So, are the Targaryens immune to fire?

This is a question that has come up regularly in the twenty years since A Game of Thrones was first published but even moreso since the advent of the TV series five years ago. The events of this week's episode, Book of the Stranger, have raised the question yet again, so it bears some revisiting.

As usual, we have to remember that there is a distinct and separate book canon and a distinct and separate TV canon. The two stories take place in distinct fictional universes and, although the TV show draws on the book storyline, it is not the same story and can differ from it, sometimes subtly and sometimes quite wildly. What is canon in the books may have no bearing on the TV show and vice versa.


In the book canon

In the Song of Ice and Fire novels, the Targaryens are not immune to fire as a matter of course. Long exposure to living in a land dominated by volcanic activity, with the city of Valyria itself built around rivers of lava, may have given the Valyrians - including the Targaryens - a very moderate, increased resistance to heat. But that's all. The difference is not massive. As George R.R. Martin says:

"It gives me a chance to clear up a common misconception. TARGARYENS ARE NOT IMMUNE TO FIRE! The birth of Dany's dragons was unique, magical, wondrous, a miracle. She is called The Unburnt because she walked into the flames and lived. But her brother sure as hell wasn't immune to that molten gold."
"So she won't be able to do it again?"
"Probably not."

In addition:

"Lastly, some fans are reading too much into the scene in GAME OF THRONES where the dragons are born -- which is to say, it was never the case that all Targaryens are immune to all fire at all times."

We see ourselves that Viserys was not immune to the molten heat of the pot of gold dumped over his head by Khal Drogo in Vaes Dothrak, and during the Dance of Dragons several Targaryens burned to death in dragonback battles.

So the question arises, how did Daenerys survive the funeral pyre in Lhazar at the end of A Game of Thrones? The simple answer is magic. Mirri Maz Duur had already used magic to save Khal Drogo's life (if only as a vegetable), drawing from the life of Daenerys's unborn child. When Daenerys burned Mirri Maz Duur alive on the funeral pyre, along with Drogo's body and the three dragon eggs, it created a magical catalyst that allowed the dragon eggs to hatch (the lack of blood sacrifice may be why the previous Targaryen eggs had not hatched, although this doesn't explain the failure at Summerhall where many lives were lost trying to hatch eggs). It might be that just killing Duur with the eggs and fire present was enough, or that Daenerys's act of faith (stepping into the flames) furthered things along, or the magical influence of the comet may have helped. An additional theory is that Mirri Maz Duur herself was in the middle of trying to work some black magic to try to escape and this backfired and allowed the eggs to hatch and Daenerys to emerge unharmed.

George's commentary on the matter is clear: this was a one-off, magical event that will probably never happen again, unless similar circumstances arise.

Some readers dispute this, pointing out that Daenerys survives the conflagration in Daznak's Pit at the end of A Dance with Dragons. This is true, but Daenerys is wounded during the incident, suffering blisters and pain from the heat. Daenerys got lucky (or Drogon was careful not to hurt her), avoiding the flames directly but still suffering after-effects.

So the answer to this question is clear: in the books Daenerys is not immune to fire at all times and can still be harmed by it.

In the TV canon

The TV series Game of Thrones leaves considerably less room to argue. In the first episode of the series, Winter is Coming, Daenerys gets into a scalding-hot bath and doesn't bat an eyelid. In A Golden Crown she picks up one of her dragon eggs after placing it in a brazier for several minutes and is unharmed. When her handmaid Irri touches the same egg, she burns her hands. In Valar Morghulis Daenerys is chained up whilst her dragons breath fire around her to kill the warlock Pyat Pree. The warlock is incinerated but Daenerys is completely unfazed by it.

Finally, in this week's episode Daenerys overturns four braziers in the Temple of the Dhosh Khaleen in Vaes Dothrak and burns the temple to the ground whilst she is standing in the middle of it. Afterwards she walks out completely unharmed, having apparently made the conscious decision to use her flame-immunity to cow the Dothraki into following her.

The Inside the Episode video that HBO posts for each episode is also fairly clear on the matter: this is an ability that Daenerys has at all times. So again the answer is clear: in the TV series Daenerys is immune to fire at all times and cannot be harmed by it.

The question of "Why?" is an interesting one. Viserys clearly was not immune to fire when he was killed in A Golden Crown. It may be something in the consistency of the molten gold that allowed it to kill him, but more likely the immunity to fire is something unique to Daenerys. If you believe that she is the Prince Who Was Promised rather than Jon Snow (or if they both are, somehow), it may have something more to do with that. It will be interesting to see if the show expands on this or leaves it more open to interpretation.

The next question is "How will this go down in the books?" We'll have to wait for The Winds of Winter to find out, but the situation in the books is already different: Daenerys had Drogon by her side when the Dothraki arrived, so the situation will play out in a different manner.

Star Trek at 50: The USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-C)

The Ambassador-class USS Enterprise (registry number NCC-1701-C), built by the United Federation of Planets circa 2329-32. The ship was commissioned and launched in 2332 under the command of Captain Rachel Garrett, its only commanding officer. The Enterprise-C was lost at the Battle of Narendra III in 2344, having served for twelve years. It was destroyed in battle with four Romulan warbirds. Its destruction whilst defending a Klingon outpost paved the way for the Klingon-Federation Alliance.

Class History

Circa 2290, Starfleet began mass-production of the Excelsior class of starship. Considerably larger, faster and more powerful than the Constitution class (which was then phased out of service and retired), the Excelsior became the mainstay of Starfleet for almost a century, its spaceframe proving highly adaptable and easily upgraded to deal with new mission requirements and threats. The long lifespan of the Excelsior may have also been helped by the relative period of peace that descended following the Khitomer Accords of 2293: the Federation and the Klingon Empire entered into a more fruitful and cooperative relationship, which also seems to have discouraged aggression by other powers such as the Romulans, Tholians and Gorn.

By the late 2310s, however, the Federation saw the need to begin development of a new heavy starship design which could replace the Excelsior class. Increased contact with the Cardassian Union, previously a smaller power which had now launched a series of aggressive moves into the surrounding systems and in 2319 launched a devastating invasion of Bajor, may have been one reason for this decision. Gradually decreasing contact with the Romulans after 2314 and the fear that the Romulans were consolidating and rebuilding their forces may have also spurred a renewed period of Starfleet development.

That said, the Federation did not want to upset the balance of power in the Alpha Quadrant and was keen that this new ship's primary role would be peaceful, devoted to scientific research and diplomacy over combat. The new class was thus dubbed the Ambassador. The first ship of the class appears to have been launched in the late 2320s. Several more ships were laid down and under construction when word arrived in 2329 that the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-B) had been lost in deep space after thirty-six years in service. The decision was made that one of the new ships would be dubbed Enterprise in honour of her service and the ships that came before her.

By the 2340s several dozen Ambassador class starships were in service and performing with distinction. Despite their formidable qualities, the ships appear to have not satisfied the need for a replacement for the Excelsior: there was rarely a situation which an Excelsior couldn't handle which an Ambassador could, and the continuing upgradeability of the Excelsior class simply made it more economical in terms of resources and construction time. It appears that by the mid-2340s the decision had been made to abandon the Ambassador class design in favour of an vastly more ambitious scheme: the Galaxy Project.

Operational History

The USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-C) was launched in 2332 under the command of Captain Rachel Garrett. One of the youngest Starfleet captains commissioned since James T. Kirk, Garrett was noted for her toughness, excellent command judgement and canny command skills. Over the next dozen years the Enterprise-C dealt with dozens of tense diplomatic encounters, difficult science missions and several military engagements, from which the ship always emerged victorious. During this period the Romulans, who had become more reclusive, began a new period of aggressive skirmishing with both the Federation and Klingon Empire. The Klingons were also engaged in an eighteen-year period of conflict with the Cardassian Union which the Federation also refused to get involved with. An apparently tepid response by the Federation to these threats angered the Klingons, who, having recovered from the destruction of Praxis fifty years earlier, had begun having second thoughts about their new peaceful relationship with the Federation.

This brinkmanship resulted in the Battle of Narendra III in 2344. Four Romulan warbirds launched a direct assault on the Klingon colony at Narendra III, inflicting severe damage on the planet. The colony sent out a request for aid, which the Enterprise-C responded to. Although the ship was outgunned it nevertheless committed to the battle, inflicting severe damage on the Romulan vessels. Halfway through the engagement the damaged Enterprise-C suddenly underwent a spontaneous regeneration of its shields and weapon systems, suggesting that the Federation had developed some kind of new weapons technology, but the matter remains classified. Despite its valour, the Enterprise-C was destroyed with all hands. The ferocity of the attack had destroyed some of the Romulan ships and damaged the rest so badly they were forced to withdraw, saving the outpost from destruction (Star Trek: The Next Generation: Yesterday's Enterprise and Redemption, Part II).

Although the loss of the Enterprise-C was a serious blow to Starfleet, it had a remarkable effect. The Klingon Empire honoured the crew of the ship and convinced the Federation to renew diplomatic and military pressure on the Romulan Star Empire to cease its warmongering. This resulted in a brief tripartite peace agreement between the Federation, Romulans and Klingons. However, this lasted just two years before the Romulans broke the agreement and launched an attack on Khitomer in 2346. The ferocity of the attack stunned both the Federation and Klingons and almost resulted in war. This was only averted when the Federation instead found itself in a war with the Cardassian Union and the Klingons were distracted by internal politics. The Romulans, perhaps aware that they had nearly triggered a conflict they could not win, retreated entirely behind their borders for the next twenty years.

As usual, Starfleet moved to name a new starship Enterprise. However, aware of the Galaxy Project they decided not to name a new ship immediately and hold back until that project reached fruition.


Ship Overview

The Enterprise-C was an Ambassador class starship, launched in 2332 and destroyed in 2344. It was an early-model Ambassador, featuring less advanced weapons and sensors than the models that entered service in the 2340s and 2350s like the USS Excalibur (probably the most famous ship of the class after the Enterprise), but still outclassing anything else in the Federation, Klingon or Romulan arsenals.

The Enterprise-C was 524 metres (1,720 feet) long, 283 metres wide (928.5 feet) and 102 metres (334.6 feet) tall. It had at least 700 crew, although some ships of the class by the late 24th Century may have had closer to a thousand. The ship had 33 decks and was the first class to use phase "strips" rather than the "banks" containing multiple phaser cannons used on previous designs. These strips allowed phaser fire to be directed from anywhere on their surface, massively expanding the angles of fire the ship could employ. This was tremendously useful when it came to handling multiple attackers simultaneously.

Andrew Probert's concept art for the Enterprise-C from ST:TNG's first season. He envisaged the ship as an evolutionary stage between the Excelsior and Ambassador classes.

Behind the Scenes

When Star Trek: The Next Generation entered production in 1987, the set of the meeting room was decorated with stylised versions of the previous ships to bear the name. It was assumed that the Enterprise-B would be an Excelsior-class starship, but the design of the Enterprise-C was unknown. Andrew Probert, who had designed the Enterprise-D and worked on the movies, created a sort of stumpy version of the Galaxy-class, which also drew on elements from the Excelsior as a kind of halfway house between the two. He also drew a colour sketch of what he imagined the ship looked like.

During the production of Season 3 two years later, it was decided to film a script called Yesterday's Enterprise. In this script the Enterprise-C is flung twenty-two years into the future and creates an alternate timeline in which the Federation is at war with the Klingons. The ship has to be sent back to restore the timeline. Rick Sternbach was tasked with designing the ship in a hurry and on a budget, so was able to just tweak Probert's design. Model-maker Greg Jein produced the final ship model for $10,000. This was a lot to spend on the model for a new ship, but it was helped by the fact that the studio had given the team a budget hike for the episode as it was going to air in a ratings "sweeps" week.

Yesterday's Enterprise was a massive, smash-hit success. It would go on to be named several times as the best-ever episode of the entire Star Trek franchise (although today it generally shares that honour with The Inner Light, The Best of Both Worlds, City on the Edge of Forever, In the Pale Moonlight and Far Beyond the Stars).

The Ambassador-class model was redetailed and altered to appear in subsequent episodes such as Redemption and the Deep Space Nine pilot, Emissary, but made no subsequent appearance. No CGI shooting model was ever built, leading fans to conclude that the Ambassador never fulfilled its original purpose of filling in between the Excelsior and Galaxy classes, with the Excelsior simply proving a much more successful and longer-lasting design than anyone had ever envisaged.

STAR WARS: ROGUE ONE images and information (SPOILERS)

Some publicity images and information from the forthcoming movie Star Wars: Rogue One have leaked onto the Internet from publishers involved in licensing tie-in material for the film.

This information includes a more complete cast list for the film:

• Felicity Jones as Jyn Erso
• Diego Luna as Captain Cassian Andor of the Rebel Alliance
• Riz Ahmed as Bodhi Rook, a Rebel soldier
• Ben Mendelsohn as Director Krennic of the Galactic Empire
• Donnie Yen as Chirrut, a "spiritual" warrior
• Jiang Wen as Baze, a freelance assassin
• Mads Mikkelsen as Galen Erso, Jyn's father
• Alan Tudyk as K-250, an enforcer droid
• Jonathan Aris as Senator Jebel
• Genevieve O'Reilly as Mon Mothma

The names of Forest Whitaker, Alistair Petrie and Eunice Olumide's characters remain unknown, whilst two "fierce warrior" alien characters named Pao and Bistan are identified but with no actors linked to them. The leak also appears to support earlier rumours that Darth Vader will appear in the film in at least a brief and limited capacity, likely played by Spencer Wilding (Game of Thrones) and voiced by James Earl Jones.

The information also confirms that we will see X-wings and Y-wings in the film, but also a previously unknown fighter type known as the U-wing and a hitherto unseen TIE model called the TIE Striker, which appears to have been optimised for atmospheric combat.

Star Wars: Rogue One will be released on 16 December 2016.

Obsidian Entertainment are working on three games

Obsidian Entertainment have confirmed that they currently have three titles at varying stages of development.

A screenshot from the forthcoming Tyranny.

First up is Tyranny, a roleplaying game that they are developing for Paradox, due for release later this year. This game is set in a world where the bad guys have already won and the dark lord is in control of the land.

Second is Pillars of Eternity II. The original Pillars of Eternity (which I really need to get back to) was a big success and made Obsidian a solid amount of profit. A sequel is a no-brainer. However, this is in a rather early stage of development and Obsidian are still considering going back to Kickstarter for the sequel.

Most intriguingly, they have also got a third game under development in secret. This third game is, specifically, being worked on by Tim Cain, the creator of Fallout and former head honcho at Troika, Troika being the company that worked on Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines using the then-cutting edge 3D Source Engine. The new game is using the now-cutting edge 3D Unreal 4 Engine, and Obsidian's new partners-in-crime Paradox recently gained the Vampire licence when they, er, bought the entire company lock, stock and barrel. Fans are already running around screaming in hope that Obsidian and Paradox may be collaborating on a new Vampire game with some of the same team who made Bloodlines working on it. Paradox also recently bought the specific Bloodlines trademarks and rights, which would allow them to make a direct sequel or remake the first game. There is also the possibility that this new game might be related to Obsidian's recent partnership with Paizo Publishing to make video games based on the Pathfinder RPG system.

The Lost Reviews: Part 9 - Season 2, Episodes 13-20

Welcome to the Lost rewatch project. I am currently rewatching all 121 episodes of the TV series which aired for six seasons from 2004 to 2010. This is very much a rewatch thread, with the show watched with knowledge of what is to come in later seasons. If you've never watched Lost before, you definitely do not want to read this blog series.

Without further ado, let us continue after the jump.

 "There's a new sherrif in town."

First set pics from THE DARK TOWER movie

The first set pics have leaked from The Dark Tower, a movie based on Stephen King's eight-volume fantasy series. They depict Idris Elba in the lead role of Roland Deschain and various other crewmembers, locations and costumes.

The Dark Tower has just begun filming and is expected to be released in January 2017.

Star Trek at 50: The USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-B)

The Excelsior (variant)-class USS Enterprise (registry number NCC-1701-B), built by the United Federation of Planets circa 2290-93. The ship was commissioned and launched in late 2293 under the command of Captain John Harrison. The Enterprise-B was lost in 2329, having served for thirty-six years, making it the second-longest-serving Enterprise after the Constitution-class version.

Class History

In the late 2260s and early 2270s Starfleet made the decision to radically overhaul its fleet of starships and outfit them with the latest technology. This led to the creation of more compact and efficient ships like the Miranda class and the refitting of the venerable Constitution class (in service since the early 2240s). The decision was also made to develop a new and very formidable heavy cruiser, a new flagship class for the fleet. This ship would be outfitted with weapons and defences that would dwarf older ships and would also be outfitted for long-term, deep-space exploration and scientific research.

There would also be another requirement for this ship: it would be the fastest ship in the fleet and the fastest in Federation history. Breakthroughs in warp science had led to the creation of the transwarp theory, which could propel a ship from a standing start to speeds surpassing Warp 9.9 in seconds and then sustain that speed safely and indefinitely. This would allow Federation starships to travel between systems in hours rather than days, between sectors in days rather than weeks and traverse known space in a couple of months rather than in two years or more. It would confer on the Federation a massive strategic advantage over potential enemies, and rapidly increase the speed of its  exploration of the galaxy.

So was born the "Great Experiment", the transwarp drive, and the need to design and build a new spaceframe capable of handling it. It was decided to draw on the highly successful primary/secondary hull arrangement of the Constitution class but in a vessel that was almost twice the size. By the late 2270s this design had been finalised and construction of the pathfinder/prototype ship of the class began in great secrecy. That ship was designated USS Excelsior, construction number NX-2000.

The Excelsior was completed in 2285 and transferred to Earth's new Spacedock facility to begin field tests on its transwarp drive under the auspices of Captain Styles. Captain of Engineering Montgomery Scott, respected for his two decades of service on the USS Enterprise, was transferred to Excelsior to help with the trials. However, Admiral James T. Kirk stole the Enterprise to undertake an unauthorised mission. Scott joined him, sabotaging the Excelsior's transwarp control computer so it could not pursue. This resulted in an unplanned system cascade failure that immobilised the entire ship. The Excelsior had to be towed back into Spacedock for repairs (Star Trek III: The Search for Spock).

"The Great Experiment", USS Excelsior (NCC-2000). Designed in the 2270s, built circa 2280-84 and completed in 2285. The ship was finally commissioned in the late 2280s and undertook its first long-term mission under Captain Hikaru Sulu in 2290-93.

No sooner was the ship operational again then the "whalesong" crisis of 2286 took place and the Excelsior was shut down and neutralised by an alien probe entering Earth orbit, along with the entire Spacedock and the USS Yorktown (soon to be renamed the Enterprise-A). Based on the subsequent disastrous performance of the Yorktown, it could be that the Excelsior was likewise adversely affected by the alien probe's passing and took some time to return to operational status (Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home).

The Excelsior finally began its much-delayed transwarp test missions circa 2287, but by 2289 these trials had concluded unsuccessfully: the transwarp drive was a failure, unable to sustain the transwarp field for very long and unable to deliver the promised speeds. However, although the transwarp drive itself was proclaimed a failure, the ship's spaceframe design was considered excellent and performed even better than had been expected in non-transwarp-related areas. In 2289-90 Starfleet finally formally commissioned the starship, redesignating it NCC-2000 and refitted it with a standard warp drive system. Captain Hikaru Sulu, formerly of the Enterprise, was placed in command of the Excelsior for its first three-year mission cataloguing gaseous anomalies in star systems in the more distant regions of the Beta Quadrant. The Excelsior was returning to Federation territory via the Neutral Zone when the Klingon moon Praxis exploded. A subspace shockwave damaged the Excelsior, which alerted the Federation to the situation. Sulu continued to monitor subsequent events, such as the trial of Captain Kirk for the murder of Chancellor Gorkon, and brought the Excelsior to Khitomer to support the Enterprise. The two starships bracketed and destroyed the Klingon Bird of Prey commanded by the treacherous General Chang, helping to end the crisis (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country).

Starfleet also began building a series of new ships using the same spaceframe and design, now confirmed as the Excelsior-class. This class of starship would soon become the mainstay of Starfleet, with at least dozens and possibly hundreds of starships of this design being built over the next century. The Excelsior-class was still serving with honour and distinction during the Dominion War (2373-75) and ships of this class helped welcome the USS Voyager home after its seven-year exodus to the Delta Quadrant (2378). The Excelsior-class even outlasted the class that had been intended to replace it, the Ambassador, and construction of the ships only began to fall off with the introduction of the more versatile Galaxy class in the 2360s.

With the Excelsior-class entering full production circa 2290, the decision was also made to revamp and revise the design with a variant class which was even more powerful. The decision what to name the first ship of this variant was made when Starfleet - controversially - decided to retire the Constitution-class in 2293.

The USS Enterprise encounters the Nexus energy ribbon on its maiden voyage in 2293.

Operational History

Starfleet had planned to build a series of Excelsior-class starships since designing the ship in the late 2270s. However, it only enacted this plan once the spaceframe for the ship had been tested in the field. Construction of the first batch of ships began circa 2289/90, with at least one of these ships being of the new variant type. The variant type was equipped with additional impulse drives to deliver greater performances at sublight and had its hull design expanded to accommodate greater cargo and living space.

When it was announced that the Constitution-class USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-A) was being retired after seven years in service, it was decided that the first ship of the variant class would be named the USS Enterprise, NCC-1701-B. The Enterprise-B was formally commissioned and launched in late 2293, just a few months after the Enterprise-A was retired following the Battle of Khitomer. Captain John Harriman was placed in command for its maiden voyage. However, Starfleet decided to invite Captain James T. Kirk and two of his former crewmen, Captain Scott and Commander Chekov, on the mission. During this mission the Enterprise-B received a distress call from an El-Aurian ship trapped in an energy ribbon known as the Nexus. The Enterprise-B successfully executed a rescue mission, but suffered severe damage to the secondary hull in the process. During this mission it appeared that Captain James T. Kirk had been killed. However, classified documents later confirmed that Kirk had been drawn into the Nexus (which acted as the gateway to a parallel universe) itself. He escaped in 2371 and was finally killed battling an El-Aurian terrorist named Soran (Star Trek: Generations).

Despite this inauspicious start, the Enterprise-B went on to serve with great distinction and honour. The ship became one of the more decorated to bear the name Enterprise before its destruction in 2329, after thirty-six years in service. It only narrowly missed out on the record set by the Constitution-class Enterprise (NCC-1701), which served for forty years (2245-85).

Ship Overview

The Enterprise-B was a variant Excelsior-class starship, predominantly based on the pathfinder/prototype design of the USS Excelsior but differing in several key respects. The Enterprise-B was one of the first Federation starships designed with a separable saucer section which was designed to operate autonomously and then rejoin the rest of the ship later on. This required the addition of two impulse drives to the saucer to allow it to function by itself. The engineering hull was also modified to allow for more cargo and living space. This proved helpful as the Enterprise-B's very first mission was an evacuation one, and this space allowed more people to be placed on board.

This variant of the standard Excelsior design later fell out of favour, with only a few other starships (such as the USS Lakota) using the same design. The relative infrequency with which the variants needed to engage in saucer separations and the much greater cost/benefit ratio of the standard class saw the Federation switch back to using the original Excelsior design from the early 2300s onwards.

*The Enterprise-B was 511.25 metres (1,677 feet) long, 195.64 metres (642 feet) wide and 86.76 meters (285 feet) tall. The ship had about 30 decks. It had a crew of approximately 750 and employed 10 dual emitter phaser banks and 6 photon torpedo tubes, some of them aft-facing. This contrasted dramatically with the Constitution-class's more modest 6 dual emitter phasers and 2 forward-facing photon torpedo tubes. The Enterprise-B could sustain Warp 9 for considerably longer than its predecessor, with a cruising speed of Warp 7 (compared to Warp 5 for the previous ship).

* The sizing of the Excelsior class has been problematic ever since the original ship was designed in 1983, as the ILM effects crew did not actually decide on a scale for the ship. Aside from the general idea that it was a bigger ship than the Enterprise, no final size determination was made. This was complicated by the lack of details on the model to compare to set details (i.e. the Excelsior bridge was a simple dome with no roof window or other element to compare to the size of the actual bidge set) and the fact that the ship model was deliberately built to be smaller and easier to shoot than the massive and ungainly Enterprise studio model. The matter was address by scaling shots in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country showing the two ships next to each other, with the Excelsior dwarfing the Enterprise.

The matter was supposed to be settled by the publication of The Deep Space Nine Technical Manual, which gave the figures above for the size of the Excelsior-class, apparently drawing on the CGI models built for Deep Space Nine's last two seasons. Although "official", these figures are not necessarily canon and contrasting figures of c. 450 metres (for length) and only 500 crewmembers are given in other sources.

The USS Excelsior confronting a Klingon K'Tinga-class battlecruiser in 2293.

Behind the Scenes
The decision to build a new, "super" Federation starship was made by producer Harve Bennett during the writing of Star Trek III: The Seach for Spock. The script called for the Excelsior, a ship larger and more powerful than the Enterprise, but coming from the same design family: a B-29 bomber compared to the original ship's B-17. David Carson and Nilo Rodis-Jamaro of Industrial Light and Magic were predominantly responsible for early designs of the ship, with Bill George finalising the design.

The idea was that the new ship would make the Enterprise feel antiquated, until Scotty turns the tables and sabotages the ship. However, many Star Trek fans liked the Excelsior - it was actually only the third Federation starship class to ever appear on screen after the Constitution and Miranda (a fourth, the Oberth, appeared only minutes later in Star Trek III) - and it went on to make brief appearances in Star Trek IV and V. In Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country the ship played a larger role as Sulu was promoted to Captain and placed in command of the ship. It also played a key role in Flashback, a third season episode of Star Trek: Voyager which was written to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the franchise in 1996.

When Star Trek: The Next Generation began production in 1986 it was decided that the show would be set on an Enterprise a century removed from the NCC-1701-A introduced in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. This eventually became the Galaxy-class NCC-1701-D. However, to show a sense of design continuity it was decided to have a wall display showing the intervening ships to bear the name. With the USS Excelsior proving to be a fan-favourite design, it was an easy decision to make the Enterprise-B a ship of that class. In addition to this, the writers decided to use the Excelsior model to represent other Federation starships in ST:TNG, including the USS Hood, USS Repulse and USS  Farragut. The idea was that the Excelsior-class was an experimental, cutting-edge design in the late 23rd Century but by the mid-24th had become a standard, even slightly outdated starship model.

It was originally assumed that the Enterprise-B and C would never appear on screen, but this changed in the third season ST:TNG episode Yesterday's Enterprise, which depicted the Enterprise-C. When Ronald D. Moore was given the task of co-writing the movie Star Trek: Generations, which would see the original series crew handing over to The Next Generation team, he decided to depict the events in the past on the Enterprise-B. The Enterprise-B was a redress of the Excelsior model, adjusted with new impulse engines on the saucer and extensions to the secondary hull. These extensions were to both sell the ship as a variant design and also so one of them could be blown off in the Nexus without damaging the original model underneath. Unfortunately, after filming it was discovered that the adhesive used to fix the new parts in place could not be easily removed, so the extensions were left in place. This is why the USS Lakota in Deep Space Nine's fourth season is also a variant Excelsior-class of the same type as the Enterprise-B. This was the last time that the model was used, so when it was eventually auctioned off the model was still labelled as the Lakota.

For the Voyager episode Flashback in 1996, a new Excelsior model was needed. This model was built at half the size of the original, and was used in several scenes. Although smaller than the original, the model was deemed good enough to appear several times on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as well. However, by the time that show entered its final two seasons it had transitioned to CGI. The smaller Excelsior model was used as the study and guide for these CGI versions, explaining why the Enterprise-B variant was no longer seen in the other series.

No formally canonical explanation has ever been given for the final fate of the Enterprise-B. However, several short stories and a couple of reference guides state that the ship was lost in 2329 after the crew contracted an unknown infection. The ship was presumably scuttled to prevent this infection from passing onto others. The Ambassador-class Enterprise-C was commissioned in 2332 to replace it. Although these dates have not been confirmed by any TV series or movie, every book, reference guide and new ship model released in the last few years has used these dates, making them the most consistent to be used.

Excerpt from Scott Bakker's THE GREAT ORDEAL

Scott Bakker has released an excerpt from The Great Ordeal, the third and penultimate volume of The Aspect-Emperor. Grimdark Magazine has the excerpt here.

The Great Ordeal will be released in the United States by Overlook Press on 5 July 2016. Orbit Books in the UK have not yet confirmed a release date, although there is a tentative listing of 29 September for the UK ebook edition, which may indicate the print release date. The final volume in the sequence, The Unholy Consult, is already complete and will be released some time in 2017.

Star Trek at 50: Building the Next Generation

In 1977 Star Trek nearly returned to television screens as Phase II, a series that would star both the original cast and a number of newer, younger characters who would, over a long period of time, take over the reigns of the franchise as a new generation of stars. In the event, the TV series was cancelled in favour of Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979). Made with the heavy involvement of original Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, the film went drastically over-budget and attracted mixed reviews, although its commercial performance was reasonable. Roddenberry's involvement was scaled back and three sequels - The Wrath of Khan (1982), The Search for Spock (1984) and The Voyage Home (1986) - were both critically more successful and more profitable.

The original cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

However, as the movie series continued and became more successful, Paramount had to accept both wage hikes and production agreements to keep the original series stars on board. William Shatner returned for The Voyage Home only after a pay rise and an understanding was reached that he would direct the fifth movie (after his co-star Leonard Nimoy had directed the previous two films). With the actors also ageing and the appeal of visual effects-heavy SF movies featuring characters in their fifties and sixties questionable, the future of the franchise looked less certain.

The decision was made by Paramount to start work on a new Star Trek TV series, with early development work undertaken by writer/producer Greg Strangis. They decided that the new series would feature all-new characters and an all-new Enterprise, and be set considerably further in the future than the original show. Creating an entirely new Star Trek paradigm was considered risky without fan support, and to bring them on board Paramount decided to ask Leonard Nimoy to join in either a consulting role or a more hands-on producing capacity. However, Nimoy was busy with Star Trek IV and didn't want to dive straight from that film's post-production into a gruelling television schedule.

After some debate, Paramount decided to ask Gene Roddenberry to take the helm of the new series. After Roddenberry's handling of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, this raised alarms in some quarters but it was also noted that the first two seasons of the original Star Trek, made with Roddenberry's direct involvement, had been brought in at cost and were generally considered superior to the third season where he took a back seat. Much to their surprise, Roddenberry initially turned them down. He'd felt shut out of the production process on the second through fourth movies and was unhappy with what he felt was a move away from his original, utopian vision. Paramount wooed him back by granting him showrunner status. Paramount's own reservations about using Roddenberry were assuaged when Roddenberry himself requested that a Paramount executive be assigned to him as a co-producer to handle the day-to-day demands of production, freeing Roddenberry up to focus on the writing and casting. Paramount assigned Rick Berman, an up-and-coming producer noted for his strong negotiating skills and his cost-conscious production style, to the new project.

Star Trek: The Next Generation was formally announced on 10 October 1986 as a new, relatively big-budget TV production that would air directly in syndication. It would debut the following September, not giving Roddenberry and Berman much time to get production underway. They decided to assemble a team tapping into some of the talent from the original show, including writers D.C. Fontana and David Gerrold and producers Robert Justman and Eddie Milkis (who would leave towards the end of the first season). Designer Andrew Probert also joined from the film series, along with scenic artist Mike Okuda and production designer Rich Sternbach. Working from Roddenberry's ideas, Gerrold wrote a series bible drawing on inspiration from the original series and some of the follow-ups.

The Galaxy-class USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) is the ship used in Star Trek: The Next Generation. It is the fifth ship to bear the name, following on from the Constitution-class ship used in the original series and the first three movies, a second Constitution-class ship used in the next three films and two further vessels of - at this time - unknown design.

The new series featured a number of ideas that had been developed for Phase II and The Motion Picture. Most notably, this included an empathic counsellor (Counsellor Troi, replacing Lt. Ilia) and a younger, more dynamic first officer who would command away teams (Commander Riker, replacing Commander Decker). Initially Roddenberry didn't want to use the Klingons at all, but was intrigued by one idea raised by Greg Strangis during the initial brainstorming phase. This idea was that Klingons and the Federation had made peace and were now allies. In the glasnost-driven era of the late 1980s, Roddenberry felt this was a fine notion and took it further by assigning a permanent Klingon character to the show, Lt. Worf. Roddenberry also didn't want to repeat himself with a Vulcan crewmember but was delighted by one idea that emerged from the brainstorming sessions: an android who wanted to be human and developed a kind of Pinocchio complex. Roddenberry himself developed the notion of the Federation as having evolved further into a utopian society since Kirk's day, with want and need eliminated and humanity's primary desire now being to evolve and enrich itself with knowledge and equality. Slightly paradoxically, however, he was also inspired by the character of Vasquez in the film Aliens (1986) into including a hot-headed, trigger-happy female security officer (who eventually became Lt. Yar).

The writing of scripts became problematic due to salary issues, with Roddenberry trying to impose less-than-union rates for some of the writers and even script editor D.C. Fontana. Relations between the two deteriorated, with Fontana recording conversations with Roddenberry and Roddenberry bringing his lawyer Leonard Maizlish to meetings. After co-writing the pilot and several draft scripts, Fontana left and Maizlish, despite having no official standing, became de facto script editor. David Gerrold hung around for longer, but after being called "disloyal" several times by Roddenberry also quit at the end of the first season. Writer-producer Maurice Hurley joined partway through Season 1 and his influence was credited with stabilising the chaotic writing room.

Design-wise, things went much more smoothly. In fact, Andrew Probert designed the brand new Enterprise by simply pulling out an unused concept from The Motion Picture which Roddenberry approved almost instantly. The new Enterprise was designed NCC-1701-7, but after "1701-A" was used for the second Enterprise in The Voyage Home this was changed to "1701-G" and then "1701-D", by which time it was also being described as a Galaxy-class starship. The designers came up with the idea for smooth, touch-control surfaces with no obvious buttons, and the control panels reconfiguring themselves for different modes or to the user's preference. They also developed the idea for ultrathin, tablet-like computer devices called PADDs, which designers from Apple would later cite as an influence on their thinking for the iPad.

Casting went somewhat smoothly, with a mixture of new faces (Jonathan Frakes, Marina Sirtis, Denise Crosby, Brent Spiner, Michael Dorn), experienced-but-not-well-known hands (Patrick Stewart, Gates McFadden) and a couple of noted up-and-comers (LeVar Burton and Wil Wheaton). Roddenberry initially opposed the casting of Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard, not wanting to cast a "bald British guy" but with Berman highly in favour of the idea, which he thought would defy expectations. Stewart was called in to test for the Paramount execs in a wig, but was told to lose it for the series. The main cast was announced in May 1987.

The production of the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation was infamously chaotic, with Roddenberry often rewriting scripts to their detriment and his lawyer Leonard Maizlish meddling in almost every part of production. Patrick Stewart, unused to the rigours and intense schedule of American network television, was initially stuffy and disliked his co-stars' habit of joking around between takes. However, within a few episodes the ice had been broken and the cast began to meld together into a strong team.

Although the first season was mostly critically derided, late-season episodes such as the finale, The Neutral Zone, which reintroduced the Romulans and hinted at the existence of the Borg, were much better-received.

The chaos began to diminish towards the end of the season as Rick Berman informally made Maurice Hurley a sub-showrunner under his and Roddenberry's overall leadership and reduced Maizlish's involvement in the show. Hurley brought in some longer-form storylines, such as arranging the return of the Romulans and hinting at a much bigger threat lurking on the horizon, which he intended to be an insectoid species with highly advanced technology and a hive mind. This strengthened the writing direction of the series and led to the noted improvement in quality at the end of the first season. However, it also caused controversy amongst the cast when Hurley decided that Gates McFadden's character, Dr. Beverly Crusher, was too passive a character and moved to remove her at the end of the first season. This decision did not sit well with the rest of the cast, particularly Stewart. This also came after the resignation of Denise Crosby as Lt. Yar, who became the first regular Star Trek character in history to be killed off (in the episode Skin of Evil). Crosby later came to regret this decision.

Despite the chaos behind the scenes, Star Trek: The Next Generation debuted in first-run syndication in the United States on 28 September 1987. It's first-run ratings were 15.7 million. When all re-runs were included, this increased to 27 million, making the show a colossal success. First-run ratings fell to about 8 million, but then returned to around 10-11 million by the end of the season. Because of the syndication model, Paramount recorded a 40% rate of return over the course of the first season, despite the show's very high (for the time) budget of $1.3 million per episode. This made renewal an easy decision.

Critically, the first season was mostly panned, although late-season episodes such as Heart of Glory (which focused on Klingons) and The Neutral Zone (the season finale, reintroducing the Romulans) were much more warmly received. Also, although many episodes were torn apart critically (most notably Justice and Code of Honour), the show received generally positive reviews for its design work and casting.

With a second season confirmed, Star Trek: The Next Generation was established as a hit series and everything was set for the show to go on to bigger and better things.

And then every scriptwriter in Hollywood went on strike.

Ebook sales fall, print rises in the UK

This week saw confirmation that, for the first time, ebook revenues in the UK have fallen and physical book revenues have risen in their stead. This has led to some media coverage questioning if we have reached "peak digital" in terms of ebook sales and if we will now see a steeper drop, or if a new status quo will emerge between the two formats.

Revenue sales last year of ebooks fell from £563 million to £554 million, whilst physical book sales rose from £2.74 billion to £2.76 billion. This came at the same time that Waterstones (the UK's biggest book chain) stopped selling Kindles and turned the shelf space back over to books, which it credited with a healthy 5% rise in sales. This also came at the same time that Amazon opened its first physical bookshop in the United States (to the bewilderment of some market analysts) and Sony dropped out of the e-reader market.

The reasons for the apparent switch may be topical: the explosion of adult colouring books in the past year may have accounted for a small part of the move. There is also the possibility that there has been an e-market shift away from traditionally-published novels to self-published titles, which cost far less. The UK market is particularly affected by an issue where e-books are charged 20% extra in VAT (sales tax) but paper books are not. Given that physical production costs of paper books are at around 13% of the cover price, this puts ebooks in the UK in the ludicrous position of being more expensive than paper books. The publishers have absorbed some of these costs to try to get ebooks out at prices approaching parity with the paper versions, but in many cases the difference is negligible.

Another cited reason has been that consumers seem increasingly reluctant to carry multiple digital devices around with them, and reading on a mobile phone does not offer as good an experience as a dedicated e-reader, as phones have smaller screens, shorter battery lives and no e-ink capability. This may also be linked to rising audiobook sales, which have doubled in the UK in the last five years (and rose 29% last year alone).

Whatever the reason, it appears that the occasionally-rumoured death of the physical book has been exaggerated, and the two formats look set to coexist peacefully for some time to come.