This Month: July 2015 Star Trek releases

It's been a pretty huge month of Star Trek releases, with the return of New Frontier, the beginning of the Green Lantern crossover comic series, the USS Enterprise issue in The Official Starships Collection, and lots and lots more. Continue below for a look at all the Star Trek releases from July!

Prose

This month's novel was Sacraments of Fire, the start of a new DS9 story from David R. George III, which will continue early next year in Ascendance. The story picks up threads from recent DS9 novels, as well as finally continuing arcs from earlier in the DS9 relaunch series.

Days after the assassination of Federation President Nan Bacco on Deep Space 9, the unexpected appearance of a stranger on the station raises serious concerns. He seems dazed and confused, providing—in a peculiar patois of the Bajoran language—unsatisfactory answers. He offers his identity as Altek, of which there is no apparent record, and he claims not to know where he is or how he got there. A quick scan confirms the visitor is armed with a projectile weapon—a firearm more antiquated than, but similar to, the one that took President Bacco’s life. But the Bajoran liaison to the station believes that Altek has been sent from the Prophets, out of a nearby wormhole. The last time such an event occurred, it was to reassure Benjamin Sisko of his place as the Emissary. For what purpose has Altek now been sent out of the Celestial Temple?

Purchase: Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.fr, Amazon.es, Amazon.it, Amazon.co.jp, iTunes.

Prosperous printing from ThinkGeek

ThinkGeek have made a funky bit of Star Trek word art in the form of their new "live long and prosper" decal set. The stickers come with two sizes of the same hand deign, for suggested application on car and laptop, or anywhere else you care to stick them.

This isn't ThinkGeek's first Star Trek car decal, they previously released a larger set of character stickers, allowing you to assemble a TOS version of your family (to communicate your family structure to other drivers?).

Starships Collection's Antares, Botany Bay, and Saber class

Due out early next year, issue sixty-three of Eaglemoss' The Official Starships Collection will be the Antares. This is a doubly notable addition to the series, as it will be both the first original design from TOS remastered featured, and in a way the first design from TAS too, as the remastered ship is modified version of the cargo drone seen in the animated series. Series manager Ben Robinson has now posted the first image of this model on Twitter, check it out:

Ben has also posted new photos of a couple more ships recently, continue below to check out the SS Botany Bay and Saber class:

New images of Anovos' phasers

After having recently previewed them at the San Diego Comic Con, Anovos have now released a load of images, via StarTrek.com, of their forthcoming range of Star Trek phaser props. Continue below to check them all out:

First up is the Picard variant First Contact phaser rifle, which will include "LED indicators, flashlight, phaser emitter light, trigger, rechargeable battery and a carry strap. Internal component details are accessible via underside flip-down panel. Sound bytes, accurate to scene".

Star Trek Beyond: New alien, new actor, and more

Last week Omaze launched a fund-raising campaign tied to the production of Star Trek Beyond, which will see one person who donates win a walk-on role in the film, and six others getting a chance to visit the sets and meet the cast and crew. Now the first of those six winners has been announced (one person will be select each week of the campaign), and Omaze have released a new video to mark the occasion, including some behind-the-scenes glimpses from the production, such as this new alien!



Continue below for more updates from the production of Star Trek Beyond.

The Tholian Webs, part 2 preview

This week's new Star Trek comic release is issue forty-seven in the nuTrek ongoing comic series, the second half of The Tholian Webs. Written by Mike Johnson, with art by Rachael Stott, the story begins with the Enterprise in pieces, and ensnared in the titular webs. Continue below for a five page preview.

ThinkGeek keeps us in uniform at all times

ThinkGeek, ever keen to maintain the standard of dress for Starfleet officers in the 24th century, have already offered us socks, ties, T-shirts, hoodies, dresses, pajamas, and even baby-clothes, all inspired by the TNG uniform. Now in their determination to uphold Starfleet's dress codes they've added two more types of clothing to their catalogue, to ensure whatever we are doing, we're never out of uniform! Check them out below, plus another new release that Starfleet officers definitely shouldn't be handling.

Available in all three department colours, the new TNG uniform apron is ready to protect you from unexpected tomato discharges when chopping up pizzas using the Enterprise-D, or any other kitchen protection needs.

These are a sequel of sorts to the TOS uniform apron released a couple of years ago. A completely new innovation is the TNG uniform cardigan, which is also offered in all department colours.

Starships Collection's Saber, Romulan Bird of Prey, Tactical Cube, and USS Kelvin

Three more issues of The Official Starships Collection have been solicited, giving us three new images of issues fifty-seven to fifty-nine: The Saber class, 23rd century Romulan Bird of Prey, and Borg Tactical Cube. Continue below to check them out, plus some new images of the USS Kelvin model.

IDW's October Star Trek comics

IDW have announced their October releases, which include two new Star Trek comics, plus their latest omnibus book. Continue below for all the details:

Star Trek (ongoing) #50 - 5 Year Mission: TBA, Part 1
Written by Mike Johnson, with art by Tony Shasteen.

Don't miss this special anniversary issue that kicks off an epic new 3-part adventure! For the first time, the crew of the new movie franchise will meet its evil Mirror counterpart! It's Enterprise vs. Enterprise, Federation vs. the Terran Empire, with the fate of two universes at stake!

As previously announced, they are going to town with this issue to mark the fiftieth issue benchmark. There will be bonus content "including behind-the-scenes looks at the last 50 issues of Star Trek…with hints about where the series is going, and what IDW will be doing to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the series in 2016!".

There will be four covers too! The main cover is Tony Shasteen wrap-around design, then there's also a subscription variant photo-cover, and blank cover (so you can get a bespoke design by an artist), and an "Artist's Edition" cover by Rachael Stott. Only two have been released so far:

Anovos' Star Trek phaser replicas

Anovos, makers of high end costume replicas have revealed plans for a new range of Star Trek prop replicas, starting with no less than five different phasers! A few of these were on display for the first time at the San Diego Comic Con over the weekend. Continue below to check them out.

There were three different type 3 phaser rifles on show, two designs from First Contact, and the TNG/DS9 TV era rifle, specifically modelled on the prop as seen in The Siege of AR-55. These will include, in various combinations depending on the model, LED displays and other light features, such as the phaser emitter, functioning access panels with internal details, and retractable straps.

Her Universe's new Star Trek costume pieces

At the past weekend's San Diego Comic Con Her Universe launched two new items of clothing in their Star Trek range, and included Star Trek themed design in their fashion show. Continue below for all the details.

Several new designs from the worlds of Marvel, Star Wars, Studio Ghibli, and, of course, Star Trek, have been launched to coincide with the Comic Con. Both of the new Star Trek pieces are based on TNG costumes. That includes the rather brilliantly named, The Captain Picardigan, a cardigan based on the TNG uniform:

Then there's the more directly translated Deanna Troi costume dress, based on her purple dress:

Omazing opportunity to be in Star Trek Beyond

Fund-raising platform Omaze has launched a new tie-in with Star Trek Beyond, to win a walk-on role in the film, while raising funds for several different charities.

By making a donation to the fund-raising pool you get entries into the prize draw, from which one person will win the walk-on roll. Additionally in each of the six weeks of the campaign one person will win a place in the "Star Trek: To Boldy Go Crew", getting them a trip to the sets, to meet the cast, and watch scenes being filmed. Here's the cast, on the sets of Star Trek Beyond, to tell you all about it. Watch out for the Enterprise bridge's new disco mode at the end!



Donations start at $10, and for every dollar donated you get ten chances to be drawn. You can donate anything up to $100,000, with donations above $10 buying rewards, ranging from thank you cards and videos from the cast and crew, and T-shirts, up to prized relics from the production; original concept art and props, and then at the very top end, advanced screenings of Star Trek Beyond, and a replica captain's chair.

Each of the main cast of the film have nominated a charity, and in honour of Leonard Nimoy, his wife, Susan Nimoy also nominated one. The funds raised will be split equally between these organisations, which are as follows:

Bif Bang Pow's latest bobble heads and more

Bif Bang Pow revealed several new Star Trek toys in displays at the San Diego Comic Con, including new characters in their ever expanding range of Star Trek bobble heads. Following on from the range of TNG characters that built a bridge, there will be two characters to populate Ten Forward, the unlikely pairing of Q and Guinan. A more common pairing comes from the latest renditions of Kirk and Spock, this time bobbling their way through the kal-if-fee. And finally there will be another Spock, this time in his The Voyage Home robes, and this one will also have a sound feature. As yet there are no release dates for any of these new designs.

There will be Star Trek variants of all the The Big Bang Theory characters in Bif Bang Pow's range of three and three-quarter inch action figures (which should nicely complement the actual Star Trek characters in the range of similar figures from Funko). Bif Bang Pow had all these on show among the regular versions of the characters, check them out after the jump:

Michael Giacchino to score Star Trek Beyond

Michael Giacchino under Starfleet guard at SDCC (via Instagram)

With all the changes in the nuTrek creative team going into the production of Star Trek Beyond, one wondered if one of the most distinctive and successful aspects of the films, the brilliant music of Michael Giacchino, might also have been switched out for someone new. Thankfully, that isn't the case, as Giacchino has now confirmed, via Twitter, that he will be returning to score his third Star Trek movie!

So thrilled to be working with Justin Lin and the rest of the Enterprise crew on Star Trek Beyond! Let's boldly go!

I'm thrilled too!

In other news, the more-or-less confirmed presence of Idris Elba in the cast of Star Trek Beyond has now been most definitely confirmed, with comments by the actor reported by TV3 Xposé:

Almost everyone was a Trekkie, really, weren't they? I wouldn't say I was a hardcore one but I definitely watched that show a million times.

Spock was probably my favourite character - and in this one I have some scenes with Zachary Quinto.

Still no news on who or what he plays, but previous rumours suggested he will be the villain of the piece.

Finally, the eagle-eyed reporters at TrekCore have also confirmed Roy Deep, aka Keenser, will be returning to Star Trek Beyond, as he had to cancel a convention appearance due to being busy shooting!

Captain Kirk bookend

Icon Heroes, makers of Star Trek stationary and office products, have revealed their latest creation, the Captain Kirk bookend, which features the TV-era Kirk in his command chair. Figures.com captured these images of the new bookend, as displayed at the San Diego Comic Con, it should reach the rest of us in the real world at some point in the first quarter of 2016. You can see a few more images in Figures.com's gallery.

Uglydoll Star Treking at Comic Con

Uglydoll had an impressive and mostly Star Trek themed display at the San Diego Comic Con this weekend, including all their current Star Trek Uglydolls, the new Comic Con exclusive Klingon and redshirt, and massive eye-catching graphics from Fathead. They also some Star Trek themed give-aways, and new sets of Star Trek Uglydoll Fathead stickers. Continue below to check it all out. Here's the booth in all it's glory:

There were hordes of  plushes, under big banners, my favourite juxtaposition has the Uglydoll Klingon standing over numerous redshirt corpses!

Moebius Kirk and Spock action figures

At the San Diego Comic Con Moebius Models had on display what they promise to be the first in a series of new TOS action figures. The first two, as ever, are Kirk and Spock, featuring poseable bodies, fabric uniforms, an assortment of alternate hands, and props. Action Figure Fury were good enough to get some good photos of these at the Moebius booth (more after the jump):

Book bits: Elusive Salvation, New Frontier, Captain Kirk, and more

Coming next May is Elusive Salvation, Dayton Ward's follow-up to the brilliant aliens-on-Earth novel, From History's Shadow. Simon and Schuster have now updated their digital catalogue with the first blurb for this book, giving details of the new alien infiltration on pre-First Contact Earth:

The Arctic Circle, 1845: Escaping the tyranny under which their people have lived for generations, aliens from a distant planet crash land on Earth’s inhospitable frozen wastes. Surviving the harsh conditions will pose a challenge, but over time the aliens will migrate to more populated areas, with decades passing as they work to conceal their presence from their former oppressors, who continue hunt them at any cost.

San Francisco, 2283: When a mysterious craft is detected entering the solar system, Admiral James Kirk is dispatched by Starfleet to confront the vessel. He meets with an emissary from the Iramahl, a previously unknown alien race who have come in search of their brothers and sisters thought to have gone missing in this area of space centuries earlier. Having recently thrown off the last chains of subjugation by another species, the Ptaen, they now believe their lost people hold the key to saving their entire race from eventual extinction.

New York, 1970: Roberta Lincoln, young protégé of the mysterious agent Gary Seven, is shocked when she receives the oddest request for help—from the future…

Pre-order: Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.fr, Amazon.es, Amazon.it, Amazon.co.jp.  

Continue after the jump for more news of new books, including New Frontier, and Captain Kirk reading his own autobiography:

Starships Collection's USS Kelvin, SS Botany Bay and other updates

It's a double event week for Eaglemoss' The Official Starships Collection; not only are new models on display at the San Diego Comic Con, but the fiftieth issue in the series, the original USS Enterprise, also made its debut in the UK. As ever there's plenty of other little updates to note too, so continue below for lots of starships news.

First up, we have our first look at the next special issue, the USS Kelvin, on display at the Diamond Comic Distributors booth at Comic Con. These excellent close-up images come from DJC, via TrekToy forum poster Alteran195:

QMx's artisan replica USS Enterprise

At the San Diego Comic Con, QMx have unveiled the latest addition to their artisan replica range of high quality model starships, a 1:350 scale USS Enterprise. You might see this as a somewhat enhanced replica, as QMx have added some extra details compared the original studio model, including an intricate, but subtle, aztecing pattern on the hull, and glowing blue panels on the nacelles. Continue below to check it out.

Femme Fatale Troi and other Trek from DST's Comic Con display

Diamond Select Toys had plenty of Trek stuff to show off in their booth at this weekend's San Diego Comic Con, but there's just one entirely new reveal, which is their second Star Trek Femme Fatale statue. Joining the existing provocatively posed Seven of Nine PVC statue will be Deanna Troi, who has a bit more of a no-nonsense attitude about her, while sporting her pilot episode mini-dress uniform.

I wonder if they'll do a Men Fatales line one day with Riker in a skant...

The other big news is that the Mego-style retro cloth action figures are making a return. Captain Pike, the Salt Vampire, Uhura, Sulu, and the Mugato, along with the bridge playset. All have been previously released, but some years ago now, and I'm sure the fiftieth anniversary might have a wee bit of influence on bringing back these nostalgic designs. No news yet whether the other dozen or so characters in the range will also get reissued, but the five on display would certainly seem an odd selection to prioritise! Continue after the jump to check out everything else on display.

IDW's new Starfleet Academy series, and 50th issue plans

Star Trek comics publisher IDW have announced a couple of new nuTrek stories coming later in the year, exploring the Starfleet Academy and mirror universe. Continue below for the details.

One of those stories will come in a brand new miniseries focusing on the nuTrek Starfleet Academy. The miniseries, of so far unannounced length, will start in December, and as IDW describe, will feature both the familiar Enterprise crew in their Academy days, and the present day class (I assume that means the current post-Academy period in nuTrek):

The comic follows Kirk, Spock, Uhura and some surprise faces while they are still cadets-in-training at Starfleet Academy, set in the period just prior to the opening of the 2009 mega-hit film. At the same time, you’ll meet the all-new “current day” class of Starfleet cadets, full of compelling young characters from all over the galaxy. The past and the present collide when a mystery bridges the two timelines. 

Starfleet Academy will be written by nuTrek regular Mike Johnson, and Ryan Parrot, who previously gave the Uhura Starfleet Academy era flashback issue, The Voice of a Falling Star. The art will be by Derek Charm, who has previously done a couple of Star Trek covers, including the brilliant pulp fiction style variant for this month's issue of the nuTrek ongoing series.

Hallmark's 2016 Star Trek Keepsakes previewed

As has become the custom, at the San Diego Comic Con Hallmark have previewed their range of Keepsake ornaments for 2016, including several Star Trek designs. Fortunately StarTrek.com have also relayed that information, including images of most of the new designs. Continue below to check them all out.

There's a slight shift in the usual line-up coming in 2016, but one thing we certainly couldn't do without is a starship: Naturally in the fiftieth anniversary year that will be the original USS Enterprise, the pilot episode design in fact. And in what I'm sure wont be the last example of this we're going to see next year, it comes in fiftieth anniversary gold... The model will feature sounds, but there is no mention of any lights on this one (in contrast to most of the previous ships).

Another long-standing style of ornament are recreations of scenes, and this year there are two! One is based on the first aired episode of Star Trek, The Man Trap, depicting the salt vampire attacking Captain Kirk.

The other, which is actually a table-top display piece rather than a hanging ornament, is a more generic gathering of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy around the captain's chair. This doesn't appear to be as far along in development, as StarTrek.com didn't post an image of it, but there is some concept art on display at Comic Con, and Hallmark posted an image on their Facebook page:

Communicator wireless handset from The Wand Company

Following on from their immaculate TOS phaser reproduction which functioned as a universal remote, The Wand Company have now found a way to bring functionality to another classic Star Trek prop, the communicator. The new wireless handset communicator will allow us to make calls as if it were the real thing, connected to bluetooth enabled mobile devices.  It will also work as a speaker, to stream music and other audio.

Like the phaser, this new communicator has been made using 3D scans of one of the original props, so as well as being a functional device, it is also probably the best reproduction of that prop ever offered. It is made from "pressed metal, die cast metal, machined aluminum and textured ABS to replicate the original hero prop", and also features a range of Star Trek sound effects and audio clips.

It comes complete in a transit case, and comes with a magnetic stand, which also functions as a wireless recharging port.

The communicator is due out in January, and is available for pre-order in the US from ThinkGeek and StarTrek.com, and in the UK from Firebox. Continue after the jump for more images.

Ships of the Line playing cards and puzzles!

The Ships of the Line brand has found itself another home, in the latest offerings from Aquarius. Due out this month, a selection of art from the calendar series will be featured on a new set of playing cards:

Then coming in August there are two Ships of the Line jigsaw puzzles, featuring the fleets of Federation and alien ships originally used as the front and back covers of the first Ships of the Line book.

The Spectrum War #1 preview

Out this week is the first issue in The Spectrum War, the six-part nuTrek/Green Lantern crossover comic series. The series is written by nuTrek regular Mike Johnson, with absolutely stunning artwork from Star Trek first timer Angel Hernandez. Continue below for a five page preview from this first issue, and some other nuTrek comics news, but first, new covers.

This issue sets a new record for the number of covers available for a Star Trek comic, with twenty-six on offer, mostly as retailer exclusives. There are twenty different designs within that number, with variants of a few of those making up the remainder. You can see most of those in previous reports, here, and here. But there are two we've not seen until now: The GameStop exclusive, featuring lots of green tribbles, is by Rachael Stott, with colours by Francesca Zambon:

And the ThinkGeek exclusive is by John Midgley.

New Visions: 1971/4860.2 preview

Out this week is issue seven in John Byrne's New Visions photo-comic series, and appropriately the guest star for this story is Gary Seven, a character who Byrne has made use of several times in his Star Trek comics, including my personal favourite, the Assignment Earth series.

This issue has a rather unusual title, 1971/4860.2, which inside the comic is split into two separate chapters telling the story from different points of view. The five-page preview this time starts at page 2, the title page for the 1971 section of the story. Continue below to read the rest of the preview, and for more news from the New Visions series:

Attack Wing wave 16 previews

June saw wave sixteen of expansions for the miniatures game Star Trek: Attack Wing, and now Wizkids have released images showing the three new ships released, as packaged, and with the full contents of each pack.

This latest wave included the USS Dauntless, the Ferengi Marauder Kreechta, and the USS Pasteur. Here's what they look like in the shops:

And continue below for a look at all the cards and bits and pieces contained within each pack:

Deep Space 9 frisbee!

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Nope, it's a huge space station hurtling through the sky at you! Fear not though, the new Deep Space 9 frisbee is made of soft foam, so won't hurt too much if you catch it with your head instead of your hands.

This holey new Star Trek frisbee is available from the StarTrek.com shop, and strangely enough is the second Trek-themed frisbee just this year, hot on the heels of the remarkable USS Enterprise flying disc from ThinkGeek.

New tough or cuddly Trek-wear from ThinkGeek

ThinkGeek have added a couple of Star Trek items to their range, ready to wrap up trekkies, be you tough as nails or soft as kittens (or if you're a bit of both!). Continue below to check them out:

The perfect uniform for any Klngon biker gangs, the new "Sons of Stovokor" denim jacket features all sorts of Klingon designs and text, as ThinkGeek describe:

This jacket features the emblem of the Klingon Empire embroidered on the chest with a back patch which reads "Onward to Sto-vo-kor" in transliterated Klingon characters (well, technically "Sthovoqor" - it's like a Klingon with a slight speech impediment said it - maybe as the result of a jaw broken in battle?) on the top and "It is a good day to die" in tlhIngan Hol beneath a Klingon skull and crossed bat'leths.

First look at something from Star Trek Beyond

Director Justin Lin has posted on Twitter to mark the start of production of Star Trek Beyond, and in doing so has given us our first look at something from the film, namely a Starfleet patch from a new style of uniform or space suit. The same tweet also confirms again the still not officially confirmed title for the film:

Let the next Starfleet voyage begin! #StarTrekBeyond #LLAP

Meanwhile Collider recently interviewed David Ellison and Dana Goldberg of Skydance Productions, who are executive producers on the nuTrek films. Goldberg had high praise for Lin's approach to the latest instalment: