My tribute to the 50th Anniversary of Star Trek

Star Trek: Rock-Phaser-Scissors-Lizard-Spock

The Enterprise upon arriving at a newly discovered planet on the outer edge of the Alpha Quadrant send an away team down to the planet surface. On arrival they are immediately attacked by a rocklike LIZARD, killing the security officer. As the Captain is about to fire on the creature SPOCK stops him pointing out that he senses an intelligence in the creature and insists that if he begins a Vulcan Mind Meld he may be able to prevent the creature from doing any more harm. Spock reaches out to the creature and begins the Mind Meld…

Spock: Our minds are merging, our minds are one, I feel what you feel, I know what you know, I… am… A ROCK… I… am… SPOCK… I am… CAPTAIN, I cannot break… the mind meld… this… creature… is trying to take over my mind… you must stop it… at all costs… fire PHASERS Captain….

Captain Chris: Lieutenant, contact the Enterprise, have them beam us all up on my command!

Lieutenant T’Luck: Enterprise, this is the away team, our Security Officer is dead, Mr. Spock is trapped in a mind meld, on the Captain’s command four to beam up!

Mr. Hay: But Lieutenant, I dare not attempt…

Captain Chris: Now Lieutenant!

Lieutenant T’Luck: Now Mr. Hay… ENERGIZE!
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And CUT – it’s a wrap!

Oh man… a cliffhanger???? Sorry!

Thanks to Caitlin, Chris and Graeme for being a part of yet another one of my crazy illusions! If you’re interested in one of your own I do commissioned illusions, I can work with an idea you might have or we could come up with one together.

September 6th was the 50th Anniversary of the premiere of the very first episode of Star Trek anywhere in the world and it happened to be here in Canada on CTV in 1966. The rest of the world saw the premiere on September 8th, 1966 on NBC. I had hoped to shoot and post this illusion in time for the Anniversary, but with weather, work and trying to schedule everyone it didn’t happen. Finally with a reduced cast and by adding a character via a “PADD” we managed to shoot the illusion this week. And yes a PADD is a real thing – a PADD in the Star Trek Universe was a Personal Access Display Device, a hand-held computerinterface, used as early as the 22nd century and well into the 24th century – good job we have iPads today.

And in case you find my little story a bit much, there have been two episodes of Star Trek that have featured a rocklike creature, The Devil in the Dark, from the first Season, about a subterranean creature killing miners. Kirk and Spock discover the Horta which lives in and resembles the surrounding rock. Spock mind melds with the rock, experiencing it’s pain and uncovers the reason behind it’s attacks. In The Savage Curtain, from Season 3, a boulder changes form into a rocklike being with clawed hands and glowing eyes named Yarnek that conducts an experiment between good and evil, pitting Kirk and Spock teamed up with Surak “the father of Vulcan civilization” and Abraham Lincoln against four warlords including Genghis Khan.

Another Photo Illusion by Luckham Creative Design & Photography​, if you like my work, please share! #StarTrek50

And here’s a little outtake from this photo shoot and an idea of how to merge the Star Trek Series of movies with… James Bond!