Re: My Prop Replica Collection - New Arrival - Star Trek – CFOM Replica (+ Trivia)
(CFOM = Cast From Original Mold. Sorry, no space in the title :lol)
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For me, among the most memorable episodes in Star Trek TNG is the two-part episode in Season 7 - “Gambit”.
The story centers around the search for an artifact called the Stone of Gol.
With due credit to Star Trek Wiki, here is a brief resume of the story and the artifact in question.
The Stone of Gol was an ancient weapon conceived on Vulcan during the turbulent times before the Time of Awakening.
It functioned as a psionic resonator which amplified telepathic energy, specifically any violent thoughts and emotions many hold, and then turned them back upon the person experiencing them.
However, if the target was able to empty their mind of violent thoughts, the resonator had nothing to amplify and so was unable to operate. Since the teachings of Surak were aimed at precisely this kind of emotional control, the psionic resonator subsequently became useless against his followers during the Time of Awakening.
Following Surak's success at bringing logic to Vulcan, the resonator was largely forgotten. Over time it became known as the "Stone of Gol", known only as a myth and it was believed to have been destroyed by the Vulcan gods. In truth, the weapon became disassembled and its three pieces became scattered over large distances of space.
The Vulcan Isolationist Movement stole the first fragment in 2369 and hired the mercenary Arctus Baran to find the two remaining pieces.
Captain Jean-Luc Picard managed to infiltrate the crew of Baran's ship and located all three pieces. T'Paal, a member of the isolationist movement, had also infiltrated the crew as Romulan mercenary Tallera and attempted to steal the resonator.
She successfully reassembled the Stone of Gol in the T'Karath Sanctuary and used it against the mercenaries but Picard was able to interpret the Vulcan pictograms on the resonator to work out how to withstand an attack.
The Vulcans took custody of the resonator and promised Picard that they would destroy all three fragments.
Here are some screencaps of the Stone of Gol.
The prop itself has a somewhat chequered and interesting history.
During the filming of the episode, and after the close-up shots were done, the prop was stolen from the set. Till this day, its whereabouts remain unknown.
For the rest of the show, another sculpt had to be made, but this time, the original drawing made by Rick Sternbach was used for the ‘symbol of peace’.
Note the ‘symbol for peace’ on the right (versus the ‘symbol for war’ on the left) has typical Vulcan hair.
The Sternbach drawing, where the symbol of peace is bald.
Another interesting trivia is that when the foam sculpt was being cast, the mold, unfortunately, did not seal very well.
This resulted in the foam releasing air as the silicone was curing, resulting in the formation of many ‘balls & warts’.
All subsequent casts from this mold exhibit the exact same imperfections.
They were of course cleaned up for filming of the rest of the episode, and I had to do exactly the same with the replica I obtained, which is cast from that original mold by HMS Mike.
Like the cherry on the proverbial cake, Mike sent me a dozen photos that showed in great detail exactly how the original screen-used prop was painted.
I followed this scheme inasmuch as humanly possible, paying particular attention to the placement of the copper highlights.
Without further ado, and after the wart removal and paint, here is my Stone of Gol replica.
Here it is on display, flanked by the two Star Trek playing cards that refer to the Stone of Gol
And the 'new' wall is hereby inaugurated
(CFOM = Cast From Original Mold. Sorry, no space in the title :lol)
---------------------------------------------------------------
For me, among the most memorable episodes in Star Trek TNG is the two-part episode in Season 7 - “Gambit”.
The story centers around the search for an artifact called the Stone of Gol.
With due credit to Star Trek Wiki, here is a brief resume of the story and the artifact in question.
The Stone of Gol was an ancient weapon conceived on Vulcan during the turbulent times before the Time of Awakening.
It functioned as a psionic resonator which amplified telepathic energy, specifically any violent thoughts and emotions many hold, and then turned them back upon the person experiencing them.
However, if the target was able to empty their mind of violent thoughts, the resonator had nothing to amplify and so was unable to operate. Since the teachings of Surak were aimed at precisely this kind of emotional control, the psionic resonator subsequently became useless against his followers during the Time of Awakening.
Following Surak's success at bringing logic to Vulcan, the resonator was largely forgotten. Over time it became known as the "Stone of Gol", known only as a myth and it was believed to have been destroyed by the Vulcan gods. In truth, the weapon became disassembled and its three pieces became scattered over large distances of space.
The Vulcan Isolationist Movement stole the first fragment in 2369 and hired the mercenary Arctus Baran to find the two remaining pieces.
Captain Jean-Luc Picard managed to infiltrate the crew of Baran's ship and located all three pieces. T'Paal, a member of the isolationist movement, had also infiltrated the crew as Romulan mercenary Tallera and attempted to steal the resonator.
She successfully reassembled the Stone of Gol in the T'Karath Sanctuary and used it against the mercenaries but Picard was able to interpret the Vulcan pictograms on the resonator to work out how to withstand an attack.
The Vulcans took custody of the resonator and promised Picard that they would destroy all three fragments.
Here are some screencaps of the Stone of Gol.
The prop itself has a somewhat chequered and interesting history.
During the filming of the episode, and after the close-up shots were done, the prop was stolen from the set. Till this day, its whereabouts remain unknown.
For the rest of the show, another sculpt had to be made, but this time, the original drawing made by Rick Sternbach was used for the ‘symbol of peace’.
Note the ‘symbol for peace’ on the right (versus the ‘symbol for war’ on the left) has typical Vulcan hair.
The Sternbach drawing, where the symbol of peace is bald.
Another interesting trivia is that when the foam sculpt was being cast, the mold, unfortunately, did not seal very well.
This resulted in the foam releasing air as the silicone was curing, resulting in the formation of many ‘balls & warts’.
All subsequent casts from this mold exhibit the exact same imperfections.
They were of course cleaned up for filming of the rest of the episode, and I had to do exactly the same with the replica I obtained, which is cast from that original mold by HMS Mike.
Like the cherry on the proverbial cake, Mike sent me a dozen photos that showed in great detail exactly how the original screen-used prop was painted.
I followed this scheme inasmuch as humanly possible, paying particular attention to the placement of the copper highlights.
Without further ado, and after the wart removal and paint, here is my Stone of Gol replica.
Here it is on display, flanked by the two Star Trek playing cards that refer to the Stone of Gol
And the 'new' wall is hereby inaugurated
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