The Starlog Project: Starlog #68, March 1983: Double 007

Starlog bounces back pretty handily after last month's embarrassment of a blurry cover photo. This month, not only is the photo crisp and clear, but they've cheekily merged two Bond images -- in the days before Photoshop -- into one, thus making it look as if Roger Moore and Sean Connery are standing together (with Moore pointing his gun at his predecessor). Nice job.

Starlog #68
68 pages (including covers)
Cover price: $2.50

Bob Martin ("Uncle Bob" to his readers and fans), the editor of sister magazine Fangoria, becomes a regular contributor to Starlog this month with his Space Age Games column, wherein we find out that the horror movie mag editor is a video game addict.

The rundown: Kerry O'Quinn recounts some of his "Tribbleations" with longtime columnist David Gerrold, who called him following O'Quinn's Spielberg and Ultimate Fantasy editorials to remind him that readers look to this publisher for positive, not negative, ideas; Communications letters include responses to David Gerrold's column about fan criticisms of Star Trek (with a further response from the author), some final (?) thoughts on the E.T. controversy, Norman Spinrad's reaction to reader criticisms of his Blade Runner review, and more; Log Entries short items include first news of David Cronenberg's Videodrome, a look at the life of Robert E. Howard, Revenge of the Jedi is officially changed to Return of the Jedi, filmmaker Verna Fields passes away, and more.

Don McGregor interviews Octopussy director John Glen; Ed Naha's L.A. Offbeat column chats with director L.Q. Jones about A Boy and His Dog, his famed film adaptation of Harlan Ellison's novella; Quest remembers the late Starfleet officer Spock with a collection of poetry and short fiction from Donna R. Bryant, Patricia Keen, Cathy Palmer, and Donna L. Harvey; Lee Goldberg interviews Richard Maibaum ("007's Puppetmaster") about Octupussy and various Bonds (and Robert Greenberger contributes a sidebar looking at the original Bond novels by Ian Fleming); David Gerrold gives his action plan for answering letters, including his use of canned paragraphs (a sidenote: I once wrote to Gerrold, and he was nice enough to reply; I'm sure the letter contained all or mostly canned text, but it was still nice that he responded; I'm sure he had plenty of work to occupy his time); Bob Martin's Space Age Games column debuts, and he pits E.T. against the Smurfs -- what more could you want? Well, probably Predator vs. the Smurfs; Bill Cotter examines the TV series Wizards and Warriors; Howard Schenkman visits the set of Sean Connery's Bond flick, Never Say Never Again; Bjo Trimble talks about her SF-notable-filled birthday party; Martha J. Bonds interviews Star Trek producer Harve Bennett; David Hutchison contributes the first of a multi-part report on his visit to Disney's new EPCOT Center in Walt Disney World; and Howard Zimmerman explains how James Bond fits into a science-fiction magazine.

"Though all of the pavillions are designed to appeal to the 'imagination,' they direct the imagination along specific themes -- land, energy, motion and so on. Imagination [pavillion] explores what might be called the 'tools' of the imagination -- color, sight, sound, shape ... an appeal to the senses, and how imagination harnesses these tools into its purest expression -- art."

--David Hutchson, science & SFX editor, "A Walking Tour: Part One -- Welcome to EPCOT Center"

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