Hallmark Ornament Spotlight- 2011 Romulan Bird-Of-Prey

Item Name: Romulan Bird-Of-Prey Keepsake Ornament
Manufacturer: Hallmark



Hallmark released this ornament as part of their 2011 keepsake assortment. Here's the back of the box if you care to read it-



The Rundown: As the old saying goes- Third time's a charm! After the mediocre showings of the first two 2011 Hallmark ornaments, I'm happy to tell you that I saved the best for last. This year's ship entry, the Romulan Bird-Of-Prey, definitely rules the roost amongst his 2011 brethren... but that isn't really saying much, is it? Let's take look at her and see if she is actually worth plunking down the money for.



The first thing you may notice when getting your BOP out of the box is how "smooth" it is. The ship lacks the intricately sculpted lines and details seen on some of Hallmark's recent ship offerings, like 2009's Klingon Battle Cruiser and 2010's "JJ-Prise". There's a reason for that though: The TOS Romulan Bird-Of-Prey isn't supposed to have hyper-detailing! Duh. Take a look at this picture of the shooting model-



Now look at the ornament-



Not only did Hallmark maintain the integrity of the shooting model by not adding silly things like unnecessary gridlines, but they also did an incredible job of recreating what small details were visible on the original prop. Compare the number of "portholes" and their placement between the two pictures. Go ahead. I'll wait for ya. Done? Yeah, they match pretty darn well, don't they? Good job Hallmark!



Of course, the most integral element to a good Bird-Of-Prey replica is the fowl decoration located on the underside. I have zero complaints with Hallmark's rendition here. The paint lines are nice and tight, with no mismatch between the pattern and the coloring. I also have to give them kudos for incorporating the battery cover into the tail feather portion of the image. Pretty sneaky sis!



Speaking of the batteries- The Romulan Bird-Of-Prey is part of the "Magic" series of ornaments... meaning you're going to get some kind of electronic feature built in. Press the button located on her top side, and this happens:




Pretty sweet, eh? Not sure how well it translated in the video, but the nacelle lights are SUPER bright. Some folks may have issue with the color chosen for the effect, but I personally dig the blue. It looks really sharp. Oh.. and I actually had no idea that the front part lit up until it started blinking. Excellent work all around!



At $32.95, the Romulan Bird-Of-Prey is the most expensive of this year's Hallmark Trek offerings. Thankfully, it also happens to be the best of the bunch. If money isn't really a factor, but you only have room on the tree for one 2011 Trek ornament, make it this one. It really is quite cool, and it would look great hanging near the original Enterprise (if you have that golden oldie). With the high price, you may be tempted to wait out the inevitable post-season clearance, but I have a feeling this one will be the first one to "disappear". After all, it is a Romulan Bird-Of Prey... Ya get it? "Disappear"? Because it can cloak! Ha!

Hallmark Ornament Spotlight- 2011 Spock (Star Trek Legends Series)

Item Name: Spock Star Trek Legends Ornament
Manufacturer: Hallmark



Hallmark released this ornament as part of their 2011 keepsake assortment. For your reading enjoyment, here's the back of the box-



The Rundown: Remember back in 1999 when you went to see "Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace"? You went in with these huge expectations, thinking the movie would be the greatest thing since the Ewoks battled on Endor. Turns out it wasn't. Turns it out it kinda sucked. Fast forward three years... Your standing in line for "Star Wars Episode II: Attack Of The Clones", absolutely sure that the mistakes of the first prequel will be erased with this outing and you'll look back and laugh at the early antics of Mr. Binks. Yeah... that one ended up stinking too, didn't it? Well, that's pretty much how these 2011 Star Trek ornaments are turning out as well. Yesterday, we looked at the "Mirror, Mirror" ornament, which was kinda poopy. Today we turn our attention to this year's Spock ornament... which unfortunately isn't that great either.



Spock is the second release in Hallmark's "Star Trek Legends" series (following last year's Captain Kirk). The "Legends" series is basically Hallmark's way of getting another run out of the original series mainstays, with a different character ornament slated for release each year. Like I said in the Kirk spotlight- I am all for "do-overs" on the TOS guys... but only if they do them better than the first time around. Judging by these first two "Legends", it doesn't seem like that is going to be the case with this series.



That's not to say that Spock is a downgrade from the Kirk ornament. Spock is definitely superior to that frankly abysmal release... but he's still not that good. At first glance, he seems prefectly fine; A standard Spock holding his tricorder. But get a little closer...



...and things start to get a little funky. And not a good kind of funky. The bad kind. What is going on with that face? Is he smiling? Is this supposed to be from "This Side Of Paradise" or something? Maybe Hallmark anticipated that your tree was going to be filled with those weird muppet-spore-plant things so they went ahead and sculpted him all happy-like. Either that or it's just not a very good sculpt. I'm going with the spore idea.



The rest of the body is a contradiction in accuracy. For example: The tricorder features a really odd smooshed-down sculpt, but then small details on the uniform like the rank braids and delta shield are done incredibly well. It's kinda like eating a worm and finding an apple inside.



And since I mentioned it on Kirk, I feel it's necessary to bring it up here too- It's very difficult to get Spock standing without support. I had about 15 unusable pictures of Spock falling over when this shoot was done. He's not nearly as unstable as Kirk, but he definitely isn't meant for displaying on a shelf. Yeah, I know he's just an ornament... But I do like to display mine on the off-season, so his wonky feet frustrate me.



If you were waiting for me to lift this review back up with some hidden bit of awesomeness lurking within this release, you're going to be disappointed. Scroll down. Yep. This is the last paragraph. The only truly good thing I have to say about this guy is that he's fairly cheap. At only $14.95, Spock is the most affordable of this year's ornaments. My experience over the weekend showed me that the low price is definitely going to help this one for awhile, as my Spock was the last one in the store. It's just a bummer that he isn't a little nicer for that price. As it stands now, you'd be better off buying Hallmark's old Spock ornament... which is exactly the same thing I said about the Kirk release. Kinda funny that product released over 15 years ago is making modern day releases look useless in comparison. It seems as if the "Legends" line is turning out to be the ultimate "Captain Dunsel" of Star Trek ornaments...

Tomorrow's adventure:



Don't worry... We're ending strong with this one, as it is easily the cream of the crop this year. ;)

Hallmark Ornament Spotlight- 2011 "Mirror, Mirror"

Item Name: "Mirror, Mirror" Keepsake Ornament
Manufacturer: Hallmark



Hallmark released this ornament as part of their 2011 keepsake assortment. For your reading enjoyment, here's the back of the box-



The Rundown: So... how was your weekend? Mine was good. Did some work around the house, spent $80 on ornaments, had some family fun time... ya know, the usual stuff. Wait- $80 spent on ornaments!?! In the middle of July!?! That's right folks! In case you forgot, Hallmark premiered their new ornaments this past weekend. So if you buy their new releases each year at the earliest possible moment like I do, then you have three brand spankin' new ornaments to rush out and drop 80 smackeroos on! This year's Star Trek ornaments all focus on TOS, with a Romulan Bird-of-Prey in the ships series, a standard Spock figure continuing the "Legends" series, and a "Mirror, Mirror" ornament figuring into their "Magic" releases. Today, we'll be taking a look at the "Mirror, Mirror" release.



Recreating a pivotal scene from the classic episode "Mirror, Mirror", the ornament features Spock and McCoy moments before the Vulcan initiates a mind-meld with the good doctor. It's a great scene from a great episode; Definitely worthy of the ornament treatment.



The ornament stands at just under 5" tall, with each figure coming in at under 4". Hallmark has done some great work at even smaller scales than that, so I expected the work on these guys to be pretty sharp. Unfortunately, the sculpts just aren't as strong as they should be. McCoy is definitely my favorite of the two, but he isn't without problems. While the sculptor did a decent job of capturing McCoy's likeness, the face just doesn't convey the bewildered look that Bones had during the scene. He almost seems happy, like he's kinda looking forward to the meld... which is weird.



"Evil" Spock fares even worse in my eyes. The head sculpt doesn't bare much resemblance to Nimoy, and the body has almost cartoonish proportions (particularly the arms). Not only that, but details like the chest adornments on both figures are simply painted on instead of being sculpted. Bummer. Now it may sound like I'm being a tad harsh on this release, especially given the fact that this is a fairly small ornament... but after having recently spotlighted the much smaller "Wrath Of Khan" ornament, I expected cleaner work from this one.



I was pleasantly surprised when I turned the ornament around though! The back wall of the ornament features the "Terran Empire" logo... of which I am a big fan. ;) Nice touch Hallmark!



Of course, since the "Mirror, Mirror" ornament is part of the "Magic" series, there is an electronic feature built into this release. Press the button at the base and you get treated to a line of dialogue from the episode! Check it out:



Pretty cool, eh? Sadly, there is only one sound effect though. Sure, that's all you need for the scene, but I still feel like they could have put another line or two in to really spruce this one up. I do continue to be impressed by Hallmark's sound chip work though. They always seem to hit the perfect balance between volume and clarity. Oh, and just like the releases of the past few years, "Mirror, Mirror" runs on batteries, allowing you to use it as a display piece during non-seasonal months.

While it does have some sculpting issues, the "Mirror, Mirror" ornament still makes a cool display piece from one of Trek's all-time great episodes. What hurts this one though is the price- At $29.95, slight drawbacks like a weak sculpt and a solitary voice clip make dropping the money down on this release a bit painful. I hate to say it, but you may be better off waiting for the inevitable year-end clearance on this baby. Unless of course you have no patience like me... Then you're screwed.

Next up-



Did he fare batter than "Mirror, Mirror"?.... Come by tomorrow to find out!

Hallmark Ornament Spotlight- 2007 Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan

Item Name: "Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan" Keepsake Ornament
Manufacturer: Hallmark



Hallmark released this piece as part of their 2007 keepsake assortment. Here's the back of the box if you'd like to give it a read-



The Rundown: With the 2011 Hallmark Star Trek ornaments hitting stores in just a couple of weeks, I figured now would be a good time to jump back into the ornament spotlights and feature some of my favorites leading up to the premiere weekend (July 16 & 17). Today we're taking a look at one of the 2007 releases- The "Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan" ornament!



The "double-cross" scene from TWOK is one of the most memorable moments in Trek's 45 year history, so it's no surprise that Hallmark mined it for this release. Even recreated at such a small scale, any fan would recognize what scene is depicted here with but a glance... even if the staging is a bit off from what was seen in the film-



That is the closest I could come to finding Spock, Kirk, and Sulu staged together in the same manner depicted in the ornament. Is it a huge deal that Hallmark took some artistic license here to make the ornament "work"? Nope. The scene might have taken place "off-camera", or maybe my memory is just faulty... Either way, I find it *ahem" fascinating that even if it isn't completely screen accurate, there's no mistaking which scene we are looking at here. Let's have a look at these guys-



Positioned to the right of the screen is Kirk. The pictures may fool you, but these figurines are TINY, with each one only measuring about an inch or so. At that size, the paint and sculpting work is pretty impressive. Kirk 's uniform features all the necessary detailing. Hallmark even remembered that Kirk's uniform flap is open during his exchange with Khan.



To the left of the screen is Mister Spock. Even though he is teensy-weensy, Spock features a solid likeness and an intricately detailed costumed. I could just see this widdle guy running down to a miniaturized engineering and shuffling off his mortal coil...



Lastly, we have Sulu at the helm console, ready to fire on the unsuspecting Khan. Hallmark even managed to recreate Sulu's stray bangs! Nice work! But let's have a closer look at that helm...



As far as I can tell, the instrumentation panels are reproduced here by means of a couple of decals. I'm not sure how I feel about these. On the one hand, the scale is so small that I shouldn't expect an abundance of detail... But on the other hand, if these are just labels, there's no reason that the images shouldn't be better. It's not a major issue, but still bares noting.



Of course, the focal point of the ornament is the large viewscreen area. I gotta admit- I was surprised that Hallmark choose an image of the Reliant over Khan for the viewer, since the reveal of Khan is such an iconic moment. But here's where the "magic" comes into play! Since the sound clips used for the ornament included ship battle effects, having Khan on the screen would make it impossible to incorporate these effects in coordination with the visuals. With the Reliant on screen, Hallmark was free to add cool lighted effects... like phaser blasts! Check it out:



Pretty cool, eh? Not only did they have phasers firing from the Reliant, but there's also a separate lighting effect for the Enterprise firing on her! Great choices on the lines too...



The TWOK ornament is easily one of my favorite pieces from the entire Hallmark library. It recreates one of Trek's most memorable exchanges with superb lighting and sound effects, especially given this thing's diminutive size. While the helm is a little bit of a disappointment, the rest of the ornament features solid detailing throughout. Oh... and since this guy runs on batteries instead of plugging into a string of lights it can be used as a display piece during non-holiday months. With most auctions closing in the $10-$15 range, you can get this one nowadays for less than original retail. At that price, your wallet won't be feeling the "wrath" of this purchase! Wokka wokka!

Hallmark Ornament Spotlight- 2010 Captain James T. Kirk (Star Trek Legends Series)

Item Name: Captain James T. Kirk Star Trek Legends Ornament
Manufacturer: Hallmark



Hallmark released this piece as part of their 2010 keepsake assortment.



The Rundown: It's that time of year again... Time for the holiday clearance sale at Hallmark! If you've stayed thrifty and avoided buying Hallmark's 3 Trek ornament offerings for this year, now is the time for a trip to your local Hallmark. As the holiday winds down, the stores begin to divest themselves of their Christmas ornament selection... meaning you'll be able to snag the trio at a deep discount if you're lucky. Sadly, this season's offerings weren't quite up to par with the last few years. While the Amok Time ornament was pretty cool, the 2009 film inspired Enterprise left a bit to be desired (especially in the quality control department). The last of the three is the Kirk we're looking at today. How's he stack up? Let's take a look...



Kirk is the first in a new series of Hallmark ornaments dubbed "Star Trek Legends". The series is slated to feature a new character from the original television series every year. While I'm all for more TOS-inspired ornaments, this seems a little redundant to me. Sure, the series may end up giving us some characters we don't already have in ornament form eventually, but I really see this as Hallmark looking at a way to sell us the main guys again in new poses. We already have perfectly good ornaments of most the original crew from Hallmark. The only way a "re-do" makes sense is if you do it better... and judging by this Kirk, they aren't doing them any better.



Let's start with the head... You're probably looking at that pic up there and thinking to yourself- "man, that is a pretty horrible likeness". Well, you're wrong. The likeness is great, see?



The ornament is a dead ringer of John Belushi as Captain Kirk from the old SNL Star Trek skit. Kudos to Hallmark for plucking this obscure moment of Trek history and producing this... Wait. What? It's supposed to be Shatner? Really? Oh.... well. Yeah, it sucks then.

Seriously, I know that in the past I've cut Hallmark some slack on likenesses. These things are usually fairly small, and the materials used to make them aren't really conductive to facial accuracy.... but I can't let this one slide. At 4" tall, there's no reason the likeness on this Kirk should be SO much worse than previous smaller efforts from Hallmark. It's bad. Real bad.



Unfortunately, the likeness isn't the only issue on Kirk. His proportions are REALLY wonky. Take a look at his pipe-cleaner arms and ridiculously inflated phaser up there. In the immortal words of Captain Panaka from Star Wars Episode I- "Looks pretty bad". I'm really not sure how Kirk even made it into production looking like this.

Oh yeah, and it's a minor gripe, but Kirk can't stand on his own either. I know, I know, he's meant to hang from a tree. Maybe I'm weird, but I like to display my ornaments too, and there really isn't any reason that a "posed" figure like this shouldn't be able to stand on it's own. Oh well, enough belly-aching... Here's his box bio-



That's weird. They forgot to mention his adventures with Dan Aykroyd in "Blues Brothers". They must have run out of space.



To be fair, Kirk was the cheapest of this year's offerings at only $14.95. Too bad he isn't worth that though. Simply put, the previous single Kirk produced by Hallmark WAY back in 1995 is a superior product and can still be had for less than that. As I said at the start of this though, it's clearance time at Hallmark, so you should be able to find Kirk for a cheaper price now. I'm willing to bet that if you find any of this year's ornaments still on the shelves, it will be this one. "Legends" Kirk doesn't bring anything new to the table, other than worries that Hallmark may be letting the quality slip on their Trek products just a bit...

Hallmark Ornament Spotlight- 2008 Communicator

Item Name: Communicator Keepsake Ornament
Manufacturer: Hallmark



Hallmark released this piece as part of their 2008 keepsake assortment. Here's the back of the box if you'd like to give it a read-



The Rundown- About a year ago, I spotlighted the 2009 Starfleet Phaser Ornament from Hallmark, which I pegged as a companion piece to the 2008 communicator ornament. Well, looking back, I realized that I'd never even done a spotlight on the communicator... so here it is!



Based on the classic series communicator, the ornament features a solid black body with a gold flip-open lid/ antenna. While they did a pretty decent job of replicating the look, Hallmark had to take a few liberties with this to make it fit into the ornament category.



The ornament is quite a bit smaller than the standard communicator, as evidenced by the comparison with the DST version up there. It's also a little squatter, like the communicator has had a few too many cups of egg nog...



Just like the prop, the antenna area flips open to reveal a moire, 3 small lights, and 2 small buttons...



Sure, if you judge this as a prop replica, it's not very accurate... But as an ornament, it's pretty darn good. The lights are nice and bright, the speaker area has a clean brass paint app, and the buttons are easy to press. There's even a cool "flicker" sticker to replicate the spinning moire effect (something I hadn't even noticed until I did this spotlight).



And since this is one of Hallmark's "Magic" ornaments, the communicator has some awesome light and sound effects loaded into it. You activate the features by flipping her open and then using the 2 small buttons to cycle through the light/ sound features. Check it out:



The sound is astonishingly loud and clear for an ornament, even rivaling the DST communicator. Overall, it's just about a perfect ornament...except one small gripe-



The ornament's hook is actually on the antenna, meaning you have to have it in the open position whilst hanging on your tree. Not a huge deal, but it makes playing the "opening" effect a little difficult.



Easily one of my favorite Trek Hallmark ornaments. While not as accurately sized as the 2009 phaser, it's sound effects and overall coolness make up for it's diminutive stature. The communicator originally retailed for $18.50, but can be found on ebay for less than that nowadays. So what are you waiting for... you've only got like 28 days until Christmas!