On my way home from the printers picking up samples of Toy-Ventures (coming this week) I stopped into The Toy Society, a retro shop on my way home.
When I saw this on the shelf, it had to come home with me. Fortunately for me, it was reasonable because my reaction to it certainly wasn't, it was like seeing an old friend.
These Happy Meals seem to represent a good time for me as a kid, where everything was going great and somehow that feeling of overwhelming optimism I had as a kid is now connected to this piece of cardboard.
Honestly, I felt a swirl of emotion, things were going great at school, I had tons of friends, I had discovered Judy Bloom and Crestwood Monster books, I was really quite pleased with my fourth-grade existence.
I don't want to get all "woo-woo" but you go through a lot of self-doubts when you start something like a new publication and before I got to the Toy Society, my head, already woozy from the fumes of printer's ink was also filled with the worry that I was suffering from the "Dunning Kruger" effect.
And that is why I was so excited to see what is essentially a food wrapper from a restaurant I only now eat at begrudgingly (breakfast excepted), for that minute it was a reminder of positive times and it had to be mine.
Also, it reminds me how EXCITED I was to see Star Trek: The Motion Picture, that movie's gonna rock!
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I remember the TV commercials for the ST Happy Meal with the Klingon warrior. My first ST Happy Meal was at a McDonald's inside of Metrocenter Mall (now an abandoned mall) in Jackson, MS. The McDonald's was on the second floor, right above a Circus World toy store that was also my happy place to go when we visited that mall. I was ten years old. The ST Happy Meal came with some kind of snap-together storage ring (a big pale blue square) that you could put a couple of Tic-Tacs in or maybe a folded up secret message. The Happy Meal box showed Spock in his thruster suit and had a blurb for the phaser which basically said that the phaser, when pointed at things, made them go away. I kind of wanted a better description of the phaser than that but I guess McDonald's had to dumb the tech specs down for all the other non-ST nerds to understand and I guess that's what a phaser does ... you point it at things and it makes things go away.
ReplyDeleteGood times.
Christopher, I’m from Jackson too and I remember Metrocenter as well. Good times, long lost now...
DeleteI really enjoyed seeing this Star Trek Happy Meal box, because it was the same one I had as a kid. I remember the illustrated scene of the infamous transporter accident. It was terrifying to see it there and later on the big screen. What a wonderful time in my life that was. I’m glad that I’m not the only one who has good memories.
I had this very box and kept it for several years afterward. I totally get your feelings about it. The second I saw the picture it transported me back to 1979 and just gave me a warm feeling. Pretty cool.
ReplyDelete78-79. good years for me also....sigh.....
ReplyDeleteI loved your description Brian! That was a good year for me too, I was somewhere between Kindergarten and 1st grade! LOL
ReplyDeleteBut the scene with the transporter accident was horrifying, and that box, although not necessarily the same scene, brings back that creepy memory!
Like fear that opening the box would reveal the after-goo from the accident! Yikes!
Wow, this is weird! My son just the other day asked me what was my favorite time of life, and without hesitation I said 1978-1979. I was 10 years old and my world consisted of Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, Star Blazers, Doctor Who, Shogun Warriors, Micronauts, and Lego. It was just a spectacular time to be a kid! I'm sure there was misery too, but the beauty of memories is that the lows of life tend to get weaker, while the high points get stronger.
ReplyDeleteI still have a whole set folded up and displayed behind my old South Bend Electronic USS Enterprise from The Motion Picture. Great artwork ( and a comic strip adaptation that makes the film seem... well, more dynamic than it actually was ). I have a TMP McDonalds placemat saved somewhere too.
ReplyDeleteI get the same warm feeling about the Star Trek Happy Meals. I bought the boxes, the place mat, and a some of the toys on Ebay a few years ago. It was a happy time for me as well, and I remember Star Trek being the first McDonald's Happy Meal license. I remember I really liked the artwork on the boxes and couldn't wait to go to Lionel Playworld to get the action figures- I still have them.
ReplyDeleteI agree so much with Scott J Baker above in the comments. I was about 12 when STTMP came out and I spent a magical afternoon at the mall with my mom and sister watching it. I had gotten so excited about it in the weeks leading up to it. After the movie we went to the McDonald's in the mall and I believe I had a happy meal in that exact same box. I should have kept it. It was the capstone to a wonderful experience that I still treasure.
ReplyDeleteI remember these! Mine came with a "communicator watch," which was a plastic band with a cutout window and a scroll of paper that you could spin with the dials in order to show different ST scenes. I also remember that it broke into pieces the first day I had it.
ReplyDeleteI think that my box was slightly different (I can't say for certain, of course, because I remember a scene with Spock and Kirk walking on the surface of the sun, which I remember vividly because even as a pre-school child I knew that was wrong.
Thanks for posting!
Oh my gosh, are we twins or something?! I had that very Happy Meal box and those very happy memories came flooding back when I read your post. Thank you so much for your wonderful site and your wonderful prose. Hope the PayPal situation works out because I so want to get that book. Keep up the wonderful!
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