The Black Hole: Old BOB Kubrick
I’ll admit it. The Black Hole is less of a guilty cinematic pleasure for me, and probably more along the lines of a harmless obsession. When I saw this then-shocking PG-rated Disney movie at the age of seven, the thought of Maximillian drilling folks to death terrified me – this wasn’t make-believe stuff here like Star Wars, because my dad had a drill in his workshop! But I also knew that, if it came to that big red behemoth chasing me, VINCENT and Old BOB wouldn’t let me down. They’d have me covered. They’d know what to do. Because they were the two coolest movie robots to come down the pike since R2-D2. I later outgrew my abject fears about the movie’s most violent scene, but found that my affinity for its two robotic heroes never quite waned. Most accounts of the making of the movie have pinpointed these two hovering robots as the source of countless production difficulties, since the props were heavy enough to require piano wire to suspend them, and the piano wire then had to be optically hidden in as many shots as possible – back in the day when you couldn’t just “run it through the computer” to accomplish that. Ever notice how many opportunities the director took to get close enough that you couldn’t really see the robots floating in mid-air?
The “Lost” Star Trek Characters
In previous ToyBox columns, I have complained long and hard about how Playmates failed to produce action figures of some of the more popular latter-day Star Trek characters. This is very, very true. However, it was brought to my attention that I was wrong on one count – and it was also brought to my attention that Playmates isn’t the only source of the occasional new Trek character in plastic.
Star Trek: The Next Generation Waves 5 & 6 (1994-95)
Following the end of Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s sensationally successful final year on the air, Playmates began making plans to draw that toy line to a close, after which a new “generic” range of Star Trek toys would include characters from Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and even the movies.
The fifth wave was a very minor supplement to the fourth wave, adding the long-awaited Tasha Yar figure (as she appeared in her first season uniform; an incredibly rare Yesterday’s Enterprise uniform variation was released a year or so later), and the only toy ever created of the late Mark Lenard’s trademark Vulcan character Sarek.
Star Trek: The Next Generation Wave Four (1994)
In 1994, it was clear that Star Trek: The Next Generation was on its way to syndication heaven, as the series was due to be retired and promoted to movie duty. Playmates had diversified its line of Star Trek figures in anticipation of this, branching out to create ranges of Deep Space Nine and Classic Trek figures. But Playmates wasn’t about to quit trying to cash in on Next Generation’s success just yet.
Star Trek: The Movie Era (1996)
1996: Voyager was over a year old, First Contact was on the way, and Worf had been a fixture on Deep Space Nine for several months. In a way, this time frame was the last hurrah for Star Trek merchandising, before the public tired too much of the franchise. Playmates, having seen very limited success with its lines of Deep Space Nine and Voyager action figures, folded all of its Star Trek toys into a generically-packaged range whose blister card simply bore a movie-era “Star Trek” logo. While continuing to introduce characters from the later series, Playmates also acceeded to fan demand for more version of the classic Star Trek characters.
Star Trek: The Next Generation Wave Three (1993)
A few months after Playmates’ second wave of Star Trek: The Next Generation action figures hit the shelves, the third wave was released, introducing many more episode-specific characters to the mix.
Gone were the tricorder/phaser “holsters” which had graced the Enterprise crew member figures since the first wave. Sadly, the cheesy phasers – complete with day-glo orange “beams” – remained standard-issue for the Trek toys.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Wave Two (1995)
Where the first wave of Playmates’ newly-launched Deep Space Nine range of Star Trek action figures was a resounding success hailed by collectors, the second wave had many people – ranging from serious Trek collectors to casual fans – scratching their heads in confusion. The second wave was the wave of Stupid Uniform Tricks, a cheap practice made possible by the fact that Next Generation and Deep Space Nine occasionally shared uniforms.
Star Trek: Voyager Action Figures (1995-97)
Playmates learned one valuable lesson from the first wave of Deep Space Nine figures: get the figures on the shelves within a year of the show’s premiere. The Deep Space Nine toys took a year to hit the stores, and though their quality was arguably worth the wait, the buzz surrounding the launch of that series had died down by the time the figures appeared. Not so with the Voyager figures – these arrived in store within six months of the series premiere on UPN.
Star Trek: The Cage Action Figures (1996)
Despite releasing characters from A Piece Of The Action and City On The Edge Of Forever, Playmates’ most inspired choice of episode-specific classic Trek characters was its four-piece subset of toys from The Cage, the original pilot which NBC rejected.
Star Trek: Generations Action Figures (1994)
Here’s an entire series of toys fraught with bloopers.
In pre-production for Star Trek: Generations, which premiered over the Thanksgiving 1994 holidays, a new costume design – rather a spiffy one, I always thought – was conceived for the crew of the Enterprise-D in their first film. But at the last moment, despite the fact that a lot of money had been spent actually creating these new costumes, the powers that be decided to reduce the number of “new” and unfamiliar elements, opting instead to outfit the Enterprise’s crew in a random mix of their original Next Generation uniforms and DS9-style jumpsuits.
There’s just one problem. Playmates had gotten to work on their new line of Generations toys before the movie ever got in front of the cameras …and as far as they knew, the new uniforms would be in use.
Star Trek: The Original Series (1993-96)
Having enjoyed two years of tremendous success with its line of Star Trek: The Next Generation toys, Playmates released a marvelously-packaged set of seven figures in a window box with an interior modeled loosely after the Enterprise bridge. Unsurprisingly, the Classic Trek boxed set was an instant sell-out during the 1993 Christmas season, despite its $50+ price tag.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Wave One (1994)
It was a forgone conclusion that when the new Star Trek spinoff premiered in 1993, there would be more than enough merchandising to support and promote it. Indeed, companies that had once shunned the dark horse Next Generation were now beating down the doors at Paramount’s licensing department to get a piece of the highly anticipated – and publicized – new show.
By this time, Playmates had made a success of its ongoing line of Next Generation action figures as well as its initial offering of Classic Trek toys, and the company was more than happy to add Deep Space Nine to its Trek toy commitment.
Star Trek: The Next Generation Wave Two (1993)
With the success of the first wave of Playmates’ Star Trek: The Next Generation action figures, the question became: what next?
For the most part, the answer was repetition. Just do what you did before, and everything will be fine.
The same Enterprise crew members released in the first wave once again formed the backbone of the new selection of characters, only this time in the season one and two spandex uniforms.
Star Trek: The Next Generation Wave One (1992)
From the time that the original Galoob figures went out of production in 1988 (just a few months after they’d first hit the shelves) until summer 1992, there were no Star Trek: The Next Generation toys. And in that time, the series went from an uncertainty to a major hit.
As more and more manufacturers were climbing over each other to try to snag a license to produce Next Generation merchandise, it seemed almost unavoidable that a new line of Star Trek toys would arrive.