The Starlog Project: Starlog #111, October 1986: Howard the Duck

Howard the Duck might have made a good comic book, I dunno. Never read it. Howard the Duck might have been a promising idea to make into a movie, too, but it quickly became a punchline among movie fans and industry pros, rather than a hit. Howard the Duck might also have been a good idea for a Starlog cover feature, I dunno. Maybe it sold copies on the newsstands. Or maybe the magazine's editors and designers today shake their heads with disbelief, swearing they'll never again drink whatever they drank before they made this decision.

It's probably no coincidence that Starlog did not publish an official licensed movie magazine for Howie the duckster.

Starlog #111
76 pages (including covers)
Cover price: 29.5

Hey, they've printed the Aliens licensed movie magazines ad on a color page this time, and frankly it's readable – and makes me want to order them. Oh, wait, I already own them.

The rundown: Duck on the cover, and it's not Daffy. 'nuff said. Kerry O'Quinn's From the Bridge column talks about "Saw 2" (back when Saw meant Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2); Communications letters include comments on everything from religion (in which we get a reminder that Starlog has many readers who believe in God), to ST–TMP star Stephen Collins to R2D2, and more; Medialog includes Daniel Dickholtz chatting with actress Brooke Shields on Brenda Starr, and David McDonnell's roundup of genre media news (such as the possibility of a new Star Trek TV series).

Brian Lowry previews the animated The Real Ghostbusters; David Hutchison notes the new video releases in Videolog; Brian Lowry talks with Don Messick, voice actor; Fan Network includes a short article on fanzines and a sidebar listing nearly two dozen of them, answers to reader queries (such as, "How can I start an authorized fan club?"), and more; Randy and Jean-Marc Lofficier explore "The Life and Times of Howard the Duck"; Future Life includes Rich Kolker on HOTOL (a giant radio-controlled plane), Douglas Barton on the science-fiction-come-true of the Chunnell (the Channel Tunnel), an item on a planned NASA astronaut memorial, and David Hutchison on laser-and-multimedia shows; Edward Gross profiles Chris Columbus (The Goonies, Gremlins, Young Sherlock Holmes, Galaxy High); Patrick Daniel O'Neill interviews actor Nicholas Courtney, Doctor Who co-star the Brigadier; Chris Henderson provides a Booklog roundup of the new print releases; Randy and Jean-Marc Lofficier spend a day on the set of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home; Adam Pirani profiles special effects ace Brian Johnson; David Hutchison explains how The Boy Who Could Fly could fly (with a sidebar by Daniel Dickholtz on actress Lucy Deakins); Adam Pirani profiles special effects duo George Gibbs and Richard Conway (Brazil, Labyrinth, Monty Python's The Meaning of Life); Irv Sufkin interviews filmmaker Marshall Brickman (The Manhattan Project); William Rabkin interviews author Martin Caidin; Brian Lowry speaks with actress Sarah Douglas (Superman II, Solarbabies, Conan the Destroyer); and David McDonnell talks special effects in his Liner Notes column.

"The secret to understanding the future is understanding it in the small ways. If you went to a world with three moons, you might be stunned at first, but after three weeks, you wouldn't look up. It's the small things, the things we can't predict, that change social and cultural structure so much."

–Martin Caidin, author, interviewed by William Rabkin: "Martin Caidin: Better Living Through Science Fiction"

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