Now that the first season of Star Trek: Discovery has concluded, some of the digital artists who worked to create the starships of the series have posted some of their work for all to see.
First up is longtime Trek artist Pierre Drolet, who worked as Lead 3D Artist Modeler for Discovery; Drolet featured highly-detailed renders of the Walker-class USS Shenzhou, as well as a few Klingon vessels – including the ‘cleave ship’ seen in “Battle at the Binary Stars.”
'Star Trek: Discovery' Ship Renders - Pierre Drolet
1 of 2
You can see larger versions of these images, and more views of Drolet’s work at his portfolio site.
* * *
Also showing off their work is Spain-based 3D CG artist Victoria Passariello, who helped to render the many Klingon and Federation starships seen fighting the “Battle at the Binary Stars” via Pixomondo Studio.
'Star Trek: Discovery' Ship Renders - Victoria Passariello
1 of 6
Shepard-class USS KERALA
Shepard-class USS KERALA
Veqlargh-class Klingon vessel
Veqlargh-class Klingon vessel
Bstlh-class Klingon vessel
Bstlh-class Klingon vessel
Included in her designs are the Shepard-class USS Kerala, as well as the Veqlargh-class and Bstlh-class Klingon vessels seen in the series’ opening episodes — and thanks to the upcoming Eaglemoss Discovery model series, we can connect ship designs to their names.
You can see more views of each of these ships, as well as alternate render designs of these and additional vessels at her portfolio site.
Keep coming back to TrekCore for the latest Star Trek: Discovery coverage!
Design company G Creative, which develops advanced graphic work for feature film and commercial productions, managed the creation of the vast majority of the Starfleet display graphic for the Enterprise, the Franklin, and Starbase Yorktown for Star Trek Beyond.
Now, their professional portfolio of Star Trek Beyond design work is online for all to perused, filled with detail never seen so closely in the film. Here are a few selections from their creations:
'Star Trek Beyond' Graphics - G Creative
1 of 6
You may note some inconsistencies with the final film; in these graphics the starbase is still called ‘Yosemite,’ and the old Starfleet ship from Altamid is still labelled the ‘USS Frontier,’ both early names for each from drafts of the Star Trek Beyond script.
Also of note is this shot featuring Captain Edison’s Starfleet service record, noting the registry number of the USS Franklin as NCC-7317. This version of the graphic actually made it into the theatrical run of Beyond — we noted it on Twitter back in 2016 — but it was corrected to NX-326, matching the correct number, for the home media release.
You can check out all of G Creative’s Star Trek Beyond designs at their site.
We’re just a few weeks away from the launch of Season 2 production, and today we’ve got a collection of Star Trek: Discovery news tidbits that have arrived over the past few days – including some new convention appearance plans and merchandise reveals!
First up comes comments from Saru actor Doug Jones, who tells ScreenRant.com that he while the Kelpien definitely wants to take on the center seat, Jones prefers Saru away from the captaincy at the moment.
[Saru] very much wants to be captain. He’s been on that deck for so long in the command track and as the first of his species to have gone through Starfleet Academy and have come out as a high ranking officer on a starship, he’s the first of his kind to ever even come close to this, so he’s got a lot to prove and he’s got a lot to say.
But, me personally, as Doug Jones the fan of ‘Star Trek,’ I think the dynamic of that character works very well as a first officer; as second fiddle to a captain.
I think [Saru will have] the captain’s chair one day. Early on, we’re only about to start filming season 2, there’s still a lot of room ahead of us. So I think for now, he still has more to learn in the leadership department and the courage department under a captain who’s been there and done that a lot, a seasoned captain.
After seeing his aptitude for the role, some fans were disappointed that Saru wasn’t tapped to lead the USS Discovery after Gabriel Lorca perished in the Mirror Universe last season, ending the year with the starship headed to Vulcan to pick up the crew’s new captain — but Saru is still relatively new to the first officer position, having only been promoted after the Battle of the Binary Stars.
Speaking of Saru, yesterday StarTrek.com revealed the newly-revised, final cover artwork for the third Discovery novel, the Saru-centric Fear Itself from author James Swallow, set to arrive from Simon & Schuster this June.
Lieutenant Saru is a Kelpien, a member of a prey species born on a world overrun by monstrous predators…and a being who very intimately understands the nature of fear.
Challenged on all sides, he is determined to surpass his origins and succeed as a Starfleet officer aboard the U.S.S. Shenzhou. But when Saru breaks protocol in order to prove himself to his crewmates, what begins as a vital rescue mission to save a vessel in distress soon escalates out of control.
Forced into a command role he may not be ready for, Saru is caught between his duty and the conflicting agendas of two antagonistic alien races.
To survive, he will need to seek a path of peace against all odds, and risk compromising the very ideals he has sworn to uphold….
In other Discovery merchandise news, FanSets has revealed their new Admiral Katrina Cornwell ‘MicroCrew’ character pin, styled after Jayne Brook’s breakout character.
The metal pin is available for purchase now at FanSets’ site for $5.95. The company has also revealed that another Discovery character pin, based upon the augmented human Airiam, will be coming in June.
In convention news, several of the Discovery cast have been added to the guest lists for both the upcoming Destination Star Trek convention in Dortmund, Germany and at Star Trek Las Vegas later this year.
Jason Isaacs (Lorca) had to cancel his appearance at the Dortmund convention, scheduled for April 27-29 in Germany, but he’ll be replaced by both Shazad Latif (Tyler) and Mary Wiseman (Tilly), both making their first Trek convention appearances. Previously-announced Discovery guests include Ken Mitchel (Kol) and Mary Chieffo (L’Rell).
At August’s Las Vegas convention, Discovery bridge officers Emily Coutts (Detmer) and Olin Oladejo (Owosekun) will be joining already-announced Wilson Cruz (Culber), James Frain (Sarek), Ken Mitchell (Kol), Mary Chieffo (L’Rell), Rainn Wilson (Mudd), and Jason Isaacs (Lorca).
Keep checking back for the latest in Discovery news here at TrekCore!
Eaglemoss’ latest Star Trek shuttlecraft model collection debuted in late October, bringing four more of the franchise’s smallest space vessels to collectors — this time, all from the world of Trek feature films! We took a look at their first shuttle set last year, and their second collection in January, and today we dig into the next four-ship series, featuring on craft from Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Star Trek: Insurrection, and the often-ignored Star Trek: Nemesis.
Like previous shuttle collections, this set includes four Starfleet auxiliary craft, measuring between about 1″ and 3″ in length, and each small model also includes a translucent plastic Okudagram detailing a technical cross-section of each ship, rendered in each shuttle’s era-specific design.
Eaglemoss Shuttle Set #3 - Travel Pod
1 of 10
...as seen THE MOTION PICTURE.
...as seen THE MOTION PICTURE.
First up is a ship that also first appeared in The Motion Picture, Starfleet’s travel pod, which first brought Admiral Kirk over to the refit USS Enterprise at the beginning of that film. (It also appeared in recycled footage during Star Trek II, and served to bring Kirk’s crew up to the newly-christened Enterprise-A during the final moments of Star Trek IV.
This is one of the more unique shuttle designs in the Trek franchise, serving only as a courier between existing structures and ships in Federation space, and not intended for flight outside of a controlled area — since the entire rear section is a door meant to fit into an airlock!
Star Trek: Enterprise created their own predecessor ship to this pod, that series’ inspection pod, seen most notably in “Broken Bow.”
Eaglemoss Shuttle Set #3 - Work Bee
1 of 9
...as seen in THE MOTION PICTURE.
Next up is the tiny Starfleet work bee, the diminutive support craft which is often found operating around Starbases and other orbital stations. This ship made its first appearance in Star Trek: The Motion Picture, and was later seen in Star Trek II, Generations, hard at work around Deep Space 9, and a silver version later appeared in Star Trek: Nemesis during the Enterprise-E‘s final moments on screen.
This is an interesting little model, with – despite its measurements – large transparent windows that reveal an operator’s seat inside. Most of Eaglemoss’ other shuttle models have windows simply painted an opaque black, so it’s nice to see some additional detailing for a model of this size.
The bright goldenrod paint job really makes the work bee pop when it’s on display, a nice dash of color for a line of shuttles that usually are a somewhat-bland Starfleet beige.
Eaglemoss Shuttle Set #3 - Type 11 Shuttlecraft
1 of 10
The third member of this set is the Starfleet Type 11 shuttlecraft, which to date has only appeared once, in 1998’s Star Trek: Insurrection. Stationed aboard the Enterprise-E, the unnamed Type 11 shuttle was piloted by Captain Picard and Lt. Commander Worf to capture a malfunctioning Data aboard the Ba’ku homeworld.
I have to admit this model is really quite sleek, and well-represents the first shuttle of the Sovereign-class era. Since it debuted as a completely-digital model in the third Next Generation film, designer John Eaves was no longer bound by what could be built in the Star Trek model shop; the long, streamlined lines of the Enterprise-E certainly carry over to this ship.
The only really unusual part of this model are the warp nacelles, which for some reason were produced for this collection with a dark grey hull coloring rather than the standard white-beige that makes up the rest of the ship. While the sculpting and translucent red and blue plastic components look quite nice, the dark nacelle coloring kind of throws off the entire look of the ship.
It’s an odd choice on an otherwise faultless release.
Eaglemoss Shuttle Set #3 - Argo
1 of 12
The final ship that rounds out this set is the copper-toned Argo cargo shuttle which debuted in the final Next Generation movie, Star Trek: Nemesis. Mostly remembered for the ‘dune buggy’ vehicle it carries within, used for the less-than-successful ground chase sequence on Kolarus III, the Argo is the final shuttlecraft introduced (chronologically speaking, that is) in the prime Star Trek timeline in 2379.
The ship as seen in Nemesis featured movable wings for transitioning between spaceflight and atmospheric navigation, but like all of Eaglemoss’ ship models, this is a fixed-wing production that can’t be adjusted — which is something that I don’t mind, as when the wings are closed the Argo resembles the NX-01-era shuttlepod design stretched out for use in the 24th Century. The wings-down configuration presented here gives the ship a more unique profile among the 12 shuttles released so far.
The outer hull features a metallic copper-grey paint job which definitely adds to the singular look of this shuttle; with the majority of the Argo‘s screen time in Nemesis relegated to the harsh, overexposed scenes on Kolarus III, we never really got a good look at the shuttle’s coloring in the movie aside from its brief launch from the Enterprise-E.
The Argo also has some interesting color points around the front and rear of the integrated warp nacelles; there’s just a hint of red near the front of each side of the ship, but the rear features two bright blue drive assemblies that emulate the look of the ship from Nemesis fairly appropriately.
Aside from the nacelle coloring on the Type 11 shuttle, this set of ships is pretty much without any glaring issue or anything that is worth complaining about from a production standpoint.
The size of the work bee and travel pod, however, do deserve a bit of additional discussion. These both are really small models, barely 1.5″ in length — and while each are nicely detailed, the tiny sizes of each really seem like they should be paired together as a single release.
Just due to their small size, these two certainly don’t seem like they should be taking up half of the $99 price tag on this model collection. Maybe if the work bee had a cargo train behind it (as illustrated in the screencaps from the above gallery) it would feel more like a model worth the cost, since it would have a bit more heft to it. As it stands, this set does feel somewhat undeserved for the price point.
That being said, if you want to add this set to your personal collection, you can order it over at Eaglemoss’ site now (for $99 in the US, or for £75.00 in the UK). This isn’t the final shuttlecraft set that the company will be producing, but their all-Kelvin Timeline shuttle set, announced as the next release in the series, doesn’t have any scheduled date for release as of this writing.
Keep coming back to TrekCore for our coverage of the Official Starships Collection model series, as we next check out the unique concept model for the Star Trek: Phase II refit USS Enterprise!
In Eaglemoss’ US store, TrekCore readers can use promo code TREKCORE at checkout for 10% off any ‘Star Trek’ collectible purchase $60 or greater (some exclusions apply).
For those vinyl soundtrack collectors out there, Jeff Russo’s Star Trek: Discovery soundtrack has now been revealed by Lakeshore Records, coming this summer!
Featuring 28 tracks from the first season of Discovery — selected from the “Chapter 1” and “Chapter 2” separate albumbs — the two-record special edition arrives in a limited-release format, in 140-gram vinyl pressed in wild ‘intergalactic starburst’ coloring, and includes printed inner sleeves.
Here’s the full track listing that will be included in this vinyl edition:
SIDE A
Main Title (Aired Version) (1:34)
We Come In Peace (1:22)
I’ll Go (8:00)
The Day Is Saved (3:11)
Torchbearer (1:57)
Stranded (4:12)
SIDE B
I Can’t Dance (1:53)
Captain Mudd (2:47)
Stella (2:06)
Watch The Stars Fall (2:00)
Weakened Shields (4:21)
What’s Happening? (1:00)
The Charge of Mutiny (2:09)
Main Title (Extended) (2:11)
SIDE C Burnham Take Over (1:31)
I Can’t Rest Here (1:23)
Tell Me The Truth (6:30)
The Rebels Haven’t Completed Their Evacuation (1:50)
Kasseelian Opera (2:31)
The Lorca I Knew (2:38)
212 Days Of Torture (1:27)
SIDE D Safe To Drop Out Of Warp (4:27)
Lorca Is Finished (2:26)
I’m No Good (2:36)
War Is Over (4:48)
I’ve Never Been To Vulcan (0:56)
Incoming Transmission (1:12)
Theme From Star Trek (Episode 115 End Credits Version) 1:03)
We don’t have an official release date for this vinyl set yet, but once Lakeshore can be more specific than “Summer 2018,” we’ll be sure to update you here.
Rumors of a renewed interest in CBS merging back with former corporate sibling Viacom have been floating about the entertainment industry for the past few months, with the latest round of merger discussions starting to hit the news back in January.
We’ve mostly stayed out of covering the rumors this time around, as the last time such speculation came up back in 2016, merger plans between the two corporations fizzled out — but today, Deadline Hollywood is reporting that CBS Corporation is ready to make an offer to buy Viacom, possibly ‘within days.’ If such an offer was accepted and approved, current CBS president Les Moonves would retain leadership of the merged companies.
This won’t be an easy negotiation, it seems, as CBS’s reported offer looks to be below Viacom’s current market value, a unusual ‘lowball’ offer to kick off the process.
It is unusual for deal negotiations to start with the acquirer valuing its target at a discount. The fact that CBS’s first bid for Viacom infers such a valuation reflects how CBS views its position in the U.S. media landscape as superior to Viacom’s.
Deadline details how the financial sector is responding to the news:
Wall Street investors have quickly seized on the potential advantages of such a combination, which would bring together CBS’s top-rated broadcast network, with its prime-time lineup and sports programming, the premium cable channel Showtime and Viacom’s two dozen cable channels and Paramount Pictures studio.
Many of those who take the optimistic view of Viacom have recommended a premium of between 10% and 30% over its current value, making the below-market opening offer a little more sobering of a starting point.
A bulked-up CBS-Viacom would have the financial wherewithal to bid for increasingly expensive sports rights, and gain leverage in negotiations with TV distributors, both traditional pay TV providers as well as with online streaming services that are gaining popularity with viewers.
CBS president Les Moonves.
This is a big deal for Star Trek fans, of course, as we’ve spent the last decade-plus watching Trek develop under two separate corporate owners — CBS maintains control over all Trek television development, as well as the past fifty years of Star Trek television programming, while Paramount Pictures (owned by Viacom) retained control over the Trek film properties, including the first ten features and the three Kelvin Timeline movies.
Back in 2016, Moonves cleared up a long-standing rumor about Trek competition between the two corporations, explaining that the then-untitled Star Trek: Discovery series, contractually, could not debut until at least six months after Paramount’s Star Trek Beyond film was in theaters.
When [CBS] split from Viacom ten years ago, January 1, 2006, one of the big sticking points, as you can imagine, was “Star Trek.” You know, we both wanted it.
They said “It’s a movie!” and I said, “No, no, no, it’s a TV show.” Actually, we’re both right. So they kept the feature film rights, we kept the television rights; they have [“Star Trek Beyond”] coming out July 22.
Our deal with them is that we had to wait six months after their film is launched so there wouldn’t be a confusion in the marketplace.
This split also impacts the lack of crossover elements — aside from minor dialog or prop-based references — between the two companies’ Trek holdings; as Star Trek: Discovery writer Erika Lippoldt told The Alpha Quadrant podcast (via TrekMovie):
Just because of the rights issue, we can’t use anything from the films, so that’s just something that we’re always aware of.
ALL films, ’cause it’s a Paramount property, not CBS.
Corporate mergers are all the rage in the entertainment industry, as behemoths Disney and 21st Century Fox are in the process of a large-scale consolidation, and CBS and Viacom certainly are two halves that might make a more well-suited whole.
Now that it looks like things are really getting real between the two companies, we’ll be sure to bring you the latest news as it breaks on this ongoing story.
Star Trek comic group editor Sarah Gaydos, who has been helming the Trek comic imprint at IDW Publishing for the last few years, announced today that she’ll be leaving the publisher for a new role as Editorial Director of Licensed Publishing at Oregon-based Oni Press.
Gaydos’ first contributions to the Trek comic line at IDW began with Star Trek: Ongoing #25 in 2013, and over the past few years has overseen the flagship Trek titles Star Trek: Ongoing and Star Trek: Boldly Go set in the Kelvin Timeline, crossover series bridging Trek and Green Lantern and Planet of the Apes, as well as mini-series runs Starfleet Academy, Star Trek: Mirror Broken, and the Star Trek: Waypoint anthology — and of course, the recent Star Trek: Discovery comics as well.
Gaydos at ‘Star Trek: Mission New York’ in 2016.
Gaydos’ final involvement with IDW’s Star Trek titles will be for this spring and summer’s releases, the upcoming TNG Mirror Universe miniseries Through the Mirror and Terra Incognita, as well as the next Discovery miniseries, Succession, which focuses on the USS Discovery crew’s Mirror Universe counterparts. The first Star Trek: Discovery Annual longform graphic novel releases this week as well, which Gaydos oversaw.
There’s not yet been any announcement on who will be taking over the Star Trek comic line following Gaydos, but we’ve reached out to IDW and will update our reporting as soon as they’ve announced her replacement.
If for some reason your favorite pastime is reading Star Trek technical manuals and collecting back issues of Cat Fancy (and why wouldn’t it be?), have we got a treat for you!
And as we said in our original review of her work, you really know what to expect when you pick up a book titled Star Trek: The Next Generation Cats. Lots of Star Trek. And lots of cats. But no matter how much you expect to find regarding either of those two worthy subjects, you’ll get even more in this creative tome for both Trek and cats.
Whether it’s Geordi LaForge pouncing on top of his engineering table to try and catch a blinking light in “Cause and Effect,” or Wesley playing “The Game” by actually biting and clawing at his wire-framed headset, Park’s art and deep-cut Trek (and cat) references continue to exceed our lofty expectations.
Her whimsical, artistic style is once again powerful and vibrant, and includes impressive layers of screen-accurate authenticity. In fact, the 50-plus pieces of art represented in this book cover a grand total of 26 episodes of Next Generation across its pages.
There’s Data pulling Wesley out of the water by his scruff in “Encounter at Farpoint.” And there’s Data again, pawing at one of his very own cat paintings (meta!). And there’s Beverly Crusher and Deanna Troi with an early morning cat stretch in a particularly frisky scene from the third season TNG episode “The Price.” There’s no end to Parks’ clever juxtaposition of cats being cats and Trek being Trek.
(Of course, there are limits to how much we can take! The image of fierce tabby cat Tasha Yar hissing at the feline-shaped outline of Armus in “Skin of Evil,” made us immediately turn the page to avoid thinking about how that particular catfight was going to end!)
Parks’ art and deep-cut Trek references continue to exceed expectations, throughout. You haven’t lived until you’ve seen the literal fat cat, K’Mpec, the leader of the High Council, sitting on his throne in front of a clowder of Klingon cats, throwing side-eye shade at Worf and his Cat’Dich in “Sins of the Father.”
If kittens are your thing, Parks doesn’t miss a trick by including the transporter malfunction arrival of Picard, Keiko, Ro and Guinan in “Rascals” (with their oversized clothes and all). Elsewhere, Guinan and Ro are featured again with the introduction of the two fast feline friends in “Ensign Ro.” “My name is Guinan. I tend bar. And I listen,” purrs the fluffy bartender with the big purple hat.
And there is nothing better than seeing Scotty return to TNG, portrayed once again as a Scottish Fold (natch!), this time sadly clutching his bottle of green liquid catnip as kitty Captain Picard looks on.
If there is one major critique in this rendition of Trek cats from Parks (and it’s the first issue we’ve had with any of her creative choices), it was her decision to portray Picard as a hairless Sphynx cat. Yes, we get it, and we know that some people find Sphynx cats endearing, but Picard is majestic and handsome and proud, and a Sphynx cat is none of those things. It’s not a good fit beyond the obvious initial hairless pun.
And oddly, there is no mention of Spot or Ode to Spot, although a Horga’hn does make an appearance, as does Livingston the fish (but who knows how long he’ll last on a ship full of cats).
In what will be a surprise to no one that has read this far in a review of a Star Trek cat book, guess which mischievous foil to the Enterprise cats and crew shows up in the opening pages and closing pages of the book? Not even sure we have to say it, but he’s the kind of cat you just know is up to no good thing in any encounter with a laser pointer. And this Q cat’s luxurious robes and icy stare will not soon be forgotten.
In the end, any list of favorites from the scores of pictures in this great addition to the Star Trek oeuvre will likely include the final image of the entire TNG crew playfully at home around the horseshoe of the Enterprise-D bridge. The two-page spread purrfectly captures the verve of both our love for The Next Generation, and our love of cats.
Like its predecessor, Star Trek: The Next Generation Cats not only makes a great coffee table book, but is also a great gift for family and friends. The fun and vibrant art from Jenny Parks is clever, original and packed with deep cut Trek references — and is an absolute steal at its current $10.50 price point.
2018 marks the 25th Anniversary of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and we’re kicking off our new video series taking you back to the way this show was meant to be seen… as a grainy, overplayed VHS recording of the original syndicated airing!
Today we debut our first video comparison in this series, using the Orb of Time to jump all the way back to January 1993 with a look at “Emissary,” the series premiere, in all of its VCR-recorded glory.
Check back soon as we traverse the wormhole once more to the next chapter in our DS9 Rewind video comparison series, looking “Past Prologue,” the fan-favorite second episode of the season!
– Just kidding of course – happy April Fools Day! –
The first collection of composer Jeff Russo’sStar Trek: Discovery score arrived back in December, capturing a selection of music from the first nine episodes of the season — and now, the full track listing and preorder details are here for his second collection, coming this week!
Star Trek: Discovery — Season 1, Chapter 2debuts from Lakeshore Records on digital music services Friday, April 6, and contains 22 new tracks from Episode 10 (“Despite Yourself”) through the finale (“Will You Take My Hand?”). The 22-track album includes plenty of music from the Mirror Universe, Hugh Culber’s favorite Kasseelian Opera, and the new recording of the classic Star Trek theme from the finale’s end credits.
We would have preferred cover art featuring one of the different poster designs created for Discovery‘s first season — at least for a visual differentiation from the first album — but the artwork above (obtained via Amazon) does at least have “Chapter 2” on it.
Here’s the full track listing:
1. Burnham Take Over (1:31)
2. I Can’t Rest Here (1:22)
3. Dishonor Yourselves (2:20)
4. Tell Me the Truth (6:29)
5. The Rebels Haven’t Completed Their Evacuation (1:50)
6. I’ll Take It from Here (2:09)
7. Kasseelian Opera (2:31)
8. The Lorca I Knew (2:38)
9. 212 Days of Torture (1:27)
10. Biotoxins (1:58)
11. Come in Discovery (2:30)
12. Safe to Drop out of Warp (4:26)
13. Lorca is Finished (2:26)
14. Coming Home (1:21)
15. Initiating (3:02)
16. Qo’nos Bar Source (2:54)
17. Not a Lot of Humans Here (1:57)
18. I’m No Good (2:36)
19. War is Over (4:48)
20. I’ve Never Been to Vulcan (0:55)
21. Incoming Transmission (1:12)
22. Theme from Star Trek (Discovery End Credits Version) (1:02)
Composer Jeff Russo on the ‘Discovery’ scoring stage. (CBS)
Like the first Discovery soundtrack, the Season 1, Chapter 2 collection will be available digitally through Amazon, on iTunes, and on Spotify when it lands this Friday. For those of you who prefer their soundtracks in physical form (like us!), the album will be available on CD on May 25, and can be preordered now at Amazon.
As always, you’ll find our full review of this upcoming Star Trek: Discovery soundtrack as soon as we get our hands on the new music… so stay tuned!