RTR Blog: Reflections of the Future Trading Card Set

It seems fitting that after reviewing an episode on the podcast that centered around a baseball card that I would take a look at a collection of Star Trek cards that I've had in a binder for some time in the first installment of my Artifacts From the Future series. The story actually begins with a previous blog in which I reflected on my trip to Star Trek: The Exhibit many years ago (if you missed it, check it out here). I picked up my first packs of the Reflections of the Future trading cards at the gift shop after my visit to Star Trek: The Exhibit. Years and years later I finished off the set. Let's take a look at it.

It was a cool set that had a nice look with full colour glossy photos with subtle series specific graphics in the background and another small photo with a description on the back of each card. I didn't complete the set until recently, but I always enjoyed pulling these out once in a while and flipping through them.

Originally released by Skybox as part of Star Trek's 30^th Anniversary back in 1996, Reflections of the Future was released in three Phases over the course of 1996, each with two distinct themes which were easily identified by six color coded icons. Phase One covered ships and technology, Phase Two covered aliens and personnel and Phase Three covered cosmic phenomena and tribute. Each Phase consisted of 100 cards and the last few cards of each phase served as a preview to the next phase. There were also numerous chase cards and rare inserts (of which I had none).

Phase One included many of the well known starships from the first 30 years of Star Trek. Being a starship aficionado, this is probably my favourite part of the set. All the ships you would expect are there as well as a few one offs and weird ones from the animated series. It also included cards depicting some of the technology of Star Trek. Some of these were a bit obscure and the explanations were very rudimentary making this the part of the set that I probably look at the least.

Phase Two begins with the alien races from the Star Trek universe. It has a great assortment of the aliens we have seen over the first 30 years of Star Trek from the most well known to a few memorable one offs. It's pretty solid, mostly avoiding boring one offs and sticking to the aliens that stick out in your mind. The second half of Phase Two covers the personnel which to me is the meat of the set. Each of the main characters from the first four series is featured as well as several recurring characters. Each character gets a nice sum up on the back and the photo choices are pretty solid, particularly the Original Series personnel who are depicted in their movie garb on the backs of the cards.

Phase Three covers many of the cosmic phenomena encountered by our heroes. Although some are generic, most are phenomena that were central to many of the most memorable episodes of the franchise to that point. Some memories were definitely stirred going through this section. The tribute section is an interesting mix. It has cards featuring some celebrities that appeared on the show during the first 30 years of Star Trek. It features a cool 9 card timeline that forms a large single image when the nine cards are placed together. It finishes with cards highlighting the major awards won by Star Trek series over the first 30 years. A nice section showing off some of the high points of the franchise.

I wasn't really into trading cards when I first stumbled upon this set back in 1996, so I didn't really go out of my way to find them after my initial discovery at Star Trek: The Exhibit. I was happy to have the opportunity to complete this set later on though. It's a nice set that covers the first 30 years of Star Trek pretty well. The base sets are pretty easy to find on eBay these days and are relatively inexpensive to acquire. The chase cards and inserts I'm not as sure about, but if you are a serious card collector looking for a Star Trek set to go after, this one is not a bad choice from the 90s. I'm glad I stumbled upon it all those years ago and that I had an opportunity to complete the base set later on.

Keep checking back for more Artifacts From the Future!