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

Friday, December 31, 2010

Video Tribute to Orion Slave Girls

Presented below is an enchanting video compilation of Star Trek's Orion Slave Girl dance scenes, from TOS through Enterprise. What better way is there to welcome in the New Year than with beautiful dancing green ladies ...

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Star Trek: Enterprise TOS-Style Computer Console

From Dec. 15, 2006 through Apr. 13, 2009, the California based screen used entertainment memorabilia dealer ItsAWrap! (http://www.itsawraphollywood.com) conducted a series of weekly auctions via ebay on behalf of CBS/Paramount that offered a tremendous variety of props, costumes, set fixtures, scripts and production related artifacts from the Star Trek franchise to a worldwide audience and collector base. Over the course of 121 weeks, approximately 9100 unique items that spanned the first 10 Star Trek feature films and the last four television series (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Enterprise) were sold. Additionally, perhaps 10 costumes from The Original Series (consisting of 4 or 5 light blue Technicians Jumpsuits, 2 pairs of Federation uniform trousers, a dark green Nilz Baris suit seen in "The Trouble with Tribbles", and 2 Tellarite jumpsuits from "Journey to Babel") were auctioned as part of the vast Paramount warehouse inventory that was dispersed. The ItsAWrap sales commenced only weeks after the historic Christie's "40 Years Of Star Trek" auction was held in October, 2006; which offered collectors a total of 1000 lots of screen used memorabilia, highlighted by a number of major starship filming models from the franchise.

Presented below are some detailed photos of a screen used Star Trek: Enterprise TOS-style Computer Console prop that was sold during the auctions of ItsAWrap. This rare piece realized a final bid of $2365 in an auction which ended on June 8, 2007. The auction description for the lot is reproduced as follows:

STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE "ORIGINAL SERIES-STYLE COMPUTER CONSOLE"

A prop computer console featured in the Star Trek: Enterprise episodes "In a Mirror, Darkly, Parts I and II" in sets depicting the "Starship Defiant". The console is made of a wood housing with a smoked acrylic 'display screen' and a similarly constructed button board that features affixed 'jewel' style buttons and a row of fixed position multi-colored switches. The console lights when plugged into a standard American 120 volt outlet via a cable and a two prong plug. The item measures approx. 22 x 21 x 23.5 inches.





Sunday, December 26, 2010

Some Musical Performances Featuring Star Trek Actors

Below are some musical presentations, as seen in the various Star Trek series, as well as some rarer performances featuring Trek actors, to celebrate this holiday season.

Uhura's Serenade to Mr. Spock ...


Uhura Singing "Beyond Antares" ...


Seven and The Doctor Performing "You Are My Sunshine" ...


A Jeri Ryan non-Star Trek performance of "Amazing Grace" ...


Picard and Neela play "Frere Jacques" ...


A rare Patrick Stewart performance especially filmed for Gene Roddenberry ...


Picard's flute solo from "The Inner Light" ...


A beautiful full length fan made version of the song from "The Inner Light" ...


My Very Best Wishes to All for the Christmas Season and the coming New Year!

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

The History of Star Trek: The Original Series - Leonard Nimoy's Disappearing Desilu Studio Bicycle

One of the most well-known anecdotes from the filming days of Star Trek; often told by The Original Series actors to audiences at Star Trek conventions, concerns Leonard Nimoy's disappearing bicycle. Presented below is the story as originally documented in the pages of "The Making of Star Trek" (Ballantine Books, 1968) by Stephen Whitfield and Gene Roddenberry ...

The studio is such a big place and it takes so long to walk from one place to another that the stars of a series are usually given bicycles in order to let them take advantage of the precious little time they have free during the course of a day. Each bicycle has the name of the star on a sign attached to the frame, and it is considered verboten to touch the bicycle. For a while it became standard procedure to hide Leonard's bicycle. Anyone who happened to see it standing unattended was duty-bound to hide it.

Leonard began to complain he was having trouble finding his bicycle whenever he wanted it. Apparently he decided the only way he could be sure of locating it when he needed it was simply not to let it out of his sight. That is why one afternoon Leonard rode the bike into the sound stage and parked it right next to the set, where he could keep an eye on it. Naturally, a plan was quickly formed to hide it. As soon as Leonard's back was turned, one of the crew members on the catwalk overhead dropped a rope to waiting hands below, and in no time at all the bicycle was securely lashed to the catwalk overhead. There it hung, about eight feet above the floor, nestled in between a couple of arc lights. The word spread rapidly, and soon everyone but Leonard knew about it.

About fifteen minutes later Leonard decided to check on his bike. He walked over to the place where he had left it, saw immediately that it was gone, and yelled, "Hey! Where's my bicycle?" Immediately there was a loud chorus of, "What bike? You mean your bicycle? I haven't seen your bicycle. Your bicycle was on the set?"

Leonard began to frown noticeably and said, "Now wait a minute, I left it right here." Someone suggested he look outside, as it could have been removed from the stage in order to get it out of the way. His jaw set, Leonard stalked out the door. He was back in a moment, still yelling, "I can't find my bicycle." He then shouldered a broom, apparently determined he was going to clobber the guy who took his bicycle. He walked around the set, waving the broom in the air, saying, "All right, where's my bike? Who's got my bicycle?" As he passed beneath the bicycle securely fastened overhead (the broom barely missed hitting it) someone said, "You're getting warmer." As he moved a few steps away, someone else said, "You're getting colder." For a moment, Leonard looked slightly bewildered, then it began to dawn on him that he was being put on. He turned around, slowly looked from left to right, then tilted his head back and looked up. There was his bicycle neatly suspended from the catwalk. He immediately dropped the broom, started to grin, and then broke up in laughter.


In the following photo, actress Nichelle Nichols is seen riding her studio bike on the Desilu lot during a break in TOS filming ...


Leonard Nimoy expanded on the story at the recent 2010 Star Trek Las Vegas Convention this past August ...

Monday, December 13, 2010

Rare TOS Behind The Scenes Photos Part VIII

Some rarely seen photos taken during production of The Original Series ...






















Sunday, December 5, 2010

Profiles In History - December, 2010 Hollywood Memorabilia Auction - Star Trek Preview

The winter Profiles In History entertainment memorabilia auction "Hollywood Auction 43" is all set to take place on December 17th and 18th at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills, California; and there will be a total of 44 Star Trek lots included in the sale that represent an impressive selection of props, costumes and artwork from the various television series and motion pictures in the franchise. The Original Series highlights include a collection of Starfleet insignia patches, a set of TOS costume sketches by Bill Theiss, the "Roberta Lincoln" costume worn by actress Teri Garr in the 2nd season episode "Assignment: Earth", and the "Lenore Karidian" costume worn by actress Barbara Anderson in the 1st season episode "The Conscience of the King". Some other noteworthy Trek offerings include a complete Star Trek II-VI Maroon Starfleet Officer's Uniform with some costume elements worn by George Takei, some attractive color artwork of Starfleet HQ from Star Trek: TMP, a static Tricorder X from Star Trek: Insurrection and a hero illuminating Starfleet Boomerang Phaser from Star Trek: First Contact.

Readers may download free copies of the auction catalog for Hollywood Auction 43 in PDF format at the following link:
http://www.profilesinhistory.com/hollywood-memorabilia-auction-43

The auction will be streamed online at icollector.com, and those wishing to bid live online may register for the event at: http://www.icollector.com/Hollywood-Auction-43_a8823?m=all

Below are the original auction photos and descriptions for many of the Star Trek offerings in "Hollywood Auction 43" - to be sold during Session 2 on December 18, 2010 ...