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View-Master

View-Master logo
View-Master logo

View-Master (or ViewMaster) is a three-dimensional stereoscopic viewing device that utilizes specially produced image reels which, when inserted into and viewed through the viewer, create stereoscopic or 3-D images. Typically, modern reel packets contain three reels each, with a total of 21 pairs of images altogether. Since its creation in 1939, the View-Master has been produced in many forms and by several companies. Currently, Fisher-Price (a subsidiary of Mattel) has rights to make the device.

Star Trek releases[]

Over the years, five licensed Star Trek-themed projects have been made for the standard View-Master viewer. The first, adapting the episode TOS: "The Omega Glory", was shot on set with a stereo camera while the episode was being filmed. At that point in time Paramount Pictures assumed that the View-Master company still operated as Sawyer's, Inc., which was not the case though – the company had already been acquired in October 1966 by General Aniline & Film (GAF) Corporation, which resulted in both editions of the set as eventually released carrying the GAF logo rather than the Sawyer's logo. GAF adapted the images, made by a recommended still photographer hired by Paramount, into the View-Master slides. That photographer, Don Jim (Trek, issue 5, p. 6), was onset for three days on 15, 18 and 19 December 1967. Hired for US$72.93 a day, Paramount charged the costs of the photographer against the episode's production budget, but did bill Sawyer's, or rather GAF, for them as well. [2] It explains the divergent angles of the scenes when compared to the episode as aired. In one of the View-Master slides taking place on the bridge at the communications station for example, Nichelle Nichols is seen taking advantage of the time for the View-Master shots to study her script; you can see it open on her lap as George Takei stands next to her. That shot was obviously not in the episode proper. (TTF: "Sawyers Inc View-Master memo - December 19, 1967") The two most divergent image stills photographer Jim took however, were those that showed the USS Enterprise pulling up alongside the USS Exeter in a sequence not seen at all in the episode. One of these was used as the cover of the View-Master set, shown below. Featured were the original three-foot studio model alongside a commercial Enterprise AMT model kit, standing in for the Exeter, especially set up for the occasion at the Howard Anderson Company, the visual effects company located on the studio lot. (Trek, issue 5, p. 6)

The second release, Mr. Spock's Time Trek (adapting TAS: "Yesteryear"), consists of drawn art based on the Filmation animated episode. This artwork was actually newly drawn at Filmation, especially for the View-Master release, rather than reusing cels and artwork produced for the episode. (TTF: "Sawyers Inc View-Master memo - December 19, 1967")

The two film-based sets (based on Star Trek: The Motion Picture and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan) feature 2-D publicity photos processed into "layered" 3-D images. The final TNG-based set's images (adapting TNG: "A Matter Of Honor") appear to simulate 3-D via computer manipulation of the paired images.

In the US, the first three sets were initially released in the original square paper envelopes (complete with story booklets or a trivia booklet), while the latter two saw release exclusively on "blister cards" (long cardboard cards with the reels held on in plastic "blister" bubbles) and with two different release numbers. Only one set, Mr. Spock's Time Trek, also got two "Talking View-Master" releases (see below).

Over the years, some Star Trek sets occasionally received international editions in both envelope and carded versions as well, but these international editions were very sparse and typically limited to the UK and (bi-lingual) Canada in particular alone. The single Dutch-language Star Trek set release had therefore become the most uncommon one and to date no additional other-language Star Trek editions are known to exist beyond the French and Dutch ones. The British/Dutch editions were manufactured by the GAF facility in Sint-Niklaas, Belgium, whereas the US/Canadian editions were manufactured at the original Sawyer's, Inc. facility in Beaverton, Oregon, USA.

Reel sets[]

  1. ↑ Years mentioned on all Star Trek reel set packagings concern the Paramount Pictures copyright years, not the actual years of the reel set releases which are not indicated on the set packagings. The actual release years are therefore very hard to ascertain but are invariably later than the years mentioned, not rarely by as much as several years.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 French/English bi-lingual Canadian release, lacking the booklet but including a bi-lingual insert with scene titles only instead. [1]
  3. ↑ In Dutch translated release, the booklet included.
  4. ↑ This release version was usable with the "Talking View-Master" viewer available at the time.
  5. ↑ In the UK, The Motion Picture's three-reel set was re-released on a blister card to match the carded The Wrath of Khan set. (Potentially also done in other countries, but not in the US.)
  6. ↑ No year indication on packaging, but a 1982 copyright year is mentioned on the later, below-referenced "Look & See in 3D" demo reel.

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A truncated, one-reel version of the Mr. Spock's Time Trek talking view master (numbered AVP3094) was also one of the reels in the "Talking View-Master Gift Pak III" set.

Some of these sets also saw releases in "Gift Paks" (collected sets of reels with viewers and/or exclusive extras) and in other formats.

The TOS: "The Omega Glory" and TAS: "Yesteryear" sets were available in the Spacemen Theatre In The Round cylindrical cardboard tub, which also included "Flash Gordon" and "Buck Rogers" reels, a 2-D projector and a 3-D viewer.

The Star Trek: The Motion Picture set was alternatively available in a Gift Pak & Poster cylindrical cardboard tub, complete with a 3-D viewer, a double-sided movie poster and customized cardboard 3-D glasses (to view the 3-D side of the poster).

30 drawn and colored 2-D animation-style images, based on publicity stills from Star Trek: The Motion Picture, were available on a small cartridge (Set 3158) made for the View-Master Show Beam push-button projector, which resembled a long plastic torch.

In addition, some other sets featured STAR TREK-related images.

A Star Trek image pair of the USS Enterprise filming model appears on the Smithsonian Institution's "National Air and Space Museum" View-Master reel set (Reel Set H13, 1977, Reel A, Image 7).

One image pair of 21 in the "Movieland, Buena Park, California" blister pack (Reel Set 5343, 1984, Reel B, Image 1) features the seven life-size TOS wax figures on the bridge of USS Enterprise. Two earlier releases, in the traditional square packets, did not feature any Trek.

Two image pairs of the Star Trek Adventure attraction appear in the blister pack version of "Universal Studios, Hollywood, Set 2: Entertainment Center" (Reel Set 5457, 1990, Reel B, Images 1 & 2). An earlier release, in the traditional square packet, does not feature any Trek.

One image pair from the Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan set was included on the promotional single-reel "Look & See in 3D" demo release (Reel 002-553, Image 4).

Further reading[]

  • "3-D Without Glasses!", Starlog, issue 5, May 1977, pp. 18-27 (includes information about the Star Trek reels)

See also[]

External links[]