41 and counting

41 years ago, "Star Trek" premiered on USA television screens, with Filmation's "Star Trek Animated" premiering on the same day in 1973.

I was looking around for other significant dates this week, but only to note that tomorrow is Jeffrey Combs' birthday. He played the recurring role of Shran the Andorian in numerous popular episodes. Onya blueskin!

Meanwhile, I found this amazing old TV segment (from "PM Magazine") about the imminent arrival of "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" in 1979. It starts off in a KB Toys store, and features the funky Mego Star Trek action figures of the 70s (which are being re-released in 2007 as affectionately duplicated replicas). There are brief interviews with William Shatner, Persis Khambatta and director Robert Wise, plus footage from the extended presentation reel, complete with its temporary soundtrack. Nostalgic!

The Andorian's new clothes

I told you a while ago about John Paul Lona's Rasiinian ambassador's costume from "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" in the It's a Wrap! auctions of Paramount Star Trek costumes. I was sort of kicking myself because it went for a very small amount, but it made me determined to find something more suitable for longterm display, and which still meant a lot to me. The ad had also warned that the rubbery materials on the Rasiinian were highly perishable.

Last week, the impressive Orion costume worn by WWE professional wrestler, Big Show (aka Paul Wright, see last pic), in the "Enterprise" episode, "Borderland", came up on eBay and I figured it would be a good one to try for, but would I also be competing with Orion fans, wrestling fans and just large-framed ST fans who wanted a costume they could fit into.

I also started to wonder if the metal buckles, and the huge, decorated boots, included with the outfit would be way too expensive to ship to Australia. From the description, it sounded like two people could live inside Big Show's footwear! Big Show seemed to be a man mountain of green in "Enterprise", and the metres of imitation reptile skin used in the costume reminded me too much of the female Andorian outfits (I have two rare costume-swatch trading cards of leatherette Talas outfits). But this costume got me wondering as to what complete Andorian costumes might yet turn up as auction lots. A ST:TMP Andorian outfit of purple suede, perhaps? A TMP flabbjellah? A TOS Andorian tabard?

Jeffrey Combs' Shran uniforms would command prices into the thousands, of course, and the Enterprise-patched Arctic jacket he wore in "The Aenar" had sold for a fortune recently, as did a slinky Talas number from either "Proving Ground" or "Babel One". I didn't have to look far, though: there, on eBay, was the outfit worn by Granville Van Dusen's unnamed Andorian General from "Proving Ground"! Bingo!

Mmmmm, I thought. Not many people would bid for this item. It was only seen as a rather brief head-and-shoulders viewscreen shot. I placed a very reasonable top amount on it and watched my bid move me into position as top bidder, where it stayed for the rest of the week.

Two days ago, I had a brainstorm. What was the outfit worn by Ambassador Thoris (Joel Swetow) at the intergalactic peace talks in the episode, "Terra Prime"? I suddenly realized that this "new" outfit had actually been recycled from "Proving Ground" - now with its additional robe and leather belt - and was the one I was trying to win! But would anyone else realise that Thoris's outfit was being auctioned? Probably not! Oh joy!

This morning I told myself I could not bear to lose it. Or rather, my alter ego, Therin of Andor, had decided that he "simply must have it". On his behalf, I upped my bidding maximum. (Yesssss, my precioussssss! We wants it, and we must have it!) I didn't want anyone else wearing that costume! (Nassssty little hobbitses!)

Now, I'm not telling how high I was prepared to go - that way embarrassment lies - but I sat here this morning, eating breakfast and pretending to surf the 'Net, fully expecting to be outbid. The time crept by sooooo slooooowly and, with what I thought was only five minutes to go, an incoming email chirped.

Ah, this was it: the notice that I'd been outbid - and how many more thousands of dollars was I willing to part with? But no! It was an email to say that the costume was mine: a winning automated bid of only $US 743.33! Ten bids in all. (Incidentally, the Orion costume was a bargain for anyone not needing international shipping: $US 455.00.)

Doin' the Andorian happy dance! Soon winging its way Down Under, via Andor:

The auction description said: "A costume featured in the 'Star Trek: Enterprise' episode 'Proving Ground' where Commander Shran (Jeffrey Combs) suddenly appears to assist 'Enterprise' in locating the Xindi super weapon. The costume is that of the Andorian General (Granville Van Dusen) who orders Shran to keep the prototype of the Xindi super weapon for Andoria should he come into possession of it. The costume is a full-length sleeveless blue-black jumpsuit that is a black spandex type material/blue-black vinyl with a circular pattern, a silver vinyl jacket in a vaguely reptile skin design and fake fur-lined sleeve and plastic bead piping, a full-length, sleeveless vinyl cape of the same design as the jacket, a leather pouch and harness. A sewn in tag reads ‘Enterprise, Granville Van Dusen 065’. Item Number 3366."

PS. Now I have Andorian boots from the auctions as well!

What's in a name, Shran?

GENERAL SHRAN OF STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE

Two recent Star Trek novels, released almost simultaneously, have caused a bit of a stir over the naming of Andorian General Shran. Which one, if any, will gain acceptance over the long term?

Writer of the (miniscule) text of the biographical computer screen image (below, as seen in the "Enterprise" two-parter, "In a Mirror, Darkly", set in the Mirror Universe), Mike Sussman uses Thy'lek as Mirror Shran's first name in his novel, written with Dayton Ward & Kevin Dilmore, "Age of the Empress" (in "Mirror Universe, Volume 1: Glass Empires"). It refers back to the first name he used in Archer's biography.



Mike Sussman once sent me an email, also copied to the TrekBBS, that said, "When I wrote this [for the TV episode], I assumed the text wouldn't be legible (silly me). There are probably some errors in here. One I can spot -- Archer took command of Enterprise in 2151, not 2150. Some of this text would seem to be contradicted by the finale (which obviously had not been written yet)... I wouldn't really consider any of this 'hard canon', so take it all with a grain of salt. Both bios were slapped together hastily and weren't approved by the exec producers."

In the days before High Definition television, the contents of the screen in "In a Mirror, Darkly" would never be discernable. These days, within seconds of broadcast, the freeze frames of Hoshi Sato's and Jonathan Archer's bio screens were all over the Internet.

"Enterprise: The Good That Men Do" a new novel by Andy Mangels & Michael A Martin - that already "explains" that the controversial finale of "Enterprise", the episode "These Are the Voyages..." did not happen exactly the way Riker and Troi saw it play out on the holodeck - kicks off the post-series "Enterprise" fiction line. As they weren't compelled to use the name "Thy'lek", Mangels & Martin call Shran, in full: Hravishran th'Zoarhi. Thus their choice conforms, instead, to the DS9 post-series novels' naming conventions for a typical Andorian thaan (alpha male).

There's nothing like a good ol' "canon" argument to get Star Trek fans' blue blood boiling! Isn't that so, Thy'lek? I mean Hravishran? (Or does he just answer to "Shran"?)

It figures...

Not only am I a "Star Trek" action figure collector - one who actually opens up the packages and sets the occupants free from their little plastic sarcophaguses, even the rare ones - I also customize them. I fix up painting errors, add little details the creators failed to include and even cut up my purposely-bought duplicate figures to make authentic-looking characters that never made it to commercial action figure status. Even better if the actor has already appeared as a different "Star Trek" character, because then the face I carve from one head with my Stanley knife, and glue to another head, ends up looking uncannily like the new character. It does makes me sound like Dr Frankenstein, though...

I did a lot of action figure customizing in the 90s and that hobby gave me some great, unique images to add to my then-fledgling Star Trek web site when I launched it. Haven't done many custom jobs lately, but for years now I've had a spare Playmates 5" action figure of Captain-Kirk-in-dress-uniform sitting around, forlornly awaiting a really cool, mature head to finish off my planned figure of Commodore Robert April of the old 70s animated episode, "The Counter-clock Incident".

Well, I just found the new boxed set of "The Family El": a twin pack of "Superman Returns" figures of Kal-El/Superman (in a silver repaint of his space travel outfit) and his real Dad, Jor-El. Both figures are additionally garbed in fabric silver robes. They seem to be in similar scale to the old Playmates line of "Star Trek" action figures. With a slight adjustment of the famous El family kiss curl, I think good ol' Marlon Brando (who so miraculously returned from beyond to appear in "Superman Returns") is going to make quite a decent elderly Robert April! It's been worth the wait. I bought two sets, and I think the spare silver robes might look good on some customized Lal and Thann figures, the bumpy-headed Vians from "The Empath" episode of "Star Trek", the original series.

In other news, a Sydney Electronics Boutique store was having a massive sale and they had two rare Art Asylum "Shran the Andorian" figures (and two spacesuited T'Pols) on the bargain table! One Shran was in a very crushed box, but both were half price. Shran was the so-called "shortpack" of that wave of "Enterprise" action figures quite a few years ago, and this supply of the old wave must have been forgotten in a EB warehouse somewhere. So hard to track down when first released, I'm now the envy of US collectors who refuse to pay high eBay prices to own a Shran. I did find another half-price Shran in a Melbourne "Electronics Boutique" last Easter. I'm makin' me an Andorian army!