One candle on the birthday cake for the Trekland Trunk!

It seems as if we can't get through a week without at least one or two fun anniversaries around Trekland from somewhere... but today marks one pretty close to home.

We announced it in October, but It was just a year ago on Nov. 20 that we actually opened the Trekland Trunk up to lighten our home storage load and share a whole spectrum of Trek goodies, mostly in-house and studio items, with an unaware fandom out there. (There's a pre-holiday big, varied batch up this week, in fact.)

We use the T-Trunk Facebook page to notify those interested, along with the Trunk's Twitter, and —as I'd hoped—it's mostly allowed me not to have to be Mr. Snake Oil Salesman about getting the word out. You can always just subscribe on the treklandtrunk page at eBay, too...

But just knowthat without Facebook  you'll miss out on  the "local" bids we do right on my message threads. Those go just 4-6 hours, usually on Sunday afternoons, with anyone who signs on...and we even have a core group of regular Trunkers who have a lot of fun with the banter. It's hardly a standard auction...but we do get newcomers all the time, depending on the item.

And hey—the Trunk is not just for hard-core collectors, unless you want to be one: A lot of items go for around $50 or less. Of course if you like all things about one given series, or you like scripts most, or crew gifts in general, you can always check in just for that.

If fact, don't get cozy about WHAT to expect. You might guess you'd see the draft scripts and set plans, the cool graphics, even the crew gifts...

But stay alert for the oddball things, like special event show T-shirts ...



















 --or  wrap party table decorations ...

...or even really obscure promo items.

Online alert: Watch Kitty Swink's online auction promo for the Antaeus

Star Trek power couple Armin "Quark" Shimerman and Kitty "Rozahn/Luaran" Swink have shared news from their Antaeus Theatre company with Trekland before.

And now, to help LA's classical theatre company, here's a fun video (at right) that Kitty directed to promote Antaeus's annual Online Auction fundraiser!

"I literally took the art off of our wall. And dressed Ann Noble in my DS9 hat and Armin's Klingon Shakespeare shirt," tells us.

Keep an eye peeled for a unique sculpture by none other than Rene "Odo" Auberjonois, too...and a few loose editorial comments... And if you can throw them some support, please do.

My thanks: The Trekland Trunk has been open six months!

With everything else going on at such a crazed pace this year, I realized today I needed to stop and say something.

THANK YOU.

It's been about six months since I first opened the Trekland Trunk for my mostly studio archival pieces... and for something that is supposed to be so cut-and-dried simple, I just wanted to say thanks to all who have bid or bought a piece. Unfortunately for me, I think everyone has found things to wind up being pretty affordable!

Actually, I was never one who enjoyed the whole huckster vibe, as I proclaimed when I started this ... and so, set up the Facebook page and Twitter lists... not random posts and emails, ack... as the way to let those interested (and only them) know. Forgive me for when I sometimes try to cast a wider net, but if I do so it's for good reason.

It's not a page for the hard-core collectors—almost no big-ticket items. In fact, I think it's more for fans of a given show, or character, or ship... who'd like a really unique or rare  memento of their passion when one pops up .... than about collecting for it's own sake.

So, given that, the response has been gratifying — and especially from those of you who are able to come back as regulars. And a special shout-out to those various "aliens" who chime in on our weekly "local" non-Ebay sessions on Facebook group message thread. I'm just glad to see things get a good home...even if it is to a Breen, Borg, Ferengi or what-have-you.

Right now, in this calm between April and June-July con madness when the Trunk had gotten bare, I'll be restocking with more of the pieces and trying to keep the variety up as well. Right now, there's FIVE items up —the most since the holidays.

There's plenty more to go—and, shock the Prophets, there's even a STAR WARS studio gift up! With a couple more fun and old things of theirs coming soon.

But no worries—I work in Trekland, and that's where the Trunk's heart will stay.  If you are new to this realm, why not go Like the Facebook page to keep up, or follow the Twitter? And, of course, share with your buds who might be interested.

I've still got the info and/or pics archived, believe me... but the real stuff taking up space is now out and in good homes.  Thanks again for being good adopters!

Or—maybe it's time for that first visit? C'mon, take a peek ... :-)

Trek collectors, buffs: come peek in the Trekland Trunk

Are you a collector who loves the nuts-and-bolts of Star Trek's modern TV era? Well, listen up.

A lot of my Trek archives are pretty bulky, and now can be easily digitized. I care about the information, not the collectible value. I'd like to find good homes for it all. Major Trek auctions are far less common than they used to be. And most of all, I detest feeling like a huckster.

And so, voila—welcome to The Trekland Trunk. It's really just a Facebook page—go there right now and "Like" it!

It's one reason why I've been so distracted since the summer cons—and so quiet the last few weeks when there's been plenty to talk about.

Very simply, The Trunk is a new Facebook page of mine for any Trekfans interested in owning rare draft scripts, set plans, call sheets, paper graphics, memos, and occasionally some 3-D props or even an autograph or the odd commercial item. It's simply a notification alert system: "Like" the page, and YOU will hear when I have something new up on eBay—or even, collecting names for a small-scale auction in a private group message thread, if we can get it to work. Follow the Twitter account for @treklandtrunk for the same reason, same parameters.

I won't post these on my personal page or even my regular Trekland page—I hate being the barker, and hawking things even some Trekfans may not care about. THE TREKLAND TRUNK will be the only place where we'll list the notice and link. Just a handful of items every week or two.

So if you are a collector, or even a writer or a super fan of a particular series or even episode—these kinds of Trek collectibles and their insights may be right up your alley. If not, no one will bug you about it anywhere else.

No extra fees, no promise to buy, no being peppered with FOR SALE ads unless you WANT them... not even a thumbprint on Quark's Ferengi PADD. No muss, no fuss.

It's just 3T.

So "Join" the page list and jump in when the first items go up in the next week.

Deal? Deal.




And thanks again to my old bud and graphic artist extraordinaire, Kevin Hopkins.

A Quark/Worf dinner? Castle, Buffy? Big Bang visit? Bid NOW in Antaeus Theatre auction through Oct. 7

UPDATE 10/7/11: Prizes changed, date corrected: BIDDING ENDS TODAY!

Okay, kids, you have ONE WEEK left for some truly unique goodies:

Whether you live in SoCal or not, there's 86 items large and small now up for bid for an online fund-raiser auction through Oct. 7 for the Antaeus Company, L.A.'s classical theatre troupe that includes the likes of oh, say, Armin Shimerman and Kitty Swink, and a host of others you'll know.


You can bid on a dinner with DS9'ers Armin, Kitty, and Michael Dorn ... or similar dinners those from Buffy or 24 (below) ... a lunch with Castle's Seamus Deaver and show goodies ... original art from Rene "Odo" Auberjonois  ... much less a cast-hosted set visit to The Big Bang Theory (left) or Body of Proof (Jeffrey "Tahnna Los" Nordling). Or further afield: a cooking lesson with Top Chef fan-fave Fabio Viviani or an in-home fondue party with Emily Bergl of Desperate Housewives ... And many more: There's cool photos, scripts and signed items, rare cast gifts (like a DS9 Season 6 jacket), and even more live services, in-home dinners and gift certificates.

Kitty points out The Antaeus includes a slew of other actors with Trek and sci-fi connections, with but a few being Joe "Galt" Ruskin, Kurtwood "Annorax/President" Smith, Chelsea Field (Scott Bakula's partner), Richard "Admiral Paris" Herd, Gregory Itzin, JD "Toral" Cullum, Adrian LaTourelle (Rene's son-in-law), Bob Pine (Chris "Kirk '09" Pine's dad), Lawrence "Tekeny Ghemor" Pressman, Rhonda "Dixon Hill's Madeline" Aldrich, and Josh "Lt. Carey" Clark. Not to mention Tony Amendola (Stargate), Harry Groener (Buffy—and Tam Elbrun/ Nathan Samuels), Paul Eiding (voices for dozens of sci-fi games), Arye Gross (Minority Report), and Joel Swetow (Charmed).

The trustable website biddingforgood.com is handling the online auction, so you know it's in reliable hands. Check it all out today and find all kinds of genre and actor goodies up for bids to help The Antaeus—some of them on the real "up close and personal" side.

Set to open at The Antaeus Oct. 20 is the rare 1947 Noel Coward xomedy-drama "Peace in Our Time," the American debut of Coward's what-if look at his beloved England under Nazis occupation —with 22 roles, all double-cast. It is slated to run through Dec. 11.

Don't miss! Saturday's online Trek auction—with “visual technobabble”?

After all the big pioneering Trek auctions of recent years, let’s hope new bid-fests have not become passé.

Especially one THIS Saturday—tomorrow—that may have somehow flown low under your radar! It deserves better, because there’s a whole class of cool collectible that’s never really been out in public before. And if you are new to Trek auctions, you have to check this out.

Propworx, partnering now with LiveAuctioneers.com for the online mechanics, is offering a huge new catalog of 257 various Trek goodies in an online-only, 21-hour auction opening at 1 pm ET/10 am PT (links below). My buddy Alec Peters, collectors’ guru blogger and founder of Propworx, points out there’s a raft of reasonable items in the $100-$200 range—all the way up to, amazingly, an actual original Star Trek series matte painting—on glass!—of Starbase 11 from “The Menagerie.”

But what caught my eye are a few bid items that should appeal to both art lovers as well as the graphics techheads—we know who we are!—and anyone who appreciates true Trek history.

Most of all— I bet you’ve never seen anything quite like them in a major auction before! Don't let them get away.

I’m talking about the original artboard paste-ups for what we lovingly call “Okudagrams,” after Mike O. himself—not just sketches, and not the final colorful translight controls and readouts as used on-set, but the ROOT of what made them: original paper black-and-white paste-ups on heavy stock, used to shoot film that was then gelled with cut-to-fit colored plastic sheet.

Eventually, about midway through DS9, tech finally evolved to allow a direct output from the art department’s Macs to a large, continuous-sheet renderer—ending the time-consuming paper paste-up, film shoot, and then cookie-cutter gelling of clear film. As with fully-formed filming miniatures, it was yet another hands-on analog process made outmoded by the CGI and digital tech evolution revolution.

But those artboard paste-ups—with a lot of fine type and in-jokes galore, for you eagle-eyed out there—actually are original works of art, too, when you think about it, and deserve to be framed and treated as such. Some of them are truly iconic and one-timers—like the Kirk and Spock personal log and daily schedules text panels from their quarters in Star Trek VI (above—apologies for the low-res image), or the animation board for the Klingon's sighting in to shoot Voyager 1. Others are like the oft-seen DS9 station cutaway chart with IDs, used everywhere—but this is the original! … or even the periodic table of the "elements" from TNG and DS9, or the DS9 Replimat menu and greeting signs, chock-full of a zillion small-type in-jokes.

What’s more, most of them even come with their own “certificate of authenticity” by way of scrawled handwritten notes to the camera operator, like “Please Shoot 150%."

Can you tell I love these things?  I have several, and they are a techheads' dream. Talk about touching the real thing... ! And being able to READ it, finally? C'mon, you text geeks—you know who you are.

All you need to do for bidding is to register on Live Auctioneers here—and you can also download the full color 158-page catalog for free at Propworx' site; it's as easy as Ebay to bid, and will stay open 21 hours. Alec's premiere Star Trek Prop, Costume & Auction blog has been going since the Christie's auction in 2006 at startrekprops.com.

Saturday’s auction has tons of high- (and low-) profile costumes, props and paper goods like scripts and call sheets, too—and this session even has “rainbow pages” final scripts with the companion first-draft versions, itself a rare offering for those who love script evolution (but not well illustrated in the photos).

But wow—just don’t let the simple, underrated descriptions of the “artboard” artwork pass you by.

It’s like owning your own real piece of visual technobabble—suitable for framing!

UPDATE: Auction time again: "ST: Experience II" gives up on "rescued" items

UPDATE: Sources clarifying: Auctions and non-use of old gear, yes; end of Neonopolis contract, no.

And as throughout: CBS' intention to see a new ST:TE— still very much go.


From auction/collectibles maestro Alec Peters and his Propworx Co. comes the news:
—The long-debated future of the stored ST: The Experience artifacts is settled: Neonopolis won't use them across town in Vegas.
—CBS Licensing is selling the warehoused assets—both artifacts and Quark's/etc. fixtures.
—There's a live on-site auction in Vegas Feb. 27—hurry!—followed by a few pieces to be auctioned this summer. (Photo above from Alec's blog, same link.)

This is out ahead of any formal CBS press release, but just to be sure: The Neonopolis license deal is still in place, sources tell me, and CBS Licensing still intends to pursue a "new" Star Trek: The Experience. There's no other new news re: the project—but this does mean that any future "museum" there would be all-new items, original or replica.

And, as Alec notes, most of the non-costume and sometimes now-damaged "artifacts" from ST:TE were indeed replicas, not originals from TV/film use. But think a sec—what they are now are true Experience originals ... and as ST:TE and Quark's are already the stuff of lore and legend, there will be no shortage of sentimental bidders, I'm sure. Costumes include those of the beloved on-site cast, as well.

BTW--Alec mentions the Enterprise-D is the lone "total loss" among among the BIG ships that once hung from the giant through-deck foyer. I can tell you it's because it HAD to be cut up just to get it out during demolition at the Hilton space; it had been installed in the construction before the major ST:TE/Quark's openings were framed up and sealed off. They was no other way to budge it, sadly. But wonder if there's a bridge module or main hanger deck section out there to be had? Don't trash it all, guys! Even in pieces.

Glad to hear all the other "big ships" are in good or at least salvageable shape: Here's how the giant Voyager looked almost exactly a year ago when we saw it during demolition of the whole space, parked in the "back corner" of what was the Promenade retail area (photos by moi):





So—what would YOU want to take home, if it's still around?

History for Haiti: Rod Roddenberry's online "garage sale," through Friday 1/29

Here's another example of how the apple doesn't fall very far from the tree. Even if it's a Kaferian apple.

Rod Roddenberry is having a virtual "garage sale" online at his Facebook page to clean out Gene and Majel's longtime Bel-Aire house ...

And everything goes to Haitian relief, via HaitianHero.com.

Knowing so many might like a memento from their favorite Star Trek creator, he's got a photo gallery of items and a simple online auction going.

But hurry, the auction ends this Friday, Jan. 29, at 11:59 PM. Rod has a long background of the project on that Facebook page, and roddenberry.com has it up as well.

But on the side, Rod told me a little more about it: a great win-win-win that started when he sold the house—the end of an era in itself—and had to have it totally emptied of "stuff" by the end of this month. And thee was a lot:

Rod says: "How else to get rid of things that I felt were of some value, but not something I wanted to keep? Give it away! And to who else but ... the fans." He started on Twitter last weekend, but the 140-character limit was too much—and then came the Facebook idea, a perfect auction forum.

"I had been wanting to so something for Haiti and figured I'd just donate personally (which I'm still doing)," Rod says. "But then with the help of a friend, it dawned on me that I could 'auction' the family items and send all proceeds to the Haiti relief. This way everyone would win: I'd see that these items got a good home and were not trashed; fans would get some cool Roddenberry family stuff; and most importantly, the people of Haiti would get at some help. Everyone should feel good about what they've done in the end."

The first 24 hours raised $3,000, and he's hoping to hit $20,000 by Saturday.

Now, Rod does promise a big estate sale of major items (like Gene's desk) in July in Las Vegas. But for everything made from the Facebook auction, Rod has pledged to match 1:1 for HaitianHero.com.

Rod calls this part of his legacy "The Roddenberry Effect." He already has the Roddenberry Dive Team so fan divers can explore that final frontier, and protect it.
to work
So, like I said: like father, like son. Rod's putting another great aspect of his family's "effect" on millions of people, and giving them a chance in turn to spread the caring.

Boldy bid!

Dr. Selar's Vulcan ears! More Suzie eBay coolness

I swear, Dr. Selar may be the biggest cult Vulcan in all Star Trek.

I know she was way too cool for the rest of TNG's still-wobbly second season. She was so underused in "The Schizoid Man," and then never seen again—a terrible waste of a svelte, sexily cool, typically detached Vulcan, but female! I was so impressed when she first graced the screen—Whoa! Finally using Vulcans! What a well-done, TOS vibe!

The rest of the writers knew it, too; Ron Moore and the rest typically had Dr. Selar mentioned or paged a half-dozen more times; she was in a line cut from "All Good Things..." at the very end, and even got written into the New Frontier novels as a regular. Well, at least the amazing Suzie Plakson, under those ears, got to return with Klingon headbumps as K'Ehleyr and... oh wait. We know how that ended, too.

Well, now look what's come out of the closet: those eartips are on eBay through Sunday evening the 17th, the third item from Suzie's Trek years she's put out for fans. Again, with the Selar ears comes a signed letter from Suzie about her feelings about Selar, on-set and now. And what's more iconic from Star Trek than Vulcan ears?

Maybe you can't ever hope to bid for a pair of Leonard's Spock ears—from any timeline. Or even some of Tim's, or Jolene's, if they are even out there to be had. But what better Vulcan to grab a piece of than Suzie's Selar? You can believe these ears.

And no—no kickbacks are headed my way, thank you.

ST: Experience fans: a piece of history from Suzi P.

Lots of fans are still mourning the loss of the beloved Star Trek: The Experience rides/museum/stores and Quark's Bar in Las Vegas ...and the apparent lack of forward momentum on a successor site.

But for now, fan fave Suzie Plakson—K'ehleyr and Mrs. Q to you!— is offering a bit of history and nostalgia on eBay: the heavy metallic combadge she was given to wear as emcee and hostess of the Experience's entire closing ceremony at the LV Hilton on Sept. 1, 2008.

Hurry, if interested: it just went up, but the sale ends Jan. 3, and she's also throwing in a signed, two-page letter about her memories of that weekend (see photos on the eBay page).

If you just can't quite let go of the time-space vortex that was STTE, here's a great collectible or gift memento for a fellow mourner.

Fake visor: The new look of MSM Trek legal reporting

I'm not sure what to make of this story, except that the mainstream media couldn't figure out how to handle it either—but that didn't keep them from blathering on about it beyond its purely news angle.

NEW YORK (AP)— A "Star Trek" fan isn't entitled to millions of dollars in damages for buying memorabilia that he says wasn't as out-of-this-world as it seemed, a court said Tuesday.

Ted Moustakis wasn't promised he was getting a one-of-a-kind plum when he paid $11,400 for a uniform for "Star Trek: The Next Generation" character Data at a 2006 auction, an appeals court said.

The court also said Moustakis is due at most a refund for two other purchases he says were fakes: a $6,000 poker visor supposedly worn by Data and a $6,600 table from the show's set.

Is it just me, or does this AP story's no-nonsense, geekdom-is-mainstream tone just scream with barely concealed regret at its restraint from the cheap "pointed ears" and "basement-dweller" jokes that used to color all mainstream news stories with a Trek angle?

To my knowledge I never got to meet the plaintiff, Mr. Moustakis, but I know I was at the Vegas con when word spread there that Brent told him the Data green-shade visor he'd bid on was not authentic. I still think of the Christies' and It's a Wrap auctions as the new Paramount regime's effort to further show how the "new generation" of Trek had taken over, as if all those items from ST—TMP forward were now obviously useless; it was also a good way to save a lot of monthly warehouse rental, of course.

Now, there has been more than one Data visor—including those used for set decoration in the TNG movies, which were dressing and not props, and thus not actually worn by the regulars; Data never played poker in the four films, for instance. Veteran set dresser John Dwyer tried to echo the regulars' beloved personal effects from the series in those on display in their big-screen quarters even if he didn't have access to those original pieces. And then, for the Nemesis swan song, a lot of his routine work was undone by director Stuart Baird—so even more variations crept in.

Not having access to the piece Moustrakis won, this is all guesswork, to be sure—aside from its pic in the Christies auction catalog. But my point is, there may be lots of wiggle room for everyone to be right. Let's see how this plays out, even as it is out of the courts now.

Paws a moment, celeb auction fans, for Majel's favorite cause

If you're looking for a memorabilia or even celeb lunch-date auction to jump on for a good cause, hit up this event online, opening today and running through 7 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 15.

My good friend Georgyne and her longtime non-profit charity, the Precious Paws rescue in L.A., were one of two charities Majel Roddenberry requested for memorial contributions in her name after her death, so you know they are on the up and up. The lots include dozens of donated collectibles and 13 "celebrity experiences" or set visits up for bid—everybody from Mark Hamill, Bobby Sherman and Stephen Collins to Nicole de Boer, Anthony Michael Hall, and Mackenzie Westmore...and many more.

The site above includes their online catalog. Precious Paws is partnered with Auction Cause, a veteran charity auction handler who work with Ebay for their events.