The Starlog Project: Starlog #38, September 1980: Spielberg Strikes Back

Steven Spielberg got some big box office in 1980 when he re-released his Close Encounters of the Third Kind as a Special Edition. Starlog certainly played it up, taking a brief break from celebrating The Empire Strikes Back (though David Gerrold has his not-necessarily-warmly-welcomed thoughts on that movie) to go inside the mothership.

A cover photo note: As the magazine did with a couple other covers (such as its first Alien cover), the photo on the cover has been artificially extended to reach the top of the cover; however, unlike past such covers where the top of the cover was black, so the dividing line between the original cover and the filler background is hard to find, this time there's quite a sharp distinction -- just look about midway down the "R" and the "L" in the magazine's logo. Tsk, tsk. In staff news, Ira Friedman is no longer listed as one of the publishers, and Rita Eisenstein's name take its place beneath Norman Jacobs' and Kerry O'Quinn's at the top of the masthead. On the merchandising front, Starlog announces its second calendar, this one, like the first in 1980, is devoted to space art; also, the first edition of The Best of Starlog is advertised on page 48.

Starlog #38
76 pages (including covers)
Cover price: 2.25

For someone who fell so deeply in love with Star Wars: A New Hope, David Gerrold sure finds a lot to pick apart in its sequel, The Empire Strikes Back. But a good critic's job is to not worry about being contrarian, and even to leap at the opportunity when it presents itself. (Still, just between you and me, Empire is better than New Hope, right?)

Kerry O'Quinn kicks off the magazine with his introduction of a bit of Ayn Rand into his From the Bridge column; Communications letters include a statement from Starlog's publishers (that had been read to the audience of a June 22 event of the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror) remembering the late producer George Pal, plus reader reactions to Empire Strikes Back, and more; Log Entries short news items include an update on Carl Sagan's Cosmos, info on Doctor Who's robot dog K9, Gil Gerard's appearance to support the Special Olympics, and more.

David Hutchison pens the cover story ("One Step Closer: CE3K: The Special Edition"); David Gerrold shares his problems with The Empire Strikes Back in his Rumblings column ("The Empire Strikes Out"); Karen E. Willson interviews De Forest Kelley, Star Trek's "Bones" McCoy; Gerry Anderson's Space Report excerpts the Space: 1999 writer's guide; Jim Wynorski, before he became a low-budget filmmaker, wrote articles for Starlog and Fangoria -- here he talks with Bill Malone and Bob Short about their horror film Scared to Death; Samuel J. Maronie interviews Tim O'Connor, who portrays Dr. Huer on Buck Rogers in the 25th Century; David Hirsch compiles an episode guide to Buck Rogers' first (1979-1980) season; Susan Adamo previews the SF spoof Galaxina, speaking with director/screenwriter William Sachs; Quest prints model designs from Australian SF fan J.T. Millett; Karen E. Willson's multi-part making-of series on the Buck Rogers episode "The Flight of the War Witch" continues; Samuel J. Maronie provides a retrospective of the work of George Pal; C.M. Stevenson previews Ray Harryhausen's Clash of the Titans; Alan Brender interviews artist David Mattingly and shows off some of Mattingly's great paintings; Bjo Trimble's Fan Scene relates the visits of some foreign fans; David Houston's Visions (though it's not bylined this issue, I'm guessing that he wrote it) covers pre-Star Wars film scores; and Howard Zimmerman's Lastword complains about the lack of quality SF productions.

"Even after Star Trek was cancelled, NBC made so much money from the syndication that they referred to the show as the '79 jewels.' It's a show that never really let go of any of us. And I don't know if it ever will."

--De Forest Kelley, actor, interviewed by Karen E. Willson: "A Candid Conversation with a 'Simple Country Doctor': De Forest Kelley"

To view previous Starlog issue descriptions, click on "Starlog Internet Archive Project" in the keywords below.

Starlog Internet Archive Project: Starlog #12, March 1978: Seems Like Old Times

This is a great issue, a magazine that I'd have been glad to have show up in my mailbox, to sit next to my bed to be devoured every night before I went to sleep. But it was published two full years before I would buy my first copy of Starlog, so I only got to know it years later as a back issue. Staffbox changes: David Hutchison, having established himself as the resident special effects guru on staff, is now listed as the science & SFX editor. Rita Eisenstein appears as a production assistant; Eisenstein would work her way up the company to executive VP, second-in-command to the Starlog Group empire, by the early part of the 21st century. Talk about starting at the bottom rung and working your way up.

Starlog #12
80 pages (including covers)
Cover price: $1.75

This is another issue with examples of Starlog growing, flexing its muscles, reveling in its success. It includes the launch announcement of the first spinoff magazine from Starlog, called Future (renamed Future Life a year later). The magazine also shoots its first television commercial, featuring a famous science fiction icon as its spokesman -- er, spokes'bot.

Kerry O'Quinn uses his From the Bridge column to do two things: first, he urges SF fans to have high standards and demand quality science-fiction entertainment, and second, he announces the birth of Future magazine. The Communications letters range from amateur filmmaking geek talk to commenting on Isaac Asimov's faster-than-light travel, and more; short news items in Log Entries include a report on the "Martian winter," SF video games, Mark Hamill's role in Stingray, Spacelab, and more.

An unbylined one-pager TV Update announces the cancellations of Logan's Run and Man from Atlantis. James Obert commemorates the 20th anniversary of "Sputnik and the Opening of Space"; Charles Bogle chronicles the Charles Band movie Lasterblast, which would quickly be forgotten until it was immortalized in episode 706 of Mystery Science Theater 3000 (for completists, we might note that the Laserblast article is cut off at the bottom of page 23 -- the jump line was left off, so readers were left to page through the magazine until they get to the article's completion on page 70); Susan Sackett interviews her boss, Gene Roddenberry, on the making of the new Star Trek movie; Sackett also contributes her regular Star Trek Report column, answering questions from fans. David Hutchison provides a "Special Report on the (New) Enterprise" design; Richard Meyers writes about another soon-to-be-forgotten 1970s SF flick, Starship Invasions; the Conventions page covers Mystery Con II, Science-Fiction, Horror & Fantasy Con, and Creation Con; David Gerrold's State of the Art column publishes a pack of his Solomon Short quotes (he would do this one or two more times during his years as a columnist); James Oberg investigaes "UFOs: Reel vs. Real"; Ed Naha writes the humongous cover feature on Close Encounters of the Third Kind; David Hutchison interviews Star Wars animator Larry Cuba; it's more makeup effects masters profiled in the SFX section: Samuel J. Maronie does Dan Striepeke and Richard Meyers does the legendary Dick Smith; David Houston profiles space artist extraordinaire Chesley Bonestell; there's a one-page report on the Starlog TV commercial starring Robby the Robot, including a photo of Robby being "directed" by a script-in-hand Kerry O'Quinn; Richard Meyers writes about superheroes on TV; David Houston explores "Two Branches of Science Fiction's Conceptual Family Tree: Part I: Wishful Thinking" in the Visions column; and to close out the book we have the first column by editor Howard Zimmerman, whose Lastword issues a harsh verdict on Close Encounters.

"If Mr. Spielberg did not want to make a science-fiction movie then he should have chosen another theme. However, having chosen the theme that he did, it was his responsibility to do something with it. Spielberg had the chance to expose the public to the meat and heart of SF -- extrapolation from today to tomorrow and the personal consequences thereof -- and he blew it."
--Howard Zimmerman, editor, Lastword

To view previous Starlog Archive issues, click on "Starlog Internet Archive Project" in the keywords below.