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| Mego's Star Trek line debuted in 1975 and was based upon the classic Star Trek television series from the mid-1960s. Marty Abrams, promoted to President of Mego Corp. just a few years earlier, recalls that he was able to secure the Star Trek license from Paramount for a miniscule $5,000 advance. Initially, Marty did not think that the Star Trek line would have "legs", primarily because this was the third license granted to a major player in the toy industry. However, his confidence in Neil Kublan, Mego's VP of Research and Design, helped overcome his doubts and in time, Mego would buck the trend and prove Star Trek a very marketable property. Mego's Star Trek line offered a wide variety of figures and playsets and, in a short period of time, become a huge success for the company. The initial 1975 roster included Captain James T. Kirk, Mr. Spock, Dr. Bones McCoy, Mr. Scott (Scottie) and the Klingon and were only offered on blister cards. Lt. Uhura was soon added to the line, and examples of each of the original series of figures can be found on cards with artwork featuring five or six character faces. Kirk, McCoy and the Klingon were reissued in 1979 on cards lacking any artwork on their backside. A second and third series of characters was issued and consisted of aliens either featured in or inspired by the television series. The new series were presented on cards with a unique face and cardback; all the characters from the original series except the Klingon were then also produced with aliens featured on the backs of their cards. The second series features the Keeper, Cheron, Gorn, and Neptunian, and the third features the Andorian, Talos, Mugato and rarest of all, the Romulan. Related items were vast and varied; accessories included a tricorder, trekulator, walkie-talkie communicators, a super phaser target game and a comand commications console; playsets included a Bridge, USS Enterprise and the hard-to-find Mission to Gamma VI. Also included in our MegoCentral gallery is an example of a very rare carded Keeper manufactured by Mego's British licensee, Palitoy. The Palitoy carded alien figures are highly sought after by many modern collectors and we hope to expand upon these in our upcoming galleries. Moreover, the likenesses of the crew members (especially Kirk and Spock) on the Palitoy cards are extremely detailed and, despite the lack of technology, rival many of today's action figure sculpts. A recent discovery of numerous 24-count cases of both assorted crew members and individual Klingons has caused quite a stir in the Mego collecting community. Finds such as these help keep Mego collecting exciting; one never knows what will be discovered next. Marty Abrams ranks the Star Trek line amongst his greatest achievements, likely because these figures have withstood the test of time and now command hefty prices on the secondary market. It is not uncommon for a carded Romulon or Andorian to fetch prices in the thousands of dollars. Stay tuned to this gallery for updates in the months to come. |
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| Star Trek series guide Gorn- 1st series Alien Neptunian- 1st series Alien Keeper- 1st series Alien Cheron- 1st series Alien Mugato- 2nd series Alien Talos- 2nd series Alien Andorian- 2nd series Alien Romulan- 2nd series Alien Star Trek assortment/stock numbers Kirk-51200/1 Spock-51200/2 McCoy-51200/3 Uhura-51200/4 Scotty-51200/5 Klingon-51200/6 Keeper-51203/1 Neptunian-51203/2 Gorn-51203/3 Cheron-51203/4 Romulon-51204/1 Talos-51204/2 Andorian-51204/3 Mugato-51204/4 |