Here’s today’s flashback: The second batch of my Star Trek:TMP Bubble Gum trading cards from 1979. Lots of new and freaky aliens (no doubt influenced by Star Wars). I admit, I wasn’t too thrilled with the excessive latex, especially the flappy faced fellow in the first page lower right (so if you turn his face upside down, he frowns, right?) Sure, these aliens were mostly in the background, but as Trek grew and morphed into the eventual franchise, the aliens got bumpier and bumpier to the point of extreme shock value. This was my one complaint with the franchise; at times the make-up got in the way of the character — I found myself missing more M-planet type aliens with minor differences. Don’t get me wrong, I really appreciate all the hard work and creativity that went into creating the alien looks, and I liked the new Klingon and Andorian designs I even dig the turtle-ish people here. I just think, like the Rococco period in Art, and 1980’s fashion, Trek aliens entered the overblown design era starting in this period. In the current movie, lots of otherword aliens are already at the academy, which to me kind of breaks canon, since Mr. Spock was supposed to be the first and only non-human to serve in Starfleet at the beginning of the Original Series. I’ll have to do a post about my least fave aliens sometime. In the last set here you can see other advantages of a bigger budget -nice fancy lighting on the Enterprise’s exterior, and the bridge finally has a ceiling! And speaking of Trek movies, yes, I will have a review of Into Darkness soon, family matters kept me from posting one sooner, and I’ll have to see it again to write a good, complete review. Thanks for your patience).
