STAR TREK..To Boldly Go Where No Monster Has Gone Before!

Pauspy · March 30, 2011, 08:36:48 PM

I always loved "The Corbomite Maneuver", not just because it was tightly written and acted in a suspensful little story, but the phoney head of Balock scared the c*** out of me the first time I saw it! I remember having to dodge the final credits as they always used a shot of the Balock head for the final slide (a Desilu Production!)

I recently found out the child who played the "real" Balock was played by Clint Howard, brother of Ron Howard. Guess he was always a bald little kid!

Mego73 · March 30, 2011, 10:12:58 PM

In the fall of 1975, I started to become interested in this cool Saturday morning cartoon about people on a space ship called "Star Trek". When my mom saw I was taking a liking to it, she told me that it used to be a live action show.

Wow, you mean the cartoon I was starting to like was based on a "real show" about people in space?

But as luck would have it, just as I started to really like the animated Star Trek, it was ending it's Saturday morning run. I was crushed. But only a few days after that (or so I remembered) the local station started running ads for the "real" Star Trek and they were going to start running it.

I had to trade off watching Star Trek every other day with my sister watching Sesame Street (and even though I loved Sesame Street too I loathed to give up a viewing of Star Trek to it).

Also, I was hard at work to find Star Trek stuff. The first thing I found was a Star Trek comic book (issue #34, The Psychocrystals)

http://curtdanhauser.com/St34.html

and then, I stumbled on a long boxed Mr. Spock model kit at a drug store. I had to save up for that one but after a week or so, my visiting Grandma made up what I needed and I walked to the drug store to pick it up.

The model kit was recently reissued:

http://www.amazon.com/12Mr-Spock-Limited-Tin-AMT624/dp/B002W860K2/ref=sr_1_7?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1301521055&sr=1-7

But I really wanted Star Trek dolls (yes, I called them dolls back then) and before I started to pay attention to Star Trek, I thought I might've seen a commercial for something that could've been Star Trek dolls. In fact, this is what I remember seeing:

Vintage Mego Star Trek Action Figure Collection TV Commercial 70's

But back then, my hopes for Star Trek figures didn't get confirmed until we got the 1975 Sears Christmas catalog. I nearly went through the roof when I saw:

And a little bit later I shot into orbit when I actually saw a Dr. McCoy on the rack when we went to a Dept. Store. I couldn't get mom to buy it though (I wonder if it could have anything to do with that it is close to Christmas, I'll keep an eye out for presents that could be big enough to hold that carded bubble pack).

And so, Christmas 1975, I first unwrapped The Enterprise playset. It was in a plain brown box with "U.S.S. Enterprise" stamped in black on it. I thought it was weird that it came in a plain brown box but was glad to have it anyway.

Of the presents left, only one could have been big enough to have the packaged Star Trek figure of the type I saw in the store. I unwrapped it and it was Dr. McCoy, possibly that same McCoy I saw in the store. I loved having the Enterprise and McCoy but I thought he was all I was going to get so I was a tad disappointed (and I wanted Spock, most of all too).

I then went and opened this smaller package. It turned out to be 2 smaller boxes wrapped together. In those smaller boxes was Kirk and Spock in plastic baggies.

I was blown away and happy to get them but boy, I sure got punked by the practices of the catalog houses of the time. Sears and Pennies would often ship toys in plain brown shipper boxes instead of the packaging they would get in retail stores. To the industry, a pretty box was only useful for a retail situation. A catalog situation, the catalog served the purpose of the retail box. Mom had bought Dr. McCoy from the store (probably the same day I begged for him) and ordered Kirk, Spock and The Enterprise from the catalog.

No matter though, I had Kirk, Spock and McCoy with the Enterprise and was as happy as Ralphie with his BB gun (even though the foil on the insignias was detached on at least one figure before the end of Christmas day).

So, the original series (that includes the animated series for me) will always be the gold standard and the Mego Trek figures will always be the ones to beat with all the Trek stuff that has come since. And when I discovered that when I found the Enterprise playset in a store later on with a pretty printed box, it made me covet the packaging that didn't come from the catalog and spurred my love for retro toy packaging today.

Here is my designs for Mego Trek and Trek Alien boxes that fulfill my desire to have had the Trek figures in boxes (although I like the cards too)

http://megomuseum.com/community/showthread.php?t=56950

Dr.Teufel Geist · March 30, 2011, 11:38:11 PM

Quote from: Haunted hearse on March 30, 2011, 08:03:04 PM
When they filmed Halloween, it was off season, and they needed a Halloween mask. The one they chose was a Captain Kirk Mask. Considering that they painted a Captain Kirk mask white, for Jason to wear, you might say William Shatner is the face of Modern Horror.

Jason? I thought it was Michael..

Haunted hearse · March 31, 2011, 04:53:04 AM

Quote from: Dr.Teufel Geist on March 30, 2011, 11:38:11 PM
Jason? I thought it was Michael..

You're right. It was Michael Myers.

Hepcat · March 31, 2011, 03:35:38 PM

Great story, Mego73!

Anton Phibes · March 31, 2011, 04:05:51 PM

Quote from: Haunted hearse on March 30, 2011, 08:03:04 PM
When they filmed Halloween, it was off season, and they needed a Halloween mask. The one they chose was a Captain Kirk Mask. Considering that they painted a Captain Kirk mask white, for Jason to wear, you might say William Shatner is the face of Modern Horror.

Uhm..Micheal. Micheal Myers. Jason is Friday the 13th. You better hope Ghost face doesnt call you.

artistguy · March 31, 2011, 05:31:45 PM

I also had the mego ST figures and playsets.... ah... the good ole' days.... playing in my best friends backyard... making believe the terrain was that of a futuristic planet, and we were the landing party... Somehow we would always pepper in some Lost in Space with those play times.. Like, beam me up Dr. Smith, or Mr. Spock that does not compute! The 12" GI Joes were always the race of giants....LOL!

Mego73 · March 31, 2011, 07:06:30 PM

When the Star Wars juggernaut hit in 1977, I thought the Star Wars figures would be just like the Star Trek figures... until they came out and they were much smaller.

Still, I just made up that the people in the Star Wars worlds were smaller than the people in Star Trek's world and would play with them together.

Quote from: artistguy on March 31, 2011, 05:31:45 PM
I also had the mego ST figures and playsets.... ah... the good ole' days.... playing in my best friends backyard... making believe the terrain was that of a futuristic planet, and we were the landing party... Somehow we would always pepper in some Lost in Space with those play times.. Like, beam me up Dr. Smith, or Mr. Spock that does not compute! The 12" GI Joes were always the race of giants....LOL!

Pauspy · March 31, 2011, 07:20:26 PM

I loved the pages from the old Sears catalogue-brought back a lot of memories of pouring over the Christmas catalogue in fine detail. Wish I put that much effort into my homework!

Dr.Teufel Geist · March 31, 2011, 10:18:04 PM

Scotty doesnt look like Scotty to me in the old clip.

But, the others look like theirselves

CreepysFan · March 31, 2011, 10:25:21 PM

I had some Trek and Apes mego figures, before Mom's yardsell period. Kirk couldn't keep his hands off Dr. Zira.

Sean · April 01, 2011, 01:33:57 AM

Quote from: CreepysFan on March 31, 2011, 10:25:21 PM
I had some Trek and Apes mego figures, before Mom's yardsell period. Kirk couldn't keep his hands off Dr. Zira.

I had the Star Trek Enterprise playset and all of the figures as well as the Planet of the Apes figures and some 'tree house' that I don't recall if it was a Planet of the Apes thing or an Action Jackson thing---------in any event, Zira and Uhura were simply sluts when the day was done.

I LOVED the transporter on the Enterprise. Oh, yes----and the Bat Cave. I don't think the apes could keep THEIR hands off ROBIN.

Mego73 · April 01, 2011, 02:14:10 AM

The tree house was first used for Action Jackson. It was redecorated for Action Jackson's girl counterpart Dinah Mite. It was redecorated again and used for Planet Of The Apes.

You likely had the Ape version as the AJ and Dinah Mite were not as widely produced.

If you think Zira and Uhura were wild, wait until you meet Dinah Mite.

Quote from: Sean on April 01, 2011, 01:33:57 AM
I had the Star Trek Enterprise playset and all of the figures as well as the Planet of the Apes figures and some 'tree house' that I don't recall if it was a Planet of the Apes thing or an Action Jackson thing---------in any event, Zira and Uhura were simply sluts when the day was done.

I LOVED the transporter on the Enterprise. Oh, yes----and the Bat Cave. I don't think the apes could keep THEIR hands off ROBIN.

Gillfan · April 01, 2011, 03:17:41 AM

Quote from: Pauspy on March 30, 2011, 08:36:48 PM
.... I remember having to dodge the final credits as they always used a shot of the Balock head for the final slide (a Desilu Production!)

In a loving tribute to that image, when Futurama did its Trek episode they ended the show with Kiff in that pose.

Gillfan · April 01, 2011, 03:24:03 AM

Bigbud - that is also my favorite episode. Its really great watching Picard wrap his mind around the enormity of what the alien did, more than just kill them all, he wiped them from all existence in entirety. No record of them remained. It was as if they had never been. It was one of the few episodes where they surprised and moved me.