The original Star Trek film isn’t all that highly regarded these days and I guess that’s pretty understandable. Watching it now it comes across as overly drawn out and there’s precious little action to help push it along. But if you put the film in its proper context, it really was quite the movie-going event. I’m just old enough to remember going to see it in the theaters, and I can still remember all the hype around it. This was the first time the cast of a very popular, but cancelled, TV series was reunited with a huge budget, and with the iconic ship newly designed. It was also released at a time when Star Wars had intensified the popularity of Sci-Fi movies. And while the special effects may not seem all that impressive today, watching it and realizing that all that visual splendor was done without the aid of today’s sophisticated computer effects, I can’t help but be in awe.
Fans of Diamond Select’s 7″ scale Star Trek figures will be happy to know that the same quality went into these sculpts. The likeness of Shatner and Nimoy are nicely recreated and yet different enough from the ones they used on the Classic Series figures to make these unique. What also makes these figures unqiue is their uniforms. The style was only used for this one film before being retired for the burgandy tunics that were introduced in The Wrath of Khan and used throughout the rest of the original crew’s movies. Now, while I’m a big fan of the uniforms that replaced these, I do think these were pretty good designs for the time, albeit not all that flashy.
The two uniforms are sculpted almost identically. The only difference is the resculpt in the shoulders and collars. Kirk has a slight turtleneck thing going on as well as two rank insignia epulettes, whereas Spock has a stitched “V” pattern and a slightly raised collar with a notch in the front. The uniforms are sculpted with all the stitching and slight wrinkling for detail, the Starfleet insignia is part of the sculpt, as is the large belt buckle that supposedly served as some kind of sensor or identification device. Both figures seem to use the exact same hands, with their left hands balled into a fist and the right sculpted to hold their phaser weapons.
There is a really strange error in the mold used for my Kirk figure’s legs, which cause them to both bow in the same direction. He can still stand alright on his own, but he looks kind of funny, like he’s swaying. At first, I thought this issue was unique to my figure, but since then I’ve seen quite a few examples with the same thing going on. Its kind of strange since both figures seem to use the exact same legs, and yet Spock doesn’t have this problem.
While these figures are in the same scale as Diamond’s Classic Series Trek figures, they unfortunately do not share the same level of articulation. Like the Classic figures, they have ball jointed necks and shoulders, swivel cuts in the biceps, hinged elbows, swivel wrists, legs jointed at the pelvis, as well as hinged knees and ankles. They are missing the swivel in the waist as well as the swivel cut in the thighs and again in the shin.
The paint apps on these two figures vary quite a bit. My Spock figure is perfectly fine, although there isn’t that much here to mess up. His uniform is entirely gray, but the rank stripes on his sleeves are nicely painted in gold and the detail work on his belt buckle and insignia are both fine. Kirk, on the other hand, has a bit of slop. The Admiral’s uniform is slightly darker than Spock’s with the center of his tunic painted white on the front and back. The white portion has a lot of swirled brushwork and some smudging on the front and a bit of slop on the borders as well. At least the rank stripes on the sleeves are well done.
These figures come with two sets of accessories. Each figure gets one phaser and the wrist communicator used in the film. The wrist communicator is really nicely done, and I like that they made it a separate piece, rather than sculpting it into the figure’s arm. Its a cool piece of Trek history since, like the uniforms, this is the only time they were ever used. The phasers are pretty good and are the same style that were used for Diamond’s Wrath of Khan figures, which is film accurate. A tricorder for Spock would have been a nice bonus.
This set is readily available at many E-tailers for cheap. I picked up my set for only $12.99 and despite the flaws, I’m pretty happy to have these figures in my collection even if the overall quality isn’t up to par with Diamond’s other Trek figures. I think Diamond was wise not to pursue the original Motion Picture with an entire run, as I don’t think they would be all that popular, although I wouldn’t have minded seeing another 2-pack with Ilia and Decker, since they were characters unique to the film. A Spock in space suit would have been pretty sweet too.
FigureFan Zero 