April 1968 concept drawing by H.M.S. Associates (Aurora subcontractor) showing Spock facing off with alien birds instead of a three-headed snake.
H.M.S. Associates concept drawing. 4/28/68
1972 Aurora: Aurora initially conceived a Spock figure concept around 1968, shelved it only to later revive the project years later via Aurora UK. Aurora UK officially released the 1:12 scale Mr. Spock kit (Model No. S922) in 1972, featuring Spock standing on a rocky base alongside a strange, non-canon three-headed serpent and alien vegetation. The image on the box cover is of the original handmade model, not the kit and is reversed; Spock’s phaser is in the wrong hand and the Delta insignia is on the wrong side.
1973 Aluminum Model Toys (AMT): The earliest version features a wide, horizontal “panorama style” landscape box. It displays a prominent “amt” logo inside a small red square in the lower-left corner and no stylized Star Trek franchise lettering.
1974 (S956)
1975 (S956): A completely reimagined retail box to aid retailers’ shelf space.
1975 AMT Catalog
1976 (AMT Acquires Tooling): AMT officially bought the Spock figure’s steel tooling outright from Aurora in 1976.
1979 AMT/Lesney Products (under Matchbox partnership): This version marked the most extreme design shift. To capitalize on Star Trek: The Motion Picture, AMT modified the physical plastic mold. They removed the three-headed serpent entirely, updated Spock’s classic uniform to the movie version, and switched his right arm to a pointing gesture instead of holding a phaser. The box features a stark black starfield design highlighting the updated movie figure. (Kit ID: #S973)
“To modify Spock, AMT had taken the phaser out of his hand and just had him point his finger for some reason, and completely omitted the entire base section that had the snake heads emerging from a pit. Here is a picture of the tool (the correct term given to a steel mold for injection casting) showing how the modification of the base was done. An insert was put in place (shown as a bronze coloured section in the lower left quarter of the picture) that effectively destroyed the original version. The top left quarter of the tool, which contained the snake heads, was simply blocked off (picture courtesy of Jamie Hood at Round 2). But a few years ago, after Round 2 had acquired AMT, they decided to restore the kit to its original condition, re-tooling the missing section that the 1979 insert occupied.” –You’ve Been Modified, Mr. Spock!, SmallArtWorks.substack.com, 12/19/242009 Round 2 Models (under the AMT brand): Round 2 restored the modified tooling back to its original layout, bringing back the classic “Spock vs. Snake” diorama after it had been out of production for over 30 years. It was distributed in two primary styles: a standard vintage-style cardboard box (#625, above) and a highly sought-after embossed collector’s tin box (#624, below) that featured a prominent vertical Star Trek retro logo.
Available Now! Star Trek™: The Original Series Space Serpent Attack! Ornament – $36.99
This is an official promotional still featuring Jess Bush as Nurse Christine Chapel by photographer James Dimmock for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. The image was first distributed to media outlets ahead of the show’s series premiere. Comparing the ornament to the publicity image Chapel is captured in the identical three-quarter stance, looking toward her left shoulder with the same facial expression. She is holding the same white medical PADD flat in her hands, positioned across her midsection. The sculpt captures her white jumpsuit from the pilot, complete with the distinct honeycomb patterned texture on the shoulders and upper sleeves.
Available Now! Star Trek™: Strange New Worlds Nurse Christine Chapel Ornament – $23.99
The 2025 Hologram Janeway ornament, available in October, has its roots from a promotional image from First Contact Day in 2021.
Monday, April 5, 2021: “Star Trek: Prodigy” Panel (5:30PM ET / 2:30PM ET): Kevin and Dan Hageman are joined by Star Trek: Voyager’s Captain Kathryn Janeway herself, Kate Mulgrew, who is reprising her role in animated form in Prodigy, as they talk about the highly anticipated upcoming CG-animated kids series. -“Clear Your Calendars and Make Room for STAR TREK’s April 5 FIRST CONTACT DAY Celebration” TrekCore, 5/30/21
Although we had an early look at the Prodigy characters in October of 2020, it was during this panel that we had our first look at Janeway’s Prodigy look.
April 5, 2021 Star Trek: Prodigy promotional image.
TrekCore even went a step further to inform us as to which season of Star Trek: Voyager this new Janeway-Prodigy look was grounded in.
October 2025 marks the arrival of our second-ever Seven of Nine Hallmark ornament—this time in a miniature format. It’s been a full 25 years since the release of the original Seven ornament, which featured our favorite former Borg in her iconic blue catsuit. That earlier design drew inspiration directly from Star Trek: Voyager promotional imagery and quickly became a fan favorite. This year’s ornament inspiration, however, seems to take a different approach altogether. Rather than revisiting familiar promo shots, the new miniature appears to draw from a more recent source: the highly detailed EXO-6 1/6 scale Seven of Nine figure released in 2022. That collectible included a range of interchangeable hand options and showcased an attention to character-specific detail that seems echoed in this latest ornament.
This 1:6-scale figure re-creates this iconic character in exquisite 1:6 detail. Standing approximately 11.5 inches tall, every element, from her purple cat suit and matching holsters for phaser and tricorder to the Borg implants, is authentically reproduced. The original portrait sculpt of Jeri Ryan has an authentic, hand-painted likeness. –EXO-6.com
2024’s miniature Spock ornament appears to be inspired from a 1978 publicity still for Star Trek: The Motion Picture. In the publicity photo Spock’s head is turned to the right, toward the camera, while the ornament has Spock’s head a bit straighter.
Publicity photo (left), Hallmark ornament promotional image (right).Publicity photo (left), Hallmark ornament (right).A publicity photo of Leonard Nimoy (left), Deforest Kelly (right) and William Shatner (center) in characters of Spock, McCoy and Kirk during the filming of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, 1978.Publicity photo before special effects were added to the windows.
“I still am pinching myself that it actually exists. Keepsake Artist Orville Wilson and Hallmark sound engineer Chris Johnson did masterful work bringing this to life considering the lengths we went for source material. The sculpt is based on dozens of photos I took of a sit-down cabinet on display in the Pinball Hall of Fame in Las Vegas, Nevada. The cabinet graphics were recreated by Orville from art on a brochure for the game I picked up on eBay. The gameplay heard in the ornament and seen on the display was captured while I played an online emulator of the game.” -Kevin Dilmore
Screen graphic of the Kobayashi Maru from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
The Star Trek: Strategic Operations Simulator arcade game by Sega was the first official Star Trek arcade video game. Released in January 1983, it was inspired in part by the Kobayashi Maru simulation seen in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Its vector graphics display was meant to mirror those seen in the beginning of the film. Leonard Nimoy and James Doohan provided the voices of their Star Trek: The Original Series characters.
SEGA’s revolutionary “cockpit” arcade cabinet.
The arcade game was released in two versions. The standard “upright” game cabinet model was fashioned after similar games of the day, with standard screen and control layouts. In addition, a special “Captain’s Chair” sit-down model was fashioned to simulate that on the bridge of the refit USS Enterprise as seen in the first three Star Trek films. Its controls were built into the chair in which the player sat, with the game screen situated in a separate console in front of the player. In both cases, the game included a rudimentary voice simulator which used Scotty’s voice to give you command, and Spock’s to welcome you aboard and announce entry into each sector. (Neither was the actual actor’s voice, but a computerized impersonation.)
Arcade screen graphics.
The player steers the ship by a rotary knob (situated either on the upright console’s front or the sit-down chair’s left-hand arm), while control for impulse, warpdrive, phasers, and photon torpedoes are a set of four game buttons (next to the dial on the upright or on the right-hand arm of the sit-down’s chair). The game screen is divided into three sections. The upper left shows the player’s score as well as the ship’s amount of shield energy (green line), photon torpedoes (red boxes) and warp energy (blue line). The upper right gives an overall view of the sector, including enemy ships and starbases (with which the ship can dock to re-energize shields, restock torpedoes, re-fuel the warp drive, and repair any damage suffered from attacks). The lower part of the screen shows a direct forward view (similar to the viewscreen on the Enterprise bridge).
Note: Product on display is still in development and is not final. For presentation only. Design and product may vary.
Although we are months away from seeing the 2024 Pike ornament it is never too early to look for the artist’s inspiration. The captain’s chair is a huge part of Star Trek mythos and it is welcomed that Pike (and chair) is being immortalized in ornament form. Hallmark has sculpted a captain in the captain’s chair three previous times (unfortunately, Janeway, Sisko and Burnham were not “caught” sitting down).
2024 Pike, 1995 Kirk, 2003 Archer, 2017 Picard and Data
The inspiration of Pike’s pose predates Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and comes from Season 2, Episode 14 of Star Trek: Discovery. Pike is seen (below) with his legs crossed and take notice of the distinct positioning of his hands. It is nearly identical to what can be found on the ornament.
Star Trek: Discovery Episode 214 — ‘Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2’, Source: TrekCore.com
In the Discovery episode (above), Pike is is not wearing the uniform that he will don in Strange New Worlds and his hair has not yet become the sculpted masterpiece we will come to know and love. It appears Hallmark kept the pose from Discovery but changed the uniform and hair details to match the Strange New Worlds publicity photo (below).
I’m always impressed by your eagle eye, pal! Yep, those were the precise references.
But what episode did I pull the audio from? Huh? 🙂
-Kevin Dilmore
Here’s my guess…
“Maybe that’s why I’m here, to remind you of the power of possibility. Maybe that’s the good in seeing my future, that I might remind you that right up until the very end, life is to be worn gloriously because, until our last moment, the future’s what we make it.”
-Pike, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 1 Episode 1
I’m guessing it is safe to say it’s not from Subspace Rhapsody.
On 31 August 2006, CBS Paramount Television announced that, in celebration of its 40th anniversary, Star Trek: The Original Series would return to broadcast syndication for the first time in sixteen years. Each of the series’ 79 episodes were digitally remastered to 1080p HD video, and DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 Surround audio standards, with all newly (re-)created visual effects and music. The opening theme was re-recorded in digital stereo with new vocals by Elin Carlson, and William Shatner’s opening monologue was remastered from the original elements. Most notably, though, many of the visual effects were recreated using CGI by CBS Digital. The new CGI Enterprise was based on the exact measurements, originally taken by Gary Kerr, of the original model, which is on display in the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC.
Inspiration was taken directly from the scene Next Generation’s Season 6’s “Relics”. In the episode Scotty is standing directly in front of of the Captain’s chair on the raised level of the bridge while Picard is on the lower level in front of the navigation station which puts Scotty nearly a full head taller in the episode.
Left: Star Trek: The Next Generation S:6, E:4 “Relics” Right: 2023 Hallmark “Relics” ornament.
Hallmark took the liberty to put the two Trek icons on equal footing for the ornament. For the record: Patrick Stewart is listed as 5’ 10”, James Doohan at 5’ 11”.
SCOTT: Here’s to you, lads. PICARD: I hope I’m not interrupting. I was just coming off duty and I wanted to see how you were doing. SCOTT: Not at all, not at all. Have a drink with me, Captain. PICARD: Thank you. SCOTT: I don’t know what it is, exactly, but I would be real careful. It’s real (Picard knocks it back in one) PICARD: Aldebaran whiskey. Who do you think gave it to Guinan? SCOTT: Ah. PICARD: Constitution class. SCOTT: Aye. You’re familiar with them? PICARD: There’s one in the Fleet museum, but then of course, this is your Enterprise? SCOTT: I actually served on two. This was the first. She was also the first ship I ever served on as Chief Engineer. You know, I served aboard eleven ships. Freighters, cruisers, starships, but this is the only one I think of. The only one I miss. PICARD: The first vessel I ever served aboard as Captain was called the Stargazer. It was an overworked, underpowered vessel, always on the verge of flying apart at the seams. In every measurable sense, my Enterprise is far superior. But there are times when I would give almost anything to command the Stargazer again. SCOTT: It’s like the first time you fall in love. You don’t ever love a woman quite like that again. Well, to the Enterprise and the Stargazer. Old girlfriends we’ll never meet again. PICARD: What do you think of the Enterprise D? SCOTT: She’s a beauty, with a good crew. PICARD: But? SCOTT: But. When I was here, I could tell you the speed that we were traveling by the feel of the deckplates. But on your ship, I feel like I’m just in the way. PICARD: Seventy five years is a long time. If you would care to study some technical schematics or SCOTT: I’m not eighteen. I can’t start out like a raw cadet. No, there comes a time when a man finds that he can’t fall in love again. He knows that it’s time to stop. I don’t belong on your ship. I belong on this one. This was my home. This is where I had a purpose. But it’s not real. It’s just a computer generated fantasy. And I’m just an old man who’s trying to hide in it. Computer, shut this bloody thing off. It’s time I acted my age.
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.
2017 Picard and Data
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.
TNG’S “Schisms” (S6, E5)
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.
Left: “Force of Nature” (S7, E9), Right: “Genesis” (S7, E19)
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.
Above: “Star Trek: Generations”
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.
Star Trek Picard’s “Et in Arcadia Ego I” (S1, E9)
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.
Left: “Data’s Day” (S4,E11), Right: 2023 Data and Spot Hallmark 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!
Ode to Spot
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 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.
In the 90s many of the Star Trek Keepsake character ornaments were modeled after publicity stills taken to promote their respective series during their original run. At first glance the 1997 McCoy ornament appears to be just a generic pose but it bears an uncanny resemblance to a publicity still taken thirty years earlier.
Comparing the ornament to the photo (see below) the medical tricorder slung from McCoy’s left shoulder to right hip, head looking slightly off center toward his right and his right arm bent and away from his body.
During the 90s, Hallmark refrained from placing a hook in a character’s head or body so character ornaments were integrated with scenery. It is likely McCoy’s pose was lifted from the publicity photo below and incorporated with a transporter chamber to sidestep the hook issue.
The Galileo’s unfortunate condition in 2012 as it was going up for up auction.Top: 2013 image after restoration. The Galileo ornament was quite an accurate sculpt for 1992. The only standout differences are the rounded roof rails that were straightened and the lack of landing pads. Galileo’s unveiling at Johnson Space Center in Houston where it has resided since 2013.The restored shuttlecraft was used for an episode of Star Trek Continues, 2014’s ”Fairest of Them All”.
In what first appears to be a sculpt that would likely be an aggregate of different poses turns out to be from one image.
All three characters in the same pose, phasers on their sides and tricorder hanging from McCoy’s right shoulder.
Sculptor, Orville Wilson, took a few liberties by slimming down the uniforms while bulking up the physiques. I would be happy to have Mr. Wilson commissioned to design a statue in my ”likeness” after I am gone.
Many of the Hallmark Legends poses can be found in the Star Trek Quotable Notables Boxed Card Set that was first available on Amazon in 2017, the year after the final Legends ornament was released.
Send the coolest greetings with this Star Trek Quotable Noteables Boxed Card Set! Each boxed set includes cards and sticker sheets of your favorite Star Trek characters. Characters include: Kirk, Spock, Bones, Scotty, Uhura, Sulu, and Chekov. Box Contents: 7 Cards, 7 Envelopes, 7 Sticker sheets.
Left: Season 3, Episode 14 “That Which Survives” Middle: 2010 Hallmark Legends: Kirk. Right: Star Trek Quotable Notables Boxed Set.Left: Likely publicity still taken on the set during ”City on the Edge of Forever”. Middle: 2012 Hallmark Legends: McCoy. Right: Star Trek Quotable Notables Boxed Set.
Image from “City on the Edge of Forever”.
Left: Nichelle Nichols as Uhura in a 1966 publicity still, the Legends ornament has slightly less hair and missing the front overlap on her skirt. Middle: 2015 Hallmark Legends: Uhura. Right: Star Trek Quotable Notables Boxed Set.Left: Season 2, Episode 2 ”Who Mourns for Adonis” Middle: 2016 Hallmark Legends: Chekov. Right: Star Trek Quotable Notables Boxed Set.
Four of the seven Legends ornaments share the same pose as those that can be found in Star Trek Notable Quotables Box Set but three Legends ornaments did not as you can see below.
Top Row: Star Trek Quotable Notables. Bottom Row: 2011 Hallmark Legends: Spock , 2014 Hallmark Legends: Sulu, 2013 Hallmark Legends: Scotty.Left: Season 1, Episode 8: “Miri”. Right: 2011 Hallmark Legends:Spock. Left: Season 3, Episode 14 “That Which Survives” Right: 2014 Hallmark Legends:Sulu.
Interestingly, both Kirk and Sulu in the Legends series were modeled after moments in the same episode when the away team visited a Moon-sized planet.
Left: Season 2, Episode 6 “The Doomsday Machine”. Middle: From the game Star Trek Timelines. Right: 2013 Hallmark Legends: Scotty.
Scotty seen holding a Trident Scanner which was used to repair power relays.
The term “trident scanner,” was first described almost thirty years later, in the script for “Trials and Tribble-ations,” where the device is apparently named after its general shape, which resembles a trident.
I’ll take some of the credit/blame for the standees deviations! In the design phase, when I was asked about Spock, I said something to the effect of, “Can we please NOT have him just standing there doing the hand thing?” And we didn’t. I remember being asked what Scotty could be doing, and I suggested his use of the trident scanner; it’s my favorite of his engineering tools. As for the Sulu deviation, I’m pretty confident the decision was made early that Kirk would be the only one of the seven brandishing a hand phaser. We did want each of the Star Trek Legends appear to be actively doing something, so Sulu got a tricorder. I mean, legends don’t just stand there!
A closer look should show that of all our Star Trek ornaments, the percentage depicting the use or display of a weapon is pretty low. By my (quick) count, it’s only nine:
1996—Riker (phaser)
1999—Worf (bat’leth)
2010—Kirk and Spock (lirpa)
2013—Gorn and Kirk (stone dagger)
2018—Kirk and Sulu (épée), M’Ress and Arex (phaser)
2020—Sulu (dagger), Uhura (dagger)
2021—Chekov (phaser)
We prefer not to show weapons in our Star Trek ornaments but we will when we feel it adds to the storytelling aspect of a design. Note that in 2018, the Kirk design released that year by Hallmark Ornaments substituted a communicator for the phaser he typically carries in that stance of his Quogs design, a move that was intentional on our part. Not familiar with Star Trek Quogs? Check out this link from 2009—you’ll even see the greeting card we did with them.
-Kevin Dilmore, February 22, 2022
Note: 2019—Transporter (Kirk, Spock and McCoy with phasers)
Kirk ornament with communicatorKirk QUOG with phaser
It is likely “To Boldly Go” was not inspired by any one specific scene but I was able to find a scene from Star Trek’s “The Empath” that was very close.
Left: Still from TOS’ third season episode “The Empath”. Right: 2016 STAR TREK™ 50th Anniversary “To Boldly Go” Tabletop Decoration.
It appears the 2021 Hallmark Picard ornament was inspired by a deleted scene or photo from the set of Star Trek: The Next Generation’s series finale, ”All Good Things…”.
Left: 2021 Hallmark Picard ornament. Middle: Picard on set of The Next Generation’s ”All Good Things…”.
Above: Images of Picard on trial in ”Encounter at Farpoint” with crew by his side and standing on an unlit platform confirming the inspirational image was not taken from this episode with a similar set.
Left: Image from ”All Good Things…” where Q questions Picard. Picard stands during every trial scene with his arms at his sides. Right: Picard’s pose with right hand over left is never seen during the episode which makes it likely from a deleted scene or an onset photo due to coverage of the series’ finale.
The only other images I could find of Picard in the same pose…
Left: Image from “Jean-Luc Picard Was the Father Figure I Needed”, startrek.com, January 9, 2020. Right: 2014 set of salt and pepper shakers.
I would take great delight if the artist’s inspiration was taken from a salt shaker.
Star Trek: Enterprise premiered on September 26, 2001 with the episode “Broken Bow”. The Jonathan Archer Hallmark ornament came out in 2003, so any episode images or publicity photos that may have been the ornament’s inspiration would have had to come from the first season and a half of Enterprise.
Right: Rare 8×10 photo autographed by Scott Bakula.
I have only seen the image above twice. First, as the signed 8×10 photo (above right) and I mean this actual photo. I have not even seen this image anywhere else on the internet except as an uncropped grainy image on a Spanish website (below right). It is curious that the ornament matches so well to such a rare image.
By far, a more common image that can be found on the internet (above right) was from the premiere episode, Broken Bow, Part 1 (18:30), as the Enterprise is disembarking on its maiden voyage during the Zephram Cochrane speech. I would like to think that such a monumental moment in Trek history was the inspiration for the 2003 ornament.
