ships of the Line calendar she also confirmed the USS Titan, as designed for Pocket’s Star Trek: Titan novels, will not be featured.

New Fan Collective DVD collection

Paramount Home Entertainment have announced a new addition to their Fan Collective DVD collection, which offer episodes of Star Trek from all the series mixed together by theme as voted for by fans at StarTrek.com.

No word yet on what episodes will be featured in the "Captain's Log" collection, or what extra features there will be, previous fan collective releases have included audio and text commentaries on selected episodes.

Paramount’s blurb for the release:
The fans and captains have spoken! Not only have Star Trek fans voted online for their all-time favorite captain episodes from all five Star Trek series, but each show’s legendary leader Captain Kirk, Patrick Stewart, Avery Brooks, Kate Mulgrew, and Scott Bakula has carefully chosen their favorite episode, which resulted in Star Trek: Fan Collective Captain’s Log.

Available on Region 1 DVD from July 24th, and if they follow the last fan collective releases in region 2 a few months later.

"The Cage" Enterprise from DST

Diamond Select Toys' version of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701 started to become available last week, and interestingly there have been reports of a few of them being a variant to represent the ship as seen in the pilot episode "The Cage".

Well whilst it had been rumoured, DST hadn't actually announced such a variant would even exist so this was quite a surprise. A poster at Art Asylum's message boards contacted DST customer services about it and got an explanation that goes like this: 3000 Enterprise's have been shipped, by accident 200 of those were "The Cage" versions, there will be a full release (or exclusive at least) later. They also found out the "The Cage" version will not have light up nacelles much like the original studio model, though they did experiment with this option in development.

You can see some photo's of the "The Cage" version here at Art Asylum's message boards.

DST's standard version USS Enterprise:

There are also rumours of a "Where No Man Has Gone Before" variant to come later.

Also have a look here at the Trek BBS where the chap who made the model which DST/Art Asylum based thier tooling on is showing off his work.

And the Children Shall Lead preview

StarTrek.com have a preview up for the remastered version of And the Children Shall Lead.

They've also updated their comparison gallery with an image of Gorgan, showing off the quality of the remastering process really bringing out the originally imagery rather than a new special effect.

The Immunity Syndrome preview

StarTrek.com have a preview up for the remastered version of The Immunity Syndrome.

Unusually they don't have any stills up, though fortunately TrekMovie.com does have some:

Year Four Art

IDW have updated their Art Du Jour page with some new art and information on their third Star Trek miniseries Star Trek: Year Four:

"Captain James T. Kirk and the crew of the Enterprise discover the Strand, the multi-planet construct of a dead civilization, run by a brilliant genetic scientist who's obsessed with repopulating it. When Kirk discovers the scientist's secret, his creations revolt, forcing Kirk to make a hard decision and pushing the Enterprise into the crossfire!"The minseries which continues the Enterprise's mission beyond the third season in year four of Kirk's first five year command will be written by David Tischman, who wrote the current TNG miniseries The Space Between, with art by Kelsey Shannon. The first issue of the six part series is due in July.

Titan mesh update

Sean Tourangeau has released another couple of images of Ellery O’Connell's mesh for his competition winning design for the Luna class USS Titan, William T. Riker's command as featured in Pocket Books' Star Trek: Titan novel series. These latest updates include mini impulse vents under the sensor pod, which according to Tourangeau are intended more for emergencies when the Titan needs a little boost to get out of trouble.

For more images and to join the discussion on the design visit the thread here at the TrekBBS.

For more of Tourangeau's work check out his website and DeviantART page.

Covers for Corps of Engineers eBooks

Series editor Keith R.A. DeCandido has released the covers for the rest of this years Star Trek: Corps of Engineers eBooks, all the art is by Mike Collins.

The Art of the Comeback by Gleen Greenberg (May)Signs From Heaven by Phaedra M. Welden (June)

Ghost by Ilsa J. Bick (July)

Remembrance of Things Past, Books 1&2 by Terri Osborne (August & September)

The Wrath of Kahn figures

In their latest E-Spectrum email Diamond Select Toys have announced their Wrath of Kahn collection of action figures will have more than 15 figures, of which only 9 have so far been announced.

The collection as known so far consists of:
-Admiral Kirk
-Admiral Kirk with blood stained uniform
-Kahn
-Kahn with "battle damage"
-Captain Terell
-Doctor McCoy
-Scotty
-Sulu
-Checkov

So six(+) more figures to go, got to be a Spock in there, and maybe a radiated dying variant? And of course Uhura and Savik are missing. So who else? The Marcus’s? Other variants, maybe Scotty in his engineering gear? We'll just have to wait and see... in the mean time, have fun speculating over at Art Asylum's forums.

Art for Klingons: Blood Will Tell Issue 1

IDW have put up a five page preview for Klingons: Blood Will Tell Issue 1, due later this month.

Covers 1, 2, 3 & 4, pages 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5.

The five part series will depict TOS Klingon episodes but from the Klingon's point of view. This first issue will also be available translated into Klingonese.

The forth page of the previews has a very nice little explination of the different look of TOS Klingons building nicely on a flashback to the Enterprise episodes which explained the biology of the difference.

When the miniseries was first annouced I was unshore, I feel both TOS set within the TV-series and Klingons are hugely over used in the franchise. However as the first issue comes closer I'm getting excited about it, this is looking like it could be a very clever and very good addition to the Trekverse.

Art for The Space Between Issue 3

IDW have put some art up for the third issue of The Space Between, their six part TNG miniseries. This issue which should be available from today features an encounter with a Romulan/Federation/Borg hybrid starship, exciting stuff!

First they have a five page preview for the issue here. Which includes this impressive imagery:

Cover 1, 2 & 3, pages 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5.

And then on the Art du Jour page they have one of the pages in the preview, at an early and late stage of development, pencilled and then inked and coloured.

Glenn Greenberg on his forthcoming eBook The Art of the Comeback

TrekWeb.com have an interview with Glenn Greenberg on his forthcoming Star Trek: Corps of Engineers eBook "The Art of the Comeback".

In the interview he discusses how the new eBook is a sequel to his early story "The Art fo the Deal". He also notes he has plans for more CoE stories in the future which he is currently developing and would love to work on Star Trek comics for IDW.

The full interview can be found here. The Art of the Comeback should be available from May.

Battle-damaged starships from DST

Diamond Select Toys have announced battle damaged versions of the Enterprise's 1701 and 1701-E.

The 1701-E will represent damage taken by the vessel in the movie Nemesis, though, unfortunately not so far as the post ramming damage. This is the first reuse of the Enterprise-E mold since it debuted a year or two ago after continued delays to the model which was originally due to come out shortly after Nemesis was released.

Then later this year the Wrath of Kahn battle damaged 1701 will appear. This is no less than the forth release of this ship. The refitted constitution model was first released as the 1701-A, then later as a different battle damaged 1701 with damage details of the Enterprise shortly before it self destructed in The Search For Spock. This year a clean refit 1701 will be available as will this new battle damaged version.

Both are exclusive to New Force Comics in the United States and available through other retailers internationally.

Also coming out this year is an original (pre-refit) 1701.