Kevin Dilmore – Journeys of Inspiration: Reflections on Star Trek (EP110)
Star Trek author and writer, Kevin Dilmore talks about writing for the Star Trek: Communicator, his partnership with author Dayton Ward, various Pocket Book novels, writing for Hallmark and much more!
Hallmark specific: 34:40 – 43:00
In 2023, Hallmark will be releasing an ornament of Data with his pet cat, Spot. The ornament’s reproduces Data reciting Ode to Spot, a poem he wrote about his four-legged friend.
Spot, on the ornament, is represented as an American Shorthair but would appear in the fourth season of Star Trek: The Next Generation as a male Somali cat. In subsequent seasons, Spot would “become” a female American Shorthair. After Star Trek: The Next Generation, Spot would make appearances in two Star Trek movies. Years later, we would even see Spot II in Star Trek: Picard.
The 2023 ornament’s base was previously used by Hallmark on the 2017 Picard and Data ornament. The red and tan base, labeled Star Trek: The Next Generation, houses the circuitry and speaker for the audio recording.
In this year’s ornament, Data cradles Spot with his left arm, his right hand near the nape of his neck. Data’s use of his left arm to anchor the feline is a hint that the ornament is based off an on-screen image because Brent Spiner, too, is left-handed.
Data was not holding Spot when he recited Ode to Spot in the 6th season episode “Schisms”. Instead, Data was sitting, arms empty and by his side. In fact, the entire episode is Spot-less.
So, let’s try to find the moment that inspired the sculpt of the ornament by revisiting Spot’s television and big screen appearances.
Data holds Spot in a similar position as seen on the ornament in both “Data’s Day” and “In Theory” but Spot is not an American Shorthair in these episodes.
Data briefly holds Spot in a left-handed cradle in “A Fistful of Datas” but he never faces the camera in a useful way for an artist to use it as inspiration. In “Birthright I”, we briefly see Spot sitting in the Captain’s chair and in what may be the most factually accurate Star Trek moment ever…the cat just lies there.
“Descent II” can be ruled out since the only attention Spot receives is from Geordi. Spot is in three scenes in “Phantasms”, none of which have Data holding Spot as he does on the ornament. Instead, Data handles Spot in a two-handed hoisted position.
In “Force of Nature” Data, once again, holds Spot with both hands under her front two legs. Notably, in this episode, Spot is referred to as a female for the first time. Spot’s sex is definitively confirmed in “Genesis” when she gives birth to a litter of kittens. Still, Data never holds her as he does on the ornament.
Spot made her big screen debut appearing in two scenes of 1994’s Star Trek: Generations. The first scene, Data picks Spot up off the table. The second, Data holds spot close to his chest after discovering she survived the crash landing of the Enterprise-D. Neither resemble the ornament sculpt.
In Star Trek: Nemesis, Data’s brother, B-4 holds Spot in a similar position as the ornament. In a deleted scene from Nemesis, Worf and Geordi clean out Data’s room and Worf appears to take ownership of Spot as he cradles him right-handed.
Spot II appeared in Star Trek: Picard as an artificial life-form made in the likeness of an American Shorthair. Nothing in the episode seems to have inspired our ornament.
After reviewing Spot’s eleven screen appearances, we circle back to his first appearance in Star Trek: The Next Generation. The position of Spot’s left paw on the computer console is the first clue that the ornament was modeled after this moment in “Data’s Day” and not the scene from Star Trek: Nemesis. Further confirmation comes after comparing the position of Data’s arms and sleeve cuffs, they are nearly identical.
Hallmark appears to have used the image from “Data’s Day” when Data is seated and holding Spot at the computer console. The Somali breed that was used in the scene was substituted for the more common American Shorthair breed used in following seasons. The ornament shows Data standing and Hallmark needed to look no further than the 2017 Picard and Data ornament for a pair of Data legs and a Next Generation ornament base to place them on. Add the recording of Ode to Spot and we have the 2023 Data and Spot ornament!
Felis Catus is your
taxonomic nomenclature
An endothermic quadruped
carniverous by nature
Your visual, olfactory,
and auditory senses
Contribute to your hunting skills
and natural defenses.
I find myself intrigued
by your sub-vocal 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.Oh Spot, the complex levels of
-Lt. Commander Data
behavior you display
Denote 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.
Mike Poteet of redshirtsalwaysdie.com has posted an article with three ideas for future Hallmark Star Trek ornaments.
“I have a lot of fun admiring my Hallmark Star Trek ornaments every Christmas season. But I can’t help but wonder why some rather obvious subjects have still gone overlooked. Here are a few unsolicited suggestions—my Christmas wish list, if you will—for the good folks at Hallmark as they contemplate future Star Trek ornaments.”
-Redshirtsalwaysdie.com, Hallmark Star Trek ornaments: 3 ideas for future Christmases by Mike Poteet
Read the full article here.
Another 2011 Defiant threatens to make a dent in someone’s holiday pocketbook. The latest glow-in-the-dark ship to be offered on eBay has a price of $1284.98 with shipping. This ornament appears to have some discoloration on the saucer section and as noted in the description the box has some slight creasing.
| 2011 Defiant | |||
| Date Sold | Price | Shipping | Total |
| December 10, 2021 | $1,899.99 | $0.00 | $1,899.99 |
| February 4, 2022 | $1,899.95 | $39.95 | $1,939.90 |
| February 9, 2022 | $1,899.95 | $39.95 | $1,939.90 |
| February 12, 2022 | $1,799.95 | $39.95 | $1,839.90 |
| February 21, 2022 | $1,200.00 | $29.95 | $1,229.95 |
| September 24, 2022 | $1,500.00 | $25.00 | $1,525.00 |
| December 6, 2022 | $2,000.00 | $0.00 | $2,000.00 |
Two things that make me go “Hmmmm . . ..”
—The listing is down—or at least I can’t find it in my searches.
—That mottling on the primary hull. The Defiant was a bit of an experiment for us. It was the first time we used phosphorescent paint on an ornament to that extent. Maybe after 10 years, they all are doing that. I’ve not pulled mine out to look at it in some time. I’m understandably curious.
In my search, I *did* find this listing:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/295346484993 (seen in this post)
And this one is making my Spidey Sense tingle. Very high price, all feedback seems to be as a buyer rather than a seller, and all those photos but not one photo of the ornament itself? While I recognize that there are plenty of sellers on eBay for whom English is not a first language. That said, the description on this one also gives me pause.
If you go looking for the one in this post and find the one in my comment, this is me, friend to friend, saying caveat emptor.
-Kevin Dilmore
Star Trek ornaments hidden in plain sight.
Star Trek ornaments hidden in plain sight.
In the California-class [line], there are three types of hull painting: there’s blue, red, and yellow.
We’ve extended the visual metaphor of the uniforms to the ships, and the Cerritos has yellow on the hull because it’s primarily a second contact engineering ship. They show up to planets that need engineering stuff done on them in order to be able to communicate with the Federation.
There’s also, you’ll see in the show, blue-hulled California class ships, which are usually deployed to places where there has to be more medical expertise, and red-hulled ships that are like for moving around ambassadors and doing more command-level stuff.
-Mike McMahon, TrekCore August 6, 2020
Hallmark has a long history of making Event Edition ornaments that were simple ornament repaints using previous production molds. Past repaints include:
If we can just get a USS Cerritos ornament there are years worth of Event Edition repaints available. There appears to be six California-class paint schemes. The simple yellow striping that we have seen on the Cerritos and on other ships in red and blue. We also have the more full coverage paint scheme of the same three colors.
Besides the Cerritos, the other 27 known California-class ships now include…
A U.S.S. San Diego would be fun for a certain pop-culture convention.
A current eBay auction has a set of three classic Hallmark Star Trek ornaments that have been heavily modified to give an impressive post-battle look. The custom war-torn set includes the 1993 Enterprise D, 1994 Klingon Bird-of-Prey, and 1998 Enterprise E with a minimum bid of $99.00 and $11.57 shipping.
HallmarkStarTrekOrnaments.com is not affiliated with this auction.
Here is our first sneak peek of the 2023 Star Trek ornaments. We have seen The Next Generation ornament base used one other time on the 2017 Picard and Data ornament.
Things just got real…
This ornament features SOUND! Press a button to hear Data’s poetic tribute to his beloved pet, “Ode to Spot.”
-Kevin Dilmore
Felis catus is your taxonomic nomenclature,
-Data, Star Trek: The Next Generation, “Schisms”, Season 6, Episode 5
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.
Hallmark Star Trek Ornaments 