A Look At The 2009 Ships Of The Line Calendar

The new  Star Trek: Ships of the Line: 2009 Wall Calendar is hitting stores this week and it has 14 beautiful new images. Pocket Books has provided TrekMovie with a whole bunch of high resolution images from the Calendar, including some exclusives.

 

IMAGES
Some of what you get with the new  Star Trek: Ships of the Line: 2009 Wall Calendar.

Click on images to see super sized


JANUARY: "Never Been Done" by Aurore De Blois


JULY: "A Mission, A Way Home" by Michael Stetson


AUGUST: "Around the Quadrant in Eighty Days" by Mark Rademaker


SEPTEMBER : "Exploring Solar Ice Floes" by Doug Drexler


OCTOBER: "Kobayashi Maru" by Koji Kuramura


NOVEMBER: "The New Ship" by Andy Probert


DECEMBER: "Constitution Class Warp Test" by Pierre Drolet

Other images in the calendar include the Shuttle Galileo, DS9’s Defiant, a Species 8472 ship, and the Enterprise D.

COVER


“Welcome Aboard, Mister Spock” by Robert Bonchune
(note image at Amazon and other stores is not the right cover)

Star Trek (TOS) 2009 Calendar
Also available now is the Star Trek: 2009 Wall Calendar with 14 total images (12 months + cover + centerfold). Month images are a mix from The Original Series and the TOS era films. 2009’s centerfold is of CGI image of the original NCC-1701 Enterprise and the USS Lexington fighting three Klingon ships by Rob Bonchune.


Cover for 2009 "Star Trek" Calendar

Available for pre-order now
The calendars should be shipping in August, and are available for pre-order at Amazon now.

NOTE SOTL cover image at Amazon is incorrect (see above for final image):

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Good looking pics! I wish we could get a full “remastered” gallery in high def.

Wow. Time to think about 2009 already?

Love the January picture – excellent!

Nice touch from Andy Probert to add a guy wearing the flight suit from “Drive”. I think it’s supposed to be that, anyway.

Nice! Love the “ice floes” one. I still have a vintage 1976 calendar, it’s great they’re still making them!

i like the July one. of course, Voyager has always been my favorite ship. i hope it’s living long and prospering post-canon.

The SOTL calendar looks great, but does anyone recognize the August ship? I’ve never seen it before.

#7

It’s the Equinox I guess

Is U.S.S. Enterprise from the new Star Trek movie in month of May in the new calendar? It would be shameful if it is not.

Hey anyone notice kirk and spock in the top left hand corner of December’s: “Constitution Class Warp Test”…..must a miniturised vessel :P

really? I find that all of them, except for December and the Cover, look like they came right out of Star Trek Legacy… They seem to lack realism.

except for November as well

Anthony, do you ever go to sleep?? :O

10: Since it’s obviously inside the 23rd Century, war-speed equivalent of a wind-tunnel, I’d say that it’s a safe bet that it’s intended to read as a miniature.

That said, the piece still looks like ass. Really awful composition.

That august ship is interesting ,its not the Equinox anyway, i guess its just concept design , i would not mind seeing more renders off it , i have always had a thing for good fan ships

I agree, #10, there seems to be a perspective/ratio/sizing issue there.

I have been getting the SOTL calendars since 2004, and I think I have seen a disapointing decline in quality. At a time when you would think with the great leaps computing is taking CGI should be getting better, it seems artists are almost lazy. In the past few years I saw images that looked as though they were bad TV screenshots.

I still love to look at the calendars, but I wish I could be amazed like I was 4 years ago. I guess I’m just getting cynical in my old age.

#17 KJTrek:

I had that feeling also, I did my best to create a print quality image with enough detail to look at. :)

(the 900 pixel previews here do flatten it out a bit.)

The ship for august is the U.S.S. Spirit (Spirit Class) NX-79995, a QSD testbed.

looks good!

#17- totally agree. Some shots are nice, others look like CG videogames circa 1997.

An interesting mix of images…some good…some bad…especially that warp-test image. UGH!!! I can freehand better than that. Hard to believe that made the calendar.

I know for a fact there are better artists who frequent this site. Hey, Anthony…how about a Trekmovie.com calendar with images from your site visitors and selected by you and your fine staff? Just a thought.

One of these calendars had the Enterprise J entitled Tomorrowś Enterprise¨”That was the nicest ones I have ever seen!

Sorry, but August looks like a Gerry Anderson version of the space shuttle from 2001… or is it just me?

#20 –

If you’re referring to the Pan Am Spaceliner in the movie…then it’s just you.

Thanks Ro, couldn’t think of the ships name, but seriously you don’t even see a hint of it !?!

#25 – Fatman Bruno –

Sorry, buddy…I don’t. The Pan Am ship is very much a winged needle. I just tried to find a pic to send you but couldn’t. I guess the general “sleakness” of both designs could be considered similar.

It’s true that the lighting and rendering of many images at sites like http://www.scifi-meshes.com or http://www.foundation3d.com make the professional work on the ST calendars sometimes look unsophisticated by comparison. Bear in mind that some of the fans (and professionals) who customarily display their work as stills online build a great deal more detail into their meshes than is useful for all but “hero” ships on television.

I saw these calendars on Amazon just last night and was like, 2009 already? Nice to see what’s inside.

Love to see my first love, the E, from new angles.

Despite the fact that I love what the CGI artists come up with every year for the Ships of the Line calendars, it’s great to see Andy Probert’s old-fashioned hand drawn concepts included with all that polygon pushing. His attention to detail and elegant, purposeful designs have inspired me for years. Great to know there will be another in the 2009 edition.

The shot of Spock, Kirk, and Scotty on the calendar cover: I could swear that that image was already used on a previous calendar, no? I realize there’s a finite number of stills from the 1960’s, but to me this almost looks like a rerun.

So, Pocket Books, why didn’t you get a U.S.S. Exeter image from Dennis Bailey?

(Seriously, Dennis, your CG work should be showcased in a future Ships of the Line calendar. And Pocket Books should sponsor a contest for submissions at some point, unless we’re going to start seeing future entries from Alain Rivard, Mojo, Lee Stringer and others.)

I’ve enjoyed past Ships of the Line calendars. But this new one isn’t on my shopping list.

JANUARY: “Never Been Done” by Aurore De Blois
— Intriguing concept, but not something I want to look at for 31 days… I dislike the detail work on the Enterprise. It’s one of the few instances where I think, “Hmmm… the CBS-D team made a better NCC-1701 during their first efforts.” :P

JULY: “A Mission, A Way Home” by Michael Stetson
– Too reminiscent of what we’ve seen on VOY’s opening credits, imho. I also feel like the CG render of Voyager was cut/paste into a Photoshop layer. The lighting didn’t match; it’s too uniform, too even in places. Too artificial.

SEPTEMBER : “Exploring Solar Ice Floes” by Doug Drexler
– Doug, Doug, Doug… why on Earth would Kirk allow his ship into such a precarious, narrow space when transporters or shuttlecraft would serve a better purpose? The logic behind this image is… well, illogical. Kudos, though, for the recognizable faces of Kirk and Spock.

Major kudos on the remaining images, esp. Andy Probert’s. (Makes me think “Michael Whelan is doing Trek!!” Take that as a compliment, Andy.)

And the front cover: Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful.

Agree or disagree with me if you like. Bottom line: I’m not shelling out for this year’s calendar. And I feel Pocket Books needs to deliver better quality next year.

ADDITIONAL NOTE TO POCKET BOOKS (if they’re reading this–and I figure they are): Start selling posters of the calendar images, if you are able to (e.g. Zazzle, CafePress, some other 3rd party site who can deliver). If there’s contractual issues, then figure out a way to change this for next year’s calendar–and make separate poster purchases a possibility. I’ve seen calendar images I would LOVE to have as much larger wall posters.

This could have been a nice opportunity to reveal a picture of the new Enterprise from STXI. Too bad. It’s a missed opportunity.

#16: Once more, it’s supposed to be a wind-tunnel (or “warp-tunnel,” I guess) scale model that Kirk and Spock are looking at– kind of like how engineers today will look at a scale-model of a jet in a wind-tunnel. You can even see the pylon holding it up.

Now, none of this excuses the poor composition, not to mention why those two would be witness to the design phase of the ship, or why a test model in a tunnel would have all the detail that this is shown as having.

In any case, it’s a crappy illustration, as are most of these.

#32 –

Great idea on Ships of the Line posters! I just emailed Marco Palmieri at Simon and Schuster (marco.palmieri@simonandschuster.com) with your suggestion. Let’s get some more requests in and note it would be a nice tie-in with next May’s movie (well, maybe that’s a stretch, but what if S&S wants to get on the bandwagon?)

Agreed #34, like I told my buddy, it’s on a stick!

Totally worth it if only for th Probert artwork… the uniforms (including what seems like OY’s pilot uniforms and new heavier flightsuits), the little fighter, even the boat in the background.. fantastic.

“SEPTEMBER : “Exploring Solar Ice Floes” by Doug Drexler
– Doug, Doug, Doug… why on Earth would Kirk allow his ship into such a precarious, narrow space when transporters or shuttlecraft would serve a better purpose? The logic behind this image is… well, illogical. Kudos, though, for the recognizable faces of Kirk and Spock.”

NEVERTHELESS

This one gets my vote as best of the bunch, I LOVE it!

I’m not sure why so many people are coming down on the “Warp Field Test” image for September 2009. The position of the Constitution Class test model is a reverse image of one of the most famous angles ever of the Big E. It’s obviously a test model (and not a full scale version)because it’s resting on a post. The warp field effect is exciting without obscuring the important parts of the image. Finally, I’m sure that the picture of Kirk and Spock in the window is nothing more than a fun little “easter egg.” It’s not meant to suggest that they’re actually witnessing the test.

Perhaps some of us are over-scrutinizing these images and reading way too much into them, treating them like they’re supposed to be canon or something. They’re just fun images of Trek and Trek-like ship designs, not to be taken all that seriously.

There’s also no need for crude remarks in the critiques of these images. If you don’t like them, I’m sure you can relate that without being crass.

Andy’s work is my favorite. His designes have a look all their own- a look that screams, “welcome to the future! It’s really cool here!”

#23

You are spot on.

It looks like they took the 2001 Pan Am shuttle/spaceliner as a design starting point, then let Gerry Anderson(sp?) have his way with the design.

Very astute observation!!!

The Kobayashi Maru image is stunning. I love the TMP version of those
Klingon Ships. I hope we get to see them in JJ’s film next summer.

I did an image for this calendar too… (well, two actually… but I think they’re only using one)… I’ll be interested to see which month I get! lol

and, p.s. I also love Andy’s work as well. Got to hang out with him a bit at the CONvergence in Minnesota over the 4th weekend… it was a blast.

Aweful.

The calendar from 2002 was amazing. Since then the quality continues to decline. I stopped buying them by 2004.

I feel the images are quick and lazy. Look like video games from the 90’s. I don’t see a single pic that interests me. None compare to 2002.

-kreg

First of all, I just wanted to say thanks for such nice complements on my November piece. I hope the calendar’s larger version will be as fun to look at for the whole month.

But I gotta tell you that Mr. August: Mark Rademaker, is the guy to watch. I helped to get him into his first SOTL and each new ship is fresh & exciting.

And, yeah, hanging out with DarenDoc at CONvergence was fun.

Probert’s new painting and the Slipstream test ship are both incredible, but the rest of the images are terribly amateurish and flat. I’m very disappointed in how cheap this calender seems, with those two exceptions. The “warp test” one is an interesting idea, but it’s the worst of the lot and looks like a rushed Photoshop job.

In answer to:

SEPTEMBER : “Exploring Solar Ice Floes” by Doug Drexler
– Doug, Doug, Doug… why on Earth would Kirk allow his ship into such a precarious, narrow space when transporters or shuttlecraft would serve a better purpose? The logic behind this image is… well, illogical.

____

You’re silly!

Allow me to quote Kirk:

“… Risk is our business, that’s what the Starship is all about… that’s why we’re aboard her!”

I rest my case,
Doug Drexler

I especially like the work by Doug Drexler. That guy is such a visionary and a real gifted genius in letting us inside what his mind sees. Great work!

hate it when some on the pictures are spread across the fold, I would be temped to by prints tho if they were offered. PS the calendar hangs the wrong way for my office.

Time for 2010……..