We're delving into the world marketing and merchandising in September's "Product Spacement" and while we can't yet decide who will win in that product war we can help to decide the Theme for next month's challenge. Don't forget to place your votes in the poll! 
Please feel free to vote whether you intend to create an entry or not, we want to generate as much interest and participation as possible. And let us know how you've voted below and why: what piques your interest about each theme, what do you think we might see? You never know, your thoughts could just be the spark that lights someone's imagination and leads to a new piece of Star Trek Art.
We have Twelve Themes suggested by Trek BBS members for you to choose from and you have until the poll closes on the 1st October to vote for your THREE favourites.
Two Themes, which scored the lowest average in the polls, have entered THE NEUTRAL ZONE and are in danger of being eliminated from future votes.
Details for each suggested Theme are as follows:
Remember you can choose THREE!!
Thanks for voting, have fun!
* - THE NEUTRAL ZONE
Please feel free to vote whether you intend to create an entry or not, we want to generate as much interest and participation as possible. And let us know how you've voted below and why: what piques your interest about each theme, what do you think we might see? You never know, your thoughts could just be the spark that lights someone's imagination and leads to a new piece of Star Trek Art.
We have Twelve Themes suggested by Trek BBS members for you to choose from and you have until the poll closes on the 1st October to vote for your THREE favourites.
Two Themes, which scored the lowest average in the polls, have entered THE NEUTRAL ZONE and are in danger of being eliminated from future votes.
Details for each suggested Theme are as follows:
- Specific Show -- Picard
Dedicated to art inspired by one specific Star Trek show or era. Each month you have the opportunity to vote for a different era cycling through: TOS/TAS --> TNG --> DS9 --> VOY --> ENT --> MOVIES --> DSC --> PIC --> LDS --> PRO --> SNW --> TOS/TAS --> ...
- Tall Tales
Or, a funny thing happened on the way to Delta Vega. Dedicated to those adventures that are the most bizarre and unbelievable, the ones where if you described them to someone they'd reckon you'd done a little too much LDS - Abraham Lincoln floating in space, holograms taking over the Enterprise, being shrunk to the size of a toy, evolving into a lizard?! Or perhaps you can think of something even weirder than those we've seen on the show.
- Deep Space Dine
Fancy yourself a chef? Create your version of a classic Star Trek food (include your recipe, if applicable) and plate it with perfection in a photograph or invent something brand new. Alternately, if you're a kitchen nightmare, draw us the perfect mouthwatering (or gag-inducing, depending on who you ask) meal.
- Warp Signatures
Everybody puts a little of themselves into their art. For this challenge, your artwork must contain a self-reference, whether it's your face somewhere in the crowd, your name plastered on a ship, or something a little more subtle, such as color choice, artistic style, or favorite medium. It shouldn't take a complete sensor scan to figure out who's responsible for your work this time around.
- Extreme Magnification
It's amazing how much we can miss if we're not looking closely. What little details stand out to you? The texture of a uniform? The subtle expression on a character's face? The sleek lines of a starship? The intricate crafting of technology? Zoom in and give us a good look at something we may not have noticed before, whether it's a feature which is barely visible in a screenshot, or purely a product of your imagination.
- Multiversal Mashup
We've all seen various Millennium Falcons done in a Starfleet style, and I recently saw a very good version of a Starfleet Y-Wing. But we don't have to confine our mashups to Star Wars alone, take something from another franchise and redesign it to fit in with the Trek universe.
- Design an Episode Poster
Often the promotion of TV episodes is limited to video advertisements. For this challenge take a favourite episode (or one with the most potential) and give it the movie hall lobby treatment by designing a poster to promote it.
- See You In The Funny Papers
Shine up those speech bubbles and splash panels! Prove your comic genius by illustrating a Trek situation so bizarre it could only happen in a comic book; turn a memorable movie/TV moment into a full-page spread; create a strip for the Sunday paper. Emulate one of the masters or showcase your own style.
- The Road Not Taken
What if Kirk had never cheated while taking the Kobayashi Maru test? Or if Reed had never joined Section 31? Create a piece of art that shows a Star Trek character who made a different choice at a pivotal moment in their life, depicting how that decision transformed their life and the galaxy around them.
- Sacred Texts:
Take a page from the libraries of history and create an illustration for one of Star Trek's many books - alien scriptures, Starfleet logs, etc.. Or if you're a Trek lit fan, depict a moment from your favorite novel. Try to emulate the style of ancient/medieval/historical art - think frescos, illuminated scrolls, famous paintings, stone tablets, old tombs.
- The More Things Change*
Time may move at warp speed, but not everything does. Show us how something Trek has changed over the years - landscapes, buildings, ships, people, beliefs.
- Trek 2.0 Hits and Misses *
Technology comes and goes; you can never tell what innovations are going to catch on and which will flop. Maybe it's the right tech at the wrong time, or there's a major flaw you could drive a shuttle through. Create something brand new or the latest iteration of a piece of Trek tech and show us what potential pitfalls may crop up. A ship that isn't quite spaceworthy, a particularly annoying feature that'll have your device phasered into oblivion in a fit of rage, a silly malfunction worthy of a blooper reel, or a dangerous booby trap waiting to happen. Quality Control will thank you for bringing it to their attention.
Remember you can choose THREE!!
Thanks for voting, have fun!
CHRISTMASTIME THEMES:
VALENTINE'S DAY THEMES
- That Rings A (Jingle) Bell
"Hmmm...I remember this, but I can't quite put my finger on where I've seen it before." Place something that looks uncannily Trek in a place you'd never expect to find it. Bonus replicator credits if it's hiding in a holiday-themed setting.
- Every Problem Has A (Re)Solution
What New Year's resolutions are your favorite characters making for themselves and each other? Depict your favorite Trek characters facing their fears, learning a new skill, or quitting an old habit.
- Season's Greetings
Show us what you imagine our favourite Star Trek characters might send or receive in the way of gifts or greetings cards at the this time of year - a family picture of the Rikers, a Quark's Bar gift voucher, a personalised coffee mug?
- Christmas Crossover
Taking inspiration from your favourite festive stories, movies, music videos (?) show us how they might manifest if they played out in the Star Trek Universe. Which character would be your choice for Scrooge or what would happen if Wesley was left Home Alone?
- Make It Snow
Weather permitting, snow and ice are this month's medium of choice. If your local climate refuses to obey orders, cotton balls, construction paper, bits of glass, tinsel, etc work, too. Create something wintery that will have us reaching for a cup of raktajino just looking at it. Let's see your frosty Ferengis, snowy starships, and icy IDICs.
- If Wishes Were Horses
What do you wish to see in Star Trek? Or, what might your Trek character of choice wish for? Draw or make a Star Trek wish come true at this magical time of year!
- Tinsel Trek
Everything seems to sparkle a bit more at Christmas, doesn't it? Bedeck your Trek in tinsel, garland, red and green, mistletoe, holly and ivy, candy canes, popcorn chains, etc. Let your art shimmer like a star.
- Sweater Weather
Nothing says Christmas like an ugly Christmas sweater. It'll never become a uniform variant (hopefully!) but it sure looks festive. So get out your pen, stylus, or even your knitting needles, if you've got a knack for it, and whip up something that'll keep your favorite characters warm and cozy on a snowbound holiday away mission.
- The Santa Claus Paradox
Santa Claus, not only does he deliver presents to every child across the world all in one night he also collects and stores masses of information about who wants what and also who is naughty or nice. It seems impossible, right, perhaps even paraxodical? Well, it does to us... but surely there's lots of technology and strange alien races in the Star Trek universe that could achieve these goals. Show us how you would solve the Santa Paradox from a Trek point of view: clones, robots, transporters, warp drive, god-like aliens, time-travel... what will you choose?
VALENTINE'S DAY THEMES
- Where My Heart Is, Beyond Antares
How do characters/species show their love for each other? Friends, parents and kids, true loves...anything you want.
- Hearts and Flowers
Happy Valentine's Day! Incorporate imagery of hearts and flowers into any Trek-themed project you choose. (Doesn't necessarily have to be directly related to Valentine's Day)
- Be Mine, Space-Time Valentine
What kind of Valentine cards and candy would Trek species dole out? Design a card or gift, alien/Starfleet style.
* - THE NEUTRAL ZONE
