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, November 25, 2016

A Pair of Memorable Images from the October, 2016 Destination Star Trek Europe Con

Below are a pair of exciting photos that were in circulation on social media last month, which were taken on October 7th at the Destination Star Trek Europe 50th Anniversary convention in Birmingham, UK.  As can be seen, this very special moment on a replica of the Original Series Enterprise Bridge featured William Shatner, George Takei and Walter Koenig posing at their command module stations, along with a number of fellow celebrities from the Trek franchise and even the U.S. space program (in the form of Apollo 15 Command Module Pilot Al Worden, seen wearing the light blue NASA jacket)!  Truly a historic gathering to celebrate five decades of a magnificent franchise ...


Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Propworx September 2016 50 Years of Star Trek Props & Costumes Auction - Final Results

Presented below is the complete set of final prices realized for the 215 lots of Star Trek memorabilia that were offered in the Propworx Star Trek Auction IX event; which concluded on Saturday September 10th in a live online bidding session hosted through LiveAuctioneers.com.  The most expensive item that sold in the auction was a William Shatner screen worn Captain Kirk Class D Starfleet Uniform from ST:TMP, which realized a high bid of $15,000.  A Leonard Nimoy worn orange TOS Radiation Helmet from the 1st season episode "The Naked Time" witnessed a high bid of $5,010, and a Star Trek: Phase II Starfleet Command Mini Dress worn by Persis Khambatta in an early wardrobe test photo shoot sold for a maximum bid of $5,000.

The following values shown are the high bids witnessed on the items and do not include the 23% buyers premium.  (Just click on any of the images below to view an enlarged version) ...



























Thursday, September 8, 2016

Special Report: Introducing the book "To Boldly Go - Rare Photos from the TOS Soundstage: Season Two" - Now Available!


On this historic anniversary date, it is truly a thrill for me to announce the release of "To Boldy Go - Rare Photos from the TOS Soundstage: Season Two", the second volume in my trilogy of Original Series rare, behind-the-scenes photography books. The entire book series has been greatly honored by the incredibly talented Star Trek (and Hollywood) legend - Academy Award and two-time Emmy Award winning artist Doug Drexler - who has authored the foreword to this brand new publication! (And I am still in a state of disbelief that he has been so very kind to do this and has taken an interest in such a relatively unknown book project!)

The "To Boldly Go" second season book is a 232 page, full-color interior, softcover and contains a little over 400 rare photos - the majority in vivid color - on large 8.5" x 11" pages, displayed in a similar format to the first season edition. Considering both the Season One & Season Two publications together, over 700 rare, behind-the-scenes production shots, NBC publicity images and candid stills from the making of the first 55 episodes (including the pilots) of TOS are now presented in total!

As was the practice for the first book, I personally digitally restored all of the rare images that appear in this edition, with the specific goal of recreating the bold and vivid colors that were present in the original episode broadcasts. These rare photos, which originate from my personal collection that is over four decades in the making - beginning in the early '70s with the purchase of about 700 to 800 film clips from Gene Roddenberry's Lincoln Enterprises TOS fan mail order store - have been arranged into individual chapters for each episode; and are accompanied by usually brief but sometimes quite extensive descriptions about the filming or history of the related scene.

The following article, which I wrote in January of 2014 at the time that about 70% of these images appeared in smaller and entirely black-and-white format in the outstanding Saturn Award winning Jacobs/Brown Press books "These Are The Voyages - TOS" by Marc Cushman, still provides a good overview and introduction to my rare Star Trek image collection: http://www.startrekpropauthority.com/2014/01/special-report-behind-scenes-look-at.html

Presented below are some samples of the interior pages of "To Boldly Go - Rare Photos from the TOS Soundstage: Season Two" (just click on any of the following pictures to enlarge them).

The book is available for immediate purchase at this Createspace store link (where you can save just over $5 off the purchase price and obtain it for $36.96 instead of its regular price of $42 by using the Discount Code BNWTGQDF when you check out):

https://www.createspace.com/6426155

Additionally, this volume will appear on sale at Amazon.com (and international Amazon websites) sometime in the next few days at its full list price (but will likely be subject to free or discounted Amazon member shipping services or other offers). Please Note: The above Discount Code will not work at Amazon.com and is just a special incentive to make the purchase at Createspace, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Amazon.

It is my hope that my fellow Star Trek fans who decide to obtain a copy of this work will be pleased with the presentation of, ideally, a number of rare TOS images that they have not previously seen, and that they will consider the Season Two volume of "To Boldly Go" to be an enjoyable addition to their personal libraries!

Kindest Regards,

Gerald

9/9 UPDATE:  The Season Two volume of "To Boldly Go" is now available at Amazon.com at this link (and Amazon Prime members can take advantage of Free 2-Day shipping):

 https://www.amazon.com/Boldly-Go-Photos-Soundstage-Season/dp/069275671X













Star Trek Is 50 Years Old Today!


It was 50 years ago today - by coincidence, also a Thursday - on September 8, 1966 , that the first episode of Star Trek, called "The Man Trap", was broadcast to an audience in the United States at 8:30 pm on the NBC television network. Two days earlier, on Tuesday, September 6th, the series had first aired in Canada on the CTV network. Of course, while the cast and the production crew were busy working on what seemed to many of them to be just another television job, (and, indeed, this supposedly low ratings sci-fi show would be cancelled after only three seasons on the air); they never realized at the time what a major worldwide phenomenon the series would become.

Star Trek : The Original Series was truly unlike any other television program of its era. It featured a multiracial and multinational cast working together as equals, and spoke of a positive and hopeful future for mankind, with heroic figures that embraced the most noble characteristics of humanity boldly exploring the vast reaches of outer space hundreds of years in the future. With state-of-the-art special effects for its time period, it not only offered exciting, action-packed entertainment that would appeal to all demographics; but also dared to challenge it's audience with intelligent and thought provoking concepts, and used its futuristic surroundings as a platform from which to launch meaningful, social commentary on modern day issues. It spoke to us of the absurdity of racial prejudice, and indeed broke new ground in America with the broadcast of the first interracial kiss on network television. It commented on a wide array of other issues - ranging from war, superweapons, and man versus machine to labor, aging and man versus himself to human sexuality and drug use. And it proposed the philosophy of embracing diversity - known as IDIC (Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations) - though, of course, one must also acknowledge that creator Gene Roddenberry was partially motivated by the prospect of selling custom jewelry to TOS fans when he developed the concept.

So, after experiencing a tremendous growth of popularity during its "rebirth" throughout the '70s in broadcast syndication, where it was seen in over 150 domestic markets and 60 countries around the world at that time (and translated into dozens of languages); TOS stands today as the most successful television series ever created. With a 5th live-action spinoff series, Star Trek: Discovery, scheduled to premiere on CBS in January, 2017 before becoming a headline offering of the streaming CBS All Access service, and a 14th feature film recently announced to follow Star Trek: Beyond; the Star Trek universe can truly claim to have inspired the lives of millions (and more likely tens of millions) of fans and is certainly acknowledged to have motivated the development of many technological innovations across the decades. You need not look further than your communicator, errr, ... cell phone to confirm that.

I wish my fellow fans a particularly enjoyable day as they, hopefully, find time to celebrate Star Trek's historic 50th anniversary this evening. I plan to rewatch "The Man Trap" starting at 8:30pm! (Though younger fans could easily enjoy any one of their favorite 727 existing episodes from across the franchise - including TOS, TNG, DS9, Voyager and Enterprise; not to mention the motion pictures!) To honor "The Man Trap", presented below are some behind-the-scenes photos from the making of that historic premiere episode!