Friday, April 19, 2013

MORK Toys From Mattel


As I've mentioned before, I did watch Mork & Mindy regularly when it originally aired, although I've found it nearly impossible to sit through an episode as an adult. Still, it was a huge part of Star Kid culture, and was - or at least, Robin Williams was - quite a pop culture phenomenon in its time. Today's YouTube find is a vintage commercial for Mattel's line of Mork toys - action figures, plush dolls, and even a "Ork Egg" variation on their popular Slime product.
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10 comments:

  1. Sir A1l1April 19, 2013 at 12:41 AM

    I had the nine-inch doll for some reason. For a high school video, I ended up chopping off the head and using it as the basis of a Karl Marx Pez Despenser.

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  2. GarethApril 19, 2013 at 5:01 AM

    I had the five-inch figure with the egg spaceship. I combined him with my Star War figures and Mork played several supporting characters in my Star Wars stories, whilst I remember the egg at one point was a machine which drained jedi of their powers!

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  3. AnonymousApril 19, 2013 at 6:40 AM

    In the Federal Republic of Germany, this series was titled "Mork vom Ork". Translates as "Mork of / from Ork". I can´t say for sure, but it´s unlikely, that any merchandise was offered to west-german audiences. Watched some episodes some time ago. Was very irritated by the laughing track. Sitcoms would be better off not using those "We tell you, what to find funny!"-tracks. The female lead is still charming and likeable. But the frantic antics of Mr. Williams come across as dull most of the time. His enforced silly persona and style of comedy is his achilles heel. A more toned down and focused performance and he would be funny. Still a series - for all it´s shortcomings - that resonates and reminds one of "happier" childhood days.

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  4. Jim RyanApril 19, 2013 at 7:49 AM

    Any idea who the pitch man is (the actor with most of the lines)? He looks/sounds familiar...

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  5. AnonymousApril 19, 2013 at 11:19 AM

    I often switched the Egg Ship with the Escape pod from my Land of the Jawas Playset.I just thought Mork and Threepio would occasionally like a different ride.Mork also hung out in the Creature Cantina.He usually outsmarted the thugs and smugglers and made a nasty place a little more upbeat.

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  6. bygrinstowApril 19, 2013 at 11:42 AM

    I'm imagining a shelf in Robin Williams' house where a line-up of those toys are kept... The Ork Egg goo is still in there, albeit in a denser, drier form. The dolls voices are all slower and deeper, and click in odd syncopation.

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  7. SteveApril 19, 2013 at 12:07 PM

    In a time of Star Wars toys and other cool offerings, Mork was never on my Christmas list. As a kid, buying Mork meant that I would have one less Star Wars figure. I remember seeing the Egg ship in department stores and noting the lack of detail on the face. It was like seeing those odd "Happy Days" toys. I acknowledged its existence, but would never have asked for one. :)

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  8. jasonApril 19, 2013 at 12:09 PM

    I remember wearing a Mork from Ork t-shirt along with a pair of his signature rainbow suspenders, but had no idea there were ever toys.

    As for the series... yeah. We thought it was hilarious in its day because we'd never seen anything at all like Williams' stream-of-consciousness weirdness, but I don't think it's aged very well. Few sitcoms do, in my opinion, but especially those that depend on some sort of gimmick or cult-of-personality, like this one did...

    Still, as you say, it was part of the late '70s Star Kid culture, and it's a happy memory for me.

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  9. samslamApril 20, 2013 at 11:00 AM

    One of my kids had the Mork doll with space pack. The immortal line: "Shazbot don't look at me like that!" is still in our family's vocabulary.

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  10. TimMay 4, 2013 at 4:31 PM

    I guess I'm a little more tolerable when it comes to Robin Williams' brand of manic humor, but I can understand the sentiment. I've always had the same problem with Jim Carrey. A little of him goes a long way, too.

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