The Starlog Project: Starlog #134, September 1988: Rabbit Redux

For the second issue in a row, Starlog gives over its cover to the animation/live-action phenomenon Who Framed Roger Rabbit. This time, the titular bunny shares the cover with director Bob Zemeckis, one of only a handful of times that a non-fictional person is on the cover.

On the company’s merchandising side, it publishes four magazines for the very non-science-fiction Sylvester Stallone film Rambo III: a poster book, a poster magazine, a movie magazine, and a theater program.

Starlog #134
76 pages (including covers)
Cover price: $3.50

This issue also keeps the fires burning in the controversy over the exit of Denise Crosby from her role as security chief Tasha Yar in Star Trek: The Next Generation. My how time flies: It was just issue #130 when Crosby told the magazine she didn’t think her character was going to be killed off, and now she’s back telling the magazine about how her character was killed off. But don’t worry – her character returns many times, so often that I assume she never even bothered to clear out her dressing room.

The rundown: In his From the Bridge column, Kerry O’Quinn tells the story of a teenage Dutch boy who’s a science-fiction fan (Once there was a Dutch boy, his name was ... oh, wait, wrong song); after a few letters about Starman, the remainder of the Communications section is taken up with reader comments about the controversy du jour: Tasha Yar’s death and exit from Star Trek: The Next Generation; and wait – there’s more Star Trek leavingness: David McDonnell reports in his Medialog section that Gates McFadden’s Dr. Beverly Crusher character will not return for the show’s second season.

Newly minted Canadian correspondent Peter Bloch-Hansen profiles Kenneth Johnson, the V veteran behind Short Circuit 2: More Input; the Fan Network pages include David Hutchison on the Film Forum's second annual SF and fantasy festival, and more; Eric Niderost goes behind the scenes of the Cyndi Lauper/Jeff Goldblum film Vibes; Marc Shapiro profiles comedians Rick Overton (a Starlog pal from years back) and Kevin Pollak about their role as the wee men of Willow; Kim Howard Johnson uncovers the “Curse of The Blob,” focusing on the remake of the B-movie; Marc Shapiro checks in with actress Denise Crosby for her Next Generation exit interview, in which she tells the magazine that she and Gene Roddenberry had a pleasant parting of the ways.

Patrick Daniel O’Neill profiles seventh Doctor Who actor Sylvester McCoy about the program’s upcoming 25th anniversary and criticism the show has received; Adam Pirani interviews Who Framed Roger Rabbit director Bob Zemeckis; in part two of Michael Vance’s interview with C.J. Cherryh, the SF author defines science fiction story-building; Outer Heat has finally been renamed AlienNation, and Carr D’Angelo profiles star James Caan, who also talks about his stint playing Rollerball; Scott Lobdell interviews Big director Penny Marshall and manages to get her to talk about Laverne and Shirley; David Hutchison’s Videolog reports the newest genre video releases (he themes them in terms of "distant tales," but it’s really just a roundup of videos); Kyle Counts previews Nightfall, the planned film adaptation of Isaac Asimov’s classic short story; Marian Sue Uram previews Moontrap, the new film starring veteran Walter Koenig and newcomer Bruce Campbell; Patrick Daniel O’Neill interviews actress Joanne Whalley about her role as Sorsha in Willow; and David McDonnell’s Liner Notes responds to fears that Starlog “jumped the gun” with its cover to issue #130 by teasing readers about a possible exit from Next Generation by Denise Crosby and whether the magazine misled readers (answer is no to both – magazine lead-time is a tough master).

“Gene [Roddenberry] ... knew the dramatic impact would be tremendous because no regular character in the Star Trek series had ever been permanently killed [except David Marcus]. He really felt it would blow people’s minds. ... The script really went against the grain. I think people were expecting a last minute battle with Tasha going out with all phasers blazing. The intent was to make Tasha’s death more horrifying by having it appear sudden and indiscriminate.”

–Denise Crosby, actress, interviewed by Marc Shapiro: “Denise Crosby: Farewell to The Next Generation”

To read 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 #133, August 1988: Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Anyway?

Who Framed Roger Rabbit was a landmark film of the late 1980s, wonderfully mixing live-action with animation. It also was eyebrow-raising because of the use of new and classic cartoon characters – an historic meeting of Warner Brothers and Disney characters, for example. No, I will never work with a duck with a speech impediment, either.

True fact: Bob Hoskins, the star of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, was the actor on whom German novelist Cornelia Funke based her detective in her great best-selling young adult novel The Thief Lord.

Starlog #133
76 pages (including covers)
Cover price: $3.50

If you were looking for a new vocation, you could do worse than follow this classified ad on page 71: “CRIME FIGHTERS AMERICA NEEDS PEOPLE, all areas. Receive certificate, procedures, ID, life enrollment, fight crime. Send $3 self-stamped envelope, (4x8) to ...”

Photo caption that isn’t appreciably less humorous when you see the photo: “Running into marauding Martians would drive anyone crazy, which may be why Sylvia Van Buren (Ann Robinson) will be fighting the new War of the Worlds from an insane asylum.”

The rundown: Cover boys Bob Hoskins and Roger Rabbit re-enact for the camera the origins of their friendship. In his From the Bridge column, Kerry O’Quinn gives career advice; Communications letters include an apology from the production company of Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future about misidentified characters in some photos published in the magazine, plus readers comment on that TV series, they offer feedback on Beauty and the Beast, Richard Donner’s assistant passes along his thanks for an item in #126 about broadcasting an uncut version of Ladyhawke, and more; and David McDonnell’s Medialog reports the latest genre media news headlines, including a note that Len Wein and Berni Wrightson’s monster hero will make another big-screen appearance in The Return of the Swamp Thing.

War of the Worlds has been seen in print, on radio, on film, and now (that’s a circa 1988 “now”) it’s a weekly syndicated television series, and Marc Shapiro previews the new show; Carr D’Angelo interviews Outer Heat and Terminator producer Gale Anne Hurd; film composer Jerry Goldsmith (Innerspace, Outer Heat, Runaway, Star Trek – The Motion Picture) is profiled by Marc Shapiro; editor David McDonnell interviews Next Generation actress Marina Sirtis; Michael Vane interviews science-fiction author C.J. Cherryh in the first half of a two-part article; Adam Pirani talks with actor Warwick Davis, the star of Willow; the Fan Network pages include an answer to a reader query about the history of Hammer Films, plus short items on a heavily edited Doctor Who episode on video, Star Trek engine designs, and some silly guesses about Star Trek V.

Veteran actor and Who Framed Roger Rabbit star Bob Hoskins is interviewed by Adam Pirani, telling him some great stories (see the block quote below); Kris Gilpin interviews Jane Badler, who talks about her work on V, Highwayman, and other projects; David Hutchison reports on discounted Disney videos and other releases in his Videolog column; Beverly M. Payton interviews Starman actor Patrick Culliton; Marc Shapiro profiles actor Roy Dotrice about Beauty and the Beast; in a three-page “The Guests of Trek” section, Mark Phillips profiles Stewart Moss (“The Naked Time”) and Phillips and Frank Garcia together profile Julie Cobb (“By Any Other Name” and other episodes); Peter Bloch-Hansen (the same gentleman who wrote a letter to the editor in issue #126) goes behind the scenes to preview Short Circuit 2: More Input; and editor David McDonnell’s Liner Notes column is a collection of bits, such as the two or three degrees of separation between actor Patrick Culliton and practically everyone McDonnell knows.

“I was in L.A., doing a bit of publicity, and got a phone call from [director] Brian De Palma: ‘Do you want to meet me at the Beverly Wilshire to have a drink?’ And he sent me The Untouchables script, and he said, look at Al Capone. I looked at it, and I thought, ‘Good part.’ I met him, and he said, ‘Now look, I really want Robert De Niro to do this; I don’t think he’s going to do it, but if he won't do it, will you do it?’ So I said, ‘Yeah, I’ll do it.’ He said, ‘I’ll pay you well, I’ll do the business, and I’ll look after you, and it will be a real favor to me if I’m covered.’ I said yes, I’ll do it, a couple of week’s work, terrific. Anyway, I never heard anything else; next thing I see, De Niro’s going to play it. So, I said, ‘Oh, right, De Palma got him.’ But he [De Palma] had no contract with me, nothing was signed, there was no agreement, or anything, and here I got this check for $200,000 as a thank you! ... I wonder if there’s anything else De Niro’s thinking about doing ...”

–Bob Hoskins, actor, interviewed by Adam Pirani: “Bob Hoskins: Animated Investigator”

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