DS9 Memories From the Future Set
Release Date: April 28, 1998
9 Cards Per Pack
36 Packs Per Box
Production Run-19,000
Set Composition
| Base Set-100 | Greatest Aliens-9 | 1:4 | |
| Greatest Legends-9 | 1:6 | Greatest Battles-9 | 1:16 |
| Autographs-20 | 1:36 | Captain’s Card-1 | 1:720 |
Base Set
Rather than a Profiles or Episode format, DS9 Memories From the Future features 99 of the greatest moments in DS9’s history. Each moment has its own card and seeded in the packs of cards are ballots where collectors selected their favorite 9 moments. The votes were tallied and the top nine moments were turned into a gold foil set of 9 cards, limited to 999 sets.
Inserts
- 9 Greatest Alien Races foil inserts
- Greatest Legends (as told by Sisko) foil inserts
- Greatest Space Battles embossed foil inserts
- This set also included another in the Captain’s Card series, a “multi-layered laminate card” hand numbered to 1200. At the time of Voyager Profiles release, an unknown number of the Sisko, Picard and Kirk Captain’s cards started circulating through the secondary market. These cards were unnumbered. All 4 Captain’s cards were printed at the same time and the printer put all 4 cards into the master sets used by SkyBox for internal and external use (such as gifts or promotionals). Later, SkyBox went back and reprinted the three cards since they felt the color was too dark. So, it is possible to tell the difference between the first print Kirk, Picard or Sisko and the reprinted ones in terms of the print quality. The reprints are brighter and more colorful.
- There are 20 autographs in this set. One collector notes that this set may have been taken out of the oven before it was done cooking. This comment is in reaction to the 4 redemption cards for this set. Avery Brooks, Rick Berman, Chase Masterson and Nicole DeBoer all have redemption cards. The Rick Berman autograph, originally planned to be a short-print at 500 cards, became even rarer when not as many were signed as was originally expected. SkyBox declines to say exact numbers, but says “While we can not reveal the exact quantity, this will surely be one of the toughest Star Trek cards to find.” The text version of the press release does not include the Avery Brooks autograph card
UPDATE: In 2005, various auctions toted the number at as low as 50 and as high as 500, so the author contacted Richard Arnold, Star Trek Consultant and Former Assistant to Gene Roddenberry. He contacted Doug, Rick Berman’s assistant, who was kind enough to ask Rick about this. He clearly recalls signing and returning 200 copies of his autograph card.
Autograph Variations
- Chase Masterson’s autograph comes in blue, silver and gold.
- Nicole DeBoer signed in both thin and thick pens.
- Siddig signed in both blue and black. The black version has a thick and thin variation.
- In 2012, an auction for an uncut sheet of DS9 redemption and auto cards was listed on Ebay. Of special interest was a second A18, Avery Brooks autograph card, with a different pose then what was used in the card set. It is not know why the card was printed or if it was used in any way.
Promos
- One general release unnumbered promo card
Misc. Items
- The set of 9 gold cards was released in the fall of 1999. SkyBox tabulated the votes from the mail-in ballots and created 9 gold foil cards based on the moments collectors liked best. The fronts show the same images as the cards in the common set, but gold foil. The backs are also similar to the common set, but have a gold foil stamp xxx/999 and are labeled G1-G9. The sets cost $39.99 and were purchased directly from SkyBox.
- Dealer incentives for this set included an uncut sheet of the Greatest Aliens and Greatest Legends cards.
- Redemption Cards for DeBoer, Brooks, Berman and Masterson
- Binder
- Ballot
- Sell Sheet
- In 2007, a series of auctions were listed on Ebay with redemption versions of many of the cards from TNG Profiles, DS9 MFF, Voyager CTH. Most of these were not inserted into packs as redemptions. Not much is known, except that it’s possible that when printing the autograph cards, redemption versions were made at the same time in case needed.