Geek Tree Preview for 2007

Hallmark’s released their Winter 2007 ornaments, so it’s time to warp ahead to the future of this year’s Geek Tree. I have my eye on three new ornaments, two spawned by Star Trek and and Joss Whedon’s Firefly.

First up is the three-warp nacelled Enterprise 1701-D from the episode of “All Good Things”, the series finale of Star Trek: The Next Generation:

A starship with three warp engines and a large saucer section.
The variant Enterprise-D from the Star Trek: Next Generation episode “All Good Things…”. Credit: Hallmark

The good news is that we get a new Enterprise and the sculpt looks great. The bad news is that Hallmark seems hell-bent on continuing to do unpowered Trek ornaments and while this one does light up thanks to an onboard battery, you have to press a button to get it to work. It’s a far cry from the powered ornaments (which plugged directly into Christmas tree lights); the blue/red glow of the nacelles and deflector dishes of the older ornaments did a wonderful job of reinforcing the sci-fi feel of the tree. But I’ve said this too many times before.

The other notable Star Trek ornament this year recreates the bridge scene of Star Trek: Wrath of Khan.

Admiral Kirk and Captain Spock watch from the bridge of the starship Enterprise as another ship approaches.
Hallmark’s Wrath of Khan ornament recreates the famous bridge screen confrontation. Credit: Hallmark.

Wrath of Khan’s my favorite Trek movie, so I must get this ornament. The model’s viewer looks a tad cheesy and the sound a bit tiny — it’s hard for Khan to sound truly threatening coming from an ornament — but the rest of the sculpt is solid.

Easily my favorite ornament this year is one I first heard about in 2006: Dark Horse Comics’ Serenity ornament:

A small spaceship
Serenity, the signature spaceship from Firefly. Credit: Dark Horse.

Just too freaking cool. I haven’t seen one in person, so I don’t know if it’s die-cast or not (if so, it could be pretty heavy) but it’s just the sort of niche ornament I need to further diversify the Geek Tree.

Speaking of that, there are a few other ornaments out this year that I might pick up should time and funds allow. The Pirates of the Caribbean‘s Jack Sparrow would further expand the Geek Tree’s genres. I probably have enough Harry Potter ornaments at this point, but Cauldron Trouble, depicting Harry and Hermione working on their potions isn’t bad.

Of course, the big challenge this year won’t be finding new ornaments — it’ll be keeping my then 16-month-old son from destroying the ones I have and/or knocking over the Geek Tree. When we went through this with Jordan, we were able to convince her not to “look, not touch”; I have no idea whether we’ll be as successful the second time around.

The other notable development this year is that I plan to have a small “Geek Tree Trimming Party” for my friends. Sue and I have a family tree trimming party every year, but in the past folks have lamented not being around to see the Geek Tree go up. This year I plan to spend the Saturday after Thanksgiving assembling the tree with friends, drinking beer, and watching a few geeky movies (and/or playing Halo 3).

%d bloggers like this: