Preserving the Aenar

I've been looking around, hoping to find something that would serve as a base onto which to mount the the "Star Trek: Enterprise" Aenar Andorian antennae I recently bought, and that would raise the height a bit and also fit snugly into the glass dome, but perhaps not an airtight or non-removable seal. Originally, this glass dome (bought from a second hand shop) would have stood on a wooden base, or maybe be fitted with a cork wedge. Everything came together yesterday!

Okay, I've been looking around, hoping to find something that would serve as a base to onto which to mount

Had they been regular blue Andorian antennae, I would have possibly pinned the antennae to some white fur fabric but, being the very pale Aenar antennae, that wouldn't have provided enough contrast.

A few days ago, I was walking home and found a blue plastic lid from a spray can of enamel paint, perhaps abandoned by a local graffiti artist, in the street. I realised that it would provide a firm base, good height, contrasting colour and probably an almost-snug fit. Then I bought some self-adhesive foam lettering and spelled out "AENAR" around the base. I affixed the antennae to the flat surface of the lid with just a small amount of Liquid Nails, and slowly slid the dome over the top, ensuring the antennae touched neither each other nor the inside of the glass dome. There is a small amount of air flow between the raised lettering. Nothing can fall out if a visitor picks up the dome - and I can look out for any signs of premature crumbling. The latex masks from ST:TMP, sold by "It's a Wrap!", were in surprisingly good shape for having been made in 1978 and stored for several decades at Paramount. If my 2005-vintage antennae last me 40 years, I'll be 91 and perhaps ready to sell them on eBay.



I hope I've done it all correctly. I wasn't too keen on attempting to apply special protective resin coatings, or similar, I've heard about, since it may have spoiled the "screen-used" appearance of the antennae.

The pics I took outdoors today have turned out with a yellowish tinge, but the antennae are more of a pale powder blue.


(As advertised.)

The Aenar that got away... ?

... and left something behind?

My authentic Aenar Andorian antennae, from the "Star Trek: Enterprise" episode, "The Aenar", were purchased from the William Shatner online store - and arrived in today's mail! I've actually had the glass dome here for several years. I bought it from a second hand shop and have been looking for something precious to fill it with!

Coincidentally, the antennae arrived on the same day as Tarah of Andor!

Th'frosty the Aenar thnowman

Yesterday's exciting find of photographs, lost since 1992, sent me into a nostalgia spin, determined to track down some other interesting pics I've always wanted to share.

Here is my Andorian snowman - in 3D! (Note that he won't actually appear in 3D on this monitor screen; it's just a normal 2D scan, although the background ends up with an interesting blurred effect.) Created in Ann Arbor, Michigan, December 1983, with my penpal Olivia, this cute alien snowperson has a phaser and Starfleet insignia (from her Star Trek collection). He's wearing a "Go Blue!" pin, the coincidentally perfect catch cry of the local Michigan University.

Knowing what we know now about Andorians (via the TV series, "Enterprise"), this is no doubt a rare Aenar snowperson.

Nimslo 3D cameras were hot stuff in the early 1980s, and took four half-size negatives of each subject, and these images were sent off by mail order and combined under rippled plastic to create a 3D picture. I was curious as to how the combined image would scan because the negatives are filed away - oh so carefully - somewhere!

The half-sized negatives can be printed like normal negatives, and I'm thinking that (when I find them), the extreme left and right images could probably be set up side by side onscreen to permit a true 3D viewing, right here in this blog, via the "drift" (ie. crossed eyes) method. But it actually scanned in 2D fairly well as it is!

Midsummer snowperson

I've spent the last few days making a life-sized snowman for use as a prop in my students' long-awaited annual class item, to be held during next Friday's assembly. Each class gets a turn, and we got the short straw, I think, as we've had to wait for the very last Friday in the school year.

It seems ludicrous to be making a snowman in December here in Australia. This particular one's made of white nylon wadding wrapped over a donated prop Bar Mitzvah drum, and, as the head, my hastily-made Humpty Dumpty prop from much earlier in the year. The snowman is almost finished and is looking pretty, um... cool! ;)

I've only ever made one real snowman before: Ann Arbor, Michigan, late December 1983, with the assistance of my US penpal, Olivia. Naturally, our snowman had a "Star Trek" theme; Andorian antennae, an authentic Enterprise insignia on his chest and a Starfleet phaser attached to one of his tree-branch hands. Actually, come to think of it, he was probably the first ever Aenar snowman. The final year of "Star Trek: Enterprise", the prequel series to TOS, introduced a blind, albino, psionic subspecies of Andorian in its final season.

The snowman for our class item will be unveiled at the climax of our readers' theatre performance, There was a Cold Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow! by Lucille Colandro & Jared Lee. It's based on the higher profile children's rhyme, There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly! Except this woman eats a range of wintery ingredients (snow, a pipe, some coal, a hat, a branch and a scarf) - until she hiccups out a snowman!

Not only did it seem a festive dramatization for December, without being too Christmassy, the book allows almost every child to have something to say and do. The worst thing about school assemblies if that, traditionally, some students get shy and deliberately pull a sickie on The Big Day - but The Show must still go on. Even though they are only six, seven or eight years old, all of the students need to be able to be last-minute stand-ins for any other vacant role. Wish us luck!

I shall try to get images of both snowmen for the blog.

Captain's log: Supplemental: Well, here's the skit's snowperson, anyway.