It was an unlikely resurrection, this second
Star Trek movie. The first one was critically panned, not least by
Starlog's writers (see
Starlog #33), and it was one of the most expensive films ever. So when Paramount decided to try again, they shunted aside Gene Roddenberry, gave the film to the studio's TV division (to make it more cheaply) ... and ended up with a modern classic in the space film genre. IMHO.
Starlog #61
68 pages (including covers)
Cover price: $2.50
Great cover photo and a strong article lineup help make this a good issue of the magazine. In fact, come to think of it, except for issue #56,
Starlog's been on a roll lately. And an unrelated thought: Ever notice that in the same season, George Lucas was about to change the name of his upcoming
Star Wars film from
The Revenge of the Jedi to
The Return of the Jedi, and Paramount changed the name of its new
Star Trek film from
The Vengeance of Khan to
The Wrath of Khan? Revenge/vengeance -- much the same word.
The rundown: Kerry O'Quinn, in "Here's One for Mom," gives us a sense of the parents who raised and inspired him; Communications letters include response to the recent
Battlestar Galactica coverage, hopes and fears for
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, more anniversary greetings (Gene Roddenberry, Jim Danforth, Gerry Anderson & Christopher Burr, and more), someone falls for a
Starlog April Fools joke, and more; in Log Entries, short news items include a roundup of summer SF books, a peek at the book
The Atomic Cafe,
Mork & Mindy is canceled, and more; the Spotlight page highlights
Blade Runner special effects.
Ed Naha continues his look at "The Re-Making of
Star Trek"; Steve Swires interviews
Trek's Walter Koenig; Bjo Trimble explores the fan fantasy (er, fantasy?) of buying the
Star Trek franchise; James Van Hise interviews
The Road Warrior's Byron Kennedy and George Miller; Ron Miller highlights the planetary artwork of Chesley Bonnestell; Robert Greenberger interviews
Conan actress Sandahl Bergman; James Van Hise interviews Sean Young, "Rachel" in
Blade Runner; David Gerrold's Soaring column revisits
Star Trek -- The Motion Picture and explores the transformation that Spock underwent in that film; Don McGregor looks at the props and vehicles used in
Megaforce; Howard T. Brody examines the building of Disney's EPCOT Center (a continuation of a series of EPCOT articles begun in the now-discontinued sister magazine
Future Life); James Van Hise sneak previews
Revenge of the Jedi (as it's still being called), complete with photos from the location shoot; Steve Swires interviews
The Thing producer Stuart Cohen; and Howard Zimmerman wraps it up in his Lastword column by talking about the magazine's two-page poster series.
"I'm still getting mail from people identifying the 'mystery photo' from issue #58 as Carol Burnett in Choo Choo and the Philly Flash. Yes, that is the correct answer; yes, it was an April Fools joke; and no, you cannot get a star named after yourselves. That was part of the joke, but some of you seem to have taken it seriously."
--Howard Zimmerman, editor, Lastword
To view previous Starlog issue descriptions, click on "Starlog Internet Archive Project" in the keywords below.
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