As summer comes to an end, and Halloween merch has started to trickle into every major retailer, it means one crucial thing: it’s time to make plans to get your hands on all of this year’s Star Trek Hallmark ornaments!
 

One of the only ornaments to arrive for ‘Christmas in July’ was The Keeper, paying a lovely homage to the first Star Trek pilot, “The Cage.” The Keeper was the magistrate on Talos IV, and wore a necklace with a pendant that distinguished him from the other rank and file Talosians. He’s wonderfully recreated here in ornament form. The veins are nicely sculpted and painted, as is the necklace.

But the real standout for me is the texture of the Talosian robe. I was worried it may look a bit flat, based on the photo on the front of the box. In person though, it looks very cool. I think it’s going to look even better when hung on a lit Christmas tree. At approximately 4.5 inches tall, he seems bigger than some of the character ornaments from years past, settling in nicely between the giant 90s era sculpts of Picard, Janeway, etc. and the much smaller sculpts of Kirk, Spock, etc. from the 2010s era.

The Keeper is available now Hallmark.com, retailing for $19.99. (Thanks to the Hallmark team for sending us out this one for today’s review.)

 
The second summer Star Trek release was the ‘Nexus-Damaged’ USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-B), a convention exclusive that debuted at San Diego Comic Con at the end of July. While a more widely-available edition will arrive this October, the Enterprise-B made this year’s slate to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Star Trek: Generations… and I have to say, I am in love. Damage has never been more beautiful!

Seriously though, this is so nicely done. I’m still a bit haunted by the battle-damaged Enterprise-C from 2017, which looked a bit like a toddler had gotten a hold of a magic marker and scribbled on it. This time, Hallmark has gotten it so right. Just look at the scorch marks by deflector control! I’m so relieved.

Now I think I’ve said this before, but I am not a hardcore ship aficionado — so please don’t come for me if I miss an inconsistency here between the ornament and the movie version. To my adoring fandom eyes? She’s perfect. I think the glow of the nacelles is especially powerful and it will look so nice on the tree. And let’s be real, there’s no such thing as too many versions of the Enterprise on a Christmas tree. Bring ‘em, Hallmark! I want enough versions of the Enterprise to fill a full size tree.

The ‘Nexus Damaged’ Enterprise-B is a convention exclusive, so if you missed your chance to pick one up at San Diego Comic Con, there will be another shot this October at New York Comic Con — and with only 3200 pieces produced, you’ll need to resort to eBay to find one (likely at significantly marked-up prices) if you don’t make it to NYCC.

For everyone else, there will be a Spacedock-clean wide release of the Enterprise-B ornament available October 12 through the Hallmark website for $34.99 — so if the Nexus damage isn’t that important to you, this would certainly be the easier way to bring the Enterprise-B home for the holidays.

October will also bring the rest of Hallmark’s 2024 Star Trek ornament lineup, which includes Dr. Beverly Crusher from The Next Generation, Captain Pike from Strange New Worlds, ‘Spock Meets Data’ from “Unification II,” and small renditions of Spock and the Enterprise from Star Trek: The Motion Picture.