Starlog #46
68 pages (including covers)
Cover price: $2.50
Rather than continue the Year of Empire (okay, that name is wearing thin even on me, and I coined it), the editors reach back in time this issue to remember Star Wars: Episode IV with some cool pix.
Kerry O'Quinn's on a roll lately with his inspirational, get-off-your-butt-and-make-your-dreams-come-true editorials, and he doesn't stop in this month's From the Bridge, in which he defines science-fiction fans as being the hope for a better tomorrow; Communications letters include reader reactions to Scanners and the revamped Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, the new Doctor Who (Peter Davison), SF musical scores, and more; Log Entries short items include the big news that Star Trek is returning -- to television, first news of Heartbeeps, controversy behind the scenes of Altered States, George Lucas makes a big ($5 million) donation to USC, and more.
Alan Brender interviews star Harry Hamlin of Clash of the Titans; David Gerrold uses his Rumblings column to talk about science-fiction tarot cards (the art in them, that is); a four-page feature showcases some never-before-seen (?) color and black-and-white photos from Star Wars: A New Hope; Susan Adamo uncovers the special effects magic that makes William Katt's character fly in The Greatest American Hero TV series; Robert Greenberger previews Superman II (including a sidebar on the Superman II comics); Alan Brender interviews actress Blair Brown about Altered States; Jeff Szalay reports on Reach for the Sun, a PBS science-fiction special; Ron Goulart visits the science-fiction comics of the 1960s and 1970s in the final part of his SF comics series; Samuel J. Maronie interviews SFX and production Designer Joe Alves (Escape from New York, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Forbidden Planet); David Houston hasn't abandoned the magazine completely, as he shows with his SFX article on Monster Planet (I'm just thinking that Monster Planet would be a good name for a cable channel); Sharon Griner and Jerome Bixby each contribute short (in Bixby's case, ultra-short) stories to the Quest page; David Hirsch's In Syndication column looks at syndication via the public broadcasting stations; and, last but not least, Howard Zimmerman's Lastword column says he's underwhelmed by the new Buck Rogers, urges people to read Fangoria, and passes along news that Harlan Ellison will be writing a short story in the windows of a B. Dalton Booksellers in New York.
"The first draft of the script weighed in at 300 or so pages and would have made a six hour film. A second draft didn't do much better and when it came to revisions, [Mario] Puzo said he was 'all Supermanned out.' His interpretation of the Man of Steel was close to the James Bond films but with a lot of 'camp' elements, similar to the Batman TV series."
--Robert Greenberger, writer, "Superman II: The Adventure Continues"To view previous Starlog issue descriptions, click on "Starlog Internet Archive Project" in the keywords below.
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