We have news of yet another sign that Trek is returning to the heydays of the franchise. Trekkies who were fans in the 1990s might remember the QVC (home shopping channel) Star Trek shows which were a sure sign of the popularity of the franchise. Today, TrekMovie confirms that there will be a Star Trek QVC hour with products from Dynamic Forces this May 17th/18th, the first in almost 12 years.
Star Trek Sunday Night on QVC
"The Star Trek Universe" show is scheduled for Sunday May 17th 10PM Pacific (Monday 1AM Eastern). The hour will be filled with unique licensed Star Trek collectibles to purchase, brought to QVC by Dynamic Forces, a comic book and collectibles company. Items will include limited edition comic books and trading cards from TOS and TNG. QVC items from the new Star Trek movie include lithographs and a Giclee print signed by Simon Pegg. QVC also will be selling a signed a special Collector’s Lobby Card from the new film. There will be signed editions of the Star Trek Countdown prequel comic book and many other items.
QVC describes the show:
Live long and prosper as we present an out-of-this-world selection of officially licensed Star Trek merchandise. From trading cards and comic books to videos of the television series to collectible replicas of your favorite icons, QVC® goes boldly where no man has gone before with the unique memorabilia you’ll find during Star Trek Universe.
Promo image for QVC Trek show
Star Trek & QVC: A Little History
It is great that QVC is calling the show "The Star Trek Universe" as that was its name during the 1990s. The 1990s shows are gems as they used to feature Star Trek celebrities being interviewed in between the selling of items. The shows were known as "conventions on the television." The discussions between the QVC hosts (who were fans themselves) and the celebrities were often fascinating and were two or three hours long. For example, Ricardo Montalban was a guest on February 18, 1992 and not only was he incredibly classy, he shared anecdotes and experiences that were never heard before. QVC had more than 50 of these "Star Trek Universe Shows" between 1991 and 1996 and they are one of the best sources for Star Trek behind the scenes information ever gathered. Star Trek celebrities that are no longer with us yet were interviewed for hours on QVC during these shows as guests include Mark Lenard, Michael Piller, Majel Barrett Roddenberry, James Doohan, Robert Justman, and DeForest
Kelley. Michael Piller, for example, appeared the weekend before DS9’s premiere, offering a first look at the show and discussing incredible details about how it was made. Celebrities from William Shatner to Marina Sirtis appeared on episodes.
Marina Sirtis on QVC
The QVC shows were popular and profitable for everyone involved. Fans loved the show because there were both great interviews (unlike most talk shows, these were hour long and fans could "fax" (remember that?) in questions or talk on the phone with the celebrities) and featured unique memorabilia including signed plaques and special editions of games or merchandise. QVC liked it because often the merchandise sold out in minutes. In fact, the very first show featured James Doohan and they had to end the show early because every item sold out.
Limited Edition Card from QVC during the 1990s
While the new QVC show won’t feature any celebrities from the shows or movies, it is hopefully a good start. QVC does have, for example, regular NASCAR shows that are quite similar to the old Star Trek shows (two hours, with celebrities). Perhaps if this QVC show is successful, there may be more, and a return to the old format with Dynamic Forces continuing to bring in amazing items. There are always possibilities!
I had no idea the current QVC logo looked so much like the QuickTime logo.
Can’t wait!
I remember the star Trek hour on QVC years back. . .
I remember wishing my pocket money was improved and delivered in credit card form. . .
QVC is run by Ferengie.
I remember when QVC was the first place you could see the second Star Trek VI trailer.
I think I got a pair of Star Trek PJs and a TNG communicator from my parents from them.
OH man this is bring back memories. I remember watching them just for the interviews has a kid.
Those QVC shows had some classic moments. My two favorites:
Wil Wheaton, when asked if he’d go to a holodeck if one really existed: “You would have to drag me in there, kicking and screaming. Every time they go in there, the damn thing breaks down!”
And Shatner, on hearing the price of a photo autographed by the whole TOS cast: “Those are high prices!! People actually pay that??”
I’m just sayin’, but a certain regular here with a name that is a combination of letters and numbers and is the same as George Lucas’ first film has a birthday on May17th.
I’m just sayin is all.
(For the more dense folks, I’m talkin’ about me.)
I bought an uncut sheet of Next Gen Cards, still have them framed. Look for stuff that is exclusive, otherwise you pay list price in a lot of cases.
QVC also shilled a lot of crap. I can remember some of the pewter miniatures selling for a lot of $$$, and one of the cast (can’t remember who it was) had that look of “god, they pay that much for this?”
I also remember one of the guys — a writer, I think — being there when they were selling the communicators that did the trilling sound when you tapped them. He was stunned, saying, “man, we need like six people on the set to get that same thing done”.
And ditto on what #4 said.
BTW, to clarify, the pewter miniatures I’m talking about were ones made from the old FASA Starfleet Battles molds, and they were in bad, bad shape.
You know Star Trek is hip when it’s on QVC
1 AM !!!
Haha, nice. I think I watched this at like… 3 AM on a night I couldn’t sleep.
I remember these shows and there was some great interviews. You can see some of them on Youtube and there still great to hear. Can’t wait to see what they will have on there show and hopefully when the Trek Dvd comes out they will have a show on that and we all can get advanced copies of the New Trek Dvd.
“You know Star Trek is hip when it’s on QVC”
Blood hell this is a slow news day.
5 – speaking of trailers, and i’m not sure how I got this from talking about a Star Trek VI trailer on QVC, but one of my favorite trailers is the First Contact teaser. Well, the first half anyway. The beginning of that trailer was great. The compilation 2nd half not so much, but at the time, a movie about the Borg was like going to heaven lol.
This is completely off topic, but why must fans of Star Trek be labeled as Trekkies or Trekkers? Why can’t fans of Star Trek be referred to as just that–fans of Star Trek (or Star Trek fans)?
Are Star Wars fans given some special label? Do we label them Warsies or Warsers? (Maybe such a label exists but I am unaware of it.)
I loathe the labels Trekkies and Trekkers. It brings to mind the socially inept folks living in their parent’s basements who wear costumes and pointed ears that Shatner mocked on SNL.
Trek is back on QVC? God, that makes me proud.
(note to mainstream media: the above statement was in jest and is sarcastic in nature. this means the actual meaning is the exact opposite and the quite is not to be featured out of context. if you still do it, your an idiot.)
Star Wars fans are the original “Fanboys”.
I used to love those shows.
20
I’ll say that the Otaku were the original fanboys.
John, somewhere I have on VHS the night that product newsletter editor (remember that!?) Kevin Stevens, who was the host for lots of these and the onetime Communicator products columnist, debuted my “TNG Companion.” I called in (at that time, from back home!) and surprised him!, and then patched in other callers for over an hour. What a hoot that was.
Yeah, wow, this brings back memories.
Star Trek returning to QVC? I drive past Home Shopping Network every day and have many friends who work there. It is not much different than working at Jack-In-The-Box. Order up! The bigger news – even bigger than Star Trek returning to QVC (much bigger) is when Science Friday returns to this site. I plan on plugging the great value over at http://www.realspiel.net for my upcoming News issue, and so far I’m still waiting for LAST Friday’s edition!
#23 – hey, Larry … how’s Dan M doing? Well, I hope. He’s great. Really liked your gig in that fan-based Trek – can’t remember the name of it. But you were really good. I also think you did really great with the Trek magazines, even if they were QVC in print :) … good to see you out there again.
YES! This is awesome news. I’ve got some of these on tape that I recorded when they aired. My favorite is the DeForest Kelley one. They show some great shots from Star Trek VI and at the end, they make De get on a transporter pad and beam off. He’s classic…shows caution getting into it and expresses his concern over beaming. What a classic moment! I’ll probably watch it now, since I haven’t seen it in years. Although if I start watching now, I’ll be up ’til dawn, they can be pretty long. Can’t wait to watch the new one!
God, Marina Sirtis is one delicious woman.
Tv guide had listed that Micheal Dorn is going to be on the QVC StarTrek special Sunday night
Wil Wheaton on QVC was my first inkling that he was very cool, and not Wesley at all (not that there’s anything wrong with Wesley, really).
These were always very cool shows. I was a bit disappointed, however, when I went to a con featuring Frakes, and he told the exact same stories that I had heard him tell on QVC. Which goes to show that they really were mini-conventions; at least, they were a way to hear some of those stories from the actors’ mouths without going to a con.
EXCELLENT!
Looking forward to this and future installments.
I all ready marked it to be recorded on my Dish DVR. Every monday I search the next week of upcoming shows for the words “Star Trek” and it showed up. I do not watch QVC but I wanted to see who showed up and what they offered. Also found was three 30min shows with stuff about Star Trek The Movie. Can’t wait for the DVD reported on a DVD website to be expected on Nov 18th in DVD and Blue Ray. And the DVD they said $29.95 and no price on the Blue Ray. Bet they are watching the going disk prices to see how much they can gouge us for.
i dont see qvc tv anymore?
Wow, that TNG limited edition card is of a really special occasion–Geordi has apparently regained the use of his eyes!
#1: And here I was thinking the QVC logo looked like IDIC!
I used to love those “Star Trek” shows that QVC used to have. I watched as many as I could. In fact, I used to watch QVC as I had crushes on show hosts Lisa Robertson (who did some of the “Trek” shows) and Kim Parrish. There was a time in the mid-1990’s when QVC actually wanted to buy Paramount, before Viacom actually did. Didn’t the “Trek” shows move to HSC at some point?
It starts in 5 minutes, can’t wait! And what a perfect timeslot…late night Trek on QVC, it’s a beautiful tradition that I’ve missed for years and it’s finally here!
Some cool items…De Kelley photo should be priceless. It was ok overall but some mistakes…such as “celebrating 20 years” of The Motion Picture and having a lithograph of “all 4 television captains”, and no Michael Dorn, but it was nice.
O.M.G.
Those on-air fools just said that Walter Koenig had passed, when showing the Kelley autograph and talking about the losses we’ve had. After mentioning Kelley and Doohan, that “expert” they had on with the talking head salesman added Walter Koenig.
Fools.
What a shoddy production. In addition to the already mentioned gaffes…
– They showed a medalion with NX-01 on it and said it was the new Enterprise from the film, while gushing about having seen the film and loving it. I guess they didn’t notice that hot-rod starship featured in it.
– The salesidiot kept going on and on about what a long-time fan he is, then when showing the trading cards, he said how the episode “where they went back in time and actually went back to Earth” and met the Nazis was “one of his favorites”. lmao! The trexpert had to correct him on that one.
– Same segment, “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield”. Salesidiot talked about how brave the episode was, to address racism way back in “the early 60’s”.
– Same segment, Kirk and Uhura playing smooshy-face in “Plato’s Stepchildren”. The salesidiot said he wasn’t sure who the alien woman was. The trexpert had to tell him that was Uhura. Then salesidiot tried to cover by saying yeah, “they always had a mad kind of love affair going”.
And those are just the screw-ups off the top of my head. That show was an embarrassment.
So, were the Rittenhouse cards the same TOS Art & Images which were released in 2005? Sure looked that way to me.
I don’t know. I haven’t seen the set they were selling last night before.
I remembered a couple more bits of idiocy.
– They showed a “four captains” print, with Kirk, Picard, Sisko and Janeway, and said that this has all of the captains from all of the series that we know of to date, not including the new movie, of course. Totally forgetting about Enterprise. (Not that some wouldn’t love to forget it, lol.)
– Looking at the trading cards, a pic of the Gorn came up. The salesidiot said that was the one where Kirk was trapped on an island with that thing, and they had to work together. lmao
The QVC buffoon made so many flubs (Patterns of force” Oh yeah when they went back in time”/ Calling the transporter the energizer) . Dope.
It wouldn’t be so bad if he wasn’t pretending to be a big, long time fan.
And if he talked about what a great term “reboot” was ONE MORE TIME- Arrgghhh
Not sure if she’s still there but QVC should have had Lisa Robertson host. She really is a fan. This guy sounded like someone who wasn’t truly a fan and tried doing an overnight crash course on TREK.
I wonder if Walter Koenig has heard yet that he’s dead. lmao
I am glad that QVC is adding Star Trek to the line up. PLEASE have a show that is earlier and more show times. I would love to watch and buy items. My son is a new Star Trekkie and could not stay up to watch.