"Da plane! Da plane!"

I loved the bizarre juxtaposition of travelling home with two new toys for the collection yesterday. Grug, on the left, is a toy tie-in to celebrate the re-release of a hugely popular Australian picture book series from the 1980s, Ted Prior's "Grug". The "Grug" books were little miniatures, rather similar to "Mr Men" books. Grug was a cave creature who spontaneously evolved from a native Australian burrawang plant, and in subsequent adventures, began learning about the world around him. I recently met a full-sized Grug HERE. Boxed sets of Grug are popping up in Aussie bookstores as Christmas stocking stuffers.

On the right is Khan Noonien Singh, a rather cool, licenced "Star Trek" plush doll (from "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan") by the Toy Factory, a tie-in to IDW's Khan comic mini-series, which serves as a bridge between the episode "Space Seed" and the plot of the second movie. The staff at King Comics hadn't been sure if they were going to be able to source any Khans, but I'm glad I pre-ordered him and had people looking out for him for me!

As Khan knows, who needs a Tattoo when you have... Grug!

Ironman goes shopping?

Ironman browsing at Kings Comics, Sydney. Shoplifters beware!






Ironman: the new security guard at at Kings Comics?

"Ironman 2", coming to DVD near you soon!

Party Poper

It's here: World Youth Day 2008 celebrations, in the middle of my home town.

I'm on school holidays, it's Thursday night, and this afternoon should have been my weekly trek into the CBD to collect my latest piles of comics and books. I already have my email confirming this week's comics deliveries to Kings Comics, and there's probably a new Star Trek novel collection to collect from Galaxy Bookshop.

How many avid Star Trek fans can say that the Pope - yes Pope Benedict XVI of Rome - prevented them from picking up their reserved copy of the new TokyoPop "Star Trek" Manga (Volume 3 - "Aratanaru Michi He") today? Aaaaarrrrgghhhh! I understand it even has a comic based on "Bandi", the cute-pet-on-the-Enterprise script which David Gerrold wrote before he finally cracked success with "The Trouble With Tribbles" (TOS).

Sydneysiders were being asked to avoid the CBD today - unless we were planning to go in (on public transport only) and cheer for "Benny" in his "boatercade" and help to celebrate World Youth Day with the world's young Catholic pilgrims.

I wanted Bandi and got... Benny.

Oh well, have a happy and holy World Youth Week everyone! (And thanks to Christopher L Bennett for the punny title.)

Lack of training?

I was in two minds as to how to fill in my day today. My comics didn't come in last Thursday and weren't due in the country until yesterday. As there were supposed to be two Star Trek titles, plus a "Starlog", I had to work out if I wanted to spend $10 and an hour into the city, and another hour coming back, or to use up some of my movie "Hot Cash"/"Super Saver" coupons on some recent releases.

After a quick call to Kings Comics - to establish there were no "alternative cover" options to be resolved - I decided to see "Iron Man" at Penrith Plaza. Kings made sure my comics had the right covers and were safely in my standing orders box. On my way there, I was passed by several luxury coaches along the road to the station... and realised that buses had replaced trains into Parramatta, which would have added about 20-30 minutes to the trip - each way!

I was very glad I had already chosen "Iron Man", and was very pleased with it. "Iron Man" isn't a particular comics favourite but I did have a familiarity with the old animated cartoon of my youth, and the old yellow and red Mego action figure. As the reviews have said, the film was very well cast and featured some great action sequences. Quite a good job presenting a famous, classic comic book character on the big screen for modern audiences. Ah yes, stay till the end of the closing credits!

Sunday's magic number: 94.0 - again. Sigh. (Spent too many Pedlar's Pennies on Thursday.)

Trek fears

I have none for Star Trek XI, but it seems that there are still many who do.

I say to them, do you like "Lost"? I love it - and have great faith in JJ Abram's attention to detail and clever storytelling.

Have you seen the new "Transformers" movie? I haven't yet and was sure I'd hate it, not being a Transformers fan or collector of transforming robot toys, but friends who've just seen it are raving about how "geeky yet respectful" it is. The trailer looks amazing, and the movie is written by Alex Kurtzman & Roberto Orci, the new Star Trek movie writing team.

Do you like the music for "The Incredibles", "Mission: Impossible III" and "Lost"? The same composer, Michael Giacchino, has been signed up to score "Star Trek".

And George Lucas's ILM has been announced as the SPFX guys.

The new Trek film is gonna be cool.

I think I do have fears, though, for my IDW Star Trek comic collection. Although I'm really enjoying the new mini-series ("Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Space Between" and "Klingons: Blood Will Tell"), the multiple covers are driving me - and Kings Comics - crazy. Each issue comes in three - sometimes four - variant covers, and I decided I wanted to get only the art covers. The photo covers, which supposedly sell better in book stores than comic stores, are usually well-known publicity stills, so the new art on the drawn covers is usually far more compelling (to me).

However, the assortment is meant to be 50/50 of art/photo covers, with the rarer variants thrown in as bonuses for the comic store, for buying above a certain number of issues, to sell off at a higher premium. But now that Kings has downgraded their order, they are no longer being given that 50/50 split. Stock of issue #5 of "The Space Between" arrived only as Wesley Crusher photo covers and, so far, Kings' attempts to back order me an art cover is drawing (ha!) a series of blanks. Plus, there is no guarantee that the reorder will have an art cover; they might get sent more Wesley issues. Wah!

I do wonder how many Star Trek fans are madly collecting multiple issues of each comic to get all the cover variants. And how many gave up on the whole thing after issue #1.

Last night, on my way to the latest Star Trek Meet-up, I picked up the third issue of "Blood Will Tell" - art cover! - and it's fantastic! Review coming soon.

I smell... poo!

I arrived home tonight from my traditional, weekly, buying trip in Sydney's CBD - and it was one of those rare nights when there was nothing on my want list at Galaxy Bookshop or HMV - and the shipment hadn't turned up at Kings Comics, so I came home empty-handed.

Jack was let out into the yard for mere seconds (to do those doggy things that need to be done) and then as I entered the hallway, I could smell... poo. Really stinky poo. But not necessarily dog poo. This was... like something had died - but perhaps while covered in poo.

I checked my shoes, but they were fine. The smell was extremely intense in the hall, but not all the time. I picked up several items, expecting to find something unpleasant, but no. Whenever the smell returned, it was very intense but, then, it vanished again.

Maybe it was coming from the air-conditioning duct? Was there a dead animal up there? No. The smell wasn't in the bedroom, or the spare room, or anywhere else. Then, suddenly, it was in the bedroom.

Ah, it was Jack himself! He was covered, up both sides of the neck, in cat poo! Somehow he'd manage to find and roll in it, in the few seconds he was out the back after my arrival home. It's the Jack Russell way: smell like your prey! And no wonder the smell kept moving; the more Jack tried to help me find the source of the revolting smell, the more he was wafting it around in all the places I was inspecting. (The house does have a resident ghost, you know, but she smells of fish, and she's been here longer than the dog, so I knew it wasn't one of her irregular visitations.)

Jack has now had a semi-bath (at 10pm), been doused in aromatic incense water, and had 20-year-old Avon talc rubbed into his fur (I hope he's not allergic to people talc). But he still smells worse than a cat's litter tray.

Almost as bad as the day he rolled in goose poo on a friend's relative's farm, and turned himself into an intensely-green Jack Russell terrier with absolutely no friends whatsoever.

Be grateful this blogspot has no Smell-o-Vision facility. Thanks, Jacko. Thanks for, ugh, sharing.

Comparisons #2 & 3: ST Magazine UK/Aust vs ST Magazine US

A few months ago, Star Trek fans were asking about differences between the UK "Star Trek" magazine from Titan and the version that has now been made available to the USA (filling the void left by the "Star Trek Communicator").

I ended up changing my old "Star Trek Communicator" standing order with my local Australian comic collectibles shop, Kings Comics, to Titan's US "Star Trek" magazine, but when the (renumbered) UK version turns up on Australian newsstands a whole month later, I buy it all over again - because the UK version sometimes has extra material, not included in the US edition. (I guess it's to discourage UK fans buying the imported American version when they pick up their regular pile of US comics, "Starlog" magazines and US import stuff from UK comic shops?)



#2 of the US version of Titan's Star Trek (NOV/DEC 2006) is 66 pages but the UK/Aussie version (#87 JAN/FEB 07; #129 UK) is 98 pages: same page count as both countries' first new issue. As I said last time, there are also differences in the magazines' dimensions: the UK version is 2 centimetres taller and one centimetre wider. The US magazine has a big "#2" in the Starfleet delta shield logo, while the UK mag again reads "New look". The placement, and sometimes rewording to suit local audiences, of the full-page glossy advertisements, is also changed.

* Main UK/Aussie addition: Celebrating 'Star Trek: Voyager' supplement in the middle pages, featuring:

* Voyager's Ten Best!

* Building the Future - interview and sketches with Tim Earls, designer

* "I Was a Voyager Alien!" - Patrick Jankiewicz, one of the magazine's regular contributors, tells how he once played a primitive alien cave person in "Basics", on location at Lone Pine, CA (previously used for the feature films "Gunga Din" and "Tremors". The photo credits wrongly mention the location as Vasquez Rocks. Interesting that should happen the same week as "Starlog" has an item about the trustworthiness/usefulness of captions!)

* Double-sided bonus poster: Janeway/EMH

* The Doctor is In - interview with Robert Picardo

* Top Nine Doctor Moments - VOY episodes

* The 9 Enemies - VOY episodes

* The Alpha Guide: The Borg

* Angelic Alien! - Pat Jankiewicz interview with Iona Morris, aka Umali of "Workforce" - and yet another former child extra who once appeared in "Miri" (TOS)

* Competition to win "The Q Fan Collective" DVD set

* Competition to win three Corgi ship models

* Tower of Commerce - merchandise page and order form.




#3 of the US version of Titan's Star Trek (JAN/FEB 2007) is again 66 pages and the UK/Aussie version (#88 MAR/APR 07; #130 UK), which turned up on newsstands this week, is 98 pages. However, the most noticeable difference is the cover art: Data on the US edition - with the headline "A DATE WITH DATA", while UK features Archer/T'Pol/Tucker and the banner "BACK TO THE FUTURE". Maybe Titan is scared that there is still a lot of viewer resistance to "Star Trek: Enterprise" in the USA?

* Main UK/Aussie addition: Celebrating 'Star Trek: Enterprise' supplement in the middle pages, featuring:

* Enterprise's Ten Best!

* Tucker's Luck - interview with Connor Trinneer

* Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid - 10 ENT spooky episodes

* The Ongoing Mission - Pocket editor Margaret Clark highlights the return of Tucker in novel form: the upcoming "The Good That Men Do" by Mangels & Martin

* First Frontier - interview with Rick Berman

* Double-sided bonus poster: ENT main cast/NX-01

* Out of the Blue - interview with ENT production assistant Doug Mirabello, who was a last-minute replacement for an Andorian extra in "Proving Ground"

* Action Man - interview with Vince Deadrick Jr, stuntman

* New Lifeforms and New Civilizations... - 10 ENT alien races

* Back to the Future - 10 ENT time travel episodes

* Voyage of Discovery - interview with Gabriel C Koerner, visual FX technician

* Strange New Worlds - 10 ENT planets

* Be My Guest - interview with Eric Pierpoint, aka Harris in four episodes

* Competition to win "The Klingon Fan Collective" DVD set.

Good news for American fans: the US "next issue" ad (ie. for #4 US; #131 UK; #89 AUS) promises a return of the 98 page (plus covers) size as a "Collectors Special". Mmmmm. I wonder if I'll still keep getting both versions?

ST Magazine UK/Aust vs ST Magazine US

I've seen a few questions as to whether there are significant differences between the UK "Star Trek" magazine from Titan and the version that has now been made available to the US as a niche replacement for the US Official Fan Club's still-on-hiatus(?)/defunct "Star Trek Communicator".

I've always had a standing order for the US "Star Trek Communicator" from a local Australian comic collectibles shop, mainly because I've seen a lot of friends' mail-ordered subscription copies get badly damaged in the post. I've bought every issue since the small format, from the days leading up to ST IV, through its revamp for TNG, and until its final issue.

The Titan "Star Trek" magazine turns up in Australia on newsstands in the month following the UK release. It gets renumbered on the cover, following a relaunch of that magazine a few years ago, but I have tended to only pick up those issues with interesting articles.

The first US version of Titan's Star Trek (#1 SEPT/OCT) turned up at my comic collectibles shop (Kings Comics) last month so I put it on my standing order. The Australian version (#86 OCT/NOV; #128 UK) of the UK edition has only just hit Australian newsstands - the same week that US "Star Trek" #2 turned up on my standing order. Since I'd seen various inaccurate posts from people quoting page counts etc, and speculation about whether the wording of the US articles suffered any changes (none that I have noticed), I bought one so I could compare them satisfy myself that the content was identical.



Both versions have 98 pages. The main differences are size (the UK version is 2 centimetres taller and one centimetre wider, and has improved paper quality over the previous dull finish) and the placement, and sometimes wording, of the full-page glossy advertisements. The US magazine has a big "#1" in the Starfleet delta shield logo, while the UK mag reads "New look" instead. The one-sided pull-out poster, advertising the cover of Pocket Books' new "Ships of the Line" hardcover art book, is folded and stapled colour-side out for the US, but white-side out (and slightly larger) for the UK.

* Inside cover: "Lost" magazine ad (US version has different subscription details, of course, and a sample of alternate cover art)

* Inside back cover: US Diamond/Art Asylum's Kirk in command chair action figure vs UK "24" magazine

* Back cover: US "Star Trek: The Animated Series" on DVD vs UK "Stargate: SG1 & Atlantis" magazine.

Other differences in advertising pages:

* US Vulkon.com 40th anniversary convention vs UK "Dreamwatch" magazine

* "Battlestar Galactica" magazine (different sub details)

* US "24" magazine vs UK "Star Wars" magazine

* US "Stargate SG1 & Atlantis" magazine vs UK Titan "Star Trek" reprint collections of the DC Comics ST line

* US "Dreamwatch" magazine vs UK "Buffy & Angel" magazine

* US Titan magazines & books vs UK "Charmed" magazine

* US "Angel featuring Buffy" magazine vs UK subscription information for "Star Trek" magazine

* US Titan "Star Trek" reprint collections of the DC Comics ST line vs UK US Titan magazines & books

* US two-page mail-in ST readers' survey vs UK two-page "Tower of Commerce" mail order catalogue of Star Trek products (Note: the US version uses a Klingon teddy bear from the UK catalogue as an illustration for its readers' survey)

* US subscription information for "Star Trek" magazine vs UK "Star Trek" magazine back issues

* US "Next issue (ie. #2): 24 Oct" vs UK "Next issue: 12 Oct". (Note: the UK ad boasts that the next UK version of the mag will contain "Free 'Voyager' supplement", including interviews with Robert Duncan McNeill and Rick Berman, plus Tim Earls' 'Voyager' designs.) I only have the US #2 edition so far, and it has only 66 pages. While there is some commentary from Berman on the casting of Janeway within the main text, it does appear that the "free" UK supplements are NOT going to be a regular part of the US magazine. This may be Titan UK's way of ensure that its regular UK and European readers aren't tempted to order in the US version of the magazine from distributors of American product when they place their comic orders.

I'll be interested to see how many extra pages will be in the Aussie version of the UK edition - and which version I decide to make my regular purchase.

Captain's Log: Supplemental
Cool! Paul Simpson, incoming editor on the Titan "Star Trek" magazines, addressed the above blog entry over on Psi Phi