Starlog #30
68 pages (including covers)
Cover price: $1.95
The Year of Trek continues at Starlog, with an iconic Trek photo on the cover (a photo that would be flipped over and used again on the cover of the first Starlog Scrapbook photo magazine in a year or two, and that was used -- in its flipped version -- on the cover of the Japanese edition of Starlog). The magazine also has quite a coup with the first of three excerpts of actor/writer Walter Koenig's book, Chekov's Enterprise.
The contents page photo is a beautiful shot of the Enterprise in dry dock. Kerry O'Quinn's From the Bridge column is a grab bag of notes on different topics, which is probably why it's called "Grab Bag Notes"; Communications reader letters include William F. Nolan taking credit for a space comedy script mentioned in a previous issue, Brick Price explaining at length the Star Trek special effects debacle, and even someone's report on their summer vacation. Log Entries short news items include a production report on The Empire Strikes Back, a roundup of British science-fiction television programs, two fans who had a Star Wars-themed wedding, and more.
David Houston interviews Robert Wise, director of Star Trek -- The Motion Picture; Alex York provides a retrospective of a different Gene Roddenberry production, the stillborn effort The Questor Tapes; Walter Koenig's diary from the Star Trek movie, Chekov's Enterprise, begins its three-issue serialization; "Great Moments in Science Fiction" is an illustrated two-page feature; David Gerrold's Rumblings estimates how much the Trek movie will have to earn at the box office to cover its bloated budget; Gerry Anderson's Space Report this month is a one-page photo feature of Martin Bower's miniature work from Space: 1999; David Houston interviews Star Trek -- The Motion Picture production designer Harold Michaelson; Karen E. Willson profiles female stuntwomen; David Hutchison's SFX article explores the art of the matte-scan (focusing on Harrison Ellenshaw); David Houston's Visions column explores "Artificial Intelligence: The Rulers of the World" (obviously including HAL 9000 in the mix); and Howard Zimmerman ends the issue with thoughts on the meaning of the new Trek film.
"At $42,000,000, Star Trek will be the most expensive motion picture ever filmed inside the continental United States and the third most expensive motion picture in history; Cleopatra cost $44,000,000, and the Russian version of War and Peace cost $100,000,000. ... Star Trek is going to have to earn at least $84,000,000 and maybe as much as $126,000,000 (depending on the various deals involved) before it actually shows a profit."
--David Gerrold, columnist, Rumblings: "The Bottom Line"To view previous Starlog Archive issues, click on "Starlog Internet Archive Project" in the keywords below.
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