A Different Kind of Galvatron...maybe?

Of all the toys I received as a kid, few hold the kind of real estate in my memory that the original Galvatron does. Christmas 1986. I remember tearing open that box and finding him there in his cannon mode, that massive neon orange barrel staring back at me, and thinking this was easily the most impressive thing I'd ever owned. 

Christmas and Star Trek

Nothing gets me into the holiday mood like Star Trek movies.

I didn't really get into Star Trek until 1994, at the tail end of The Next Generation (TNG). I was able to catch about half of the final season on TV, and then my very first Star Trek movie was Star Trek: Generations; the one where Captain Kirk and Captain Picard meet. From there my interest really bloomed, I was able to watch all the TNG re-runs on Fox, I caught new episodes of Deep Space Nine when they aired (most of the time) and I was right there at the beginning of Voyager in 1995.

When 1996 came along and the second TNG movie (Star Trek: First Contact) was set to come out, I put it off for a while due to Jurassic Park coming out on VHS. When I finally did go see the movie it was well into November of that year and the Christmas season was in full swing. I was absolutely blown away and to this day it remains my favorite Star Trek movie. However for some reason I established a close bond with Star Trek and the Christmas season. It didn't help things any that I got some First Contact toys for Christmas that year not to mention more movies and TV episodes on VHS.

So every year when Christmas starts to come around I get the urge to watch Star Trek movies. Whereas most people probably like to watch Miracle on 34th Street, Home Alone or It's a Wonderful Life I really get my nostalgic kick from the Trek library, even though they have absolutely nothing to do with Christmas story-wise. I guess you could call it a Pavlov effect, but that is one hell of an association for just a month or so worth of events. Maybe it just means I'm easily trainable. I usually watch episodes year round, but just the movies at this time of year. I started out with First Contact as I usually do, then moved on to Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (just because it has been so long since I've seen it) and then to Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home to round out the season this year. I really should just watch them in order, but I've seen II, IV and VII waaaay too many times and so I have to even them all out.

Now all I have to do is resist the temptation to buy everything again on Blu-ray. But damn those transfers look good.