Hail the Neptunian!

I recently decided I needed to track down a vintage Neptunian action figure to join the more recent replica Mego "Star Trek" line that has been coming out.

While "The Keeper" resembled a strange combination of Ted Cassidy's Ruk the android ("What Are Little Girls Made Of?") and the scarecrow/puppet head version of Balok he voiced in "The Corbomite Maneuver", Bele of Cheron was in a monochromatic wardrobe malfunction, and the first Mego Gorn was originally a Spider-Man villain, The Lizard, but in Klingon uniform, the bizarre and scaly green Neptunian didn't seem to qualify for a re-release.

Neptunian was a complete leap of faith on the part of the Mego sculptor and designer. Only vaguely resembling some of the alien races we met in Filmation's animated "Star Trek" (TAS) - and highly unlikely to really hail from neighbouring Neptune (I guess the planet is supposed to be ruled by King Neptune?) - this aquatic alien supposedly sold quite well, being in the Wave 2 selection. It was Wave 3 (Andorian, Romulan, Talos[ian] and the Mugato, who wore his funky, fringed, 70s disco outfit) which was the hardest set of figures to find at retail, supposedly partly due to a warehouse fire and being closer to the end of the reign of Mego 8" figures in general.

The next wave of replica Megos are to be all-new figures (Pike, Vina as an Orion, Chapel and the Salt Vampire). Suddenly the classic 70s Neptunian was a "must have" item for my collection. I understand he even has the rarer yellow underarm fins, not the green of most of the line. (There is debate about a certain bolt of fabric used by Mego; either the intended green turned yellow over time or the wrong colour was used on several Mego figures that year.)

Thank you eBay and the "Buy it now" facility!


The newly revised Gorn meets Mego's classic Neptunian.

Check out Mego's original Gorn and compare him to Marvel's "The Lizard" Mego figure at:
www.megomuseum.com/trek/gorn.shtml

Welcome back, Arex

Fan film producer, James Cawley, has released a test shot of a new cast member for his "Star Trek: Phase II" series. Check out the whole article on TrekMovie.com!

I did read, on James' Facebook page, that the new Arex has lost his tripodal features. (I guess the CGI would have cost an arm and a leg.)

Haw haw haw!


Arex in "The Practical Joker" episode of Filmation's TAS.


My M'Ress and Arex customised action figures.




Arex features in IDW Publishing's "Year Four" comics!

Scrapbook customs

Ian's customized "Star Trek" action figures were highlighted in an unlikely medium: the August 1999 issue of Australian men's pictorial "girlie" magazine, Ralph.

Featured customs include Captain Therin of Andor, plus Dr Selar (TNG), Arex (TAS), M'Ress (TAS) and Trader Worf from "Trials and Tribble-ations" (DS9). Predictably, the article - although quite thorough and favourable - was entitled, "Captain Kook"!

Where are all the Trek book tie-ins for kids?

Over on TrekBBS, some fans of JJ Abrams' recent "Star Trek" are pondering the total lack of book tie-ins aimed at children.

Putting my teacher-librarian hat on here:

As children in the 60s, my brother and I both read his copy of "Star Trek: Mission to Horatius" by Mack Reynolds. We enjoyed it, and my brother's book secretly made its way into my growing ST collection in 1980, but the book's content wasn't anything Earth-shattering. At least not for us, although it may have piqued our curiosity for TAS when we found that in b/w on Saturday mornings in the 70s.

Having met many members of ST's "first fandom", those who were watching ST as kids and who also craved reading about ST were devouring the James Blish (TOS) and Alan Dean Foster (Filmation's TAS) episode adaptations. The selection of ADF as writer of the 2009 ST novelization was met with much enthusiasm from those ST fans who'd learned to read with "ST Logs" 1-10.



Although I have the delightful Lawrence Weinberg "ST III Storybook" in my collection, and have bought additional copies for all three school libraries I have taught in over the years, it never gets borrowed. Likewise, child interest in the Pocket/Minstrel YA books for TNG, DS9 and VOY has been minimal compared to the war SW kids devour SW YA books.

If you look back at other seemingly YA ST books, they are also more appealing to adults (as collectibles) than to kids (as reading material). "ST II Biographies", the matching short story collections and choose-your-own-adventures for both ST II and ST III, the ST IV YA ("Young Adult") novelisation, the TNG movie YA adaptations... how many sold to/for kids, and how many went straight into adults' collections? Ditto the old TOS and TMP pop-up books, and Daniel Cohen's "The Monsters of Star Trek".

I do know some kids who collect all the "Star Wars" YA books, but (like "Goosebumps" books and "Ben-10" books), they collect them as they would gum cards, and they don't necessarily use the books as reading matter.

Both SW and ST can appeal to young kids, but the ones inspired by ST seem to have no problem becoming consumers of the regular ST novels, thus skipping the YA stage completely.

The customising bug returns!

Retro Mego Star Trek action figures are back! And now I have the customizing bug again. There were some very easy and obvious customs that can be created with minimum effort; just a little clothes swapping! This Keeper figure is destined to become a customised Reman ("Nemesis"), hence he's already in a spare Romulan uniform. The barefooted Sarek is a Romulan sans gold helmet (conveniently both characters were played by Mark Lenard), but wearing a spare Keeper's robe, which I have to dye. The Andorian is a holy grail of mine: an original Mego Andorian, now as Commander Thelin from "Yesteryear" (TAS). This figure has faded over 30-odd years to a grey colour - he seemed the best to use for Thelin, who was rather grey in the animated episode.



The commercial figures, as most people buy 'em. Andorian, Mugato, Khan Noonien Soong (an all-new figure in this retro release), Romulan, Keeper (loosely based on Balok's false image and Ruk), and Klingon. Uhura, McCoy, Kirk, Spock, and Scott, all of TOS.



Redshirts on the away team: someone is doomed! Therin of Andor (ie. my fanfic character), Scotty, a blond redshirt (being played by a John-Boy Walton figure from "The Waltons"), Janos the sentient Mugato (or, at least, inspired by the "New Frontier" novels' security ensign), and Uhura. The not-yet-completed customised Reman, Sarek, Thelin, Therin of Andor (ie. my fanfic character), the blond redshirt, and Janos.

Feeling animated about the upcoming Star Trek movie?

Some clever Star Trek fan has been busy...

The teaser trailer for the next Star Trek movie, had it been produced by Filmation:



Here are some favourite (legitimate) stills from the more recent, longer trailer:


A Vulcan city


Sarek and Amanda on Vulcan (aka Vasquez Rocks)


Alnschloss K'Bentayr of Monchezke, as featured on a publicity support website

Nero and prison guards

And... a special addition to the Internet version of the new, longer trailer:


"Live long Star Trek, and prosper..."

Thelin and The Chimes at Midnight

Thanks to Titan's "Star Trek" magazine editor, Paul Simpson, for organising this beautiful illustration of Andorian Mr Thelin (late of "Yesteryear", TAS) to accompany the magazine's extract of a story out of "Myriad Universes: Echoes and Refractions", volume 2 in the series of novella omnibuses.

"The Chimes at Midnight", by Geoff Trowbridge, tells of the life that could have been, ie. if Spock had died during his kahs-wan practice run at age seven, and Thelin went on to be Kirk's first officer on the Enterprise. the timeline continues on through the movies years, paralleling the Genesis Project years and beyond.

Below (left), here's how he appears, drawn in the Filmation style, in the Titan ST Magazine, US #12, Jul/Aug 2008, p. 56:


Pocket Books cover art (right) by the talented John Picacio

Evolution of a Star Trek fan

Over at TrekBBS, we were asked to track our evolution as a Star Trek fan. Mine was quite a gradual awareness.

* Kids at my primary school collecting Scanlen's "Star Trek" bubble gum cards (Topps in the USA). My grandmother owned the household's only television set, so "Star Trek" must have clashed with one of "her" shows.

* My Year 5 teacher's wall chart where we kept score of our weekly spelling and dictation results. It was our "Star Trek" chart and Mr Brown dispensed gold, silver and coloured gummed paper stars, depending on our results (1969).

* Filmation's animated Star Trek series (TAS) on b/w Saturday morning TV, and then daily breakfast TV TAS repeats "for the first time in colour" a few years later. The highlight of "The Super Flying Fun Show".

* Also a few TOS episodes, which were selected for presentation on a Saturday evening(?) "for the first time in colour", when colour TV came to Australia in 1975.

* Five serialized b/w daily liftouts in a Sydney nightly newspaper in late 1979: "My Week on the Star Trek Movie Set!" by Aussie journalist, Jim Oram. At my 21st birthday party a few weeks later, a friend boasted how he'd just been to the gala premiere, where half of the cinema had fans in costume, and they applauded all the characters' entrances.

* Finding the ST:TMP novelization in a rack at the checkout of my local supermarket. Read it in one weekend.

* Spending a 21st birthday record voucher on Jerry Goldsmith's TMP soundtrack LP, having still not yet seen the movie. (All those cool aliens on the inner sleeve!)

* Seeing TMP on the big screen. By myself, because no one else I asked wanted to go.

The Great Star Trek Viewing Order Debate

Because this a clear example of an FAQ (Frequently Asked Question), I'm putting this example of Star Trek geekiness where I can find it easily for next time.

Someone over on TrekBBS just asked about the differences between airdate order, production order and stardate order when watching Star Trek DVDs...

For a long time, people didn't readily know the "production order" of TOS (The Original Series). The "Star Trek Concordance" by Bjo Trimble (and all other lists of the day) presented summaries of the the episodes of TOS and TAS as they had originally aired in Los Angeles, USA, and then tried an experiment by adding a second list: putting the stardates into order (which really only proved conclusively that stardates, particularly in TAS, were quite random, and prone to typographical errors).

Gene Roddenberry had gone to great pains to say that stardates were really just random numbers, at a whim of time and space irregularities, and only had to be progressing sensibly within an episode, but weirdly, they do often seem to have a weird connection to each other. And fans love weirdness.

TOS was usually made to be viewable in random order and, when the series went to US syndication in the 70s, US TV stations either stuck with original airdate order or total randomness. Then along came "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" - and Alan Asherman's "Star Trek Compendium". He had researched the production numbers and dates and, for the first time, many ST fans could see the order in which the episodes had been made. The TV order they'd all been used to had only came about due to such random factors as late SPFX on some episodes and/or network exec demands ("Give 'em a monster ep first up", ie. "The Man Trap".) When a few fans (and TV stations) started using this "new" order to screen episodes, it was noticed how a few continuity threads suddenly matched up. Uhura's gold uniform episodes suddenly ended up together, for example. "Where No Man Has Gone Before", the show's second pilot was not suddenly a confusing "flashback" episode, but more like an Episode 1.

With Filmation's animated "Star Trek" series (known as TAS), the airdate order in Los Angeles - and Bjo's Concordance - was different to the rest of the country. George Takei was running for local political office when TAS premiered, so a Takei-less episode of TAS had to be run on a certain week in LA, otherwise his opponents could have demanded "equal time" (22 minutes) from the station running it.

By the time of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" (and beyond), if an episode was running late due to tricky SPFX, or if episodes were shot out of order (ie. Denise Crosby making another episode after her on-screen death; or "Unification Part II" being made first to fit in with Nimoy's availability), the producers were able to tweak things to keep the screening order okay, continuity-wise. There are a few glitches they glossed over: originally, the realism of the holodeck scenario in "The Big Goodbye" was originally possible only because it had been upgraded by the Bynars in "11001001", but they realised they'd have to screen those episodes out of intended order, IIRC.

Anyway, if you want to recapture the viewing experience of the very first TOS fans, watch your TOS DVDs as presented, with "The Man Trap" first. Hop around your discs if you want production order instead. (The first DVD twinpacks, originally released in the US, had production order, and many TOS diehards - including the people preparing the DVD sets - thought that was a travesty!)

For the rest of Trek, just relax and let the DVD boxed sets screen you the eps as presented.

Confusion in the New Frontier?

I'm enjoying IDW Publishing's "Star Trek New Frontier" storyline, "Turnaround" by Peter David, very much but it must be very confusing to anyone who isn't familiar with the long-running book series that David writes for Pocket.

Robin Lefler's mom, Morgan Primus, looking like Number One, Chapel and Mrs Troi is worth a smirk or two in the novels (and her face was obscured by a hand mirror in the Wildstorm one-shot comic), but seeing Number One - er, Morgan - phasing in and out in the new comic issues requires some background knowledge from the books.

Likewise, M'Ress and Arex (formerly of TAS - see below) have just turned up for their NF comic cameos (issue #4) and casual TOS readers (or anyone who's just been reading IDW's various "Year Four" issues) are gonna wonder why they're suddenly in the 24th century.


Art by Stephen Thompson

And hey! We've now finally seen a depiction of Desma the Andorian - she's the new first officer (below) of the USS Trident, introduced a few novels ago.


Art by Stephen Thompson

Kirk and the animated common people

This is a great Youtube find: William Shatner (aka James T Kirk), singing "Common People" on the "Has Been" CD, set to edited images from the Filmation Star Trek animated series. Some cameos by M'Ress and a jammin' Mr Arex!

The return of Mr Thelin!

(Cover art by John Picacio)

A few weeks ago, Paul Simpson, editor of the Titan "Star Trek" magazine suggested that I'd be very pleased by the next issue of magazine, and I assume that means there'll be something Thelin-related with the extract of "The Chimes at Midnight". Maybe the distinctive cover art, by the talented John Picacio, which features Thelin the Andorian, from the alternative timeline of "Yesteryear" (Filmation's animated Star Trek series of the 70s)?

Pocket Books' "Myriad Universes: Echoes and Reflections" collection is due in August. It contains three alternate universe stories. "The Chimes at Midnight" is by Geoff Trowbridge. "In a continuum where Spock died during childhood, an Andorian named Thelin became Captain Kirk’s stalwart friend and first officer. But at the moment of Khan’s final defeat, history takes an even stranger turn, and the emerging potential of Project Genesis is revealed as the galaxy’s greatest hope... and its most ominous threat." I can't wait!


Thelin in "Yesteryear"! - this image was tinkered with in Photoshop, several years ago, to give him Andorian blue skin. Famously, on TAS as televised, Thelin's skin is a more of a greyish/causcasian colour, and varies from frame to frame. Although, more recently, on the "Enterprise" TV series, we met the pale blue/white Aenar subspecies who share Andoria with the blue Andorians.

Captain's Log: Supplemental. Here it is: Thelin from the Titan extract:


Issue #12 (US), July/August, 2008, p. 56. Thanks Paul! So cool!

The Enterprise Experiment

I picked up my copy of IDW Publishing's "Star Trek: Year Four: The Enterprise Experiment" #1 yesterday and read it in the train on the way home. A major role for "Star Trek: The Animated Series" (TAS)'s tripodal Lieutenant Arex - yay! - and a great, page-turning beginning for the new story arc by DC Fontana (Mrs TAS herself!) and Derek Chester.

I loved the TOS/TAS rendition of the San Francisco airtram station, soon to be upgraded in time for TMP, I presume.

The story is, of course, a sequel to the TOS episode, "The Enterprise Incident" (in which Captain Kirk disguised himself as a Romulan to steal a cloaking device from the female Romulan Commander). This time, in a story that takes place during the TAS years, the Enterprise is testing a cloaking device of its own.


Arex: such a handy crewman to have around


No "Quad Covers (TM)" for this storyline (as per the "New Frontier" issues)? When I arrived at the comic shop, they'd put aside the "Year Four" Spock cover (Cover B) issue for me, but I really wanted the great Mr Arex and Kirk (Cover A) instead, of course. But all the shelf copies had sold already! (Stock only arrived the day before.) Luckily, my trusty comic seller rummaged through the standing order boxes, found the last unclaimed Arex cover issue, and did me a swap. Too bad if the other guy preferred Arex, too.

I'm really enjoying IDW's efforts; I just wish the multiple and "rare" covers didn't cause as many heartaches for me, or for the completists out there who must be driven crazy by now.

Star Trek Year Four comics finale - and Borg Spotlight

I felt so greedy! Two IDW Star Trek comics yesterday! I picked up my copies of the final issue of the first "TOS Year Four" mini-series, and "Alien Spotlight: The Borg", in the CBD and devoured them in the 50-min. train ride home. I thoroughly enjoyed both issues!

Visually, "Year Four" #6 reminded me very much of the type of TV SF stories being told in the 60s but, with US child labour laws, it would have been an impossible script to film as live action. Star Trek comics can really excel when achieving things the original show couldn't have ever managed, SPFX makeup budget- or time-wise. A great TAS cameo appearance - and two Andorians!

"The Borg" was also very enjoyable and thought-provoking. For Admiral Janeway and "Voyager" fans, another good guest appearance! And, as promised, another Andorian cameo.

I haven't had such an absorbing Trek comics ride home in a looooong time. Thanks IDW!

Hanging out for Year Four!

Arex and M'Ress (of Filmation's "Star Trek: The Animated Series") really do cameo, as promised, in IDW Publishing's upcoming "Star Trek: Year Four" comic mini-series!

Check out the review at TrekMovie.com, which has links to online preview pages from IDW. It's actually quite a positive review, apart from the mention of the (same) writer's now familiar, sparse style.

I quite enjoyed "The Next Generation: The Space Between". (I guess it was only David Tischman's seeming reluctance to draw the threads together in the final TNG issue that left me cold.)

The magic of eBooks

Every time someone on TrekBBS or Psi Phi mentions Star Trek eBooks (ie. downloadable electronic publications), there is a backlash of angry, resistant book readers who malign them as unwanted, unreliable rivals to "dead tree", hardcopy, paper versions.

The ranting never seems terribly IDIC (as in "Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations", to quote Spock's Vulcan philosophy) and, while I haven't embraced eBooks wholeheartedly to the extent that I'd dispose of my personal forest of dead trees, I really don't see them as evil, either.

How is computer file corruption any different to one's dead tree collection suffering from mould, tempest, flood, silverfish, carelessness or a light-fingered houseguest?

Closed minds = Star Trek? Something's wrong here... For some, eBooks are an amazing, unrivaled convenience of the modern/futuristic world. Some hardcopy book lovers assume that the eBook files are never replaceable, but there are several circumstances where eBooks are safer than MMBs or hardcovers! Most eBook sellers allow you to download a new free version if your previous file gets corrupted, so the chances are an eBook collection may survive certain conditions better than a paper collection.

I haven't had to ever do it, but I know when Amazon was selling the Pocket eBooks, you simply accessed an online folder with your Amazon password, and entered the credit card number you used to open up the original eBook, to download a new version. (I did used to wonder what happened if you ever had to switch credit cards, and were expected to still have the old number on file somewhere, but I'm assured places like ereader allow this number to be updated easily.)

I have such a pile of unread dead trees here that I haven't needed to make Star Trek eBooks a priority. The eBooks I've bought are things I've needed desperately (eg. "The Magic of Tribbles: The Making of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Trials and Tribble-ations", which was an eBook exclusive; the "New Frontier: No Limits" short story anthology, which I couldn't wait to read, and bought it while my hardcopy was in transit; and "SCE: Where Time Stands Still", a TAS episode sequel) but I haven't had the time to read even these files more than once, as there's just so much else to read.

A bit of a later bloomer with eBooks, I was held back by my old PowerMac, which didn't like eBook versions being offered. And the firewall at work prevented my downloading eBooks to the work PC. But everything simplified when I bought my iMac.

I did notice that the last time I upgraded Adobe Acrobat, my eBook copy of "Where Time Stands Still" is now refusing to open, but I'm not panicked as the dead tree reprint is due eventually, and I always intended to buy that. When SCE ("Starfleet Corps of Engineers") started up, it was an eBook-only series of short novels.

In fact, I probably think of eBooks as more like a video rental. If you want to see a new movie, you pay for your discounted ticket at the cinema, or rent the video, and get entertained, but you can't necessarily keep it. But if you want to ensure you have a more permanent copy, you buy the dead tree (or DVD) version when it comes out.

If the plastic on a VHS cassette breaks ten years after buying it, would the manufacturer replace it for free? If you drop a new (or old) book into the mud, would the publisher just give you a fresh copy? If a DVD breaks in half through no fault of your own, would it automatically be replaced?

The eBook corruption that would cause me the most concern is if anything ever happens to "The Magic of Tribbles" by Terry J Erdmann, Gary Hutzel & Paula M Block, since there will never be a dead tree version. I don't really even remember which provider I used to buy it! (Although the old email receipt would still be on file, and I guess there's an "About" file connected to the eBook?)



I understand some company is working on a portable eBook reader that has a screen that resembles a sheet of paper, with black "print" that assembles itself on a white (or any colour) background. That sounds like fun!

Origins of Filmation's TAS: 1969!

Titan's latest "Star Trek" magazine (Aussie version #90 JUL/AUG 2007; UK #132) features a bonus section, including "The Secret Origins of 'Star Trek: The Animated Series'" by Andy Mangels.

Andy's article includes reprints of official comments, from Paramount to Filmation (dated October 15, 1969), about Don Christensen's 1969 "concept paper" proposing for TAS: a training ship called Excalibur; Scotty's moustache; new characters called Tun-Tun, Stormy, Ploof, Steve and Bob; and a suggestion to eliminate Chekov and his paired cadet, Chris, in favour of finding a cadet pairing for Uhura.

Excalibur (originally proposed as 6D12 Lightly) would have been able to break up into smaller pods. It sounds like Tun-Tun was already slated to be replaced by the moustachioed Scotty - and his cadet counterpart, Stormy, was to be dropped. Steve was Spock's cadet companion, and Bob was McCoy's. There was concern that Kirk's companion looked too much like "any boy in the world", and Sulu's and Uhura's companions were not decided yet (although a preliminary sketch of the female cadet paired with Uhura is in "The Art of Star Trek" by Garfield & Judith Reeves-Stevens, so she did see further development).


From "The Art of Star Trek" - Note the pre-TMP moustache on Scotty!


Three early story outlines were "The Space Cocoon", "The Impossible Rainbow" and "Klingon Attack". Some "crab/spider" business in "The Space Cocoon" was deemed unacceptable for a kids' show, but there was an effort to boost up the educational angle of each TAS instalment from even this earliest incarnation. There were aliens called trogs.

Perhaps "The Space Cocoon" inspired the story about the pod ship of "Beyond the Farthest Star" (That ship was built by an insectoid race, and there was already talk of the TAS cadet ship being able to break into smaller pod vessels?) "The Impossible Rainbow" was about "a quiet boy" and fantasy becoming reality - perhaps inspired by "Charlie X"? There was concern there was "no real point" to "The Klingon Attack" and it needed work to draw out the interrelationships and to add an educational message.

Very cool trivia from the archives! Thanks Andy Mangels, Filmation animator/historian Darrell McNeil, and Titan!

Comparisons #4 & 5: ST Magazine UK/Aust vs ST Magazine US

Continuing my series of comparisons between the UK/Australasian and US editions of "Star Trek" magazine.




The good news for American fans is that #4 (MAR/APR 2007) of the US issue has much the same content as the #89 AUS (MAY/JUN 2007)/#131 UK issue. The main variations are to do with the placement of advertisements and mail order pages; the UK/Aust. version is also (as usual) two centimetres taller and one centimetre wider. Both magazines are 98 pages, plus covers - but for the first time the US edition has an extra (brief) article ("The Alpha Guide: The Klingons" by Jake Black, a primer on surviving as a UFP tourist in Klingon space) on the pages where the UK/Aust. edition features a two-page mail order catalogue for the UK science fiction store, Forbidden Planet. Previously, it was the UK edition that carried an "Alpha Guide" - to the Borg - in a bonus "Voyager" supplement.

But... (you knew there was a "but" coming) Where the "Next issue" promotion of the US edition promises "our history of Star Trek reaches the 1980s...", the UK/Aust. edition will present "previously unseen material from 'Star Trek: The Animated Series'." 32 pages of extra material again!

And that latest issue turned up yesterday, Down Under!




#5 of the US version of Titan's Star Trek (MAY/JUN 2007) is back to the regular 66 page size, but the UK/Aussie version (#90 JUL/AUG 2007; #132 UK) continues to be 98 pages.

While both versions carry the same cover banner, "Writing for 'Star Trek: The Animated Series'", above the title, the main UK/Aussie difference is the generous bonus lift-out Celebrating 'Star Trek: The Animated Series', a supplement in the middle pages. For the US version, the banner would refer only to the David Gerrold article, which both versions have in common. (David Gerrold talks about many aspects of Trek, including his contributions to the recent DVD set).

The UK/Aust. bonus material, however, features even more material about TAS:

* "The Secret Origins of 'Star Trek: The Animated Series'" by Andy Mangels, which includes reprints of official comments about a 1969 "concept paper" proposing a training ship called Excalibur; Scotty's moustache; new characters called Tun-Tun, Stormy, Ploof, Steve and Bob; and a suggestion to eliminate Chekov and his paired cadet, Chris, in favour of finding a cadet pairing for Uhura. Three early story outlines were "The Space Cocoon", "The Impossible Rainbow" and "Klingon Attack".

* Storyboard comparisons of the first two minutes of "The Terratin Incident".

* "Five best!", an illustrated episode countdown by Jake Black: "The Pirates of Orion", "More Tribbles, More Troubles", "The Jihad", "The Counter-clock Incident" and, at number one, "Yesteryear".

* "Charting 'The Counter-clock Incident'": an interview with writer Fred Bronson (aka John Culver) by Anthony Pascale.

* "Animated Pioneers" by Chris Dows: Trek tech that was first suggested by TAS. The aquashuttle, large shuttlecraft, robot ship, land vehicle, hover robots, and seatbelts.

* "Still Drawn to It", celebrating 35 years of TAS - by Kevin Dilmore and Dayton Ward.

* Mail order catalogue for the UK science fiction store, Forbidden Planet, seemingly incorporating the functions of the UK Star Trek: The Official Fan Club's "Tower of Commerce" pages.

* "ST: TAS Trivia" by Chris Dows, one text selection and still for each episode.

* "Under the Great Bird's Wing", an interview with Gene Roddenberry's former assistant, Susan Sackett, by Michael A Martin.

* Contest advertisement for Fedcon XVI convention.

The next US issue is again 66 pages, but the forthcoming #91 AUS/#133 UK issue promises a 32 page "exclusive guide to the Star Trek novel series"!

This stuff is so cool, I'm sure Titan USA will eventually find a way of getting this material to US fans.

Morass for M'Ress

I've been searching high and low for my back issues of "Dreadstar" comics to share a particular frame. And I finally found them today.

Issues #63 and 64 (First Publishing, 1991) of "Dreadstar" by Peter David featured parody Star Trek pixie-like characters, who are amazed to meet Cookie, a felinoid alien who closely resembles Lieutenant M'Ress the Caitian of "Star Trek: The Animated Series" (TAS).

When Peter David took over DC's Star Trek comic (Series I), he inherited Arex and M'Ress (formerly of TOS) who'd only been recently been re-introduced to the Star Trek universe in comic book adventures set after "ST IV: The Voyage Home". Then Star Trek went on hiatus while Pocket Books' and DC Comics' tie-in licences were renegotiated. With DC's Series II #1 ready for release, the Peter avid and the editors were asked to change their plans for M'Ress - and antelope woman M'yra literally took her place.

But Peter David wasn't yet done with M'Ress. Changing her name to Cookie (and giving her a fluffier tail), he added a new felinoid character to "Dreadstar", as a vivacious love interest for regular felinoid alien, Oedi. Cookie and Oedi married in issue #62.

When "Dreadstar" was winding up its ongoing story arcs, Peter David went out with a bang when he unleashed the United Franchise of Worlds (a parody of Star Trek's United Federation of Planets) in "The Day the Urth Stood Still" and "Franchise & Empire".

As an all-powerful Great Bird of the Galaxy swoops down elsewhere, the Chekov-like pixie alien, "Navigations Officer Anton" (ho ho!), mistakes Cookie for a "Lieutenant Morass". Later, with Tibrus and his crew incapacitated, Captain Jean-Paul DeGaulle explains that "zee Benedyct [Arnold?] was something of an embarrassment to us". Someone later complained - of the United Franchise, in particular - that "with all the stuff they eliminated... they sound kind of dull..." Hilarious stuff, especially for those fans following both storylines, and the ongoing Richard Arnold versus Peter David feud.


ANTON:
"... Lieutenant Morass eess no longer een offeecial conteenuity.
She was only aneemated and doesn't count."

Judging a comic by its cover(s)?

I can feel myself getting testy about the multiple covers marketing strategy of IDW Publishing's Star Trek comics!

Handsome comics, but... This week, the fourth issue of their "Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Space Between" mini-series came out. This one has three alternative covers: a rather lovely art cover of Data, Picard, Riker and Worf posed on a planet, with the Enterprie-D in close orbit (which I bought); a LaForge photo cover, with a Data photo inset (ie. more like a magazine, aimed at casual buyers); and, on the limited edition one, a closeup profile sketch of Worf.

Now, way back when Malibu Graphics did the DS9 comics, there was a tendency for certain issues to come out with alternate photo covers, or foil stamping, or holographic paper, to generate consumer excitement - and most times I was tempted into buying one of each, even though the internal art and text were identical in each version.

But my collecting space is at a premium, and becoming more and more unwieldy, and with the so-called "shop incentive exclusives" from IDW so expensive ($AU19.00 and even $AU29.00, sometimes - as only a few are sent for every batch ordered of the regular $AU8.00 covers), they are certainly more annoying than "collectible".

What sent me off the deep end on Thursday was the premiere issue of the new TOS mini-series, "Klingons: Blood Will Tell". Despite me putting in an order for this mini-series, and then a few weeks later advising that I wanted the simultaneous Klingon Language Version as well, the shop had neither comic listed under my name! The inside back cover of this new comic reveals a staggering seven alternate covers! The regular art cover of Kirk and Kor is one (the one I settled upon); a photo cover of Kor the Klingon; a truly stunning painted cover (see below) of Spock, Kirk and Kor (the rare one); the same cover (even rarer!) without titles impeding the artwork; a Comics Pro exclusive edition, with another photo cover; and then two Klingon Language Versions (another photo cover, and a red/black foiled logo cover). Seven covers? Just how are the comic shops supposed to keep track, especially when the prices are so variant? I'm cranky that my comic shop let me down, despite my numerous reminders - but anyone would get lost tracking seven covers for just one comic.




Rant over. So how're the two stories?

Quite good; I had a chance to devour both of them today. "TNG: The Space Between" features a story called "Light of the Day", with a rather interesting, diminutive alien being taken home to a court hearing. A separate mission - eventually linked to thr first - features LaForge, Worf and Ensign Lo Laren lost on a planet of strange monks. Everyone seems to stay in character and the action moves quickly, even if the dialogue seems rather sparse at times. I'm even more intrigud to see how all the issues will meld, as promised, in the final issue.

The Klingon story tells Commander Kor's side of the events of "Errand of Mercy" (TOS), as he battled wits with Baroner (ie. Kirk) and a meek Vulcan trader, (ie. Spock). The comic also features: a cameo appearance by Doctor Phlox, the Denobulan CMO of "Star Trek: Enterprise"; hints about characters and the future as depicted in the TOS-era motion pictures; plus lots of references back to the "Affliction" and "Divergence" Klingon episodes of "Enterprise", which attempted to explain an infamous and major makeup change.

A fun story, interesting artwork, brilliant colours... sorry about the duplicate issues. Hmmmm. I can't comment on the use of Klingon language in the alternate version, 'cos I haven't seen 'em yet, have I!

Captain's Log: Supplemental. In an article here and (with gorgeous pics) here and here, the creators at IDW tell of their affection for both "Star Trek: The Animated Series" (TAS) and the Gorn!

Oh, and I hadn't seen this link before! Scheduled for the first round of "Alien Spotlight" issues are:

* Vulcans - written by Rick Remender (of "Fear Agent")
* Gorn - by Scott & David Tipton ("Klingons: Blood Will Tell")
* Borg - by Steve Niles ("30 Days of Night")
* Andorians - by Paul D Storrie ("Justice League Unlimited")
* Orion Slave Women - by Dan Taylor ("Hero Happy Hour")
* Romulans - John Byrne ("The Man of Steel", "Next Men").