It has been 25 years since Star Trek’s Enterprise debuted as a Hallmark Keepsake Ornament. Over that quarter of a century it has been followed by nearly eighty more ornaments depicting ships, characters and scenes from all five television shows and three movies series. We have Lynn Norton to thank for sculpting all of the ship ornaments but 1992’s Galileo.
Lynn Norton did a 2015 interview with Kevin Dilmore of startrek.com: “At Hallmark, Don Palmiter, Dill Rhodus and I brought fine scale model-making to the ornament business. We really had to convince our art directors we could go beyond cute and traditional and make really believable small models to be used as ornaments. Our commitment to high quality fit right into the Hallmark ideals for product. Now, I also had to fight the initial idea of having a string of garland hanging along the edge of the primary hull, and Santa Claus popping out of the bridge — true story! I wanted to make it as accurate as possible. I’m very aware of the changes to that first ornament. Because it had big, thick circuitry inside for lights, the ornament had heat dissipation problems. We had to build a big cavity into it so the circuit board would not melt the plastic. Also, the ornament had to fit into a ‘printer’s box’ store display with a limited space, and I had to shorten the nacelles for it to fit. I beat that poor design nearly to death, but it got us started and it was very popular with fans of Star Trek and of Keepsake Ornaments. When we reissued the ornament in 1996 for the show’s 30th anniversary, we used the same design.”
– See more at: http://www.startrek.com/article/hallmark-sculptor-lynn-norton-on-the-storied-history-of-trek-keepsake-ornaments#sthash.EKFFnHTi.dpuf
Box Text: This unique ornament, with its bright blinking lights, commemorates the 25th anniversary of STAR TREK and celebrates the holiday season.
Serial #: QLX719-9
Lynn Norton…”From the beginning, Star Trek imagined that we had overcome the problem of a ship having enough energy not only to propel yourself but to give yourself a comfortable living environment. As a design, it captured our excitement from the notion of flying saucer and the way we had come to imagine what a deep-space vehicle might look like. When you start thinking of the physics of propelling an object through space, it doesn’t have to look aerodynamic. It can be purely functional. The fact that it was a flying saucer is one of the things that captured my imagination right away. All space movies are really submarine movies. The Enterprise reflects all the elements of a submarine crew’s experience — living in close quarters in a hostile environment with nothing but a thin metal skin between them and oblivion — and put it in space seamlessly.
“At Hallmark, Don Palmiter, Dill Rhodus and I brought fine scale model-making to the ornament business. We really had to convince our art directors we could go beyond cute and traditional and make really believable small models to be used as ornaments. Our commitment to high quality fit right into the Hallmark ideals for product. Now, I also had to fight the initial idea of having a string of garland hanging along the edge of the primary hull, and Santa Claus popping out of the bridge — true story! I wanted to make it as accurate as possible. I’m very aware of the changes to that first ornament. Because it had big, thick circuitry inside for lights, the ornament had heat dissipation problems. We had to build a big cavity into it so the circuit board would not melt the plastic. Also, the ornament had to fit into a ‘printer’s box’ store display with a limited space, and I had to shorten the nacelles for it to fit. I beat that poor design nearly to death, but it got us started and it was very popular with fans of Star Trek and of Keepsake Ornaments. When we reissued the ornament in 1996 for the show’s 30th anniversary, we used the same design.” – See more at: http://www.startrek.com/article/hallmark-sculptor-lynn-norton-on-the-storied-history-of-trek-keepsake-ornaments?ecid=PCID-2617611&pa=affcj#sthash.wtngTAh1.dpuf
Inscriptions
on top of ornament: U.S.S. ENTERPRISE / NCC-1701 on front of packaging: MAGIC / BLINKING / LIGHTS! / Hallmark / KEEPSAKE / ORNAMENT / STAR TREK / 1991 / 25th ANNIVERSARY/ Saucer / Lights Blink / Starship Enterprise on back of packaging: Hallmark / KEEPSAKE / ORNAMENT / Handcrafted – Stardated 1991 / This unique ornament, with its bright blinking lights, commemorates the 25th anniversary of STAR TREK and celebrates the holiday season. / Lights blink automatically and continually. / Ornament plugs easily into any of the light bulb sockets on a miniature tree light string. Use only with standard U.L.-listed light strings of 3.5-or 6-volt bulbs. / Attached connector cord allows for easy placement on your tree. / Not for use with blinking lights. / Complete display instructions enclosed. / $20.00 on bottom of packaging: (C) 1991 Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved. / STAR TREK is a Registered Trademark of Paramount Pictures. / Mfd. for Hallmark Cards, Inc., Authorized User. K.C., MO 64141 / Ornament Made and Assembled in China / Connector Cord Made in Taiwan / Connector Cord U.S. Pat. No. 4,544,218 / Circuitry U.S. Pat. No. 4,682,079 / QLX719-9
Hallmark Star Trek Ornaments 