There had been a time when motion picture studios and trading card manufacturers fostered a symbiotic relationship. Today, film licenses (especially those of summer blockbusters) remain mostly out of a card maker's financial reach. However, as you'll read below in this Time Capsule, the hobby at one time supported multiple products of a single film.

For his work on Terminator 3—Rise of the Machines, Arnold Schwarzenegger took home $27 million, a handy sum as the actor soon ventured into California state politics. T3 offered the hobby double-barreled marketing shots. Comic Images' president Alan Gordon told NSU of his smooth business relations with the film's licensing agent. The results are evident in the finished product. The 72-card base set is backed by five signature cards including Arnold, co-stars Kristanna Loken and Nick Stahl, and makeup/special effects legend Stan Winston. Three costume cards were offered through redemption. Artbox Entertainment used its Terminator license to produce the firm's first non-cartoon collectibles. T2—Judgment Day FilmCardz contained seven autograph inserts (including Linda Hamilton), five FilmWear costumes and an additional Schwarzenegger costume case topper. Artbox simultaneously published a T3 FilmCardz series.

The 2003 Hulk movie drew mixed critical reactions and earned less than $250 million in worldwide box office receipts. Manufacturer enthusiasm for Hulk also spawned dual trading card offerings, resulting in some overlapping art and chase card concepts. Most of Upper Deck's 81-card base employs motion picture imagery, but a minority depicts the character's comic art persona. Some of the base movie card backs discuss the film's visual usage of original comic book elements. Two chase series were produced. Ten cards revealed film scenes, and 45 cards were devoted to Hulk comic covers. Upper Deck created two 1-of-1 cut signature cards of Hulk co-creator Jack Kirby, with the second specimen also autographed by Stan Lee. Topps responded to the film's impressive pre-release publicity with a set concentrating on the Hulk the comic book figure. The 72-card base is supported by a 10-card foil-stamped chase set and five Crystal Clear acetate cards. Additionally, four artists contributed sketch cards.

When Rittenhouse Archives uses Complete as a product designator, it signals to hobbyists thorough coverage of a subject, whether it's Star Trek, James Bond or television properties such as Babylon 5. The Complete Highlander: The Series examines all 119 episodes of the syndicated sci-fi adventure which ended its original six-season run in 1998. One base card is devoted to each broadcast, along with six season recap cards and an opening series synopsis card. Twenty autograph cards were produced, including those of lead actor Adrian Paul as Duncan MacLeod, the 400-year-old Immortal. A One From The Archives Adrian Paul costume card, one die-cut case topper and six acetate film cel cards comprise the scarce chase levels. Three checklist cards introduced the four more common foil-stamped insert sets. The configuration includes a 22-card Highlander: The Raven chase set detailing the one-season spin-off series after the original Highlander ceased production.

The star of Inkworks' Charmed: The Power of Three is not the trio of sisters who bewitched weekly television audiences. Billy Drago appeared in just three Charmed episodes when the actor contributed signature cards for this set. Drago offered more than his cursives; the pasteboards displayed clever epigrams analogous to his character. Throughout Summer 2003, Card Talk members relished these autograph variants (here) and confirmed at least 75 different expressions. Allan Caplan, so impressed with Drago's enthusiasm, employed him for two other Charmed issues—Conversations (2005) and Destiny (2006). Even when Inkworks switched to sticker-strip signatures for Supernatural Season 3, the performer prevailed with more sinister statements for hobbyists to chase.

Dynamic Forces, and its equally charismatic operations chief, tended to frustrate both collectors and hobby writers. Plans for a new collectible would surface, be discussed, then street dates would arrive and recede with no product forthcoming. These things happen, but with Dynamic Forces, cancellations had been slightly more than atypical. Case in point is Vampirella, that babe-of-the-night who crept into a few sensual Topps and Comic Images sets in the mid-1990s and would rise again for Breygent Marketing last year. B-movie actress Julie Strain served as one of Dynamic's Vampirella models, but apparently all for naught. Any wide-eyed parties awaiting this issue were left only with a wisp of the imagination.