Friday, August 10, 2012

A Passably Cool McCoy! The Legends Of Star Trek Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy Ornament Is Nice!


The Good: Decent detailing, Good balance, Fair price
The Bad: Overproduced, Animated look, Head size is off.
The Basics: The 2012 Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy ornament might just be the best "Legends Of Star Trek" ornament Hallmark has produced thus far!


So far in Hallmark’s attempts, I have not been wild about the Legends Of Star Trek character ornaments. Honestly, I’ve been frustrated with Hallmark going back to recast original series Star Trek characters before giving a first pass at some of the other memorable characters in the franchise. So, no one was more surprised than me when it turns out that the Legends Of Star Trek Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy ornament would get a weak recommendation from me. Unlike its predecessors, the Legends Of Star Trek Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy ornament has decent detailing and is an overall good sculpt, though there are details that are off and the ornament still has a somewhat animated appearance to it.

Starting out at $14.95, the Legends Of Star Trek Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy ornament looks more like McCoy than the prior subjects looked like Kirk or Spock. McCoy is not as overly-merchandised a character as Kirk and Spock, though the appearance of the new McCoy ornament already seems to be upsetting the value of the 1997 Dr. McCoy Hallmark ornament. Even so, this might well be worth it!

For those unfamiliar with Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy, he was the Chief Medical Officer aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise for almost every episode of Star Trek (reviewed here!). Played brilliantly by DeForest Kelley, Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy became an iconic character in popular culture with his emotionalism, desire to be a plain country doctor and the way he constantly traded barbs with the logical Mr. Spock. The "Legends Of Star Trek" series gives Hallmark a chance to recast Dr. McCoy outside a transporter pad and that helps make the Legends ornament seem more respectful to the character (who loathed the transporter!).

Basics

The Legends Of Star Trek Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy recreates well the famed Chief Medical Officer of the Enterprise in solid plastic. The ornament, released in 2012, is an odd combination of wonderfully precise and problematically sloppy. Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy is instantly recognizable to genre fans holding up his hypospray in one hand, with his other on a protoplaser. Molded to be clearly recognizable, the ornament still has a more animated look for the character than one might hope for. This comes, arguably, from the character’s rounded head and very generalized colorscheme that lacks realistic depth and shading. Measuring four and a quarter inches tall by one and a half inches wide by one and a quarter inches deep, the Legends Of Star Trek Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy ornament has been selling slowly at my local Hallmark’s since its Preview Weekend.

The Hallmark Legends Of Star Trek Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy ornament is made of a durable plastic and has the human officer standing in his blue shirt, tight black pants and shiny black boots. The face is sculpted a bit more round than DeForest Kelley's ever was. This ornament is molded without deep attention to detail, like fingernails. Even so, it is clearly DeForest Kelly’s most famous character! Moreover, Hallmark went to create painstaking detailing for the hypospray and other medical tool, getting them in perfect proportion with the rest of the ornament. Oddly, the same cannot be said about the head. McCoy’s head looks disproportionately small, especially compared to his hands.

The Legends Of Star Trek Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy is colored correctly with his blue Medical and Sciences shirt. Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy's flesh looks fine, but is monotonal in its rendering. I was impressed that the boots were a glossy black, while McCoy’s pants were appropriately matte in their finish. While the medical devices and the rank badges on McCoy’s wrists are well-colored, the three I looked at for review, all had paint issues on the cuff, like one that had black paint sloppily applied to the character’s wrist. I would double check when buying this ornament to find one that has few or no painted issues.

Features

As a Hallmark Keepsake ornament, the Legends Of Star Trek Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy could have a function like a sound chip or light effect, but does not. This is just an ornament, a low-cost (comparatively) option for those who might not want to shell out for the starship or mural series of Star Trek ornaments. This is Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy, standing alone with his medical tools. Having the ornament without any features might disappoint some collectors.

Balance

As with all ornaments, the intent of the Hallmark Keepsake Legends Of Star Trek Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy ornament is to be hung on a Christmas Tree. And for those creating the ultimate Star Trek Christmas Tree, the Legends Of Star Trek Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy ornament is an utterly unnecessary one, in light of the past ornament, though I still like this ornament. The ornament has a brass hook loop that comes out of the top, back, of Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy's skull. To its credit, Hallmark's Legends Of Star Trek Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy is very well-balanced from that point.

Collectibility

Hallmark Keepsake began delving into the collectibles market in 1991 with Star Trek when it introduced the exceptionally limited edition U.S.S. Enterprise ornament (reviewed here!). Since then, they have made ornament replicas of almost all of the major starships from the franchise and when they started on the personnel in 1995, they were quite a bit more mass produced than that first one. The Legends Of Star Trek Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy ornament was a commercial flop in its first weekend (two of my local Hallmarks informed me they have not sold a single one) and it has not picked up since.

Despite the quality improvement over the prior Legends Of Star Trek ornaments, , this is not the best investment piece; hold out for it to be on the clearance racks at the season’s end.

Overview

Fans of the Star Trek franchise, DeForest Kelley and Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy are likely to have mixed reactions to the Legends Of Star Trek Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy ornament. For those who have not picked up the 1997 version, this is a decent McCoy ornament to get, but Hallmark still hasn’t gotten the character perfect, which means we might see another one fifteen years from now!

For other Star Trek ornaments of characters, please check out my reviews of:
2011 Legends Of Star Trek Spock
2010 Legends Of Star Trek Captain James T. Kirk
2009 Limited Edition Ilia Probe
2005 Khan
1997 Dr. McCoy
1996 Mr. Spock

5/10

For other Christmas ornament reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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