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!

Star Trek The Sci-Fi Channel Special Edition Extras- "By Any Other Name"

Here's all the extras from the Sci-Fi Channel Special Edition of "By Any Other Name". George Takei explains his early hatred for Walter Koenig in this one...

Trading Card Spotlight- Topps 1976 Star Trek Set

Item Name: Star Trek Trading Cards
Manufacturer: Topps



The Rundown: Released 10 years after the show premiered, the Topps Star Trek trading card set proves just how popular the series became once it hit syndication. What other shows could manage to get a card set produced 7 years after they ended? None, that's how many! (No, I can't back that up with any factual evidence... it just sounded good.) And with only the bizarre 1967 Leaf set preceding it, the Topps 1976 cards really set the bar for all the following Trek card sets throughout the years. So how good is it? Let's check it out!



The basic card set consists of 88 cards. They follow the familiar trading card form: Picture on the front, information on the back. While the pictures on the front may seem a little fuzzy by today's standards, you have to keep in mind that this set is 35 years old now. That's well before the days of digital mastering...



A wide variety of photography is used for the fronts of the cards. From shots of the main cast like the Spock seen above...



...to alien creatures that you may have only seen quick glimpses of in the series...



...and even beauty shots of the enterprise shooting model. Topps did an amazing job choosing some of this imagery way back when. Judging by the shots used, I'd say somebody on the card design team had to be a Trekkie. Who else would include cool close-up pictures like this shot of a cordrazine-crazed McCoy-



What a great card! Imagine taking that to a convention in the 70's and having De Kelley sign it for you. In hindsight, the whole set seems to have been tailor made for convention-goers seeking autographs- Very portable, with a wide variety of the cast featured.



One of my favorite aspects of vintage Topps cards has always been the captions used on the card fronts. Topps had a talent for making even the most innocent of scenes exciting with their clever captioning. Take the shot above for example. We all know this scene from "The City On The Edge Of Forever": Kirk and Spock are stuck in the past and must steal a few clothes to blend into their surroundings. Well, Topps just upped the ante by taking our intrepid heroes on a "Visit To A Hostile City". Scary!



Each cardback features a short snippet either explaining an element of the show, synopsizing an episode, or giving behind-the-scenes details. While only 41 episodes are covered here, the inclusion of production details more than makes up for the missing shows. The set is also one of the first official products to tease the release of a Star Trek motion picture... a full 3 years before it hit theatres!



So that covers the basic cards... On to the stickers! Inserted at 1 per pack, the 22 sticker set probably drove fans a bit crazy. Nowadays, it's simple to complete a card subset thanks to ebay and online card shops. Back in the 70's though? The best chances you had were trading with buddies and a few hobby shops here and there. Completing a full set must have been a regular Kobayashi Maru...



I'll bet it wouldn't have been so bad had the stickers not been so freaking awesome looking! The space back drop, the sweet character shots, and the colorful outlines add up to some seriously retro-cool adhesives. Oh...and a little tidbit for ya: The stickers really prove just how much Spock eclipsed Kirk in popularity, with Kirk appearing on a measly 3 stickers versus Spock's 7 spots!



So there ya have it... Is it an awesome card set? Yeah, pretty much. The cards themselves are pretty solid overall, the stickers are nifty, and the product is a great reminder of Trek's popularity explosion in the 70's. The real question though is if you need it now. With most dealers wanting $100 or more for a full set with all 22 stickers included, this is one product that may only appeal to the hardcore 70's Trek or trading card collectors. That's a real shame, as the set is cool enough to warrant inclusion in everyone's collection. Makes me wish that Rittenhouse could do a spruced up reprint of it, maybe using cleaned up imagery but maintaining the 70's feel. They could even include some fresh gum, as vintage 1976 gum isn't as tasty as you might think...

Mego Spotlight- Telescreen Console

Item Name: Telescreen Console
Manufacturer: Mego Toys Corp.



Mego released this puppy back in the mid-1970's. Look at that beautiful box art! Here's the other side featuring Kirk...



Not quite as nice as the Spock image, but still better than most of today's toy packaging.



The Rundown: Combining the coolness of a playset with the enduring fun of tabletop arcade games, the Telescreen Console is one of the niftiest toys of Mego's entire Star Trek stable. Sure it lacks screen accuracy, but just like all their other releases, it makes up for that with a surplus of fun. Let's have a look at this truly one-of-a-kind release!



Since the Telescreen Console combines two types of toys into one, we'll look at each function of the piece separately. First, let's focus on its merits as a playset. Since this is called the "Telescreen Console", it doesn't take a Vulcan to figure out the driving force of the toy- A large viewscreen area. While it doesn't really match anything seen in the show, the look is somewhat reminiscent of the animated series. The color pallet and design used here is also consistent with the other Mego Trek toys of the time.



Situated in front of the screen is a command chair, perfectly scaled for all your 8" Mego Star Trek action figures! Go ahead and have a seat Kirk...



With Kirk seated at the helm, the toys now "feels" like a playset. Had I owned this thing as a kid, I probably would have envisioned this as an auxiliary control station of some sort. Those dirty Klingons damaged the bridge, and now Kirk is left to defend the ship on his own from a different location. Oh... or you could imagine this is Kirk on board the disabled U.S.S. Constellation, just like in "The Doomsday Machine". Or you could even ignore that fact that this is supposed to be a ship's viewscreen and just pretend it's one of the various god-like computers that Kirk destroyed in the series, ignoring the prime directive and forcing the planet's inhabitants to start fending for themselves. Hours of fun!



Ah... but Kirk isn't the only one who gets to play around on this guy! Remember earlier when I said this toy rolled two types of playtime into one? You don't? Oh. Well, then take a look at the back of the box up there and you'll see that the Telescreen Console isn't just a place to plop your figures... It's also an arcade game! How cool is that!?



The Console is activated through 2 dials located below the viewscreen. The top switch turns the device off and on, while the bottom switch actually starts the telescreen's cycle. 4 "D" size batteries are needed to make everything function. As a side note- Do you realize how tough it is to find "D" size batteries nowadays? I went to three stores before finding them. I felt like Doc Brown making a deal with the Libyans just getting this thing to run.



Once you have it fired up, the middle screen will light up to show you this: A scrolling space scene with enemy ships rotating by. The objective of the game is to move the black sighting stick over an enemy vessel, "firing" the phasers and destroying their ship. And as you can see in the picture, the game features both Klingon and Romulan ship designs!



Movement of the sighting stick is controlled through a lever hidden behind Kirk's chair. Move the lever to the right, and the sighting stick moves with it. Move it to the left, and... well, you get the idea. I appreciate the fact that Mego kept the controls at a minimum; Having a giant, obtrusive joystick built into this would have severely limited its playset capabilities.



When you are lucky enough to zap one of the enemy ships, an ominous buzz will sound and the red screen to the right of the viewer will light up. We'll get to the lights and sounds in a second, but I wanted to point out a neat bit of design on Mego's part first...



Instead of making the owner take apart their console to switch out faulty bulbs, Mego built the lights into an easily removed panel. Slide it out, pop out and replace the offending bulb, then slide it back in. You're done! As an adult, I really appreciate the ease of maintenance... and as a kid, this would have totally been incorporated into playtime as an "access panel" to get into the viewer's innards.

But enough about that... Let's check out the Telescreen Console in action!



Man, I was on fire for a second there! Take that ya dirty Federation enemies!



Now had this been a high stakes game with money on the line, I would have kept score of my insane amount of hits using the small scoring dial located below the red lighted panel. This is actually my biggest gripe about this toy... I have no idea how one is supposed to battle the enemy ships whilst keeping their own score on the dial. I sucked at trying to do that.

And just in case you have one of these at home and don't have any idea how to make it work... Here are the instructions-





Got all that? Good.



Overall, the Telescreen Console is one damn cool item. I don't recall many other toys that combined action figure play with video games (outside of the 1980's Captain Power line), so this is truly a unique piece of Trek toy history. If this were on the shelves right now, I'd buy one for each of my kids and let them go nuts... but alas, the Console is one of the rarer Mego Trek pieces. Prices can climb into the hundreds for nice examples in working condition. If you do want one to simply display with your 8" Megos, it might be best to go after a non-functioning piece and save yourself a few bucks. Of course then you'd never know if you could beat my score...

Star Trek The Sci-Fi Channel Special Edition Extras- "The Deadly Years"

Here's all the extras from the Sci-Fi Channel Special Edition of "The Deadly Years". Though most of these extras have nothing to do with the actual episode, there are some great bits with Herb Solow in this one...

DST/ EMCE Spotlight- Captain Pike (Mego Style Figure)

Figure Name: Captain Pike
Manufacturer: Diamond Select & EMCE Toys



Captain Pike was released by Diamond Select Toys in 2011.



The Rundown: After rounding out the main bridge crew with their Sulu and Chekov figures, DST & EMCE must have felt the need to explore other featured characters for more "good guy" options in their Trek range. As far as TOS male heroes go, the next logical choice after the main crew would have to be Captain Christopher Pike. The guy had it all; Dashing good looks, a sweet laser pistol, and the ability to beat big-headed aliens. Let's take a look at how his manliness fits the Mego form...



Just like the Salt Vampire we looked at yesterday, Pike features a sturdier body than the previous DST/ EMCE Trek releases. The body is held together with screws and feels a bit heftier than before. I'm not sure why it was changed, but I prefer this newer, tougher body. I've noticed the chest on my Retro Khan has begun to split at the seams, so hopefully this new body will prevent that.



Pike features an all new head sculpt done in Mego style. I'm sorry to say it... But I am not a fan of this head. While I do see a decent Jeffrey Hunter likeness here, it looks like it's been stylized to fit a more "cartoonish" look. All of the other "new" Mego heads from EMCE (like Khan and Chekov) fit right in with the vintage figures. The Pike head looks more like it was made for Mattel's Retro-Action superheroes line, lacking the realism that made Mego's Trek releases so cool.



Unfortunately, the slightly cartoonish look of the head isn't the only problem- The head is also quite large. When I first saw the prototypes for this wave, I commented that the heads were a bit large due to them being prototypes. In most cases, original sculpts for toys are a little bigger than the actual figure due to the shrinkage that takes place in the production process. I assumed that the Pike head seen in the prototype was an original sculpt mounted on a production body and the final product would be properly scaled. Sadly, it doesn't seem that this was the case, as Pike's melon is much larger than those of the other figures.



At this point, it's going to seem like I am bashing the crap out of this head sculpt... but I have one more gripe. Unlike the other figures, Pike's skin is painted on instead of the head being molded in flesh-tone plastic. I have no idea why this decision was made, but I really feel that it adds to the cartoony look of the head. Had it been molded in flesh-toned plastic, the head would have fit a bit better with the rest of the line. Oh... and the paint doesn't match the plastic used for the body, leaving you with a Pike that looks like he's been tanning with a bag over his head. Ouch.



Okay... enough with bashing his head in. So what's good on Pike? Well, he's got a new shirt that is AWESOME! It reflects the turtleneck look of the pilots while still maintaining a consistency with the rest of the releases. EMCE did such a nice job on it that I picked up a couple of extra Pikes for...



...customs of Kirk & Spock from "Where No Man Has Gone Before"! Sure, the rank piping is a bit off, but they'll do in a pinch. ;)



Accessories: Pike includes the same belt, phaser, and communicator used on all the EMCE crew reissues. I'll bet you thought I'd take issue with them including these when Pike never used this type of equipment? Well, you'd be wrong! All the mego releases used these weapons, regardless if they used them in the show or not, so their inclusion with Pike makes perfect sense.



Even with the head issues, I am still stoked to own a Mego Pike. Do I wish he was a bit better? Sure. But the shirt rocks... and it's a freaking Mego Captain Pike! The head is going to be a deciding factor on whether you need him for your collection or not... but with most sites only offering him in a pair with the AWESOME Salt Vampire, the choice may be out of your hands. If you want a Salt Vampire, you may be stuck buying the Pike regardless if you like the head or not... and you DO want that Salt Vampire! And don't forget- DST has made it clear that the production of Chapel and Vina depends greatly on the sales of Pike & Salty. With that in mind, it may be worth trying to overlook any issues you may have with the head and just ordering the pair.

DST/ EMCE Spotlight- Salt Vampire (Mego Style Figure)

Figure Name: Salt Vampire
Manufacturer: Diamond Select & EMCE Toys



The Salt Vampire was released by Diamond Select Toys in 2011.



The Rundown: Remember that scene in "The Man Trap" where Dr. Crater is explaining how the M-113 creature is akin to the water buffalo of earth- an endangered species? Well, that's kind what it's like in the toy world too. For being such a memorable alien from the series, the good ol' Salt Vampire sure has gotten the short end of the stick when it comes to toys. No release in the original Mego line, and nothing in any of the various scales produced by Playmates (though Matt Hackley's custom gives us a glimpse at how it might have looked). And of course, who can forget this one-



Sculpted by Art Asylum for release in their last wave of Classic Trek figures, the Salt Vampire was dropped when the assortment was cut down to 4 figures. The figure lingered in limbo until DST solicited it for release a couple of years ago... only to then cancel it due to lack of preorders. *Grumble* It seemed the Salt Vampire would never grace toy shelves.



...Until today that is! Thanks to EMCE Toys and DST, we FINALLY have a Salt Vampire! Would I have preferred a Playmates or AA style figure? Sure. But for being a Mego-inspired figure, this gal is pretty sweet! Let's take a look!



The Salt Vampire features a similar body to the other DST/ EMCE style reissues; I say "similar" because this one feel a bit more solid and is held together with screws. Regardless, it features the same range of movement found in vintage Mego figures. The challenge is getting this body to hold a pose though. Without the aid of a stand, you're pretty much stuck with a straight stance on your shelf. That's the name of the game with "retro-action" though, so I'm not surprised or disappointed by it.



To replicate the furry body of the Salt Vampire, EMCE went with a fuzzy white oversuit (which is almost definitely what Mego would have done as well). The fur is a bit more subdued than it is on the packaging shot and on the prototype, but I think it looks just fine here. Not entirely screen accurate, but since these are replicating Mego-styling, a little artistic interpretation has to come into play.



Since you don't want your M-113 Creatures running around all nekkid, the figure includes a burlap-sack-toga-thingy. It's a separate piece from the fuzzy suit, and attaches around the figure through a snap in the back. Oh... I should also mention that the fur suit attaches through a single snap as well, which has a tendency to pop open when you pose her. What a floozy.



The body includes a few newly-sculpted pieces to finish off the Creature's look. First, there's the wonderful sucker hands! EMCE did a FANTASTIC job on these! There almost a little too nice for Mego style... but who cares! They ROCK!



And speaking of things that rock- Check out that noggin'! A face only a mother could love! Well, a mother and Dr. Crater. Oh, and Dr. McCoy. And Uhura. And Crewman Darnell. And maybe Sturgeon and Green, but we don't know that for sure. So, yeah... it's a really good sculpt- maybe the finest of the "new" Star Trek Megos.



Accessories: Nada. It's not like you need any though. Well, maybe a jar of salt would have been nice.



It's been a long time coming, but we finally have a Salt Vampire figure! While Mego figures may not be everyone's cup of tea, this is one of the finer efforts in that style. And with no other possibilities in the foreseeable future, this one may be worth picking up to fill the void. At a retail price of $19.99, you may be a bit hesitant to throw down the scratch for her... but I wouldn't wait too long. Remember what happened to the water buffalo?