The Starlog Project: Starlog #119, June 1987: Superman IV and Spaceballs

The fourth Christopher Reeve Superman film is the cover. It is in keeping with Starlog’s amazing run of runny grainy or even blurry photos of Supes on the cover. (They do, finally, break with that tradition when they put Brandon Routh’s 2006 Superman Returns on the cover with a very good photo.)

Meanwhile, Mel Brooks’ science-fiction spoof Spaceballs takes second place on the cover (the upper left-hand corner). For the eBay collectors among you, note that Starlog will publish the official licensed magazines (poster magazines, actually) for both Superman IV and Spaceballs.

Starlog #119
76 pages (including covers)
Cover price: $2.95

On a magazine production note, this issue heralds the return of glossy paper for all of the interior color pages. Thankfully, we don’t lose the nice crisp white quality of the black-and-white pages, which is frequently the casualty when Starlog makes this type of a switch.

The rundown: In his From the Bridge column, Kerry O’Quinn hits the hotel bar with actress Nichelle Nichols, where they drink cranberry juice and talk philosophy; Communications letters include a complaint about a small-town science-fiction convention failure, writer Diane Carey and a bunch of readers comment on Star Trek novels, a reader plays if-I-were-an-alien, and more; and Medialog features David McDonnell’s extensive roundup of genre news (such as the announcement that Sylvester McCoy has been chosen to replace Colin Baker as the newest Doctor Who).

Edward Gross interviews John D.F. Black, writer of Star Trek episodes; in the Fan Network pages, Robert Greenberger checks in with actor George Takei (including some photos from a Chris Elliott farce in which Takei takes part), plus there’s a longer report on Stan Woo’s Yorktown II: A Time to Heal film (featuring Takei), reader questions are answered (such as, “In Star Trek III’s novelization by Vonda McIntyre, Saavik and David Marcus had ‘positive feelings’ for each other, not to mention sex. Was this edited out of the final film?”); and there’s more Takei in this issue, as Marian Sue Uram interviews that actor, who talks Walk of Fame, costumes, merchandising, and more; in his second Generations column, David Gerrold introduces the character of Data and answers some popular questions about the new series (such as casting, story submission, etc.); in a three-page section titled “The Guests of Trek,” K.M. Drennan profiles David Opatoshu (”A Taste of Armageddon”), while Bill Warren profiles Barbara Anderson (”The Conscience of the King” ) and Elisha Cook (”Court Marshall”); David Hutchison’s Videolog notes the new genre video releases (such as The Outer Limits); in the first of a two-part article, Steve Swires interviews actor Kerwin Mathews, a Wisconsin native who talks The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad, The Three Worlds of Gulliver, and more; Andy Mangels talks with Nexus creator Mike Baron; Kim Howard Johnson previews Superman IV.

Brian Lowry visits the set of Spaceballs, where he learns that Rick Moranis is a real alien; in his first of many articles for Starlog, Bill Florence interviews writer Stephen Goldin; writer Ryerson Johnson explores “Doc Savage: The Ghosts in Bronze,” in the Other Voices guest column; in the second part of their exploration of Disneyland’s Star Tours, writers Bruce Gordon, David Mumford, and Chris Tietz examine how some of the magic was made; Carr D’Angelo interviews filmmaker Susan Siedelman about her John Malkovich-starring film, Making Mr. Right; Chris Henderson’s Booklog notes the new genre print releases; and David McDonnell’s Liner Notes column passes along some behind-the-scenes info from Ryerson Johnson (such as rewriting Ray Bradbury).

“Like Young Frankenstein, it’s important that it look like its source material. We always said from day one, within the budget, we wanted this picture to look as much like a classy space movie as it could.”

--Thomas Meehan, co-screenwriter, interviewed by Brian Lowry: “Spaceballs: The Set Visit”

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 #118, May 1987: Taking Point Position on Star Trek: The Next Generation

Probably one of the most lucrative opportunities that ever came along to the Starlog publishers was Paramount’s decision to produce a new Star Trek series in the late 1980s. Starlog was already identified with Trek from its very first issue – which had originally been intended as a Star Trek one-shot publication until distributor wimpiness forced the publishers to rethink their strategy. Even its name is a Star Trek throwback. And the magazine has covered (and would continue to cover to its dying days) every aspect of Trek – basically, every single writer, actor (including guest star), director, producer, craft services provider, etc., would get an interview in the magazine. And don’t think I’m mocking that; the magazine had enough pages to cover other topics, and it did so quite comprehensively.

But then Star Trek: The Next Generation was on another level altogether. Not only did the show perform spectacularly well for Paramount (it was originally intended to be the flagship program of a Paramount network – as Voyager would be years later – but the network didn’t materialize, and Next Generation instead became a syndicated program; in fact, it became the number-one syndicated television program for years. So, not only did it do well for Paramount, it was a godsend for Starlog. It provided an opportunity to feature the popular program on its cover and within its covers issue after issue, thereby boosting sales. It gave the magazine the opportunity to have former columnist David Gerrold return, a la Susan Sackett’s Star Trek Report, to chronicle the creation of this series. And Starlog won the licensing rights to publish the official Star Trek: The Next Generation magazine, which it would produce for the full run of the series (and for successor programs Deep Space Nine and part of Voyager). Licensed magazines were a very important contributor to the Starlog Group (aka O’Quinn Studios) bottom line, and I’d hazard a guess that the Next Generation magazines were the single biggest source of cash from that business line.

This issue, Starlog #118, features the first of Gerrold’s behind-the-scenes Next Generation columns, offering an exclusive look at the designs, characters, story ideas, and personnel of this groundbreaking TV series.

Starlog #118
76 pages (including covers)
Cover price: $2.95

In Starlog company news, David McDonnell announces that he’s no longer overseeing sister magazine Fangoria’s editing chores. Those have been assumed by junior editor Anthony Timpone, who would hold onto the reins for almost a quarter century. They’re also starting to mine the merchandising possibilities of that magazine, with the launch of the Fangoria Poster Magazine, modeled on the successful Starlog Poster Magazine. In staffing news, Eddie Berganza and Daniel Dickholtz (the writer of much comics-related articles) move up the staff box to be listed as contributing editors.

The rundown: The cover photo is Star Wars’ C3PO and R2D2 (posing with a giant rodent), getting in one last cover appearance before Star Trek: The Next Generation takes it over. In his From the Bridge column, Kerry O’Quinn heralds the new Star Trek: The Next Generation series; Communications letters feature a bumper crop of letters commenting on recent coverage of Japanese anime, plus letters on the future of Star Trek, Kerry O’Quinn’s liberty editorials, and more; the Medialog section includes Patrick Daniel O’Neill’s report on the renewal of Doctor Who without the lead actor (Colin Baker), plus David McDonnell’s comprehensive roundup of genre news (such as, oh, let’s see, a note that there’s nothing firm about a Lost in Space reunion movie: “However, insiders maintain it’s very unlikely that such a revival will ever take place”).

In his inaugural Generations column, returning champion David Gerrold offers a first inside look at the planning for Star Trek: The Next Generation and he ends it with a suggestion that now’s a damn good time to renew your Starlog subscription, so you stay informed; another veteran returning to the Star Trek fold for Next Generation, Dorothy Fontana, is interviewed by Edward Gross; in his Booklog column, Chris Henderson covers the latest genre book releases; Steve Swires talks with actor Rod Taylor, who discusses Outlaw, TV’s Masquerade, and more; Tom Weaver interviews actor Jeff Morrow (This Island Earth, Kronos, Captain Lightfoot); Jean Airey and Laurie Haldeman profile Blake’s 7’s “cowardly safecracker” Michael Keating; the Fan Network pages include an update on Star Trek fan clubs, answers to readers’ questions (such as, “Is the two-hour, European-version of Ridley Scott’s Legend with Jerry Goldsmith’s music available on video?”), and more; William Shatner talks about spoofing Trek on Saturday Night Live, the Trek movies – including his first thoughts on directing Star Trek V – and The Next Generation in an interview with Ian Spelling, Randy and Jean-Marc Lofficier.

In another three-writer teamup, Bruce Gordon, David Mumford, and Chris Tietz explore Disneyland’s Star Tours, a Star Wars-themed attraction (plus a fourth writer, David Hutchison, chimes in with a sidebar on George Lucas’ involvement with the Disney enterprise); author George R.R. Martin is interviewed by only one writer, Daniel Dickholtz, and he discusses Nightflyers; Dickholtz also pens the Comics Scene column, looking at Retief, a comic about a 29th-century diplomat; David Hutchison’s Videolog looks at some on-sale genre videos; Marc Shapiro checks in with special effects designer Bill Stout and his illustrations for Masters of the Universe; a special Tribute section features the obituraries of five people: Scatman Crothers, Ian Marter, Elsa Lanchester, Keenan Wynn, and Roger C. Carmel; and editor David McDonnell wraps it all up in his Liner Notes column, where he deconstructs his editorial writing style, imparting some tidbits of news along the way.

“I think it is a mistake. To call a series Star Trek that doesn’t have the cast and the ship in it is an error. The error seems to me to be overexposure of the Star Trek name and the possibility of not having the Star Trek quality we’ve become accustomed to. It remains to be seen. [Should The Next Generation fail,] the whole thing is unnecessary jeopardy. ... It’s unnecessary to take that kind of risk. I don’t know how much money they’re going to make. I suppose it’s going to be considerable, but it can’t be more than the grosses they would make from the films. I don’t understand their reasoning. I’m not connected with this TV series at all.”

--William Shatner, actor/director, interviewed by Ian Spelling, Randy and Jean-Marc Lofficier: “William Shatner: Captain’s Log: Star Trek V”

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

World Cup: Germany Favorites over Australia Tomorrow

I know, no one comes to this blog for football/soccer news. But if the entire U.S. media scene can be taken over for two weeks each year with overpowering Super Bowl coverage, I think anti-soccer Americans can just go into hiding for a couple weeks every four years.

Forget about today's game between England and the United States. England will win. (Yeah, I could be wrong, but I don't care. Nor do most Americans, so winning wouldn't mean much, anyway. Pearls before swine – that sort of thing.)

But I'm rooting for Germany, as usual, and they play their first game tomorrow at 11 am Pacific time. I'll be watching.

The Local, an English-language German news-and-features web site, offers an overview of Germany's Nationalelf and its chances early in the World Cup competition, as well as a pictorial roundup of Die Mannschaft.

For those of you clinging stubbornly to your support for America's national team, Deutsche Welle (basically, a German BBC) has an English-language article with comments on the U.S.-UK game from U.S. and UK players who've played on German teams. That might sound confusing, but the article isn't, so read it.

And if you understand German, or can pretend to, here's a video from Spiegel TV and Kicker TV with a report on the German team in South Africa.

Game time.

The Starlog Project: Starlog #117, April 1987: Enter Tom Weaver

"Ib." That's the first word (a first name of an interview subject, if you're curious) of the very first Starlog article written by Tom Weaver, one of the most talented and prolific of contributors to the magazine. In issue #117, Weaver interviews the unlikely named Ib Jorgen Melchior, the "Danish Monster Master of Mars." Over the next two-decades-plus, Weaver would write countless (if, like me, you're too lazy to actually count them) articles for the magazine, almost always featuring actors, writers, directors, and producers from classic films, especially from the 1950s.

If you haven't read anything by Weaver, he might surprise you. His articles are mostly in the question-and-answer format. I have always appreciated his ability to go in-depth into the lives of the people he interviews. He is polite but insistent. He is informed about his subjects, but willing to be surprised by a contradicting fact from his interviewee and able to pursue it to a satisfying conclusion. He is a wizard at getting interesting stories out of his conversation partners. I rarely am familiar with the people he interviews, but I never miss reading a Weaver article (in Starlog or Fangoria), because he'll take an old movie I've never heard about, or an actor I've never known about, and I'll end up reading some interesting stories and excellent insight into movie making.

So, welcome to Tom Weaver.

(Not that you asked, but the last word in Weaver's first article is "that.")

Starlog #117
76 pages (including covers)
Cover price: $2.95

When I was in grade school, I read a short story by George R.R. Martin that blew me away. It might even have been the story from which the film Nightflyers originated (I'm not sure; I never saw the movie and I don't remember the story's title). But the story was incredible. I remember that someone's head exploded, and I'd been completely unprepared for it. I thought it was the most powerful story around. What it meant, of course, was that Martin was one of the most powerful writers around, so it's great that Hollywood tapped his works to make a film. But, still, I never saw the film.

BTW, in staffing news, Gary Schneider is the new production director at Starlog.

The rundown: Catherine Mary Stewart in Nightflyers is on the cover. In his From the Bridge column, publisher Kerry O'Quinn announces a special Starlog convention celebrating Star Wars' 10th anniversary (you'll of course remember the magazine's recent convention celebrating Star Trek's 20th anniversary, which turned into a special Starlog issue, #112, and the Star Wars convention will be mined for content for another special Starlog issue, #120, so stay tuned). In the Communications department, readers defend Howard the Duck (and make me feel sad for joking about it a few issues ago), rip on Starlog's cover text, criticize The Fly, and more; Medialog includes an unbylined short article quoting classic Star Trek actors commenting on the new series Star Trek: The Next Generation (including William Shatner's "I don't feel good about the new series"), and David McDonnell gives an overview of genre news (such as the cancellation of The Twilight Zone series).

Steve Swires interviews actor Adam West, who talks about the upsides and downsides of playing Batman in the camp 1960s series (when his agent pitched him the role, he said, "Come on, I'm trying to have a serious career"); between "ib" and "that," Tom Weaver spins his first Starlog article, an interview with the Danish writer and director Ib Jorgen Melchior, who talks about The Angry Red Planet, Robin Crusoe on Mars, and more; grandmaster L. Sprague de Camp continues the Mars mini-theme with an eight-page exploration of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Mars stories, with an assist from Edward Gross, who writes a sidebar on Princess of Mars screenwriter Charles Edward Pogue; David Hutchison has a few more words on the colorization debate and how it's being played out in the marketplace, and he shares them – along with some notes on new genre video releases – in his Videolog column.

Michael Wolff makes his first appearance as a writer for Starlog, with more Mars coverage – specifically, with a look at George Pal's The War of the Worlds adaptation of H.G. Well's classic novel; Jean Airey and Laurie Haldeman interview Terry Nation, creator of Blake's 7; Texas-based writer Ardath Mayhar, writing the Other Voices guest column, looks at the creation of fictional aliens; in the cover story, Brian Lowry interviews Nightflyers star Catherine Mary Stewart; in a three-page "The Writers of Star Trek" section, Edward Gross profiles three different contributors to that series: Carey Wilbur ("Space Seed"), David P. Harmon (The Deadly Years," "A Piece of the Action"), and Stephan Kandel ("Mudd's Women" and "I, Mudd," plus the animated series' "Mudd's Passion" and "Jihad"); Robert Greenberger interviews actor Mark Lenard, who reprises his role as Spock's father in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home; the Fan Network pages include items on international fan clubs, a revived Nichelle Nichols fan club, answers to reader questions (such as, "Holy turnaround, what's going on with The Batman movie?), and more; in a two-page "The Guests of Trek" section, Mark Phillips profiles Roger Perry, and Frank Carcia profiles Meg Wyllie and Michael Forest; still more Trek comes from Edward Gross, who interviews Robert Butler, director of "The Cage" pilot episode of the original series; in his Booklog column, Chris Henderson chats with Fred Saberhagen (who talks about The Frankenstein Papers), and he notes the new print releases; Eric Niderost previews Robocop; Randy and Jean-Marc Lofficier talk with Frank Oz about his new film, Little Shop of Horrors; in the Comics Scene column, Patrick Daniel O'Neill talks with Mark Evanier, co-creator (with Sergio Aragones) of Groo the Wanderer; and in his Liner Notes column, editor David McDonnell shares some behind-the-scenes tales of interviews, including a cute exchange he had with Rick Moranis and Frank Oz ("Rick, he's telling you to lie").

"Hell, the plot for 'Space Seed' came from an old Captain Video I did some 30 odd years ago. Of course, we did some very far out things on that show, including the popular idea of people being transported in space while in suspended animation."

–Carey Wilbur, writer of "Space Seed," interviewed by Edward Gross: "Carey Wilbur: Seed for a Trek Fairy Tale"

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

New Common Knowledge Column in Northside SF: Anti-Social Media

My third column in Northside San Francisco:

Anti-Social Media: Be My Friend No. 3,467

Downtown BART and Muni stations have sported some rather curious ads over the past few months. A major smart-phone company is seeking to entice new customers by stressing what it must believe to be the major strength of its product: support for popular social media applications.

In the process the company is making some fun applications sound boring and trivial, which I think undercuts the sales pitch. The idea is that you can get your friends’ tweets, Facebook updates, and text messages without having to do something difficult, such as go to a regular computer or, frankly, use any other smart phone, all of which already allow you to do these things.

Read the entire article.

The Starlog Project: Starlog #116, March 1987: The Women of Trek

This is as good of a time as any to praise the editor.

Since becoming the editor of Starlog with issue #97, David McDonnell (previously the mag's managing editor and a contributor to Comics Scene, and before that a contributor to Mediascene Prevue) made the magazine his own, as he should have done. But even before he assumed the top editorial position, his influence was clear. Cover lines became peppier – yes, sometimes controversially (remember the alien claim by Veronica Cartwright ion #81?). And with his ascension to the editorial pantheon, we got to see his judgment in article selection and presentation. We receive glimpses of why and how he chooses what, and how he presents it, courtesy of his editorials, so I don't think I'm totally giving you my simple opinion here.

Let's face it. Sometimes, editors of small magazines take the easy way out. They don't worry about articles. They don't push their writers much, because they're not being paid much (and Starlog's writers and editors were never paid enough). But McDonnell seems to have cared deeply about the details of his magazine, so I have always respected him, even when I disagreed with a particular article or presentation. I knew a professional was in charge.

Those thoughts come to me as I note the way he's taken the March 1987 issue, which is not in itself a special issue, and turns it into a mini-focus on the women of Trek. That's just smart editorial decision-making, and it's something he's done time after time.

Starlog #116
76 pages (including covers)
Cover price: $2.95

The magazine finally updates its Starlog Trading Post section, which is where it sells products from itself and other producers. Specifically, it adds the latest editions of the Starlog Scrapbook, Best of Starlog, and Starlog Poster Magazine.

The rundown: The cover features a spaceship photo of the Enterprise (you had me with "The cover features a spaceship" ...). In his From the Bridge column, publisher Kerry O'Quinn writes a thank-you letter of a sort to his business partner, Norman Jacobs, for being someone who suffered the bad times with him to reach for the "golden ring" of success (an editorial that is also notable for a photo of a younger O'Quinn at his drawing table, circa 1972). In the Communications pages, letters are printed from Marshall Brickman (interviewed in #111), tons of readers commenting on Aliens, still others writing in defense of Harlan Ellison, and more; and in the Medialog section, David McDonnell rounds up the latest genre news, such as that Mel Brooks and his company are pursuing a sequel to The Fly.

Daniel Dickholtz interviews Trek actress Grace Lee Whitney; Robert Greenberger interviews Majel Barrett Roddenberry; the Fan Network section includes short items on a Blake's 7 fan club, the Stardate SF role-playing magazine, the Comics Buyer's Guide awards ballot, 10th anniversary contest winners, answers to readers queries (such as, "Are there any videocassettes available for Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet & the Mysterions and Alien Attack?"), and more; Robert Greenberger interviews Robin Curtis, who briefly reprises her Saavik role in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home; Brian Lowry interviews actress Nichelle Nichols; Michael A. Banks and Dean R. Lambe write the Other Voices guest column, focusing on "The Art, Science & Combat of Collaboration" (along with a sidebar with suggestions for other collaborators); William Rabkin and Edward Gross interview the final Trek woman, Catherine Hicks; David Caruba talks to Sydney Newman, creator of The Avengers and Doctor Who; David Hutchison writes the Comics Scene column this month, looking at 3-D comics; Jean Airey and Laurie Haldeman profile Paul Darrow (Blake's 7's Avon); in a rare change from his usual Videolog treatment of noting new genre releases, this month David Hutchison uses the column to explore the controversy over colorization of classic black-and-white films, a hot topic at the time; Roger Anker interviews Incubus author Ray Russell; Brian Lowry profiles voice actor Daws Butler (Hannah Barbera cartoons); Chris Henderson's Booklog notes the new print releases, such as Isaac Asimov's Robot Dreams; Douglas Borton previews director Rusty Lemorande's Journey to the Center of the Earth; and editor David McDonnell's Liner Notes column talks SF conventions.

"[There was] a certain amount [of controversy about his Playboy short story]. For one thing, I had a Russian cosmonaut in the same spacecraft with an American astronaut, making the first manned moonshot. And the American was black. The story was written in 1967, just a week or two before the appointment of the first real-life black astronaut, Major Robert Lawrence. That made the Playboy legal eagles jumpy, because they were afraid my black astronaut character might be misconstrued as a portrait of Major Lawrence. Then, Lawrence was killed when his Starfighter jet crashed ..., making the situation even more touchy, and the magazine delayed publication of the story for more than a year. "

–Ray Russell, writer, interviewed by Roger Anker: "Ray Russell: Sly Old Fox of the Fantastic"

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

DoorQ Flips for Neil deGrasse Tyson

The folks over at DoorQ, a web site for gay and lesbian SF/fantasy/horror, have posted a mash note for scientist Neil deGrasse Tyson. They also link to a couple videos of Tyson, so I'll add to the fun by posting to yet another multimedia link, audio from his 2009 visit to San Francisco to discuss the Pluto controversy, disappointing fourth graders, and more.

As always, he was smart, interesting, and funny.

Click here to listen to the free streaming audio.

And, while I'm at it, here's a (admittedly, not great quality) video I made of him answering the accusation that he flip-flopped on the whole Pluto controversy.

The Starlog Project: Starlog #115, February 1987: Paper Trail

Just like issue #112, all of the full-color interior pages in #115 are no longer glossy paper; they are still full-color, but are printed on non-glossy paper. The black-and-white pages, meanwhile, are upgraded to a whiter, stronger paper stock. It's likely a cost-saving measure, but frankly the color still looks great, and the black-and-white looks better than ever. This will remain the case for the next few issues.

This month, Starlog publishes its annual postal statement of ownership and circulation. The total paid circulation for the issue closest to the statement's filing deadline is listed as 212,664 (down slightly from last year's 217,435), including the number of paid subscriptions of 8,747 (down significantly from 12,945 last time).

Starlog #115
76 pages (including covers)
Cover price: $2.95

Editor David McDonnell's column in this issue is, perhaps oddly, one that I have always remembered and thought about when considering other magazines. He explains that magazine issues that are on sale in January don't sell as well as other issues throughout the year, despite various gimmicks the editors might deploy to try to gain newsstand buyers' attention. For the record, he also mentions the situation with the previous January's issue, #103, which – as I wrote in my description of the issue – featured the same Clan of the Cave Bear cover photo as Heavy Metal magazine, which went on sale weeks before Starlog.

The rundown: Aliens is featured on the cover once again. In his From the Bridge column, Kerry O'Quinn urges readers to tap into their hidden talents (then again, it's the same column in which he says of some of the young filmmakers who entered the Cinemagic Short Film Search that "some of these so-called filmmakers should consider frying hamburgers at McDonald's"); Communications letters include more than a dozen readers responding to Bruce Gordon's article in #108, "The Other Marty McFly," and among those letter-writers is Back to the Future writer/producer Bob Gale; Medialog includes Jean Airey's brief chat with Doctor Who actor Colin Baker, plus David McDonnell's roundup of genre news (such as, oh, a reunion TV movie of the Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman).

Clifford Meth interviews Superman actor Christopher Reeve; in his Booklog column, Chris Henderson covers the new genre print releases, including The Reader's Guide to Robert E. Howard; legendary comics editor Julius Schwartz writes the Other Voices guest column, "The Solar Sales Service: Remembering Leigh Brackett and Edmond Hamilton"; speaking of whom, Will Murray features Edmond Hamilton and his famed pulp creation, Captain Future, Man of Tomorrow; Steve Swires, meanwhile, talks with the late writer Leigh Brackett in an interview he did with her in 1975; Randy and Jean-Marc Lofficier interview producer Buck Houghton, who talks about The Twilight Zone; in his Videolog column, David Hutchison covers SpaceCamp and other new video releases; Lee Goldberg interviews actor DeForest Kelley about Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home; Joel Eisner interviewed Ted Cassidy, the late actor from Star Trek, Lost in Space, and The Addams Family; in the cover story, Brian Lowry interviews Aliens actress Jenette Goldstein; Jean Airey and Laurie Haldeman interview former Doctor Who actor Tom Baker; Steve Swires talks with director John Carpenter about Hollywood disappointments; in the Fan Network pages, Richard Gilbert writes about a fan-club-made Enterprise bridge, plus short bits about Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy references in Aliens, an ice-covered convention, attempts to get SF-related postage stamps made, and more; David Hutchison explores the special effects behind the Michael Jackson 3-D film, Captain EO (plus a sidebar on the Disney ride Star Tours); and David McDonnell wraps it all up in his Liner Notes column by explaining how he's tried to buck the January sales blues.

"When [Roger] Newton reached manhood, he vowed to fight the kind of super-criminals who had killed his parents and who threatened the stability of the nine worlds. A brash redhead who wore a grey synthsilk zippersuit and a phaserlike proton-pistol at his hip, Captain Future – [publisher Leo] Margulis had ordered [Edmond] Hamilton to change the name from Mr. Future to the more romantic form in the middle of writing the first novel – was part scientist and part space cowboy."

–Will Murray, writer, "The Once & Future Captain"

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 #114, January 1987: Bigtime Trek

They had a drinking game in the Starlog offices back in the mid-1980s. Every time anyone proposed publishing an article about any aspect whatsoever about Star Trek, they all took a swig of whatever was closest. Unfortunately, they got a little hooked on the booze, and the result is an avalanche of Trek coverage.

Okay, clearly I made that up. (But if it were true, it would explain the recent Howard the Duck cover.) Meanwhile, feel free to drink – responsibly! – every time you see another Trek article listed in these writeups.

Starlog #114
76 pages (including covers)
Cover price: $2.95

Animation legend Chuck Jones and science legend Arthur C. Clarke chime in this issue with letters to the editor. Any issue that features those can't be half-bad.

The rundown: Spock's image takes the lead position this month, featured on the cover (and the whole man is featured in an interview inside). Kerry O'Quinn's From the Bridge column cites the Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations ethos of Star Trek (drink!) to support his call for a new understanding of tolerance and enjoyment of people's differences (though, to be fair, let's remember that Trek is one of the most conservative shows around when it comes to featuring gay characters); in the Communications pages, Chuck Jones thanks the magazine for a recent article about him in #108, Arthur C. Clarke claims some credit for predicting live media coverage of the moon landing, tons of readers respond to Ben Bova's recent guest column (in #106) on stellar war and peace, a reader actually follows up on his complaint that Starlog doesn't cover Rambo (quit while you're behind, sir), and more; Medialog features David McDonnell's genre news roundup (printed on a streaky black-and-white page that is nearly unreadable, though I can just barely make out that plans are afoot for a new version of the My Favorite Martian TV series), plus there's news about a new Star Trek series (you know what to do) called Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Eric Niderost visits the San Francisco set of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home; Brian Lowry talks to Tom Patchett, writer/producer of TV's weird ALF series; the Fan Network section includes photos from a dress-up screening of The Fly, a note about a symposium being led by Industrial Light and Magic wizards, a Looney Tunes/Star Trek cartoon, and more; Brian Lowry interviews actor Robert Hays, star of the new spinoff TV series, Starman; Mike Clark talks with actor Guy Williams about his time in Lost in Space and Zorro; Daniel Dickholtz pens the Comcis Scene pages, looking at Watchmen; David Hutchison's Videolog covers the latest video releases, such as Legend; John Sayers profiles animator Don Bluth (American Tail); Lee Goldberg talks with director Peter Hunt (Hyper Sapien); Randy and Jean-Marc Lofficier interview Leonard Nimoy about directing and acting in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (bottoms up!); Chris Henderson's Booklog covers the latest print releases, such as Vonda N. McIntyre's Enterprise: The First Adventure; Edward Gross interviews Marc Daniels, director of TV episodes such as "Mirror, Mirror" from the original Star Trek; William Rabkin talks with Michael Ritchie about directing The Golden Child; Roger Anker interviews writer William F. Nolan about his mentor Ray Bradbury, Logan's Run, and more; Brian Lowry chats with actor Paul Reiser about his role in Aliens; Dan Scapperotti, veteran of competitor Cinefantastique, joins the Starlog contributors' cadre with "Memories of Fu Manchu"; Jean Airey and Laurie Haldeman interview actor Gareth Thomas about Blake's 7; and David McDonnell's Liner Notes gets all Christmasy on us.

"One thing we've tried to express with Watchmen is the investigation of the superhero. We've tried to work out how a real superhero would live and function in a realistic world, what he would be like psychologically, what sort of things would really motivate him. We've also tried to examine how the presence of a superhero would alter that world in terms of technology, politics, what people think and so on."

–Alan Moore, writer, interviewed by Daniel Dickholtz: Comics Scene: "Man & Overman"

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

Become a Movie Mogul: Support Frowntown

I just discovered an online project-support page for Frowntown, a cool puppet project put together by two friends of mine.

You, too, can support this project with as little as $5 or as much as, well, as much as your VISA card will allow. And there are gifts and recognition at every level of giving.

You can get the full scoop on this "puppet show about children but most definitely not for them" at the official Frowntown site.

To find the easiest entree into filmdom mogulhood ever, visit the project funding site on Kickstarter. But either start with – or follow up your pledge with – more info on this project that will put many others to shame.