Star Trek: The Next Generation … of toys

USA Today has unveiled the new Playmates toys being launched this year to accompany this spring’s Star Trek movie release. So you might as well consider this an advance look at everything I will be buying this year for my kids … yeah, for my kids, honest.

The new toys include:

• A series of 12-inch figures (above)
• A series of 6-inch figures, more like the 1990s versions
• A series of 3 3/4-inch figures
• Playsets, including the first full bridge playset since the 1970s, scaled for the smallest of the figures
• Communicators, phasers and tricorders
• The Enterprise, a 14-inch electronic model

Other companies have new product on the way, including Mattel’s Trek Barbies and a series of radio-controlled flying starships from Tyco.

Here’s a slide show at the USA Today site.

The new toys hit stores April 19.

I was sort of okay with the first six-inch figure  revealed last week, but it looked a little cartoony for my tastes. That hearkened back to the mid-90s Playmates Next Gen figures, which had the same chunky look. From what I see here of the 12-inch figures, well, that’s a little better. Hard to tell in the small photo, though. And we haven’t seen enough of the small figure line. Those are aimed more at kids than collectors; I know my kids will love them. Well, I hope they will. I have to get these kids into Trek somehow …

The toy I await most eagerly is the four-foot flying electronic R/C Enterprise. I live in a huge hay field, with plenty of open sky. I suspect a Starship may be orbiting my house in the near future …

All in all, though, nothing beats those old Mego figures. Replica reissues are available — including a new Space Seed Khan figure — but the originals were the best ever made. You can see them here.

(This is the only blog in the world where you can read about toys, classic documentaries and racist morons on the same day)

Watchmen: In The News

Today’s Moron: Adolf Hitler Campbell’s Aunt

Adolf and his parents.

So, the saga of young Adolf Hitler Campbell, his sisters, their nazi parents and their strange worldview continues to unfold, all of it documented by international media.

I’ve been leaving this one alone for a while, because the Campbell kids were seized by child protective services, and that’s a tough situation no matter what you named your children. But over the past couple of days, mother Deborah Campbell and other family members have spoken out about what they call discrimination based on their children’s names. If they want the attention, so be it.

Before we go there, though, let’s recap:

• Last month, Heath and Deborah Campbell of New Jersey went to the media after a local bakery refused to write Adolf Hitler Campbell’s name on the cake they had bought for his third birthday.
• The world did not chime in with support. Rather, the reaction was pretty negative, particularly once it was revealed that Adolf has two sisters, JoyceLynn Aryan Nation Campbell and Honzlynn Hinler Jeannie Campbell, all of whom were named for racist nazi concepts.
• The local Wal-Mart agreed to decorate the cake. Way to go, Wal-Mart.
• A couple of weeks ago, authorities removed the Campbell children from the home. The reasons were not revealed.
• This week, Heath and Deborah were on their way to court to argue for the return of their children. If the judge said no to that, their plan was to ask that the kids be placed with their grandmother, Deborah’s mother. Grandma was in the back seat. Police pulled them over, noticed the smell of alcohol, and determined that Grandma was smashed. Way to go, Grandma.
• Deborah then broke a gag order and told reporters that police had discriminated against them because of their beliefs, etc. etc. etc. She claimed they called her husband “nazi guy” — which he is, an assumption I make based on the swastikas tattooed all over him, plus his children’s names — and that they made him take a field sobriety test because the car reeked of liquor, which it did.
• She says the court has not revealed why the children were taken: “The names, I believe are the problems. But they just don’t want to come out and say that,” Campbell told reporters.
• Campbell, who earlier on proudly defended her white supremacist beliefs, now says her husband’s nazi tattoos are “just art” and the family doesn’t hold those beliefs. The names, then, must just be coincidence.
• They have been evicted. Their landlord told the media the Campbells were neat, orderly and paid their rent on time, but he feared for the safety of his property because one of their relatives had frequently threatened to firebomb their house over a dispute. Wait, what?

To cap all this stupidity off, though, I want you to read this comment made Monday by Jeanne Coverdale, the children’s aunt: “What about tomorrow night when the President of the United States stands up and say, is forced to say, my name is Barack Hussein Obama. How’s that going to hit the world? I’m saying the one with the middle name he has, was a terrorist.”

She insists the president’s name is “no different” than having a name like Adolf Hitler.

Logic like that is the reason white supremacists never get anywhere in life.

Free Films from Canada’s Finest

The National Film Board, Canada’s, uh, national film board, has decided to make its archive available free, online.

This is amazing news. NFB documentaries formed a major cornerstone of my journalism education, as we picked them apart to look at how reporting in this country had evolved through the 1950s, 60s and 70s. A lot of them are very serious. A lot of them are very fun. And at least one, Norman McLaren’s Neighbours (1952), is a pioneering piece of cinema.

NFB chairman Tom Perlutter told reporters yesterday that the general public has a hard time seeing NFB films — they tend to turn up on late-night TV, or in obscure theatres. The whole point of making these movies, he argues, is that they be seen. And he’s right. You won’t find them in Blockbuster, but man, over the past 70 years the NFB has made many films that deserve to be seen.

And not just by Canadians, although more Canadians should see them. People around the world need to experience these films to get a better idea of Canada and Canadians. They are our identity on celluloid, our legacy.

Here are some of my favourite NFB films:

• Neighbours: I can’t describe it. You have to watch it.
• High Steel: From 1965, this documentary short takes you up skeletal skyscrapers to meet the Mohawk workers who specialized in one of the most dangerous jobs in the world.
• The Big Snit: A fun animated short. This gets played all the time on TV here when a movie ends with a few minutes to spare before Growing Pains reruns.
• Beaver Family: A Grey Owl documentary from 1929. No sign of Pierce Brosnan. This is a silent film, which makes it all the more poignant.