In 2017, I started collecting Hallmark’s “Storyteller” Star Wars ornaments. These ornaments are powered by a proprietary networking and power cable and combine to recreate scenes from Star Wars – Episode IV: A New Hope. After years of battery-powered ornaments, the “Storyteller” line represents Hallmark’s return to externally-powered ornaments. While I’m not usually a fan of … Read more
The Locutus of Borg ornament recreates the conversations between Captain Jean Luc Picard and the Borg Queen from the movie Star Trek: First Contact. A string-powered ornament, today’s Ornament-a-Day entry features Picard – in his Locutus persona – plugged into a Borg charging station while the Borg Queen stands nearby. The charging station features a slowly flashing … Read more
Easily one of my favorite ornaments, the City on the Edge of Forever ornament has been a staple of the Geek Tree since its release in 2004. Today’s Ornament-a-Day entry features James Kirk and Spock running through a portal to the past in pursuit of a (not depicted) insane Dr. McCoy. It’s a string-powered ornament … Read more
The U.S.S. Voyager (NCC-74656) is an understated, string-powered Hallmark ornament from 1996. Taken from the Star Trek television series of the same name, the Voyager has no audio component. The 11th Ornmanent-a-Day entry uses its power to illuminate its deflector dish and two warp nacelles. They glow with the standard red-and-blue familiar to Star Trek fans, but it’s a more subtle illumination than the Enterprise 1701-D. The Enterprise stands … Read more
Glass Vader, today’s Ornament-a-Day entry, is unique: it’s the only blown glass ornament on the Geek Tree. I’ll freely admit that this wasn’t one of my favorite ornaments when I first got it at one of our family Christmas parties. It’s a black glass ornament with red sparkles near the base, making it difficult to see … Read more
Another time travel-centered ornament, the Enterprise-C appeared in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Yesterday’s Enterprise”. During the episode, the timeline changes because the Enterprise-C passes through a rift in space/time. As it does so, it lands in a future in which the United Federation of Planets is at war with the Klingon Empire and the Enterprise-D is a warship. It turns … Read more
The original topper for the Geek Tree was a glowing blue orb. Although vaguely sci-fi-ish, it wasn’t a great way to top the tree. And then came Santa Yoda. Part of a series of figurines that included a Christmas-themed R2-D2 and C-3PO, Santa Yoda features the 900-year-old Jedi Master in Santa garb. he’s got a full red-and-white … Read more
In 2006, Dark Horse Comics released a Serenity ornament, the Firefly-class starship that was the namesake of the series with the same name. Unfortunately, they sold out before I could buy one. A few years later, my wife bought my a Reaver-disguised version of Serenity inspired by the vessel’s appearance in the Serenity movie, but it’s a grim ornament for a … Read more
So far Ornament-a-Day has focused on Geek Tree’s science fiction ornaments, but thanks to The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and Harry Potter there a good number of fantasy ornaments as well. The Bilbo Baggins ornament from 2013 features the hobbit puffing on his pipe and contemplating a golden ring (obviously, the One Ring he acquired in Gollum’s cave). It’s an … Read more
In my heart of hearts, I’m an X-Men fan … but I have a lot of affection for Spider-man. That waxes and wanes based on storylines; I have a bunch of Spidey comic books from the Todd Todd McFarlane Amazing Spider-man days, but I stopped collecting during the terrible One More Day/Brand New Day retconning storyline that saw … Read more