The Good: Excellent images, Some interesting chase cards, Easy to collect.
The Bad: Chase are rather unsophisticated, Review cards in common set
The Basics: Decent photography in the common set does not save this dull trading card release from SkyBox.
When SkyBox had the license for Star Trek trading cards, they did a few clever gimmicks. Unfortunately, as the Fleer decided to deprioritize the non-sports line, they let SkyBox drift a bit. When the ambitious gimmicks and the financial problems meet, collectors ended up with sets like the Star Trek 30th Anniversary Reflections Of The Future Phase Three Set. The ambitious part came with the idea of doing a comprehensive, mammoth 30th anniversary set. This was accomplished by breaking the huge set into three smaller sets with Phase One (reviewed here!) focusing on ships and technology and Phase Two (reviewed here!) focusing on aliens and characters in the Star Trek universe. Because a third set had been promised, SkyBox felt obligated to release it and Phase Three included the cosmic phenomenon of the Star Trek universe as well as tributes to Star Trek. It is in the latter half that the set truly collapses, but where the first two sets were remarkably specific and well-conceived, "Phase Three" is too nebulous and it becomes clear when looking through it that the designers were at something of a loss as to how to cap off the series.
Basics/Set Composition
The "Phase Three" set is a 132 card set featuring a 100 card common set and thirty-two bonus cards, all but two of which are available in boxes of the trading cards. The "Phase Three" set was originally released in boxes of thirty-six packs, which each contained eight "Phase Three" cards. There was a manufacturer-created binder that bore the same logo as the box top and those are long since gone from hobby and collectible shops (since SkyBox lost the Star Trek license almost a decade ago). The packs generally had good collation and the basic set and the lower levels of chase cards were easy enough to come by to make them collectable but not so easy as to make one consider them overproduced. With the "Reflections Of The Future" series, SkyBox hit a fair production run. With "Phase Three," the cards easily met demand and they remain - by far - the easiest of the 30th Anniversary boxes to find in the secondary market now.
Common Cards
The "Phase Three" set features the cosmic phenomenon from the Star Trek franchise and tributes to the Star Trek franchise in both the common set and the bonus cards. The common card set consists of 100 cards, numbered 201 - 300. The common set is broken down with 63 cosmic phenomenon cards, 28 tribute cards, 6 starship review cards, 2 checklists, and a Star Trek fan club card. As far as the series breakdown goes, this is a fairly balanced set with 17 Star Trek, 11 Star Trek: The Animated Series, 9 Star Trek film, 32 Star Trek: The Next Generation, 12 Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, 6 Star Trek: Voyager cards. There is also a nine-card mural which combines images from all of the series'. This is actually very cool in that it recreates the box tops from the various boxes, which won awards for box design the year the cards were released. Each card is protected from light damage by a UV resistant coating.
The common card set is a decent collection featuring digital image captures that allow incredible transfers of the special effects shots and crewmember/ship photographs (which is what most of the "tribute" section is comprised of) used to document the subject of the cards. Whenever possible, the images on the front and back are different to illustrate the extent and scale of the cosmic phenomenon. So, for example, card #204 illustrates Apollo's hand on the front holding the Enterprise in its grip. The back has a small image of the hand from the viewscreen. This is fairly clever and utilizes the full-bleed front quite well.
The backs are well-written with a great deal of detail (as much as a trading card can carry) on the cosmic phenomenon and the tributes. The tributes include a time line of Star Trek history, awards the various shows won, and notable guest stars who appeared in episodes or Star Trek movies.
The common set is somewhat weakened by the last seven pre-checklist cards. These cards focus on starships, which were covered in the "Phase One" set. While there were several notable ships omitted for space, the "Phase Three" set rectifies that. But the First Contact preview card is even more inane than the review cards and the final card of the set with the Fan Club advertisement just seems desperate and lousy.
The common cards themselves represent a higher level of quality as - in addition to incredible and rare images - each one is foil stamped with a Cosmic Phenomenon or Tribute logo to easily differentiate which part of the set one is in. As well, they are all - common and chase - oriented in a landscape orientation, making for wonderful consistency when looking through one's binder.
Chase Cards
The bonus cards in this set are a real mixed bag. With the "Phase Three" set, there were thirty different bonus cards that could be found in the boxes and an additional two that were a mail-away or otherwise limited release cards. These were not mass produced, which has allowed them to retain some significant value in the marketplace today. While not strictly bonus cards, the Cinema Collection advertisement card and Survey card were plentiful enough that virtually every box had at least one of each.
The first level of chase card was the Blueprint puzzle cards. One in every few packs (the odds on these are radically skewed box to box as when they pop up often there were a few in a pack!) had one of nine thin paper cards that advertised blueprint posters that could be mailed away for. Yes, for an additional $20 or $15 one could mail away for blueprints of either Deep Space Nine or the U.S.S. Enterprise. This is a terrible chase card as all it does is attempt to promote something utterly unrelated to be bought by collectors. Yes, card collectors are asked to assemble their own advertisement!
One in every six packs there was one of six Decipher Star Trek The Gaming Card Set exclusive cards. The wildly unpopular trading card game was expanded with cards featuring a Phaser Mishap, Emergency Distress Call, Turbolift Doors, Cryogenic Chambers, Organians, and the Wild card "He's Dead, Jim." These are fun for the few people who played the game, but had little crossover appeal to trading card collectors who wanted something more from the trading cards as opposed to yet another SkyBox product.
They got their wish with the tribute foil cards. In every twelve packs there was one of nine puzzle cards which have a timeline of the history of Star Trek production. This is a cool enough concept and the foil cards look great. The mural is unique to the set and features concept sketches for the original U.S.S. Enterprise, the space shuttle, and a special 30th Anniversary plaque. It's a set that a number of collectors will enjoy.
It takes three boxes with ideal collation to complete the Viewscreen lenticular set. The three M cards are an intriguing collection of multiple-frame image cards which show the viewscreens of various Star Trek ships as they encounter notable phenomenon. As a result, Apollo's Hand reaches for the Enterprise, the Crystalline Entity rushes toward the Enterprise-D and the Badlands destroy a Cardassian vessel on Voyager's viewscreen! These are interesting enough, but their value seems to have plummeted in the secondary market of late. When the high end item in a box drops in value, it's hard to justify the box prices!
The final bonus card that might still be pulled from the boxes and packs is a SkyMotion Redemption card (which looks virtually identical to the Survey card on the front!). The Redemption cards have long since expired, but true completists will want them. Redemption cards were inserted into one in every five boxes.
Non-Box/Pack Cards
The actual SkyMotion card is a neat card. It is a thick plastic card that when held up to the light and tilted, it illustrates thirty frames of an image! In this case, the image is of the Bajoran Wormhole opening for the first time from "Emissary!" In addition to the standard SkyMotion card, that was only available from the use of redemption cards, there was also a double-sized jumbo SkyMotion card which is a bit more clear, though it contains the same image. There were no other promotional cards in this set, making it a surprisingly easy set to complete (and yet valuable nonetheless!).
Overall
Boxes of the "Phase Three" cards have tanked in value because they were overproduced in proportion to the interest in their subject matter. SkyBox assumed that because fans had invested in the first two sets that they could put together the final set with little enthusiasm and the result is a set that is far less inspired than the others. As a result, it is much easier to pass on this one than the others.
This set culls images from:
Star Trek
Star Trek: The Animated Series
The Star Trek films
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Star Trek: Voyager - Season 1
This is a set of trading cards I sell in my online store! Check out my full inventory of them by clicking here!
3.5/10
For other trading card reviews, check out my Trading Card Review Index Page for an organized listing!
© 2012, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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