The Starlog Project: Starlog #157, August 1990: Domo Arigato Mr. RoboCop 2

The Robo-gang is back for RoboCop 2, though not without qualms. Star Peter Weller dons the titular suit again, but he tells Starlog that he “had reservations about doing RoboCop 2. ... Wouldn’t I rather be in the Caribbean doing a 10-week movie, making my money, and splitting?”

Twenty years later, there are still some people in Hollywood who are ready to make another RoboCop, at least as a remake. The remake appears to be stalled at the moment, a victim of MGM’s severe financial troubles. But if you like remakes, I suppose you can rely on the fact that when Hollywood gets a bad idea in its mind, sooner or later it films it.

How a couple decades worth of achievement can change things, Part II: In this 1990 issue of Starlog, British novelist Terry Pratchett is interviewed. At that point, only a handful of his Discworld novels had been printed, but they were already popular enough for the magazine to sit him down for a good talk. However, it appears that the editors didn’t consider him to be a big enough draw in the United States to warrent even mentioning his name on the cover. Now cut to 2010, where Sir Terry Pratchett has recently served as guest editor of UK SF magazine SFX, and he is celebrated around the world for his now very lengthy list of Discworld books. It makes this 1990 interview worth tracking down. Just don’t look for it by scanning the cover blurbs.

Starlog #157
76 pages (including covers)
Cover price: $3.95

Classified ad of the month: “HOLOGRAM WRISTWATCHES Quality digital timepieces. Years warranty, specific image: eye, watchworks, skull, cat $14.95 + $3.00 S&H to ...” Well, the poor punctuation aside, it’s a good deal, considering that ten years earlier, Starlog tried selling its own branded wristwatch for $50.

The rundown: Peter Weller’s RoboCop gets his cover photo moment in the sun (looks like it was kind of literally in the sun, judging by the near-fluorescent yellow background); and the contents page is your opportunity to see John Goodman and Jeff Daniels in a scene from Arachnophobia. The Communications letters section is less than two-thirds of a page this issue, and the three lucky letter writers take issue with various comments by recent TV and film creators in interviews; and David McDonnell’s Medialog notes that Hollywood is already planning a RoboCop 3, even though RoboCop 2 “is barely in release.”

Julia Roberts announced in 2010 that she's converted to Hinduism, which is quite a switch from the spiritual implications of her 1990 movie, Flatliners, but nonetheless she is – in circa-1990 big hair – one of the brat pack stars (along with Kiefer Sutherland, Kevin Bacon, William Baldwin, and others) of this movie, which Marc Shapiro previews with a set visit; the Fan Network pages include a RoboCop contest, a directory of fan organizations and publications, and a convention calendar; Erid Niderost interviews Dick Tracy villain actor William Forsythe; David Hutchison's Videolog column notes recent genre releases, such as old Three Stooges work; Marc Shapiro travels to the Old West to talk with actor Thomas F. Wilson, who portrays Biff in the Back to the Future films; Mark Philips profiles actor Paul Comi, who guest starred on the original Star Trek as well as The Twilight Zone, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, and more; Marc Shapiro talks with producer Frank Marshall about Arachnophobia; and Paul Tomlinson talks with Discworld creator Terry Pratchett.

Kim Howard Johnson interviews RoboCop 2 star Peter Weller; Kyle Counts chats with My Favorite Martian star Ray Walston, who discusses his career; Will Murray visits the set of Total Recall and talks with Dutch director Paul Verhoeven; Kyle Counts interviews actor Ronny Cox, who plays the leader of Mars in Total Recall; Marc Shapiro profiles actor Scott Paulin (who portrays Red Skull in Captain America); Screenwriter Charles Haas is interviewed by Bill Warren about Gremlins 2: The New Batch; Kerry O'Quinn's From the Bridge column relates his tale of finding fellow science-fiction fans in unlikely places – including a pancake-induced friendship; and David McDonnell's Liner Notes tells us about some weddings he's attended lately, including that of Fangoria editor Tony Timpone.

“Equal Rites is where I found that you can only go so far by running from gag situation to gag situation. From Equal Rites onwards, I began to explore what I was doing. I think many readers who were attracted to the first two [Discworld novels] were a bit taken aback by Equal Rites. They liked it, but it wasn’t what they were expecting. When I got to Mort, I got it just about right. Equal Rites might be just too far off the centerline, but Mort got back to it. I found out how you do it, I was beginning to learn.”

–Terry Pratchett, author, interviewed by Paul Tomlinson: “Gag Writer”

To see more issues, click on Starlog Internet Archive Project below or visit The Starlog Project’s permanent home.

The Starlog Project: Starlog #123, October 1987: Guys with Big Muscles

Oopses! I just realized I posted my writeup for issue #124 before #123 – had forgotten I had #123 written but not posted. So time travel with me back one issue ...

Sylvester Stallone, He-Man, Superman. Starlog is covering a lot of the musclebound hulks in 1987, because they’re the ones dominating the cinemas. Even Robocop, though metallic, is a part of this bulk-up-and-fight-the-bad-guys time period.

In the late 1980s, Starlog was the number-one publisher of licensed movie magazines in the country (probably the world, considering the genre), and the new titles came fast and furious. Sometimes they published movie magazines (Starlog-sized publications dedicated to the movie) and other times they published poster magazines, featuring 10 or 12 posters from the movie plus some pages of editorial content. Rarer is the deluxe magazine, published on better paper stock, featuring an upscale version of the regular magazine, sometimes with some posters added.

So, just to get caught up in 1987, I should note that Starlog published the official movie magazine for The Untouchables (a great movie, and a very nice magazine), Over the Top (a Sylvester Stallone film about – I kid you not – arm wrestling), The Living Daylights, Masters of the Universe, and Star Trek: The Voyage Home (with three publications for that film: poster mag, regular mag, and a deluxe magazine).

Also this month, editor David McDonnell announces the return of the loved-but-previously-dead sister title Comics Scene. It is brought back as a one-shot test issue, and it will perform well enough at the newsstand that the publishers will soon relaunch the title and produce it for eight or nine years, by far the longest of Comics Scene’s three runs.

And on the personnel side, Starlog has a new production director again. This time it’s William Gipp. Don’t get too attached to him, though; Starlog is changing production directors like the rest of us change our socks: often.

Starlog #123
76 pages (including covers)
Cover price: $2.95

Odd classified ad of the month: “WITCHCRAFT harness its powers. Gavin and Yvonne teach you how ...”

The rundown: In his From the Bridge column, publisher Kerry O’Quinn gives a behind-the-scenes peek at George Lucas’ appearance at the Starlog convention honoring Star Wars’ 10th anniversary; Communications letters include a bunch of readers reacting to Star Trek’s 20th anniversary, actor Marc McClure (Jimmy Olson in the Superman films) responding to a recent Superman article in the magazine, reader interest in Starman, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Max Headroom, and more; Medialog includes a photo with extended caption on Rob Reiner’s The Princess Bride, plus Edward Gross on Eddie Murphy’s interest in being in a Star Trek film, and David McDonnell with a roundup of the latest genre news (such as info on how a directors’ strike had affected science-fiction/fantasy TV productions).

Eric Niderost profiles actress Nancy Allen, who talks Robocop and – in a sidebar by Kim Howard Johnson – Poltergeist III; David Gerrold’s Generations column is his final one, as he announces he’s leaving the Star Trek: The Next Generation fold to go produce his own TV show; Bill Warren talks with producer Jon Davison about Robocop; Brian Lowry interviews screenwriter Jeffrey Boam, who talks The Lost Boys, Innerspace, and more, though it’s still too early for his best film, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade; the Fan Network section features responses to reader queries (including, “Are there soundtracks for Great Mouse Detective, The Secret of NIMH and Watership Down?”); in what must have been the ultimate Trek fan experience, Carr D’Angelo reports (and Eddie Berganza photographs) on the first Trekcruise (this is your chance to see Nichelle Nichols in a two-person sack race and George Takei posing with his mother); the 25th-anniversary look back at James Bond continues from last issue (featuring more mini-excerpts of past Starlog Bond coverage); speaking of which, Lee Goldberg talks with the new James Bond, Timothy Dalton, who admits, “If I cock this up, it’s going to put a full stop to my career for a year or two.”

He-Man, in the form of actor Dolph Lundgren, is interviewed by Carr D’Angelo; Edward Gross talks with Superman IV director Sidney J. Furie; David Hutchison’s Videolog reports on Superman serials and other video releases; it was a busy month for the managing editor, for Carr D’Angelo is also writing the Comics Scene column, with a roundtable discussion with the creators of the 45th issue of the Star Trek comic book (including Trek comics editor Robert Greenberger, the founding editor of Comics Scene and a former Starlog editor); Faryl M.S. Reingold visits the remote set of the aptly named film Stranded; part two of Dan Scapperotti’s look at Disney animators includes Frank Thomas (no, not the White Sox slugger) and Ollie Johnson; in his Liner Notes column, editor David McDonnell announces the resurrection of the late, great Comics Scene magazine.

“[Timothy] Dalton would have us believe that The Living Daylights is pure [Ian] Fleming, and that Timothy Dalton isn’t a new James Bond, he’s the old James Bond. It’s a pretty nifty strategy, and best of all, it works. Just when it seemed like the Bond series had finally become tired, The Living Daylights takes the character back to his roots, back to the wild espionage stories and the ruthless spy who takes his job very seriously.”

–Lee Goldberg, writer, “Timothy Dalton: The Knight of The Living Daylights”

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

The Starlog Project: Starlog #122, September 1987: Timothy Dalton is 007 James Bond – Briefly

The first of Timothy Dalton’s two outings as James Bond, The Living Daylights, takes center stage. I rather liked Dalton’s Bond; it was more serious and realistic than the Roger Moore era’s Bond, and he’s a good actor. But the producers were obviously waiting to get Pierce Brosnan, so Dalton was soon shown the door. Oh, well, at least he lasted longer than George Lazenby.

Some details on this issue: I might be incorrect, but I think this might be the only issue of Starlog ever published that doesn’t have any roof text – the blurbs that appear above the magazine’s logo on the cover. Also, for the first time, Fangoria is listed in the subscription ad as being published 10 times a year, instead of the previous nine.

Starlog #122
76 pages (including covers)
Cover price: $2.95

My favorite classified ad of the month: “COLLECT YOUR BACHELOR’S DEGREE from STAR FLEET ACADEMY! Laser printed with your name and choice of degree printed on Circa 1987 parchment. Embossed. Choose from: Interstellar History, Military Science, Business Administration, Command Disciplines, Computer Sciences, Parapsychology, Star Navigation, Humanoid Medicine, Propulsion Engineering, or Communications ...”

The rundown: In his From the Bridge column, Kerry O’Quinn shares some personal recent pain and urges readers not to waste their time when they could be living life; Communications letters include lots of reader feedback on Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, praise for the most recent Starlog Scrapbook, and comments on two television programs, the cancelled Twilight Zone and the new Starman; Medialog includes David Hutchison on The Film Forum Summer Festival of Fantasy and Science Fiction, plus David McDonnell’s newswire of genre media news, such as noting the new CBS television series Beauty and the Best, starring Linda Hamilton.

Jessie Horsting and Carr D’Angelo interview actor/comedian Martin Short about Innerspace (this is actually representative of many Starlog articles with multiple authors; they are based on the writers’ separate interviews with somebody, and are put together either by the writers or by the editors; David Gerrold’s Generations column goes behind the scenes of the making of Star Trek: The Next Generation, here featuring photos and bios of the actors (including “Cheryl” McFadden, who portrays Dr. Beverly Crusher); Kim Howard Johnson interviews actress Mariel Hemingway about her role in Superman IV; David Hutchison’s Videolog reports on Fahrenheit 451 and other genre video and laserdisc releases; like the magazine’s overview of Star Wars coverage in #120, Starlog presents a six-page compilation of mini-excerpts of past Starlog articles on James Bond, in celebration of the super-spy’s 25th anniversary. It makes me certain that if Starlog had been published in the 1960s, it would probably have had an interview or three with the late Ian Fleming (whose final interview was published instead by Playboy).

Speaking of Bond, Lee Goldberg previews The Living Daylights; the Fan Network pages include Mike Glyer’s compilation of science-fiction and fantasy clubs, Jim McLernon’s report on Spider-Man’s wedding (is the the same Jim McLernon who's a future art director of the magazine?), and more; Eric Niderost talks to director Paul Verhoeven about his new film, Robocop; William Rabkin interviews actor Barnard Hughes (Tron, The Lost Boys); Patrick Daniel O’Neill pens the Comics Scene column, in which he examines The Incredible Hulk; Marc Shapiro looks at Masters of the Universe; William Rabkin profiles actor Duncan Regehr (V, The Monster Squad, Earth*Star Voyager); Brian Lowry interviews actress Daphne Zuniga about portraying the spoiled princess in Spaceballs; Cinefantastique’s Dan Scapperotti presents part one of this multi-part look at Disney’s Snow White; Lee Goldberg previews the John Updike adaptation The Witches of Eastwick; and editor David McDonnell’s Liner Notes column relates the sad but heroic tale of the lost-and-found issue of Starlog, #121.

“I really suffered on Robocop, but it was OK because I was doing something I had never done before. It was part of the challenge, part of the learning process. I like to explore different facets of the human condition. When I did Spetters, for example, I was saying something about Holland and teen sexuality there. But I’ve made my statement; I wouldn’t like to continue to do only sexually themed films.”

–Paul Verhoeven: director, interviewed by Eric Niderost: “Paul Verhoeven: War, Rememberance & Robocop”

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