Tuesday, January 30, 2007

1970s STAR TREK Toy Commercials

Ahh ... Life before Wii.

1976 Star Trek Tricorder Commercial

1976 Mego Phaser Battle Game

1976 Star Trek Intergalactic Projector Commercial

1976 Star Trek Command Communications Console Commercial

1975 USS Enterprise Gift Set


My favorite one of these commercials is for the lamest toy: the Star Trek Intergalactic Projector. Let me be upfront: I did not own one!

In this commercial, a kid (wearing nerdy glasses) operates this plastic play planetarium. It projects constellations on the wall of your darkened bedroom, see? There are 2 flashlights ("light beam pointers" they're called in the commercial) that emit cut-out shape versions of the Enterprise and the Klingon ship (clumsily identified as "enemy craft from Jupiter" and the kids fly it upside down in the commercial -- something that would never happen in these nerd-friendly times). So, the kid and his pal sit there, and shine the flashlight silhouettes of these ships over the starfield. Hoo boy. "Runs on 2 D and 2 AA cell batteries (not included)."

That's entertainment! Well, as pretty good as entertainment got in the 70s.

Image taken from the Mego Museum site's Star Trek page.

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