Christmas is coming early as Hallmark’s 2008 ‘Dream Book’ (their annual catalog, usually available in April) has been leaked to the interweb. The ‘draft’ Dreambook details three Star Trek ornaments for 2008: The U.S.S. Reliant, a scene from “The Trouble With Tribbles” and a Kirk era communicator. See below for more details and (somewhat grainy) pictures
Hallmark’s 2008 Trek line up
USS Reliant (from Wrath of Khan)
The USS Reliant ornament features lights. This continues the TWOK line that started last year with a scenery ornament of Kirk, Spock, and Sulu responding to Khan. The ship ornaments are often very detailed. The Reliant will retail for $32.
Trouble With Tribbles
The second ornament is “The Trouble With Tribbles” which features the voice of Captain Kirk. It appears from the description that the tribbles may egress from the overhead compartment, allowing fans the fun of frustrating Captain Kirk for the holidays. The 2008 “The Trouble With Tribbles” ornament seems to be part of what is becoming a new tradition of episode-specific items from Hallmark. Previous ‘episode’ ornaments are: “City on the Edge of Forever” (2004), Khan from “Space Seed” (2005), and the “All Good Things” Enterprise NCC 1701 D (2007). The Trouble With Tribbles ornament will retail for $28.
TOS Communicator
The Kirk era communicator ornament offers lights and sound files from communicator conversations from the show. The price is $18.50.
Available to order in April
Hallmark will pre-orders for these starting this April in Hallmark stores, with debut parties at local stores traditionally in July, October, and November. A sheet usually accompanies the Dream Book at most stores which allows for ornaments to be pre-ordered and placed on hold when they arrive for sale. The Reliant and Tribbles ornaments will be available for the July store parties, and the communicator ornament is available this October.
Hallmark…a long line of Trek
Since 1991 Hallmark has released three or four Trek ornaments every year, and they have been very popular with collectors. The first ornament (TOS Starship Enterprise pictured below) can now fetch over $200 on Ebay. Over the years they have made ornaments from all five Trek TV series and three films (Wrath of Khan, First Contact, and Nemesis). It is likely that Hallmark plans to have ornaments based on the JJ Abrams’ Star Trek film for Christmas 2009. Because ornaments debut in April, and must be designed before this date, even if the Star Trek feature film had opened during Christmas 2008 as originally thought, a Hallmark ornament showing designs or ships would probably not have been offered this year.
Hallmark’s first Trek ornament from 1991
To see some previous Star Trek ornaments in action check this holiday article from Trekmovie.com (and yes, we already know about the clicking noise…its Santa’s reindeer, okay!).
Christmas already?
Can’t wait! 3rd!
Gotta get that communicator. Too cool.
Somebody at Hallmark must be a big Trek fan. They have been consistently putting out Trek ornaments for 17 years. Either that, or there is a lot more money in ornaments than I had previously accounted for.
Am I the kind of person who decorates his Christmas tree with Trek stuff……?
lol well i am that kinda person ! lol
hmm two Irish star trek fans on one site, ……………i wonder who is running the country
I love seeing the new ornaments every year!! I always buy a few on opening weekend in July! I have the ultimate GEEK tree… My wife decorates the house at Christmas with so much taste and beauty… she get’s her own tree… we have guest over… they totally ignore her beautiful decorations and go right for the geek tree… LOL!!! she loves it…
There are only two or three in the series I don’t have… LOVE IT!!
#6
Christ who’ll guard our precious potatoes!!!!!?!!
Will this be just in the States? I would really like to get my hands on that Communicator. Coooooooooooool!
kg
I have about 30 Star Trek Hallmark ornament collections.
My growing fleet is ready to take on the cutesy plastic invaders that each year try to take over the tree.
Reliant is a cool design; more like a battleship. Never quite knew who was stationed in the flying bridge thingie, but they died first anyway.
$32? For an ornament of a ship?? FORGET IT. I’ve got more than enough ones I bought cheaper in years past…including the original 1991 ornament.
#6 Leprechans. Leprechans are running the country!
borig..when will DS make a reliant toy? They never seem to get past the regular ships but I garuntee a Reliant would be a sell out..wtf
You mean people put these things away at some point?? :-)
Even though we don’t get a movie this Christmas, I suppose this will hold me over :-)
wow….those look….pretty cheensy…….thats a word right….yeah
Kirk up to his neck in tribbles – someone at Hallmark has a sense of humor as well as a sense of just what the trekkies want on their tree.
Katie- Have you seen the new communictor under ST Toys? It’s from DST and I have GOT to get me one of those… Hoping they’ll have them for sale at SciFi Slam in April (what is it going to take to get us a Kirk era communicator/cell phone… grumble..pout..).
I’m still puzzled as to why they’ve never released the TOS Klingon battlecruiser and the Romulan Bird of Prey. They seem like a couple of obvious choices.
I’ll also put in a request for a Gorn ornament, as long as I’m wishing.
Scott B. out.
P.S. You’ve got to be kidding me on the price of that Reliant. I’ll be waiting for the after-Christmas 50% off mark-down. Chiselers.
Sonofabitch. I’ve been waiting for that Reliant ornament for 17 years. I’ve got the ’91 Big E in the original box, never soiled by my touch, sitting right behind me in my cedar chest. As well as every marquee Hallmark Trek piece issued ever since. My mother – a closet Trek fan – has made sure we both have every issuance, every Christmas.
John, you have now earned a singluar honor. I’m actually e-mailing this thread to…………Mom. LOL
The ship ornaments are usually sculpted by a fellow named Lynn Norton. I met him at the 30th anny bash in Huntsville, AL; the guy has an amazing toolkit with all of his carving and shaping gear. Think the wooden case belonging to the fix-it guy in Toy Story. Lynn creates the masters for the ship parts out of plain vanilla styrene, 1:1 scale with the final parts – talk about teeny weeny.
Rick
Good evening, Rick – I raise my glass to you, sir. It takes a lot to impress me, but Lynn sounds like a guy who’d have me mesmerized, watching him ply his trade. Then again, I need reading glasses just to keep from shaving my lip off every morning. LOL :-)
Yeah, I started with a Trek tree, but it only lasted one Christmas….cuz then I redecorated my office in Trek theme and all my little ships are hanging above the bookcase connected to a twinkly string of white Christmas lights…er…um…stars!
When I’m having a bad day I press the button on the 30th and 40th anniversary Enterprises simultaneously and I get the theme song and Kirk’s “Space. The final frontier…..”
God bless Hallmark!
Woodspock: I WANT!
John, kudos to you yet again! I am continually impressed at the amount of Trek merch you manage to pull out every week for us. Where on earth and/or the galaxy do you find all this stuff?
Peace. Live long and prosper.
The Vulcanista }:-|
I have been buying these since the first in 92 and I must say they are a great addition to any tree or really to hang on anything. They are unique and a must have for any ST fan, buy a couple, one to open, one to sell in about 5 years or so and one to keep unopened to have in case the cat or dog gets it off the tree. This is good stuff, well worth it, because once their gone, their gone.
Rick! Glad to see you on “our” board! I met you at Wonderfest in Louisville a few years ago, THANK YOU for all you’ve contributed to the look of Star Trek over the years.
#26–There will always be Trek ornaments available, as long as eBay has a website. But I agree, if you’re going to own one to show off, keep a backup piece in storage. And check yard sales… my buddy picked up a ’91 Enterprise, in box, for $20 a couple years back. He found it in a pile of Beanie Babies!
Always wanted to get one of those cheesy silver foil trees and load it with this stuff. :)
Viking- What an awesome mom – you call her, you call her right now and tell her she’s the trekkiest mom ever!
I have been a Star Trek fan since 1966! I have been a Star Trek ornament fan since I purchased the 1701 back in 1991. I will continue to purchase every Trek ornament every year until Hallmark stops, and I hope they never stop!!! As a collector I DO NOT display any of the ornaments on my tree. My collection is ultra mint and will stay that way! I love Star Trek and the ornaments, and I am not a geek! Im an asphalt worker. New movie in Dec. Lets all go see it, Im buying!!!!!!
Reach me at: flying_sub@sbcglobal.net
#23, #27,
Thanks. Always fun to read through posts here and drop a line now and then. I’ve been generally impressed by the quality of the finishes on the Hallmark ships, even with the mass-production requirements. I want to know who does the teensy decals! My normal decal supplier can’t get stuff that sharp, but then again it may be super-fine silkscreen. Ah well, a few of the little ships still get to go on our tree, with a couple of extras put away in a box, of course.
Rick
#18
Agreed Denise – Kirk getting tribbled is one of TOS’ finest moments. ;-) Christmas won’t be the same without that ornament…
“…close.that.door.”
#30 The new movie has been moved to next Summer, May 2009, sorry!
Rick, thanks again for all your work, and John, great article as usual :)
Thanks for the kudos on the merchandise articles. Many of the articles are based on fellow fan comments or suggestions. We are going to have many exciting articles in the future, including news about Star Trek feature film trading cards and a look at Mego retro action figures. We are also planning a column where we take your questions or suggestions to the companies for answers. There are many fun articles about Star Trek items. Thanks again for the comments.
Wow, Rick Sternbach in the house! I mean, “On the bridge.”
I thoroughly enjoy Lynn’s sculpts of the ornament ships.
But seriously, more TOS ships please! We got that Nemesis two-seater a couple years back, for Pete’s sake.
With the new movie coming out, I can see the movie version of the Enterprise and followed up with other ships from the movie, probably before any TOS ships. We got many, many years of choices left, that’s for sure.
NICE…….
arrrr… how a nice old fashioned working nutcarcker doll that looks like Picard?
Break it so.
There are FOUR legumes!
All hands- abandon shell!
Run, run away! (oops… how’d that get in there?)
…arrrr
would like to know what christmas story ornaments are going to be for the new season…..
Luvs dem ornies!!! Aye!!!!!!
When the first “Star Trek” Christmas ornament came out I thought “jeez, this is stupid, who would want something like this?”
Silly me to ask such a question. I waited too long to purchase the first ornament and it cost me $200!
Oddly enough I bought it at Starbase Indy from a dealer in the sales room. Funny thing was, I did a 180 degree turn and the dealer immediately behind me was selling the same ornament for $300. –whew– that was close! :-)
#37 BND “Break it so”
Now, that’s FUNNY!!!
Remember the day after Christmas these are half price … I always wait.
And if you are looking for older ones check out Ebay .. they are pretty cheap this time of year. They are cheaper if you can find an auction that has more than one ornament in it.
#41
arrrrr…
it be brave for a man named Harry Ballz to praise an idea for a nutcracker…
But I thank ye…
Their DS9 station is a masterpiece, I must say.
Thank you all for your kind words about my sculpting skills, especially Rick Sternbach. I even appreciate the not-so-glowing comments. It has made me strive to be better. I retired from Hallmark Cards, Inc. in December 2006 after a 41 year long career. I have been a Star Trek fan from the very beginning and nothing has pleased me more than to sculpt the Starship ornaments. Even better, I am continuing to sculpt Hallmark ornaments from my home based studio. The Reliant ornament was created there and hopefully, many more to come.
USS Reliant (from Wrath of Khan)
The USS Reliant ornament features lights. This continues the TWOK line that started last year with a scenery ornament of Kirk, Spock, and Sulu responding to Khan. The ship ornaments are often very detailed. The Reliant will retail for $32. USS Reliant ornament features lights now warth more money after actor died age 88 year old. WOW,WOW,SWEET,WOW,SWEET……………….
USS Reliant (from Wrath of Khan) is coolist starship in 2008,Also TOS Starship Enterprise i buy in comic bookstore in 1999 buy TOS shuttecraft little ship same year…….