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With J.J. Abrams' new* Star Trek* less than five months away, Paramount and CBS are maintaining awareness of the original show the movie is based upon with a barrage of licensing tie-ins.
For those film and TV viewers who just don't get why this huge space chunk of American pop culture is such a big deal, the soft-cover Star Trek 101 offers a solid briefing on Trek's five Ws. You still might not get what the big deal is, but you'll possess a more educated befuddlement.
Above is a picture of the Trek laser-etched iPod from Etchstar. The service has a full line of original series images available for inscribing on any iPod, cellphone, etc. You can provide your own device or buy one through the Etchstar site.
Hallmark releases new Star Trek Christmas ornaments every year, and the most recent entry was the USS Reliant -- Khan's hijacked ship from Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan. Not necessarily festive, but it's a cool little model with winky-blinky lights.
The movie-crazy folks over at Entertainment Earth served up two new Trek toys prop replicas. The Communicator (right) and the Medical Tricorder have moving parts, lights and sound effects from the series. Sure, they're a lot of fun to play around with, but these are made to exact replica specs.
Finally, the Pez people (the people who make Pez -- not a race of humans who expel candy from the throat) introduced an entire line of Pez Star Trek character dispensers (pictured above).
Images courtesy Paramount, CBS
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