I'll be back, though it takes forever

[austin_dern]

At the risk of being trivial on a grim day, and of sounding like the fanboy I am, I'm cheered to find that AMT/ERTL has decided to reissue a couple of its Star Trek model kits. Responding to anonymous customer requests they're issuing a ``movie 3-set'' with the pre-refit NCC-1701, NCC-1701-A, and NCC-1701-D. They're also shipping a ``TV 3-set'' with the NCC-1701-B, C, and E. This suggests the people organizing the kits didn't watch the shows too closely, but it'll be nice to get the whole sweep. They're also issuing Ferengi, Klingon, and Romulan ships, all from Modern Trek and thus none all that interesting. Still, I've been thirsty to build a couple Enterprises and I'm glad for that news.

And David Gerrold's publishers at Ben Bella Books have made a free download of his book, The Trouble With Tribbles, about the making of the episode and some of its impact. The book is the second of an estimated three trillion behind-the-scenes-of-Star-Trek books, and one of the best. They're issuing it as a free PDF e-Book to promote Gerrold's latest re-selling of his old ``Tomorrow Was Yesterday'' Star Trek spec script (no relation to the time-travel story with the incoherent ending), which is in the Tribbles book and which by my count he's turned into Yesterday's Children, Star Trek: The Galactic Whirlpool, Yesterday's Children: The Extended Edition, and the Voyage of the Star Wolf line. The site includes endorsements from Robert Sawyer, Jerry Pournelle, and Larry Niven, so we are adequately warned. Still, The Trouble with Tribbles, the book, is good reading.

Trivia: Captain James Cook got his first good look at kangaroos on 7 July 1770. Source: Discoveries: The Voyages of Captain Cook, Nicholas Thomas.

Currently Reading: The Devil in the White City, Erik Larson.

Comments

It is nice to...

[reptilemammal.livejournal.com]

Not talk about disturbing things, I am sure many folks will update their blogs with their feelings about the incident that has occurred, but sadly I am starting to accept it just a factor of the day and age and the incivility of humans.

So talking about Star Trek is by far a far more entertaining topic. Whether it is their mor utopian society or their spaceships. Now are these the snap-tight versions I remeber from long ago or full blown ... scale models?

Re: It is nice to...

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

If they haven't changed the model moulds -- and for a reissue it's hard to see why they would -- then these are real scale models, requiring glue and temporary jigs to assemble them, and even then pieces won't quite fit. The good old models.

Snap-tight kits aren't necessarily bad, though. The Polar Lights original series Enterprise is a delight to build, and rather more accurate than AMT/ERTL's similar kit ever was, and doesn't take a drop of glue.