Trek T-shirt signifcance

[JohnnyBurbank]

So after the first Trek reboot movie came out in 2009, Paramount Pictures Twitter account had several giveaways based on trivia from the movie. I was quick enough to answer the one that asked "which actress played Spock's mother in the movie" and won a t-shirt for my trouble. When the t-shirt arrived I was expecting something movie-related, but instead it was a light-green t-shirt with a spray-painted cartoonish Spock facing down some odd-faced alien wearing a tuque and what appear to be the letters "ZB" underneath. Since it didn't appear to be related to that movie, I assumed it might be a hint to the next movie, but I can now say that's not likely either.

Well, I recently downloaded the Timehop app for my iPhone and it reminded me how I posted about this tshirt 5 years ago on Facebook, and it made me upset that I never figured out what the shirt was related to. So, I figured I'd finally come to a place where the most knowledgeable Trek fans could help me figure out this t-shirts relevance to anything. Is this an easy one, or not so much? Any ideas? Thanks in advance!

 

[F. King Daniel]

That looks like a cartoonified version of Quinto's Spock. Is she meant to be T'Pring, perhaps? Or maybe the ZB means Zarabeth?

Odd t-shirt.

 

[JohnnyBurbank]

Yeah, not sure. I didn't really get a female vibe from the second character, but I could be wrong. When I got the shirt, I assumed the character was wearing a hat to cover up the forehead as a way to hint that Klingons might be in the second movie (Into Darkness). They were, but not a significant role. The sharpness of the "ZB" letters made me think of the Klingon language or the sharpness of the Klingon daggers(D'k tahg). So maybe at that point in the movie's development they planned to have a larger role in ST:ID.

I just sent an email to Paramount today to see if they could help, since they sent me the shirt in the first place. I doubt it'll get very far, but I'll add here if I hear back, whether someone else has any ideas or not.

 

[trekker670]

I received one of the shirts from the promotion as well. I believe those shirts were promoted as one-of-a-kind shirts from various artists. My shirt was a white t-shirt with a very busy, neon colored background and gangster version of Spock. I don't think the shirts themselves were meant to have any significant meaning for the movie or anything, they were just artistic interpretations of some sort.

 

[JohnnyBurbank]

Oh, interesting. I don't remember reading about them being one-of-a-kind artist interpretations. I guess that makes a little more sense. Certainly helps explain why I can't find any copies of it online. Maybe the "alien" is actually just a representation of the artist, and maybe his/her initials are ZB. Odd, indeed. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[USS Triumphant]

My guess is that it is a dual-fandom thing, trying to depict Spock meeting Zaphod Beeblebrox from Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy.

I actually think the Zarabeth thing is more likely, but it had already been stated.

 

[JoeP]

Looks like Guinan to me. :P