Star Trek Toys of the 1970s

[ZapBrannigan]

There's a bunch of vintage ST toys here

http://www.plaidstallions.com/

that some of us are old enough to remember. Most of it is junk, but that's part of the charm.

 

[Metryq]

Junk is right. Most of the stuff has nothing to do with STAR TREK—just random toys with "STAR TREK" stamped on it. I was expecting to see some of the action figures, or the bridge playset with the spinning transporter chamber.

EDIT: And it's selling for some big bucks now.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

That's true in a lot of cases, but some toys on the site do bear a faint resemblance to actual props.

This is weird: the Remco STAR TREK Rocket Pistol, used by Spock himself on the package, is actually a very good likeness of the LOST IN SPACE laser pistol:

http://www.plaidstallions.com/startrek/rcat.html

 

[Duncan MacLeod]

That's because the toy is what was use to make the 1st season LiS laser pistols. They took those, modified them, painted them almost entirely black, then added gold sights and a red light on top. On the lo-res black and white TVs of the time no one could tell.

 

[BoredShipCapt'n]

Junk is right. Most of the stuff has nothing to do with STAR TREK—just random toys with "STAR TREK" stamped on it. I was expecting to see some of the action figures, or the bridge playset with the spinning transporter chamber.

EDIT: And it's selling for some big bucks now.

Those are some big bucks indeed. Wish I had asked St. Nick for that one back in the day.

"Spin the dial, press a button. Mr. Spock disappears!"

 

[Redfern]

Here's a site I just discovered yesterday that discusses all manner of Trek related toys, all series, all decades since its inception.

http://www.apieceoftheaction.net/

I'm not knowledgeable enough to debate his authority, so I just perused it for the nostalgic romp that no one can really argue. He covers the Remco and AHI bargin toys of the 70s, so that should cover the meat of this topic.

He apparently loves the Remco "electronic" phaser, stating it existed during an era when kids didn't care that much about screen accuracy. Uh, maybe he didn't, but I, just a brat of 12 years when it was released did care. Ugh, I found the thing horrendous! It was based upon the awkward proportions of the AMT kit, except, "inflated". I could have forgiven that if, IF the audio circuit had produced something, anything akin to the famous cicada-like shriek originally created for George Pal's "War of the Worlds". Instead...it "chirped"! I honestly think the company used a circuit originally meant for a kind of "robotic" birdcage display because it sounded NOTHING like a phaser! The circuit would have better served the flip-lid of a communicator toy. Except, the circuit board of the time could barely have fit within a tricorder housing, let alone a pocket shaver sized comm' casing.

Here's the toy in question.

http://www.apieceoftheaction.net/2009/08/star-trek-potpourri-spotlight-remco.html

I was not thrilled with that purchase.

Sincerely,

Bill

 

[Captain April]

I had one of these. God what a dork.

 

[Metryq]

I could have forgiven that if, IF the audio circuit had produced something, anything akin to the famous cicada-like shriek originally created for George Pal's "War of the Worlds".

Thanks for the link. And as you may know, the Martian heat ray sound effect was a truck starter motor. (The visual was created with a grinding wheel photographed in a darkened studio.)

 

[bbailey861]

Great link. Thanks.

 

[Redfern]

And as you may know, the Martian heat ray sound effect was a truck starter motor. (The visual was created with a grinding wheel photographed in a darkened studio.)

I figured the visual was a grinding wheel or maybe some kind of welder, but I had no idea about the audio portion. But recalling the "beat", yeah, that does make sense. What about the "levitation" audio, the sound later used for the phasers? I'm personally reminded of cicadas or locusts, but what was really used?

Sincerely,

Bill

 

[BoredShipCapt'n]

I did have the Star Trek Colorforms.

 

[Warped9]

I had one of these. God what a dork.

p
Funny how they threw around the word "official" so easily.

 

[Unicron]

I rather like the set of Trek-themed army men and vehicles in the catalog. Guess they were anticipating the likes of FASA or Star Fleet Battles?

 

[Ssosmcin]

Junk is right. Most of the stuff has nothing to do with STAR TREK—just random toys with "STAR TREK" stamped on it. I was expecting to see some of the action figures, or the bridge playset with the spinning transporter chamber.

EDIT: And it's selling for some big bucks now.

That price is way too high if you really want to find one. I bought two off eBay recently, both with original boxes, one in excellent condition and didn't pay more than $120. You just have to shop around and be patient.

 

[Garrovick]

Ah, the memories... I had that MEGO bridge playset, plus I had Kirk, Spock, Scotty, McCoy, Uhura, the Klingon, the (misnamed) Keeper and the Cheron.

What I wouldn't give to have them back.

 

[plynch]

Nice to see the "parachutist" got Kirk's shirt color right.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Mego Uhura was the closest I came to owning a Barbie doll.

 

[Silvercrest]

He apparently loves the Remco "electronic" phaser, stating it existed during an era when kids didn't care that much about screen accuracy. Uh, maybe he didn't, but I, just a brat of 12 years when it was released did care. Ugh, I found the thing horrendous! It was based upon the awkward proportions of the AMT kit, except, "inflated". I could have forgiven that if, IF the audio circuit had produced something, anything akin to the famous cicada-like shriek originally created for George Pal's "War of the Worlds". Instead...it "chirped"! I honestly think the company used a circuit originally meant for a kind of "robotic" birdcage display because it sounded NOTHING like a phaser! The circuit would have better served the flip-lid of a communicator toy. Except, the circuit board of the time could barely have fit within a tricorder housing, let alone a pocket shaver sized comm' casing.

I was not thrilled with that purchase.

I was thrilled with it, but I was just a brat of 7 or 8 and really didn't care about screen accuracy.

And that chirping circuit board? The rest of the toy has gone by the way, but I kept that. Ironically, I repurposed it for a different genre prop... the "Ghostbusters" proton pack that I built in 1992.

I'm sure the sound is no more accurate there, but I wanted the thing to make SOME kind of noise when I fired it. Besides, it's a pretty high-speed wavery chirp-- you can still hear it as "generic space gun" far more than any kind of bird. (It may also be that some of the components have degraded since the 1970s. I'd swear it didn't always sound like that.)

 

[BillJ]

My god, I had this toy!

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsHWlVlWaHU[/yt]

 

[Redfern]

SilverCrest, if it's any consolation, I absolutely LOVED the AMT "Exploration Set" model kit even though the phaser, communicator and tricorder were small and having inaccurate proportions that reflected more of the simplified designs depicted in the 1973 Filmation animated series. That was actually a darn clever idea for a assembly kit/role playing prop collection!

Those items were certainly a parsec level jump from the "spent" makeup compacts that served as communicators, TV remotes as type 1 pocket phasers, and empty binocular cases as tricorders. Before AMT released that kit, I was rather reluctant to "hail" the Enterprise lest someone wonder if I was about to apply rouge to my cheeks!

I guess I just held the kit to a standard different from the Remco toy. Yeah, irrational, I know. Well, maybe because I paid more for that single phaser than I did for the "Exploration Set" which supplied three props.

Sincerely,

Bill