A couple of years after the end of the reimagined series, I wrote and self-published the Lords of Kobol series of books. People seemed to like it quite a bit, so I spent years working on Colonies of Kobol to bridge the gap between them and the TV shows. Three massive volumes were published last year, but I've now given them the "special edition" treatment, creating additional content and writing an author's commentary. Via the commentary, I discuss connections to the TV shows, historical/mythological inspirations, share art and pics I made for myself during the writing, and so on. Most importantly, all three volumes are now in one and in chronological order.

Here's the official description:

> Visit the sixteen Colonies of Kobol in a single volume ...

> Two thousand years before the Cylons destroyed the Twelve Colonies and the Battlestar Galactica led a ragtag fleet to Earth, the Lords of Kobol fell and mankind fled for the Colonies.

> See the settling of the first colony on Gemenon. Behold the destruction of Earth and the flight of the Final Five. Witness the rise of empires on Virgon and Leonis and the thousand-year-war waged across the plains of Tauron, the seas of Picon, and the mountains of Sagittaron. Visit the jungles of Libran and Scorpia, the mines of Canceron, the farms of Aerilon, and the volcanoes of Aquaria. Read the continuation of the short-lived TV series Caprica and watch the horrors of the Cylon War and the creation of The Colony. Revisit New Caprica and then, on our own world, go on one last journey with Bill Adama and Saul Tigh, and get a look into our own future as the Messengers of The One True God work to free mankind of the cycle.

> This is the definitive special edition collection of these books in chronological order, complete with additional chapters, behind-the-scenes information, art, pics, and author's commentary. Learn all about the writing of these tales, connections to the Battlestar Galactica and Caprica TV shows, and much more.

> There is a Plan and questions will be answered.

The book is free and it is currently available here. As the book filters out to other apps and stores, I will update its page on my personal site.

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy it.

Here's one of the promotional images.

Here's what you could win.

Here's the edited/censored version.

And this is a blogpost from 2009 discussing the contest, and a follow-up post after the name change.

A couple of years after the end of the reimagined series, I wrote and self-published the Lords of Kobol series of books. People seemed to like them quite a bit, so I recently embarked on a re-read of that series, added deleted chapters back in, and created an author's commentary to go along with it. Via the commentary, I discuss connections to the TV shows, historical/mythological inspirations, share art and pics I made for myself during its writing, and so on. Most importantly, all five books are now in one volume. So that's nice.

Here's the official description:

> All five acclaimed Lords of Kobol books collected in a single volume ...

> Thousands of years before the Cylons destroyed the Twelve Colonies and the Battlestar Galactica led a ragtag fleet to Earth, the Lords of Kobol lived among mankind in peace and harmony. Zeus, Hera, Apollo, Athena, Ares ... the gods provided and the people worshipped. But who or what were they? In Book One: Apotheosis, see Kobol in its golden age, with gods and humanity working together, and witness the creation and exodus of the Thirteenth Tribe. In Book Two: Descent, learn the origins of the Olympians and the tale of their coming to Kobol, as well as their war against non-believers. In Book Three: The Final Exodus, watch the end of the Pantheon's reign as Cylons revolt and mankind flees for the Twelve Colonies. In Prelude: Of Gods and Titans, spend more time with Zeus and the gods, and meet their parents, the Titans, and observe the beginning of the cycle. And in the background of it all, The One True God and its Messengers seek to preserve humanity in the face of doom. Finally, in Alternate: Tales from Ancient Days, read a different take on the end of the world and how the gods played their parts.

> This is the definitive special edition collection of these five works, complete with deleted chapters, behind-the-scenes information, art, pics, and author's commentary. Learn all about the writing of these tales, connections to the Battlestar Galactica and Caprica TV shows, and much more.

> There is a Plan and questions will be answered.

The book is free and it is currently available here in all file formats. As the book filters out to other apps and stores, I will update its page on my personal site.

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy it.

(Colonies of Kobol - Collection: Special Edition will be released in March.)

It's the original series Ship of Light.

Here's an article on Neom's plans.

Infamously, the premiere was interrupted by news of the "Camp David Accords," a peace agreement between Egypt and Israel. This Washington Post article discusses the impact on TV that night and speculation that the announcement was planned for that evening.

From Michael Trucco's Instagram

Here's an article on the "scanning extras" story.

(For an article that speaks more generally, click here. I'll be focusing on Star Trek.)

The Writer's Guild of America went on strike in May. The actors guild (SAG-AFTRA) began theirs on Thursday. Among the demands from both camps are 1) an updated compensation structure that deals with streaming content more fairly and 2) restrictions on the usage of AI and other computer tools that perform the duties from either union. (After all, ensigns should make more than this and extras shouldn't have to worry about being in their own version of "Joan Is Awful.")

(And outside of the writers and actors, one mustn't forget the contributions of the many scores of people behind-the-scenes who make these shows possible. They, too, will be out of work. Visual Effects Production Manager Shawn Ewashko has tweeted praises about the team he's assembled for Trek live action going forward, but he's also worried that prolonged strikes could decimate that team as its members have to find other work to feed their families.)

Both strikes have come at a time of desperation for Paramount and when its future is clouded. Any discussion of post-strike Paramount and Trek would be pure speculation at this point, so I will focus on the productions that are already greenlit and at various stages of completion.

DISCOVERY: As we all know, after filming on the fifth season was wrapped last November, Paramount canceled the show in March. New scenes were written to wrap up the series and pickup shoots were planned shortly thereafter. A tweet from showrunner Michelle Paradise indicates that filming for those pickups began in late April, so we can speculate that the filming is complete by now, though I don't recall seeing confirmation of that. Post-production is still underway on DIS season five and that should continue unabated.

STRANGE NEW WORLDS: The show was renewed for season three and writing was completed before the WGA strike in May, however, the series delayed its production start in solidarity with the WGA. Once the strikes are over, SNW will likely resume then.

LOWER DECKS: Voice actors are also on strike, but the recording for season four was completed last year. Assuming it's not already finished, the show is in the hands of the animators and should be released as planned. A fifth season was ordered in March, but writing and production on that will have to wait until after the strikes.

PRODIGY: (sigh) Despite its cancellation (more precisely, renewal reversal), the second season is nearing completion. (The voice acting was complete.) The Emmy-nominated series' second season is being shopped to other streaming services and producers are confident it will find a home.

SECTION 31: While a writers room for this show existed way back in 2020, it hasn't been said publicly if the conversion of that series into a single film was completed before the strike began in May (making S31 into a movie was announced in March, so I'm sure that some work was already underway). Regardless, production has not yet begun and won't until after the strikes.

STARFLEET ACADEMY: Perhaps not as long as S31, but SA has had a writers room for a while and it was already active when the series was announced in March. However, like S31, no production is expected for a while.

LEGACY: (Not greenlit, but the people want it.) One of the powers that be says the "appetite for it is undeniable," but there won't be any discussion about it officially until the strike(s) are over.

Conventions: You may not have seen this coming, but there's a long list of things striking actors can't do. Sure, SAG-AFTRA members cannot film their roles, but they can't promote them, either. That means no conventions. (I'm not sure what's going to happen at Comic-Con then.) It is unclear at the moment if an actor from a legacy show (like TNG, DS9, etc.) can appear at a convention. Armin Shimmerman is looking for more info while a tweet from Anson Mount suggests that maybe they make a "personal appearance," so long as they aren't promoting anything specific.

(Edited to add tweets from Shimmerman and Mount at the end.)

Be gentle ... I don't do this sort of thing often, but I figured I could waste an hour or two in Premiere Elements to see what I could cobble together.