Monday 2 July 2012

"Don't give me that Star Trek crap..

...It's too early in the morning!"
Here is an emerald jewel from 'Product Enterprise' around 2004; the intrepid ship of RED Dwarf crew: Starbug. 
I ordered mine via catalog from a local comic book store (not available on retail shelves here in Canada) and it arrived missing a front leg but still stands firmly as a tripod. The sturdy plastic toy is a good likeness of the Starbug ship with minor scale liberties taken on the interior (ship opens to reveal interior 'sets' of the Starbug) playset. Best of all are 4 mini figures (35 mm tall, similar scale to original Mega-Rig toys) of the crew: Lister, Rimmer, Cat and Kryten. These are exceptionally well sculpted and carefully painted for toys of this scale, portraying each character's 'expression' perfectly. 



There is also an image Holly in the kitchen and by pushing down on the toaster, plays various sound clips of Holly, speaking lines from the show.
 Product Enterprise gave us many nice Doctor WHO toys some time after long standing DAPOL left the scene and branched into other UK properties including RED Dwarf. The Starbug playset is a labor of love and a wonderful souvenir for any RED Dwarf fan. The only smeg-up on this toy was the packaging; an open faced display carton which allowed the broken leg of my Starbug to drift off into space and I cannot imagine retailers enjoying this style of exposed packaging. The nanonots are hard at work replacing the leg but are having some trouble scratch-building me a mini-figure of Kochanski ;)
CS - Our Canadian Correspondant

2 comments:

  1. Fab looking toy Charles. Very detailed. I love the little figures. Was Red Dwarf popular in Canada?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks Woodsy! Red Dwarf was very popular in Canada. The US channel, PBS, played this and classic episodes of Doctor WHO (and Hitchhikers's Guide) to tremendous response. Another sign is how the video/DVD stores continue to stock the series and final movie to this day.

    ReplyDelete