The Collective: Exclusive First Looks At Hallmark Ilia and Uhura 2009 Ornaments

Hallmark Star Trek items have been, well, a hallmark of collecting and family fun since the first USS Enterprise ornament in 1991. This year, Hallmark has many surprises for fans and TrekMovie has been given all the exclusive details and first photos for two new 2009 ornaments.

 

First Image of Limited Ilia Ornament
This summer Hallmark is offering a limited edition ornament to their regular 2009 Star Trek ornament line. The Ilia ornament helps celebrate not only the holidays, but the 30th Anniversary of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. TrekMovie has the exclusive first look at the ornament (which features Ilia in her infamous "V’Ger" probe version).


Hallmark 2009 Ilia Ornament

This marks the second time Hallmark has featured a limited edition Star Trek ornament (the first being the very popular 2007 Uhura ornament). To get your ornament, be sure to stop in at your local Hallmark store during Keepsake Ornament Debut Weekend (October 10th & 11th). This is the weekend when many (although not all) of the Hallmark ornaments are first available for purchase. I recommend getting there on Saturday October 10th as early as possible because the limited Ilia ornaments will likely sellout quickly.

First Look at Uhura Comic Con Exclusive
TrekMovie also has the exclusive news about an exciting Comic-Con International 2009 exclusive ornament from Hallmark. The Comic-Con exclusive is a Keepsake Ornament of Lt. Uhura wearing a command-division gold uniform from the episode "The Corbomite Maneuver." There will only be 450 of these ornaments produced which is a repainted version of the 2007 limited edition Uhura from Keepsake Artist Anita Marra Rogers.


Hallmark 2009 Uhura in Gold SDCC Exclusive

To purchase your ornament, stop by the Hallmark Booth during Comic-Con on July 23-26 (with a special preview night on July 22nd) which is located within the Lucasfilm Pavilion. The ornaments will be on sale each day of the convention until supply of the Uhura ornaments becomes as depleted as Klingon crystals after time-travel.

The Hallmark Booth will also feature all the 2009 Star Trek ornaments, exclusive Star Wars ornaments, and prototypes for the Star Trek ornaments planned for 2010, so stop by to get your own sneak preview.

The July 11-12 Ornament Premiere Weekend Event
As previously mentioned, Hallmark Keepsake ornaments will premiere at local stores the weekend of July 11th and 12th. During this weekend, fans could buy two of the three "regular" ornaments available this year.

The Klingon Battle Cruiser (also a TMP 30th Anniversary Item) is sculpted by favorite Lynn Norton and retails for $32. The ornament features lights that are coordinated and timed to each other so it appears the ship is blasting V’Ger. The Hallmark website features a video and details.

"The Menagerie" ornament features lights and voice effects and sculpts by Anna Marra Rogers. The ornament will be retail for $28 and there are detailed videos and pictures at Hallmark.com.

While both of these ornaments are available this July, there is one more ornament this autumn. Complimenting last year’s communicator ornament is the "Starfleet Phaser" ornament. This "stunning" ornament (don’t blame me, that’s on the Hallmark website!) will be available this October from Hallmark and retails for $18.50, featuring authentic sounds, buttons, lights, and voice effects. More info at Hallmark.com.

Your 2009 Ornament Checklist:
Here is your checklist to the five Star Trek Keepsake Ornaments available this year from Hallmark. Many stores accept "pre-orders" on wish lists available either online or in the Keepsake Ornament catalog you could get at local stores.

  • Klingon Battle Cruiser (available in stores July 11th)
  • "The Menagerie" (available in stores July 11th)
  • Limited Edition Ilia Ornament (available in stores October 10th)
  • Comic-Con Exclusive Uhura (available at San Diego Comic-Con)
  • Starfleet Phaser (available in stores in October 10th)

That’s Not All – More Hallmark 2009
There are some Hallmark items that are already available for party and holiday needs. Hallmark has released paper napkins, cups, plates, invitations, and thank you notes from the 2009 Star Trek feature film. [see previous article] These are available online only from retailers such as Birthday Direct. Also, there are two new Father’s Day sound greeting cards featuring effects such as the Star Trek theme or Kirk’s voice and were written by fellow fan and Star Trek author Kevin Dilmore. Especially good is the lenticular cover of the Enterprise themed card and these are available at local stores.


One of Hallmark’s new Star Trek cards

More to come
TrekMovie will report on the July premiere ornaments and continue to bring you all the details of Hallmark’s array of items available this year and next.

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This is terrible. Uhura’s uniform is supposed to be red not gold. Brush off the picket signs and lets hit the streets.

Oh I’m all over that Klingon Battle Cruiser

Excited about the ornaments!

And… am I first?

Woopity doo–repaints! New year we’ll get the Star Trek VI Kronos One repaint of the Klingon Battlecruiser–it will never end.

Excellent Toy. Big details.

1. Lore

You’re right: THIS IS A DISASTER!

(What’s the betting we just got ourselves into an article in a newspaper somewhere?!) ;)

# 1
Do you really have seen every episode from TOS?

She started in gold number 1.

As stated in the “Corbomite Manuever” Uhura wore the Gold Command Uniform. Then they switched her to to the Red uniform.

Uhura wore a gold shirt in 1st episodes of season 1.

And you call yourself a trekkie. (Shakes head).

Please forgive the spelling and punctuation!

#4

Hallmark has very nice products this year. Most films, such as Indiana Jones, get one ornament. Trek is getting four brand new ornaments, and an exclusive variant. I am not sure what the problem is with that as the exclusive variant is very cool and of a character who often doesn’t get that many items. Thank you for the reply to the article.

Hey! I wrote that online description for the phaser myself!

Klingons n’ Khan…
Klingons n’ Khan…
One Christmas Eve soon I’ll see…
Klingon n’ Khan decorations…
Hung from my Christmas Tree….

(helps if you know I have the Reliant… and the A. This will go nicely, thank you very much!)

I hope the Klingon cruiser is the same scale as the Enterprise..I can fore see some interesting battles around the tree next Christmas!

#7-10 inclusive: I think #1 was being sarcastic.

The Klingon ship and Pike will be on my tree for sure.

#4 I get that, Alex, and I promise that our decision was not because we’ve run our of ideas for Star Trek ornaments. But our fans and collectors seem to enjoy our doing some variations on a theme (at least sales indicate their interest). We don’t do repaints of licensed ornaments much at all—or we’d have that battle-damaged U.S.S. Constellation I’ve wanted since 2006! (“I’m gonna ram this thing right down that Christmas tree’s throat!”)

And as John mentioned, we looked at it as a cool chance to offer a product that doesn’t get a lot of attention from other licensers. At least, I don’t recall an action figure or much of anything else featuring Uhura in her yellow scant.

I hope to see you all at Comic-Con this year. I think you’ll dig the Star Trek ornaments we have this year (if you liked last year’s communicator, wait until you hear the quotes our phaser plays!) and the ones we have planned for 2010. Can’t wait to show ya.

#15 indeed it is, Cap’n. I guarantee that sculptor Lynn Norton takes that kind of consideration very seriously. His prototype sculpt was phenomenal—the most detail in a K’t’inga-class miniature I’ve ever seen.

Ilia looks half naked to me. Love the Klingon battle cruiser, will be getting one of those.

Hey Kevin there you go teasing us with next years figures again, just a hint please. These sculpts are great and I cant wait to have that Klingon cruiser on my tree this year.

so, kevin, that means that for hallmark completists, there will now never be more than 450 of them. aren’t you really hurting the franchise by telling all those other collectors that they will never be able to own the whole set?

just to follow up on my last post, playmates toys did this with the infamous ‘1701’ series of picard, yar, and barclay, as well as the ‘tri-fold’ borg. This was the beginning of the end of the original playmates toyline, once the vast majority of collectors realized they could not have complete sets of the toys.

Whats the tri-fold borg?

#1 = Epic FAIL

The Uhura figure is a ripoff. It’s not in scale with the previous Kirk, Spock and McCoy figures. Or TNG figures. Hallmark is cutting corners and charging the same price.

Yeah I am going to SDCC and I will be there for preview night. Thanks for this article and letting me know. I will be at the Hallmark booth when it opens to purchase an Uhura ornament.

Might that Christopher Pike ornament scare little kids?

#21 I’m a big tease, QB. You follow me enough on Twitter to know that. Honestly, I’ve been asked to keep details of 2010 under my Vulcan bowl haircut—but it’s just another month. Tell ya what, I’ll leak a couple of details on Twitter later today, so if anyone wants to see them, follow @kevindilmore – and for good measure, follow @Quarksbartender, too.

#22 I truly don’t think we’re hurting a franchise—Star Trek, Keepsake Ornaments or otherwise, no more than does any licensor producing limited-edition Comic-Con exclusive products each year (and there are a lot of them). If you want one and are unable to find one at Comic-Con, I’m guessing some will be available on the secondary market. Now if it’s available but not at a price you’re willing to pay, well, that’s a separate issue. :)

#27 You’re right, there is a difference in scale among those ornaments. There’s a difference in scale between the Uhura ornament and the Klingon Battle Cruiser ornament, too. ;) Just teasing, but I appreciate your pointing it out and I’m sorry if that doesn’t work for you. There are many factors in determining an ornament’s size and functionality. Worth mentioning, however, is that the Uhura ornament was released a decade after the TOS ornaments you mentioned, which came out in 1995, 1996 and 1997 respectively, and was not promoted as a continuation of a series. McCoy’s not depicted as being on the bridge, so he doesn’t quite fit in, either.

A disaster this is.
And yet another use for the HMS/AA/DST phaser design.

Am I the only person here,, wondering WHY the heck there isn’t a 2009 Hallmark U.S.S. Enterprise ship (from the new movie) ornament?

#29. LOL

Beep. Beep.

Argh. I meant 32.

well, i still think that 450 is a very small number to limit an item with a multi-national pool of collectors to. and, just so you know, playmates tried to rectify ‘1701’ figures by releasing them as a boxed set, but the collectors had already had it with playmates, and the license never recovered (until 7 years later with the new movie).

#33 – They don’t know how big to make it. ;)

Actually, I kinda laughed myself silly last Christmas when unpacking the ornaments. McCoy is on the Transporter, the last place in the galaxy he’d want to be. What cruel genius thought that was the proper way to immortalize him? :-)

Kevin, nice of you to post here and chat with us– does Hallmark openly take suggestions for ornaments?

#37 Rick.. did you have to open and dump that can of worms on us??? ;-)

I knew someone would complain about Uhura’s uniform… so predictable some people are. LOL

I love Hallmark Christmas ornaments, though I pretty much limit myself to the ships only.

#33: uh, well this is the 30th anniversary of ST:TMP,which whether people like to admit it or not, was the successful rebirth of “Star Trek,” to which none since would have likely have happened without.

AND since no one can agree just how big the new Big E is, how can you make an ornament (I jest) of it?

” TrekMovie has the exclusive first look at the ornament (which features Ilia in her infamous “V’Ger” probe version).”

John, what was infamous about Ilia as the V’ger probe (aside from she was a digitized version of the real flesh and blood)? I am sure some of the guys in here *loved* Ilia in her white robe.

Personally, I wish we could see another Deltan on TREK.. male or female… Based on what we know about them, there has to be a fascinating backstory (and no, I don’t mean in the slash fictional stories either).

13. Kevin Dilmore – June 9, 2009
Hey! I wrote that online description for the phaser myself!

Stunning!!!!!!!!

BTW, I only collect the ship ornaments every year and not the character/scene ornaments. However, last year I did receive the Kirk/Tribbles one. Awesome.

=A=

#36

The difference is that Playmates Toys was sold in units of 200,000 during those days for some of the figures, and a limited edition of 1701 for a line that many people wanted to get every action figure from was a mistake. This isn’t. There isn’t as much of a completist demand for Hallmark Ornaments.

#37 Rick – Good one! At least no one could argue it wasn’t to scale with the other ships :)

Well great. Unless I find a grand to fly out to San Diego and go to Comic-con, I have no chance of getting this ornament.

I do collect all of the Hallmark ornaments. And I don’t feel like paying a couple hundred when the new limited one inevitably shows up on Ebay.

*grumble*

Just an update…TREKs first day below 1 mill at the box office…slipping to @ 950000 for Monday, but still 6th just below T4 and all of the new releases!

Wow Uhura almost looks White..lol it will never End!

Lol, Illia? Who would want that?

#40

What wasn’t infamous about Ilia as the V’Ger Probe?

I think Uhura’s uniform was gold in “Mudd’s Women,” as well as “Corbomite Maneuver.”

RIPOFF!!!

These were being sold at SHORE LEAVE XXIX during the auction on Saturday 14 July 2007. A total of 500 were held back by the artist to raise money for charity.

And now they are being comicon exclusives.