Weyoun's Prosthetic Vorta Ears

This is a fun prosthetic that was up in a major auction but was ignorantly listed as alien ears.  I immediately recognized them as Vorta ears, and once I got them home it didn't take long to see that they were a screen match to Weyoun.  If you look closely, there is still some wig hair caught in the interior border of the ear in the photograph on the left.  Little gems like this are always so much fun to get and I am thrilled to have another great hero piece in the collection!

Garak's Forehead Prosthetic

I haven't shared much of my DS9 makeup collection so here is a great find.  It is Garak's cardassian forehead used in many episodes but screen-matched in the early episode "Cardassians."  I personally adore Garak and he is in my top four DS9 characters along with Dukat, Weyoun, and O'Brien.  I origianlly bought this from a person who had visited the set and was given this as a gift.  When I got it home I spent hours pouring over the various cardassian characters' foreheads and it was  great news to me that it ended up being Elim Garak.  Latex appliances like this need to be treated carefully and not exposed to sunlight and it is best if kept away from any moving air as well.  I keep mine in gallon size ziplock bags with all the air removed.  By doing so, they stay soft and supple rather than drying out and cracking apart.

Karen Ferris' Red Squad Cadet Uniform

Here is a fun costume that I am glad to share on the blog;  Courtney Peldon played the mission oriented first officer Karen Ferris of the USS Valiant in the DS9 episode "Valiant."   I liked this episode despite many people's loathing of a starship run by children.  I figure that they were at the academy which took the genius child Wesley Crusher several attempts to get in, so these kids should be pretty dang insightful and capable.  This costume has the original Red Squad pin with the unaltered red color (Enterprise reused some of these pins and painted them green).  These costume are fairly rare and seldom up for sale so if you want one and ever see one advertised, you probably should pursue it!

The Cap's got a new blog!

Hi all.  I just finished putting together my new "for sale" blog for my Captain America: The First Avenger costumes so check it out at Captain America Costumes Blog and send me an email at jimmis89406@yahoo.com if interested.

Another Odo Comes Home

As you may recall from the earlier entry in Niner's Paradise, this newest Odo costume is the "clean" version of the outfit he wears when assisting Kira with Damar's resistance group. This piece is great in that it is complete and all the pieces have Rene's name inside. Odo pieces are just so very hard to find, and consequently when one turns up, I am hard pressed not to go for it. So here is the costume in all its muted and subdued glory (as most Odo's should be.)

QQQQQQQQQQQQ!!!!!

I have seen very few Q Starfleet uniforms come up for sale ever. Period. He is rare and he is a very unique character, so I am thrilled to be able to add this uniform to the collection. This costume was actually used on Voyager, however, it is the same style he wears in the second half of the Deep Space Nine season one episode "Q-Less."

John DeLancie did a fantastic job with his characterization of the arrogant and obnoxious Q, and, love the character or hate him, he is a recurring piece of Trek history over three series. This is a great alien race to add, and certainly not one that I ever imagined owning. It is hard to believe how many collecting surprises still lurk out there!

Jadzia Dax FC Distressed

I am in love with a new toy. It just arrived today and I was thrilled to get it onto a mannequin ASAP. I have been coveting a Jadzia Dax hero FC uniform for several years and serendipity dropped this one into my lap. This Deep Space Nine First Contact -style uniform came with costumer's tags indicating it was used in the 5th season and then re-used in the 6th season and finally distressed for the great episode "Rocks and Shoals." The interior sewn-in tags read Terry Ferrell and it is solid hero through and through. The one way that I always distinguish between hero and background duty uniforms is the level of tailoring specific to the actor who wore it and also the little "extra's" that are always inside. For example, with this Jadzia Dax uniform, the undershirt has a sewn-in undergarment below, and a fabric interior cover to reduce zipper irritation to her neck.

One thing I find particulary interesting with this piece is that the costumer used black spandex for the main body of the uniform jumpsuit. This differs from my male counterparts, but makes sense so that it could hug her curves and look flawless. I'd say it worked!!! The fact that this piece has some intentional distressing to the abdomen is great because it allows us to appreciate the costume for the exact scene it shows up in. Any non-distressed uniform, unless a very rare variant, is difficult to pinpoint the used episode or scene.

Mirror Universe Leeta

Just rescued from the ethers and returned to the fold is Chase Masterson's very lovely Mirror Universe costume. While not garnering tons of screentime, this is still one of the more attractive Mirror pieces I have yet seen. This costume included her earrings and I find it interesting that in the Mirror Universe, a bajoran would be wearing two earrings instead of just one. I guess that two is the "mirror opposite" of one? And yet, I can't find the earrings in any screen-caps so who knows? Anyway, I can't imagine what it would have taken to cram her into this little outfit. That must be why they laced the back and built the top with all kinds of internal ribbing. I can just imagine a costumer with their foot against her backside while pulling on the lacing with all her might like an old fashioned corset. Oh, the sacrifices actors must make for their craft!

Commander Sisko Civilian from "The Jem'Hadar"

One of my missions with this collection has been to be able to reunite certain costumes that appear together on-screen. There is something inside me that feels energized and enthused when scenes from episodes are "recreated" by uniting costumes that were parted for quite some time and then finally brought back together under my roof. This blog entry is a good example. Back in the It's A Wrap days I was lucky enough to acquire both the Hero Quark camping outfit worn by Armin Shimerman, and the Eris vorta costume worn by Molly Hagan, from the season 2 Deep Space Nine finale "The Jem'Hadar." However, this wasn't enough to satisfy my need to complete the costume scene that I had in mind, so over the course of about a year and a half, I was able to finally separate the Hero Sisko civilian outfit worn by Avery Brooks, from its overseas owner. It is now here for me to enjoy, and so without further ado, I am proud to display the three prisoners of the Jem'hadar!

Fun with Friends!

This week we have had the great fortune to have our good friends visiting from Colorado and we spent the first night under the real stars with a couple telescopes and a very clear sky. We took in some great celestial sites ranging from double stars, open clusters, globular clusters, and galaxies. It was a night devoid of mosquitoes and clouds. That is rare in the midwest!

























After that invigorating experience outside, it was time to indulge our love of the fictional universe. We took down several costumes and put up all of the pieces that I have pertaining to the Season 2 opener: "The Homecoming", "The Circle", and "The Siege." This trilogy has long been one of my favorite arcs of the early seasons so it was great fun to see all eleven costumes together at one time!













Picture from upper left to lower right: Chief O'Brien, Jadzia Dax, Bajoran Security, Bajoran Militia, Minister Jaro Essa, Vedek Winn Adami, Major Kira Nerys (duty uniform), Major Kira Nerys civilian, Vedek Bareil Antos, Li Nalas, and Quark. Screencaps of the various uniforms are below:

























































Next up, "The Jem'Hadar".

Duck and cover. Here comes THE ELIMINATOR!!

Did you ever wonder just how intimidating a Ferengi could be? Meet Leck played by Hamilton Camp. He is what the Ferengi refer to as an eliminator, that's right, not a liquidator, but someone who gets rid of individuals. A contract killer, or, in the case of "The Magnificent Ferengi", a rescue-ops contractor. Leck is a truly wonderful character, adding to the depth of the Ferengi race and great for comic relief such as in his shooting of Moogie in the practice rescue scenario on the holosuite! Leck also initially declined the offer of latinum to join, but rather decided it would be of interest to test his skills against the Jem'Hadar.

Leck's costume gives him all the "street-cred" of a successful and important Ferengi. It is beautifully detailed with gold buttons, much elaborate decoration, and some serious hardware at the neckline. The color scheme is very nicely accomplished with burgundies, oranges and golds, lending a very autumnal quality to this piece. Oh yeah, and the head-wrap is just plain awesome! So here he is in all his deadly glory. Enjoy!!

Pel

Quark's bar is full of colorful characters and aliens and I love collecting anything from his establishment. I have been enjoying this female Ferengi waiter costume worn by April Messershmidt for several years and sadly, I am only now getting around to blogging it.. What is particularly nice regarding this Ferengi is the completeness of the costume. The components include a shirt, jumpsuit, jacket, headwrap, and apron. Unknown to me, but suspected, and only upon doing some research did I discover that Pel, played by Helene Udy wore this costume first, as the female guest starring romantic lead for Quark. Her character Pel appeared in the season two episode "The Rules of Acquisition."

To begin with, the jumpsuit has two tags inside: A newer, more pristine DS9 tag with April Messerschmitt, and an older more yellowed tag with H U on it. The only female Ferengi with initials H.U. is Helen Udy. The shirt also has two tags inside, an older yellowed tag with the ink removed from cleaning and a newer tag with again, April Messerschmitt. With no legible name on the older tag, it comes down to screen matching the pattern. If you watch the episode and pay close attention, it can be determined that at least two different shirts were worn. My shirt obviously matches to the very beginning during the Tongo scene and also several other scenes including the end. There are several screen-caps below for comparison. Finally the coat is also Pel's based on the appearance of the jackets right side lapel applique. In person it is quite obvious that there are bulges on what should be the flat portions in between the black rubber ridges in both the second, third and fourth segments from the bottom. Those bulges correspond on-screen with some very directionally distinct highlights under the bright filming lights. I must say that I am over the moon with this news and so very excited to finally have a costume that IS more than it seemed when first purchased. "The Rules of Acquisition" may not have ended happily for Quark, but this is one chapter in collecting with a very good outcome!