Showing posts with label tos. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tos. Show all posts

Dec 6, 2020

Star Trek [TOS] "The Cage" Home Video B&W Poster (1986)

 

Star Trek "The Cage" home video release promotional mini poster. Be sure to click the image above for a larger version!

Size: 8.5" x 11" (single-sided)
Artist/Illustrator: Charles deMar
Release Year: 1986
Region: North America
Notes:

  • This mini poster/flyer user an alternate version of the key art used for the one-sheet promotional poster for "The Cage."
  • In this version of the art, the character of ship's surgeon Dr. Boyce is depicted next to Vina on the lower right instead of Captain Pike. Boyce is holding a laser pistol (later known as a phaser), which is also missing from the final art. Presumably, someone in charge felt that Pike should be the hero rescuing the damsel in distress here, and had the art repainted, sans pistol. An animated GIF comparison is below.

  • Other changes between this art and the final version are more less obvious. Highlights were added to the final art in a few places, most obviously the sketchy red and blue streaks on either side of Pike's head. These may have been necessary to hide the "seams" created by the repaint, or may have been a simple cosmetic change, at either the artist's discretion or the studio's (or other party's) request. Other highlights can be seen in subtle alterations to Vina's eyes and hair as seen in the GIF above, and, over on the other side of the poster, thin strips of pink around the Orion dancer's right arm.
  • UPDATE January 2026: I first discovered this image at the History of Star Trek: TOS On Consumer Home Video site. According to that source, Paramount distributed these black-and-white mini posters or flyers at conventions, presumably in Spring / Summer 1986, as promo for the then-upcoming VHS release. While I still have not been able to find more on this poster's history anywhere else online, I did manage to acquire one recently from eBay. The image embedded above is my scan.

Star Trek [TOS] "The Cage" Home Video Promo Poster (1986)

Star Trek "The Cage" home video release one-sheet promotional poster. Be sure to click the image above for a hi-resolution version!

Size: One Sheet (27" x 40")
Artist/Illustrator: Charles deMar
Release Year: 1986
Region: North America
Notes:

  • In 1985, Paramount Home Video began to release, in small groups, the entire run of the original Star Trek series on home video. With the release of each new group, a new promotional poster was sent to retailers for in-store advertising. This poster was for the 1986 standalone release of the series' unaired original pilot episode. (On this initial VHS/Beta release, "The Cage" was reconstructed with black and white footage from a workprint of the original pilot, along with some color footage which had been re-purposed for the regular series episode "The Menagerie." Three years later, in 1989, "The Cage" would be released on home video for the first time in full color, in its entirety.)
  • Mr. deMar's original key art depicted the character of Dr. Boyce in place of Pike, next to Vina. Our entry for this alternate artwork can be seen here.
  • This artwork was used for the slipcase / sleeve art for multiple home video releases of this episode on VHS, Beta, and LaserDisc formats. Many of these covers can be seen here.
  • The vertical fine print on the lower left side of the poster reads, "© 1986 Paramount Pictures Corp. All Rights Reserved.  Printed in U.S.A.  Not For Resale."

Dec 3, 2020

Star Trek [TOS] Ship & Crew Poster - John Tibbetts Art (Year Unknown)

Star Trek [TOS] ship and crew poster with art by John Tibbetts. Ca. 1980s, year unknown. No information on the publisher or whether this was retail, promotional, or even licensed. If you have any info on this item, please leave a comment! Be sure to click the image above for a larger version!

Greenberg's lists this poster as follows: 'Tibbetts, 1980s. Black and white artwork showing off-center starboard TV Enterprise in cloudy space with eight head portraits — Chapel, Uhura, Kirk, Spock, Chekov, Sulu, Scotty, and McCoy. 19" x 28".'

Nov 19, 2020

Star Trek [TOS] - "Starship Crew" by Jim Steranko

Star Trek "Starship Crew" limited edition retail poster. Be sure to click the image above for a larger version! 

Size: 23" x 32"
Artist/Illustrator: Jim Steranko
Publisher: Unknown
Release Year: 1974
Notes:

  • See a contemporary newsprint ad for this poster below! (Click to enlarge.)

  • I speculate that this poster was unlicensed, given that neither the poster nor the ad contains the words "Star Trek." The ad does use a lot of inferential phrasing like "the final frontier."
  • Greenberg's lists this as follows: 1974. "Stardate 7431.09." [Poster lettering reads 7431:63. -STP] Color art, lettered. Heads of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy, and the Enterprise with flanking Klingon ships. 23" x 32".
  • The ad copy boasts of "full color that will give your eyeballs an Andromeda strain" — Robert Wise directed the film adaptation of Michael Crichton's The Andromeda Strain in 1971, and would later be tapped to direct Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979).

Nov 17, 2020

Star Trek [TOS] - Enterprise Cutaway Poster (1995)

Star Trek U.S.S. Enterprise cutaway retail poster. Be sure to click the image above for a larger version!

Size: 36" x 24"
Technical Illustrator: Matthew Cushman
Color Artist: Robert Kayganich
Publisher: SciPubTech
Release Year: 1995
Notes:

  • Check out Christopher Cushman's blog for a behind-the-scenes account of the making of this poster, including process and close-up images.
  • SciPubTech printed eight total Star Trek cutaway posters. Click here for all entries for SciPubTech.
  • In June 2000, SciPubTech's website described this poster as follows: '24"X36" CUT AWAY POSTER, 6 COLORS WITH A SPECIAL METALLIC INK & A GLOSS AND MATTE VARNISH, PRINTED ON ARCHIVAL QUALITY 100# TEXT WEIGHT STOCK INCLUDES OVER 100 TECHNICAL CALLOUTS, AND HISTORY OF THE ENTERPRISE CAPTAINS & THE HISTORY OF THE ENTERPRISE SHIPS.' The poster was sold for $19.95.

Sep 26, 2020

Star Trek [TOS] "Group 5" Home Video Promo Poster (1986)

Star Trek home video release one-sheet promo poster with 20th anniversary logo. Tagline: "These are the voyages where the legend began." Single-sided. Be sure to click the image above for a hi-resolution version!

Size: One Sheet (26.75" x 40")
Artist/Illustrator: Bill Garland
Designer: Unknown
Release Year: 1986
Region: North America

 In 1985, Paramount Home Video began to release the entire run of the original Star Trek series on home video in North America, putting out groups of ten episodes at a time in the VHS, Beta, and LaserDisc formats. With the release of each new episode group, a new promotional poster was sent to retailers for in-store advertising. This poster was for Group 5, released in November 1986. (More info on these releases can be found at this link.)
 
• Presumably, Garland artist used this shot from the episode "Balance of Terror" as a reference for Sulu, Chekov, and Scotty, replacing Kirk with Chekov. Image via Memory Alpha.
 

Circa 1986, a slightly altered version of this image, with a blank black area below the bridge crew, was used for a smaller retail poster (12.5" x 19"), shown below.

A cropped version of Garland's painting was also used as the centerfold of Pocket Books's 1988 Star Trek "Celebration Calendar." Calendar cover and centerfold poster shown below.


 

Updated: October 26, 2025