My Christmas Tree - Part 2 (The Ornaments)

Okay! Today, I'm going to show off my Star Wars and Star Trek ornaments, as well as a few other cool ornaments that somehow made it onto this theme tree.

I grouped the Star Trek stuff together (I don't have as much of it), and then have mini-tableaux of the Star Wars ornaments. My ornaments are mostly from Hallmark, mostly bought by me, and I'm not a completionist, so I don't have all of the ones ever made, just the ones I liked (or could afford - these babies aren't cheap!).

First up: Star Trek!

When I was a kid, we watched the original series (yay! Captain Kirk! Spock!) on TV on reruns with my dad. I remember being really afraid of the "pizza monster". I'm not ashamed to admit that I was a member of the Star Trek: The Next Generation Fan Club (okay, maybe I'm a little ashamed) in the early 90s - I had a jacket patch and everything.

We boldly start with the trifecta of Star Trek vessels (or "wessels" if you're Chekov):
Sorry, it's a little blurry - these are less than 2" big and they kept swaying on the tree. At the top is the Klingon Bird of Prey, on the middle left is the Enterprise D (from "Next Generation") and at the bottom is the original Enterprise. These were issued in 1995.

I have a full-size Enterprise D (from NG):

It's a plug-in one; the nacelles light up (blue and red) and a yellow light blinks on the top of the dish (near where the bridge is - you can't see it in this pic). This was issued in 1993.

Then, there's the Romulan Warbird, issued in 1995:

Nasty looking thing! I wouldn't want to be in the same quadrant when that sucker de-cloaks!

Again, it plugs in and has green lights on both nacelles. I got this one when I worked in the Christmas store - I was chatting with a customer about how I'd missed getting this one from Hallmark (I used to get my ornaments right after Christmas, when they were 1/2 price), and she actually mailed it to me! I still keep it in the shipping box - it was sent to "Number 1 Elf".

The shuttle Galileo is probably my favourite of all the Star Trek ornaments:

It's a plug-in and lights up - it was issued in 1992, and is the oldest one I own. Up until this year, it played a recording of Spock's voice: "Shuttlecraft to Enterprise, shuttlecraft to Enterprise. Spock here. Happy Holidays. Live long and prosper." When I plugged it in and pressed the button this year...nothing. So sad.

But, it's just an ornament, so let's move on to the USS Defiant:

I think I got this one from Mom for Christmas in 1997 (I watched "Deep Space Nine" but I wasn't as much of a fan of that series). The nacelles light up, naturally, but the front also has a glowing green window (not visible, sorry) and those two little dots on the left flash yellow.

The Klingon Bird of Prey is awesome:

This is from 1994 - and I'm sure I paid full price for it because it was so cool. You can see lots of lights on this one, and I caught the yellow flash just under the "head" on the left.

And now....

Star Wars!

I am a massive Star Wars fan! Original trilogy only (Han shot first! Lucas, stop messing with your masterpiece!).

I've been collecting the Star Wars ornaments since 1997 when Hallmark first started issuing them. Again, I only got a few here and there - this isn't the complete series by any means.

I got the Death Star in 2002:

It lights up from the inside and when you push a button, the voice of the evil Emperor says, "As you can see, my young apprentice, your friends have failed. Now, witness the firepower of this fully armed and operational battlestation! Fire at will, commander! [sounds of charging energy that then shoots and explodes]."

And yes, I typed that from memory.

I like to make little groupings that tell a story (you'll see more of that soon):

Luke, that rash hothead, has abandoned Yoda on Dagoba to go charging off for a confrontation with Darth Vader. Vader says raspily, "The Force is with you, young Skywalker, but you are not a Jedi yet."

Yoda's all like, "Ready you were not, mmmm!"

All three figures are from 1997 - that's the year I got married. I remember we had ol' Darth doing his thing on the answering machine for a while. Heh.

Next up, we have the classic confrontation:

Crazy old Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi who lives out beyond the Dune Sea and the desert-dwelling Tusken Raider have a go at each other.

Obi-Wan is from 2000 and the Raider is from 2007.

The whole story of Star Wars is actually about the droids, C-3P0 and R2-D2:

I got Artoo in 2001 and had to wait a whole extra year before they finally issued Threepio in 2003. The nerve. R2-D2 takes a couple of watch batteries inside him to make him make bloop and beep. He didn't work this year, so the batteries are likely dead.

A classic tie-fighter:

It makes zooming flying noises and shooting bursts. It's from 2003.

It's usually paired up on the tree with Luke's Tie Fighter:

They shoot at each other! You can see Luke in the cockpit and Artoo's little shiny head just behind it. It's from 1998 - it doesn't light up anymore, alas.

I really wish I had the Han Solo and Chewbacca figures. I should just bite the bullet and buy them online. Anyway, if I had those, I'd put them with these two:

Boba Fett (the coolest!) and Princess Leia. They're both from 1998.

All of the above figures are around 4" big, but these ones are tiny:

They are about 1.5-1 inch tall and are from 1997.

The first Christmas we had with Inigo, he was just a little kitten still (I know, hard to imagine). He was pretty good with the tree and all the decorations, but we were never sure what he and Othello would get up to when we were at work. Othello was terrible for biting ornaments until they fell off the tree. Inigo liked to carry things around in his mouth: coins, pens, whatever he could pick up and carry.

One day I went to feed him and Othello as usual, and I found C-3P0 laying face up in Inigo's water dish. He looked like he had been crying for help - he seemed very happy to be rescued from his watery prison.

Vader's Tie Fighter:

Note the curved wings, that's how you know it's Vader coming after you! Well, that and you can clearly see him in the lit-up cockpit. This ornament is from 1999.

If I don't have Han and Chewie, at least I have their ship, the Millenium Falcon:

The cockpit lights up, it flashes on the top and the rear wide nacelle lights up. This was my first Star Wars ornament, from 1996.

My favourite movie of the trilogy is "The Empire Strikes Back." It's got everything: adventure, romance, exciting revelations, and Yoda. Not to mention the best planet: Hoth! Where we see the AT-ATs (the All-Terrain Armoured Transports):

I know they are the most cumbersome, non-efficient way to invade a planet, but how can you not love a walking tank? Especially one with a little speeder about to trip it up and send it into a huge crash! It even makes the clanging walking noises and the zreeeooooommm of the ship!

It's from 2006.

I used to have a subscription to National Geographic's "World" magazine as a kid. Every few months, there would be a poster - and I remember one was of Star Destroyers. I had that one beside my bed.

Of course, I had to have the ornament when it came out in 2004:

That little blur hanging from it is Princess Leia's diplomatic ship that's sucked into the Star Destroyer in the opening scene of "Star Wars" - accordingly, the ship plays some dialogue over the background of shooting and alarms:

C-3P0: Did you hear that?

R2-D2: Boop-be-boop!

C-3P0: They've shut down the main reactor! We'll be destroyed for sure. This is madness!
R2-D2: Boop-be-boop!

C-3P0: We're doomed.

R2-D2: Boop-be-boop! Boop-be-boop!
C-3P0: There'll be no escape for the princess this time.

R2-D2: Boop-be-boop!

Awesome.

Well, that's it for the Star Trek and Star Wars...but I do have a few other ornaments that I have on the tree that are sort of in the theme.

The big light bulb:Hee, you can see my reflection in it! It's by Department 56 and is about 6 inches long. It's really heavy.

I also have a space shuttle:

It was a present from our friend Andrew, from his travels.

I'm also a "Babylon 5" fan, so I have a little Minbari cruiser:

It was a keychain originally - I just removed the hardware and tied some thread to it for hanging.

I have a wire star as my topper, but right below that is my favourite space-farer, the Iron Giant:

"Superman!"

My last anomaly is this one:

Yes, it's William Shakespeare - I got it in the Globe Theatre gift shop when we went to London last May. He's the right colours for the tree, but he also reminded me of one of those wacky time-travel Star Trek plots where Kirk and Spock meet some historical figure.

And so, at last, that's it!

I hope you enjoyed my tree!