Against My Original Standards, I Fall In Love With The Star Trek The Original Series 50th Anniversary Trading Cards!

The Good: Awesome sketches, Very cool bonus cards, Neat common cards, Quality of cards
The Bad: Collectibility, One less impressive bonus card set, A few obscure autograph signers
The Basics: The Star Trek The Original Series 50th Anniversary may be a bear to collect, but the end result is a pretty fabulous trading card set!


It seems like the last ten years have just flown by for me. Ten years ago, the Star Trek trading card market underwent a fundamental shift from which it could never turn back: the trading card hobby became the trading card industry. I adequately kvetched about that when I reviewed the set that destroyed collecting once and for all with the Star Trek 40th Anniversary Series 2 trading card set (reviewed here!). Since then, the bar has been raised several times for Star Trek trading card collectors and when there has been even a shift toward the way card sets used to be, the set released has not performed nearly as well in the marketplace. Go figure; I guess most collectors actually want the impossible find!

So, last year, when Rittenhouse Archives produced their Star Trek The Original Series 50th Anniversary trading card set as a premium trading card release, I vowed not to simply complain about how uncollectible the cards were. I found my happy medium last month when I reviewed the Rogue One: Mission Briefing trading cards (reviewed here!) and I decided to review the product with dual ratings; the substance of the set and separately with "collectibility" factored in. It is with that new sense of standards that I sat down to review the Star Trek The Original Series 50th Anniversary trading card set.

And WOW! The substance of the Star Trek The Original Series 50th Anniversary set is amazing. For the money, the set is a bit small (a true master set only has 359 cards), but the content is absolutely incredible!

Basics/Set Composition

The Star Trek The Original Series 50th Anniversary set was a set of trading cards produced by Rittenhouse Archives to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Original Series, instead of doing season by season celebrations of the 50th Anniversary. Boxes of the TOS 50th Anniversary cards contained only twelve packs with five cards per pack. One does not get a lot per box and the only guarantees are one common set and two autographs per box. One of the decent aspects of the Rittenhouse guarantee for this product is that one is guaranteed one of each of the two different autograph types on a box. Unfortunately for those trying to collect the set, there is not a single chase set that can be completed with even a single case of these cards!

The common set traverses the entire 80-episodes of Star Trek. The chase cards are focused largely on "The Cage" and "Mirror, Mirror" with generic crew cards and production artwork cards thrown in. The set has a beautiful tribute set to the late Leonard Nimoy (still nothing for Grace Lee Whitney, who also died since the last Original Series set!), a diverse array of autograph cards and sketch cards that are actually very dud-free. The element that makes the set virtually impossible to complete, though, are the 3 cut signature cards that made the cases a sell-out at the manufacturer's level and left a few very determined collectors hunting them down!

The TOS 50th Anniversary set consists of 359 cards. The 359 card set consists of 80 common cards and two hundred seventy-nine chase cards, eleven of which cannot be found in the packs or boxes.

Common Cards

The 80 card common set of TOS 50th Anniversary cards are a fairly cool design (though I still have not figured out how the form fits into the theme of the set/show). The common cards are die-cut so they have indents in the centers of the sides, top, and bottom. The corners are not squared; they have beveled edges. As a result, each card is a 14-sided (?,!) trading card with a text block at the top and one at the bottom that makes it vaguely resemble the viewscreen on the Enterprise bridge. Each card has gold foil borders around each of the four pictures on the front and a gold foil center that features the Star Trek 50th Anniversary symbol.

The common card set for the Star Trek The Original Series 50th Anniversary is another set that makes an episode by episode journey through all of the episodes of the original Star Trek. The twist on the familiar subject - other than the physical form of the cards - is that the backs are written as if they were Spock's logs about the plot of the episode. Spock makes perfect sense as the "writer" of the mission logs as he is the only character to appear in each episode and it avoids narrative hassles like "which version of Captain Kirk made the log for 'The Enemy Within' or 'Turnabout Intruder?'"

The writing on the cards is fun and done at a consistently high level of quality. The Star Trek The Original Series 50th Anniversary are written to sufficiently capture Spock's sense of humor and observations on humanity, while adequately telling the story of each episode of Star Trek.

The Star Trek The Original Series 50th Anniversary cards feature bright, beautifully-crisp images on each card. The four pictures on the front of each card tend to be different from shots used in prior sets, which is a nice thing. The photogaphy on the front of the cards also finds the right balance of character images without neglecting the special effect shots. The result is a structurally-weird looking common set that actually serves as a fitting tribute to the 50th Anniversary of Star Trek!

Chase Cards

The TOS 50th Anniversary set has two hundred seventy-nine chase cards, of which two hundred sixty-eight are available in the right packs! Some of those cards, though, are statistically improbable for a collector to pull from the packs or boxes. Ironically, there are some sketch card artists whose works are more rare than the Jill Ireland cut signature card that was pack-inserted!

The first level of chase sets are two expansion sets that explore "The Cage" and "Mirror, Mirror." Cards in each of these sets are found only two per box, which means that they take three cases to assemble each set (assuming one does not pull duplicates!). These two chase sets are substantive and incredible. The "Mirror, Mirror" cards feature foilboard borders that are shiny and distinctive. The "The Cage" bonus cards have neat purple borders and a thin gold border around the image on the card, which makes it look like one is using one of the Talosian's viewscreens to look in on the episode! These chase sets are reminiscent of the James Bond retro "throwback" sets that Rittenhouse Archives has produced for some of the older James Bond films. The result is essentially a flashy additional "common" set for two of the best episodes of Star Trek and it's hard not to gush over just how pretty the "The Cage" cards actually are!

Interestingly, Rittenhouse Archives continues to state the odds of its chase cards in terms of packs. I find this interesting because, especially in the Star Trek The Original Series 50th Anniversary trading cards, the odds for most of the bonus cards are more reasonably stated in terms of boxes or even cases! The Star Trek The Original Series 50th Anniversary two chase sets where their components are found one in every four boxes and three that have only a single card from the set in a case!

The Bridge Crew Hero cards are landscape-oriented acetate trading cards featuring the seven core Star Trek characters, plus Nurse Chapel and Yeoman Rand. The Bridge Crew Hero cards look good, but I found myself split on them. The rarity of the cards is high, the content is hardly audacious and as an avid convention-goer, the Bridge Crew Hero cards are another set that is unfortunate in its timing. This is yet another set that fans cannot use to get autographed by the stars of Star Trek. For sure, the four cast members featured who are still alive and represented in this set could make thes cards look amazing by signing them in gold, but it's a set one could never possibly get completely signed and that's sad. While that is not an inherent problem with the Star Trek cards themselves, whenever Rittenhouse Archives makes a new-looking, cool card like this, it is hard not to look at them and consider the alternative use for them! That said, the acetate cards are clean and crisp and look very good.

Also one in every four boxes is one of the nine U.S.S. Enterprise Concept Art cards. Rittenhouse Archives managed to get the original production artwork that pitched various looks (and feels!) of the U.S.S. Enterprise before the first shooting model was ever made. These cards might be the low point of the set; they are gold-bordered and brown and do not look overly distinctive (the back of each card is, essentially, a visual checklist of the set). Sadly, the designer of the U.S.S. Enterprise is dead, which prevented Rittenhouse Archives from using behind-the-scenes interviews on why each of the concept sketches for the Enterprise was rejected. For an unfortunately unremarkable chase set, the rarity of these cards is vastly disproportionate to their value.

One per case is a "Mirror, Mirror" card. Reminiscent of the mirrorboard cards made popular in the Star Trek Season 2 trading card set (reviewed here!), each of the cards in this subset feature big pictures of the main cast, Marlena, and the Enterprise. On one side of each card is an image of the regular universe version of the character, the obverse has the Mirror Universe version. These high-quality cards are a great alternative to the Season 2 Mirror, Mirror set at a more affordable price point!

Also one per case is one of the nine Leonard Nimoy Tribute cards. Since Rittenhouse Archives started producing trading cards, they have made Tribute cards to the now-deceased stars of Star Trek: DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, and Majel Barret. The Leonard Nimoy Tribute cards are the first ones in the set that have been included in the packs (previously, they were casetoppers and there were only 3!). The standard trading card-sized Tribute cards are individually hand-numbered on the front out of 125 and feature bright, distinct images of Leonard Nimoy in Star Trek (no shots from Star Trek: The Next Generation, the Star Trek films or his Spock Prime role from the new film universe). The tribute to Nimoy is a fitting one and this is one of the nicest all-Spock sets ever assembled!

Like most modern Star Trek sets, the Star Trek The Original Series 50th Anniversary trading cards feature autograph cards. Found one per box is a Silver Series autograph card and one "Black" autograph. The "Black" autographs are the same format as the Bridge Crew autographs from the Star Trek Portfolio Prints trading cards (reviewed here!). The "Black" autographs feature a much wider range of characters than the initial bridge crew run - performers like Sany Gimple, Michael Dante, and the grail Teri Garr! The Silver Series autographs are an incredibly popular, landscape-oriented autograph card with a single characrter image and the autograph - signed in silver ink - over a black starfield. The Silver Series Autographs feature the likes of William Shatner, Nichelle Nichols, George Takei, and Walter Koenig before going into the significant (and a few unfortunately indistinct) guest stars. The set has a Joan Collins autograph card and autographs from the now-deceased Grace Lee Whitney and Yvonne Craig. Regardless of the occasionally mundane subjects on the cards, all of the Silver Series autographs look incredible! Rittenhouse Archives assembled an impressive list of signers for the Star Trek The Original Series 50th Anniversary trading card set!

The Star Trek The Original Series 50th Anniversary trading cards also featured sketch cards found only one per case. The sketch cards in the Star Trek The Original Series 50th Anniversary were beautiful and there is something to the overall value of the set when one of the most common sketches comes from the acclaimed artists Mick and Matt Glebe! The Star Trek The Original Series 50th Anniversary features sketch cards from 42 different artists, with only 8 of them being done by artists who produced less than 25 sketches for the set. I have yet to see a lousy sketch from this set, with truly amazing works from Sean Pence, Kirsten Allen, Helga Wojik, and Melike Acar! Rittenhouse Archives advertised the set as featuring the best-yet sketch cards and they absolutely delivered!

Finally, found about one in every eighteen CASES was one of three Star Trek cut signature autograph cards. Rittenhouse Archives managed to get their hands on authenticated autographs from the long-deceased Jeffrey Hunter, Susan Oliver and Jill Ireland. Ireland's material is the most plentiful, while Hunter's cut signature autograph cards are now the rarest Rittenhouse has produced for a Star Trek set. The cut signature cards for the Star Trek The Original Series 50th Anniversary might be virtually impossible to find, but they look amazing!

Non-Box/Pack Cards

There are eleven cards that cannot be found no matter how many packs one opens. These include the regular P1 promotional card, which is easily available in the secondary market, as well as the P2 promotional card which was exclusive to the Rittenhouse-produced binder. The two promotional cards are distinctive from the other cards by being heavily-embossed, gold foil cards that advertise the Star Trek 50th Anniversary!

One per case, there is an alternate version of the common card #40. The 40a Casetopper card is a "Mirror, Mirror" card that features different images and alternate text from the common card. The 40a is written as it if were from the perspective of the Mirror Universe Spock and they look cool. Having had casetoppers that were once autograph, autographed-costume, sketch or dual-autograph cards, it is hard to get truly psyched about an "alternate common" card as the Casetopper.

For every six cases purchased, Rittenhouse Archives gave dealers a Silver Series Leonard Nimoy autograph card. If the casetopper is lackluster, the six-case incentive is absolutely incredible! Featuring artwork of Nimoy as the Mirror Universe Spock, the 6-case incentive autograph from the Star Trek The Original Series 50th Anniversary matches the quality of the other silver series autographs and has much higher inherent value to it!

For every nine cases purchased, dealers were granted a Star Trek The Original Series 50th Anniversary William Shatner/Leonard Nimoy Dual Autograph card! The dual autograph for this set is similar to the Shatner/Nimoy Dual Autograph from the Star Trek Portfolio Prints trading card set. Where that incentive card featured Kirk and Spock in their Mirror Universe garb (and, in Spock's case, facial hair), the Dual Autograph for the Star Trek The Original Series 50th Anniversary features a traditional promotional photo of the Captain and First Officer. Oddly, its value has been depressed since the cards were released in the secondary market, but this card is poised to explode in value given the more universal appeal of the traditional appearance of Kirk and Spock.

Finally, there are the Archive Box exclusive cards. Rittenhouse Archives expanded the SkyBox "Mirror, Mirror" trading card set with an Archive Box exclusive M8 card of Marlena Moreau! Because Charendoff designed the original "Mirror, Mirror" card back in 1998, the new card exactly matches the style and quality of the prior release!

Rittenhouse Archives also included a set of printing plates in each Archive Box and it is hard not to give the company a huge amount of credit for the way they released them. Some trading card companies release the printing plates in the packs and collectors have to desperately attempt to cobble together one of four possible printing plate sets to achieve a true master set. Rittenhouse Archives takes a different approach and it is far more humane to collectors! The Archive Box includes one set of all four printing plates used to make a single common card (and the casetopper!), so collectors get a set of printing plates as opposed to trying to reconstruct a whole set of cards in printing plate form.

For the serious collectors, there is a Rittenhouse Rewards card as well, the E10 expansion card that makes the 9-card Enterprise Concept Art card set into a 10-card set. Available only through redeeming points from wrappers, the E10 features the familiar version of the U.S.S. Enterprise, which is a cool way to cap off the lackluster subset.

Overall

The Star Trek The Original Series 50th Anniversary trading cards are well-organized, look amazing and make a potentially stale subject feel remarkably fresh again. While the Star Trek The Original Series 50th Anniversary trading card set is a fairly small trading card set for the price one would pay attempting to assemble it, it is a true celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Star Trek. Those who are not obsessed with creating a master set will still find ample material to gleefully collect in the Star Trek The Original Series 50th Anniversary trading card set!

This set culls images from Star Trek, which is reviewed here!

These cards are available in my online store! Please check out my growing Star Trek The Original Series 50th Anniversary Trading Card Inventory!

For other original Star Trek trading card sets reviewed by me, please check out:
Star Trek - Season 1 Episode Collection trading cards
Star Trek - Season 3 Episode Collection trading cards
Star Trek In Motion
35th Anniversary HoloFEX Holofoil cards
Legends Of Captain James T. Kirk
The Art And Images Of Star Trek
Legends Of Spock
"Quotable" Star Trek
Legends Of Dr. Leonard McCoy
Legends Of Scotty, Sulu And Uhura
Legends Of Chekov, Chapel And Rand
Star Trek 40th Anniversary Season 2
Star Trek (2009 movie) cards
Star Trek Heroes & Villains

8.5/10 (substance/content)
2/10 (factoring collectibility)

For other card reviews, please visit my Card Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2017 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
| | |

Dump The Franchise: The Star Trek Classic Movies Heroes & Villains Trading Cards Fizzle!

The Good: Generally cool common and basic chase sets, Collectibility
The Bad: Exceptionally fractured execution of concept, Some of the most obscure autograph signers, Rarities and numbering is problematic (especially for the cost).
The Basics: Rittenhouse Archives closes out their pre-J.J. Abrams movie card sets with the premium Star Trek Classic Movies Heroes & Villains set that ends the concept on an unfortunately low note.


When it comes to Star Trek trading cards, there have been some interesting trends in the various trading card sets and on the long arc of its holding the license, Rittenhouse Archives has done a pretty amazing job of producing trading cards for the fans. That said, not every concept Rittenhouse Archives has tried has worked out ideally. Retrospect is one thing and given the trends that followed, I would probably rate Rittenhouse Archives's Complete Star Trek: The Movies (reviewed here!) trading card set higher if I were to review it today. Sets that followed the Complete Star Trek: The Movies have become prohibitive to collect and Rittenhouse Archives has straddled the fence of creating and following the annoying trends of making impossible-to-collect sets.

But, well before Rittenhouse Archives effectively wittled down the possible number of Star Trek trading card collectors from twenty-five to five, Rittenhouse Archives was busy making ambitious plans to please collectors. Star Trek fans had a lot to be thrilled with, but it was hard to believe the company had anywhere left to go with the Star Trek films when they began with the Complete Star Trek Movies set. Despite starting their explorations of the cinematic Star Trek films with an ambitious and comprehensive set, Rittenhouse Archives churned out three more Star Trek film sets before committing their attention to the new J.J. Abrams Star Trek films. The final of the Classic Star Trek movies sets was the Star Trek Classic Movies Heroes & Villains set and it was released originally in "premium packs." It also had the unfortunate distinction of being a set that feels like a dump of the accumulated autograph cards withheld from prior Star Trek Movies sets.

That is not to say that the Star Trek Classic Movies Heroes & Villains is terrible, but the original release format - with packs that cost as much as boxes of trading cards used to! - the lack of a solid set concept and the emphasis on autographed trading cards that vary incredibly between impressive and utterly obscure performers make for a trading card set that is not particularly good.

Basics/Set Composition

The Star Trek Classic Movies Heroes & Villains was the eighth set of cards that focused on the cinematic Star Trek produced by Rittenhouse Archives. Properly assembled, the set is a collection of 109 trading cards and there is an official Star Trek Classic Movies Heroes & Villains binder from Rittenhouse. All but six of the cards are available in the box of the Star Trek Classic Movies Heroes & Villains cards, making it one of the sets that is a bit easier to collect, though the way the "premium packs" were produced and released make it somewhat irksome to do so. The cards were originally released in boxes that contained fifteen premium packs of nine cards each, two of which were autograph cards. Packs tended to run in the $50 range, the boxes cost as much as a case used to cost and the boxes were guaranteed to have an autograph card from either Leonard Nimoy or William Shatner in it.

Collation in the The Star Trek Classic Movies Heroes & Villains set was quite good. To complete a true master set of The Star Trek Classic Movies Heroes & Villains cards, collectors had to purchase at least four boxes of the cards, as there was a four-box incentive autograph card. As well, there were promotional cards that were not available in boxes or cases and there was one card that was only available through Rittenhouse Archives' Rittenhouse Rewards program (though it was inexpensive in its wrapper cost). But, more than most of the other Rittenhouse Archives trading card sets, the amount of repetition to get the four-box incentive card seemed excessive.

Common Cards

The common card set consists of 54 trading cards, which are printed on standard cardstock and have a glossy UV resistant coating. The fifty-four card common set alternates the heroes and villains of the Star Trek movies, with green for the heroes, red for the adversaries. With fifty-four cards, Rittenhouse Archives caters to putting the cards in binders as the binders have standard nine-card pages.

The concept of the Star Trek Classic Movies Heroes & Villains is a fairly mediocre one. While all of the cards are oriented in the landscape format and universally feature character shots, the choices for characters to focus on and images are somewhat problematic. While all of the main crew members are represented in the "heroes" half (even numbers), the heroes also include obscure supporting heroes like Commander Decker, Commander Rand, and Lily Sloane. There are both versions of Lt. Saavik (Kirstie Alley and Robin Curtis's versions) and there is a noticeable lack of Artim in the supporting hero characters. For the images, it is strange that Rittenhouse Archives utilized an image of Geordi La Forge with the character in his VISOR given that he had artificial eyes for three of the four Star Trek: The Next Generation films.

The villains section of the Star Trek Classic Movies Heroes & Villains has to stretch even more to achieve its concept. Captain Terrell is characterized as a "villain" in the set (he was villainous only after being taken over by a mind-controlling parasite from Khan) and given that Kruge's obscure support staff of Torg and Maltz are included as "villains," it seems odd that Joachim is left out of the set. Similarly, that the Space Probe from Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home is included in the set as a villain makes it somewhat incomprehensible that V'Ger is not included.

All of the common cards in the Star Trek Classic Movies Heroes & Villains set have an individual collector's number stamped on the back. With only 550 common card sets, the Star Trek Classic Movies Heroes & Villains set is one of the few common sets that has high inherent value to it. Rittenhouse Archives does not waste time or space in the Star Trek Classic Movies Heroes & Villains set on text; the cards merely include the character's name, which makes sense for characters like Commander Riker, but less for Gallatin (though, one supposes, if there were a character description for the character, it would be hard to write more than had already been written about him for prior card set releases!).

Chase Cards

There are fifty-five chase cards in The Star Trek Classic Movies Heroes & Villains set, with forty-nine found in the boxes of cards and the remaining six available outside the boxes and packs. The bonus cards that can be found within the boxes were the Tribute cards, Die-Cut Gold Plaque cards, autograph cards and patch cards. Given how the common card set fits perfectly into usual nine-card pages, the fact that the bonus cards are not in nine-card increments and are not universally-oriented (most are portrait-oriented, but the patch cards are landscape-oriented) is problematic.

The most common bonus cards in this set were the Tribute cards, which were found one per pack. The twelve Tribute cards were limited to 475 each and, like the common cards, feature an individually-stamped number on the back. The Tribute cards feature a large picture on the front of each card of a major actor from the Star Trek films who has since died. Major actors like DeForest Kelley, Mark Lenard and Ricardo Montalban are accompanied by the likes of Persis Khambatta, Dame Judith Anderson and Robert Ellenstein. The backs are formatted like an autograph card with the actor and character name. The tribute cards are hearbreaking in that they make fans want the cards to get them signed by the people on them, they are such nice cards!

Also one per pack in the Star Trek Classic Movies Heroes & Villains premium packs were one of fourteen die-cut gold plaque cards. The portrait-oriented, limited to 425 cards, look like gold ribbons bordering a bust shot of each of the main cast members from the Enterprise crews. This is a good-looking set of cards that combines the foil borders with decent images of each of the characters from the Star Trek films . . . except Worf. Inexplicably, the front image on the H12 card features seventh season promotional shot for Worf, as opposed to any image of him from the Star Trek films! Seeing as the back features a shot of Worf from the films, it seems odd that Rittenhouse Archives failed to get an appropriate image for the front of the card.

The Star Trek Classic Movies Heroes & Villains continue the autograph style that Rittenhouse Archives began in their Complete Star Trek: The Movies. The missing prior autograph cards - A107 and A111 - were included in the premium packs. Each box of Star Trek Classic Movies Heroes & Villains was guaranteed to include an autograph from either William Shatner or Leonard Nimoy and they were two of the highlights of the set. The Star Trek Classic Movies Heroes & Villains included yet another Brent Spiner autograph and the rarest autograph in the set was from Joseph Ruskin, which was significant only in that he died two years later. Ruskin was far better known for his role in the original Star Trek than in his supporting role in Star Trek: Insurrection. The high point of the Star Trek Classic Movies Heroes & Villains autograph set is that it includes a Christian Slater autograph card, which is cool. But, Slater's autograph comes up with far less frequency than less well-known performers who had even less substantive roles in the Star Trek films than Slater did, like Gary Faga and Conroy Gideon.

The Star Trek Classic Movies Heroes & Villains continues the patch card set begun in the “Quotable” Star Trek: The Movies cards, which were based upon the patches on the uniforms in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Individually numbered to 250, the two badge cards feature insignia patches made for Rittenhouse Archives for Commander Decker and Lieutenant Ilia. The patch cards were found one per box, as boxtoppers, and were unable to hold their value against the "Quotable" Star Trek Movies patch cards of much more major characters.

Non-Box/Pack Cards

As with most "modern" trading card releases - certainly the ones from Rittenhouse Archives - not all of the cards needed to make a true master set are available in the boxes of these trading cards. In this set, there are only six cards that cannot be found in the boxes. There is the usual promo card which foreshadowed the series release which is common enough to find (P1). There is also a promo card exclusive to the The Star Trek Classic Movies Heroes & Villains trading card binder (P3). The P2 card is a promotional card available only through Non-Sports Update Magazine and it might take a little work to track down (though the magazine offers back issues pretty readily).

There was one other promotional card, which was given away exclusively at the 2011 Philly Non-Sport Show. It remains tough to track down now and, outside its rarity, is nothing particularly special. All four of the promotional cards are landscape oriented and feature two headshots - one hero, one villain.

The remaining cards are the multibox incentive card and the Rittenhouse Rewards cards. For every four boxes of Star Trek Classic Movies Heroes & Villains cards a dealer bought, Rittenhouse Archives provided an A122 Nichelle Nichols as Uhura autograph card. Like most of Rittenhouse’s incentive cards, this autograph card is found sealed in a hard plastic toploader with a gold Rittenhouse Archives seal keeping it inside. This is one of the nicest autograph cards of the set and it is easy to see why Rittenhouse Archives held it back for an incentive card!

The final card in the Star Trek Classic Movies Heroes & Villains set is the Rittenhouse Rewards card. Rittenhouse Rewards cards are exclusive cards that fans can get by sending wrappers from any sets in to Rittenhouse to redeem for cards not otherwise available. For this set, Rittenhouse produced a tenth Star Trek: The Motion Picture hero card of Admiral James T. Kirk. The Rittenhouse Rewards card is essentially an additional common card, which builds the common set up to an odd 55 cards. The Rittenhouse Rewards card is not individually numbered, like the common cards and it is utterly unremarkable and strangely uninteresting for a hard-to-find incentive card.

Overall

Ultimately, the Star Trek Classic Movies Heroes & Villains fills in the gaps and expands the existing Star Trek movie sets . . . but it was hardly necessary. Sadly, the mundane and ill-executed nature of the Star Trek Classic Movies Heroes & Villains makes it feel like the set is a dump of material that was planned for earlier releases that just was not returned in time.

This set culls images from all ten of the classic Star Trek Movies, reviewed here!

For other Star Trek movie trading cards, please be sure to visit my reviews of:
The “Quotable” Star Trek: The Movies
Star Trek Movies In Motion
Star Trek: Nemesis

3.5/10

For other card reviews, please visit my Card Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2017 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
| | |

Adam Nimoy Meanders Through Memories Of His Father And His Father's Iconic Character: For The Love Of Spock!

The Good: Some decent interviews and clips
The Bad: A lot of common knowledge, Incoherent progression
The Basics: For The Love Of Spock feels far more exploitative than informative or a true tribute to Leonard Nimoy and Spock.


When Leonard Nimoy died, it was a shock and left a deep sadness within the Trekker community. For me, Nimoy's death stung, but I had had the good fortune to meet the actor multiple times at various Star Trek conventions and even inteact with him. Indeed, when I first met Leonard Nimoy, I carried out a postumous wish of a friend who died before she could meet him and I wrote a short story about it. Leonard Nimoy's death is one of the few celebrity deaths that resonated with me personally, but the sting of his death was muted rather quickly when Adam Nimoy announced his plans for For The Love Of Spock. At the time, the project did not have a name, but director Adam Nimoy announced he was making a documentary about his father . . . and he went to Kickstarter to raise funds for the project. As a fan of Leonard Nimoy's works, as one who watched legions of fans repeatedly shell out piles of cash to get Nimoy's autograph at conventions (and knowing those companies paid Mr. Nimoy for his time and service), I was offended. Leonard Nimoy did not die a pauper and regardless of how much Adam Nimoy inherited (or not) from his father, it was in pretty poor taste to solicit fans for money to complete the project.

Apparently, I was in the minority view for such things and Trekkers once again shelled out and allowed Adam Nimoy to complete what could have been a vanity project on his father's life. For The Love Of Spock is a meandering documentary that vaguely follows the narrative of Leonard Nimoy's life, blended with stories about the popularity of the character Spock and self-referential bits about the documentary itself. Given that there are two autobiographies from Leonard Nimoy, there is shockingly little information that is unique to For The Love Of Spock . . . so what is truly new in the film seems mostly like therapy for Adam and Julie Nimoy to talk about their father.

Opening with a self-referential clip that explains how For The Love Of Spock came to be, intended as a tribute to Spock for the 50th Anniversary of Star Trek, Adam Nimoy had begun work on the project before Leonard Nimoy died. After a brief biography of how Leonard Nimoy - who had never held an acting job for more then two weeks and was working as, essentially, a jack of all trades in order to make ends meet for his family while pursuing his passion of acting - was hand-selected by Gene Roddenberry to play Spock, the documentary transitions into an exploration of the character. Featuring interviews by William Shatner, George Takei, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, Jason Alexander and Chris Pine and others, For The Love Of Spock discusses the dynamics of the character with how Nimoy portrayed the logical character against the more emotive Kirk and McCoy.

Adam Nimoy infuses himself into the documentary as it progresses. Adam Nimoy discusses the effect of popularity of Star Trek on the Nimoy family - mostly admitting repeatedly that his father was a workaholic who was barely around. Adam Nimoy's infusion of self into the narrative leads to some weird dead ends within the narrative, like his inclusion of a letter from the early 1970s where Leonard Nimoy wrote to Adam about his relationship with his own father after the two had a fight. Adam Nimoy then declares he was a deadhead at the time, puts up a video of Nimoy singing his song "Bilbo Baggins" . . . and the way he uses it seems like a way to subtly mock him. The weird infusion of Adam Nimoy talking about himself allows Adam Nimoy to promote himself - showing his first Star Trek convention, describing his father's support of him in being an entertainment lawyer, etc.

But the lack of a coherent narrative, any sense of linear development, quickly wears thin. For The Love Of Spock leaps from Star Trek into Nimoy's theatrical career after Mission: Impossible. But before discussing Star Trek: The Motion Picture (referencing the Animated Series, but not the aborted Phase II project!), Adam Nimoy leaps ahead to discuss directing his father in an episode of The Outer Limits . . . which came well after Leonard Nimoy had established himself as a director. In addition to having shockingly little new information, For The Love Of Spock starts to feel disengenious about the life of Leonard Nimoy.

Neglected in For The Love Of Spock is the period of Leonard Nimoy's life where he purposely attempted to distance himself from his experiences in Star Trek. Nimoy wrote his first autobiography, I Am Not Spock long before writing I Am Spock - which Adam Nimoy is shown reading and listening to in For The Love Of Spock. And then Adam Nimoy tosses in, late in the film, weird mentions of his personal conflict with his father and Leonard Nimoy's alcoholism.

The result is a documentary that very sloppily shifts from discussing the character of Spock and detailing the life of Leonard Nimoy. Adam Nimoy's late shift to discussing his estrangement seems incredibly self-serving as having so much material for people discussing Spock and Leonard Nimoy, there is an abrupt shift to only Adam Nimoy discussing his relationship with his father. In other words, despite its other narrative problems, there is a wealth of information and sources for so much of the information about all other aspects of Leonard Nimoy's life and the cultural impact of Spock . . . but then only Adam Nimoy's word for what went on in his relationship with Leonard Nimoy. And it is somewhat weird to see Adam Nimoy opening up to Zachary Quinto where Quinto asks some of the most pointed questions of the documentary. Similarly odd is that during that section of For The Love Of Spock, there is no material wherein Leonard Nimoy's second wife is given a voice in the documentary. The film climaxes not with any sort of tribute to Leonard Nimoy at any number of the Star Trek conventions that were done following his death . . . but rather with a Burning Man tribute from 2015 to Nimoy?!

So much of For The Love Of Spock is similarly sloppy or contradictory. I am a big enough person to admit when I am wrong, but with For The Love Of Spock, my impression before the fact was definitely right. This barely-documentary is more exploitative than it is revealing or engaging. For those who want to know about Leonard Nimoy's life, picking up either (or both) of his autobiographies is a far better use of one's time than For The Love Of Spock.

For other documentaries based on Star Trek, please check out my reviews of:
Trek Nation
Trekkies
The Captains

3.5/10

For other movie reviews, please check out my Film Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2016 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
| | |

The 10 Essential Star Trek Experiences! (Happy Star Trek 50th Anniversary!)

| | | The Basics: The Star Trek franchise is massive and if one were to try to distill the incredible franchise into ten works, these are the pieces everyone ought to experience!


Happy 50th Anniversary Of Star Trek! Fifty years ago today, Star Trek made its debut on NBC with the episode "The Man Trap" (reviewed here!) and that led to the creation of a massive franchise set in a common fictional universe's 22nd, 23rd, and (most significantly) 24th Centuries. To celebrate the Star Trek franchise, I thought it was the perfect time to explore just why so many people have fallen in love with the Star Trek universe. I have been a Trekker for more than twenty-five years and celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Star Trek is a pretty big holiday in my household.

In celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Star Trek, I decided to contemplate the entire franchise and all of the varied experiences I have had with watching, reading and otherwise studying the Star Trek franchise. I got to thinking about what was essential in the Star Trek franchise and I thought I'd give the answer the classic "desert island" question. In trying to winnow down the massive Star Trek franchise down to only ten items, I had to make some very difficult cuts. The incredible Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Hard Time" (reviewed here!) was a tough cut to make, as was the brilliant two-part Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes "Chain Of Command" (reviewed here!) and "Chain Of Command, Part II" (reviewed here!) had an insular subplot that non-fans would just not appreciate, despite its absolutely essential anti-torture message.

After all of the cuts and contemplation, after fifty years of all things Star Trek, the ten absolute essential Star Trek experiences are:

10. "The Measure Of A Man" (reviewed here!) - What Is It? An early second season episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, "The Measure Of A Man" finds the Enterprise docking at a starbase on the frontier where a scientist comes aboard to take custody of the ship's android officer, Data. Dr. Bruce Maddox wants to experiment upon Data and when the incredibly intelligent android doubts the scientist's methods and balks at the proposed experiments, Data attempts to assert his bodily autonomy. Maddox presses the issue and Data resigns from StarFleet in order to protect his life, which leads Maddox to assert that as a sentient machine, Data is property, not a person. What follows is a court case where Data's right to self-determination is decided.

Why Is It Essential? "The Measure Of A Man" is a strong ethical argument that holds up incredibly well. There is a lot of Star Trek that did not age well and "The Measure Of A Man" has moments of melodrama between Captain Picard and the officer representing the Judge Advocate General that play poorly, but they are not enough to rob the episode of its vitality. Instead, "The Measure Of A Man" has great character conflict and an ethical dilemma that successfully explores the ramifications of having ethics. The struggle between Data and Maddox is not about resolving a simple conflict; it leads to an argument about what comes next, what the ramifications are of devaluing life.

9. "The Survivors" (reviewed here!) - What Is It? An early episode of the third season of Star Trek The Next Generation, "The Survivors" has the Enterprise arriving at a colony world that was attacked and the entire world's population was wiped out. While investigating the destruction, the Enterprise discovers one family and their property have survived entirely unscathed. The mystery of how and why they survived perplexes the Enterprise crew and the mystery is intensified by a psychic attack upon Counselor Troi. As Captain Picard investigates the loving couple who survived a planetary genocide, he uncovers a horrific truth.

Why Is It Essential? No one else would probably find "The Survivors" essential, but it is truly an immaculate work of what Star Trek stands for. "The Survivors" explores the nature of guilt and consequence, it is a profound statement on love and the grief that plays out exceptionally well, time after time. "The Survivors" puts Picard at the mercy of someone he does not understand and his final statement to Kevin Uxbridge is a simple, eloquent moment where Patrick Stewart adds an entirely new dimension to Captain Picard with his delivery. After so many episodes of Star Trek and Star Trek The Next Generation where StarFleet seems virtually invincible and the sole occupant of the moral high ground, "The Survivors" redefines StarFleet's jurisdiction and there is a brilliance to the episode's simplicity and it's contrasting moral sophistication.

8. "Mirror, Mirror" (reviewed here!) - What Is It? In the second season of Star Trek, four members of the Enterprise crew teleport through an ion storm and end up in an alternate universe. There, they find that they are part of a warship that is set to wipe out an entire planet's population to eliminate the roadblock to strip mining the planet. With the ion storm dissipating, which will prevent the crewmembers from returning to their native universe, Captain Kirk risks his life to take a moral stand to prevent the genocide of the Halkan people. With assassins threatening Kirk and the others, Captain Kirk allies with his counterpart's partner to use reason and an alien weapon to delay the destruction he has been ordered to carry out.

Why Is It Essential? Star Trek managed to take a basic science fiction premise like multiverse theory and do something more than just give Spock a goatee (though it does that, too!). "Mirror, Mirror" is an episode that seems like a simple gimmick episode, but it is both character-driven and portrays a higher sense of ethics. "Mirror, Mirror" is pretty much the gold standard for multiverse episodes not only for the way it spends time with Captain Kirk and his team in the Mirror Universe, but for Spock's explanation for why their counterparts absolutely failed to integrate when they were beamed up to the Enterprise. There are not a lot of episodes of the original Star Trek that manage to use the entire ensemble cast (despite the mythology, only Star Trek only had three stars in the opening credits and the episodes were very heavily biased toward Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock); "Mirror, Mirror" is, arguably, the best to showcase the acting talents of the entire cast.

7. "Frame Of Mind" (reviewed here!) - What Is It? In the sixth season of Star Trek The Next Generation, Commander Will Riker is sent on a mission to a planet where he is wounded and ends up in an insane asylum. Prior to the mission, Riker had been involved in performing in a play that was set in an asylum and his sense of reality rapidly begins to break down. As Riker transitions between the play rehearsals and the alien asylum, he struggles with his sense of reality. With his apparent mental breakdown progressing, Riker must choose which reality is real, potentially risking his entire brain and life!

Why Is It Essential? Long before Brannon Braga absolutely gutted the Star Trek franchise, he wrote some masterful episodes of science fiction television. "Frame Of Mind" was his creative peak and Jonathan Frakes used it as an opportunity to act the hell out of it. Not at all about the reversal at the end, "Frame Of Mind" is incredible for the process, the thrill of discovery. And Jonathan Frakes dominates on the acting front. Sure, there is more to a great hour of television than an amazing performance, but seriously, Jonathan Frakes is that good as Riker transitioning between the two very different realities and making those transitions have an effect on his character.

6. Imzadi By Peter David (reviewed here!) - What Is It? Opening in the future, Admiral Riker is a miserable old man, crushed by the weight of losing one true love, Deanna Troi. Set in the future, the past when a young Will Riker met Deanna Troi, and the present when the U.S.S. Enterprise is on a mission that costs Troi her life, Imzadi becomes a time travel adventure as Admiral Riker decides to violate all of the rules of time travel by going back to save Troi's life. Pursued by authorities from his own time, Admiral Riker risks everything to change reality out of his sense of loss and love.

Why Is It Essential? No one writing Star Trek novels before Peter David looked at the episodic, unrelated, episodes in the franchise and managed to tie them together with plots, references and asides like Peter David. Imzadi is funny and tragic and clever in a way that endures as only great literature can. Intricate and character-driven, Imzadi effectively explores the depths of love and loss in a time-travel adventure that transcends pulp fiction. Indeed, when the greatest flaw a book possesses is that it gets a character's middle name wrong (Riker says his middle name is "Tiberius;" when Peter David wrote the novel, Riker had been referred to in the show as William T. Riker, it wasn't until years after the book was published that an episode defined the "T" as "Thomas"), you have a bona fide masterpiece. Imzadi is the gold standard for what a writer can do when not bound by a television budget for sets, make-up, special effects, and guest actors. Peter David writes a work that is appropriately complex and clever, with a narrative voice that entertains even as it drives the reader to empathize.

5. "A Piece Of The Action" (reviewed here!) - What Is It? Late in the second season of Star Trek, the U.S.S. Enterprise visited the planet Iotia. Iotia was once visited by another starship and now, years later, the Enterprise crew is horrified to learn that the entire planet has modeled itself off of Chicago Mobs of the 1920s. When Kirk and Spock are taken hostage, a caper ensues with their escape, rescue, and capture by rival gangs. In trying to stay alive, Captain Kirk has to try to put the societal evolution of the planet back on its natural course.

Why Is It Essential? Science fiction can work amazingly well when it utilizes humor and "A Piece Of The Action" is an excellent example of that. After a season and a half of Captain Kirk and his crew spouting the Federation's non-interference directive (the Prime Directive), the viewer is treated to seeing why the Prime Directive is important. The result of interfering with the natural evolution of a society is presented with humor and menace and "A Piece Of The Action" manages to find the right balance of it. Like "Mirror, Mirror," it utilizes the ensemble cast well and it is an episode that allowed William Shatner to go wild with his performance of Captain Kirk and have the occassional over-the-top nature of his acting not at all detract from the episode.

4. Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan / Star Trek III: The Search For Spock (reviewed here! and here!) - What Is It? The two movies, viewed together, open with an aging Admiral Kirk feeling unsatisfied with life, wondering what his purpose in life is after being promoted out of being a starship Captain. Admiral Kirk accompanies Captain Spock and the Enterprise, crewed by cadets, on a training mission. While on the mission, a research outpost contacts the Enterprise with a crisis; a starship they work with is coming to take a potentially dangerous scientific device without authorization. The Enterprise rushes to help only to discover that the U.S.S. Reliant has been hijacked by one of Kirk's old enemies. In trying to stop a man who is smarter, stronger, and more dangerous than the Enterprise crew, Captain Kirk finds his sense of purpose, but loses his closest friend. In the aftermath of tragedy, Captain Kirk and his friends struggle to save Dr. McCoy and Spock's lives, risking their careers and lives against a new, vicious adversary.

Why Is It Essential? Technically, it is a cheat as they are two movies, but they actually hold up much better playing off one another to make one solid narrative. Plus, Star Trek III: The Search For Spock was Leonard Nimoy's directorial debut and Christopher Lloyd never gets enough credit for his portrayal of Klingon Commander Kruge. Aging and obsession are masterfully presented with a strong character-driven narrative and the full cast illustrates the depths of their character in a powerful story about loyalty. There is a reason Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan is considered a classic . . . and it's not just Ricardo Montalban's bare chest. Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan and Star Trek III: The Search For Spock find the absolute right balance between action, character complexities, and ethical dilemmas.

3. "The Inner Light" (reviewed here!)- What Is It? At the end of the fifth season of Star Trek: The Next Generation, the Enterprise encounters an alien probe that knocks Captain Picard unconscious. While his body lies unconscious on the Bridge, fed a stream of data from the probe, Captain Picard wakes up on an alien planet. He is told his name is Kamin by his wife and that he lives on the planet Kataan. After years of rejecting what appears to be the truth, Kamin accepts that the time he recalled aboard the Enterprise as Picard was a fever delusion and he starts a family and studies the environment to discover that Kataan is on the verge of a devastating climate change.

Why Is It Essential? It takes a lot to make a story that is insular to a character that is also incredible to viewers who are not invested in that character; "The Inner Light" finds that perfect spot. Fans of Star Trek The Next Generation were used to Captain Picard as a somewhat emotionally-withheld character who disliked children and was never in a successful romantic relationship. "The Inner Light" completely redefines the character and is a brilliant exploration of "the road not taken." "The Inner Light" effectively explores how, given a chance, a person can completely redefine themselves and create a life that is unexpectedly satisfying. "The Inner Light" is a Patrick Stewart performance that absolutely captivates the viewer and the guest cast that surrounds Stewart is surprisingly impressive, rising to his caliber. "The Inner Light" uses a minimal science fiction concept to explore real character drama.

2. "The Visitor" (reviewed here!) - What Is It? The fourth season of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine shifted immediately from its burgeoning war story arc to a powerful character-driven piece with "The Visitor," which focused on Jake Sisko. Opening in the distant future, Jake Sisko is a writer living in seclusion when he is sought out by an aspiring writer. Jake tells the story of how he became a writer and why he stopped writing; he lost his father. But when Benjamin Sisko was lost, so many years ago, he did not simply die. As the grieving Jake Sisko tried to move on with his life, his father would appear periodically, apparently trapped in another dimension. Guided by grief, Jake gives up his promising career to study subspace physics in a desperate search to find a way to recover his father . . . a pursuit that takes him his entire adult life.

Why Is It Essential? This is the ultimate Star Trek franchise tearjerker. "The Visitor" is a love story and it is a profound statement on the importance of having a loving parent. "The Visitor" is a great example of a powerful character study that has a universal message that makes incredible use of a minor science fiction conceit to reveal something deep and true. More could be said about "The Visitor," but it might be the greatest Star Trek experience worth experiencing rather than analyzing.

1. "Duet" (reviewed here!) - What Is It? The penultimate episode of the first season of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine finds an alien ship visiting the station with a Cardassian who requires medication. The need for the medication instantly draws the attention of First Officer Kira Nerys, who claims that for the Cardassian to need the medication he must have been at the site of one of the most horrific examples of genocide during the Cardassian Occupation. Kira imprisons the Cardassian and as tensions arise outside the station about the legality of the Cardassian's detainment, the crew works to confirm the Cardassian's identity. Kira has either imprisoned an innocent Cardassian filing clerk . . . or one of the greatest war criminals of the Occupation.

Why Is It Essential? It is virtually impossible to make a compelling hour of television where the bulk of it is two people simply talking to one another. The idea of creating an episode of Star Trek where the plot action is a prisoner identification seems like a recipe for boredom and disaster. Star Trek Deep Space Nine not only makes it work, but it creates a truly brilliant episode. Nana Visitor and Harris Yulin play off one another immaculately and their banter is a writer's dream. "Duet" is essentially an allegory episode that explores (in metaphorical terms) the effects of the Holocaust and the idea of national culpability. And, on the opposite side, "Duet" is a knock-out episode that defines Kira Nerys; a woman who has been fueled by racism and anger who is forced to look at a man she perceives as an enemy in an entirely different way. The emotional journey is intense, viewing after viewing. Like all of the best moments in the Star Trek franchise, "Duet" is smart, well-performed, character-driven and blends social commentary with a statement that reveals something profoundly important and human.

For other Star Trek articles, please visit:
The Top Ten Episodes Of Star Trek
The Top Ten Episodes Of Star Trek The Next Generation
The Top Ten Episodes Of Star Trek Deep Space Nine
The Top Ten Episodes Of Star Trek Voyager
The Top Ten Episodes Of Star Trek Enterprise

For other Star Trek reviews, please visit my Star Trek Review Index Page!

© 2016 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
| | |

For The 50th Anniversary, Hallmark Gives Star Trek Fans "The Man Trap!"

The Good: Wonderful sculpt, Crisp sound clips, General coloring
The Bad: Noticeable seams, Back-heavy, Expensive, Somewhat awkward sound clip
The Basics: Hallmark’s diorama ornament for the 50th Anniversary of Star Trek relives the climax of “The Man Trap” with mixed results.


Last weekend was the big 50th Anniversary of Star Trek convention in Las Vegas and, sadly, I was unable to get together the funds to set up as a dealer there. The years of me dealing in Las Vegas seem to be behind me and that leaves me with a pretty predictable period each year where I'm just a little depressed. So, today, after going through people's pictures of the convention and feeling my last burst of sad nostalgia, I figured that it was time to move on and what better way than to look into some new Star Trek merchandise? Today, I figured I would review the Star Trek diorama ornament for the year from Hallmark. In tribute to the 50th Anniversary of the first episode to air on NBC, Hallmark released "The Man Trap" as its diorama ornament and it is a great example of how Hallmark frequently gets a lot right with their ornaments.

For those unfamiliar with the episode, "The Man Trap" (reviewed here!), is the first episode that aired and it features the Enterprise arriving at a planet where the resident archaeologist is acting twitchy. His wife is a former lover of Dr. McCoy and, in the course of the episode, it turns out that she has been replaced by a shape-changing alien. The alien violently removes salt from its victims' body and, after killing several Enterprise crewmen, corners Kirk in his quarters before it is killed. It is Kirk being attacked by the M-113 Salt Vampire and screaming in pain that is the subject of the “The Man Trap” ornament!

To add extra value to this ornament, Hallmark provided this ornament with a sound chip, which is pretty much necessary to justify the original issue price of $29.95.

Basics

The "The Man Trap" ornament recreates the moment Kirk, seated in his desk chair in his quarters under the thrall of the M-113 Salt Vampire, is being attacked by the creature. The ornament captures a very specific moment as Kirk's mouth is open, mid-scream from being . . . desalinated. The M-113 Salt Vampire is detailed to include both its shaggy fur and the weird, mossy garment the creature wore. The ornament, released in 2016, is a good sculpt of the M-113 Salt Vampire, Kirk, the chair and the floor base.

Hallmark clearly made an effort on the characters as Kirk on this ornament is detailed with accurate rank insignia, the division badge on his chest, and the screaming facial expression. Measuring 4 1/16" tall, 2 1/4" wide and 2 9/16” deep, the "The Man Trap" ornament is a larger Star Trek ornament and it fits the general scale of most of the diorama ornaments Hallmark has released for the Star Trek franchise.

The Hallmark "The Man Trap" ornament is made of a durable plastic and has the Captain and M-113 Salt Vampire next to one another with the M-113 Salt Vampire reaching out with its suction cup-covered fingers right near Captain Kirk's face. The M-113 Salt Vampire is standing and Captain Kirk is sitting in his chair and the two are connected by the base, which houses the speaker for the sound chip. I was impressed by details that Hallmark got absolutely right, like the lift and curve of Captain Kirk's hair. That's a tough thing to render in plastic, but Hallmark nailed it on their "The Man Trap" ornament. Sadly, the M-113 Salt Vampire looks assembled, as it has noticeable seams at the shoulders, where the arms were apparently connected to the base piece. This is the only noticeable defect in the ornament's sculpting/assembly.

The M-113 Salt Vampire's detailing is good, save for the coloring. Having watched "The Man Trap" many, many times, Hallmark colored the creature a bit lighter than it was in the actual episode; the greens are closer to a lime green, as opposed to the olive green of the creature. Similarly, while the fur has sculpted depth and is colored with grays and whites, they are much lighter than the creature in the episode actually was. As for Captain Kirk, Kirk's coloring is far less sophisticated than his sculpt. There is no realism to the flesh color on Kirk and the coloring is oversimplified so Captain Kirk has a somewhat animated look to him.

Features

As a Hallmark Keepsake ornament, "The Man Trap" has only a sound effect. This ornament operates on an independent battery so one does not need to position it near a light strand on their tree. Because there is no special light function in the scene, it makes perfect sense that there is no light effect on the “The Man Trap” ornament.

On the ornament, there is a small button on the front of the floor piece of the base that, when pressed, activates the sound chip. The sound chip contains actual dialogue of Kirk from “The Man Trap.” Here is where the ornament's function becomes a bit wonky. There are three sound clips played by the sound chip: one of Kirk's captain's log, explaining the situation and the salt vampire, one of Spock revealing that the creature is killing Kirk, and one that has Kirk screaming in pain before McCoy shoots and kills the M-113 Salt Vampire. It's weird to have so many sound clips from people who are not present in the diorama ornament, despite the clips being perfectly appropriate to the moment rendered in the ornament.

Balance

As with all ornaments, the intent of the Hallmark Keepsake "The Man Trap" ornament is to be hung on a Christmas Tree. And for those creating the ultimate Star Trek Christmas Tree, the "The Man Trap" ornament is a high priced option and most fans will find is to be an extravagant one, even if it does commemorate the 50th Anniversary of Star Trek in a decent way. The ornament has the standard steel hook loop embedded into the top front of the M-113 Salt Vampire's head. This is fairly obtrusive, though it is necessary for the ornament.

From the loop's position, this is a slightly back-heavy ornament. It hangs with a bias toward the back and the pitch is noticeable especially because of how the base is otherwise flat. This is not the most lopsided ornament ever, but it is noticeably unbalanced.

Collectibility

Hallmark Keepsake began delving into the collectibles market in 1991 with Star Trek when it introduced the exceptionally limited edition original U.S.S. Enterprise ornament (reviewed here!). Since then, they have made ornament replicas of almost all of the major starships and many of the characters from the franchise and they have all been more mass produced than that first one. "The Man Trap" ornament has been selling fairly briskly since Ornament Preview Weekend, at least locally, but it still seems unlikely that this will be an ornament that sells out before the holidays. Most fans bought it early and while serious investors might be hoping to get them on clearance, the quality of the ornament suggests that fans who did not buy it immediately are unlikely to feel the need for it, even at a discounted price.

I’m betting against the long-term investment potential of the “The Man Trap” ornament only because the 50th Anniversary of Star Trek is bound to force collectors to truly choose where to spend their dollars (the sheer volume of anniversary merchandise is stifling!). I suspect that the ornament's mixed quality will leave those who do not pick it up immediately because they are already fans of Hallmark's Star Trek ornament line unwilling to hunt it down later on.

Overview

The Star Trek diorama ornaments are frequently polarizing, but for the 50th Anniversary of Star Trek, the “The Man Trap” ornament hits more than it misses. It is a solid base . . . for those who might be willing to customize the ornament with more detailed coloring, it could be damn near perfect, instead of the average execution Hallmark mass-produced.

For other Star Trek diorama Hallmark ornaments reviews, please check out my reviews of:
2015 "The Needs Of The Many" Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan ornament
2014 "The Devil In The Dark" ornament
2013 "Arena" ornament
2012 "An Extraordinary Meeting" Star Trek ornament
2011 "Mirror, Mirror" ornament
2010 "Amok Time" ornament
2009 "The Menagerie" ornament
2004 "The City On The Edge Of Forever" ornament

5.5/10

For other ornament reviews, please visit my Ornament Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2016 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
| | |

Disappointing Outside The Sound Clip: The 2015 The Needs Of The Many Star Trek Ornament Fizzles!

The Good: Good concept, The sound clip
The Bad: Not a great likeness of characters, Expensive for the quality, Poor balance, Lack of coloring depth
The Basics: As a tribute to the late, great Leonard Nimoy or just as a Star Trek diorama ornament, the 2015 "The Needs Of The Many" ornament is a tremendous letdown.


As one who loves Star Trek and actively collects the merchandise, I was a big fan of the late, great Leonard Nimoy. With his death last year, there is a lot of merchandise that has been released as a tribute to him. Even before his death earlier this year, Hallmark had designed the The Needs Of The Many holiday ornament and teased it at last year's Comic Con. As a fan of Hallmark's Star Trek ornament line, I was pretty excited to see the Nimoy-themed ornament. Unfortunately, it was a pretty terrible ornament.

For those unfamiliar with the concept, "The Needs Of The Many" features a representation of one of the final moments of the Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan (reviewed here!) where the dying Spock says good-bye to Admiral Kirk after he saved the Enterprise.

It is Spock and Admiral Kirk on opposite sides of the irradiated engineering room that is the subject of the "The Needs Of The Many" Hallmark Ornament. To add extra value to this one, Hallmark provided this ornament with a decent sound chip that plays a few sound clips from the scene.

Basics

The "The Needs Of The Many" ornament recreates the moment Spock and Admiral Kirk say good-bye to one another after Spock went in and realigned the power flow to repower the Enterprise and allow it to escape the Genesis Wave. The ornament, released in 2015, is a mixed bag as it has some interesting features and detailing, but the characters lack realistic detailing and shading.

Still, Hallmark clearly made an effort on the characters in some ways as they are detailed with Spock's pointed ears and some of the details on the costumes - like the snaps on the back of the rank braid on the shoulders. Even Admiral Kirk’s hair has texture, making it appropriate for the early-80s perm-style the character had in the film. Measuring four inches tall, three and one-half inches wide and two and five-eighths inches deep, the "The Needs Of The Many" ornament is one of the larger Star Trek diorama ornaments and with the sound feature, it commanded a $29.95 price when it was originally released.

The Hallmark "The Needs Of The Many" ornament is made of a durable plastic and has the the two officers facing one another. The sculpts are clearly of Spock and Admiral Kirk, though the sculpts are very basic. Between the two is a thin piece of clear plastic representing the glass between them from the movie and there is a section of flooring upon which both characters kneel. The characters have their hands up as if to touch each other through the "glass," but the ornament is very underdetailed. To wit, neither of the characters has their fingernails molded on and Spock's hand and face are not detailed to look burned.

As a fan of Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan, the ornament looks fairly ridiculous in its lack of detailing that would truly capture the film's climactic moment. Both characters look fairly animated; neither character has realistic skin tones. This is disturbing as the ornament does not make it clear exactly why Spock is dying. In fact, the subject - while a fan favorite - seems esoteric and somewhat disturbing for a holiday ornament. The painted details on the ornament - like the brass for the rank insignia - are not painted on with the precision that the promotional photos would imply, which is a further let-down to characters.

Features

As a Hallmark Keepsake ornament, "The Needs Of The Many" could have both a light effect and a sound effect, but this one only has a sound effect. That may irk some fans who have paid less in the past for ornaments that have both. The "The Needs Of The Many" ornament is battery-operated and it comes with the batteries needed to run it. Hallmark placed the button on the base of the ornament.

The button, when pressed, activates the sound chip. The sound chip actually contains clips from Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan. Rather extraordinarily, the chip has several seconds of dialogue between Spock and Admiral Kirk, from the key scene at the peak of the film!

Balance

As with all ornaments, the intent of the Hallmark Keepsake "The Needs Of The Many" ornament is to be hung on a Christmas Tree. And for those creating the ultimate Star Trek Christmas Tree, the "The Needs Of The Many" ornament is a high-priced option that is a tough sell, despite the sound chip. The ornament has the standard brass hook loop embedded into the top center of the "window" between the two characters on the section of the engineering room. This is fairly obvious, but not obtrusive, and it is necessary for the ornament. Hanging from that loop, the ornament is poorly balanced. Hung properly, the ornament is weighted heavily toward Spock and because the base is supposed to be a section of flat floor, that is especially awkward and noticeable.

Collectibility

Hallmark Keepsake began delving into the collectibles market in 1991 with Star Trek when it introduced the exceptionally limited edition original U.S.S. Enterprise ornament (reviewed here!). Since then, they have made ornament replicas of almost all of the major starships and many of the characters from the franchise and they have all been more mass produced than that first one. The "The Needs Of The Many" ornament has been bought more by fans so far, but not by the public at large. Given the lack of quality and the expense, I suspect that it will not be a good investment ornament and there will be adequate quantities of the ornament available on clearance after the holiday.

Overview

Fans of the Star Trek franchise, Spock, Kirk, William Shatner, the late amazing Leonard Nimoy, and Hallmark ornaments are likely to be disappointed by the “The Needs Of The Many” ornament given that it lacks fine detailing, good balance and bears a high price tag for it.

For other Star Trek diorama Hallmark ornaments reviews, please check out my reviews of:
2014 "The Devil In The Dark" ornament
2013 "Arena" ornament
2012 "An Extraordinary Meeting" Star Trek ornament
2011 "Mirror, Mirror" ornament
2010 "Amok Time" ornament
2009 "The Menagerie" ornament
2004 "The City On The Edge Of Forever" ornament

3/10

For other ornament reviews, please visit my Ornament Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2015 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
| | |