The Star Trek Communicator Is Now a High-End Wristwatch
https://www.wired.com/story/the-star-trek-communicator-is-now-a-high-end-wristwatch/Open linkView original on startrek.websiteSyndicated from the fediverse. Read and engage on the original instance.
View original on startrek.websitehttps://www.wired.com/story/the-star-trek-communicator-is-now-a-high-end-wristwatch/Open linkView original on startrek.website
18 replies
This looks like a fun project for 3d printing a wrap for existing digital watches.
Or chuck an esp32 into it with an el cheapo display.
It looks like a 1970s toy. . . Which makes sense given who their target market is.
I would take it as another sign that the franchise has aged out were it not for the fact that it’s always had awful merchandising and licensing.
Watchutalkinbout, the ‘90s Playmates toys were great!
That was a very time limited counter example, and were largely unavailable outside the US.
And it may be a really important factor in explaining the loyalty of millennial guys in the US to the franchise vs other demographics and countries.
Fair, I have no knowledge of what availability was like outside of the US/Canada. Totally agreed the franchise would likely be stronger if they had kept the game up. I remember some effort being made during the early Kelvin films, but that seemed to drop off pretty quick.
Even in Canada, I don’t recall that they had wide distribution. They were also marked up quite a bit from the US price (well beyond the exchange rate). I saw them mainly in specialty stores, not Toys R US and department stores.
Interesting, I definitely remember getting a number of them from my local Toys R Us in the '90s. But that was Toronto (or rather Scarborough, since this was pre-amalgamation!) so maybe it varied by location.
That makes sense!
Definitely there was local control over availability. I recall shopping for gifts and seeing walls of SW toys but no Trek in Ottawa.
$165,000
I'm a fan, but I wouldn't pay $100. That's one seriously fugly watch.
also why making it anything but a cell phone. tos should be a cell phone and tng should be a bluetooth thing. nothing else makes sense.
I was kinda intrigued by the renderings until they showed it on someone's wrist and I cringed.
It looks ridiculous. Should at least have been a smart watch. But I guess you can’t demand a six-figure price without making it an analog watch — no matter if it fits the design.
The coolest/neatest part of the communicator was removed for the watch face.
For $165K, does it come with an original TOS communicator prop?
give it some time for a Chinese clone for one hundredth the price that works just as well