Welcome! As part of its ongoing mission to document the Art and Production History of Star Trek, this site will present technical articles on Star Trek prop and costume authentication - focusing on The Original Series - with detailed photos and episode screenshots to complement the information presented; as well as feature pictorials to showcase Star Trek memorabilia in private & public collections, present rare Behind The Scenes TOS imagery & discuss other topics.
Gerald Gurian is a 40+ year collector of screen used Star Trek memorabilia and a passionate fan of TOS
     
- Star Trek TOS At Auction Part I - Gurian Collection Highlights - Greg Jein TOS Hero Type II Phaser
-Authenticating a TOS Communicator -6 Myths About Star Trek Prop Design -Star Trek 3rd Season Command Tunic
- Design Features of TOS Tricorders -Star Trek Props At National Air & Space - TOS Leatherette Tricorder
- TOS Federation Sciences Dress -Desilu Studio TOS Prop Fabrication - Unreleased Allen/Gurian Prop Photos
- The Beautiful Women of TOS Part I -TOS U.S.S. Enterprise 11' Filming Model - Captain Kirk's Chair from TOS
- Spock Ears -TOS Control Panels & Displays - Mr. Spock's Science Station
- TOS Soundstage at Desilu -TOS Shatner Romulan Pants - The Beautiful Women of TOS Pt. II
- TOS Galileo Shuttlecraft -Greg Jein TOS Cage Laser Pistol - TOS 3rd Season Midgrade Type II Phaser
- Dr. McCoy's Sickbay on TOS -TOS Balok Puppet Head - Captain Kirk "Mirror, Mirror" Tunic
- Greg Jein TOS Hero Tricorder -1992 Smithsonian TOS Cast Video - TOS 1st Season Command Tunic
- TOS "Where No Man" Silver Contact Lenses -TOS Special Effects: The Transporter - The Art of Matt Jefferies
- TOS "Space Seed" Gold Mesh Jumpsuit -Gorn Costume from "Arena" - Rare TOS Behind-the-Scenes Videos
- TOS Stunt Type II Phaser -1993 Bill Theiss Estate Auction - TOS Shatner Command Dress Tunic
- TOS Elasian Royal Guard Tunic -TOS Finnegan Silver "Shore Leave" Tunic - TOS Science Officer Tunic "The Cage"
- TOS Shatner Early 1st Season Command Tunic -William Shatner TOS Tunics At Auction - TOS Shatner Late 1st Season Command Tunic

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Special 1992 Smithsonian Video with Star Trek: The Original Series Cast & Crew on the Appeal and Relevance of Star Trek (26 min)

This week is truly a special one in the history of the Star Trek franchise. A highly anticipated major motion picture directed by J.J. Abrams and starring Chris Pine as James Kirk and Zachary Quinto as Spock will blast into theatres across North America tomorrow and dozens of other countries worldwide in the span of the next few days. This is the first Star Trek feature film to be released in 7 years, since Star Trek: Nemesis in 2002, and the first Star Trek production of any kind since May 2005, when the final episodes of the fifth television series, Star Trek: Enterprise, were broadcast. This eleventh motion picture comes 43 years after the Original Series premiered in September, 1966; and, as the film has already received highly favorable media reviews for stunning special effects and non-stop action and excitement, it is expected to rank as one of the best Trek films produced to date.

The nationwide opening tomorrow has certainly generated a tremendous amount of media coverage; and Paramount has partnered with companies such as Burger King, Kelloggs, MTV Games, Harmonix's Rock Band and Playmates Toys in a Star Wars-like marketing blitz that will offer consumers a number of a collectible drinking cups, badges, promotional prizes and action figures based on the new film.

Even the nation's major news magazines, Time and Newsweek, are involved - both feature references to Star Trek on their May 4, 2009 front covers; with Newsweek dedicating their entire cover to the event, presented with the caption "To Boldly Go ... How Star Trek Taught Us To Dream Big". The Trek-related cover art from these publications, definitely collectors editions, is shown below.



This is, indeed, an ideal occasion to reflect on the incredible longevity, worldwide appeal and underlying significance of the Star Trek phenomenon. And as part of the celebration surrounding tomorrow's opening; this site is pleased to be able to launch a new series of posts that will be dedicated to the historic 1992 Star Trek Exhibition at the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum in Washington, D.C. - which was created to celebrate the 25th anniversary of TOS, discuss it's cultural significance and honor it's accomplishments in inspiring tens of millions of people around the world to become devoted fans.

This first post in the new Smithsonian series is a reflection on the Star Trek phenomenon from the people most qualified to offer their impressions: many of the actors and production crew of The Original Series itself. The 26 minute film embedded below was created specifically for the 1992 Exhibition and was continuously shown at the Air and Space Museum during the 11 months that the event took place there: from February, 1992 through January, 1993. The Star Trek Exhibition marked the first time that the Smithsonian had honored a fictional as opposed to scientific achievement; and was a tremendous success - it attracted over 880,000 visitors and was extended to an 11 month duration from its initially intended 6 month stay as a result of overwhelming popularity with the public. It featured the largest and most significant collection of Star Trek: The Original Series props, costumes and model miniatures ever assembled for public display to date; and many of these historic items will be the individual subjects of future posts.

Today's and future presentations on the historic Smithsonian event would not be possible without the kindness and thoroughness of Randy Holland, a dedicated fan of Star Trek since 1972, who created an outstanding video record of his visit to the Exhibition over 17 years ago - during the Easter weekend of 1992. Mr. Holland, a fan of all incarnations of Trek, expertly documented all of the treasures on display in a careful, meticulous way (even capturing the many descriptive plaques that accompanied the memorabilia) to allow us to effectively travel back in time to participate in this event as if it were truly unfolding before our eyes.

And now, the Star Trek phenomenon as discussed by William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Deforest Kelley, James Doohan, Nichelle Nichols, George Takei, Mark Lenard, Harlan Ellison, Majel Barrett Roddenberry, Robert Justman and Gene Roddenberry ...