The Collective: Review of Star Trek Movie Barbie Dolls

If Barbie met Star Trek, would it be a Barbie-Q? TrekMovie has already reviewed the extensive line of Playmates figures for the new Star Trek movie (including the 12" figures), but Mattel is also producing a line of Star Trek Barbie dolls. Join TrekMovie for a review of the new ST09 versions of the world’s most famous doll line.

 

 

There are three dolls in the ST09 Barbie line, Ken as Captain Kirk, Ken as Mr. Spock, and Barbie as Uhura. Each is about 12" inches tall, which is the standard size for all Barbie dolls. Each retails for $50, which again is standard for collectible Barbie dolls.

The facial sculpts are not meant to resemble the actors (and hence differ from the Playmates Toys 12" action figures), yet are supposed to be Barbie and Ken as the famous Trek heroes.

What is nice is that Mattel has given each doll Star Trek features such as very nice uniforms that include the slightly embossed delta insignias or Vulcan hairstyles and ears for the Spock version of Ken. The hair is comb-able as would be the norm for Barbie dolls, which does give Kirk a kind of Duran Duran look, yet this playing with hair is some of the major fun of dolls. The Kirk and Spock dolls articulations are very good (wrists, knees, arms, etc.). Uhura’s arms are not jointed at the elbow, yet this is normal among most dolls. The dolls are a great blend of the best of Barbie and the best of ST09.

The packaging is classy, with a clear box that allows the dolls to appreciated because of all the light allowed in. Ultra cool is the lenticular and colorful delta insignia and lettering on the packaging. Inside the box is a backing board that features the art from the promotional character posters. These backings could be preserved if the package is opened carefully and used for a nice bonus display either on their own or with the doll in front for those who like to open their toys.

Each of the dolls includes an excellent display and appropriate Star Trek items. All of the dolls include a phaser that is nicely rendered despite its size and includes the changeable "stun" setting feature. Spock has a tricorder and Kirk a communicator, both of which open and have good detailing.

One of the more prolific licensees this year for Star Trek, both classic and new versions, is Mattel. From the SceneIt? game to Hot Wheels starships, Mattel has been bringing fans Star Trek items from all versions of the franchise. These Barbie dolls have, though, been the most anticipated of the Mattel items, even garnering attention in the media (like USA Today and TV Guide) when they were announced a few months ago. And while this isn’t the first time Barbie has been Trekified (in 1996 there was a two pack of Ken as Captain Kirk and Barbie as Janice Rand), the new line features even better costuming, accessories, packaging, and detailing. 2009 is the 50th Anniversary of Barbie and the year that Star Trek has returned to the mainstream. The ST09 Barbie dolls are a great way to commemorate the year and a nice product because it appeals to all kinds of audiences. Kids will enjoy playing with the dolls. Older collectors and fans will enjoy the careful detailing of the Barbies and these make for a great display together on the shelf because of the bold colors and excellent designs. Happy Birthday, Barbie. Welcome Back, Star Trek.

Star Trek Barbie Dolls are available at Wal-mart and walmart.com (for $43.88 each), and other online retailers.

 

 

NEXT FOR THE COLLECTIVE: A ‘Collective Collective’
The new Star Trek products are piling up here at TrekMovie Collective Headquarters so we will do one artcile covering a few of the smaller and ancillary items like keychains, cereal boxes, tins, Hallmarks cards, gift cards and whatever other new stuff we have got in the last couple of weeks.

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Cadet to Captain was bad enough. Now Kirk is a commodore! Stop the rank inflation….

i think i want them :)

AND to #1: SHUT UP, “FIRST!”

The Kirk doll seems to be wearing Shat’s old hairpiece…

“which does give Kirk a kind of Duran Duran look,”

funniest thing I’ve heard today!

Who or what is Duran Duran?
Just saying…

Check it out guys,,,,

The Return of Shatner or Khan ?

( Maybe both )

http://www.mtv.com/movies/news/articles/1611523/story.jhtml

:o)

I said this months ago, but… they still look like supermarination puppets!

Where can you buy them? My daughter wants that Uhura.

You know those stage productions of the play Peter Pan, where they usually have a girl play Peter?

Kinda getting that vibe here. The Kirk and Spock sculpts look like my twelve year old female cousin. I know it’s supposed to be Ken…but Ken is a male, right? Just sayin’… :)

Man, I wish I could just get the accessories for my Playmates figures! They kind of blow the accessories that came with the action figures out of the water.

These are really ridiculous but adorable.
My friend is buying me the Spock one for my birthday… I think he’ll live in my Barbie house from my childhood, yes? :P

Duran Duran look……….LOL

Ken as Kirk looks like James Van Der Beek from Dawson’s Creek.

#5

Really? Have you tried google? I know I’m old but c’mon!

#1

Two words:
Alternate Universe. The uniforms have different sleeve rank.

(Ok, that ended up being 8 words.)

Im gonna go ahead and say those are a fail. They seem to only be for collectors (you know, the ones that’ll buy anything and everything Star Trek) and they look horrible.

I’m waiting for the Barbie Bolian Barber to give everyone haircuts.

That pic of all 3 figures looks like they all just got out of bed. Uhura looks happy enough.

Are the heads interchangeable like old GI Joes?

Seriously, these are great action figures. Since when is Mattel doing stuff like this under the ‘Barbie’ brand? I’d give them the whole business.

If the larger phaser had been black instead of crappy chrome, I’d get it.

By the way, Barhura’s figure is just impossible. What signal does that send to fat girls everywhere? (KIDDING!)

I’m not really a big fan of Kirk’s “Michael Myers” haircut

Eh. I saw them at the store today. Uhura is good but Kirk and Spock are absolutely horrendous.

UHHHHH #8 youre joking right?

” 8. VZX – May 15, 2009
Where can you buy them? My daughter wants that Uhura.”

Did you read the article?

i personally think that Spock and Uhura are the best out of these three. Kirk was done horribly . Mattel usually does well with movie dolls like when superman returns came out MAttel did a ken as Superman doll and now he is the hottest doll on the market!
I do like the spock doll alot because he has the perfect facial expression of a Vulcan. Uhura should have had a more articulated body though!

So get me a model of the Enterprise that fits them to scale, then I’ll think of collecting them.

Last time I played with even a GI Joe was when I was 11, And I stopped with Major Mat Mason at 13 and that was when they last went to the moon.

It’s nice kids can get toys they idealize, when I played Trek back in the 70’s all we had was AMT models of landing crew stuff. Otherwise we used Lego’s and used our minds with imagination to make toys to resemble what we wanted. Now we are coming close to Replicators that layer plastic. And kids today do not need vivid artistic minds, all they need is Daddy’s credit card.

So it is no longer a fertile creative mind is just a non bouncing piece of plastic. That sure seems to be the easy answer to create new ideas from out of nowhere. Where is our Thomas Edison’s going to come from. Then hopefully they will grow up to be Montgomery Scott’s

[quote]SirMartman – May 15, 2009
Check it out guys,,,,
The Return of Shatner or Khan ?
( Maybe both )
http://www.mtv.com/movies/news/articles/1611523/story.jhtml
:o) [/quote]

WOW!

that would be a major amount of suckage!! leave Khan dead PLEASE!

no Khan for a second movie NO WAY!

I like the idea that the Alt universe/timeline leaves room for a Shatner cameo .. not that he will do one of course… perhaps a letter writing campaign from all the shatner diehards TO SHATNER HIMSELF??

barbie is unrealistic, thats bad enough, but the kens…. Janice Rand WEPT what are they like?

Even though the Barbie Kirk’s hair looks hideous, I would be interested as a collector to get them, IF ONLY our local Wal-Mart here carried Star Trek items! NOTHING in the whole store with anything remotely connected with Star Trek, I’ve been checking every two days since the movie premiere, NOTHING. And yet they have one whole aisle dedicated to Star Wars toys… damn it.

Now I know what to ask for this coming Christmas! Wooooo!

23:

Bob Orci came on the site one day, and he already knew exactly who should play Khan (Javier Bardem from “No Country for Old Men”).

But this would have to be young Khan and his sleeper ship, not the TWOK version of him.

I agree they should do something else. Erasing canon with the alternate universe, and using Khan would be a major cop-out. The fact Abrams mentioned it was a bit chilling.

So would these uniforms fit on the Playmates figures?

Because they, along with the accessories, would be the only reason to get them.

I’m hoping these will go on sale at Dollar General like a lot of Barbies. I got the Superman Returns Barbie and Ken for ten bucks each at a local DG.

Here’s hoping I can do the same for these…

Now we’ve got Barbie Dolls…

Must I jump to a parallel universe to get my STAR TREK Movie Companion / Making Of / Art Of Book?

#1- The middle stripe is thinner. He’s a captain. (Pike wore the same rank.)

#3 LOL!!!!!!!

I’ve picked up these dolls to look at them four or five times, I like Uhuru an Kirk, but not Spock (the way they sculpted the hair bothers me greatly).

Their accessories are far nicer than the 12″ Playmates’.
Don’t know if this makes them $20 cooler each.

Poor Uhura looks like she’s starved- she’s too thin! Her face is beautiful, but her limbs look like sticks.

this is otaku5003, would you be willing to sell those 3 accesories?
im offering $10 for all three, so shoot me an email.

send the email to otaku5003@gmail.com