Behind the Scenes of the 1967 Star Trek View-Master® 3-D Photography Shoot

Listen to The Trek Files podcast discussing the behind the scenes 3-D photography of the Star Trek episode The Omega Glory, which was featuring on the View-Master® Star Trek packet. Larry Nemecek and John Champion talk toys on The Trek Files podcast and mention the other Star Trek View-Master® sets that followed.

An early merchandising deal for Star Trek came when Sawyers Inc., the maker of View-Master®, approached the show. They sent photographer Don Jim to the set in December 1967 to capture scenes from The Omega Glory and launch a line of Star Trek reels. For the Star Trek shoot he was allowed to take the actual three-foot Enterprise model home with him to photograph!

You can download the Dec. 19, 1967 memo about the Sawyer's Inc. View-Master® shoot that took place on Dec. 15, 18 and 19, 1967. The memo also details billing Sawyer's for payment for a standby still photographer.

Don Jim, a photographer who transcended the world of commercial photography to the visual arts, stands out for his singular attention to transforming everyday objects into works of abstract beauty. Tiny bits of metal imbedded in asphalt streets, tar dripping on rooftops, and paint peeling off of old walls took on a unique life in the images that Don created.

Don Jim was born in Hawaii, of Chinese American heritage. Don served two years in the army during WWII and came to Los Angeles to study photography at the Art Center College of Design. During his professional career Don became recognized for his perfectionism in lighting difficult subject matter especially shiny and reflective surfaces such as glass and chrome. He became a photographer-on-demand in the 1960s music scene, doing album covers for musicians such as Jimmy Cliff, The Byrds, Deep Purple, and many others. His technical mastery also served him well in the era of 3-D photography. He did a majority of the 3-D View-Master® photographs for major California tourist attractions such as Disneyland, Knott's Berry Farm, Marineland and Hearst Castle. You can view some of his work on the Don Jim Photography website operated by his wife Margo Jim, who was his assistant and helped him with many of
those assignments. She is working to organize, preserve and exhibit Don's lifelong photographic endeavor. The website features a selection of images from some of the series of his own personal work, much of which has never been seen by the public. Margo donated most of the stereo slides taken by Don Jim to the New York Stereoscopic Society.

By the time he reached his 50s Don began to apply his technical expertise to a visual arts journey of his own. Don became reclusive as health problems began. He stayed in his Los Feliz, Los Angeles, home creating beautiful black and white prints in his darkroom and working on one last series - that of an opulent female, shot nude from scaffolding he built above her, and lighted to give the effect of her floating in a crinkled, framed landscape of luxuriant fabric.

The Trek Files is produced by Roddenberry Entertainment.

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Frankenstein Monster Vari-Vue Lenticular Postcard (1960s)

This Vari-Vue lenticular postcard scene is very similar to the Aurora Frankenstein monster model kit from the 1960s.

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Monsterous 3-D Cereal Prizes

Over the years, 3-D toys have been used as prizes by cereal manufacturers to entice kids to buy their brands. Here are a few of the monster and sci-fi themed 3-D goodies that could be found inside and on the box or by mail order. See our May 2020 issue for other 3-D cereal prizes.

Frankenberry cereal with lenticular flicker monster action ring

Star Trek The Next Generation Honey Gram Cookies cereal offered six hologram sticker prizes

Lucky Charms with Star Wars Episode 1 The Phantom Menace 3-D artwork

Ghostbusters cereal offered three different hologram boxes

General Mills DeLuxe Clackers Graham Cereal offered a Bozo the Clown 3-D cartoon viewer.

Post Alpha-Bits cereal had a mail-in offer for a View-Master viewer with a Super Heroes 3-D picture packet.

Dinersaurs cereal had a pair of anaglyphic 3-D glasses to view 3-D art printed on the back of the box.

Nestle Nesquik cereal came with 3-D glasses and a 3-D adventure on the back of the box.

Nabisco Shredded Wheat 3-D Wild Animal Show.

Nabisco Shredded Wheat included Jaws 3-D glasses and some pretty scary 3-D images on the box.

Kellog's Rice Krispies with Yo, Yogi 3-D glasses.

Quaker Cap'n Crunch with 3-D Fake Finders glasses.

Quaker Cap'n Crunch's Crunch Berries with 3-D Fake Finders glasses.

Weetabix 3-D animal cards and Thrills in 3-D and mail-in viewer offer. Weetabix VistaScreen viewers came in at least two colors, red and cream.

Sugar Crisp 3-D glasses with Roy Rogers anaglyphic cards.

Kellogg's Corn Flakes 1941 3-D stereoscope viewer and cards 25 cent mail-in offer.

Honey Nut Cheerios with Garfield 3-D book and glasses.

Puffa Puffa Rice with Monkees Flicker Ring.

In the what were they thinking category: Something Brewery Crunch Berries Milkshake IPA with anaglypic 3-D can

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The Dark Knight and 2001: A Space Odyssey 3-D Lenticular Posters

Bottleneck Gallery (BNG) created a limited edition of 550 3-D lenticular posters based on the Why So Serious Joker poster for The Dark Knight. The edition is sold out. The 24" x 36 inch lenticular plex made of 4mm polystyrene. It came with a hand numbered certificate with a BNG hologram of authenticity.

BNG created a limited edition of 300 24" x 36" 3-D lenticular posters made of 1mm PET mounted on paper backing based on the famous 2001: A Space Odyssey spaceship poster. There was also a limited edition of 200 24" x 36" 3-D lenticular posters made of 4mm polystyrene. Both came with a hand numbered certificate with a BNG hologram of authenticity. Both editions are sold out.

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Monsterwax Atomic Skull Lenticular Trading Card Available in the Horrible Ugly Monsters Set

Kurt Kuersteiner from Monsterwax has let the world know, "The Horrible Ugly Monsters base sets, art cards, and lenticulars have arrived. They all look Horribly GOOD! (But the printers are still working on the wrappers and a few other chase items, so we're running behind on shipping. It will be worth the wait though."

The Atomic Skull is a special lenticular flicker card produced by Monsterwax. His eyes roll around, a planet flies across the background sky, his jaws open and close, and the flames burn behind him. Every box will include one of the lenticulars available at Monsterwax.com.

These monster cards are filled with nostalgia and nausea… a perfect, putrid blend of respect and irreverence for everything sacred in non-sports. They were lovingly created by the mad Dr. Bob X in his Xex Laboratory— the birthplace of the “bad art” movement in the 1980s. Xex was the underground rag that published art that was so bad, it was actually good! Bob’s main contributor and buddy for that zany zine was the infamous Xno, also known as Chet Darmstaedter, who not only painted many of the magazine’s memorable monster covers, but also drew some of non-sports most garish monster knock-offs (including 80% of the Dinosaur Attacks cards, and other gruesome goodies like Bathroom Buddies for Topps)!

Only 500 numbered boxes will be made, each containing 24 wax packs. Each pack has five cards, a sticker, and a gruesome stick of ghoul gum. The gum comes inside a plastic penny sleeve to prevent damage from long-term storage. Special inserts include dozens of “Krazy Cover” cards, which reproduce the best Xex covers from their gory, glory days of monster mayhem. There are also random inserts of actual printing plates, metal cards, the Lenticular card, and original artist sketch cards by Bob “X”!

Monsterwax Trading Cards conducted a Kickstarter campaign to team up with trading card collectors and Bob "X" to publish his passion project, Horrible Ugly Monsters. It has a cleverly crude style that's addictive, and it has a wonderfully weird history behind it: Bob "X" was one of the pioneer artists in the "Bad Art" movement, an organized chaos of creatively, influenced by the oddball cultural crazes of the 1960s & 70s-- including monster movies, hot rod art (especially Ed "Big Daddy" Roth), psychedelic posters, MAD magazine artists (like Basil Wolverton), underground comics (think ZAP Comix by R. Crumb), and of course, hardcore punk music. X started Xex Graphics, along with another infamous "Ugly Artist", Xno (who is considered by many to be the best low brow horror artist of all time). They are unquestionably some of the baddest "bad art" artists around! They somehow made ugliness attractive.

Bob X not only conceived of and drew them all, he also wrote all the weirdo backs. Not since the original You'll Die Laughing trading cards by Jack Davis (1959) has there been a more unique, stylized, and individually created monster series. The only other monster-maker help provided was from Richard Parks of RRParks fame, who did the dynamite coloring to this series.

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Friday the 13th Part 3 in 3-D French Poster Art (1983)

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Friday the 13th Part 3 in 3-D Thai Poster Art (1983)

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Creature from the Black Lagoon Collectibles

Universal monster's Creature from the Black Lagoon continues to be a favorite to 3-D and monster collectors. Do you have any of these in your cave?

Mondo Creature from the Black Lagoon Posters

This limited edition hand numbered screen printed poster was sold exclusively through Mondotees.com and came in green and red variant versions.

Mondo Creature from the Black Lagoon Tiki Mug (2020)

Gurgling up from the depths to bring you a horrifying vessel from which to gulp your sinister spirits from, it's the official Universal Monsters Creature from the Black Lagoon Tiki Mug! This monstrous mug is designed by the deadly Doug P'Gosh, sculpted by the mischievous Matthew Black, and produced with the help of the terrifying Tiki Farm team. Creature features his horrible visage on one side, a scream scene from the film on the other, and holds 16 oz. of the lethal liquid of your choice! The only thing fishy about this mug would be not adding it to your collection!

This version of The Creature features a yellow base blaze, with a Gillman Green wiped glaze over it. These mugs are handmade, making each one unique, so slight variations from images shown may occur. Released in March 2020.

Artists: Doug P'Gosh, Matthew Black, Tiki Farm
Height: Approx. 6.5" in height
Material: Ceramic
Weight: Approx. 2 lbs

Mondo Creature from the Black Lagoon Enamel Pin (2020)

In January 2020, Mondo distributed this 1.14" high hard enamel pin designed by Matt Taylor. Single post on matte gold with a butterfly clutch backing.

Creature Cover Art Filmfax Magazine No. 73, June/July 1999

Creature Palmer Monster Figures (1964)

Palmer sold this set of plastic monsters that included the Creature in 1964.

Palmer Movie Monster packaging.

The lineup included Gorgo, Dracula, Werewolf, It Came from Outer Space, Creature from the Black Lagoon, Frankenstein, Cyclops and King Kong.

Yellow Creature variant.

Creature Bill and Ted Face the Music Garage Flyer

The Creature from the Black Lagoon is featured on a garage flyer in the film Bill and Ted Face the Music.

Creature Trading Card

The Creature from the Black Lagoon Monster Pin-Up No. 3 Trading Card.

Creature Emenee Formex 7 Casting Set (1965)

Here is a rare Emenee 7 Casting Set that kids could use to cast their own monsters including The Creature from the Black Lagoon. Plastic molds included were Frankenstein, Wolfman, Dracula, Creature From The Black Lagoon, Mummy and Hunchback Of Notre Dame. The Formex 7 Casting Set used wax melted with a light bulb. The wax is poured into molds to make the monsters. There was also a Military Company set, item number 4000, with soldiers, jeeps, and cannons. The Little Doll Family setm item number 4005, makes mom, dad, brother, big and llittle sister, dog, and cat.

Creature Emenee Enlarg-a-Graph (1965)

Rare Emenee Enlarg-a-Graph Monster Set

Creature Hasbro Paint-by-Numbers Set

The highly sought after and collectible Hasbo paint by number Creature from the Black Lagoon set featured the Gill-Man rising from the swampy waters of the lagoon. Other Hasbro paint by number monster sets included Frankenstein's monster, Dracula, The Wolfman, The Mummy and The Phantom of the Opera.

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Star Trek The Motion Picture 3-D Poster Bulletin Board.

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Star Trek III The Search for Spock 3-D Poster

Star Trek III The Search for Spock 3-D poster released by FunArt.

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We don't know when the Branch Drive-In had this showing of the 3-D classic House of Wax but they advertised they were the first 3-D drive-in theatre! A Google Earth map search at that address shows it now is the location of a church with a large patch of grassland behind it. Maybe the grassland was the location of the drive-in theatre?

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Pyramid International has produced several animated lentcuilar prints featuring pop culture topics such as Stranger Things, Doctor Who, The Nightmare Before Christmas and more.

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Japanese Monsters Lenticular with Sonosheet 33 1/3rd Record (1960s)

Here are two 1960s Japanese monster lenticulars that with 33 1/3rd rpm sonosheet flexi-disc records on the back. The cardboard mount usually has warped so that it is hard to play the record.

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Creature Bill and Ted Face the Music Garage Flyer

This Creature flyer sold for $50 in an online Hollywood memorabilia and props auction held on Sept. 12, 2020. This flyer is seen in Bill and Ted's Garage in the film Bill and Ted Face the Music starring Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter.

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