Kelly Phillips of TrekCore.com has posted a review of Data’s Ode to Spot which is available in stores now. Please visit Trek Core to read the entire review which includes photos and a video.

“Data has those striking gold android eyes and the precision brown haircut just as he should. Spot is painted beautifully in all her cuddly orange tabby cat glory.”

Hallmark Honors Data and His Cat with 2023 “Ode to Spot” STAR TREK Ornament -TrekCore.com

Well, that’s a very gracious review and one I’d not seen. Thanks for sharing this with the group. The reviewer raised a fair question that I’ll answer here. Kelly wrote:

“In a perfect world, I’d have loved for the ornament to include the whole poem. I don’t know if this was some kind of technical limitation or just a creative decision, but it’s a small demerit on what is otherwise a lovely ornament for my collection.”

Technical limitation or creative decision? Why not both? 🙂 There was a limitation on the ornament in that typically we use chips that can hold about 27 seconds of audio. (Some ornaments have bigger chips with greater capacities but those also carry higher MSRPs.)

And that’s where the creative decision came in. Myself, I regard the poem’s first four and final four lines as the most memorable:

Felis catus is your taxonomic nomenclature,
An endothermic quadruped, carnivorous by nature;
Your visual, olfactory, and auditory senses
Contribute to your hunting skills and natural defenses.

I find myself intrigued by your subvocal oscillations,
A singular development of cat communications
That obviates your basic hedonistic predilection
For a rhythmic stroking of your fur to demonstrate affection.

A tail is quite essential for your acrobatic talents;
You would not be so agile if you lacked its counterbalance.
And when not being utilized to aid in locomotion,
It often serves to illustrate the state of your emotion.

O Spot, the complex levels of behavior you display
Connote a fairly well-developed cognitive array.
And though you are not sentient, Spot, and do not comprehend,
I nonetheless consider you a true and valued friend.

Also recall that Data opens his recitation with an introduction, and later is interrupted by applause from Commander Riker, upon which Data comments. The whole thing runs close to two minutes long. To spare you the expense of time and money, I made the edits.

I hope it makes a fun addition to your tree and your collection.

-Kevin Dilmore, 9/18/23