Discovery behind the scenes: Aliens

Aside from the Klingons, and Saru, Discovery so far hasn't featured a huge number of aliens, but those that have turned up have been a nice mix of updated classics, and new species. Today I'm going to take a look at the alien visitors to set, as shared by the cast and crew, in celebration of the design and prosthetics teams that have brought them to life.

First up, here's a nice image shared by the Discovery Instagram account, with busts of several aliens from the series: Saru, a couple of Klingons (including the helmet), a Tellarite, and a Crepusculan.

New Eaglemoss Discovery ships revealed

Eaglemoss have a booth at the Destination Star Trek Germany convention, and have on display several new items from Star Trek: Discovery - The Official Starships Collection, including a number of subscription bonus releases, and graphics giving us new looks at a number of Discovery ships. Continue below to check them all out.

We have our first look at the Klingon Bird of Prey model, which looks absolutely fantastic! The two images here come via Eaglemoss' Ben Robinson, and Twitter user Verzweigter:

Star Trek 4 finds its director

The new on-screen Star Trek news keeps coming! Variety report Paramount are in the process of signing up S.J. Clarkson to direct the next movie; a notable move in terms of representation behind the scenes, as this will make the next Star Trek movie the first in the franchise to be directed by a woman.

This appears to be Clarkson's first movie, but she has numerous TV credits to her name, spanning a diverse range of series; starting out with episodes of UK series such as Hustle, and Life on Mars; before moving across the pond to work on numerous popular series including Heroes, Ugly Betty, House, Dexter, Orange is the New Black, Jessica Jones, and The Defenders. She has also been the sole director of a couple of miniseries; Love Nina, and most recently Collateral.

Variety believe Clarkson will be working on the project announced a couple of years ago, featuring the return of Chris Hemsworth as George Kirk, with a script by J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay. They also state that the other film currently in development, under the guidance of Quentin Tarantino will likely come after this fourth Kelvin timeline movie, while The Hollywood Reporter believe the Tarantino film will also be set in a separate timeline.

First look at Discovery's USS Enterprise uniforms and sets in new behind the scenes video

CBS have released a new behind the scenes video, giving us our first look at new uniforms, sets, and characters from the second season of Discovery. Continue below to check it out, and for a closer look at all the new stuff!



The Youtube version is geo-locked as ever, so if you wanting to watch from elsewhere, Instagram comes to the rescue, albeit cropped to square.

Two Star Trek movies confirmed in development

After much recent rumour and confusion about what path the next Star Trek movie is taking, Paramount Pictures CEO Jim Gianopulos has cleared things up a little by confirming that there are indeed two Star Trek movies currently in development. Details remain sparse, but The Hollywood Reporter report that he made comments at CinemaCon yesterday noting that Paramount and Skydance were at work on the two films.

Does that mean both will actually get made? Who knows! Or that both will be Kelvin timeline? Also a mystery! Zachary Quinto (Spock) seemed similarly unsure when he remarked on the current possibilities when talking to the Observer recently:

I mean the only thing I can say is there’s a lot of energy around more movies. Which ones are going to happen, which ones might happen first? I can’t really say, I don’t know honestly. I know there are lots of conversations being had about it. I know there are plans afoot to do at least one if not more movies.

I know Paramount, under their new administration, is eager to keep the franchise going. I feel like as soon as we go reconvene and then there’s a script that the studio believes in and a director, whether it’s Quentin or somebody else, that comes up… Hopefully, we’ll move it all forward. I’m pretty sure Quentin is doing his other project, which he wrote, so that might kind of contextualize things in terms of the chronology of how we might make more than one movie, if we make more than one movie.

Discovery ship bits: New views of worker bee, Hoover class, and Klingon Bird of Prey

Starship loving Discovery fans, I've got some nice finds for you today, with new views of several of the ships from the series. Continue below to check them out.

First up, via the portfolio of Discovery visual effects artist Mark Krentz, we have really good look at the delightful Discovery-era worker bee; a very tangible and functional twist on the Star Trek classic:

Book bits: Novel and non-fiction covers and updates

A few bits of Star Trek book news today, including updates on novels, audiobooks and non-fiction titles. Continue below for all.

First up, Voyager novelist Kirsten Beyer recently appeared on TrekFM's Literary Treks podcast to discuss her most recent book, Architects of Infinity. Some time ago it was revealed Beyer was set to write a further Voyager novel, To Lose the Earth, after this book, but of course her new role writing for Discovery has already delayed work on both books. Fortunately Beyer was able to confirm work on To Lose the Earth is still going ahead, and so we should at some point get to continue Voyager's ongoing adventures in the Delta Quadrant; albeit with such a busy schedule, just when that book will come remains a mystery.

Beyer also briefly discussed her role as Discovery's media tie-in coordinator, which of course includes having a hand in the development of James Swallow's forthcoming Discovery novel, Fear Itself. That book is due out in June, and Simon and Schuster have now revealed the audiobook edition cover, which is as usual a somewhat expanded version of the previously released print edition cover:

New Star Trek swimwear from ThinkGeek

Another summer approaching brings us another new wave of releases in ThinkGeek's ongoing range of Star Trek swimwear. This year's releases see new men's versions of the TOS and TNG uniform inspired swimwear release for women in previous years. But first...

Adding to the women's collection, is this gloriously zany 80s/90s print style TNG ships one-piece swimsuit, featuring a cocktail of Starfleet and alien ships from TNG.

2018 Hallmark Keepsake decorations revealed

Hallmark have released their 2018 Dreambook, featuring all their Keepsake Christmas decorations for the year, and among them a pretty generous selection of Star Trek releases. Continue below for all the details of those, and other new Hallmark releases.

Every year Hallmark release a Star Trek ship ornament, and this year we've got two! One of those is of course the USS Discovery, which features light effects.

Latest Eaglemoss Starships Collection previews

Eaglemoss have released their latest round of solicitations, giving us first looks at several new ships in The Official Starships Collection. Plus there's news of a second wave of possible XL ships, and new images of several other models. Continue below to check them out:

First up we have the third issue of the Discovery collection, which, despite previous reports that issue would be the new Klingon Bird of Prey, is in fact, in line with even earlier reports, the Shepard class USS Kerala! It looks like a rather attractive model!

IDW's July Star Trek comics

IDW have announced their July solicitations, which include two new Star Trek titles. Continue below for all the details:

Succession #4
Written by Mike Johnson and Kirsten Beyer, with art by Angel Hernandez

In the Mirror Universe, the heroic characters you thought you knew care only for power and glory. In this, the final issue of Succession, see Michael Burnham in the fight of her life!

This book will be available in four different covers. The A cover by Angel Hernandez, and B photo-cover, you can see below. The two variant covers by Nick Roche, and Declan Shalvey and Jordie Bellaire, have not yet been revealed.

Star Trek Online: Victory is Life expansion details

Cryptic Studios have announced the next major expansion to Star Trek Online, Victory is Life, which timed to celebrate the 25th anniversary of DS9, will see the game visit the Gamma Quadrant, the introduction of the Dominion as a playable faction, and a whole host of DS9 cast members returning to voice their characters. Continue below for an overview:

Discovery: Succession #1 preview

Out this week is the first issue of the latest Star Trek: Discovery comic, Succession. The book picks up the story in the mirror universe after the events of season one, and even in just issue one makes some remarkably bold moves to move the mirror universe story forward. It's one of the best first issues of a Star Trek comic series I can recall in some time! The book is written by Kirsten Beyer and Mike Johnson, with art by Angel Hernandez.

The book is available in four different covers. Cover A is by Angel Hernandez (coloured by Esther Sanz), featuring mirror-Burnham amongst a militaristic Terran display. Cover B, a photo-cover, also features Burnham. Retail incentive cover A is by George Caltsoudas, and again features Burnham, this time joined by Captain Killy and Emperor Georgiou, and finally retail incentive cover B is the latest in a series of covers spanning Discovery comic releases, featuring ships by Declan Shalvey (colours by Jordie Bellaire), this time featuring the ISS Discovery.

Continue below to check out all the covers, and a five-page preview.

Boldly Go #18, IDIC part 6 preview

Out this week is the final issue of IDW's Kelvin timeline comic Boldly Go, which is also the exciting closing chapter of the multiverse-spanning storyline, IDIC, Regular writer Mike Johnson, joined by Ryan Parrott, finishes of the series, with artist Josh Hood illustrating this final issue.

The book is available in four covers: Cover A by Josh Hood features the Enterprise crew with the saucer of the Enterprise forming a giant collective halo behind them. Cover B by Eoin Marron (coloured by Jordie Bellaire) features the USS Enterprise-A under construction. A retail incentive photo cover uses an image of Spock from Star Trek Beyond, and the B retail incentive cover is the latest in a series by Yoshi Yoshitani, this time featuring Spock and McCoy.

Continue below to check out all the covers, plus a five-page preview.

New Starships Collection bonus issues revealed

Eaglemoss, via their Hero Collector blog, have announced no less than six new bonus issues coming to The Official Starships Collection. Sighting the success of the release of USS Titan and USS Aventine (good work team!), Eaglemoss have committed to a wide-ranging series of further obscure ships, which come from a variety of sources, including non-canon origins, concept art, and variants. They expect the six new ships to arrive over this year and 2019. Continue below to check them out:

Perhaps the least surprising and one of the most requested ships (at least as far as I've seen), is the USS Enterprise-F. The design was created for the video game Star Trek Online, following a competition to bring the design to life, which was won by Adam Ilhe. As one of the most prominent non-canon designs, it seemed almost inevitable we'd get this one eventually after the Titan and Aventine were released.

New Visions #21: The Enemy of My Enemy preview

Out this week is issue 21 of  John Byrne's New Visions photocomic. The headline story of the book features an entertaining team-up of Kirk with Kor, in The Enemy of My Enemy. Like many books in the series, there is also a second story, and this time it takes up a good two-fifths of the book in a delightfully quirky Pike-era story with a H.G. Wells crossover, The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner.

As ever IDW have released a five-page preview from the book, from the first story, continue below to check it out.

Eaglemoss XL USS Enterprise-A and USS Defiant previews

Eaglemoss have released a host of new images of their next two XL sized models in The Official Starships Collection, the USS Enterprise-A, and USS Defiant. Continue below to check them out.

The USS Enterprise-A, the sixth release in the XL series, is due out in the next month or so, and Eaglemoss' Hero Collector blog has released several new images of the model:

Latest Discovery prop reproduction images

Retailers are starting to list some of the latest Discovery prop toys and reproductions, giving us new images of those forthcoming releases. Continue below to check them out:

First up we've got the phaser from McFarlane Toys, which is expected towards the end of the year. As you can see, this has gained a slightly bright orange part on the firing end, no doubt in order to make sure it isn't mistaken for a real gun when being played with.

Pre-order: Amazon, Forbidden Planet.

Discovery's Captain Pike cast

CBS have announced a much anticipated bit of casting, the new Captain Pike, who will appear in season two of Star Trek: Discovery. The captain of the Enterprise will be played by Anson Mount, who bares a striking resemblance to the original Captain Pike, played by Jeffrey Hunter - So alike I'm not entirely convinced they haven't utalised time travel to just get the original actor to reprise the role!

2019 Star Trek calendar previews

Universe Publishing have released updated previews and covers of the 2019 Star Trek calendar range, giving us a great look at all six of the calendars on offer for next year, which include regular calendars for Ships of the Line, Discovery, and TOS series, plus a TOS art poster calendar, and diary and daily formats. Continue below to check them all out.

2019's Ships of the Line calendar looks to be packed full of great images, with one of the most exciting thankfully offered as a preview image: John Eaves and Scott Schneider's U.S.S. Enterprise - Star Trek: Discovery, which gives us great look at the new look USS Enterprise, alongside the USS Discovery.

The back cover reveals the rest of the images in the calendar, with a pretty diverse offering:

Fear Itself cover revealed

The third Star Trek: Discovery novel, James Swallow's Fear Itself, is due in June, and now StarTrek.com have revealed the cover, which of course features Saru, who is at the center of this latest tale, set aboard the USS Shenzhou prior to the TV series.

Latest Star Trek pins from Fansets and Anovos

Lots of pins to look at today, starting with the latest updates from Fansets' ever expanding range. Their newest release in the MicroCrew range of character pins is April Cornwell from Discovery, available since yesterday:

Behind the scenes starship bits: New-old TOS, Discovery ships, designing the Enterprise-D, DS9 kitbashes, and more!

Got some fun stuff to share with you today: Loads of behind the scenes starship bits and pieces, spanning everything from TOS to Discovery, with TNG, DS9, and the Kelvin timeline in between. Continue below for some new and rare views of starship miniatures, CG models, and concept art.

We'll start as far back as you can go: Star Trek visual effects artist Daren Dochterman recently posted a video with composited versions of the newly discovered unused shots of the original USS Enterprise miniature, as featured in the Roddenberry Vault. Check out these new views of the Enterprise (as well as Deep Space Station K7 and the SS Botany Bay) brought fully back to life:



Then coming right up to date, starship modeller Pierre Drolet, has posted on his ArtStation portfolio recent work from Discovery, including a nice up close look at one of my very favourite designs from the show, the bizarre dragonfly-meets-peacock Klingon raider:

New images of Eaglemoss XL USS Defiant and other starships updates

Eaglemoss have updated their online shop with new images of several new and forthcoming releases in The Official Starships Collection, the highlight of which is the XL size USS Defiant; a 22cm long model, due out in June. We've got lot more images of that model to drink in all the details of this not so little ship! Continue below to check it out:

Star Trek Discovery Annual preview

Out this week is the 2018 Star Trek Discovery Annual, a one shot comic from IDW filling us in on the delightful backstory of Paul Stamets and his fungi (as well as Doctors Strall and Culber, and to a lesser extent Cadet Tilly). Like all the Discovery comics so far announced, the book is written by Kirsten Beyer and Mike Johnson, with Angel Hernandez taking on the art duties for this issue.

The comic is available in three different covers, with a similar collection of characters and colour scheme on both the main covers: The A cover by Angel Hernandez, and coloured by Esther Sanz, and the B cover by George Caltsoudas. Also available is a blank sketch cover, ready to be illustrated by an artist of your choice. Continue below for a five page preview:

Discovery soundtrack vinyl and chapter two release details

Lakeshore Records have revealed the details for the anticipated vinyl release of Jeff Russo's Star Trek: Discovery season one soundtrack, and also announced the chapter two soundtrack to be released on CD and digital. Continue below for all the details.

As you can see, for the vinyl release they have selected some of the more colourful promotional artwork to use for the covers, and plan for equally colourful discs - Which they describe as "'Intergalactic Starburst" (and note the colours are not finalised yet). It looks spectacular! And is a fine addition to some of the other recent Star Trek vinyl soundtrack releases. They are anticipating a summer release.

Lots of creative new Klingon products announced today!

Today, the 1st of April, has seen quite the host of quirky new Star Trek product announcements, curiously all involving Klingons, which I'm sure will all be arriving on our shelves, and fridges, soon... Continue below to check out what's new.

Author Dayton Ward has announced the first new Star Trek novel in some time. Co-written with his regular writing partner Kevin Dilmore, we can look forward to a TOS adventure in, Mission to Gamma VI. Check out the cool cover art by Aaron Harvey: