Highlander and other Dinosaurs: The Starlog Project, Starlog #185, December 1992

This month’s returning champion is a dinosaur web-spinner of some fame to the Starlog crowd. His name is Howard Zimmerman, and he was David McDonnell’s predecessor as editor of Starlog, steering the ship for most of its first decade of life before heading over to serve as an editor of Byron Preiss Books.

This issue, Zimmerman is interviewed about Preiss’ series of graphic novels called The Ray Bradbury Chronicles. The first illustration in the article is of a tyrannosaurus rex from one of the books. I thought that was a fitting opening, because Zimmerman himself would go on to write Dinosaurs! The Biggest Baddest Strangest Fastest, Beyond the Dinosaurs!, and Armored and Dangerous. Clearly, the guy likes dinos.

Starlog #185
84 pages (including covers)
Cover price: $4.95

Back in 1980, the magazine sold a Starlog-branded wristwatch. I never bought one, and I’ve never seen one outside of the full-page color ads that ran in Starlog and Future Life at the time. The watch looked nice, but the price was prohibitive: $50 plus shipping. And that was in 1980, 30 years ago. Not willing to sell my parents into slavery or knock over a bank just so I could get the money to buy the watch, I never owned one.

Fast forward to December 1992 (or at least the December 1992 issue of this magazine), and Starlog’s running a subscription deal in which you can buy one year (12 issues) of the magazine for $39.97 and you receive a free Starlog watch. The photo of the watch makes it clear that it’s a lower-quality watch than what was offered in 1980, but it’s still a rather cool premium. And I still didn’t get one. Either I was too poor in late 1992 to subscribe or my subscription wasn’t up for renewal at the time, but I missed my chance once again. Otherwise, I’d still have the watch today nearly two decades later, proudly wearing it everywhere even though it probably stopped working 12 months after I received it. Wouldn’t matter; I’d still wear it, and when people looked at me funny and said, “Your watch doesn’t work; the hands just spin around loosely,” I’d shrug and reply, “So what, dude; it’s a Starlog watch!”

Well, I probably wouldn’t say “dude,” even if I were 20 again. But the rest of that is true.

One last Starlog company note this time: On page 44 of this issue, Starlog publishes an ad for its new licensed Star Trek: Deep Space Nine magazine, which will be published four times annually. Subscribe for four issues for $25!! No watch, though.

The rundown: Television retakes the lead spot on Starlog this month, and it’s a two-fer. The highlighted show on the cover is Highlander, the TV spinoff of the cult movie series. And one of the actors on the cover is Richard Moll, who played Bull Shannon in the long-running sitcom Night Court. Meanwhile, the contents page features an illustration by Timothy Truman from The Ray Bradbury Chronicles. David McDonnell’s Medialog warns us that there will be a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III; Michael McAvennie’s Gamelog reviews Batman Returns, Dragon’s Fury, SkyRealms of Jorune, and other new games; genre editor Gordon Van Gelder writes in with a correction to a recent book review, and other letters in the Communications section include good-god-yet-another flare-up of the controversy over whether Starlog slants its coverage against Irwin Allen productions, plus reader thoughts on the late Isaac Asimov, The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, Linda Hamilton and Beauty & the Beast, Mann and Machine, and of course Star Trek, while Mike Fisher’s Creature Profile features Count Dracula.

In his Videolog column, David Hutchison notes the video versions of Batman Returns as well as Batmunk, among other video releases; a three-page Booklog includes reviews of Mars Prime, Murasaki, Count Geiger’s Blues, Lord Kelvin’s Machine, Storeys from the Old Hotel, Under the Shadow: Moonrunner #1, Sideshow, Doomsday Book, The Night of Wishes, The Sails of Tau Ceti, The Modular Man, and Afterimage; the Fan Network includes the usual conventions listing and Lia Pelosi’s directory of science-fiction fan clubs and publications; and in his From the Bridge column, former publisher Kerry O’Quinn writes that the new Starlog retail store (see last issue) is the culmination of something that he and former business partner Norman Jacobs wanted to do from the beginning.

It’s been a while since we had a contribution from Michael Wolff, but the magazine’s “interplanetary correspondent” is back with an examination of immortality in the genre, with illustrations by George Kochell; Marc Shapiro talks with executive producer Bill Panzer about his new TV show, Highlander: The Series, starring Adrian Paul (with Richard Moll guest starring in the first episode); Dan Yakir interviews Death Becomes Her director Robert Zemeckis, who explains the technical challenges of aging Meryl Streep 15 years and blasting a hole in Goldie Hawn’s stomach; and Marc Shapiro talks with Roman Coppola and Fred Fuchs about Francis Ford Coppola’s smash hit Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

Actor George Hall portrays the old Indiana Jones in The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, and this issue he tells interviewer Lynne Stephens about the role, which actually has the 75-year-old actor portraying a 93-year-old (he also has nice things to say about the considerably younger George Lucas); Kim Howard Johnson visits the Selma, Alabama, set of the new Body Snatchers (yet another reimagining of the 1956 Invasion of the Body Snatchers); and Stan Nicholls interviews legendary SF author Robert Sheckley (Crompton Divided, Citizen in Space, etc.), who tells him he was underwhelmed with the film Freejack, which was based on a story of his: “I thought Freejack was a pretty good action film, but to be honest, I was a little disappointed, because I expected them to get into the idea in my book more deeply. Freejack had very little development of the life-after-death or personality-transfer themes.”

Mark Phillips and Alain Bourassa provide a retrospective of the 1970s TV show The Immortal, about a man whose blood can extend other people’s lives; Edward Gross interviews Byron Preiss Books’ editor Howard Zimmerman, who discusses The Ray Bradbury Chronicles set of graphic novels; and editor David McDonnell’s Liner Notes discusses new Starlog Group one-shot magazine Dracula: The Complete Vampire and other immortals news.

“[Ray Bradbury’s writing is] classic storytelling in the sense that his subject matter is people. Classic SF has been seen as hardware stories and post-apocalyptic scenarios, heavy technology and jargon – all of which frightens some people away. They feel it’s a specialized field that they aren’t privy to. Bradbury, however, is accessible to anyone and everyone. A classic story like ‘The Electric Grandmother,’ which has been on The Ray Bradbury Theater and in 17 different anthologies, deals with a father, his kids and the relationship between them. The mother has died, and there’s this tremendous sense of loss the father doesn’t know how to deal with. But the device of the grandmother allows the daughter and the father to feel their grief, get over it and move back to the joys of life. When you have classic themes that are told by a writer of Bradbury’s caliber, the material is going to be accessible to anyone.”
–Howard Zimmerman, editor, interviewed by Edward Gross: “The New Illustrated Man”

For more, click on Starlog Internet Archive Project below or visit the Starlog Project's permanent site.

The Starlog Project: Starlog #96, July 1985: Howard Zimmerman Exits

Starlog's ninth anniversary celebration is the occasion editor Howard Zimmerman chooses to announce his departure from the magazine he has edited for 90 issues. Zimmerman will be replaced by the managing editor, David McDonnell, who would stay with the title for nearly 300 more issues before it finally closed its doors in 2009. Zimmerman moves over to Byron Preiss Visual Publications, and, after Preiss' death in 2005, would create his own firm. Zimmerman also authored a number of books on dinosaurs.

Starlog also announces its lineup of new licensed film magazines: Rambo: First Blood Part II, A View to a Kill, and Explorers.

Starlog #96
100 pages (including covers)
Cover price: $3.95

The magazine celebrates with its usual 100-page birthday issue, but it's a different package than in recent years. There's still the addition of an extended full-color section, but with the exception of a roundup/review article of the year in genre media, the extra pages are mostly taken up with more of the same type of articles you find in the magazine every month. That's a trend that would continue.

The rundown: The cover is once again (and for the final time) the magazine's patented boxed-photo layout against a white background. Kerry O'Quinn pens his usual anniversary editorial, asking "Where are the heroes?"; Communications letters include praise for the magazine, reaction to David Prowse's complaints about how he's treated in the Star Wars films, a call for an all-science-fiction cable channel (what a concept), and more; Log Entries short news items include David McDonnell's Medialog (a wrapup of pretty much everything going on in the SF media world, in short blurb form), David Hutchison on Erik Luke's plans for a Jetsons movie, Will Murrayon a Destroyer film, Patrick Daniel O'Neill updates the Doctor Who hiatus, and more.

Randy and Jean-Marc Lofficier interview singer/actress Tina Turner about her role as Auntie Entity in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome; Jim George profiles Al Lorimer, special effects coordinator on The Man with One Red Shoe; Adam Pirani interviews actor David Rappaport (Time Bandits, The Bride); Fan Network includes reports from the Starlog convention in Boston, more on the Doctor Who hiatus, and more; Robert Greenberger, Chris Henderson and Carr D'Angelo review the year in television, books, and comics; two pages are devoted to photos from Return to Oz; Lee Goldberg interviews Bond actor Roger Moore; Dennis Fischer interviews Lifeforce director Tobe Hooper; Robert Greenberger interviews Red Sonja's Brigitte Nielsen; David Hutchison previews Disney's The Black Cauldron; Kim Howard Johnson interviews Cocoon producers Richard and Lili Zanuck; William Rabkin interviews Harvey Bernhard, producer of The Goonies; novelist Mike McQuay writes about "Apples to Oranges" in the Other Voices guest column slot; Steve Swires interviews actor Peter Cushing, Grand Moff Tarkin himself; and speaking of Star Wars, David Hutchison's seventh (of seven) article investigating the special effects of Return of the Jedi looks at the use of matte paintings; Jerry Ahern explains how you can dress like Indiana Jones (complete with suggested retail stores); in the Future Life section, John Clayton describes the Hubble Telescope, due to be deployed the following year, plus there's short news, including Mark Shannon on a documentary about the microchip, Max Rottersman on the Keck telescope, and more; Mike Clark interviews Jonathan Harris, who portrayed Dr. Smith in TV's Lost in Space; Brian Lowry interviews Woody Woodpecker's Walter Lantz; Kim Howard Johnson interviews Python John Cleese; and, for the final time, Howard Zimmerman wraps it all up in his Lastword column, saying goodbye to the magazine he helped build into a success.

"The Goonies is the most magical picture I've ever worked on. ... It's every kid's secret dream – to find pirate treasure. It will appeal to kids as well as to everyone who remembers how they felt when they were kids. Certainly, The Goonies will be in the top five all-time biggest grossing motion pictures."

–Harvey Bernhard, producer, interviewed by William Rabkin: "Harvey Bernhard, Keeper of The Goonies"

To view previous Starlog issue descriptions, click on "Starlog Internet Archive Project" in the keywords below or visit the Starlog Project's permanent home.

Starlog Internet Archive Project: Starlog #5, May 1977: Start Reaching

Readers of Starlog for most of its first two and a half decades of life quickly came to recognize (and, I think, appreciate) a signature factor in the magazine's content and character: the "reach for the stars" philosophy and encouragement of co-publisher Kerry O'Quinn, and here we get the first of umpteenth number of editorials by O'Quinn in that spirit. This issue, O'Quinn also takes over as editor-in-chief in the wake of founding editor David Houston's departure (Houston would soon be named the West Coast editor of the magazine). Other staffbox changes include co-editorship by James M. Elrod and Howard Zimmerman. This issue sees the first ad for a Starlog Photo Guidebook, Spaceships; in the coming years, Starlog would publish dozens of these high-quality and lavishly illustrated trade paperback books on a variety of SF topics (Aliens, Special Effects, Space Art, etc.)

Starlog #5
68 pages (including covers)
Cover price: $1.50

The cover painting is by artist Don Dixon, who is also profiled in the issue. Space art would remain a strong love for the magazine (and its short-lived spinoff, Future Life).

Kerry O'Quinn kicks off things in his editorial by highlighting the success of people who made careers out of their love for space and science fiction. Communications is filled with interesting letters, including one from a "Richard A. Pini" in Taunton, Massachusetts. Is this the Richard Pini who, with wife Wendy, created the Elfquest comics? Log Entries has the usual previews and news, including some making-of info on the new King Kong and a report on William Shatner's college speaking tour; columnist David Gerrold writes about some religious pressure that resulted in the changing of a Star Trek animated episode to suit some Baptists' sensibilities; David Hutchison continues his extensive look at 3-D science-fiction movies; Robert M. Hefley puts together a "Science Fiction Address Guide" for television productions; David Houston interviews spacescape painter (and cover artist) Don Dixon, in an article illustrated with many of Dixon's beautiful SF paintings; in the magazine's first foray into controversial political topics, writer Frank Gilstrap looks at how an episode of the live-action Star Trek was censored by a Texas television station on religious grounds (a nice live-action complement to Gerrold's animated column this issue, eh?); Howard Zimmerman examines the Gerry and Sylvia Anderson UFO TV series; Tom Rogers contributes a complete episode guide for that UFO series; Starlog publishes an episode guide to the final six episodes of Space: 1999's second and (wait for it...) last season; a selection of reader letters on Space: 1999 are published in a special article; Star Teasers has some movie anagrams; and the Visions column looks at the search for extra-terrestrial life.

"This issue is dedicated to these people ... and to all of our readers who are equally demanding of their lives. Whether you have already done it or will demand it of yourself in the future, there is no greater success in life than turning your pleasure into your profession."

--Kerry O'Quinn, editor-in-chief (and co-publisher), From the Bridge

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

Starlog Internet Archive Project: Starlog #3, January 1977: Do It Again

In only its third issue, Starlog had achieved enough success to expand its printing frequency from quarterly to eight times a year. Though the indicia (the small text with the publishing info on the bottom of the contents page) still says the magazine is published quarterly, the subscription ad on page 55 exclaims "Now ... eight issues!" The eight-issue subscription cost a mere $9.98. This issue also sees the first appearance of Howard Zimmerman, the future editor-in-chief who is introduced here as an assistant editor. In a later issue, publisher Kerry O'Quinn described advertising for an editor and hiring Zimmerman -- a school teacher and comics aficionado. Within a year, following David Houston's move to the West Coast and a short interregnum in which O'Quinn serves as editor, Zimmerman would take the helm and run the ship until nearly issue #100. (Zimmerman currently runs his own book packaging studio.)

Starlog #3
68 pages (including covers)
Cover price: $1.50

The 1970s might have been the last (and only?) time when SF conventions would not only be a major story but would be a cover story, even in a genre publication. There's only a slight uptick in advertising in this issue, but ads were never a big part of the magazine, though they reached their zenith in the late 1990s before dropping off again.

Editor David Houston kicks off the issue with an editorial relating the feedback his team received from readers when they attended a big Star Trek convention. There's also the Log Entries short-news section (including a report with photos of the roll-out of the Enterprise shuttle by NASA). Howard Zimmerman contributes his first article, and the subject is a favorite of his: comics and movies; the article is co-written by Jim Burns. The Communications letters page includes lots of chatter about Space: 1999 (the cover subject of the previous issue), and the Sci-Fi Library contains books news (though not reviews). Tom Rogers writes about "Science Fiction Films Made for TV," and follows it up with a guide to 40 made-for-TV SF films; a special "Star Trek Bi-Centennial-10 Convention" section includes an overview, reports on convention speakers (Nichelle Nichols, Grace Lee Whitney, Jesco von Puttkamer, Kathryn Hays, James Doohan, Stanley Adams, George Takei, David Gerrold, DeForest Kelley, William Shatner, Susan Oliver, and Walter Koenig) and on-the-scene reporting (Star Trek's blooper reel, photos from the con floor, animated Trek). Writer Joan Winston explains the challenges of putting on a Trek convention; Jason Thomas and Kez Howard discuss "The Dream Machines: 75 Years of Movie and TV Spaceships," illustrated with photos of 2001's Discovery, This Island Earth's craft, the Forbidden Planet saucer, similar-looking ships from both Flash Gordon and the softcore parody Flesh Gordon, and more; six more episodes from Space: 1999's second season are described; Isobel Silden profiles Lee Majors, star of The Six Million Dollar Man; Star Teasers offers crosswords and word-hunts; and the issue wraps up with "The Search for Percival Lowell's Mysterious Trans-Neptunian Planet X" (i.e., Pluto) in the Visions column.

"Some of the [audience] questions led one to have grave doubts about the brain power of a few of the fans. For instance, the fan who asked to see Mr. Shatner's belly-button. Bill's reply was classic: 'Do you mean to tell me I traveled 9,000 miles to have someone ask to see my belly-button? I only answer serious questions. Next?'"

--Joan Winston, writer, "So You Want to Have a 'Star Trek' Convention ...?"

To view the rest of the Starlog compendium, click on "Starlog Internet Archive Project" in the keywords below.

My Favorite Issues: Starlog, National Lampoon, Playboy, Comics Scene

... in which our intrepid blogger wastes your time by telling you about significant issues of magazines he's liked. The first in a series.

National Lampoon, June 1972: A decade before I would begin to read the magazine (in what turned out to be its twilight period of creativity), National Lampoon's June 1972 issue featured a science fiction theme. A short, bad-taste story by Theodore Sturgeon. A surprisingly touching Martian visit with twisted cartoonist Gahan Wilson. Some sharply written fake news. A fun (and yes, very juvenile) look at the last days of Star Trek. Lots of comics. And much, much more in this 100-page magazine. Oh, wait -- I didn't even mention the incredible alien crucifixion cover painting by the incredible Frank Frazetta.

Starlog #24, July 1979: Regular readers (er, "reader"?) of this blog know my affection for this magazine. I also have great affection for its old annual July anniversary issues, 100-page specials chock full of special features. The July 1979 issue actually was published more than a year before I became a reader of Starlog, but it includes everything that I think made the magazine great. When it was great, it was very great. We have special anniversary features: a two-page editorial by co-publisher Kerry O'Quinn giving a lot of the background to the magazine and the people who put it together; a full-color special section reviewing the previous year's important science fiction films, television programs, special effects, and space art; congratulatory notes from famous people; an index to the mag's first three years. We have the usual strengths of the magazine: interviews, previews of television programs and films. And, of course, there's the extra-special touches that told me, the reader, that I was reading something of note: a special cover design; a two-page contents page (featuring a rare photo collage by the editor, Howard Zimmerman). And more, more, more. These days when the British SF magazines regularly publish issues with 132, 148, and even 180 pages, it may be hard to understand how a 100-pager could be noteworthy. But it was, and it was the kind of annual that readers anticipated for a couple months each year. And it delivered.

Playboy, June 1983: Why would a gay man have a favorite issue of Playboy? Try this: A big interview with Stephen King. A preview of a new movie from a group I was just beginning to discover, Monty Python. Fiction by SF great Robert Silverberg. An article by George Burns. A humorous look at the future of Star Wars. A pull-no-punches critique of President Ronald Reagan's conduct in office. Not a bad mix, especially when added to tons of info on books, movies, politics (an expose on the Pulitzer clan), profiles, comics, and so much more, all in a 270-page magazine. When people today express impatience with the idea of print magazines because everyone can read bite-sized pieces of info online, this issue of Playboy is one good counter to their delusions. It was from a time when a magazine could count on readers having intelligence and attention spans longer than five minutes. It was a magazine for readers. And this wasn't even one of the annual 300-plus-page holiday or anniversary issues.

Comics Scene #3, September 2000: This was the third incarnation of Comics Scene, and each incarnation had issues that stood out. But this 100-page magazine had everthing. An interview with the legendary Will Eisner (plus a portfolio of his artwork). Columns, editorials, previews of comics-related (and/or animated) films, interviews with comics creators, and fold-outs with extended illustrations and photos. A magazine you could really sink your teeth into. One of my favorite bits of any of the Comics Scenes is the interviews with creators of lesser-known comics. I've never been a superhero comics fan, nor did I grow up reading comics. I got into comics when I was in my early teens, discovering Marvel's Epic Illustrated and National Lampoon's Heavy Metal, so I guess my tastes were more adult and independent than the kiddie stuff. (I'll have to cover HM and Epic in future installments of "My Favorite Issues.") No problem. Comics Scene catered to everyone, and I discovered a lot of interesting cartoonists in its pages. In this issue, I learned about Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics, which featured an interview plus a four-page foldout of his work. Fun and informative. What more could I ask?

Future installments coming.