KURE 5-56 is Japan’s version of WD-40. It’s hard to make a connection between a lubricating spray and "Star Trek," but one Japanese company managed to do just that, incorporating clips from the newest movie, "Star Trek Into Darkness," into a commercial. The company also gave rise to their own version of first officer, Mister Spock.
First, a little background on the movie. In one of the very first scenes, Captain Kirk decides to hide the Enterprise at the bottom of the ocean. Scotty, the ship’s engineer, worries that the Enterprise will rust in the sea water. The maker of KURE 5-56, which acts as a lubricant and anti-rust spray, uses this dialogue to sell their product. The commercial starts out with Scotty freaking out about the possibility of rust (a scene that actually happened in the movie) and it’s from this point that the commercial takes a turn for the weird.
Japanese Spock comes into the picture and tells Scotty, “You don’t know anything do you?” and proceeds to explain how KURE 5-56 helps stop rust. He then takes off his helmet, showing off his pointed Vulcan ears.
Cut to a few more clips from the Star Trek movie and it’s back to Japanese Spock encouraging Captain Kirk to sit in his chair.
The commercial is over in 31 seconds, but the maker of KURE 5-56 manages to pack in a lot of weird.
The YouTube video is below.
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14 Comments
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MissingCylonModel
(Star Trek nerd here) Is that Mr Spock or just another representative of the Vulcan species? Spock is in the ad as well. Not so many Vulcans in the reboot franchise, but some did survive (though unlikely that they would take on underwater repair jobs).
jonobugs
Hm, laughter, I think. Japanese "Spock" seems more like Smeagol from Lord of the Rings than Spock. I wonder if they obtained the rights to show those short clips of Star Trek though...
praack
well i am laughing but crying at the same time
laughing because it is so funny- crying because it is not what roddenberry ever wanted the show to be used as
Nessie
Roddenberry penned unused lyrics to the theme song to snag 50% of the song royalties.
He explained as such: "Hey, I have to get some money somewhere. I'm sure not gonna get it out of the profits of Star Trek."
He'd have flogged Star Trek rights for rust spray profits in a Ferengi second.
Stan Dingback
I giggled when I saw this. One of the best-ever ads in my book!
OssanAmerica
Interesting that the article skips entirely the fact that it is Izumiya Shigeru, an extremely well known actor (previously musician) so the impact of the CM to a Japanese audience is probably quite different to a non-Japanese one. He's obviously not a "Japanese Spock" since the real one appears saying he doesn't know who that guy is, when asked by Kirk. As one who started watching Star Trek on Monday nights at 800pm on NBC in 1966, I don't think this CM was weird or gives cause for "flipping out", since many of us fans already think the countless spin-offs are weird. It's just a comic spoof of the latest movie.
Serrano
"I giggled when I saw this"
Me too! Hee hee!
philly1
Right, the character is a Japanese Vulcan. A better choice might have been Data a Japanese Android--a nod to the highly developed state of robotics in Japan as well as a wink to the dutiful salary-man.
Nessie
Terrible voice acting for the Zachary Quinto Spock voiceover.
Lowly
I was not overly moved. It looked like an ad for oil-spray to me.
But wait-! Reading the comments-- There are Japanese Vulcans?? Would that be like a super-vulcan?
FizzBit
I'd rather watch this commercial than that dumb movie, and I'm one of the biggest Star Trek (60's series only) fans there are! JJ Abrams got lost in LOST, and is now lost. Where have the writers gone to, or they all working for the Dems and Repubs. now? What a disapointment to watch, all they did was copy from an old Star Trek series and movie.
JoshuYaki
I like the generic white English teacher cum actor in the beginning. I am sure he will be showing this ad for decades to anyone that will watch it.
Aaron Loki Brummett
This is why I blew up Vulcun! This is why romulans are always going to be better!