By Ben Robinson, Marcus Riley and Mark Wright

Hero Collector, out now

The artwork and stories behind the designs of dozens of Star Trek starships, from the first sketches to the finished art.

Unlike the Shipyards series of books from Hero Collector which presents starships in-universe (e.g. these things can really fly) the Designing Starships books of concept art acknowledge that they were actually created in the 20th and 21st centuries from the minds of artists like Matt Jeffries, John Eaves, Rick Sternbach, Andrew Probert and Jim Martin, and then share these stories with us.

What’s fascinating about this volume, which is presented in full colour on quality paper, is just how some of the designs were nailed right from the very beginning, while others went through countless iterations before being locked down. There’s 42 vessels from different incarnations of the show, from TOS’ classic Klingon Battlecruiser and The Motion Picture’s Vulcan Warp Sled to Shinzon’s jagged Scimitar from Nemesis and Archer’s Toy Ship from Enterprise.

Ricardo Delgado’s design of DS9 is a thing of beauty, akin to Bespin Cloud City floating on a rock. There’s also a commentary for each vessel, discussing the origins and evolution of the designs. The Defiant has come a long way since Jim Martin’s original design, and as expected, Rick Sternbach confirms he was inspired by the Egyptians for the Cardassian Galor class warship.

Verdict: Knowing the back story of some of the classic Star Trek vessels makes you appreciate the designs even more, and there’s a whole bunch of them here to savour. 9/10

Nick Joy

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