Trek Core's Rare Photos May & June 2017

I'm sure most of you are familiar with the amazing site www.trekcore.com.  The folks at Trek Core work diligently to provide high quality screen caps from all the Star Trek series and films. They also collect behind the scenes images, publicity photos, video and audio clips and report on the latest Trek news. If you don't follow them I recommend you bookmark them immediately!

Occasionally, Trek Core puts together a new album of rare Trek photos.  Their latest has two images that will be of interest to Vulcanologists.  First up is a great shot of Leonard Nimoy as Spock with his Vulcan Lyre.

Next is a publicity shot of Kirstie Alley as Saavik from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.  I've previously posted some other publicity shots of Alley as Saavik.  I find this shot really interesting. The playful pose is either pure Kirstie Alley or it's showing the emotional Roman half of Saavik.

Thanks to Trek Core for all their work in uncovering images like this and archiving Star Trek's history.

Spock Movie Collages

I recently had some time on my hands and created these collages -- one for each Star Trek film.  They feature some of my favourite images of Leonard Nimoy as Spock.

Leonard Nimoy as Spock

Halloween on Vulcan: The Ears

The first thing most people think about when they hear "Vulcans" is the distinctive pointed ears.  Those ears have been re-created many times as Halloween products going back to Star Trek: The Motion Picture in 1979. In the 1960s and 1970s, the closest we got were full face or head masks.  Here are some ears from my collection.  Please let me know if there are any I'm missing!

In 1979, Aviva Enterprises released a set of Spock ears for The Motion Picture. I haven't been able to verify if these were out for Halloween 1979. The film was released in December so they may not have been around until Halloween 1980. These I only discovered two weeks ago. I bought them on eBay but they haven't arrived yet so this image is from the eBay listing.

In 1982, for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan Don Post Studios had the license to create "Star Fleet Collectibles." These included uniform insignia, Khan's pendant and Vulcan ears. I think the shape of these is perfect. The sculptor obviously paid close attention to images of Spock while working.

In the 1980s, Rubie's also released a set of ears. From the artwork, it's clear they're Spock ears but Rubie's didn't have the Star Trek license until 1992.

In 2009, Rubie's created a series of ears with two different sets of packaging. The first were packaged as Star Trek XI ears and the second were packaged as TOS ears. The sculpt is obviously the same.

For those who wanted a less cumbersome piece, Rubie's also created sets of ear tips. In theory this is a great idea since the screen-used ears are just tips as well but these are designed pretty poorly. They are usually warped and the colouring is not very authentic. Once again, the same sculpt was packaged for both Star Trek XI and TOS.

Also in 2009, Rubie's released a rubber Spock wig, complete with ears. These are just good fun.  I've seen several kids wearing them at conventions.

Over the years there have also been a slew of non-licensed ears. There are various generic ones of different colours so they can be sold as "alien ears" or "elf ears" or "devil ears" or whatever.

The best of these are the ear tips made by Woochie. These are the type that I have been using since I first dressed as a Vulcan in 1996. They come in different sizes and the edges can be pretty well blended to your skin. They are a bit more pointy and less curved than I would like but they're perhaps the most "professional" ears available.

Kirstie Alley as Saavik

Vulcans in Plastic: Saavik

Saavik was the first Vulcan female Starfleet officer we ever saw on screen. She was played by Kirstie Alley in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and then by Robin Curtis in the subsequent two Trek films.  Two Saavik action figures have been produced and both have the likeness of Kirstie Alley.

The first one was produced by Playmates as part of their Classic Star Trek Movie Series.  The likeness on this figure is terrific!  I apologize for the terrible photos but my camera's not great at capturing small items in any detail.

The details on the Playmates figure are captured well and I love the display bases from this series.  The only possible complaint I have about this figure is the shiny finish that most of the Playmates figures have.  However, that's not a huge detraction and this figure has a prominent place in my Vulcan collection.

The second figure was produced by Art Asylum/Diamond Select as part of their Star Trek II series.

This figure has all the amazing detail you'd expect from Art Asylum and it displays well in or outside its packaging.  It has a nice matte finish which doesn't give it away as plastic at a first glance.

Despite all the great detail in Saavik's uniform and hair this figure does not capture Kirstie Alley's likeness as well as the Playmates one.  I also find myself wishing this one had a display base because it doesn't stand perfectly on its own.

In my opinion, Saavik is a great character that we never learned enough about (some comic books did a good job at expanding her Vulcan-Romulan heritage and relationship with Spock).  I hope we also get a Robin Curtis Saavik figure someday but for now, we can appreciate the fact that Saavik will always live long...in plastic.