Balance of Terror: Romulan Commander

 


  One of my favorite characters from the original series is perhaps one of the most complex of the early Star Trek antagonists.  Played with extreme humanity by the incomparable Mark Leonard, the Romulan Commander was the mirror image of James Tiberius Kirk.  Although they would only appear three times, the Romulans became the most dangerous adversaries of the Federation.  Cunning, highly intelligent, guileful, and duplicitous, the Romulans are the perfect bridge between the logical Vulcans and emotional Terrans.        

     Dispatched on a secret mission to test the resolve of the United Federation of Planets, the Romulan Commander wonders if inter-planetary war is the best way to prove his culture's superiority.  While questioning the wisdom of his mission, he nonetheless carriers it out with expert precision.  Destroying a series of outposts dotted along the Neutral Zone, he soon finds himself in a game of cat and mouse with the Enterprise.

    The Romulan Commander was one of the most difficult custom jobs I have created.  It took more parts, paint, and design effort than any of the previous figures.  I think it is a fine replica.  Absent a Romulan Action environment, I placed him in command of a Constitution Class Starship.   

The Doomsday Machine: Commodore Matt Decker

  Perhaps one of the best episodes of the original series, "The Doomsday Machine" deals with a planet-killing super weapon from a bygone era wreaking havoc on innocent star systems.  Investigating the destructing of several planets, the U.S.S. Constellation finds itself in a hopeless battle with the devastating weapon.  Her shields gone and her engines inoperable, the Constellation faces imminent destruction.  Hoping to save his crew, Commodore Decker orders all hands to abandon ship.  Beaming down to the third planet in the system, the crew seeks shelter.  Decker tries to draw the machine away from the planet but to no avail.  Decker watches in horror and the third planet is destroyed.  Suffering catatonic shock, Decker collapses aboard the ruins of his ship.

  When rescued by an Away Team from the Enterprise, a visibly disturbed Commodore Decker describes the events leading up to his ship's destruction.

 

    Beaming aboard the Enterprise at the moment the planet-killer returns, Decker assumes command and engages in yet another hopeless battle.  Decker is brilliantly portray by one of the best actors in American theater.  A capable leader rendered unstable by the horror he had witnessed. 

 

 

 

  To get the look, I took a basic face and painted the hair to look more like the Commodore.  The rank insignia were easy, as I have done them before with Commodore Wesley.  The Constellation mission patch was difficult but I think reads well.  I created two diskettes and placed them in the Commodore's hand--his nervous fiddling with them was not only a brilliant acting choice, but conveyed the emotional state of the character. 


The Omega Glory: Dr. Carter


 


Continuing with the theme of doomed sister ships of the U.S.S. Enterprise, I elected to focus on a minor character from "The Omega Glory".   




In this episode, the Enterprise discovers the U.S.S. Exeter (NCC 1762) adrift above a planet bearing a remarkable similarity to Earth.



Yes, this another one of those silly parallel Earth plotlines, created mostly for budgetary reasons.  What makes this one different is the fact that its actually quite good. 

The Exeter crew were felled by a genetically engineered virus that turned them into desiccated piles of salt--how very biblical! 



 

Beaming aboard to investigate, Captain Kirk and party discover nothing but uniforms filled with salt crystals.  Upon reaching the bridge, they discover that the crew set the ship on automatic pilot in a fixed orbit around the planet. 








At this point, Dr. McCoy makes the startling discovery that the crew never left Exeter--they were still there, reduced to piles of salt.   

Spock pulls up the last recorded log entry, made by the ill-fated vessel's Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Carter.  With most of the crew already dead, the doctor assumed command.










Before succumbing to the virus, he made his way to the bridge and recorded a final log entry that warned the crew that their only hope of survival was to beam down to the planet below.

We then see Dr.Carter lurch forward and fall out of view.  The empty Captain's Chair frames in the center of the darkened bridge.

 

Before cutting to commercial, Captain Kirk dramatically pauses to consider the uniform strewn in front of the Captain's Chair--a blue Science Division uniform with Commander's rank braids and a Medical Insignia centered on the Exeter's Mission Patch.  Dr. Carter, like the rest of his crew, had been reduced to a pile of salt.

Carter was made by placing a Captain Picard head on Commander Spock's body.  I then painted the hair to resemble the frayed, thinning hairline of the late CMO.  Gold leaf paint was used to create the Exeter Mission patch.  I have been giving serious thought to creating a figure representing the last survivor of the Exeter, Captain Ronald Tracy.  The Enterprise Action Set works perfectly for the Exeter bridge

  

The Ultimate Computer: Commodore Robert Wesley

Commodore Robert Wesley from TOS "The Ultimate Computer"  Easy to make.  Just take a Kirk figure and grey the hair.  Then, construct the rank insignia and mission patch from gold leaf paint.  I situated the Commodore in the command chair of the U.S.S. Lexington (well, the Enterprise set double as any Constitution class starship).      

  

   Wesley first beams aboard the Enterprise to inform Captain Kirk that his ship has been selected to participate in a war games scenario.  The U.S.S. Enterprise will be fitted with a special computer (the M-5) that will direct all of her actions.  The final test will be a war games scenario, pitting the Enterprise against the Lexington, Hood, Potemkin, and Excalibur. Situated aboard the Lexington, Commodore Wesley unwittingly leads his fleet into an ambush.  

 

 

  The M-5 Computer, suddenly self aware, assumes the fleet is an attack force and cuts loose with full phasers.  After suffering serious damage to his own ship, not to mention the loss of the Excalibur,  Wesley rallies his remaining forces in an attack on the Enterprise.  Only the intervention of the deactivation of the unit saves the Enterprise from complete destruction.  

 

   

Mission

I have decided to focus on Star Trek: The Original Series (TOS) due to the quality of the Minimates already created.  Additionally, the Original Series is the only incarnation of the genre that has an Action Environment--namely, the U.S.S. Enterprise.  Actually, there are four version of the Enterprise.  Unnecessary, as there is hardly any difference between the sets.  The only exception to this would be the I.S.S. Enterprise from Mirror Universe.  That one is actually quite nice.  However, the other three are barely distinguishable--they just come with different versions of Captain Kirk.  It might have been better had they saved the production money and focused on other environments--like the Romulan Bird of Prey or a Klingon D-7 Battlecruiser.   

Thee presence of these environments gave me an idea.  Since the Original Series utilized the same bridge set to represent other Constitution Class (called Starship Class in the series) vessels, why not fit some of the custom figures to represent the less fortunate sister ships of the U.S.S. Enterprise.  For example, Commodore Robert Wesley of the U.S.S. Lexington.  

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 Or, Dr. Carter and the ill-fated  U.S.S. Exeter.

 

Or, Commodore Matt Decker before the destruction of U.S.S. Constellation.

Or, Captain J.T. Esteban of the U.S.S. Grissom.   

Possibly, Captain Ron Tracy of the U.S.S. Exeter.



And many, many more. 

Introduction

 

I am new to this, but I have always wanted to display my creations.  I am a Science Fiction fan. I enjoy Star Trek, Star Wars, Babylon 5, and most of the genre.  I have seen a lot of blogs out there that contain customized Star Trek figures of one variety or another--yet no Minimates.  I think the smaller the canvas, the better the artist.  Here are some of my attempts.

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