The Trek Collective

Toy News International have confirmed TrekMovie.com's reporting early in the year on this year's Hallmark keepsake ornaments will be: The USS Reliant, Kirk in a pile of tribbles and a TOS communicator. And TNI provides pictures:

See TNI's report for further details.

Via TrekWeb, Jeff Ayers and Marco Palmieri have released the blurbs for the Myriad Universes anthologies and the next DS9 relaunch omnibus, These Haunted Seas:

Myriad Universes
It's been said that for any event, there is an infinite number of possible outcomes. Our choices determine which outcome will follow, and therefore all possibilities that could happen do happen across countless alternate realities. In these divergent realms, known history is bent, like white light through a prism-broken into a boundless spectrum of what-might-have-beens. But in those myriad universes, what might have been . . . is what actually happened.

Infinity's Prism:
A LESS PERFECT UNION by William Leisner: More than a hundred years after the Terra Prime movement achieved its dream of an isolationist Earth, humanity is once again at a fork in the river of history . . . and the path it follows may ultimately be determined by the voice of a single individual: the sole surviving crewmember of the first Starship Enterprise.

PLACES OF EXILE by Christopher L. Bennett: Midway through Voyager's journey across the galaxy, Captain Kathryn Janeway and Commander Chakotay must choose whether to brave a deadly war zone or abandon their quest for home. But an attack by Species 8472 cripples the ship, and the stranded crew must make new choices that will reshape their destinies . . . and that of the Delta Quadrant itself.

SEEDS OF DISSENT by James Swallow: Khan victorious! Almost four centuries after conquering their world, genetically enhanced humans dominate a ruthless interstellar empire. But the warship Defiance, under its augmented commander, Princeps Julian Bashir, makes a discovery that could shake the pillars of his proud civilization: an ancient sleeper ship from Earth named the Botany Bay.

Echoes and Refractions:
THE CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT by Geoff Trowbridge: In a continuum where Spock died during childhood, an Andorian named Thelin became Captain Kirk's stalwart friend and first officer. But at the moment of Khan's final defeat, history takes an even stranger turn, and the emerging potential of Project Genesis is revealed as the galaxy's greatest hope . . . and its most ominous threat.

A GUTTED WORLD by Keith R. A. DeCandido: Terrorist Kira Nerys-from a Bajor that was never liberated-may hold the key to winning a war that has engulfed half the galaxy. But with the Romulans and the Klingons at each other's throats, and the Federation pulled into the conflict, even victory may not bring salvation.

BRAVE NEW WORLD by Chris Roberson: Dr. Noonien Soong's dream has been realized: androids are now woven inextricably into the fabric of the Federation, revolutionizing Starfleet and transforming the quality of humanoid life. But when Soong's long-missing breakthrough creation, Data, mysteriously resurfaces, civilization reaches a crossroads that could lead to a bright new future, or to ruin.

These Haunted Seas:
It is a time of renewed hope. As the U.S.S. Defiant sails through the wormhole and charts a new course of discovery into the unknown ocean of the Gamma Quadrant, powerful individuals from distant worlds gather at station Deep Space 9 to usher in a bright new era; with the Dominion War now only a memory, Bajor is poised at last to enter the Federation. For Colonel Kira Nerys, Commander Elias Vaughn, and all those who follow them, these are the voyages they were born to undertake.

But where they seek to go is defined by the journeys they have made before, and ghosts populate these uncharted waters-the spectres of lost leaders, fallen friends, forsaken lovers, vanquished enemies, and earlier selves. Some of these shades drive the travelers on, others are drawn inexorably into their wake; but all make their presence felt, and in feeling, the men and women of DS9 and the Defiant must somehow navigate the perilous rapids of their pasts in order to find the future.

Originally published as Twilight and This Gray Spirit-the first two novels in the critically acclaimed Mission: Gamma series- These Haunted Seas is the next chapter of the epic saga begun in Twist of Faith, continuing the chronicles of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine beyond the small screen, propelling its heroes to realms they could never have imagined, and truths they cannot escape.

More news! Keith R.A. DeCandido, that busy fellow of many talents, has announced which alien he will be putting in the spotlight in his issue for the second series of IDW's Alien Spotlight *drum role* (because the title didn’t give it away): The Klingons, in a story titled "Four Thousand Throats..."

Update: KRAD has stated the story will not be an IKS Gorkon one. Further he has also reported on an interview with Andrew Steven Harris in the latest Star Trek Magazine (not available to me in the UK for a few weeks yet). Other species in the series will be the Tholians, Ferengi and Betazoids, with "a couple that will be surprises along the way". The writers (in no particular order) will be Scott and David Tipton, James Patrick, Andrew Steven Harris and Mike W. Barr.

See Mr DeCandido's announcement, here, and TrekBBS post on the series, here.

On his own forums John Byrne has announced he is working on a number of new Star Trek projects for IDW. He has four new TOS era projects in the works, three of which have already been approved by CBS.

The first will be a sequel to his Alien Spotlight on the Romulans (which itself was a prequel to Balance of Terror and The Enterprise Incident). This project will begin with a two-parter, with more to follow. When another poster asked about Byrne doing an adoption of Balance of Terror Byrne responded by whistling (so perhaps a Romulans eye-view of the episode or some such variation me thinks)

One of the other projects is apparently a TOS prequel, set earlier than Captain April's captaincy.

See these posts: for Romulans II, and continuing Trek projects. Thanks to GustavoLeo on IDW's message boards for pointing out the Romulan story.

Kieth R.A. DeCandido has released (in another TrekBBS post) a larger colour version of the cover for Greater than the Sum - the next TNG novel, leading into the Destiny trilogy - (which was previously seen in pocket summer catalogue in black and white, and smaller version in colour on Amazon for a little while) which would seem to confirm this is the final cover for the book:

The image looks a lot like (identical as far as I can tell) an image from one of the Ships of the Line calendars. I wonder if the atmospheric flight is an accurate portrayal of a scene in the book...

More news from the comic con. This time care of Mr Christopher L. Bennett, in a post at the TrekBBS he reports that he spotted a poster advertising the company Graphic Imaging Technology (who have released several DVD collections of Marvel comics) will be releasing "a complete DVD collection of Star Trek comics" in October.

When he pestered the GIT people about this rather exciting sounding product they told him it "will contain the complete runs of "all four" publishers of Trek comics", which if one assumes WildStorm falls under DC will mean everything before IDW; Gold Key, Marvel, DC and Malibu! Wow.

In a post at the TrekBBS Mr. DeCandido has been kind enough to fill in the rest of the news from Pocket Books at the New York Comic Con.

The books from February to April, which KRAD dubbed "cleaning up Mack's mess" will all be follow-ups to the Destiny trilogy

KRAD's own A Singular Destiny kicks it off in February. As described by KRAD: "The people who've been clamoring for a Clancy-style political thriller will like this one, as it's about the political fallout from Destiny's events (which will be considerable). It won't feature any of the main crews, although a ship that plays a big role in Destiny will also play a big role here, as well as familiar faces from other parts of the Trek universe. The protagonist will be a civilian character of my own creation.

Oh, and those of you who want to see more of the Bacco Administration from Articles of the Federation, both the Destiny trilogy and A Singular Destiny will feature those characters in good-sized roles."

March brings us the latest Titan novel; Over a Torrent Sea, by Christopher L. Bennett

And April's novel is Full Circle, a Voyager novel by Kirsten Beyer which will: "pick up initially where Spirit Walk Book 2 left off, and take Voyager aaaaaaall the way through to Destiny and beyond -- which means the book will cover a few years, all told, and it will set the tone for future post-finale VOY fiction."

In addition to the Destiny fallout; March will see the omnibus edition of Mere Anarchy, the TOS ebook miniseries; The forth Vanguard book (as yet untitled) is scheduled for May; And the author list for the Mirror Universe short story anthology Shards and Shadows has been announced, they are: Christopher L. Bennett, Margaret Wander Bonanno, Peter David, Keith R.A. DeCandido, Michael Jan Friedman, Jim Johnson, Rudy Josephs, David Mack, Dave Stern, James Swallow, Dayton Ward & Kevin Dilmore and Susan Wright

See the original post, here.

At the New York Comic Con. Diamond Select Toys have revealed their TOS tricorder prop, previously announced (but not seen) at the US Toy Fair. Here is it (c.o. Entertainment Earth, via TrekMovie.com):

As one would expect from a DST prop toy/replica, it will look the part and come with a variety of lights and sounds. Available form October apparently.

News is coming out of the New York Comic Con.; the first story coming from Keith R.A. Decandido, who has reported on his live-journal that he will be writing a follow up novel to this year's Destiny trilogy.

The book will be titled A Singular Destiny and will be out in February next year. KRAD promised more details when he can get to a computer, all else he said for now was "Voyager fans will be very happy next April"...

TrekWeb.com has released the cover for the next Star Trek: Corps of Engineers print omnibus; Wounds. By the artist Rick Berry apparently:

Wounds is out in October and will contain eBooks of 50-56 of the SCE series (including three stories that have some level of cross over with the DS9 relaunch).

TV shows on DVD.com have announced the details of the DVD second season of Star Trek: The Original Series remastered.

The eight disc set will include more of Billy Blackburn's on-set home-video and TAS's "More Tribble, More Troubles" and DS9's "Trials and Tribble-ations" as bonus features (to compliment the original "The Trouble with Tribbles" episode)

This is only a standard-definition DVD release though as the combo HD-DVD version of the set was cancelled when HD-DVD died. No news on any Bluray releases yet...

On his blog, IDW editor Chirs Ryall has released the Sharp Borthers' cover art for the final issue of The Enterprise Experiment miniseries:

The first issue of this Romulan, Klingon, cloaking device and Preserver filled five-part continuation of the Year Four concept and sequel to "The Enteprise Incident" *breath* is on sale this week.

Diamond Select Toys have announced it's Seventh! set of retro cloth Mego figures. The latest duo will be Sulu (who's new) and a Gorn (who's "updated" from the original release). Here's Sulu:

See DST's original release for the full write up, or check Toy New International's posting for another image of Sulu.

William Leisner has announced in a post on the Trek BBS that an excerpt from his Myriad Universes short novel; A Less Perfect Union, will be published in the third Star Trek: The Manga book.

Presumably this means the cross promotion practice from the last two manga books will continue and one of the new manga stories will be published in the Myriad Universes anthology Infinity's Prism. Both books are due in July, and a short version of the same extract from Leisner's story will also be published in the next Star Trek Magazine.

Jeff Ayers, via TrekWeb.com, has released an excerpt from next month's instalment in the Terok Nor trilogy; Night of the Wolves, by S.D. Perry and Britta Dennison.

Go forth and read it, here.

In their latest E-Spectrum email newsletter Diamond Select Toys have revealed the first of their new "Ultimate Quarter Scale" series of... action figures/dolls? The nineteen inch tall TV era Captain James T. Kirk features "hyper-realistic sculpts and articulation as well as electronic sound effects and phrases from the original Star Trek series, series-accurate accessories and a deluxe display stand"

In a report on forthcoming Trek toys and collectables from DST, TrekMovie.com have revealed the first image of DST's All Good Things... version of the USS Enterprise-D. It will apparently be exclusive to NewForceComics.com

If you have a looksie at TrekMovie's article you can also see some recent print adverts for their lines (near the bottom of the article)

Comic Book Resources have posted a preview of the first issue of John Byrne's Assignment: Earth miniseries. In addition to a five page preview they show off the finalised cover for the issue, and the inside of the cover with a neat opening title monologue - very in-fitting with the TV-series-that-never-was angle IDW are apparently going for:

His code name is Gary Seven. On the world where he was raised, he is known as Supervisor 194. Where that world is, only the inhabitants know - but for thousands of years these inhabitants have been taking people from Earth and training them, preparing them for a desperate mission: to save the people of Earth from their own foolish and warlike nature.

Assisting Gary Seven in his assignment on Earth are Roberta Lincoln, Earth-born, twenty-something, sometimes flighty, sometimes erratic, but with a keen mind and a high IQ; and the Beta Five computer, capable of analytical decisions and not at all shy about informing Supervisor 194 of what it views on his shortcomings.

Oh, yes - and Isis.

The pages also reveal the title for the first issue "Brighter Than a Thousand Suns". Here's one page:

The inside cover also reveals IDW are apparently sticking with the smaller cover gallery format introduced in their first Second Stage title (Turnaround, Part I), and going for less covers, just two for this issue; the same artwork with or without cover text.

Check out CBR's article for the rest of the preview.

On his blog, IDW editor Chris Ryall has posted the first preview of interior art for the soon start miniseries Star Trek: Year Four: The Enterprise Experiment.

Big sigh of relief: none of that four "widescreens" non-sense going on here. He also posted this photo cover for the first issue:

And the whole thing was accompanied by a press release for the remastered version of The Enterprise Incident, to which Ryall commented: "some of the digital upgrades actually tie the episode even more closely in with the comic book", so hopefully that means more D7 with Romulan paintjobs. He also took the opportunity to give us a date, issue one will be out in just under fortnight on April 16.

See the original post for that press release and a look at the final presentation of the Sharp Brothers’ cove for the issue.

Comics Continuum have posted IDWs solicitations for July, which include four Star Trek titles, and the release of two new covers:

Turnaround #5
The final confrontation. Outgunned, outmanned, but never outwitted, Mackenzie Calhoun and the crew of the Excalibur face off against the masterminds behind the theft of the Paradox while the fate of Bravo Station, and Calhoun's wife, Admiral Shelby, hang in the balance.

The Enterprise Experiment #4
The untold fourth year of the Enterprise's legendary five-year mission continues! The Klingons have discovered what appears to be a Preserver obelisk, but can the Enterprise prevent them from unlocking its secrets before it's too late? And what of the Organian truce? The answer lies within!

Assignment Earth #3

Crisis on campus! The time: 1970. The place: Earth. The situation: Critical! Comic book legend John Byrne continues his first-ever Star Trek miniseries, featuring the enigmatic interstellar spy Gary Seven and his intrepid assistant, Roberta. Following their encounter with Kirk and the Enterprise crew, the duo must go undercover in the Halls of Ivy as students burn their draft cards and National Guard troops patrol the quad. What is the terrible truth behind rumors of an army of super-soldiers -- whose purpose may be much more sinsister than fighting in the jungles of Southeast Asia?

Mirror Images #2
Murderous intrigue continues aboard the I.S.S. Enterprise, as First Officer James T. Kirk sets in motion the machinations that will result in the murder of Captain Christopher Pike, and the ultimate prize for Kirk: the captain's chair! But what does Spock have to say about it -- and whose side is he on? A dark, twisted reflection of Starfleet history continues!

And as this sees the final issue of the New Frontier series, if IDW intend to keep up their four issues a month scheme, that means there must be a new miniseries announcement in the not to distant future...

TrekMovie.com have released some stills from the forthcoming remastered version of The Enterprise Incident. I'm happy to see two things; a Bird of Prey has been added, and the D7s have Bird of Prey paintjobs. Nice:

See TrekMovie's original report for comparison shots.

Good news comics fans, as Steve Roby (of the Complete Starfleet Library) has recently uncovered, there are new collections on the horizon. First the long awaited sixth volume of Checker Books Key Collection reprints of Gold Key Comics (originally due around this time last year) looks to have finally been rescheduled for release in November this year.

Amazon also has listings for two new collections, printed by IDW! The Complete Starfleet Library suggest this is the reason we've not had any new collections from Titan Books lately, it would seem IDW have got themselves the rights to reprint old Star Trek comics from Marvel and DC. They are doing so in a series called Star Trek Archives, with the first two volumes Best of Peter David, and Best of the Borg, due out in September and November.

Based on the credits given in the blurbs at the Starfleet Library, Best of Peter David will include the three part story The Return of the Worthy (previously reprinted by Titan a couple of years ago) and Retrospect (also previously reprinted, but by DC in the early 90s). Best of the Borg will probably be the DC four-parter The Worst of Both Worlds, and the Marvel one shot Operation: Assimilation. Which I think will mark the first reprinting of any of Marvels 1990s Trek comics.

TrekMovie have posted a report on the Enterprise relaunch novel series, including a couple of new titbits on Kobayashi Maru and the planned Romulan War story to follow. Including the release of the cover for the novel:

Not a lot was discussed that wasn't already known; The book will be a prelude to the Romulan War in some fashion and will attempt to tie together the evolution of ships and technology form the Enterprise era to The Original Series era.

What was newly confirmed, or at least hinted at, was that the novel would also tie into the Destiny trilogy in some fashion. The article also talked about the Romulan War story to follow, which was first mentioned as a three book trilogy, but apparently now might see itself printed in a single large volume (a single book, or three in one like the Mirror Universe books last year?). Exactly what format hasn't been decided yet waiting sales of Kobayashi Maru and news of any impact the new film might have on telling a Romulan War story, but the book(s) are still set for a 2009 release.

Read the full original article, here.

Well that's hardly news I suppose... but it is true, as does his wonderful colorist, Ilaria Traversi. Especially on their latest work for IDW in the Intelligence Gathering miniseries.

Proof: Here's a page Messina posted on his blog from last week's third issue:

Messina has consistently produced stunning art since the first Klingons: Blood Will Tell issue but his work for this series just keeps getting better. He and Traversi have successfully taken the TNG setting and aesthetically reinvented it, giving a far more edgy, and utterly beautiful look to this miniseries.

I intend to review the whole series after the final issue, but so far it's been doing well, and getting better issue on issue, so go forth and buy, tis well worth it.

And, check out that post on David Messina's blog for an uncoloured version of the same page.

The Trek Collective

Tuesday, 29 April 2008

Hallmark's 2008 ornaments

Thursday, 24 April 2008

Myriad Universes blurbs

Monday, 21 April 2008

KRAD puts Klingons in the Spotlight

More Romulans amongst new projects coming from John Byrne

Greater Than the Sum cover confirmed

Sunday, 20 April 2008

Trek comics coming... to DVD...

2009 from Pocket Books

DST tricorder

Saturday, 19 April 2008

A Singular Destiny

Thursday, 17 April 2008

Wounds cover

TOS remastered DVD details

Tuesday, 15 April 2008

The Enterprise Experiment #5 cover

Retro Sulu

Saturday, 12 April 2008

Myriad-Manga cross promotion

Thursday, 10 April 2008

Night of the Wolves excerpt

Tuesday, 8 April 2008

Quater scale Kirk revealed

First image of DST's All Good Things... Enterprise-D

Assignment Earth #1 preview

Saturday, 5 April 2008

The Enterprise Experiment preview

IDW July releases

Friday, 4 April 2008

The Enterprise Incident remastered

Thursday, 3 April 2008

New comic reprints coming from IDW and checker books

Kobayashi Maru

Tuesday, 1 April 2008

David Messina art rocks