Master Replicas is launching preorders for its Star Trek: The Original Series cups, complete with removable Tribbles, today, Friday 14th March 2025.
In The Original Series, the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise regularly drank coffee from grey cups. In one of the most famous incidents, in “The Trouble with Tribbles”, Captain Kirk discovers that tribbles have got into his dinner, eaten his chicken sandwich and drunk his coffee.
The cups were originally made by a company called Styrocup and, as the name suggests, were made of Styrofoam, but the new Master Replicas release are made of earthenware. The Tribble is removable, so your coffee should be safe!
They’ve also added a detail that you might have missed. When the cups first appeared in “Where No Man Has Gone Before”, they featured a U.S.S. Enterprise logo with a wreath around the planet Earth, but it never appeared on them again. With a little help, Master Replicas sourced that logo from Gene Roddenberry’s files at University of California, Los Angeles, located by Glen Swanson, and have included it on the new cup.
The logo also appeared on quite a few things in both “The Cage”, and “Where No Man Has Gone Before”. It’s on overalls (on Boyce’s shirt, for example, when he gives Pike a martini) and clipboards, as well as on the coffee cups. The plan was to use it throughout the ship, but it was later abandoned, and never reappeared.
The Tribbles were the creation of designer Wah Chang, who created much of The Original Series’ special effects work, who is also known for his work in feature films.
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John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: Licensing, Merchandise, Other Worlds, Star Trek, Television
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A parsec is quite a long way (something like 3.6 light years if I remember correctly).
🙂