Earlier this week, TrekMovie.com broke the news that Playmates Toys was granted the toy license the new Star Trek film. Now a new article from one of the Internet’s most popular collecting websites, Action-Figure.com, not only confirms the Trekmovie.com news, but also gives details on some of the first prototypes being shown off at UK ToyFair which kicked off today.
According to Action-Figure.com, Playmates was showing off prototypes of three different lines: 4″, 6″ and somewhere between 9″ and 12″ versions (approximated). There are also interactive playsets, including the Enterprise bridge and transporter room scaled for the 4″ action figures. These sounds similar to Playmates Enterprise D Bridge and transporter playsets from the 90s, which featured authentic sounds and visual effects.
Playmates was showing off figures for Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty, and (probably) Uhura as well as one that “looked like Sarek” (more likely Nimoy’s older Spock). The larger action figures have cloth costumes. Articulation or exact scale details were not available from the prototypes.
TOS-like uniforms
Action-Figure.com’s description of the action figures’ Starfleet costumes is that they are “very similar to the designs of the original.” Trekmovie.com has received similar reports of the actual costumes, which apparently bear strong connections to The Original Series era uniforms.
The New York Toy Fair (opening February 17th) may provide more details about the Playmates Toys upcoming Star Trek line. For more goto action-figure.com
first, nice
Let the image leakage begin!
Hmmm….a Lt. Uhura doll. Nice :-)
good to know that the will look similar
Cool. I look forward to seeing them.
Of course, let’s keep in mind what happened with the “Generations” action figures. They produced them with the uniforms that the movie didn’t use.
umm how about the 5 foot inflatable model for Uhura?
I certainly hope the uniforms are very similar to the TOS ones. I’m gonna be pissed if they screw them up.
Guardian…. what did the story say?
Skirts for the ladies?
Yes, if the starfleet uniforms aren’t canon, I am boycotting the film!
-wink-
hahahahahaha!
I wonder if they are using the same head from the Unification Spock figure from 1993 for the old Spock now?
I can’t believe JJ Abrams didn’t invite Shatner to be a Kirk figure. Doesn’t he know Shatner IS Kirk figures?
13. Green-blooded-bastard – January 30, 2008
Shatner isn’t the subject.
#8. The Guardian of Forever –
If you were really the Guardian, you would know what they looked like on ALL time lines.
Riverside,
I think it was fairly obvious that Green-blooded-bastard was being sarcastic.
When describing the uniforms as being similar to the original series – they could have been thinking of the original characters in the movies (ST II-VI).
In which case, they would look very similar to the leaked red “bellhop” uniforms.
The biggest hint, to me, was James Cawley’s reactions to the movie set and costumes. The sets were (paraphrasing) “not what (he) would have done” but the costumes were “perfect”.
#7 LOL and EWWW!!
I want an official costume pic from TPTB at Paramount. Now.
Please?
Peace. Live long and prosper.
The Vulcanista }:-|
Yea I knew it.
Hmm… leaks leads us to believe there is a reboot on the looks. Wouldn’t it be exciting that most of it wouId be the same? Only that the looks are updated. That would be a pleasant surprise at the theater. It may even bring a tear. If this is true, I would rather wait to see them. No leaks please.
#17
NOOOO! No more Royal Canadian Mounted Police in space anymore, please!
Peace. Live long and prosper.
The Vulcanista }:-|
The old playmates line is woefully outdated by modern figure standards, so I hope they spent some time on better casting/molding techniques.
#22. The Vulcanista –
LMAO that’s great! RCMP in Space!
That’s it! Shatner is Canadian. He could be the new Sgt. Preston.
By the way, the offer is always open! (Especially for a fine Southern Lady such as yourself). LOL
Oh how nice it will be to restart the 4″ figure collection again and it’s finally about time for a new bridge playset, although being 15 years later I don’t expect to be playing with it….that much ;-) i was disappointed they never did an E-bridge set, or Defiant, Voyager, etc…the D-bridge was great. Having Playmates release movie-related products….it just makes Star Trek movies right again….and as much as I’m dying to see the movie uniform, I think waiting is worth it
#24
Are you the one who proposed marriage a while ago? Why, sir, you *are* kind!
Peace. Live long and prosper.
The Vulcanista }:-|
#26
Yes’m it’s me.
There were just too many Michael’s posting, so I had to add a little backstory.
I’ve been here since the beginning, and very much appreciate the humorous attitude of MOST of the regulars.
Ah well, if it’s not a slavish rehash of absolutely everything then they probably should update the uniforms too. I’d prefer maybe toning down the colours a little and adding some detail rather than a whole new line of Jean Paul Gaultier see through plastic jobs mind you.
Be honest, even in that great Enterprise episode, the uniforms did look, well, a tead over vivid? and even (whispers) a little out of place compared to everything else?
If it’s cloth then we at least know they don’t wear kevlar body armour – Starfleet Marine style. Talking of which, since I’ve probably dissed the original uniforms, I’m off to put mine on right now…
#22 “NOOOO! No more Royal Canadian Mounted Police in space anymore, please!”
Wow, seems like I am not the only one disliking the uniforms from ST II-VI.
re: 28 trekee
“Be honest, even in that great Enterprise episode, the uniforms did look, well, a tead over vivid? and even (whispers) a little out of place compared to everything else?”
What looked out of place WAS the “everything else”
A figure that “looks like” Sarek… GROAN!!!
Here we go again – Playmates action figure lines have always been PATHETICALLY inaccurate.
Yeah, this one sorta looks like Picard… and yeah… by the suit alone, you can sorta tell this one’s Data… GROAN again.
Paramount should have struck a deal allowing AA to provide the casts and Paramount to do the mass production, marketing, retail channels, etc.
Just my 10 cents’ worth…
I couldnt care less if the uniforms dont look anything like the TOS ones, considering how often Starfleet changes fashions. If they’re similar, great, if they’re not, I hope there’s no crying around here…
messing with too much of the “design” of TOS in this movie I think would put off even the casual viewer of original Star Trek. I am not on a tirraid about purrity to the last detail, but, keep most of it please. I already have a refrence point for this era of star trek, don’t completly obliterate for me, please.
Of course, it’s too late now for that comment to be of any use to the movie makers. Oh well, just a rant from a fan who cares.
well james cawley says theyre perfect, so well see
is there a possibility of photos from one of these toyfairs? i wanna see them now!!!
oh,, and the reason the generations uniforms werent used apparantly they all got stolen .
10 schmedeman: Skirts for the ladies?
Yeah, let’s say ladies are allowed to work on the bridge or elsewhere before they get married. But they have to wear skirts, so that they attract men to marry them. Each gender has to have its specific role and look.
Where are we? Back in the 50s or 60s? lol
Only because it’s “canon”, or the illusion that people form to a canon, that does not mean we have to countermand major advancements of OUR time… ;)
For the movie to work, it’s sufficent to let the interpretation be possible that it is all still happening in the same old universe and timeline. The rest is done by the viewer. The canon only exists in our minds. Or have you ever seen a real canon in the movies? It’s full of errors. Only because the viewer wants it all to be coherent, it seems to exist. Of course some filmmakers make the interpretation easy, some make it more difficult. As long as JJ doesn’t make it utterly implausible, it should work.
#6
You cannot blame Playtmates Toys for the costumes. The decision was made after costumes were made that too many changes were in the film and the action figures could not be changed. Eventually, they did offer fans the proper costumes. It is unlikely this would happen with this film.
#17
As the article indicates, the uniforms are from the television show era.
#31
The article linked to from Action-Figure.com notes the reason for the inability to get some details was these figures are in prototype form. This means there is likely no painting, think of a brightly colored statue of 4″ scale shown on the stage to the audience. It doesn’t mean the sculpts are bad.
If fans like to see what a prototype looks like, check out WilliamShatner.com’s store where they sell from DST’s Kirk action figure prototype. This prototype is closer to production than the Playmates Toys would be and even this is difficult to see much detail. The actual toy is very detailed, yet the prototype isn’t.
While this is merely opinion, Playmates Toys 9″ and 12″ lines were incredibly detailed and accurate to us. The 4.5 ” Star Trek line was superior to those of Hasbro’s Star Wars figures at the time. You cannot compare 2008 toy technology with 1994. Isn’t it fair to wait to see what they make for the feature film? They might be great, they might be dissapointing. Then, Christmas 2008, fans could buy the toys or get other collectibles. The nice thing is we will be able to make that determination at retail stores instead of niche online sites.
Thanks for the reply, although we disagree.
#34
Larry Nemecek provides the history of the costume changes of the film, including talking about the popularity of the Playmates Toys, in Star Trek The Next Generation Companion. It was a decision made by Rick Berman near filming to utilize the TNG and DS9 costumes, although maybe they were stolen later by someone named Christie!
FInally a surefire way to get my 7-yr old hyped for TREK. Toys wil do it every time!! LOL.
Speaking as a former military man myself I always preferred the movie era uniforms to TOS uniforms. The movie era were far more miitary to me, and actually had that feel to them not so much the pajama party feeling to the TOS. Of course it should be no surprise that I’ve dressed as TOS era Kirk for halloween many many times. LOL.
Either way my little one and myself are getting very excited!!
SEMPER FI
Nice to hear that they will be making the larger size figures with cloth costumes. I never liked the short squatty ones but some of the 9″ figures were very nice.
And with Cawley’s report and now this, it looks like those non-fans of the 60’s “look” , will actually get their chance to “laugh those cheesy uniforms off the screen!!”. Ot at least try to…without getting popcorn tossed on their head by the rest of the audience who are loving it!
A little bit off-topic, but has there ever been footage on the web or elsewhere of the actors wearing the original Generations-uniforms? Personally, I thought they were not that bad. A nice step into the direction of TOS-Movie-Uniforms (although one might argue that they seem to predate the TNG uniforms in terms of design-lineage)
#42
I don’t think they ever filmed with them, but there are designs shown of the characters in The Art of Star Trek. Check out Trekcore.com for more details about the deleted scenes of the feature films.
It’s worth bearing in mind that the reporter doesn’t seem to be a big Star Trek fan. I don’t mean he doesn’t like it – I’m just saying he has about the normal amount of awareness of the franchise as the average person.
I just mean that the ‘looks like Sarek’ doesn’t really mean that the sculpt is bad quality. It’s a comment from someone who hasn’t been following the development of the movie so probably doesn’t even know Old Spock is in the movie. Assuming a figure of an older Vulcan in, presumably, robes is Spock’s father would be a natural assumption. If it looked a bit like Leonard Nimoy, even more so.
This article was eye candy just for the interactive playsets part alone!
It is impressive having the uniforms so similar! Very pleasing to me.
–Manrum
If the uniforms are to be perfect for this film, they’ll inevitably have to be different from the inimitable original.
#19
I am with you …we need a pic of the uniforms…now…pretty please?
@22 Hey Vulcanista – we Canadians are proud of our Mounties!
Seriously this sounds very promising. Between this article and Cawley’s feedback it sounds like the costumes will be at least… recognizable.
I better start saving. I’m probably going to buy toys again for the first time in 15 years…
If my wife lets me…