Real world article
(written from a Production point of view)
(written from a Production point of view)
Star Trek: Ships of the Line (2015) is the 2015 edition of the Star Trek: Ships of the Line calendar series. Events depicted in this calendar are not considered to be canon.
Summary
- Publisher's description
- A longtime favorite among Trekkers and sci-fi fans, Star Trek: Ships of the Line 2015 Wall Calendar gives even aficionados something they can't get elsewhere – spectacular illustrations of the ships and vessels from the Star Trek television series, films, and rich lore.
- Star Trek: Ships of the Line's unique horizontal format maximizes the image space without sacrificing practicality or detail.
- Excerpts of copyrighted sources are included for review purposes only, without any intention of infringement.
Months
- Cover ("Vanguard Down") – The USS Enterprise and Starbase 47 under attack from the Tholians (from: Storming Heaven, cover), by Doug Drexler.
- January ("Explorers") – The refit-Enterprise NX-01 in flight above a nebulae, by Jenny DeSalle and Ali Ries.
- February ("Xindi-Reptilian") – The refit-Enterprise NX-01 chasing two Xindi-Reptilian starships, by Jenny DeSalle and Ali Ries.
- March ("Zero Hour") – The USS Enterprise-E after saucer separation in orbit of a planet with at least four moons, together with shuttlecraft, Shuttle 227, and Shuttle 469, by John Eaves.
- As usual with Eaves, this is a painted spread, not a CGI creation.
- April ("Prowling") – A Klingon D4-class battle cruiser orbiting a moon, by Douglas E. Graves.
- May ("Leif Ericson") – The USS Enterprise escorting the Leif Ericson near a ringed planet, by Gabriel Koerner.
- June ("USS Titan") – The USS Titan approaches a Watchtower-class (β) starbase above a class M planet, by Tobias Richter.
- Centerfold ("Starbase Bajor Proposal") – Construction of Starbase Bajor (from: Raise the Dawn, cover), by Doug Drexler.
- July ("Assault on the Moons of Nibia") – Four Saber-class starships – USS Garza (β), USS Sanders (β), USS Sentry (β), and USS Peterson (β) – are attacking a moon base while under fire from said station, by D.M. Phoenix.
- August ("Joint Operations") – The USS Enterprise-A and USS Reliant exchange supplies through shuttlecraft, by Alain Rivard.
- September ("Wolf 359 + 8 days") – Starfleet utility vessels retrieve the wreckage and desolate ships left in the aftermath of the Battle of Wolf 359, by Andrew Probert.
- As usual with Probert, this is a painted spread, not a CGI creation.
- October ("Occupation") – Three Klingon K't'inga-class and two D5-class battle cruisers docked at Deep Space 9, by Alain Rivard.
- November ("Romulan War") – A new type of Romulan Bird-of-Prey engages three pod-launching Daedalus-class starships, including USS Archon and USS Essex, during the Romulan War, by Dan Uyeno.
- December ("Sisters") – Refit-Enterprise NX-01 and the USS Enterprise side by side above a class M planet, by Michael Wiley.
Background information
- Gabriel Koerner's May spread featured a ship, the Leif Ericson, which actually had a long association history with the Star Trek franchise. Already designed by Star Trek: The Original Series Art Director Matt Jefferies in 1968, several attempts were made to have the design incorporated into the official franchise, none of which came to fruition. Koerner co-built the CGI model with Doug Drexler (who is a huge admirer of Jefferies) a year previously for the second episode "Lolani" of the fan film series Star Trek Continues, where it was featured as an Orion ship. Koerner's entry for this calendar outing finally constituted the design's formal entry into the official franchise, appropriately under the original name it was originally designed as.
- Andrew Probert's September spread was eagerly awaited by some fans due to its Battle of Wolf 359 theme. Probert has actually already started in 2011 with designing the utility tug for this spread. He recalled, "This whole idea came about when a fan suggested that I design a new Starfleet Deep Space Tug & Repair Ship for the calendar a couple of years ago. I already was into another idea at the time but started playing around with the idea because it intrigued me. As time went by, I continued to sketch up various concepts but nothing looked quite right. I eventually expanded its role to lifeboat rescue (the four docking ports on top) added a shuttle bay, a mid-hull cargo section, and more clearly defined the 'service deck' (flat area on the "bottom") which incorporates an inverted gravity field within its two decks. That allows those working on repairing & servicing smaller ships that have "landed" on that surface to have a 'heads-up' orientation to that surface. Incorporating its own exterior gravity plates, ships and personal could use it as an Earth-bound strip of tarmac. With flexible side 'arms' extending from the sides, that same surface may also be used to store large (or segments of) ships for transport to a repair base. Two tractor beam emitters are mounted at the rear for towing, with cable winches available as tangible backups. Finally, there are the obligatory phaser strips as a security measure." [1](X) Originally slated for the 2014 edition, it featured wreckage of ships seen in the television episodes TNG: "The Best of Both Worlds, Part II" and DS9: "Emissary", such as the USS Ahwahnee, USS Bellerophon, USS Kyushu, USS Princeton, USS Saratoga, USS Yamaguchi, and the one or two Constitution-class wreckage.
- This was the third outing in the Ships of the Line calendar series, which saw an internationally released variant edition by Danilo Promotions Limited for the UK and the Commonwealth. This time though, it was a reprint of the US 2014 edition, with the same contents, though, again, there were some slight editorial differences; the UK edition lacked the centerfold, but the interior art was less encumbered with text imprint as the individual dates were printed on the bottom in a separate bar.
Gallery
Solicitation cover
Back cover
January spread
February spread
May spread
July spread
August spread
Cover, UK edition
Back cover, UK edition
February spread, UK edition
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