Dismal Set To Collect, Even Worse By The Pack: "Voyager: Closer To Home!"
Written: Oct 25 '08
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Good images, Decent autographs, Interesting chase sets
Cons: Use of redemption cards, Poor copy-editing on common set, Redundant chase cards, Expensive by-the-pack
The Bottom Line: Finally I can completely pan the "Voyager Closer To Home" cards! Why? Any value it has by-the-box is eliminated when buying these cards by the pack!
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| wlswarts's Full Review: Star Trek Voyager Closer To Home Trading Card Pack... |
There are some things to love about Epinions and the way it is structured as far as considering some things that are virtually identical the same. So, for example, having separate listings for individual boxes and bulk packs of boxes of teas seems silly to me, but it allows one to review many things and if one is on the fence about something, re-evaluating it in a different size/bulk can let us re-rate something with different criteria.
That's where I am now about the "Star Trek: Voyager" Closer To Home trading cards. When I evaluated this terrible set by the unopened box (reviewed at: http://www.epinions.com/content_442176605828 ), I was forced to concede that from an objective standard things like having most of the cast signing and the Command Crew cards gave it some inherant value that even I could not trash.
Not so for the individual packs! First of all, unopened, random packs suggest culling: people who have cracked open boxes and cases of the trading cards searching for the high end autographs or Command Crew cards. Given the difficulty in assembling this large and poorly constructed set, by the pack is likely to be ridiculously expensive, if not an entirely impossible way to collect the "Closer To Home" set.
Basics/Set Composition
Properly assembled, the "Star Trek: Voyager Closer To Home" set of trading cards includes 160 cards, all but six are found in the boxes of "Voyager Closer To Home" trading cards. SkyBox was notorious for releasing sets of trading cards incomplete, with redemption cards, and the "Voyager Closer To Home" set is one of those. Sadly, this is also one of the worst assembled common sets ever produced by Fleer/SkyBox and it makes one almost wonder why the bothered . . . oh, yes, they had to exploit the arrival of Seven Of Nine. Bypassing a sensible "Star Trek: Voyager Season Three" set that had long been promised to fans, "Voyager Closer To Home" leapt ahead to provide cards that capitalized on the appearance of the buxom Seven of Nine on "Star Trek: Voyager" to try to sell the trading cards.
The "Voyager Closer To Home" set is comprised of a 100 card common set and sixty chase cards, which include autographs, a promotional card, two redemption cards and three different case topper incentive cards based on the size of the case purchased. The set includes a pretty wide array of images from the third through fifth seasons of the popular science fiction show. Wherever possible, the images include Seven Of Nine, an annoying conceit, but at least the set is pretty obvious about what it is doing. Fortunately, the first thirty-three cards - because they precede Seven's arrival - are absent the busty Borg.
The "Voyager Closer To Home" trading cards were originally released in packs of nine cards with thirty-six packs per box. They remain one of the hardest to find unopened boxes because of the popularity of the subject. As well, there was a binder released by SkyBox to hold the complete set.
Common Cards
The "Voyager Closer To Home" common card set is comprised of one hundred cards. The cards are randomly spread between the three seasons of "Star Trek: Voyager" from the third through fifth season. There are basically thirty-three cards for the third season, twenty-nine for the fifth and twenty-eight for the sixth season, as well as nine cards focusing on villains from "Star Trek: Voyager" plus a checklist. Some of the episodes have multiple cards ("Basics," "Flashback," and "The Q And The Grey," for example each have three) while others are represented by a single card (almost all of the fifth and sixth season episodes).
The common card set is quite poorly-conceived and executed. The cards are randomly oriented between portrait and landscape orientations and there is no rhyme or reason between them when putting them into a binder. As well, they are poorly written and there are at least ten cards in the common set that end abruptly in the middle of the sentence!
Even more baffling is the numbering system. The cards start with number 178, suggesting that SkyBox intends for fans to continue the set where the "Star Trek: Voyager Season Two" trading cards ended. However, that number does not include the checklist cards to that set or the chase cards, which took that set up to card #202! As a result, there is a somewhat ridiculous sense to this common set.
Chase Cards
After the common set, there are sixty bonus cards, all but five are found in the packs of trading cards. The first nine are a set of Advanced Technology cards. These were inserted one in every four packs and they are a simple card detailing new technologies and ships Voyager encountered in the three year span. All that makes them bonus cards (other than the numbering) is a thin bit of foil.
The next level of chase cards (chase, bonus and insert cards all being the same thing - additional cards with alternate numbering that are in addition to the common cards which usually have some gimmick to them) is the Adventures Of Captain Proton set. This problematic chase set is highly sought after, despite its relative ease of assembly (they were found one in every eight packs). While all of the backs are oriented in portrait orientation, the fronts are a mix of portrait and landscape, making for a disappointing look when assembled in the binder. These cards are simple black and white cards illustrating characters as they appear in the Captain Proton holodeck scenario. The subject is all that seems to make this set popular.
The next tier of the chase cards are the Interstellar Species cards and admittedly, these are cool cards. Made of green plastic, the images of alien races from "Star Trek: Voyager" are silk screened on. The backs have Seven Of Nine's observations on the aliens on the front and that makes them interesting to fans of Seven as well as more moderate "Star Trek: Voyager" fans. These are found approximately one in every twelve packs and they have retained their value over the years quite well.
The set is duplicated, however, with an even rarer orange plastic set. The orange plastic cards are identical to the original Interstellar Species cards, save that they are printed on translucent orange plastic. These were estimated to be three orange cards per every twenty boxes, making the set one of the hardest to complete!
Then there are the nine autograph cards and these are almost the real grails of the "Voyager Closer To Home" set. The entire main cast of "Star Trek: Voyager" signed autograph cards for this set, but two of them did not get their autograph cards in in time. As a result, A1 and A7, Janeway and Seven are only available in packs as redemption cards, which have long since expired. Even more problematic for those still able to get their hands on boxes of "Voyager Closer To Home" cards: there are no guarantees of an autograph in a box! Instead, in any box, collectors get either an autograph or one of the nine Command Crew lenticular cards.
The Command Crew cards are an interesting chase card. After years of making lenticular cards with multiple frames of motion, Fleer/SkyBox simplified for the Command Crew cards. These are lenticular cards that simply establish a three-dimensional image of each of the main cast of "Star Trek: Voyager" on their lenticular surface. The backs of each card has a brief description of the character and is individually numbered out of 750. These cards have retained their value well in the secondary market and even now command prices in the $50 range!
Non-Box/Pack Cards
There were six non-box chase cards. There was a very standard promotional card. It is a shot of the complete cast and it is relatively easy to find in the secondary market.
The next level of cards not found in the boxes are the two autographs for which there are redemption cards. The only way to find the Kate Mulgrew and Jeri Ryan autograph cards now is on the secondary market. Unfortunately, since SkyBox no longer holds the license, anyone who pulls one of the redemption cards will be unable to redeem it for an autograph. This kind of gimmick is very frustrating to collectors and fans and it is enough to cost the set a point in my book.
As well, the final level of chase is just annoying. There were three types of cases for the "Voyager Closer To Home" set: six box, twelve-box and twenty box cases. Each size case had a different casetopper. The casetoppers were oversized Command Crew cards of Chakotay, Janeway and Seven of Nine, respectively. Finding unopened cases is near impossible, as is tracking down these oversized cards. Unlike the original Command Crew cards, these are not individually numbered.
Overall
From the common card set, which is poorly conceived and executed, through the difficult to find and assemble high level chase sets, "Voyager Closer To Home" was a disappointment when it was first released. It remains a thorn in many collector's sides, but investors make out well given several of the cards' rarities, keeping it from being the worst trading card set Fleer/SkyBox ever produced for the "Star Trek" franchise. But investors even considering this set for the high end items should invest wisely and that is most certainly not the case if one is purchasing by the individual packs.
Now, finally, it's easy to recommend that people avoid this gruesomly bad set.
This set culls images from:
"Star Trek: Voyager" - Season Three - http://www.epinions.com/content_292247080580
"Star Trek: Voyager" - Season Four - http://www.epinions.com/content_293612064388
"Star Trek: Voyager" - Season Five - http://www.epinions.com/content_294152146564
For other "Star Trek: Voyager" trading cards reviewed by me, please check out:
"Star Trek: Voyager Profiles" - http://www.epinions.com/content_438683537028
"Star Trek: Voyager Season One Series One" - http://www.epinions.com/content_411389496964
"Star Trek: Voyager Season One Series Two" -http://www.epinions.com/content_411445726852
"Star Trek: Voyager Season Two" - http://www.epinions.com/content_426529033860
The Legends Of Seven Of Nine - http://www.epinions.com/content_439061089924
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 2.00
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wlswarts
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