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Star Trek

Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2012 3:00 pm
by Shockwave
I'm not sure if we have thread for this or not, if we do, I can't find it.

But... lately I've been revisiting the Trek. Borrowed the original series from my parents and been watching that and a recent PM conversation with JT had me appreciating the old Playmates TNG line. These are the last toys in my collection and due to their mostly monetarily worthless value I've decided to keep some of them. The TNG Bridge, Engineering and Transporter sets really go well together and represent the show really well. I particularly like the Engineering set with the pulsating warp core light. I had to take a light out of one of my phasers to make it work since the light it came with burnt out years ago. And the Transporter they made for TNG makes the 2009 one look like crap. The use of the two way mirror was a brilliant way to make the figures appear to "beam out" without some sort of rotaty gimmick.

The figures are... not the best ever made, but pretty good for the time and even still hold up well by today's standards. For the most part. Yeah, they could have better articulation, but they still have a very good likenesses of the actors they're based on. This is especially true of later figures like Ensign Ro and Lt. Barclay.

And as mentioned above, I've been watching the original series. I started yesterday and am about 7 episodes into it. The DVD sets arrange them by air date rather than production date. If I had a preferrence, I would watch it the other way around but this is what we got. I could flip flop and watch it the other way but that would involve a lot of switching back and forth between discs which I don't wanna do. The other thing that kind of annoys me about the set is the lack of "play all" feature. I personally like to be able to turn a dvd on and let it run and not have to nursemaid it from one ep to the next.

Bitching aside, this series is still fun to watch. It's also interesting to see how the series developed over time and a lot gets established in the first 4 episodes (in production order).

The Man Trap: This apparently was the first episode to air. By this point in production, all three Starfleet colors are used for the uniforms, but Scotty and Sulu are nowhere to be found. The episode itself is pretty basic, a creature that lives on salt is draining it from the crew of the Enterprise at expense of their lives. In the end, they wind up killing the creature. This also serves as McCoy's "unlucky in love" episode as the creature poses as an ex girlfriend of his. Not my favorite episode, but not a bad one. This episode establishes the lack of military discipline present in Starfleet. Crew members behaving that strangely and crew members that do not exist should have been reported but instead they're just thought of as slightly out of place. Doesn't ruin the episode for me, but it is a bit of a plot hole.

I'll review the others later when I'm not at work. But I just wanted to start a dialogue on the shows and toys and what have you.

Re: Star Trek

Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2012 1:03 am
by JediTricks
Shockwave wrote:I'm not sure if we have thread for this or not, if we do, I can't find it.

But... lately I've been revisiting the Trek. Borrowed the original series from my parents and been watching that and a recent PM conversation with JT had me appreciating the old Playmates TNG line. These are the last toys in my collection and due to their mostly monetarily worthless value I've decided to keep some of them. The TNG Bridge, Engineering and Transporter sets really go well together and represent the show really well. I particularly like the Engineering set with the pulsating warp core light. I had to take a light out of one of my phasers to make it work since the light it came with burnt out years ago. And the Transporter they made for TNG makes the 2009 one look like crap. The use of the two way mirror was a brilliant way to make the figures appear to "beam out" without some sort of rotaty gimmick.

The figures are... not the best ever made, but pretty good for the time and even still hold up well by today's standards. For the most part. Yeah, they could have better articulation, but they still have a very good likenesses of the actors they're based on. This is especially true of later figures like Ensign Ro and Lt. Barclay.

And as mentioned above, I've been watching the original series. I started yesterday and am about 7 episodes into it. The DVD sets arrange them by air date rather than production date. If I had a preferrence, I would watch it the other way around but this is what we got. I could flip flop and watch it the other way but that would involve a lot of switching back and forth between discs which I don't wanna do. The other thing that kind of annoys me about the set is the lack of "play all" feature. I personally like to be able to turn a dvd on and let it run and not have to nursemaid it from one ep to the next.

Bitching aside, this series is still fun to watch. It's also interesting to see how the series developed over time and a lot gets established in the first 4 episodes (in production order).

The Man Trap: This apparently was the first episode to air. By this point in production, all three Starfleet colors are used for the uniforms, but Scotty and Sulu are nowhere to be found. The episode itself is pretty basic, a creature that lives on salt is draining it from the crew of the Enterprise at expense of their lives. In the end, they wind up killing the creature. This also serves as McCoy's "unlucky in love" episode as the creature poses as an ex girlfriend of his. Not my favorite episode, but not a bad one. This episode establishes the lack of military discipline present in Starfleet. Crew members behaving that strangely and crew members that do not exist should have been reported but instead they're just thought of as slightly out of place. Doesn't ruin the episode for me, but it is a bit of a plot hole.

I'll review the others later when I'm not at work. But I just wanted to start a dialogue on the shows and toys and what have you.
I think we had a Trek thread that was focused on the new movie, which really is a different animal.

Trek tv is now available both on Netflix Watch Now and on Amazon Prime Instant Video, so going back is so easy - especially TOS which is in HD thanks to being shot on film.

The TNG playsets are really cool, I have owned the bridge since it came out and it's still an amazing piece. A few years ago, a friend of mine came across a very beat-down Transporter and Engineering, and sent them to me. While I wasn't able to enjoy their electronics for long, I could see how appealing the sets were. That's great that you were able to get it working via a light from a phaser, very clever, my soldering skills probably would have fried the phaser and the bulb.

I was able to get the transporter working briefly and it's a simple trick (back-lighting the figure makes it show through the mirror, lights out and it's a mirror again) yet totally cool-looking, and the outer shape of the playset uses a transporter buffer so it's clear there was a lot of love for Trek at Playmates back in the day. The New Coke Trek transporter popped characters into a tube, right? An even cheaper magic trick.

I always liked the articulation on those '90s figures, except for the difficult V-crotch articulation. But the arms really did a lot for the era. You're right that with the simple tooling, Playmates was able to get great likenesses out of simple designs, very few figures throughout the line weren't immediately recognizable to their actors, even when they were covered in alien makeup - Mordock is a great example.

Production run is definitely how it should be viewed, not NBC's ridiculous mishandling.

When I was a kid, I had liked TOS, loved the movies, but really fell in love with TNG in its first year, and hit a lot of conventions in the '80s. I enjoyed it a lot up through season 7, and enjoyed DS9, suffered through Voyager and Enterprise. It was only around Voyager's waning days that I got to view TOS again and really started to really reconsider it. TOS totally stuck with me by then and resonated hard, and I've just gone for it ever since. My mom was a Trekkie before me, and her father before her during the original run. I also grew a great appreciation for ST:TMP when it was released in the extended cut on VHS, and an even greater one for the amazing Robert Wise director's special edition DVD.

Heh heh, the Salt Vampire episode, it was aired because NBC thought science fiction tv meant rubber monster, so they went with it. Sulu is in it though, he even refers to "the great bird of the galaxy" (Roddenberry's nickname) when Yeoman Rand brings him food in the botany lab when the vampire gets the taste for Rand. Interesting way of looking at the discipline issue, I think here it was more of a shortcut for the writers, and they got better about it later.



My Trek collection is extensive, and I miss talking Trek collecting, I used to have a great group of friends who would all talk this stuff but we've scattered to the wind.

I have a lot of the Playmates 4.5" figures for TOS, TNG (although I avoided the season 1 and 2 costumes whenever possible, although Riker season 3 was hard to get for a while so I have him in both and both are like a wolfman :p), the movies, and about half of DS9. I don't think I have any Voyager figures. I have the aforementioned playsets, the TNG Shuttlecraft Goddard, the TNG Enterprise, Romulan Wardbird, Vor'cha Klingon ship, TNG Communicator, TNG type-2 Phaser, TNG Tricorder, Klingon Disruptor, Klingon D'k Tagh knife, TNG All Good Things transforming Enterprise, Generations Klingon Bird of Prey, Deep Space Nine station (missing the mini-Enterprise), DS9 Runabout, DS9 Defiant (excellent piece, only missing pulse phaser emitters flanking the engines -- I screwed up the stickers around the engine cowlings, didn't understand the curvature they were going for), Bajoran Phaser, Bajoran Tricorder, Voyager (surprisingly nice piece, big and well detailed, and the engines fold up), I have the DS9 TNG-uniform Sisko figure that was only available from the Sega Genesis video game (I was the first to rent it and it had the instructions still in the box with the mail-in form, my figure is #90 IIRC), from First Contact I have the 6" Picard space suit and Riker, a few of the tribbles from the Trials & Tribblations era figures that had the scratch off cards, DS9 and First Contact type-2 Phaser, Wrath of Khan Phaser, FC Enterprise-E, TOS Laser Pistol, TNG Medical Tricorder, ST5/6 Phaser, all 5 Strike Force vehicles (they were a ripoff of Star Wars' Action Fleet), Transporter-series Nurse Chapel Target exclusive, Insurrection Ent-E, 12" Wrath of Khan Kirk and Spock, and they did a 6" line of DS9 figures with cardboard set pieces which I have. Playmates' New Coke Trek I have the phaser, tricorder, and a gift of 6" old Spock.

From Galoob I have nearly all of the Micro Machines, I still remember buying the very first packs in late fall of '93 on Space cardbacks. It was TRU at the Metrocenter in Phoenix, AZ, and they had 3 3-packs each from Trek and Star Wars, I really wanted them all but was very broke, I bought I think 1 from each license, and I ripped into the Trek ones on the bus stop on the way home. During that time, I also got into the reference books, and read cover-to-cover the Scotty's tech manual, the unofficial TMP one, and the amazing TNG tech manual which is probably the finest piece of fiction-based reference material I've ever seen.

From Art Asylum/Diamond Select Toys, I don't have much of figures. I bought most of the Enterprise gang on big clearance, and the best figure is also the best character: Trip in space suit. I have the convention release of TOS Kirk which is among my most treasured pieces, I have 2 Spocks as one's arm was fused at the elbow and I never remembered to take him back to the store, battle-damaged WOK Khan, the TOS Phaser, the ENT Phaser & Communicator set, the TOS Tricorder (excellent piece), the ENT Enterprise, the TOS Enterprise, the Ent-A, the WOK Ent, the Ent-E, and the Ent-D.

I have 2 limited edition VHS boxed sets (when there were only 5 movies, and again when there were 6), and then the blu-ray box sets for the original and TNG movies. I still have my ticket and "Sit long and prosper" T-shirt from when a buddy and I did the first five movies marathon as a run-up to ST 6, it was the premiere of the trailer and Leonard Nimoy and Nick Meyer were secretly in the house and so impressed by the response from the audience for the trailer that instead of just playing the trailer once, they played it between each film.

Corgi had a very promising line in '06 that was snuffed too early, from which I have the Klingon Bird of Prey with amazing sculpt and paint, and the TOS Enterprise.

Ertl had the ST 3 and 4 license back in the '80s, from which I had the Enterprise, Excelsior, and Klingon Bird of Prey. I trashed the Enterprise as a kid after its white paint got scratched, thinking it'd make a better "self destruct" version, and still have both that and a replacement from ebay.

Hot Wheels released some 6" vehicles, I bought most: Ent-A, Klingon Bird of Prey (aside from the uber-rare Micro Machine, the only K-BOP to have folding wings), Ent-D, Reliant, and SDCC-exclusive TMP Enterprise undergoing refit in Spacedock.

I have the Hallmark TOS Enterprise ornament and the TOS Shuttlecraft Galileo ornament, ornaments 1 and 2 in the series, Galileo has a holiday voice message from Spock and the piece means a lot to me and my mom, who also gave me an excellent Spock mug back in the day which I still have. A buddy of mine worked at Star Trek the Experience and gave me a few seconds from their gift shop, I still have the gigantic Quark's Bar mug but I kept change in it for so long that it's got copper stains inside. :p

From the Furuta line of Japanese gashopon machine blind-pack vessel and candy sets, I have most of volume 2 but only the Ent-E is currently on display, although when I'm done organizing I plan on putting up the USS Prometheus as well since it's the ONLY product of it.

I have the TNG type-1 tricorder keychain, a couple actually as they're really nice for what they are, very accurate to the show. I have the TNG sound effects keychain, the TOS sound effects keychain, the TOS phaser keychain, and the TOS communicator keychain.

Other books include Art of Star Trek, the complete Enterprise D deck by deck blueprints, and a smattering of TOS and TNG novels.

Johnny Lighting released several frustrating series of "die cast" plastic 4-inch vehicles about 8 years ago, of which I have: TOS Enterprise, TOS Klingon D7 Cruiser, TOS cloaked D7 (says Klingon, but has to be Romulan), NX-01, movie Reliant, TOS Galileo, TOS Romulan Bird of Prey, Ent-A, Ent-D, All Good Things Ent-D, and a lot of pent-up frustration with this series' annoying pricing and re-release situations.

Model kits, I have the still-unassembled Nemesis Scorpion fighter, and I still remember building and even playing with my 3-pack of the TOS Enterprise, Romulan Warbird, and Klingon D7.

Racing Champions put out some pewter Trek ships, I bought both, the Klingon BOP and the TMP Enterprise, the latter of which was the source of my infamous USPS horrible packaging destruction page.

I still have my CD-Roms of Starfleet Academy (awesome game. 6 or 7 discs!), the Trek bridges, and the tour of the Ent-D.

A buddy of mine made me a pair of custom TNG-era small PADDs, they're very nice and even 14 years later they still hold up nicely.

I think that's it for my collection. I remember back in the day, there was this ad in the Trek fan club and in Starlog and such for a company that made every ship imaginable, and I remember still studying the ad intently and dreaming of owning them, which I never did and have never actually seen in person. But those were the types of Trek collecting memories that drove dreams and make Trek still so special to me today.

Re: Star Trek

Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2012 6:57 am
by Dominic
Never got in to "Star Trek" toys, which is suprising considering how much I liked "Star Trek" in my teens and in to my early 20s.

With the figures, I could never find iterations of characters that I liked. As much as I appreciated the fact that is was possible to get scene/episode specific variants of characters, if I missed "regular" Picard (or who ever) then I was out of luck. While that line has not aged well, at the time, those were some damned good toys. they were far and away better than Marvel figures at the time in terms of sculpt of individual figures and scope of the line. And, while the accessories were often mis-coloured, at least they were there (and could be customized) unlike other lines (*cough* Marvel) which often left out accessories in favour of inane crap that had nothing to do with the source material.

I never got in to the Micro Machine ships either, which was also suprising.


Dom
-always meant to get a transporter for customizing.

Re: Star Trek

Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2012 12:14 pm
by Shockwave
Fortunately I didn't have to solder the phaser, the light just screws out of it and just snaps into place in the Warp Core. Then I took the light out of my type 1 phaser and moved it to the type II. Apparently I don't care if the type I lights up or not. Actually, I wouldn't mind trying to track down the Galoob type I at some point. The playsets have definitely held up well over the years and my only real complaint with the figures was the v crotch. I used to have so much of the Playmates run. I had the full DS9 and TNG crews, the TOS set, all of the Transporter figures, the various aliens and recurring characters. And especially all of the role play stuff. I had the TOS phaser, tricorder, communicator, TNG Tricorder, Medical tricorder, First Contact phaser, Insurrection phaser, Type I and Type II TNG Phasers, Voyager, Enterprise D, TOS Enterprise, Romulan Warbird, TNG Shuttlecraft. I also had the full run of the 9" figures at one point, but sold a lot of stuff to BBTS when I moved out of my apartment several years ago.

The Diamond figures I have WoK Kahn and Kirk and I had the WoK Enterprise and the Enterprise D. Man, that D was nice. I think it was the best representation of the ship that I've had. And using the magnet as the mechanism to separate the saucer? Brilliant. It really allowed them to incorporate the feature without sacraficing sculpt or detail. Man, I hated having to sell that. Y'know, until it went for three times what I paid for it, then I was little more ok with it. I also had some of the retro Mego style figures they put out recently but had to sell those as well.

As for the Hallmark, I have the full run, with a few extras. My original series Enterprise is signed by the entire cast. The TNG Enterprise is still missing a few sigs, most notably Patrick Stewart and Jonathan Frakes.

Re: Star Trek

Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2012 1:38 pm
by BWprowl
Man, reading that back-and-forth over in the comics thread has me wanting to watch through TNG. It's only like a hundred and seventy episodes, how hard could it be? (Please ignore that over the past year I've steamed through over 200 episodes of Kamen Rider, I probably could accomplish this TNG thing fairly easily.)

Re: Star Trek

Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2012 1:39 pm
by Onslaught Six
I like the new Trek movie. Am I a Godless heathen yet?

Re: Star Trek

Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2012 2:21 pm
by Shockwave
Onslaught Six wrote:I like the new Trek movie. Am I a Godless heathen yet?
No more than I. I've watched it on tv like 16 times in the last couple weeks. Between that and only having the Trek toys left in my collection is why I started watching TOS again.

Of all the Trek series, I think my faves have to be TNG, Voyager, DS9, TOS and I really didn't care for Enterprise.

Shockwave
-Will marathon TNG after I'm done with TOS. Does not have DS9 or Voyager.

Re: Star Trek

Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2012 3:34 pm
by Sparky Prime
I had the Bridge playset as a kid and Picard, Locutus, Data, Geordi and Westley figures for it. That thing was huge. I had a transforming 'All Good Things' Enterprise that switched between the present and future versions of the ship. The Enterprise E for both Insurrection and First Contact as well as the Borg Sphere and Phoenix. I believe I had two phasers one from the series and one from First Contact and a tricorder. And there were a few micro-playset things I had. The Enterprise D that the saucer opened up to show the bridge, ready room, ten forward and a brig. A commbadge that became a transporter room. And the Defiant that was just its bridge.

When Galoob was making TNG toys before Playmates, I had TNG Galileo shuttlecraft and all of the action figures made for it as well as a phaser.

I still have a lot of the Micro-Machines starships. I wish I could have gotten the last collectors set that had the Enterprise E and Voyager in it. Unfortunately I never saw it in stores. Also have a few commbadge pins and Christmas tree ornaments.

Re: Star Trek

Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2012 6:11 pm
by Shockwave
So is the Galoob phaser any good? I've always wanted to get one because it looks smaller and more screen accurate but I've never had the money when I've seen one. Come to think of it, I'm not sure I've ever actually seen it IRL.

I had almost all of the Micro Machines ships too. Sometimes twice over since I originally had the three packs and then bought the sets.

Re: Star Trek

Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2012 7:13 pm
by Sparky Prime
It was still a lot bigger than the actual props in the show and they made the left side button a sliding lever instead for some reason. I also recall the lightbulb burning out fairly fast. Still, I would say it was better than the Playmates one.