It’s been over 3 years since I first published a blog post about Star Trek: Picard. Since then – we’ve gone through both Season 1 and Season 2. And in a little over 2 weeks from now, Season 3 kicks off on Feb. 16th on Paramount+. Season 3 will be the final season of the show and bring some form of closure to the character of Jean-Luc Picard in the Star Trek universe – a character that has been a hero of mine since childhood. It is also meant to give the Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG) a much better send off than they got with Star Trek: Nemesis 20 years ago.
While many fans did not like Star Trek: Nemesis, I enjoyed the movie however I felt it did fall extremely short in living up to its tag line of “A Generation’s Final Journey” coming away from the movie feeling very unfulfilled and unsatisfied. At the same time, this season is also supposed to also open the door for the “Next, Next Generation”. Star Trek: Picard Season 3 looks to be an epic 10-episode story that gives us closure on some characters while opening the door for the future with new characters to continue the adventures. I am absolutely beyond excited to see what happens. And today we got the final trailer for Star Trek: Picard Season 3 that aired during the NFL AFC Championship Game:
In the epic, thrilling conclusion of Star Trek: Picard, a desperate message from a long-lost friend draws Starfleet legend Admiral Jean-Luc Picard into the most daring mission of his life, forcing him to recruit allies spanning generations old and new. This final adventure sets him on a collision course with the legacy of his past and explosive, new revelations that will alter the fate of the Federation forever.
You can watch the original teaser for Star Trek: Picard Season 3 here, the Sneak Peek shown during Star Trek Day in September here, and the New York City Comic-Con teaser here as well.
I am planning to write a little summary of how to get ready for Star Trek: Picard Season 3 I hope to publish soon which explains how everything fits together within the broader Star Trek Universe – without any spoilers for Season 3 and minor spoilers for Season 1 and 2.
Starting today, we’re getting 23 weeks of brand new Star Trek episodes on CBS All Access.
First up is Star Trek: Lower Decks. Lower Decks is a brand new animated Star Trek show from Mike McMahan who wrote some Rick and Morty and is the co-creator of Solar Opposites on Hulu. It’s a more adult-focused animated show like Rick and Morty is. Lower Decks takes place aboard the U.S.S. Cerritos which is Starfleet’s “least important ship” and specializes in “second contact”. The show is centered around the “lower decks” crew of the Cerritos: Ensign Beckett Mariner, voiced by Tawny Newsome, Ensign Brad Boimler, voiced by Jack Quaid, Ensign Tendi, voiced by Noël Wells and Ensign Rutherford, voiced by Eugene Cordero. Remember that episode in the 7th season of Star Trek: The Next Generation called “Lower Decks” that focused on some of the less important junior officers aboard the Enterprise-D? This show plays off that concept.
After other more important starships in Starfleet make first contact, the U.S.S. Cerritos will go in and pick up where they left off. And that’s where the hilarious adventures begin! We are told to expect a lot of nerdy Star Trek references (especially things fans of TNG pick up on) and even some appearances of some familiar Star Trek characters. We will also see the Ensigns interact with the Cerritos bridge crew which includes Captain Carol Freeman, voiced by Dawnn Lewis, Commander Jack Ransom, voiced by Jerry O’Connell, Lieutenant Shaxs, voiced by Fred Tatasciore, Doctor T’Ana, voiced by Gillian Vigman and Chief Engineer Lt. Commander Andy Billups, voiced by Paul Scheer. Lower Decks takes place right after Star Trek: Nemesis in 2380. Yes, that’s right – even though Lower Decks is animated, and more comedic, it fits right in with established canon.
I absolutely adore Rick and Morty and really enjoyed Solar Opposites so I am really excited for this show. Based on what I’ve read from Mike McMahan, he seems to get Star Trek and the importance of respecting Star Trek but at the same time mixing in humor that will make this show fun to watch. I laugh my ass off watching Rick and Morty and now more than ever I need laughter so this show is hitting at the perfect time. A mix of humor and Star Trek and fantastic animation is just what I need.
Star Trek: Lower Decks will run for 10 episodes and then in October, we’re going to get the 3rd season of Star Trek: Discovery!
At the end of Season 2, the U.S.S. Discovery and crew follow Commander Michael Burnham into a wormhole that will take them 900 years into the future. Season 3 picks up as they arrive in the future. This places Discovery hundreds of years after all the Star Trek we know today. What is the state of the Federation and Starfleet? Is there even a Starfleet anymore? So many questions! We know that the crew of Discovery get new badges…
I have fallen in love with Star Trek: Discovery. I love the characters and the actors that portray them. I love the writing. I love the set design. I plan on expanding more on my love of the show in a later blog post. But I can’t wait for Season 3!
I am a very happy nerd that we have 23 weeks straight of new Star Trek.
As I continue to self-isolate and stay home during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, I was going through some old photos and found photo shown above from my very first Star Trek convention from 1992 and it had me reminiscing about my experience. I thought it would make for a good blog post.
Back in the early 90’s, at the peak of Star Trek: The Next Generation’s popularity, Creation Entertainment was regularly putting on Star Trek conventions around the U.S. where you could go and see the actors from the show. My mom signed up to be put on a “mailing list” at the time where we would get brochures in the mail advertising any conventions that would hit our area (I grew up outside Portland, OR) and how to get tickets for these upcoming conventions. I loved getting these brochures in the mail. These were also the days of Starlog Magazine and these conventions were advertised there too but I wasn’t getting issues of Starlog regularly.
I was always asking my parents if we could go to a convention whenever we received a new brochure in the mail. One day, we got a brochure in the mail that advertised Jonathan Frakes would be coming to a convention in Portland. Jonathan played Commander Riker on Star Trek: The Next Generation. My parents decided this was the convention we should go to.
In 1992, I was a 9-year Star Trek: The Next Generation fan. I had a HUGE collection of Star Trek toys from Playmates. I also carried around my copy of the Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual everywhere. To be going to a Star Trek convention was a dream come true. Looking back, I think Jonathan Frakes was the perfect actor to see in person. He came on stage with some much energy and friendliness. He had such a big smile. He told stories about what it was like working with the rest of the cast of the show (and the pranks they all played on each other), what the sets were like, and insight to his approach to the character of Riker. He did one hell of a Patrick Stewart impression and told a lot of jokes that had the audience laughing. And he talked about how much he valued coming to conventions and interacting with Star Trek fans in person. Having this experience as a kid also reinforced that these were actors playing characters on a TV show and the actors are often not like their characters they play on the show. As I listened to Jonathan talk, I heard Jonathan – not Commander Riker. Then he shouted “Shields up! Red Alert!” and I heard Commander Riker. I will say that after seeing Jonathan speak in person – I had a new-found appreciation and love for the character of Commander Riker. One thing that stood out most about Riker was his undying loyalty to Captain Picard and the Enterprise. That sense of loyalty is something I chose to adapt in my own life with family, friends and colleagues.
While seeing Jonathan Frakes in person was the highlight of my first Star Trek convention – I also got to interact with fans. There was a gentleman who sat next to us in the audience who made his Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan Starfleet uniform from a uniform pattern he purchased at a Star Trek convention many years prior. The uniform looked exactly like it did in the movie. I was so amazed. I wanted a real authentic looking Starfleet uniform so bad! My parents purchased the uniform pattern for the Season 1 TNG uniform and had uniforms for me and my brothers made (I’m saving this story for another blog post). Additionally, walking around the exhibit hall was complete nerd heaven. There were prop makers there who made props that looked exactly like they did on the show with lights and sound effects! I held what felt like a real working Tricorder.
Earlier this month, I made a quick trip to the Official Star Trek Convention in Las Vegas. I made the last-minute decision to go in mid-July which didn’t give me a lot of time to plan so I ended up making it a day trip. The plan would be for me to fly out from Seattle early Saturday August 3rd and then fly back home that evening. I normally don’t do things like this – especially solo travel to a big convention. My social anxiety normally kicks in. And it did a little bit. But I felt it was important to go this year due to the ongoing promotion from CBS for the new Star Trek: Picard series and the upcoming 3rd season of Star Trek: Discovery. I also wanted to stop by to see/meet several vendors who would be at the show who develop Star Trek products I collect. And finally, I wanted to meet some of the actors. With lots of encouragement – I didn’t let my social anxiety win. I went and had a ton of fun and I wanted to share some highlights!
The Convention Itself
The event was held at a small convention center at the Rio in Las Vegas. It was easy to get my bearings on where things were at as the area wasn’t that big. There were two large ballrooms: one for the main stage events and the other for the vendor expo. There were smaller rooms dedicated to smaller sessions, a place to grab a drink (“Quark’s Bar”), and a few rooms for exhibits and showcases. CBS had a room for the Jean-Luc Picard “The First Duty” exhibit and there was also a room for a Roddenberry VR exhibit. The hallways were decorated with artwork celebrating the 40th anniversary of Star Trek: The Motion Picture (the very first theatrical Star Trek film from 1979) and places to take photos in staged sets such as Borg Alcoves, a Transporter Room, and a Terran Empire Agonizer Booth. There were a lot of people in a wide range of ages and a lot of amazing costumes. I saw young kids with their parents and retired couples – all dressed up together as their favorite Star Trek characters. It was very impressive. And even though there was a lot of people, it didn’t feel too overwhelming like big conferences tend to do for me. But maybe the Romulan Ale helped.
The First Duty: The Jean-Luc Picard Exhibit
CBS brought the same Jean-Luc Picard exhibit they had at SDCC to this convention and it was the very first thing I did when I got there. I literally went straight there. I really wanted to see this exhibit. It takes you through the career of Picard from his early years in Starfleet through his cadet years to commanding the Stargazer and then this his years as captain of the Enterprise. You get to see Picard’s various uniforms over his years of service, as well as mementos from his adventures such as the Ressikan flute from the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “The Inner Light” and Kurlan naiskos given to Picard from Professor Galen in the episode “The Chase”.
There were also items on display
that fill in some gaps on events that happened between the new Star Trek: Picard
series and the last time we saw Picard in Star Trek: Nemesis. I plan to write
another blog post on filling in these gaps. CBS is being really creative on
filling in some history that happened which will play a part in the new Picard
series.
Finally, the exhibit ends with a
peek at Picard’s attire from romping around his family’s vineyard in La Barre,
France after retiring from Starfleet and what we’ll see him wearing in Star
Trek: Picard. And Chateau Picard wine.
The Star Trek: Picard Panel
Jonathan Frakes, Jeri Ryan, and Jonathan Del Arco were on the panel to talk about the new series. We know Jonathan Frakes is returning at Riker (in addition to directing two episodes), Jeri Ryan is returning as Seven of Nine, and Jonathan Del Arco is coming back to the role of Hugh. There wasn’t a whole lot of new things talked about on the panel, most of it was things we already heard from SDCC the week before. They re-played the trailer which I had already watched a thousand times but loved seeing again. Everything around the new Picard show is surrounded by secrecy so that fans will be surprised and delighted when they watch the show. To illustrate how tight security was at protecting elements of the show, Jonathan Frakes was wearing a t-shirt that said “Don’t ask me, I signed an NDA!”
There were two things that struck
me while watching the panel despite the lack of anything new. First – the
chemistry between Jeri and Jonathan Del Arco is awesome. I really loved
watching them go back and forth and I truly hope their characters interact in
the new show with the same energy. I call them “Borg Besties”:
Second – the highlight of the panel
is Jonathan Frakes describing an interaction between him and Patrick Stewart
after shooting a scene for the show that has all the feels:
“And Patrick says: ‘I think we have done it, Johnny.’ And I said: ‘I think so too.’ So, we walk and it is just the two of us. The entire company of 150 people have moved on to the next set, which is in another part. And he says ‘Is there anything better than spending the day with filmmakers who know what they are doing and be able to work with people you love?’”
Teaching with Trek – Engage with STEM
Bobak Ferdowsi, Brandon Rodriguez, Danielle Nuding, Lyle Tavernier, and Tracy Drain from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) did a session at the convention about how they got involved in STEM. STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and math. The scientists talked about ways to help students develop skills in the disciplines of STEM. And they took questions from the audience about working in STEM and offering advice to some of the young people there. I absolutely loved seeing this session. Seeing parents bringing their kids to this convention and then prioritizing sessions like this one really made me smile.
Meeting Mary Chieffo
When I decided to go to this
convention and make it a day trip, I knew I couldn’t do everything and see all
the actors. To make the best out of the trip, I was very specific on who I
wanted to see, and Mary Chieffo
was at the very top of the list. In case you don’t know, Mary played the
kickass Klingon Chancellor
L’Rell (or “Mother”) on the last two seasons of Star Trek: Discovery. I believe
that L’Rell is probably one of the best female Klingons we’ve ever seen on any
Star Trek series or movie and its because Mary is such an amazing actress. She
took how the writers wrote the character in the show and made L’Rell really stand
out. It’s like what Andrew Robinson did with Garek on Star Trek: Deep Space
Nine. I’ve been following Mary on Twitter ever since Season 1 of Discovery and
she’s been great about engaging with fans including myself. Meeting her in
person was wonderful! And yes – she’s very tall. I am looking forward to seeing
her in other roles in other TV shows and movies.
BONUS: Meeting Anson Mount
Anson Mount as Captain Pike has been one
of most favorite things about the second season of Star Trek: Discovery. Anson’s
Pike represents exactly how a Starfleet captain should be and how they
represent the values of Starfleet and the Federation. I think this quote from
Captain Pike from the episode “Through
the Valley of Shadows” summarizes exactly who Pike is:
“You are a Starfleet Captain. You believe in service, sacrifice, compassion, and love.”
In going to the convention for just the day, I didn’t anticipate getting to meet any of the other actors outside of Mary. But there was a small moment where the line for Anson wasn’t very long and my gut told me I’d regret it if I didn’t take advantage of the opportunity. So I got in line. And… I got to meet him! I have Captain Pike’s autograph! In support of Anson, I also want to mention he does a podcast too that I think you should check out.
The ANOVOS Booth
There were a handful of vendors I
wanted to see at the convention and ANOVOS
was #1. All my Starfleet uniforms come from them and I’m
a big supporter of the company with lots of cool stuff on order – including
a Star
Trek: Discovery command uniform. Sadly, they did not have their Discovery
uniforms on display at their booth. While at their booth, I did get to check
out their Star Trek Nemesis Type II Hand Phaser as well as the Star Trek:
Discovery Phaser and Phaser Rifle. I’ve got the Discovery Phaser on order. These
props are incredibly accurate and include LED lights and working buttons.
Special shout out to ANOVOS’s John
Cooley who I finally got to meet in person at their booth. John’s been
absolutely fantastic in talking about ANOVOS’s Star Trek products.
And they offered attendees the
ability to purchase their new
Akira Class U.S.S. Thunderchild model from their XL line. And I picked one
up! The Akira Class starship design is one of my favorite starships design
outside of the Enterprises and Discovery.
Shout out to Nils from Eaglemoss
for taking the time to chat about starships.
Other Items of Note
I picked up a copy of the Backers Edition of the
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine documentary “What
We Left Behind”. I was surprised that this didn’t have a heaver presence at
the convention since it was very close to the release date. Instead, they had a
small table in one of the far back corners of the vendors hall. I finished
watching this though and HIGHLY recommend it for any Star Trek fan.
When I picked up my copy of the DS9 doc, I also
met the actor Andy Bray
who played Chekov in the fan-made Star Trek: New Voyages. New Voyages continues
the adventures of the Original Series crew with all the classic set designs,
visual effects, and costumes just as if the show wasn’t canceled in 1969. It
also served as the precursor to the fan-made Star Trek: Continues series. Andy
co-wrote a book with John Lin who played Sulu in New Voyages called “Making
Fake Star Trek”. I picked up a copy which Andy signed.
I am so very glad I fought back my
anxiety and pushed myself to attend this year’s Star Trek Convention in Las
Vegas. I had a ton of fun and I met some of the actors and vendors I’ve always
wanted to meet. And I got to experience the Jean-Luc Picard exhibit too. Upon
reflection, I think I should have at least stayed one night so I could have
enjoyed things without needing to be mindful of the time and getting back to
the airport for my flight home. There were evening activities I might have
enjoyed. I am seriously considering going next year!
And special thanks to Holly Amos for letting me tag along at the convention for a little bit! She is awesome!
NOTE: All pictures taken from the convention were taken using the OnePlus 7 Pro.
It’s been nearly 18 years since we last saw Sir Patrick Stewart in the role of Captain Jean-Luc Picard. And later this year, he’s bringing Captain Picard back in a brand new Star Trek series for CBS All Access – appropriately called “Star Trek: Picard”. We were given a teaser trailer for this new Picard series last month and today CBS released the very first image for the show:
There is even an animated version of the image that was shared on Twitter:
— Star Trek on Paramount+ (@StarTrekOnPPlus) July 10, 2019
We don’t know much about the show’s plot other than it takes place 20 years after the events of Star Trek: Nemesis. We know Picard is no longer in Starfleet and has retired to his family’s vineyard in La Barre, France. We also know that the destruction of Romulus that was shown as happening in the 2009 J.J. Abrams Star Trek movie will also play an important part in the show. As mentioned in the teaser trailer, Picard led one of the largest rescue armadas ever to Romulus. Something happened resulting in Picard retiring as an admiral. And something in this new series brings Picard out of retirement.
I am so excited for this show! We’ll find out more later this month and San Diego Comic-Con.
UPDATE 2023: I was a naive little nerd when I wrote this blog post back in 2019. At the time, I loved the ANOVOS Starfleet uniforms I had purchased and received. I loved the quality and attention to detail. In my mind, I felt like I was owning production-quality uniforms from the various Star Trek shows and movies. I felt that waiting on the things I ordered was acceptable if it meant getting these really cool high-quality unforms. And I had thousands of dollars in pre-orders for more. I wanted to say thanks to the company for their work. They didn’t ask me to write this as I did so on my own. Then in September 2021, it seemed ANOVOS had completely disappeared with what appeared to be members from ANOVOS going on to form this other company called DENUO NOVO. TrekCore reported on the situation. Star Trek fans, including me, who had pre-orders waiting to be fulfilled from ANOVOS were told nothing with absolutely zero communication from ANOVOS about what had happened. It’s 2023 now and there has still not been any communication regarding the outstanding ANOVOS pre-orders. This has been a lesson for me in writing blog posts that seemingly endorse companies like I did here with ANOVOS and looking like a shill and then ended up looking even more stupid. Sadly, the new company DENUO NOVO has the Star Wars license. If you are a Star Wars fan, I highly recommend NOT buying anything from this new company, despite their insistence they have nothing to do with ANOVOS. Clearly, something shady happened with ANOVOS and DENUO NOVO and you should not trust ordering anything from them.
Yesterday, the co-founders of ANOVOS published an article on their website explaining what has been going on with regards to significant delays to many of their products pre-ordered by customers. The cause, they say, is due to “complex burden of accuracy”. The company is making some adjustments to be better at getting products out into the hands of customers. As a customer who has several products pre-ordered that has been delayed (some of which delayed quite a bit…), I wanted to write a letter of support for the company because their products are simply stunning and amazing when you get them and completely worth the wait.
So, who is ANOVOS? ANOVOS
is a small company that specializes in producing screen-accurate and highly
detailed replica costumes and props from Star Wars, Star Trek, Ghostbusters,
Marvel and a few others. Their products are very popular, especially with Star
Wars and Star Trek fans with many fans wearing their product to conventions. Through
their licensors like LucasFilm or CBS, they get access to the exact costumes
and props used in the TV and movies to create their products allowing them to
truly specialize in creating products that are incredibly accurate. And this is
what attracted me to purchasing ANOVOS products: accuracy.
As a Star Trek fan – I’ve always wanted to own screen-accurate
uniforms from the TV shows and movies. When it comes to Star Trek, I am
extremely detailed orientated. DETAILS MATTER! A Star Trek uniform from
Rubie’s isn’t going to cut it for me. I want to feel like what I’m wearing
is exactly what they wore on the show. When ANOVOS came to the table with their
uniforms for Star Trek – I was excited someone was finally doing this and
specializing in accuracy. My very first ANOVOS purchase was the Captain Picard
jacket as seen being worn by Captain Picard in the later seasons of Star Trek:
The Next Generation. And I was blown away by the quality and accuracy. I wore
it around work like Captain Picard wore it around the Enterprise.
The way ANOVOS works is they solicit a product and then open
it up for pre-orders. Usually when they solicit the product, it’s in the
prototype stage with development of the product on-going. The pre-orders are
limited to a certain number or sometimes in waves. Filling that number ensures
they can produce the product. Often, you’re in a waiting game on a product you
pre-order as ANOVOS develops the product for manufacturing. I currently have
several pre-orders – some of which I made nearly two years ago. What has caused
delays in getting products to customers is the process of producing these products
can ben immensely complex due to the focus on accuracy. ANOVOS hopes to make
changes that avoids having to decrease their focus on accuracy but shrinks the
time it takes to get products out to customers.
I completely support ANOVOS in their efforts. But I also don’t
mind waiting. The products I’ve purchased from them have been amazing. I mean,
simply incredible. I’m not upset I have pre-orders going back almost 2 years
because I know what I’ll get will be stunning and reflect incredible quality. The
main issue for me is simply lack of transparency on the ongoing development of
the products I pre-ordered and resulting delays. I want to see ANOVOS do a better
job communicating with customers because I think that will make a HUGE difference.
When you order products from ANOVOS, you’re getting the best-of-the-best so its
best to reset your expectations of having something be immediately available
but know you’re getting something awesome.
I’m currently waiting on several products from ANOVOS I’m
really excited about including:
I am so excited about these products and can’t wait to show them off! ANOVOS has my complete support and as long as they continue to make awesome costumes and props from Star Trek and Ghostbusters, they have my business.
On my way home from work today, I was thinking about how in Star Trek, Starfleet officers can summon the computer to start recording a log entry by using their voice. In Star Trek, Starfleet officers keep a record of their activities aboard their starship by recording logs which are like journal entries. This is particularly important for the senior officers on the starship such as the captain and first officer. This is why episodes of Star Trek often start with a “Captain’s log…”. So I got to thinking how cool it would be if someone were to develop a sort of “Captain’s log” skill for digital assistants like Cortana, Alexa, or Google Assistant where we could use our voice to start a personal log entry and start talking about our day. This would require a really good voice-to-text service and overall incredible voice recognition. This would be like Otter Voice Notes but on steroids. And imagine adding AI to this service so that when you record these logs, AI recognizes certain things like tasks, important events and adds them to lists and calendars automatically.
At the end of the evening, I’d love to be able to say “Hey Cortana, begin recording log entry” and start talking about and reflecting on my day and have things intelligently show up in my Microsoft To-Do lists and Outlook calendar.
20 years ago*, the episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine called “Take Me Out to the Holosuite” aired on TV. In the episode, Captain Sisko is challenged by Captain Solok, an old Vulcan rival from Starfleet Academy, to a game of baseball in the space station’s holosuite. Captain Sisko is a HUGE baseballl fan and refuses to be beaten by Solok and has to train his crew to play baseball. TrekCore did a great article looking back at the episode which I highly recommend reading. But in the episode, Sisko and his crew call their team the “Niners” based after the name of the station and wore baseball uniforms and caps with the following logo on them:
“Niners” Baseball Team Logo
Captain Sisko wearing his “Niners” cap.
To celebrate the 25th anniversary of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – the official Star Trek Shop has a bunch of new merchandise including a baseball cap with the “Niners” patch on it. Excited by this – I bought one. Then ANOVOS announced at San Diego Comic Con this summer they were also doing “Niners” gear to celebrate the DS9 annniversary – also including a baseball cap. So I bought one from ANOVOS too.
The two Niners hats side-by-side. Cap from the Star Trek Shop on the left, Cap from ANOVOS on the right.
TL;DR – the ANOVOS Niners cap is a thousand times better than the official Star Trek Store cap. First issue: the bottom of the bill is green while the bottom of the bill for the cap used in the episode was grey. ANOVOS got it right. Second issue: the patch style of the Niners logo doesn’t match on the cap from the Star Trek Shop while on the ANOVOS cap it matches perfectly with what was seen in the episode. Third issue: the overall quality of the official Star Trek Shop cap is really low while ANOVOS is of high quality. The ANOVOS cap is essentially a exact replica of the one caps used in the actual episode.
I call the issue of the 2 Niners caps out for a couple of reason. The first is I continue to be extremely disappointed at CBS for the quality of merchandise in the official Star Trek Shop. Marvel or Star Wars don’t seem to have this problem. In my view, the lack of quality of merchandise CBS puts in their official Star Trek Shop reflects a lack of respect for the fans on their part. Instead of selling a cheap Niners cap in their store why aren’t they selling the ANOVOS version? The second reason I call this out is because I think the work ANOVOS does on their products is AMAZING. And I thank CBS for continuing to allow ANOVOS to produce amazing Star Trek products.
McFarlane Toys is kicking off a new series of 7-inch Star Trek action-figures starting with Captain Kirk and Captain Picard. These figures just hit stores and my figures arrived today. I collected all of Diamond Select’s Star Trek figures previously (and loved them) so I was naturally curious about what McFarlane’s versions would be like.
I’m going to cut to the chase: their Captain Kirk figure is amazing. So I’m not really going to talk about that figure much. But they really missed the ball on their Captain Picard figure. Details matter on figures I collect and they got a bunch of the details wrong which really disappointed me.
Close-up of McFarlane’s Picard figure.
You can see that they didn’t do a good job getting Picard’s eyes quite right. The rest of his face seems quite a match. It’s his eyes that bug me. But my biggest problem is with the uniform they used for their Picard figure. During the third season of Star Trek: The Next Generation, they transitioned away from using the form-fitting one-piece uniforms seen in Season 1 and 2 and went with a two piece uniform which consisted of pants and shirt that unzipped in the back for all the male cast members (and other male supporting characters like Lt. Barclay). But during that transition, Picard’s uniform was a bit off during the first few episodes of the third season. You had these two seams that ran down the middle of his uniform shirt.
Captain Picard as seen in the first episode of Season 3. Notice the two seams?
This weird uniform style for Picard was seen until the 6th episode of the third season called “Booby Trap”. In that episode – Picard has the uniform shirt that he will have for the remainder of the series.
Captain Picard as seen from the 6th episode of the third season called “Booby Trap”. Notice no seams?
So why did McFarlane Toys choose to model their Picard figure in a uniform style that was used in only 5 episodes of the third season rather than the more familiar uniform style he’s most recognizable in for the series?
Back of the Picard figure.
The other issue is the back of the Picard figure is also not right. It includes no zipper seam going down the middle and the lines are not right.
The quality of these figures is great but its the detail that is lacking and as a collector, details really matter to me. The next two figures in the new McFarlane Toys Star Trek 7-inch action-figures series is Michael Burnham from Star Trek: Discovery and Spock from the Original Series. I’ll definitely be picking them up but I really do hope they pay special attention to getting the details right.
UPDATED on 8/20 to include tweet from Loot Crate on their new Shipping Status page.
Subscription boxes have become popular with different fandoms over the last few years led by Loot Crate and others like Funko. These subscription boxes usually come every 1 to 2 months with a bunch of nerdy exclusives and other goodies based on a theme. I had been a subscriber for Loot Crate’s main subscription boxes – or “crates” – but canceled my subscription because I was finding the contents and themes for the crates hit or miss. Then late last year, Loot Crate announced they would be doing Star Trek subscription boxes. As you can imagine, I jumped on board immediately and bought a subscription for their Star Trek Mission Crates. How could I turn down getting a subscription box filled with Star Trek exclusives in partnership with Quantum Mechanix every 2 months?
Their first Star Trek Mission Crate subscription box was “Wolf 359” themed. It shipped in January in a box that looked like a shuttlecraft from the Original Series. Inside, it came with an exclusive “Locutus” limited edition statue from QMx and some other goodies. I didn’t blog about it here but this post here does a really good review of the box.
Today I received the second Star Trek Mission Crate subscription box which is “Way of the Warrior” themed. “Way of the Warrior” was the title of the 2 part episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine that saw Michael Dorn join the cast as Worf after war breaks out with the Klingon Empire. (Despite taking the theme from DS9, I had a little giggle when I noticed the box was labeled as “The Next Generation”.)
Opening the box revealed all the goodies!Klingon socks, badge, and sticker with Mirror Universe tribble and Worf!Worf looks pretty badass!
The box included:
A Worf “Master Series” Limited Edition Statue from QMx.
A Mirror Universe Tribble from QMx.
A pair of Klingon socks.
A Klingon emblem badge from QMx.
A Klingon sticker.
A Star Trek: Discovery Lapel Pin.
Everything is this subscription box was awesome. I believe the Discovery lapel pin was handed out at the 2018 Office Star Trek Convention in Las Vegas earlier this month and since I couldn’t attend – I was glad to score one through this way! I have no complaints about the box. This Star Trek fan is impressed.
However, I do have a general complaint about my overall experience with the Star Trek Mission Crate subscription. I feel like Loot Crate is struggling a bit to fulfill the promise of shipping these boxes every 2-months. The second Star Trek Mission Crate subscription box was supposed to arrive in March. And it was supposed to be “Dark Frontier” themed after the 2-part Star Trek: Voyager episode “Dark Frontier” and feature Seven of Nine in some fashion. In May, I received an email saying this box was delayed and was expected to ship mid-July. That’s the last thing I heard about that box. Then in early July, I received an email saying that the “Way of the Warrior” box was delayed until late July. No word on what happened with the “Dark Frontier” box. Then on July 31st, I got another email saying the “War of the Warrior” box was delayed again to mid-August. The box finally arrived but still no word on the “Dark Frontier” box. It has been almost 7 months between boxes. I really want to see Loot Crate be more transparent about what’s going on with these boxes, which boxes are supposed to ship when etc.
Overall though, I’ve been very impressed with the 2 Star Trek Mission Crates I’ve received so far and really excited for more!
UPDATED: Loot Crate responded to my tweet about this blog post alerting me to their new Shipping Status page. It just launched.
Hi Brandon. Thanks for this review and feedback! With regard to information, we do have a Shipping Status update page live now which we will continue to update with ETAs for future crates: https://t.co/RMnoIeTCfG
