"The Omega Glory" Viewmaster Reel

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It might be strange to some to hear that I became a Star Trek fan before I have ever actually seen a whole episode! I became hooked only by seeing items in print about the show... a photo of Spock was the first thing I ever collected when I cut it out of a Famous Monsters magazine. That led to the Gold Key comics, and then there was the Animated Series. As a Trek Kid in the early 70's, there was very little in the way of things to buy that could help one to view the actual episodes of the live-action show. A couple of years later I would discover the James Blish books, but at the time all I had was the comics, which were original, though often silly stories.

But one day sometime in 1971 I saw the Star Trek Viewmaster featuring the episode "The Omega Glory" and flipped out. Seeing pictures from the show in 3D was a heretofore unheard-of experience. I dreamed about getting it, saving my meager allowance, and at last the day came when I went shopping with my mother and I finally picked it up.

Joy!!! Rapture!!! I'm sure I had red squares around my eyes that night at suppertime from pressing the viewer against my face as I looked at all the reels again and again. Twenty-one photos from an episode I had never seen became embedded into my retinas and memory as I gazed at them for hours. Reading the episode story in the book that came with it (often inaccurate though it was) was a treat also. Looking back, it's amusing how the writer loved to give phrases acronyms, like "F.S.N.P." which was short for "Famous Spock Neck Pinch."

As you can see above, I managed to scan in some actual frames using the slide attachment on my scanner; but the results are a bit blurry, so there's no need to do them all. However, the scans I made of the enclosed booklet I am posting in their entirety. If you had one and lost it, this will bring back good memories. If you never had it, you will get a glimpse at one of the best Trek-oriented items available for many years. And if you have one but haven't taken it out for years, perhaps this post will make you want to do that very soon!

Shortly after buying the pack above, I discovered the Animated Series set of reels, and I will scan and post that booklet soon as well.

Below is an awesome photo, better than my scan, of the special shot that the Viewmaster crew created for the reels. Using the three foot model from the show, with an AMT model in the background for the Exeter, they photographed the setup using their special 3D cameras.

Below is an ad scanned in from "The Monster Times."

"Give me your thoughts..."

One thing about this blog that you may notice is that sometimes the post is more about my memories surrounding it than the item itself. That's because the memories that one has about a time or place that is brought up by an item is really more important.

However, I'm not posting these entries and writing just for myself. I'm doing it for you to enjoy, and hopefully bring some memories out of your personal treasure chest. If something here does that, please share it! I, and the other readers I'm sure, would love to hear how Trek impacted your life and helped make some great memories.

I look forward to reading about them!

Update: reader Jim commented below about a source for some frame scans that you can find here.

FBI Protects Trek Set

It's a good thing that the FBI helped protect those Star Trek secrets; advanced technology like warp drive, phasers, photon torpedos and transporters could be dangerous should it fall into the wrong hands! Clipped from The Star tabloid, September 1978.

Speaking of advanced technology, once people saw that big old viewscreen on the ship, they wanted one for themselves. So, the race for bigger and better TV screens, with which to better watch the show, began. This article was clipped in the late 70's sometime from one of the tabloids. Sorry I don't have more specifics, but I seldom saved such info on little clippings like this one. It's interesting that it took 30 years for big plasma screen TVs to become a reality, but now we have them and watching Trek (and other movies) on them is finally as good as we once dreamed!

Captain of the Football Team

The good captain tosses a ball and pulls a face in this clipping from the People magazine, circa 1977 (I think).

Mr. Spock On Real Life Trek

Saved out of "The Star" on Oct. 3rd. 1978. Breakfast is important... but Star Trek is more important. One can live without breakfast.

Happy Birthday, Leonard!

My Favorite Vulcan is 78 today. Best wishes to him!

Trek Used To Promote RCA VideoDisc

In 1980 Trek led the way in TV content released on the new RCA CED videodisc, and was the one that was used in advertising the player, being "futuristic" as it was touted. The record-player format sold poorly and was supplanted by the emerging and superior laserdisc not long after. It's likely that someone reading this has some of these now-unplayable discs packed away in a closet gathering dust; cause you just can't bring yourself to part with it. If I'm right, tell me! Or if you ever did have one, share with us about it.

Speaking of records... sorta...?

In 1976, I ordered this 45 record from Dage Co., the company run by David Gerrold. It was the Theme From Star Trek as arranged and recorded by Charles Randolph Grean, who had been involved in writing and recording much of the material on Leonard Nimoy's albums. This was an awesome arrangement with a disco/rock sound, and I played it literally hundreds of times over and over (possibly thousands, if you ask my mother). I would put it on and let it repeat (yes, record players had that function) while I read some Star Trek item I had acquired or worked on something fun in my room like a model kit. I finally pulled it out again not too long ago and recorded it to my PC for safe-keeping... pops, skips, hiss, scratches and all. Hearing it again after all the intervening years brought back a flood of nostalgia and memories.
Enjoy this Windows Media file featuring U.S.S Enterprise images set to the Charles Randolph Grean Sounde version of the Theme From Star Trek. Hear it on Youtube here!

Son of Spock

Clipped from the National Enquirer in the summer of 1978. Considering Adam's resemblance, it's too bad he never played a younger Spock in a flashback or time-travel story! But, I'm sure he didn't want to get typecast either, adding to his troubles as a celebrity offspring. But he could have at least been one of the actors playing Spock as he grew up rapidly in "The Search For Spock," easily.

Adam has written a book about his experiences called "My Incredibly Wonderful, Miserable Life: An Anti-Memoir." The photo above, and the one directly below, come from the official site for the book.

Thanks to these pictures, we now know what young Spock looked like a a child, during the events in the animated episode. "Yesteryear." Also, too bad they never used him in the original series! How great would that have been, had there been more seasons? A live-action version of "Yesteryear," featuring Adam as the young Spock, with Mark Lenard and Jane Wyatt reprising their roles as Sarek and Amanda, would have been awesome. Yes, there was a missed opportunity there for sure, as far as we fans were concerned. Heck, even a guest-star appearance in one of the spin-off shows as Spock's son whom we never saw before. One can dream , can't one?

Above is the famous picture taken when the crew set up Nimoy during a scene to be surprised by Adam whom they had put in makeup!

Star Trek Crew Set For Movie Blast-Off

Scissored from The Star in 1978, this article was the first view of the press conference with the crew all gathered. It really seemed to bring it home that the movie was finally happening, and it was exciting to find.

Although I have been presenting ST:TMP articles in pretty much the order they were released leading up to and after the movie premiere, last night I found another box of my old clippings of all sorts. So this one backs up a bit and I'll be posting them all soon as well, in no particular chronological order.

1977 Star Trek Candy Boxes

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In 1977, I lived in a little burg called Gray in Georgia. One old highway passed through it, and the several sideroads were all red clay. The town, which you could span by throwing a rock half-heartedly, was distinguished by an old abandoned canning factory that was falling in. It had one gas station/convenience store. While living there (which was quite a shock moving there from Ft. Lauderdale, Fl), I was starved for anything that even resembled Trek. The store carried the Gold Key comics in their stand, and I found this candy... exactly three remaining boxes. I bought their entire stock.

Below is the standard back and side that all the boxes shared.

Inside were TWO prizes and a piece of hard taffy that was generously called "candy." The so-called prizes were of the generic "Cracker Jack" type, and went in the ditch beside the road as I walked home. The boxes went into my hidden collection suitcase. Now, you have the joy of seeing the three boxes that I found; try not to explode with excitement.

Kirk and crew tried the candy in the boxes and nearly died.

Now to get the bad taste out of my mouth that the memory of the candy invokes, here is something nice and tasty... a prize that makes up for what was inside the boxes.

Mmmmmmmmm.... sweet!

When Shatner Acted On Impulse

Clipped from the Miami Herald Tuesday, Feb. 11, 1975, this article reviews one of Shatner's lesser-known film efforts. The ad itself I clipped from the Macon Telegraph.

If you like seeing old newspaper movies ads such as the one above, visit my other blog, "Held Over!" which features just that, gleaned from my scrapbook. All of them are scanned in from ads I clipped myself over the years, not borrowed from other sites.

And to supplement today's admittedly slim pickins, here is a hi-rez scan of a great promo picture of the Captain and good doctor, from one of my photo albums.

Shatner: "Star Trek Returning to TV"

Clipped from "The Star" tabloid, published on Sept. 14, 1976. I apologise for the poor quality of the clipping, with sections missing from the text. But you can get the gist of it.

Things didn't turn out quite as Shatner had explained; "Trek" with our beloved characters never did return after the movies began. But a new show did eventually get made; "ST:TNG." Although I did enjoy the new show, I never got over the fact that it wasn't with our first crew.

And probably never did the cast.

P.S. All of you visitors from my TrekMovie.com post... welcome! And.. GOTCHA! But really, I never said it was a current newsflash... did I? Still, it was fun seeing how far we've come, wasn't it?

"There Is Life On Other Planets," Says Leonard Nimoy

I have no idea what publication I clipped this from, but it was about 1975. It was a smaller digest-sized mag, whatever it was. And on the lighter side...

Despite a bee sting which left his ear swollen painfully, a dedicated Trekkie shows off his phaser to anyone at the convention he can corner.

Above is a clipping from a Ft. Lauderdale, FL newspaper, dated Aug. 23, 1975 that demonstrates that alien life-forms are already here on Earth.

Now, I can't claim superiority and say that I never owned a pair of rubber pointed ears. I also cannot say that I never posed for a photo in a uniform shirt while wearing the ears and giving the Vulcan hand salute. I WILL say with certainty, however, that it will never be published for my public humiliation such as many fans like the one above have subjected themselves to. That Polaroid picture of my teenage shame does still exist in some forgotten corner of a photo box. I'm not proud of that fact... but there it is hidden, and there it shall remain.

And now, a belt buckle.

Proudly wearing his hand-painted belt-buckle to high school, young Frederick soon realised it did not increase his chances of getting a date and put it in his collection bookcase. He still didn't get any dates, though.