Remco Spotlight- Flying U.S.S. Enterprise

Item Name: Flying U.S.S. Enterprise
Manufacturer: Remco Toys



Remco released their "flying" Enterprise way back in the late 1960's. I don't have a packaged version, so you'll just have to make due with the catalog shot above.

The Rundown: For my second blog posting over at StarTrek.com, I decided to take a look at some of the various Remco toys available during the show's original run in the late 1960's. Remco did some pretty wacky stuff with the license... including slapping the Star Trek name onto one of their "flying discs" and calling it the Enterprise. So let's put on our flip-flops, head to the beach, and give this puppy a toss with today's spotlight!



In the late 1950's and into the early 1960's, Wham-O toys built an empire on the sales of their Frisbee toy- A disc-shaped plastic glider that soared through the air with the flick of a wrist. Not to be outdone, Remco answered the call for such product by marketing their own flying discs... only theirs would also benefit from Remco's various licensing agreements. Case in point: The Flying U.S.S. Enterprise.



If you were buying a flying disc, would you rather have a plain ol' boring Frisbee... or would you go for one labeled as the U.S.S. Enterprise with a picture of Spock prominently featured on it? That's what I thought. Sure, the principle is the same, but in this case it's okay to make your judgment based solely on appearance.



There really isn't a lot more I can say about this one. It works just like a Frisbee, but it has Star Trek stuff printed on it. Do you need one? Well, that depends. Are you in the market for a Frisbee? Are you a Star Trek fan? Are you willing to spend from $25-$50 on a vintage flying disc? If you answered yes to all three of those, then by all means go buy one. If you only answered yes to 1 or 2 of those questions, then you may need to think twice before going after one. It's undoubtedly an oddball item and not something that most collector's are going to find essential to their collections... but it's probably the one Star Trek item that you can take with you to the beach and not feel strange about...

Star Trek 'Potpourri' Spotlight- Captain Kirk & Mr. Spock "Soft Poseable Figures" (By Knickerbocker)

Item Name: Captain Kirk & Mr. Spock Soft Poseable Figures
Manufacturer: Knickerbocker



Kirk & Spock were released (separately) as part of the merchandising blitz of "Star Trek: The Motion Picture"... way back in '79!



The Rundown: After posting the spotlight on the 12.5" Spock figure the other day, I got some feedback from folks expressing some disappointment in the Mego TMP head sculpts. Some people said that they didn't think the Mego heads were nearly as nice as the heads found on the Knickerbocker plush Kirk & Spock. So I decided to dig out my cuddly Kirk and semi-squishy Spock for today's spotlight and let you guys judge for yourselves which company pulled off the better likenesses!



Before we take a closer look at those heads, let's talk a little bit about these guys. If anyone needed proof that a lot of companies were banking on "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" to bring in the same sort of merchandising dollars that "Star Wars" had in 1977, then look no further than the Knickerbocker plush dolls. Seriously... did Knickerbocker even have a clue what TMP was going to be like when they decided to make these? Don't get me wrong- I LOVE the original motion picture... but I know that it isn't a movie most little kids are going to enjoy. Especially not enough to make the parents rush out and buy stuffed versions of the crew for them to snuggle at night.



Oh... excuse me... I keep calling these plushes, but the packaging clearly states that these are "soft poseable figures", not stuffed animals or something. My bad. Well let's just see how poseable these are-



Okay. So the heads turn. What else ya got?



Velcro hands, eh? Very nice. I have no doubt that the amount of poses you can pull off just skyrocketed...



Doesn't Kirk look commanding there now? And what of Mr. Spock- Do his velcro palms allow him to strike an inquisitive stance?



Fascinatingly adorable.



In all seriousness, to call these "poseable" is quite a stretch. In order for me to consider a plush toy poseable, the body should have inner wiring or something that allows the figure to be posed in certain positions without any support. These don't have that. Don't try getting all fancy on me Knickerbocker... these are plushes.



That's not to say they are bad plushes by any means though. In fact, they are actually quite good. Knickerbocker did a very fine job of translating all the details of the TMP uniforms into a plush body. They even remembered the rank braids! And of course there's those head sculpts that prompted this spotlight in the first place...



Let's start with Spock. While I do think this is a pretty decent Nimoy likeness (especially given the fact that it is sitting on top of a stuffed body), I think it looks a little young. Nimoy had some character to his face by the time TMP rolled around. Take a look at this shot from the box for reference-



See what I mean? I think this Knickerbocker head makes for a great "young" Spock, but I really feel Mego's sculptors did a better job of capturing the age of the characters. It's even a bit more evident on Kirk...



Again, pretty great job on the likeness... but a bit on the young side. I'd even go so far as to say this could be one of the stronger TOS-era Kirk heads around. Almost makes me wish the bodies featured the classic uniforms and not the TMP versions...



So there ya go. As far as TMP likenesses go, I do prefer the Mego versions... but I still think Knickerbocker did a pretty great job on these guys. Should you bother getting them? Well, there isn't much you can do with the heads other than leaving them on these bodies, so if you're buying them simply for that then I'd say no. But if you want some true oddities AND you're a fan of merchandise based on "Star Trek: The Motion Picture", then why not? They routinely sell for only around $10-$20 each so you won't be breaking the bank if you go after them. Don't let society's stigma against stuffed characters hold you back my friends. Take a ride on the plush side...

Star Trek 'Potpourri' Spotlight- Action Fleet Mobile

Item Name: Star Trek Action Fleet Mobile
Manufacturer: Mars Candy Corporation



The Rundown: After the huge success of Star Wars back in 1977, many companies were banking on "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" to be the next big licensing juggernaut. The merchandising range of TMP far outranks that of any of the following "classic" Trek films, despite the fact that it is probably the most cerebral of the bunch. One of the larger companies to sign on as a promotional partner was the Mars Candy Corporation, which produced the piece we are looking at today- The Star Trek Action Fleet Mobile! Let's jump right in... oh wait... apparently we are supposed to read this first:



Okay. Glad we looked at that first. I would have tried to assemble part 2 before part 1 had I not checked that first. Boy, would my face have been red. Oh... and apparently this item allows one to "Have Fun And Learn About Outer Space". The fun part I get... but I'm still scratching my head as to what I learned about outer space. Other than the fact that there are giant starships flying around up there.

Aside from those instructions, this sheet also details how one would have received this piece of perforated paper perfection. If you had 5 candy bars and $1.50 lying around, you were in business. 5 candy bars!?! Remember- that was back in 1979... No wonder our kids are in such rough shape nowadays. Oh, and what the heck is a "Summit" candy bar? Sounds pretty freaking boring. I guess "Board Meeting", "Business Retreat", and "Company Outing" were alternative candy bar names that just didn't make the cut.



Inside your mailer envelope, you'll find this nice gatefold poster detailing some of the ships and faces from TMP. The first section features the crew of the Enterprise-



The rest of the poster focuses on each of the vehicles included as part of the mobile. There are 5 vehicles included, and a crossbar section to display the entire thing on. Each vehicle is constructed by popping their parts out of a construction sheet (or sheets in some cases) and then assembling them according to the instructions.Let's start small and work our way up...



First up is the diminutive Travel Pod, which is completely contained in one construction sheet:





Since it's all contained in one piece, the Travel Pod is the easiest of the bunch to assemble. I wish the image of the cockpit area featured Scotty and Kirk instead of a single pilot, but the ship itself is neatly done and is a fair approximation of the screen-used miniature (especially when you consider this is just folded up paper).



Next up is the Work Bee, which is also a "one-sheeter"...





This one was a breeze to assemble, with only 2 parts in all. It may seem an odd choice for the mobile, since it has so little screen time, but I can't fault Mars for including something extra. It's grossly out of scale with the Enterprise, but it looks nifty so I am cool with it.



Things start to get a little more complicated with the Vulcan Shuttle, which has parts that span two sheets instead of just one:





Now we're getting down to business! As cool as the 2 smaller vehicles turned out, I was really impressed by how the mobile's designers managed to pull off the Vulcan shuttle. Though it seems like a relatively simple ship design, reproducing it as a paper good was probably a fairly daunting task. The end result is very nice, with this ship being my favorite of the bunch.



With parts that cover 3 sheets, the assembly process gets a lot trickier with the Klingon Cruiser:





While I understand the limitations of what I'm working with, I was a bit disappointed in this one. I guess it's almost impossible to capture the spherical look of the bridge area as a paper construct. But after the awesomeness of the Vulcan Shuttle, the Klingon Cruiser was a slight letdown.



The last of the ships is (of course) the Enterprise, which also uses 3 sheets to house all of it's parts:





By the time I finished this one, I felt like an origami Jedi. Like I could make a scaled model of the Taj Mahal using 2 Kleenex and a sheet of construction paper. It's the little victories in life that are worth celebrating.



Even with a couple of minor nitpicks, I think they did a fantastic job on this one. sure, there's a hole through the saucer section and the ship is a bit wobbly, but MAN... that's the Enterprise... MADE OUT OF PAPER! Awesome sauce.



Sadly, though my hands were sweaty and my fingers numb, I wasn't quite finished. The last bit of work was the crossbar section you see above. This one is easily slapped together though, so I managed to push on through. Included with the pack is a length of string that you thread through the assembly and into your completed ships, allowing them to dangle in orbit. I guess that's the part where you learn about space. You'll notice I don't have an a picture of the assembled mobile. Well, that's because I didn't want to try and get the thing home like that... though in hindsight, dangling the whole rig from my rear-view mirror would have ruled.



So there ya go- A little slice of promotional history known as the Star Trek Action Fleet Mobile. You can usually snag these unassembled for between 10 to 15 bucks. At that price, it makes a fun rainy day project, especially for the younger Trekkies in your life. Though I wouldn't suggest feeding them 5 candy bars beforehand...

Star Trek 'Potpourri' Spotlight- Tiberius Cologne

Item Name" "Tiberius" Cologne
Manufacturer: Genki Wear



Genki Wear debuted this cologne back in 2009.



The Rundown: This is a review I've been debating for quite awhile. I kept going back and forth on how I'd tackle this one. How does one review a smell? Since liking or not liking a smell is a matter of personal taste, I can't exactly say "hey, yeah you'll love the way it smells" since I have no idea what smells you love to smell. You see my dilemma, right? Then I figured I would just review the packaging and design, give a brief statement on my opinion of the product, and call it a day. But that would be way too short and sweet to make this worthy of a spotlight. Then it hit me... I'll tackle this one as a product battle! I would put Tiberius in the fragrance fight of his life against the manliest man smell I'd ever encountered. A true test of testosterone. An odorous encounter the likes of which had never been seen before...

So all the lady readers out there- Be prepared to catch the vapors. For this is the battle of Tiberius versus... Mandom.



Choosing an opponent capable of battling the manliness inherent in a cologne called "Tiberius" was no easy feat. Preferred Stock? Nope. Drakkar Noir? I don't even know what that means. Old Spice? Too old. No, the only plausible adversary was Mandom. Created back in the 70's by the Tancho corporation, Mandom is a Japanese import after shave lotion. The product takes it's name from the combination of "human" and "freedom". Mandom's tagline? "All the world loves a lover. All the world loves mandom." Yeah, if that doesn't sound like a worthy opponent for Jame T. Cologne, I don't know what is. Let's get it on!



Let's start with the look of the product. Mandom features the "Mandom" logo, the tagline for the product, and a weird drawing of a dude's face.



Tiberius knocks it out of the park by showcasing the name "Tiberius" (in classic federation font) emblazoned across the Terran Empire symbol!

Round 1- Tiberius!



For our next matchup, let's take a look at the advertising. I can't seem to find much in the way of ads for Tiberius. Pictured above is the back of the box, detailing the cologne and the man it's based on. Most of the print ads I've seen use some kind of variation on this text. Mandom, however, had a string of television ads back in the 70's... featuring none other than Charles Freaking Bronson. Take a look-



Wow. He turned into a Native American gun-slinger for part of that. And he splashed that Mandom on like he was showering in it! This one wasn't even close.

Round 2- Mandom!



Round three: Method of application. I had thought this third round would be an easy pick, what with Tiberius featuring the easily-applied spray nozzle versus the boring splash-on method... but that commercial just changed all that. While I love the convenience of the spritz, watching Bronson liberally douse the stuff all over him reaks of awesome. I'm gonna have to call this one a tie.

Round 3- Draw!



For the final bout, it would only be appropriate to compare each product's distinct fragrance. I hadn't expected much out of Tiberius, thinking it was just a novelty cologne. But it actually does have a pleasant smell! It reminds me of wood being chopped- entirely appropriate, given Kirk's wood-chopping scene in "Generations". Mandom? Mandom kinda smells like my Grandpa. And while my Grandpappy was a heckuva guy and I'd be proud to smell like him... I gotta give this one to Tiberius. Who wouldn't want to smell like Kirk!?!

Round 4- Tiberius!

So our winner is Tiberius! Congrats to our man Kirk for being smelly. In all seriousness, the cologne is pretty cool. It's a little pricey at $30 for a 100 ml bottle, but it's quirkiness and surprisingly pleasant odor make it an especially ideal gift for the male Trekkie in your life. While I don't know if I'd recommend splashing this one on before a date, I could definitely see this as something my kids would get me for father's day, or as a birthday surprise from a brother or sister. That's it's niche, and for that- the product is perfect.

Tiberius (and various other Trek-inspired fragrances that I have yet to try) is available now at Genkiwear.com for $29.99. Set phasers on sensual and order some now!