Sunday, May 17, 2009

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine .. Battery operated ornament with display base by Hallmark (( 2001 ))

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine .. Battery operated ornament with display base  by Hallmark  i (( 2001 ))






"Strategically located near a wormhole-passage to a distant quadrant of the galaxy, Deep Space Nine is Starfleet's most remote and exciting outpost. Captain Benjamin Sisko oversaw the restoration of the abandoned space station and became its commander, leading his crew through episodes of exploration, mysticism, war, and political intrigue. .. .. .. "

☻ ☺

-->>; I'll try to set this one up, as it's actually a pretty special piece to me and needs some semblance of an explanation.

Never a real hard-core Star Trek fan. Not that it was bad or that i didn't enjoy it when i watched it. But when i was younger it took a certain amount of patience for me to get through episodes, particularly of ST : The Next Generation without really getting antsy.

The show, again was great and i'd come fully to appreciate it after meeting some of the cast years later like J. Frakes. He even recognized me as a TMNT fan. Patrick Stewart would go on to be the seemingly main antagonist in the '07 TMNT movie. These little things made that series cool for me.

There was something unique to me for some reason about DS9 .. the sometimes overshadowed ST: TNG spin-off.

Um.. let me think. I do recall some light controversy in the show not just during it's run but even initially just as it was starting off. Some people i think complained a but that it was a ' STAR TREK ' show and that it made no sense for a Trek show to be situated on some remote station.

I guess that issue was remedied when "The Defiant" ship was introduced to the ' cast '.



Some people i knew were bothered by the fact that it was incredibly diverse in it's casting and touched on allot of things some of the prior shows didn't.

I believe initially Quark was the reason i fell in love with the show cuz he was so funny. Over time i grew to love Avery Brooks's Sisko and the entire cast.

In the 1990s, the Spratford family became an important surrogate for me. My friend ( who would later become a youth pastor..sometimes i call him my " preacher friend" ), his sister, and their cool mom were a somewhat stable representation of a family i wish i'd always had.

Mrs.Spratford had a form of post-polio that made leaving her house difficult so we didn't always get to go out with the family. And i'd often just come over, she'd order food and send me or her son out for food. Mrs. S , her daughter, and my preacher ' Brother ' often had so many memorable times on simply watching their ancient old T.V. set.

Mrs.S was so cool. Power Rangers, TMNT, Video Games,Spider-man, movies.. she dug allot of things and was entertaied by so many diverse books and media. Some of her favourites included the Bat Man films, TMNT movies, Star Trek shows among others.

Initially she was ambivalent about DS9 as i remember.. the show grew on her. And along with Next Generation and Voyager .. became one of the semi-ritual shows i'd go to watch with them and enjoy. Sometimes over pizza or some sandwiches she had me grab at the Arby's or something.

The Spratfords at that time i'd call true fans.. as the related books, certain merchandises, clothing. collector plates, and special things related to the franchise were a fun component to their family - fandom.

Actually it was they who gave me an appreciation for the Hallmark ornaments and actually got me interested in starting my own, slow growing Hallmark ornament collection.

The Spratfords were regular customers at the local Hallmark store. And i remember since some of the very earliest ST ornaments offered by Hallmark .. Mrs.S actually pre-ordered each and every S.T. ornament that would come out. She'd buy a few others.. but the Star Ship ornaments became the priority. Amidst the firsts i think was the Shuttle Craft and original Enterprise. The Shuttlecaft had a light - up and talking feature. I remember it clearly. You pushed the button on the ornament and Nimoy's voice came on ::

"Shuttle Craft to Enterprise, Shuttle Craft to Enterprise .. Spock here. Happy Holidays. Live long and prosper. "


These ornaments were BAD - ASS !!

Every year the ornaments just got cooler. In some ways i even liked them better than the Star Wars ones. While i wasn't the best Trek fan ..those mother - f7cking ship designs ROCKED !! The alien ones and Next Gen - ships always had the coolest lights and features and those ornaments looked so fun and beautiful on the goofy old Christmas tree my Preacher friend always put up. Chok full off crappy, tinsel garland, ice sickles, bubbling lights and those beautiful ship and ornaments.

Man !!

I was always so jealous. I predicted in time that they would release an ornament of the DS9 Space Station as an ornament someday. Mrs. S was so very kind so me.

Her promise was that when the ornament came out, she would order 2 from the Hallmark. One for her family and one specially for me.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine .. Battery operated ornament with display base  by Hallmark  ii (( 2001 ))

Her kindness always transferred like this. She knew i was different than her Son's other friends .. and never held it against me even once. They loved me as one of their own. And her home and family were was one of the rate places in this sh8t - town i could escape the chaos of growing up.

Her promise made me feel happy and i always looked forward every year to the next batch of TREK ornaments. Hoping that DS9 would be in the next wave.


DS9 lasted a long time. The show was a form of comfort ..even when it came on exceedingly late at night on the Sundays in it's final season.

In the autumn of 1997, devastation would hit me as Mrs. Spratford would pass away in part i think from the post-polio. It hit me like a building falling on me.

The pastor at my friend's church purposefully left me out of Mrs.S's memorial service for whatever reason. I never really even got to say goodbye to her in my own opinion.

This was one of the experiences that also help jade me significantly on issues such as faith.


Mrs.Spratford's suffering over the years with the post-polio was always hard for me to grasp. I guess it's a question for the ages. How such good people can suffer so in real life only to be cast to death so prematurely.

Her daughter would go to love with her dad back east. She was of special needs and needed some form of guardianship. Her son stayed and for a number of years following her death. He lived with a family friend ..a dear person who also became a surrogate mom to us.

I did grow closer at this time to my preacher friend. Not ideologically tho'. At times our differences on things such as religion, politics, the state of planet .. ect. would heavily test that brotherhood. Still we were there for each other.

I think especially this friendship became important as i was having difficulty surviving living with my own family during this dark period. And especially after i was struck down by the vehicles in the Fall of 1999.

My friend did stick with me even after i went on to get stuck in college and after i was diagnosed with the schizophrenia.

In time, though he would need to move on himself. get out of the hell that can be Southern Colorado, go back to Bible School, get married, raise a small family.

Once he became of age to take his inheritance .. that's when he decided it was appropriate to make the move. In 2001 he applied for his second Bible college back in the Kansas city area or around there. I guess to go back and get his Bachelors in Preachorology .. o' i duuno.

Anyway .. my support system was about to change drastically once again.

In the late simmer of 2001, around my birthday .. Most of his affairs in order, a day before my friend was about to go back to school..we went out one final time. We hit the local Fargo's pizza restaurant. And later to the just for the hell of it. Hit the toys store and comic shop, Arcade .. this is something we did on occasion anyway. But this would be the VERY LAST time.

The final shop we went to was the Hallmark store.

Coincidentally and finally, 2001 was the year that the DS9 Space Station ornament was released. My friend purchased it for me as a going away birthday gift on the spot. Fulfilling his mom's simple promise to me. I was touched and a little crushed at the same time.

He left the next day and that was kind of it.

I'm still in limited contact with him, his sister, surrogate mom, and his new family. A bubbly wife and a beautiful little girl. I still consider them family.

Anyway.. this i guess could be considered a seasonal item, but i keep it out all the time on my chest of drawers.


The ornament has an electronic base. While the ornament can be hung independent from the base, it is required for the features of the Space Station.

When you press the button on the base, the Station lights up for a minute or so.

The bitter - sweet..( maybe even ironically relatable to me ) final episode of DS9, "What You Leave Behind" has a role in this rambling paragraph and make-up of the ornament.


Star Trek: Deep Space Nine .. Battery operated ornament with display base  by Hallmark  iii (( 2001 ))



.." When this Keepsake Ornament is plugged into its special display base, you can hear Captain Sisko's farewell toast:



"To the best crew a Captain ever had: No matter what the future holds, no matter how far we travel ... a part of us will always remain here, on Deep Space Nine."


..Lights on the ornament will glow while the Captain is speaking. .. .. "


When i first played that i about cried.

If i think to deeply about it. I think of the Spratfords and Mrs.S and i can get teary eyed again. It's hard.

Maybe it's stupid ..

but a part of me remained on that Space Station as well.

I still miss you , Mrs.S.
 ..>v<





1 comment:

markmors said...

That was very nice. I hope you are well and your life is good.

 
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