My co-victor Klaus and I have talked this one over. I've had a great idea for a contest ever since... well, ever since '06 when Christie's auction house was managing the sale of great Trek memorabilia in a colossal 40th anniversary sale. Klaus helped me refine it, so here's what we came up with: There were some 956 lots of vintage Trek props, production works, and concept art -- items that collectors would prize, place under glass, and keep security cameras on. Take a look: http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/salebrowse.aspx?intsaleid=20723&viewType=list Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is this: Design an item either depicting (as a drawing or rendering) or representing (as a real 3D object you can hold in your hand) a prop or other collectible item that you imagine yourself, representing either: an artifact that you would redesign and improve from any existing Trek TV series episode or movie, or; an item used in the movie or episode you wish would have been produced instead. Here's some examples you can use or improve upon: the "mind-numbing emulet" from "Star Trek V: Gods and Warriors," or the critical clue to the puzzle solved by Picard in "Star Trek VII: Lost Hero," or the hand-held hypercube that Spock discovered replicated the contents of the galaxy in (a reconsidered) "Star Trek: The Motion Picture." The critical constraints are these: If you opt to improve an episode or movie, then the artifact you design or depict must give significant clues as to the story you would prefer had been told differently. The object you design must be something a collector would bid on at an auction. Thus: a redesigned starship might be out, but something that looks like a model of a redesigned starship that appears on an admiral's desk in one scene, might be in. The entry must be framed in the context of an item sold at auction. Here, for example, are two chairs designed for Romulans to sit in, from Trek X: Nemesis. Now, I've done a lot of hand-drawn art, and folks here have used PC rendering tools, and these media are fine. But I'm encouraging 3D modelers [and by this, I mean sculptors and model builders, with clays and plastics and paints] to go to town with this. Build a prop, like a disruptor gun or a headdress or an alien tricorder. I know the auction took place in 2006, but if your remodeled Trek memorabilia is somewhat newer than that, then big deal, we can overlook the time discrepancy. (Kirk does all the time.) Good luck to everyone. I'm looking forward to seeing what comes out of this. DF "Which Is Curiously What Capt. Robau of the Kelvin Said Just Before Being Crushed by Romulans" Scott
Not really, because you wouldn't expect to see the Gym Dandy set as a prop that Paramount would have used in a movie or one of the shows. (Although these days, I wouldn't put anything past Roberto Orci. Maybe it could happen.) Sure, that's a collectible, and in an historian's view, adorable. But I'm looking for something that would have been seen on the big screen or the small screen, in a show. DF "Asteroid Approaching! All Decks, Lean to the Left!" Scott
Hmmm... I think I actually have an idea for this one! Now if only I have time enough to finish it.... --Alex