Cool Star Trek: Discovery merch for you to discoverBy Oliver Johnston| November 16, 2021 TV Blogs This page contains affiliate links. At no additional cost to you, we may earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. Learn more Rather obviously, it’s going to be difficult to discuss the third season of Star Trek: Discovery if you haven’t gotten around to watching it yet. What took you so long? Season 4 is just around the corner. If you haven’t already watched it, please do so immediately, and let’s meet back here in precisely 671 minutes. Please accept YouTube cookies to play this video. By accepting you will be accessing content from YouTube, a service provided by an external third party. YouTube privacy policy If you accept this notice, your choice will be saved and the page will refresh. Accept YouTube Content All done? Great. Welcome back. You probably have some thoughts. Catapulting the action 900 years into the future is a bold move, but hey – they’re boldly going where no one has gone before. The ultimate rebrand of the USS Discovery herself triggered a few debates, but she clearly needed a few upgrades. Otherwise, it would be the equivalent of a Viking longship showing up in the 2020s and expecting to be a match for a nuclear-powered naval destroyer. And so with all her wondrous 32nd-century updates (including detachable warp nacelles for no reason whatsoever), the USS Discovery NCC-1031 became the USS Discovery NCC-1031-A. But that’s not how it works! The USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) was only replaced with the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-A) when the original ship self-destructed while in orbit above the Genesis planet. The USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-E) was only commissioned after the Enterprise-D was destroyed in Star Trek: Generations. There can only be a new ship when the old one has been destroyed, decommissioned, or vanished into a temporal rift. But that’s enough whining. Please accept YouTube cookies to play this video. By accepting you will be accessing content from YouTube, a service provided by an external third party. YouTube privacy policy If you accept this notice, your choice will be saved and the page will refresh. Accept YouTube Content The show’s fourth season is set to debut on November 18, with the crew of the USS Discovery fully integrated into 32nd-century intrigue, under the leadership of a new captain. There’s a new ship (allegedly), new bells and whistles, and a whole lot more merchandise for Paramount to fling into the outstretched arms of rabid Trekkies. If you’re looking to upgrade your cosplay stash, or if you simply want a few NCC-1031 trinkets to liven up your home, what are some of the best Star Trek: Discovery items you need to… uh… discover? Set phasers to stunning The weaponry of Star Trek is a bit hit and miss. Yes, the sight of a CGI starship unleashing a volley of photon torpedoes is pretty damn cool, but the handheld weaponry isn’t all that fearsome. The phasers featured in Star Trek: The Next Generation made it look like Picard and the gang urgently needed to scan some barcodes at the supermarket. The phasers used by the Discovery’s crew fare a little better, until you realise it looks like a fancy garden hose attachment. Is Michael Burnham going to disable a Klingon warrior, is she going to water her geraniums? In any event, the Discovery prop replica phasers are a must-have. Also, it’s helpful that the manufacturer feels the need to point out that the phaser is non-functional, in case there was any confusion. Buy it: UK: Check prices USA: Check prices Canada: Check prices Your own miniature USS Discovery Before the dubious “A” was added to her registry number, the USS Discovery was plain old NCC-1031, and this is the best choice for a model of the titular ship. Fun fact: The Discovery’s registry number was chosen to symbolise Halloween (the 10th month, the 31st day. Apparently even in the distant future, Americans mysteriously think that day should follow month in noting a date. Can you truly call yourself a real Star Trek: Discovery fan if you don’t have a model of the star of the show? A model which you probably pick up occasionally while making warp noises and pretending that the ship is flying around the room? No judgement. Helpfully, the model is listed as being 1/2500 scale, so if it was 2500 times bigger, it would be the actual size of a non-existent, entirely fictional starship. Buy it: UK: Check prices USA: Check prices Canada: Check prices A badge of honour The makers of this particular line of Starfleet badges seem to think that no outfit is complete without one. They suggest that “This classy brooch pin can be dressed up for any occasions for daily life,” including weddings. Because a family wedding is the ideal opportunity to show your allegiance to a fictional exploration, research, defence, and peacekeeping space force. The line of Discovery badges encompass all disciplines of the ship’s operations, but would you really want an engineering or medical badge? The black and silver Section 31 badges look suitably sinister, but most people will probably want the gold command badge. If you’re going to dress like a member of the ship’s crew, you’ll probably want to dress like you’re in charge. Buy it: UK: Check prices USA: Check prices Canada: Check prices The design of the Discovery The science that propels vast starships through space at warp speed is a combination of the theoretical and invented. Yet the design of a Star Trek vessel needs to have some grounding in reality, even though this is largely related to how it appears on screen. In short, the internal dimensions of the ship must more-or-less match the confines of its hull. A lot of effort goes into the conceptual art of designing a fictional vessel that will (ideally) become iconic, and will then be replicated across countless examples of merchandise. The design and production art that led to the final, approved design of the USS Discovery are wonderfully detailed in the official Designing Starships book for Star Trek: Discovery. The attention to detail (and functionality) in the Star Trek universe is so precise that a US-based engineer firmly believes that a real, entirely functional USS Enterprise capable of spaceflight is possible. Buy it: UK: Check prices USA: Check prices Canada: Check prices Look the part Aside from attending a Star Trek convention, where would someone wear a Starfleet uniform? Anywhere they damn well want to, that’s where. Whether you’re relaxing at home or picking up groceries, there’s a stylish comfort and practicality to the jumpsuit design of the uniform. Perhaps the blue uniforms with gold or silver piping of Discovery haven’t quite become as iconic as their counterparts from the original series or TNG, but you can’t exactly cosplay Discovery without one. Some fans lovingly recreate their own, but the replicas for men and women are perfect to wear when arguing with fellow fans on Reddit about whether a refit of a starship warrants a new registry number, because these things are important. Buy it: UK: Check prices – men / women USA: Check prices – men / women Canada: Check prices – men / women
