Artist Inspirations: Captain Jonathan Archer (2003)

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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.

Image from Cuaderno De Bitacora (Ship’s Logbook) website.
Right: Image from “Broken Bow” Season 1, Episode 1.

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.

Trekcore.com Reviews HMS Bounty Ornament

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The 1994 ornament (top) compared to this year’s release.

“In fact, if you look at the photo on the ornament’s box, you can barely make out the details in the sculpt. Honestly, it doesn’t even photograph that well — but when you take a look at the 1994 Bird of Prey ornament, THAT ship looks like it flew right off the screen and onto my tree.”

-Kelly Phillips, trekcore.com

Visit trekcore.com for full review and more images.

Enterprise Ornament Article From Tampa Bay Times (1991)

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‘Star Trek’ ship a hot collectible

It was introduced in July and became a $20 collector’s item. With Gene Roddenberry’s death, it can only get hotter. Hallmark Cards’ “Starship Enterprise” Christmas ornament commemorates Star Trek’s 25th anniversary. About 6 inches long, with headlights that blink, the mini-ship has sold at warp speed.

“We don’t always know how ornaments are going to sell,” said Rachel Bolton, a Hallmark spokeswoman in Kansas City. “But this one is probably our most popular one. And now with the death of the Star Trek author, I’m sure it’ll continue to be a favorite.

“Local Hallmark shops have long waiting lists.

”We sold out the first batch in a couple weeks, and we haven’t been able to reorder any more,” says Diane Wildman of Lynn’s Hallmark Cards in Countyside Mall in Clearwater. “I hear Hallmark is out of them, too.”

Tampa Bay Times, 1991

Enterprise Ornament Article From Baltimore Evening Sun (1991)

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Tree ornament from ‘Star Trek’ is a sellout

Newsday THE BALTIMORE EVENING SUN 

NEW YORK — Two hundred people a day are calling the consumer affairs office of Hallmark Cards Inc. in Kansas City screaming for a $20 replica of the Starship Enterprise from “Star Trek” with blinking red and green lights. It is Hallmark’s most successful Christmas ornament since it launched the Hallmark Keepsake Magic Christmas Ornaments line in 1973.

At a time when it seems like nothing is selling, there doesn’t seem to be a store anywhere where the Starship hasn’t sold out.”

This is the most demand we have ever had for a single ornament,” said Betsy Helgager, spokeswoman for Hallmark cards. “There are waiting lists in some stores of as many as 300 hundred people.

“The 5-inch-long ornament was designed to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the “Star Trek” television show. It also coincided with the pre-Christmas premiere of “Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.” The death of the show’s creator Gene Roddenberry apparently has also boosted interest in the already popular Star Trek paraphernalia.

Hallmark will not release production statistics, but Helgager said there are 11,000 stores in the United States that could have ordered the ornament.

THE BALTIMORE EVENING SUN, December 19, 1991