That which survives

Although I have been a fan of the Star Trek franchise for as long as I can remember, I haven't collected a lot of merchandise nor memorabilia over the years, as compared to some others, out there. Sadly, what I have acquired has either been thrown out, due to damage, lost in moving or I have loaned it to my children....and unfortunate things happen to those items.

In time's past, there have been a few Enterprise models, Klingon toys and various other races, represented in miniature  However, there is one piece from my meager collection that has survived all these years, a lone Romulan Bird of Prey.

Here's what I do know, remember, or could find out about this particular piece. This ship was a part of  AMT ERTL #6677, Star Trek Space Ship Set, that was released around 1989, same time to cash in on Star Trek V, The Final Frontier hitting the theaters. I remember building all three, but forget what exactly happened to the other two.

The model itself, isn't very big at all. For some odd reason, these three pieces of glued, painted, decaled, vacuum formed plastic has survived all of these years, but still showing some signs of wear and general existence.

So, why this one, out of all the others, survives today? Perhaps, subconsciously, I am holding on to, more so protecting it, a tangible link to one of my favorite episodes from the Original Series, Balance of Terror. 

First, let's look back at it, from a child's perspective. The Romulan Bird of Prey was a cool looking ship, a radical departure from the always seen Enterprise. Come on, it had a bird painted on the bottom of the hull, that increases the coolness factor even more! Then, I discovered it had this thing called a Cloaking Device....

Although the ship was a big part of the episode, it wasn't the most important part, something I didn't fully appreciate until I was much older. Balance of Terror was written with the same formula as my favorite film of the Star Trek franchise, The Wrath of Khan. Both contained a lot of dialogue centered on what was going on, why all of it was happening and what to do about it. A suspenseful build up that would be broken with fantastic action sequences, that kept me on the edge of me seat.

And, both Terror and Khan had the best reveals of who the antagonist was, as seen onsceen through the Enterprise's viewer.  

So, what ever happened to the model itself? After being used in Balance of Terror and one other episode, The Deadly Years, the one and only model mysteriously disappeared. When the Romulans needed ships for the episode, The Enterprise Incident, they had to use Klingon models instead.

Hard to believe that Wah Ming Chang's creation, designed and built in just two weeks, appearing in two episodes, would have such an enduring quality about it. Just like my own little, plastic ship.