The ability of the Enterprise to separate it's saucer was already a fan theory before TMP came out, more or less based on a throwaway line in TOS episode The Apple, where Kirk tells Scotty who's struggling to free the Enterprise from a tractor beam that's dragging the ship down into a planet's atmosphere to: "Discard the nacelles and break out with the main section if you have to, but get my ship out of there!" A theory that was going to be made canon in TMP, but it got cut. I had a lot of TMP merchandise, and I'd really wanted the second wave of action figures, and hoped for a third to round out the crew, but you know how that wound up. I never even heard of these models until years later, but I wish that I'd had them. Especially the Vulcan Shuttle. We've had any number of models of the movie Enterprise and Klingon Battlecruiser over the years, but how many depictions of the TMP shuttle and warp sled? With them able to separate no less!?
The only Star Trek enterprise I had was the dinky metal and plastic ship it had metal doors for a small shuttle and a rotating bridge which was the trigger for the small discs that shot out the front
I had the Enterprise and the Klingon Battle Cruiser as a kid. Until this video, I had no idea who produced them. I have been looking to get replacements for years. Thank you for this video !
I finally got a boxed German edition Enterprise last year for a relatively reasonable price ( considering the rarity ). Was delighted with the separating saucer feature. If I could just find an “affordable” Vulcan Shuttle, I could die happy.
Wow, these are surprisingly great representations of the models from the film, especially for their day. It's interesting to note that there were pretty much no further "toy"(or durable enough for play)versions of these vessels ever available to mass market after these. Just another chapter in the strange and inconsistent legacy of Star Trek toys at retail. Despite the fact that this version of the USS Enterprise(or an identical replacement)being featured in six feature films over the course of thirteen years until 1991, it would take until 2007 before another retail version of the refit Enterprise became available to consumers. I would have annoyed the crap out of my parents for years over that Mego Enterprise, had I known of it's existence. Of course then I would have lamented never getting a Reliant, Excelsior, or Bird of Prey to match.
On the actual filming model there is a stripe along the dorsal neck at the top that's supposed to signify where the saucer and neck separate. But this idea was abandoned in the movies so the stripe is basically just there for show.
Thanks for sharing. I have never seen these before so never knew they existed. I definitely would have bought the Enterprise. Not sure about the battle cruiser or the shuttle but definitely the Enterprise. Great video with great information.
In the original storyboards the movie was going to end with the Enterprise saucer separating. So maybe Mego did that in regards to the original script.
I think the original story was that the movie ended on some sort of cliffhanger where after V'ger is destroyed suddenly the 3 Klingon ships are restored and battle the Enterprise to which the Enterprise separates the saucer. Or it ened the same with "Let's go that-a-way but instead of warping out the saucer separates... I'm not sure how or why but the refit was designed to separate, then they scrapped that idea and then did it with the Enterprise D later on.
Those are some awesome ships. I hope I can find those somehow. I am a huge Star Trek collector and fan. Would love to add these to my collection. Thanks for sharing.
Always wanted these, never got them. A friend had the South Bend Electronic Enterprise model that allowed you to build 5 different ships... THAT one I wanted more, and STILL don't have it either. :-(
I had the Mego Enterprise when the movie first came out but it got broken. I picked up the UK boxed versions of the Vulcan shuttle and the Klingon cruiser a few years back but would still love to get the Enterprise again.
I didn't know these existed. I have the South Bend Enterprise and other South Bend Star Trek toys such as the uniform insignia and belt buckle. I didn't get the phaser. But the Enterprise also removed the engines and engine struts to reform several different configurations of the ship.
These are just great, but they never seem to come up on eBay. I like to think of the Vulcan Shuttle as being like a starfighter/assault ship to battle it out with the other two.
great video need help need some repair tips for my original magnetic batman and robin ive got donor bodies for each but all 4 share there own issues the main one is getting the freaking rubber bands connected and im worried about how fragile the mego plastic is anything would help never seen any repair videos on these thanks
Altho I dont have a distinct memory of the whole ship, I guess I had the Enterprise because I totally remember those landing gear flaps on the saucer section.
@@BrickMantooth now i am legit wanting one, even though i normally stick my nose up to non-Gundam kits...i wonder if it was like the landing gear and just not accurate at all, or if any of my unopened diecasts do this feature.
I can't resist being the star trek nerd who points out that the enterprise saucer separation idea was first mentioned in the 1968 gene roddenberry/stephen whitfield book 'the making of star trek', they just never got round to it until tng. apologies for all lwr case, tired here. bye. and thanks! love - ell yoo vee - plaid stallions
On a demi-related note, Now that Playmates is making electronic Starships again I REALLY hope we can get a refit Enterprise or at least an Enterprise A in the next year or two so one doesn't have to spend $100-200 on a DST on ebay. Though honestly speaking only for myself they could literally just re-produce these old Mego ships with minimal tweaking and they're accurate enough I'd buy them off the shelf at a Walmart at full impulse. (metaphorically and literally). And I can't imagine I'd be the only one who'd see one and word-for-word be like "Wh...no....*NO FREAKIN WAY* Oh you're coming home with me... *FIFTY BUCKS?!* AWWW kyah... Geh.... dammit... and it's too big to steal....nn.... ..... schitt well I guess I'm not eating tonight" And I know there are at least 10-20,000 other people like me. Which means these things would not rot on shelves. And I see a lot of stuff rotting on shelves nowadays...
Guess you could call it the "pain in the ass" era for licenses "No that's not TV Kirk, that's movie Kirk, completely different.". 9_9 Every time I hear about this all I can think of is all the cool ST toys Mego could have made without that movie getting in their way. Anyway, nice models and big and strong enough for a kid to play with.
The ability of the Enterprise to separate it's saucer was already a fan theory before TMP came out, more or less based on a throwaway line in TOS episode The Apple, where Kirk tells Scotty who's struggling to free the Enterprise from a tractor beam that's dragging the ship down into a planet's atmosphere to: "Discard the nacelles and break out with the main section if you have to, but get my ship out of there!" A theory that was going to be made canon in TMP, but it got cut.
I had a lot of TMP merchandise, and I'd really wanted the second wave of action figures, and hoped for a third to round out the crew, but you know how that wound up. I never even heard of these models until years later, but I wish that I'd had them. Especially the Vulcan Shuttle. We've had any number of models of the movie Enterprise and Klingon Battlecruiser over the years, but how many depictions of the TMP shuttle and warp sled? With them able to separate no less!?
These are a whole new thing to me.Never knew Mego made ST ship toy models.The things I learn from you.
0:26 it’s interesting how their models are based on early “finalized” concepts, as the red pinstriping was ultimately scrapped right before filming.
I didn't know that.
The only Star Trek enterprise I had was the dinky metal and plastic ship it had metal doors for a small shuttle and a rotating bridge which was the trigger for the small discs that shot out the front
Fascinating; I didn't know about the Mego Enterprise until now! Thanks for sharing this video.
I had the Enterprise and the Klingon Battle Cruiser as a kid. Until this video, I had no idea who produced them. I have been looking to get replacements for years. Thank you for this video !
I finally got a boxed German edition Enterprise last year for a relatively reasonable price ( considering the rarity ). Was delighted with the separating saucer feature. If I could just find an “affordable” Vulcan Shuttle, I could die happy.
Thank you for making these videos.
I really appreciate that, thanks for saying it!
Wow, these are surprisingly great representations of the models from the film, especially for their day. It's interesting to note that there were pretty much no further "toy"(or durable enough for play)versions of these vessels ever available to mass market after these. Just another chapter in the strange and inconsistent legacy of Star Trek toys at retail. Despite the fact that this version of the USS Enterprise(or an identical replacement)being featured in six feature films over the course of thirteen years until 1991, it would take until 2007 before another retail version of the refit Enterprise became available to consumers.
I would have annoyed the crap out of my parents for years over that Mego Enterprise, had I known of it's existence. Of course then I would have lamented never getting a Reliant, Excelsior, or Bird of Prey to match.
On the actual filming model there is a stripe along the dorsal neck at the top that's supposed to signify where the saucer and neck separate. But this idea was abandoned in the movies so the stripe is basically just there for show.
Thanks for sharing. I have never seen these before so never knew they existed. I definitely would have bought the Enterprise. Not sure about the battle cruiser or the shuttle but definitely the Enterprise. Great video with great information.
In the original storyboards the movie was going to end with the Enterprise saucer separating. So maybe Mego did that in regards to the original script.
You're probably right seeing as they were given blueprints from paramount and even feature them in early sales materials.
Are those storyboards reprinted anywhere? That's a very reasonable theory.
I saw it in the DVD directot's cut documentary
I think the original story was that the movie ended on some sort of cliffhanger where after V'ger is destroyed suddenly the 3 Klingon ships are restored and battle the Enterprise to which the Enterprise separates the saucer.
Or it ened the same with "Let's go that-a-way but instead of warping out the saucer separates...
I'm not sure how or why but the refit was designed to separate, then they scrapped that idea and then did it with the Enterprise D later on.
@@bb7931 Thanks! I'll have to watch that again.
Decals on the enterprise looks interesting.
Those are some awesome ships. I hope I can find those somehow. I am a huge Star Trek collector and fan. Would love to add these to my collection. Thanks for sharing.
I had the USS enterprise version of this, God I still wish I had it today!
it's a killer toy.
In French there are two Ns in "ennemi" which may have influenced the mistake.
Great look at some really great kits. And wow, did that old commercial look great! :-D
I got these for Christmas 1981 in New Zealand.
So they made it to here and Australia they're impossible to find boxed now I reckon
Awesome review! Just love it! Wish i had at least the enterprise!!!
I remember having the Enterprise, it was one of the few vintage Star Trek toy I had as a kid (other than the bridge playset).
Always wanted these, never got them. A friend had the South Bend Electronic Enterprise model that allowed you to build 5 different ships... THAT one I wanted more, and STILL don't have it either. :-(
I wish I could get those. Especially the Enterprise. They looked smaller scale than I imagined if the hands in the commercial were all of kids.
I had the Mego Enterprise when the movie first came out but it got broken. I picked up the UK boxed versions of the Vulcan shuttle and the Klingon cruiser a few years back but would still love to get the Enterprise again.
i have the USS Enterprise C that i built a few years ago. I had the diecast Movie ship by Ertyl, i think, but it wasn't a kit.
I didn't know these existed. I have the South Bend Enterprise and other South Bend Star Trek toys such as the uniform insignia and belt buckle. I didn't get the phaser. But the Enterprise also removed the engines and engine struts to reform several different configurations of the ship.
My best friend had the metal dinky toys enterprise that shot discs. I envied his ownership of that toy
These are just great, but they never seem to come up on eBay. I like to think of the Vulcan Shuttle as being like a starfighter/assault ship to battle it out with the other two.
Wow. Never knew these even existed.
This version of the Enterprise is the most well-designed ship in all versions of Star Trek.
Man. If these had been more available back then I would've gotten them
I have a couple but not mego I also have a star trek game has Kirk and Spock on the the box
I had the enterprise and all the figures
Penny wise ships in uk 80’s. These shops later became pound land
Man I wish I could have found them back in 79
great video need help need some repair tips for my original magnetic batman and robin ive got donor bodies for each but all 4 share there own issues the main one is getting the freaking rubber bands connected and im worried about how fragile the mego plastic is anything would help never seen any repair videos on these thanks
These models are super duper hard to find
Never saw these around Baltimore. Only the AMT models.
distribution in the states seems minimal.
Weren't you able to place the warp nacelles on the saucer section? I'd love to own the Enterprise one day, but that's a dream, lol!
I had the Vulcan model when I was kid and I live in the US
I never saw those kits, but then I live in the US.
There should have been a V'ger toy. Kids would have loved it!
collect all 38 pieces!
Would it be like a giant balloon that would inflate over your house?
Altho I dont have a distinct memory of the whole ship, I guess I had the Enterprise because I totally remember those landing gear flaps on the saucer section.
the Saucer Section separated?!?!?!?!?! I thought that was a TNG exclusive idea
Apparently Mego thunk it up or it was part of "Star Trek Phase 2". Bottom line, I don't quite know how this became a thing.
@@BrickMantooth now i am legit wanting one, even though i normally stick my nose up to non-Gundam kits...i wonder if it was like the landing gear and just not accurate at all, or if any of my unopened diecasts do this feature.
I can't resist being the star trek nerd who points out that the enterprise saucer separation idea was first mentioned in the 1968 gene roddenberry/stephen whitfield book 'the making of star trek', they just never got round to it until tng. apologies for all lwr case, tired here. bye. and thanks! love - ell yoo vee - plaid stallions
Love it!
On a demi-related note, Now that Playmates is making electronic Starships again I REALLY hope we can get a refit Enterprise or at least an Enterprise A in the next year or two so one doesn't have to spend $100-200 on a DST on ebay.
Though honestly speaking only for myself they could literally just re-produce these old Mego ships with minimal tweaking and they're accurate enough I'd buy them off the shelf at a Walmart at full impulse. (metaphorically and literally).
And I can't imagine I'd be the only one who'd see one and word-for-word be like
"Wh...no....*NO FREAKIN WAY* Oh you're coming home with me... *FIFTY BUCKS?!* AWWW kyah... Geh.... dammit... and it's too big to steal....nn....
..... schitt well I guess I'm not eating tonight"
And I know there are at least 10-20,000 other people like me. Which means these things would not rot on shelves.
And I see a lot of stuff rotting on shelves nowadays...
Star Trek!!!!!
Guess you could call it the "pain in the ass" era for licenses "No that's not TV Kirk, that's movie Kirk, completely different.". 9_9
Every time I hear about this all I can think of is all the cool ST toys Mego could have made without that movie getting in their way. Anyway, nice models and big and strong enough for a kid to play with.
"STAR TREEEEKKK!" the song in the commercial is horrid!
BIG Star Trek guy but honestly didn't even know they existed. Would I want them? Ehh. AMT kits were a lot better detailed sorry
Ah, the days when _Star Trek_ dominated the Sci-Fi market...
Ah, the days when _Star Trek_ wasn't being written by imbeciles.