TMP Merchandise

[Andorian Spy]

Hey All,

Well, my TMP fascination phase continues.

I've started reading The Lost Years' "Recovery," and although a little depressing (WHY did the crew sort of fall apart after the 5-year mission? Would Kirk really ever make a move to admiralty?), it seems to be well-done.

I've also been studying the massive avalanche of merchandise connected to this movie - this was no Lincoln Enterprises efforts, this was big-time, like rock group KISS big-time!

I'm wondering if there's a good place online that features TMP-era merch ... I found the Mego pages, but not much else.

On eBay, I recently found a set of pins that seems to be official - but the logo is totally different! A very futuristic logo that was perhaps used before the final one was decided on for the film! I have to get the whole set!

Thanks for any info!

 

[Christopher]

I've started reading The Lost Years' "Recovery," and although a little depressing (WHY did the crew sort of fall apart after the 5-year mission? Would Kirk really ever make a move to admiralty?), it seems to be well-done.

There's no need to explain the crew "falling apart." In real life, ship crews don't stay together indefinitely. They get assigned for a specific mission and then move on to different assignments, different ships, different crewmates. That's routine. If anything, the anomaly is that Kirk (and later, Picard) managed to keep so much of the same crew together on the same ship (or its namesake) for such a long time.

I've also been studying the massive avalanche of merchandise connected to this movie - this was no Lincoln Enterprises efforts, this was big-time, like rock group KISS big-time!

Yep. There was a huge marketing push for the film, unequalled by any subsequent Trek film until 2009. Unfortunately, my father never bought me any of the toys.

On eBay, I recently found a set of pins that seems to be official - but the logo is totally different! A very futuristic logo that was perhaps used before the final one was decided on for the film! I have to get the whole set!

Could you provide a link so we can see this logo?

 

[jayrath]

I still have my McDonald's restaurant TMP Spock ring, with the secret compartment!

 

[Basill]

Oh man, that's the prize I wanted when I got my first Happy Meal (which just happened to be the Star Trek theme). They were out and I got some silly substitute that wasn't even Trek related. I kept the box for years though. Those were the days.

 

[F. King Daniel]

FWIW, the first Lost Years novel (simply called The Lost Years) is the best.

 

[Frontier]

I've got a Spock liquor decanter from TMP.

They really did make just about everything merchandise wise for that film.

 

[Bishop76]

I remember wanting that stupid MEGO Bridge playset SO badly - never got it, but looking at pictures of it now, I'm kind of glad - that thing was so badly constructed I would have had it wrecked in minutes.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I remember wanting that stupid MEGO Bridge playset SO badly - never got it, but looking at pictures of it now, I'm kind of glad - that thing was so badly constructed I would have had it wrecked in minutes.

It's vacuformed. Incredibly light but is more of a display stand than a "playset". One day, I'll get around to giving mine a cool paint job to cut down on the stark, white, end-of-ST IV look.


TMP Bridge by Therin of Andor, on Flickr

Other cool TMP merchandise included a plastic coin wallet (the most interesting aspect was that the backing card had photos of all the TMP aliens), a kids' size plastic belt with Perscan buckle device and badge, a re-release of two TOS/TAS book/record LPs with TMP covers, some new 45rpm comic/records, a plastic bowl and matching mug, an insulated drink container, and Kirk and Spock "sticky paw" stuffed toys which could hug each other (very popular with the K/S ladies in my old club).

People get very jealous of my customized Mego Betelgeusian Chief Ambassador!


Betelgeusian custom, ST:TMP by Therin of Andor, on Flickr

 

[Therin of Andor]

I recently found a set of pins that seems to be official - but the logo is totally different!

A very early TMP logo was used on the security set passes (below right), and was similar to the early one used for pre-publicity on TNG (below left):


Star Trek set passes by Therin of Andor, on Flickr

 

[Andorian Spy]

Cool info!

That bridge really looks cool all set up.

Here's a link to an auction for a Spock button that has the regular logo. Scroll down, and you'll see a couple with the logo I'm talking about - there seems to be a copyright/trademark next to it? Either way it's cool as heck ... all the buttons are!

http://cgi.ebay.com/1978-Star-Trek-Spock-Motion-Picture-button-pinback-pin-/250770589752

 

[Christopher]

^The only other pictures I see when I scroll down on that page are links to unrelated button auctions, no Trek.

That TMP guest badge is surprising. So TNG got its logo from a rejected TMP logo? I never imagined.

 

[Andorian Spy]

Sorry ... here's one!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...706532&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT#ht_732wt_1141

 

[Therin of Andor]

Sorry ... here's one!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...706532&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT#ht_732wt_1141

Ah, I do believe that's the logo that first appeared at the big press conference to announce that the entire cast (including Leonard Nimoy and even Grace Lee Whitney) had agreed to sign for the movie.

 

[Pauln6]

I had some of the mego figures, the Weetabix cards ans some posters associated with washing powder.

Just lasy year I managed to get a full set of Citadel miniatures which I intend to paint and display with a lit Polar Lights 1:350 Enterprise.

What I'd really like to do is get some re-casts done to do some head swaps to make some more crew. I reckon I can get up to 50 separate crew including lots more aliens. If anybody knows anyone with any skill at recasting, let me know!

I was hoping that Diamond Select would make a full set of TMP figures alongside their TWoK figures but sadly they went off the boil.

 

[Andorian Spy]

Interesting ... this logo was a "real" one? Fascinating!

I like it, but it's not really Star Trek to me.

Might grab the buttons, though.

Kirk looked too cool during this era.

 

[BillJ]

That TMP guest badge is surprising. So TNG got its logo from a rejected TMP logo? I never imagined.

Guess the question becomes: what didn't Roddenberry steal from TMP when making TNG?

 

[Andorian Spy]

I know ... but more than that, TMP and TNG (at least the concept and beginning) are really the products of Gene's Star Trek backlog of ideas, which spanned almost the entire 1970s!

 

[Andorian Spy]

By the way everyone, I went through 13 solid pages of TMP stuff on eBay, and was amazed at how much stuff there was ... and it was a relatively short era, right? I mean, some stuff probably hit at the movie's release, and about six months after that.

It was a TMP flood! Cool stuff, and I want a lot of it.

I'm going to start with those buttons, and Chekov's Enterprise!

 

[Christopher]

Guess the question becomes: what didn't Roddenberry steal from TMP when making TNG?

Data. He "stole" that from his pilot The Questor Tapes. (Well, and from the Xon character in Phase II.)

And of course some of TNG's core concepts are stuff David Gerrold cribbed from his "How I would improve Star Trek" chapter in The World of Star Trek, like having the captain stay aboard while a different character led teams into dangerous or unknown situations. And maybe the stronger Prime Directive reflected Gerrold's critique of Kirk's tendency toward cultural imperialism, "fixing" alien cultures that didn't fit his/our definitions of health.

 

[arch101]

I'm not surprised that the TNG logo first appeared during TMP. Andy Probert, who did the TNG logo, among other things, worked on TMP. I believe that his first pass at the Ent-D, done for himself, came out of his TMP work. Roddenberry saw it in '86 and it became the starting point for the D.