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Creation Entertainment Returns to Las Vegas for Five Days of (Unofficial) STAR TREK Convention Fun

TrekCore Staff
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Creation Entertainment Returns to Las Vegas for Five Days of (Unofficial) STAR TREK Convention Fun

While many are already looking ahead to next April’s Star Trek: Mission Chicago convention — the new ViacomCBS/ReedPOP “official” Star Trek convention — perennial mainstay Creation Entertainment’s Las Vegas convention is just around the corner, returning after a year off to the Rio All-Suites Hotel and Casino next month.

The 55-Year Mission Tour, the new name for the former Official Star Trek Convention event, kicks off on August 11 after last year’s pandemic-related delay and ultimate cancellation, bringing more than a hundred Star Trek guests (as of this writing), vendors, and fans together for five days of fun in Sin City.

Along with dozens of Star Trek guest actors, including Cheers and Frasier star Kelsey Grammer (who appeared in “Cause and Effect”), here are just some of the headlining series stars attending:

  • William Shatner, George Takei, Walter Koenig, and Nichelle Nichols from the classic Star Trek series
     
  • Brent Spiner, Gates McFadden, LeVar Burton, John de Lancie, and Denise Crosby from The Next Generation
     
  • Nana Visitor, Terry Farrell, Armin Shimerman, Cirroc Lofton, Nicole de Boer, Penny Johnson-Jerald, and many additional members of the extended Star Trek: Deep Space Nine cast
     
  • Jeri Ryan, Robert Beltran, Roxann Dawson, Tim Russ, Garrett Wang from Star Trek: Voyager
     
  • Connor Trinneer, Dominic Keating, John Billingsley, Anthony Montgomery from Star Trek: Enterprise
     
  • Anthony Rapp, Mary Wiseman, Blu del Barrio, David Ajala, Oded Fehr, and Patrick Kwok-Choon from Star Trek: Discovery
     
  • Evan Evagora, Isa Briones, Michelle Hurd and Jonathan del Arco from Star Trek: Picard

Also attending will be Star Trek creatives Brannon Braga, Dan Curry, David Livingston, Mike and Denise Okuda, Dennis McCarthy, Jeff Russo, Rick Sternbach, VFX expert Ronald B. Moore, writer/producer Ronald D. Moore — along with an extremely rare public appearance from Star Trek: Voyager co-creator and showrunner Jeri Taylor.

Unfortunately, as the calendar has progressed a number of Star Trek headliners have cancelled their appearances due to a mix of professional and personal reasons; while some cancellations are typical for conventions, this year’s extended cancellation list can almost certainly be attributed, in some part, to pandemic impact — whether it be for extended filming schedules on Discovery, travel restrictions, or personal health decisions.

This year’s event will be a bit different in terms of programming, as Creation Entertainment’s license to use Star Trek branding expired at the end of 2020 — for example, all of the attending guests are listed professional headshots instead of in-character photos, there will be no Star Trek prop or costume displays, and so forth. (We have heard that actors will still have licensed Star Trek photos for autographs on at their tables, however.)

While the full week’s schedule will be published in the final days ahead of the convention start in August, there have already been a number of special events announced, from Star Trek cast members participating in creative new presentations to a number of science-themed panels to teach attendees about the future of the universe.

The annual Saturday Night Gala returns on August 14, featuring the Nevada Pops Orchestra — which this year will feature not only Star Trek composers Dennis McCarthy and Jeff Russo taking the stage as guest conductors, but Trek actors and stage stars Anthony Rapp and Isa Briones will also lend their voices to special performances during the concert.

The 55-Year Mission Tour Las Vegas’ Saturday Night Gala features an unforgettable evening of music, curated and conducted by esteemed conductor and musicologist (and Trekker) Richard McGee and the featuring the renowned Nevada Pops Orchestra! They will perform a magnificent show honoring Gene Roddenberry’s 100th birthday and his legacy and impact.

We are also proud to have Grammy Award-winning composer Dennis McCarthy and Emmy Award-winning composer Jeff Russo as guest conductors — and as an exceptional bonus, the incredibly talented Anthony Rapp and Isa Briones will be giving special performances with the orchestra!

Star Trek recurring guest stars Jeffrey Combs, Casey Biggs, and Vaughn Armstrong — who have been regularly performing on stage as the ‘Star Trek Rat Pack’ for years at Creation events (and will again at this year’s convention) — will showcase some of their favorite Shakespeare moments on August 13.

Long before Jeffrey Combs, Vaughn Armstrong and Casey Biggs became part of the Star Trek universe they honed their craft upon the stage performing the works of the greatest playwright of all time, William Shakespeare. They were not alone. Most actors within the Star Trek family did the same.

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Several podcasts will have headlining moments on stage during the convention, helmed by knowledgeable fans and experts who have longtime relationships with the Star Trek franchise, among them Enterprise Incidents with Scott & Steve and Inglorious Treksperts.

Co-hosted by respected Star Trek enthusiast/entertainment critic SCOTT MANTZ and lifelong fan STEVE MORRIS, the in-depth podcast analyzes and reviews every TOS episode (in production order) with a fresh new perspective, personal recollections and loads of fascinating trivia about how those classic episodes came to be.

We are excited to have Scott and Steve host a live podcast broadcast on-stage at our 55-Year Mission Tour, highlighting a classic episode from TOS.

The hosts of the wildly popular Star Trek podcast, Inglorious Treksperts, Mark A. Altman (Pandora, Free Enterprise, The Librarians) and Daren Dochterman (Star Trek: The Motion Picture – Director’s Edition) bring you a very special live panel on Friday, with some very special surprise guests — including Ashley E. Miller (X-Men: First Class; DOTA: Dragon’s Blood) and Rafe Needleman (The Official Star Trek Trivia Book) — to learn all that is learnable and know all that is knowable as they discuss the Star Trek Universe in a way only they can.

You don’t want to miss this rare chance to see Inglorious Treksperts live and in person and you never know who’ll beam in. Join us on Friday!

Treksperts’ Daren Dochterman is also a member of the team working to restore Star Trek: The Motion Picture — The Director’s Edition to 4K Blu-ray, after his participation in the original 2000-era project, so this event may give us some insight into the status and direction of that long-awaited upgrade.

While there won’t be any official Star Trek props to showcase this year, franchise legend and notable photographer Leonard Nimoy will have a special exhibit at Creation’s convention, where a number of the dearly-departed Spock actor’s images will be available to view in an on-site gallery.

From his Shekhina and Secret Selves series to his other works, Leonard’s photography has been included in many museum collections, including The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, The Judah L. Magnes Museum, The LA County Museum of Art, the Jewish Museum of NY, The New Orleans Museum of Fine Art and The Hammer Museum.

Now you’ll be able to view some of Leonard’s amazing work in a special exhibition at the convention, so make sure to mark it down as a must-see!

For those of you wearing blue Starfleet uniforms, a series of science panels are set to occur throughout the week, looking at today’s scientific breakthroughs and how the futuristic sci-fi phenomena of Star Trek can fit with today’s knowledge of the natural world.

Star Trek science advisor Dr. Mohamed Noor and Star Trek: Discovery admiral Jayne Brook, who host a YouTube channel which launched earlier this year, will be running three panels throughout the week; Brook will join Noor on stage for the third event.

Panel 1: Why Are There So Many Humanoids on Star Trek? An Evolutionary Perspective

Have you ever wondered why most alien life depicted on Star Trek strongly resembles us Earthlings (besides the use of human actors)? Come explore the possibility of humanoid or other forms of life on other planets with Dr. Noor.

Panel 2: Genetics, Ancestry, Race, and Star Trek

In real life and throughout Star Trek, we hear about “DNA” and “genetic tests” all the time. How do these work? Come have a primer on basic transmission and genetic ancestry testing with Dr. Mohamed Noor, learn many of the fundamental concepts, and see how these concepts get applied in the Star Trek universe across the various series.

Panel 3: BioTrekkie with the Admiral: Jayne Brook and Dr. Noor on Star Trek: Discovery

Following their YouTube mini-series earlier this year, actress Jayne Brook (“Admiral Cornwell”) and science adviser Dr. Mohamed Noor talk about Star Trek: Discovery– the real science and more!

Planetary geologist Dr. David A. Williams, who has been involved in several past (and future) NASA and ESA missions, will hold a pair of panels around his expertise.

Panel 1: Titan – The Past and Future Exploration of Saturn’s Largest Moon

Many discoveries resulted from the NASA Cassini Saturn orbiter’s study of its moon Titan: hydrocarbon lakes, rivers, and oceans, a thick atmosphere with changing clouds and rain, long, linear sand dunes, and evidence of cryo- (cold) volcanism. Join ASU Professor David Williams to discuss all things Titan, as well as the capabilities of the first aerial rover of another world.

Panel 2: Class L, K, or M? Exploring the Strange New Worlds of Our Solar System through NASA’s Planetary Missions

All the Star Trek TV series and movies have visited a wide variety of strange, new worlds, many Earth-like (Class M), but others very different: ice worlds, volcano worlds, gas worlds, and more. How do they compare with the worlds in our own Solar System? This presentation will include a look ahead to planetary missions coming in the decade of the 2020s.

A group of Star Trek: Discovery’s actors have taken to regular Dungeons and Dragons gaming adventures — often recapped through the cast’s social media accounts — and an on-stage campaign of the role-playing game will take place with Discovery actors Anthony Rapp, Mary Wiseman, Blu del Barrio, Mary Chieffo, and Noah Averbach-Katz.

Watch some of your favorite Discovery stars play… Dungeons and Dragons?! Come see how the Discovery actors spend their time away from set — fighting dragons, escaping dungeons, and being total nerds! It doesn’t matter if you’re a D&D veteran or have never even heard of the game, you’ll have a great time watching DISCO cast members improvise, role-play, and try to make each other laugh.

Tickets for the convention, which runs from August 11 – 15, are still available both through Creation’s official website and for discounted single-day pricing at Goldstar, for those of you planning to attend.

While our full TrekCore team won’t be making the journey to Las Vegas this year, we’ll still have a small contingent of our usual crew on-site for the week’s events — all of us vaccinated and packing face masks to wear — so be on the lookout for all of our coverage both here at TrekCore.com and throughout the week on our Twitter feed.

Will you be attending Creation Entertainment’s 55 Year Mission Tour convention this year? Are you unable to visit due to travel restrictions, or choosing to stay home due to pandemic concerns?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments below — and for those of you heading to Vegas, we’ll see you at the con!

STAR TREK: LOWER DECKS’ New Tom Paris Plate Escapes the Animated World to Join Your Collection

TrekCore Staff
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STAR TREK: LOWER DECKS’ New Tom Paris Plate Escapes the Animated World to Join Your Collection

One of the fun new surprises in the just-released Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 2 trailer was the inclusion of Star Trek: Voyager pilot Tom Paris appearing to Brad Boimler on the face of a commemorative collector’s plate — and now that plate can be yours too!

While Voyager actor Robert Duncan McNeill is voicing his plate-form animated self in Lower Decks Season 2, new Star Trek licensee Star Trek Unlimited revealed today that the fun plate will actually be available for fans to purchase as an exclusive “prop” replica this fall!

Boimler’s Tom Paris plate comes to life — via hallucination — and starts talking. (Paramount+)
VOYAGER star Robert Duncan McNeill returns to voice Tom Paris. (Paramount+)

Announced through StarTrek.com this afternoon, the first official Star Trek: Lower Decks replica will measure in at an 8-inch diameter with genuine gold around its rim, and include a display stand so you can show off the plate in your collection.

While no pricing has yet been announced, official preorders will open up at StarTrekUnlimited.com on August 11, 2021, with a run of these plates limited to just 47 firing days (naturally!).

We’ll bring you more news on pricing and estimated delivery times for the Tom Paris Lower Decks plate replica as soon as that’s been revealed!

Star Trek: Lower Decks
Season 1 Blu-ray

Star Trek: Lower Decks
Season 2 Blu-ray

New STAR TREK: LOWER DECKS Season 2 Trailer Features More Fun, Chaos, Callbacks… and Familiar Voices

TrekCore Staff
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New STAR TREK: LOWER DECKS Season 2 Trailer Features More Fun, Chaos, Callbacks… and Familiar Voices

We’re just three weeks away from the return of Star Trek: Lower Decks, and thanks to today’s San Diego Comic Con @ Home panel, we’ve got our longest look yet at some of the wild situations the USS Cerritos crew will find themselves in during Season 2!

Returning to Paramount+ for its second season on August 12, the wacky adventures of Ensigns Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome), Brad Boimler (Jack Quaid), D’Vana Tendi (Noël Wells) and Sam Rutherford (Eugene Cordero) continue for another 10-episode run, picking up where last season left off — with Boimler serving on the USS Titan under Captain William T. Riker (Jonathan Frakes), an assignment which clearly doesn’t last too long.

Boimler has another rough trip through the transporter. (Paramount+)

We also briefly meet the officer who may be the replacement for dearly-departed Lt. Shaxs, newly-arriving security specialist Lieutenant Kayshon (Carl Tart), a metaphor-speaking Tamarian whose species was introduced in “Darmok.”

Lt. Kayshon joins the crew, one of the Children of Tama. (Paramount+)
Avian ship’s therapist Dr. Migleemo (Paul F. Tompkins) is spotted on the bridge. (Paramount+)

That said, we do see a glimpse of both Kayshon and Shaxs on-screen at the same time, so it’s possible that Kayshon’s arrival to the Cerritos happened some time ago, and this scene is a flashback to before the Bajoran’s death in last season’s “No Small Parts.”

Some of the other shenanigans in Season 2 include: Tendi being turned into some kind of scorpion-like creature, an encounter with a Crystalline Entity, more run-ins with the now-villainous Pakleds, escaping from a gang of mean-looking Nausicaans, and more.

Here are just some a few of the moments we caught in the two-minute trailer:

In addition, we also noticed that the motivational speaker who cheerfully calls out to the Cerritos crew is a Pandronian, an alien race introduced in The Animated Series episode “Bem,” capable of separating into independent, functioning parts.

Another ‘Animated Series’ alien returns: a Pandronian, seen in “Bem.” (Paramount+)

Tendi and Mariner also look to pay a visit to a casino-style planet, similar to Freecloud (seen in Star Trek: Picard) — likely where they encounter the Nausicaans.

Finally, the trailer also features two returning Star Trek fan favorites — one more obvious than the other.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Enterprise recurring guest star Jeffrey Combs (Weyoun, Brunt, Shran) voices an “evil computer,” who insults Mariner about her weight…

Frequent ‘Trek’ guest star Jeffrey Combs voices an ‘evil computer.’ (Paramount+)

…and Star Trek: Voyager’s Robert Duncan McNeill (Tom Paris) voices his Starfleet alter ego in the form of a talking Starfleet collector’s place, reminiscent of the long-running series of Star Trek plates issued throughout the 1980s and 1990s.

VOYAGER’s pilot, Tom Paris, returns in plate form — voiced, of course, by Robbie McNeill. (Paramount+)
Plate Paris isn’t too keen on Boimler’s situation. (Paramount+)
Art imitates, um, art. (Paramount+)

Boimler was seen with a Jack Ransom plate in his quarters aboard the Titan in last season’s finale, so perhaps its no surprise that he has another of Star Trek‘s famed officers in commemorative form — and it’s quite the talent that he can hallucinate Tom Paris’ voice, must be some dangerous fumes in that Jefferies tube!

In addition to all that trailer goodness, we’ve also got a set of new still images from the upcoming season — which reveal the names of two Season 2 episodes: “Strange Energies” and “Kayshon, His Eyes Open.”

Star Trek: Lower Decks is back again on August 12 on Paramount+ in the United States, and on CTV SciFi Channel in Canada; so far, there’s no word on when Amazon Prime Video — who distributes the series in other global regions — will debut Season 2.

(Last season, the show debuted on Prime months after the North American rollout due to delayed international rights negotiations caused by the pandemic.)

In the meantime, let us know what you think about the Lower Decks Season 2 trailer in the comments below!

Get a Glimpse of STAR TREK: PRODIGY in New Teaser Trailer, Plus: Our First Look at the Show’s Hero Starship

TrekCore Staff
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Get a Glimpse of STAR TREK: PRODIGY in New Teaser Trailer, Plus: Our First Look at the Show’s Hero Starship

More than two years since the upcoming animated series got the green-light — and a year since we officially learned its name —  Star Trek: Prodigy finally gives us a chance to check out footage from the new show thanks today’s just-concluded San Diego Comic Con @ Home panel!

While we’ll have details from the panel to bring you in a later report, the new trailer is the first “live-action” footage we’ve gotten to date for Star Trek: Prodigy, still set to debut sometime this fall, with a focus on the young alien kids escape from a mining planet and into the stars.

The trailer begins with Dal (Brett Gray) at work in a labor camp, dreaming of making his escape “to a better life,” while fellow inmate Zero (Angus Imrie), a Medusan in a constructed encounter suit, sound less than optimistic — telling Dal that he’s “the only one who still thinks he can.”

Dal (Brett Gray, center) at work on the mining planet. (Paramount+)
Dal on the mining planet. (Paramount+)
Dal on the mining planet. (Paramount+)
Zero (Angus Imrie), a Medusan in an encounter suit. (Paramount+)

As Dal makes a break for it, young Brikar Rok-Tahk (Rylee Alazraqui) worries what will happen “if they catch us,” and Jankom Pog (Jason Mantzoukas) tells Dal that whether he likes it or not, the group is “stuck” with feisty Tellarite — while gleeful, iridescent blob Murf (Dee Bradley Baker) chirps in excitement.

Rok-Tahk (Rylee Alazraqui), a young Brikar. (Paramount+)
Jankom Pog (Jason Mantzoukas), a tech-savvy Tellarite. (Paramount+)
Colorful blob Murf (Dee Bradley Baker) is having a great time. (Paramount+)

The daughter of the mining camp’s leader, Gwyn (Ella Purnell), laments that she tried to save Dal from his fate, and he offers instead to save her from her life on the rocky planet… in a downed, unfamiliar vessel they find after they’ve escaped.

Gwyn (Ella Purnell) looks out over the mining camp. (Paramount+)
Dal offers a hand of help. (Paramount+)

Crashed on the surface of a brightly-lit planet is the USS Protostar (NX-76884), an experimental Federation starship — which Rok-Tahk helps Dal to bring online — featuring widely-spaced nacelles, a streamlined primary hull, and an expansive open window on the front of its bridge.

The planet is covered in red crystals, which may be dilithium.

Rok-Tahk and Dal approach a mysterious crashed ship. (Paramount+)
Dal looks up at the ship in wonder. (Paramount+)
Federation starship USS Protostar (NX-76884), crashed on the planet’s surface. (Paramount+)
Dal rides a turbolift inside the Protostar. (Paramount+)
Rok-Tahk and Dal boot up the Protostar’s bridge systems. (Paramount+)
The Protostar makes its way off of the rocky planet’s surface. (Paramount+)

While not seen, the voice of a holographic Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) can be heard as the trailer reaches its end — mysteriously saying that “We’ve only just begun” — as the Protostar and its young new crew launch themselves into their new adventure.

Dal marvels over the view from the Protostar’s bridge. (Paramount+)
The USS Protostar sets off on its new journey. (Paramount+)

We still don’t have a specific air date for when Star Trek: Prodigy will make its debut on Paramount+ in the United States, on CTV SciFi Channel in Canada, or where (or when) it’ll make its way to the international audience — but as soon as we know more about when Prodigy’s story will begin, you can be sure we’ll have that news for you here.

In the meantime, what do you think about this new Star Trek: Prodigy trailer, its animation style, and the brand new USS Protostar starship? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

New Ticket Details for 2022’s STAR TREK: MISSION CHICAGO Convention Revealed, More Guests Announced

TrekCore Staff
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New Ticket Details for 2022’s STAR TREK: MISSION CHICAGO Convention Revealed, More Guests Announced

We’re still quite a bit away from next April’s Star Trek: Mission Chicago convention which was announced back on First Contact Day, but today we’ve finally got word on ticketing details for this new Trek venture — and some additional guests for the upcoming event.

The three-day event coming to Chicago’s McCormick Place Convention Center in April 2022 has four tiers of ticket pricing, all set to go on sale for the first time on July 29 at 12PM ET / 9AM PT at the official Star Trek Missions website.

For fans attending for just one day, there’s a daily adult ticket which will be available for $65 USD. If you’re planning to attend all three days of the convention, a full-weekend pass is a good bargain, running for $155 USD per adult.

If you’re planning to bring your children along for the adventure, a Kids Under 12 pass is set to be available at a $35 USD price point, and will be good for the entire weekend — whether the kids will be with you for one, two or three days, it’s all one $35 cost.

All of the three ‘standard’ tickets to the Star Trek: Mission Chicago convention are general-admission style only, meaning there’s no reserved panel seating, no extra perks (like autograph tickets or convention swag) — these tickets only get you in the door, along with everyone else visiting the event.

If you’re a hardcore convention attendee and want to go for a premium experience, then you can shell out for the 3-Day Priority One Access VIP pass, running $750 per person, which comes with a lot of extra features not available to other attendees.

(This one will be the closest to the “Gold” tickets familiar to those of you who have attended Creation Entertainment’s Star Trek Las Vegas convention in the past.)

If you drop $750, you’ll get all these perks along with daily entry to the convention:

    • One-hour early Priority One Access to Star Trek: Mission Chicago show floor on Friday, Saturday and Sunday
    • Reserved Priority One Access seating for all panels on the Main Stage
      Note: In order to ensure your reserved seat, we recommend arriving at least 15 minutes prior to the start of each panel. 
    • Priority One Access lines for select show features, autographs, photo opportunities and at the Official Star Trek: Mission Chicago Show Store
    • 10% discount off Star Trek: Mission Chicago branded merchandise at the Official Store all weekend long
    • Early Priority One Access to presale tickets for exclusive separately ticketed events
    • Early Priority One Access to presale autographs and photo opportunities
    • Exclusive Priority One Access merchandise! Including:
    • Re-usable Star Trek: Mission Chicago shopping bag
    • Star Trek: Mission Chicago Priority One Access Badge
    • Star Trek: Mission Chicago Priority One Access lanyard
    • Star Trek: Mission Chicago Priority One Access Embroidered Patch
    • Star Trek: Mission Chicago Priority One Access Pin

While the “fast-pass”-style queue priority for autographs, special-event tickets, and other perks above may certainly be tempting for attendees with the cash to buy the VIP ticket option — there’s a bit of fine print there for the “reserved seating” benefit that we need to make sure is clear to everyone.

This is not a specific, reserved seat guaranteed to be available to a VIP attendee — like the Gold, Silver, etc. passes work at the Las Vegas convention — this is access to a specially-reserved seating area that will fill up in a first-come, first-serve process… and even if you have a VIP ticket, you’re not guaranteed a seat in the “reserved” area if it fills up with other attendees before you’re in place.

ReedPop, the organizing company who manages the Star Trek Missions convention, traditionally does not clear out its main theater between panels — so some folks may even “camp out” all day in that reserved seating area if they have a hot panel that they want to see later in the day.

*  *  *  *

Finally, Star Trek Missions has also announced that Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Prodigy lead Kate Mulgrew (Kathryn Janeway) will be attending the Chicago convention, along with Star Trek: Picard’s Michelle Hurd (Raffi Musiker) — joining Wil Wheaton (Wesley Crusher) who was announced back in April.

We’ll bring you more news on the Star Trek: Mission Chicago convention as we get closer to its April 8-10, 2022 schedule — so keep checking back to TrekCore for all the latest!

More Looks at FanWraps’ STAR TREK NANOFORCE ‘Army Men’ Toys, Coming to Collectors This November

TrekCore Staff
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More Looks at FanWraps’ STAR TREK NANOFORCE ‘Army Men’ Toys, Coming to Collectors This November

Back in April we brought you the first details about FanWraps’ upcoming Star Trek Nanoforce ‘army men’-style toys, and we’ve now got some good looks at the style and design of the Original Series and Next Generation figures due out later this year!

The Star Trek Nanoforce line began life as a concept which Fourth Castle’s Joe Sena pitched back in 2014, with these rough sketches — shared exclusively with TrekCore — as the classic Trek characters and a generic army of Borg drones started the ball rolling.

An original 2014-era pitch design for ‘Starfleet vs Aliens,’ by Fourth Castle’s EMCE Toys brand.
An original 2014-era pitch design for a ‘Bag of Borg,’ by Fourth Castle’s EMCE Toys brand.

While it took several years for the product to beam down — when Nick Murray at FanWraps secured the license, partnering with Fourth Castle to get it off the drawing board — the new Next Generation and Original Series sets will each finally make it to stores in November (after originally being projected for a summer 2021 debut).

The “gaming-miniature quality” Star Trek: The Original Series Nanoforce and Star Trek: The Next Generation Nanoforce sets will each include twelve character figures (2″ tall), one starship model (4″ long), and an 11″x17″ foldout map for display use — and each set will retail at $24.95.

A closer look at the Captain Kirk miniature figure.

Along with a model of the original Enterprise, The classic Star Trek set includes Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, Dr. McCoy, Scotty, Lt. Sulu, and Lt. Uhura from the Enterprise crew — with the Gorn, a Talosian, an Andorian, the Salt Vampire, a Romulan, and of course a Klingon making up the alien adversary lineup.

The Next Generation set includes all seven regular crew — Captain Picard, Commander Riker, Lt. Commander Data, Lt. Commander La Forge, Lt. Worf, Dr. Crusher, and Counselor Troi — along with a Klingon, a Cardassian, a Romulan, a Borg drone, and of course Q.

Each set will come with the hero starship of the respective series; while we don’t yet have images of the original Enterprise, the 4-inch Enterprise-D included with the Next Gen set looks fairly well-detailed — and the play sets will also include 11″ x 17″ fold-out Enterprise starship blueprints to display each set of figures.

The 4-inch Enterprise-D model included with the ‘Next Gen’ set.

Each of the Star Trek Nanoforce sets are due out this November, with each box running for $24.99 — and you can preorder them at Big Bad Toy Store today ahead of their autumn debut if you’re planning to bring this collection of minifigs to your own Starfleet task force!

Do you plan to order the Star Trek Nanoforce collections for yourself? Let us know in the comments below!

Review: STAR TREK: TNG — “Shadows Have Offended”

Alex Perry
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Review: STAR TREK: TNG — “Shadows Have Offended”

It’s been nearly two decades since the last Star Trek: The Next Generation novel set during the seven-season run of the television series hit bookshelves — 2003’s Do Comets Dream? — and this month, we finally return to the voyages of the Enterprise-D with a brand new name to the Trek literary lineup.

Author Cassandra Rose Clarke makes her Star Trek debut in this month’s Shadows Have Offended, a story set during the final season of the television voyages.

Structured like a classic Next Generation episode, with clear A-plot and B-plot storylines focusing on different members of the crew, Shadows Have Offended has a little bit of everything between its covers: mystery, science, action, adventure… and Lwaxana Troi.

The release timing of this book could not have been better as vacation season arrives, as Shadows Have Offended makes a great beach read.

Is it particularly dense? No. Is it particularly profound? Not really. But is it an engaging, episodic novel that lets you revisit some of your favorite characters at the height of when you loved them? Yes, it absolutely is.

While an away team consisting of Commander Riker, Dr. Crusher, and Lt. Commander Data surveys an uninhabited M-class world for potential colonization, Captain Picard, Counselor Troi, and Lt. Worf find themselves participating in an arts festival on Betazed. Neither routine mission goes as planned, requiring both Crusher and Troi to step forward and assume a prominent role in each groups’ storyline.

The release materials for Shadows Have Offended have focused on the book being a Crusher and Troi-focused novel — even though Worf takes up the novel’s cover — and while it is certainly true that those two characters get the most attention from the story, nearly all of the Next Generation regulars get a decent part to play.

Crusher’s side of the story is an intriguing medical mystery, as members of the planetary survey team (Data included) begin experiencing unexplained symptoms indicating some kind of infection. The resolution to this story is suitably Star Trek, though the final twist occurred to me long before it did to the characters — making the narrative a bit frustrating as they struggled to catch up to what I’d already figured out.

To say more on the Crusher storyline would get into spoiler territory, but I did enjoy the characterization of Crusher in this book, even if her involvement in the novel helped move the plot forward, rather than do much to explore her relationships with the rest of the crew or provide much room for character growth.

Meanwhile, the Betazed story is a fun one, which includes some nice exploration of the telepathic species’ culture and history. The race has been somewhat neglected outside of novels like Imzadi and The Battle of Betazed (the latter of which takes place in the post-TNG Dominion War era), so it was a nice change of pace to spend some time with the telepathic species.

Clarke does a nice job of extrapolating from what we’ve seen on screen of Betazoid culture, and even comes up with an interesting explanation for why Lwaxana’s Sacred Chalice of Riix can also be charitably referred to by Deanna Troi as a “moldy old pot.”

There are also some nice scenes between Picard and Lwaxana Troi, which go a little deeper than the surface relationship we see depicted in the show — the starship captain thankfully gets more to do here than just spending his time being thoroughly exasperated by the elder Troi.

Given that Shadows Have Offended is a TNG Season 7 story, the novel also spends time exploring the early days of Troi’s short-lived (and often forgotten) relationship with Lt. Worf. The two characters spend a lot of time together over the course of the story, which allows for some exploration of Troi’s feelings towards the Klingon as he has the opportunity to command the Enterprise in service of Betazed’s security.

If you are looking for a read that replicates the feel of a late-season The Next Generation episode, and if you’re looking for an easy read this summer, Shadows Have Offended will fit the bill quite nicely.

It is extremely nice to see that after many years of the same rotating roster of familiar names, Simon & Schuster has begun expanding the talent pool for Star Trek novels, and particularly that they are including more diverse authors into the lineup.

With Alex White’s Deep Space Nine novel Revenant following in just a few months, here’s hoping 2022 will continue along this path, introducing us to new voices adding to the Trek literary library.

Star Trek: The Next Generation — Shadows Have Offended is in stores and available from online retailers now.

WeeklyTrek Podcast #145 — Playmates Toys Returns to STAR TREK, Plus Movie News and More!

Alex Perry
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WeeklyTrek Podcast #145 — Playmates Toys Returns to STAR TREK, Plus Movie News and More!

On this week’s episode of WeeklyTrek, brought to you in partnership between The Tricorder Transmissions Podcast Network and TrekCore, host Alex Perry is joined by guest Justin Kertson to discuss all the latest Star Trek news.

This week, Alex and his guest discuss the following stories from TrekCore and around the web:

In addition, stick around to listen to Justin’s wish for a Captain Worf (or other alien-centric) Star Trek show, and Alex express his disappointment that Paramount+ appears to be gearing up to remove the Star Trek movies from the service –- just a month after finally adding them.

WeeklyTrek is available to subscribe and download each week on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, YouTube, and Spotify — and we’ll be sharing the details of each new episode right here on TrekCore each week if you’re simply just looking to listen in from the web.

Do you have a wish or theory you’d like to share on the show? Tweet to Alex at @WeeklyTrek, or email us with your thoughts about wishes, theories, or anything else about the latest in Star Trek news!

First Look at STAR TREK: DISCOVERY’s Virtual Set

TrekCore Staff
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First Look at STAR TREK: DISCOVERY’s Virtual Set

We learned last fall that Star Trek: Discovery would be starting to use new virtual sets for Season 4 production and beyond, and today our first look at their cutting-edge digital construction arrived!

Like popular Disney+ shows The Mandalorian and Loki, the Star Trek: Discovery production team began using virtual sets this year — where high-quality digital environments could be coupled with in-studio set construction, reducing the need for sometimes-imperfect greenscreen graphics work and costly location shoots… especially in the time of COVID where filming conditions still need to be tightly controlled.

Specialty magazine American Cinematographer today debuted a feature piece on the growing use of this technology in the television industry, and included Star Trek: Discovery Season 4 in its coverage.

DISCOVERY’s virtual set on Pixomondo’s stages, from a Season 4 episode. (Photo via American Cinematographer)

Noting that the technology is also being shared with the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, production team — which like Discovery, films in the Toronto area — the stage at Pixomondo’s facilities in that city contain a 270-degree, 70-foot by 30-foot horseshoe-shaped LED ‘volume’ which is connected to high-end computer systems to display real-time animation live during filming.

From American Cinematographer’s article:

“In the Covid era, being able to shoot large-scale locations without having to leave the stage is a huge benefit,” says Jason Zimmerman, lead visual-effects supervisor for both Star Trek series. “The LED wall is fantastic for creating environments, and on Star Trek, of course, traveling to different worlds is something we’re very interested in doing.”

“We’re using Roe’s Black Pearl BP2 2.8mm LED panels for the wall and the Carbon series CB5 5.77mm panels for the ceiling,” says Mahmoud Rahnama, head of studio/VFX supervisor at Pixomondo Toronto. “The ceiling is fully customizable, so we can either take panels out and hang practical lights over the volume, or just use the ceiling’s LEDs for lighting. We have more than 60 OptiTrack motion-capture cameras with the ability to track two cameras — [which are] on Technocranes, Steadicams, dollies and the like — simultaneously.”

Zimmerman notes, “A lot of shows are looking at this as an opportunity to advance filmmaking. Getting something in-camera on the day is so much better than greenscreen in many ways. One major difference [in terms of workflow] is that the production-design and art departments are a lot more involved much earlier in the process, because they have to get assets ready to be photographed instead of waiting until after the shoot.”

Pixomondo has also shared some looks at its virtual stage setup on the company’s Instagram:

The production team for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has been filming location coverage of the southwest United States for its first season, as the New Mexico Film Office announced this week that the show’s been visiting its state recently for visual effects reasons — likely for use in the background design for an upcoming Season 1 episode, to avoid having to pack up cast and crew to leave Toronto.

(As for Star Trek: Picard, that films in California and would not be using the Pixomondo stages; we haven’t heard any news on that show using this virtual set tool for Season 2.)

We’ll see more of this technology used in the coming years, no doubt, as it becomes a more widespread tool of television and film production — but for now, we’ll have to wait and see how it’s used in Discovery Season 4 (debuting later in 2021) and Strange New Worlds Season 1 (coming in 2022).

Beam into the Far Future with FanSets’ STAR TREK: DISCOVERY 32nd Century Starfleet Tricombadge

Ken Reilly
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Beam into the Far Future with FanSets’ STAR TREK: DISCOVERY 32nd Century Starfleet Tricombadge

Following last month’s release of the Captain Pike USS Enterprise Starfleet delta badge from Star Trek: Discovery Season 2, the folks at FanSets return with the newest version of Starfleet’s famous delta: the oval “tri-combadge” introduced in Discovery Season 3!

In the show, the 32nd century design features built in holographic padd, communicator, and personal transporter functions — a futuristic upgrade from the Discovery crew’s original badges, which only served a decorative function (along with displaying rank).

Though it’s not officially considered a prop replica, the FanSets version is based directly upon the screen-used badge props worn by the Discovery cast in the show’s third season, and is available in both magnet-backed and pin-backed options.

Like FanSets’ other Discovery badges, this edition of the 32nd century tricombadge doesn’t feature any rank pips, though the company tells us a four-pip’d captains version is in development for release later this year.

To pick up one of these futuristic badges for yourself, you can head over to FanSets’ website where you can preorder the Star Trek: Discovery Season 3 delta now — the pin version is $17.99, and the magnet version retails for $19.99. The preorder window will last through August 1 (or until the limited pre-order quantity limit has been hit).

If you are heading to Creation Entertainment’s 55 Year Mission Tour convention in Las Vegas next month, the FanSets team will have these Discovery badges on site for con visitors — so if you’re planning to buy one there, the company requests you don’t preorder online to allow fans who won’t be at the convention a chance to buy their own.

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