The Starlog Project: Starlog #81, April 1984: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Flies

A fine issue, featuring a cover with Christopher Lambert from his new movie Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes. Alas, the cover also features one of the most tasteless blurbs in the magazine's history: "Veronica Cartwright: I Got Raped by the ALIEN!"

In staffing news, Robert Greenberger (who edited the short-lived Comics Scene during his tenure in the Starlog offices) is leaving for a job at DC Comics, and new associate editor Leslie Stackel comes aboard. Also, I think I neglected to mention the arrival some months back of Robert R. Rachoi as vice president and circulation director.

Starlog #81
70 pages (including covers)
Cover price: $2.95

I have no inside knowledge of this, but here's a thought: Starlog magazine was the cash cow of the Starlog family of periodicals. It had the highest or one of the highest circulations of any of its magazines (I could be wrong, but I think only Black Elegance and perhaps Country Rhythms would have higher circulations at some points), yet its cover price was higher than others. Consider, in this very issue of Starlog, we see the ad again for the new music magazine Rock Video, which has roughly the same number of pages as Starlog (though I think it even had more color pages than Starlog), yet its cover price was $2.25 versus Starlog's $2.95. A 12-issue subscription to Rock Video cost $21.98 (and you got a free t-shirt!), while a 12-issue subscription to Starlog cost $27.49 (with no t-shirt).

The rundown: In his From the Bridge column, Kerry O'Quinn touts the upcoming Starlog Festival convention series; Communications letters throw more fire on the Starlog-hates-Lost-in-Space controversy (I would witness this firsthand in the year 2000, when I attended a small SF convention in New York City and one of the pro-Lost speakers took a swipe at Starlog for its alleged anti-Lost bias -- these people hold a grudge!), express surprise at Kirstie Alley's absence from the new Star Trek movie, offer corrections to recent special effects articles, grade Brainstorm (including a letter from Richard Gordon, who I believe is the veteran movie producer brother to Fangoria columnist Alex Gordon), and more; Log Entries short news items include a preview of the Tom Hanks and Daryl Hannah film Splash, a photo preview of upcoming genre films, lots of short headlines (such as Harlan Ellison leaving the film adaptation of Bug Jack Barron), and more.

Lenny Kaye's Space Age Games gives a lot of attention to Coleco, and it also peers inside home computers; Robert Greenberger interviews Hugh Hudson, director of the new Tarzan film; Milburn Smith chronicles Tarzan's many book, film and television productions; Randy and Jean-Marc Lofficier preview Dreamscape; Milburn Smith lists the science fiction, fantasy and horror films that won Academy Awards from 1931 to 1982 (and, it should be noted, Starlog produced a one-shot special magazine in 1983 about the Academy Awards, though it never repeated the feat); David McDonnell highlights artist Mark E. Rogers' The Adventures of Samurai Cat book; Lee Goldberg looks at the "death duel" between a TV adaptation of Blue Thunder and the competing series Airwolf, which it cheekily calls an "original imitation"; Howard Zimmerman reports from the World Fantasy Convention in Chicago; Lee Goldberg visits the set of Buckaroo Banzai, a film destined for cult status (and a favorite of the Starlog staff); William B. Thompson interviews novelist Alan Dean Foster, who did the novelization for The Last Starfighter; David Gerrold reports on the status of the rough cut of Star Trek III -- The Search for Spock; Thomas McKelvey Cleaver interviews The Right Stuff's Fred Ward; Robert Greenberger interviews Veronica Cartwright (Alien, The Right Stuff); in his Lastword column, editor Howard Zimmerman says good-bye to Robert Greenberger and comments on plans for a space station.

"I know when I'm getting close to camp, ... and I have actors who, by virtue of their own talents, prevent me from going over that line. You could have cast this film in a certain way which would have made it impossible not to be campy."

--W.D. Richter, director, interviewed by Lee Goldberg: "On the Set of Buckaroo Banzai"

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 Project: Starlog #20, March 1979: You Will Believe a Man Can Fly

The Starlog family is set to expand, as the company adds new titles and plans more issues of its most popular title. We're also teased with the possibility of an additional magazine and a movie -- both ultimately unrealized. And, for the completists among you, this is the first issue to feature an entire half-page Next Month section.

Starlog #20
80 pages (including covers)
Cover price: $1.95

There's photographic evidence right there, on the cover of the magazine, that men can fly, or at least that Superman can. Thus we have Starlog's self-proclaimed pull-out-all-the-stops coverage of the long-awaited Christopher Reeve Superman film, supplemented by an interview with the man who played Supes more than three decades earlier. The Mork and Mindy stuff is just there to remind us of how awkward the 1970s truly were.

Kerry O'Quinn drops a few bombs in his From the Bridge column, noting that Starlog will go monthly beginning with its next issue, the company might publish a fiction magazine (it never did), Starlog had formed a feature film company (it never did anything),  Future has changed its name to Future Life, Cinemagic will soon be published by Starlog, something called Fantastica will be published. As we'll see in the near future, Fantastica will go through a tortuous journey until it is ultimately renamed -- tadaa -- Fangoria. Letters in the Communications section cover thoughts on the Battlestar Galactica series (no, we don't know what a micron is), George Pal, special effects explosions, and more. Short news in Log Entries includes the film Arabian Adventure, new stop-motion from Europe, and a whole slew of Starlog self-promotion bits (more on Fantastica and Cinemagic, the formation of SF Film Productions, Inc., Starlog's monthly status, Starlog wins an award at the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films, the Starlog/Future Getaway Special, Starlog Records' third release -- It's Alive 2 -- the new name for Future, and a staffer who wins costume prizes; all in all, a page and a third of Starlog self-congratulation).

Next, George S. James and Frank H. Winter write a 50th anniversary celebratory article on Buck Rogers; David Gerrold's State of the Art column slams Capricorn One; David Hutchison looks at Jason of Star Command, the Saturday morning live-action SF kids' show; Gerry Anderson's Space Report gives us the goods on the Space: 1999 feature film, Destination Moonbase Alpha; Susan Sackett's Star Trek Report follows the extras (including fellow columnist David Gerrold and future Starlog columnist Bjo Trimble) for the crew assembly scene in Star Trek -- The Motion Picture. Richard Meyers and Phil Edwards preview Alien. Jennie Lalume interviews Pam Dawber of Mork and Mindy; Richard Meyers writes the extensive cover story on Superman: The Movie; Jeff Elliot interviews a former Superman actor, Kirk Alyn; James R. Stuart gives us the facts on "Ion Drive Spacecraft: The First Interplanetary Electric Rockets"; Jonathan Eberhart's Interplanetary Excursions, Inc., goes to Venus' Beta; a three-page survey collects information for the forthcoming Starlog Yearbook, to be edited by David Gerrold (and never to be published again, alas); G. Harry Stine tells people how to "Build Your Own Spaceship"; David Houston profiles model-maker Brick Price in the SFX section; David Houston's Visions column looks at 20th-century examples of science fiction that have made it into the mainstream; and editor Howard Zimmerman ends it all with his Lastword column, which looks at the magazine's increase in frequency and revisits his Galactica criticism.

"Described appropriately as a science-fiction horro film, Alien may prove to be 1979's most unique offering. At this point, it's already proving to be a one-of-a-kind prospect for its cast and crew. "We're having a few problems with the censor over certain scenes,' [Dan] O'Bannon chuckles devilishly."

--Richard Meyers and Phil Edwards, writers, "Alien"

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

Starlog: Quo Vadis?

The beginning of the new year is as good a time as any to address the matter of my long-promised review of Starlog magazine. But instead of reviewing a recent issue of the magazine, I wanted to review the magazine as a whole, as a brand.

I know that if someone had proposed to review any of the magazine brands for which I've worked, I'd have a mixture of curiosity, bemusement, and a chip on my shoulder. For the editors and publisher of a brand such as Starlog, you could probably add "weariness," because people are always airing their opinions about the magazine and how it should be run.

That's the burden of being an iconic magazine in its field. Playboy gets the same treatment. Whenever Playboy Enterprises reports a quarter of bad earnings, the blogosphere fills up with people saying the company should ditch its print edition, ditch its executives, adapt to the Internet age, etc.

And so it is with Starlog. For more than three decades, this magazine has covered science fiction films, television, books, plays, theme park attractions, comics, and much more, and at its height (arguably in the 1980s, but possibly in the 1990s) it was the flagship of a small but thriving publishing group that produced titles on everything from horror to teens to movie tie-ins to baseball and wrestling (and astrology and cars and cat calendars and soap operas and military history and women's magazines and bodybuilding and obviously much, much more). For a lot of that time, Starlog magazine dominated a field that included weaker competitors such as Fantastic Films, Cinefantastique, Famous Monsters of Filmland, Movieland, Sci-Fi Universe, Questar, and others.

But in recent years, it has fallen behind, both technologically and competitively. I'll write more about the competitive landscape below, but first let's take a look at Starlog-the-brand's many aspects and how it's doing with each.

In Print
The May 1980 issue of Starlog was the first edition of the magazine I ever purchased. Even now, without thumbing through a copy to refresh my memory, I can recall most of the articles in it. (Interviews with two of the new actors in Galactica 1980; a report on a backyard production of Alien; an editorial reviewing Galactica 1980; a column by David Gerrold in which "Harlan Ellison," "litchi nut," and "sex" all figured prominently in the lead; and on and on....)

That issue made me a lifelong reader. But being a reader from "way back when" doesn't make me qualified to critique a magazine, for which a small merry band of individuals spend a lot of time writing, editing, designing, and marketing. As a professional editor myself, I respect their work and dedication, but I offer this constructive criticism of Starlog magazine today in the hopes that they're listening.

The magazine remains timely, including coverage of all of the big -- and many small -- science fiction media projects. They get the big interviews, they ask the good questions, and they stay on target, which is reporting on the films, books, and television programs; thankfully, they do not do what so many other film publications do and report on the bedroom details of the actors or directors. If you want that, there's plenty of such reporting elsewhere. Instead, we learn about projects that are of wide interest and others that are targeted at niche-audiences, which is a great way to attract new readers and retain older ones. (If you're the magazine where readers can be sure of getting interviews with every star of a small WB fantasy-oriented TV series, that makes it a must-buy publication for the show's fans.) It also features excellent film historians Tom Weaver and Will Murray, who provide frequent must-read articles.

Editor David McDonnell is a well-known comics fan (having worked on three different iterations of sister publication Comics Scene) who gathers a large number of one-panel comics for each issue of Starlog. There are also book reviews, DVD previews, a monthly overview of changes to science fiction television programs, short updates on upcoming media programs, and photos of science fiction and fantasy celebrities at public appearances. All well-and-good.

The drawbacks of Starlog are not in what is there. McDonnell and his team produce a slick magazine each month (10 times annually, down from 12 a few years ago, but that's par for the publishing world these days), and reading it will keep any science fiction fan well-informed and entertained.

No, the drawbacks are what is not in Starlog. First, there are no editorials or columns, either of which (preferably both) can give a magazine personality and, perhaps more important, can give readers a reason to buy a magazine even if they're not particularly interested in the articles blurbed on the cover. The examples are many: David Schow in Fangoria in the 1990s; David Gerrold in Starlog in the late 1970s to the mid-1980s; Harlan Ellison in Future Life for the second half of its short life; Howard Cruse in Comics Scene's first iteration. Or -- in the non-Starlog Group world -- the late Asa Baber's column in Playboy, William Safire in the New York Times Magazine, and many other examples. The reader doesn't have to agree with everything or even a lot of what the columnist writes, but the reader does have to be served a column that is provocative and interesting. A good column doesn't have to be more than a page or two in the magazine, so it's not taking up too much real estate. But it should help sell the magazine and help define its character to readers who pick up the publication for the first time.

Editorials can be even shorter in length, but they accomplish a lot, as long as the editor or publisher writing it is allowed to say things and not just highlight articles in that issue. Editor McDonnell has written tons of these over the years for all of the magazines he's edited, but he currently does not. Nor is there a publisher's letter in Starlog, as there used to be when Publisher Kerry O'Quinn really set the tone for the magazine in the 1980s. The magazine needs an editorial voice, something to show that the magazine has a voice of its own, to help point readers to things not covered in the magazine, to give the magazine a personality with which the reader, one hopes, identifies and thereby makes it more likely that the reader will continue reading.

The other thing missing from the magazine is more difficult to define, but I believe it to be very important. That is a sense of the calendar, something to make the magazine the reader's guide through the year. This can be done best with annual special issues, such as anniversary issues, seasonal previews, and other special features or editions that don't appear each month but which give the reader something to look forward to (and a reason to plan on buying the next issue of the magazine). I remember well how much I anticipated each July's special anniversary issue of Starlog back in the 1980s. No, my life wasn't so empty that this was all that I looked forward to; but it was something that in the context of my reading and purchasing of magazines was very important. Not only does this sense of the calendar help sell the magazine, but it helps define the genre for the reader, and that makes the magazine that much more of an indispensible buy.

The Design
With the redesign of Starlog's longtime logo a couple issues ago, there was an assumption by some people that the magazine would itself undergo a redesign, but none has been forthcoming so far. None is called for, necessarily, because the publication's designers do a good job, and covers have been quite good of late. (Any magazine that has published more than 370 issues is going to have some great covers, a lot of good covers, a ton of so-so covers, and more than a few boners. Starlog is no exception.)

The magazine has lots of color, but it long ago learned the advantages of letting the color photos speak for themselves without needing to overload the reader with colored backgrounds to the text. One of Starlog's strengths has always been that it is a readers' magazine; even with a lot of sharp color photos in each issue, most of the magazine is text, and that plays to the strength of print publications in the Internet age: You get a headache after reading text on the web for too long, but a print magazine is something you lie down on the couch or sit in a chair and put your feet up while you read for extended periods, which gives the reader more commitment to the magazine and the brand.

ONLINE
Starlog has never been at the forefront of the Internet revolution. Sure, one of its editors had a Compuserve address in the 1980s, and it (along with sister publications Fangoria and Comics Scene) had a presence on the early MSN network in the early 1990s. But when the World Wide Web exploded and became the obvious platform for communication and dissemination, Starlog lagged, relying on its print presence and only belatedly creating a web site.

The web site the magazine has had for much of this decade has been underfed in terms of content or even attention. And, as of this writing, the site has been down ("Under construction and coming soon") for a couple months, following the purchase of Starlog and Fangoria from its previous, bankrupt owner.

There's no e-mail newsletter, no podcasts (video or audio), no blogs. Before the site went on hiatus, there was an online forum, as well as short reports on news of the day, excerpts from print articles, and an online store. Missing was any regular presence of the print publication's editorial staff, as well as anything substantive.

In brief, Starlog has missed the boat -- and a great many opportunities to promote its brand -- by ignoring or giving short shrift to the Internet. I believe that has to change, and I have some ideas below on how that can be done cost-effectively.

Competitive Landscape
In the early 1990s, there appeared within a very short timespan several new newsstand competitors to Starlog. My thought at the time was that, though Starlog remained strong and a favorite of mine, competition would be good for it and would perhaps impel it to step up its game. But the competition proved unworthy; Sci-Fi Universe, published by the Hustler group of magazines, remains the only magazine I've ever seen to publish an interview with provocative writer Harlan Ellison that is boring. The magazine died an early death, unbemoaned. Sci-Fi Entertainment and Cinescape offered nothing new, trying to play in Starlog's yard but beating it only in terms of color pages, not in quality or new ground broken (to mix metaphors).

But the real competition has come from England, where the economics of magazine publishing clearly are different from here in the United States. SFX magazine (which usually manages to cover part of its logo so it looks like "SEX") offers lots of pages and attitude, but it has no connection to the soul of the SF fan the way Starlog did in its early years and still occasionally today. In the past couple years, Sci Fi Now and Deathray have emerged from England, both of them, like SFX, at nearly 150 oversized pages, all color. In terms of paper quality and quantity, energy, and attitude, these magazines have raised the bar in a way that Cinescape and its sisters could never do.

How has Starlog reacted? In the past decade, the magazine has gone through one bankruptcy and another implosion (which saw the former Starlog Group close something like a dozen of its other magazines when financing ran out in 2001). Most recently, Starlog has cut its page count from 92 pages (including covers) to 84.

How should it react? Here are some thoughts.

My Suggestions for Starlog
First, don't stop doing what the magazine and its editors, writers, and designers are doing well, which is offering that broad coverage of science fiction media past, present, and future.

But much more attention needs to be paid to a basic magazine need: Advertising. Time and effort need to be spent to increase the advertising. Even if the mag's circulation has dropped from its peak, it's still a good vehicle for advertisers to reach readers.

Second, address the lack of "a sense of the calendar," as I call it above. Do something special for the anniversary issue each and every year. Have a couple special articles (featuring a special layout/design), a self-lauditory editorial (that's not as selfish as it sounds; any such editorial is doing two things: It does praise the home forces, but it also praises the readers as being a part of this great enterprise, and lets the readers know they are part of a very special breed of readers and thinkers), maybe a bust-the-editorial-budget special report on some aspect of the science fiction universe.

Other options could include devoting a portion of the December issue to a year-end review, which also lets you devote a good-sized article in January to a new-year preview. Both can be produced with little extra cost (i.e., time-willing, they could be staff-produced and not require freelance talent) and can even draw in the sorely lacking reader involvement (in October, tell readers to write in with their top-10 lists of the year, with a selection to be printed in the December issue, or with a tally to be taken and published, along with selected comments on the best/worst/whatever science fiction films/tv/books that make the collective list. Free content, but it lets the reader become a part of the magazine and maybe even see their name in print -- a not-to-be-dismissed plus) and it can be a fun use of two or three pages.

For several years in the mid-1908s, Starlog produced an annual end-of-summer issue that included reviews of the summer's movies. The theory they offered was that by then everyone's had a chance to see the movies for themselves, so they weren't straying from their mantra of letting the readers make their own judgements. Starlog could revisit this type of an issue, perhaps making the special section a collection of reviews by science-fiction writers, readers, and its own collection of the top genre journalists. With the dominant role that DVDs now play in the success of a film or television program, having a review issue that comes out after most of the big films have made their debut but before they have hit DVD (and before the new TV season gets really going) could be perfect timing.

If not those ideas, then something needs to be done to have a schedule in the year that offers the reader a map of the genre year and milestones along the way. Make them a part of that calendar, and make the magazine their official guide through it.

Other ideas for the print magazine would be (as I noted much earlier in this review) the addition of a regular opinion columnist and and monthly editorial. And the publication of the occasional episode guide wouldn't hurt, either. (Will they miss the boat by not doing a complete episode guide when the new Battlestar Galactica ends this season?)

But it's on the online front where Starlog can do some exciting but cost-effective things to build brand loyalty, market the magazine (and its related publications, such as Fangoria), and get the reader involved with the magazine in the weeks between the release of each new print edition.

First, produce a free weekly e-mail newsletter that people go to the web site to subscribe to. Sell banner ads for the e-newsletter, and come up with newsletter content that can be produced relatively easily but is still valuable to the reader. Some ideas: Short synopses of the next week's science fiction TV programs; release date in the next week of any science fiction, fantasy, or horror film, a short opinion piece (first paragraph only in the newsletter; link to the web site for the full article), an excerpt from an article in the current or upcoming issue of the print magazine, reader letters, a couple noteworthy reader posts from the bulletin boards, and maybe an original news report. I'd enjoy writing something like that. More important, I'd subscribe to it and read it, and I think thousands of other science fiction fans would, too.

Second, add a blogger or two to the web site. One could be an omnibus staff blog, as Playboy does with its editorial team. In that case, no one person is tasked with writing a blog posting every day, but every day still sees a new posting from one or another editor from a variety of perspectives and on a variety of topics. Another blog might be a movie and TV program review blog. Coming up with topics for possible blogs is not a difficult challenge.

Third, add audio (and, even better, video) podcasts. With the technology available today that ships with any new Mac, you can create audio and video podcasts and distribute them through your web site and/or through iTunes. Do movie reviews, short excerpts of talks with science fiction creators, and genre news -- it's a free or low-cost way to produce and distribute great content, and it again serves the bottom line of getting people involved and invested in the brand, helping sell the online content and the print content, which all cross-promote.

Fourth, take some of those brands that keep getting resurrected as special sections of Starlog magazine (Future Life, Comics Scene, Fantasy Worlds) and relaunch them as web sites. It'll keep your foothold on the title and logo, and it'll also let you cross-promote all of your brands to the betterment of all of them.

The Future of the Magazine
I don't know the source or sources of Starlog's current lethargy. I think I've pointed out that it has many current strengths and behind-the-scenes talent, not to mention a valuable brand name. Whether it's a lack of manpower, a lack of editorial vision, a lack of direction from the company's executives, or something else, it's simply not an excuse to let things go undone and let markets slip out from under them.

I write this article as both a longtime Starlog reader and as a publishing professional with almost 20 years of experience. I hope it's read by other readers and fans with sympathy for a great title, and by Starlog staff with an eagerness to break new ground. I'll be their biggest cheerleader.

What do you think? E-mail me or leave a comment on this blog. Thanks.

Another Century: The Starlog Project, Starlog 200, March 1994

Even though publishing 200 editions of a magazine is a huge achievement, it just doesn’t have the same celebratory sense of accomplishment as publishing the first 100. It’s not rational, really; magazine publishing has always been a risky business, so the longer you can keep going, the bigger the achievement.

Nonetheless, Starlog probably didn’t help itself with this special 100-page issue by basically repeating the formula of issue 100: The core of the magazine is made up of short profiles of the “200 most important people” in science fiction and fantasy. Not a bad idea, but after issue 100, not an original one, either. (It's a formula the magazine would repeat in issue #300.) The 200 referenced in that name actually refers to brief recaps of those first 100 people, then longer (though still short) profiles of VIPs 101-200.

Starlog #200
100 pages (including covers)
Cover price: $6.95

So what happened in the years since the company published Starlog 100? Quite a lot, really. The United States went from having basically three commercial broadcast networks plus public television and a smattering of cable to having four commercial networks plus public, lots of cable (including a science-fiction channel all to itself), burgeoning numbers of independent stations, and an expanding international market. All of that means there was greater demand for content, or, in the words of Hollywood money people, “product.” As a result, Starlog and other SF mags had a lot more genre programs (and movies) to write about.

Starlog itself had changed quite a bit over those 100 issues, though not as much as it had from issue 1 through 100. By March 1994, Starlog was still the core of a multi-title magazine publishing company, but many of those sister titles had changed. The page count of Starlog was higher, the cover price higher, the paper quality better, and many of the names on the masthead different – most significantly, arguably, was the departure from the company of co-founder Kerry O’Quinn, who had sold his share of the business and taken on a consultant's role.

The mid-1980s, when Starlog 100 was published, was a time when people weren’t sure where the economy was going. Things were still on an upswing from the brutal early 1980s recession, and that decade saw constant changes and uncertainty. But by the mid-1990s, when #200 was published, Starlog was in the middle of a solid decade of very low inflation (so no constant cover price increases every year or two) and apparently strong circulation and readership.

The rundown: The cover is a shiny standout that probably caught eyes on the newsstand, so in that sense, it might be a success. But as a well-designed cover, it just doesn’t make it; the Starlog logo is hard to see, the photos at the bottom of the cover aren’t the people listed right above the photos who are interviewed inside; and the background really serves no purpose other than to catch the eye – it’s not as if it’s a science-fictiony design. It’s just shiny. As for the contents page, it’s actually kind of cool: a large Frank Frazetta Barsoom painting sprawls over one full page and edges onto the next.

David McDonnell kicks off the celebratory section with an introduction to the 200 most etc., etc., etc. First we get the brief overviews of the first 100 folks; then begins the many, many pages devoted to the second 100 people, which fills up much of the remainder of the magazine, interspersed with a few normal articles (about which more in a moment).

There are some obvious choices on the 100 new additions to this list, of course, but the real pleasure of going through the profiles is finding people about whom you know nothing; never heard of them. For example, before you read the following name, August W. Derleth, had you ever heard of him? Before re-examining this issue, neither had I. But I was pleased to find that he came from my former home state of Wisconsin and was something of a pioneering editor, publisher, and writer. So I immediately began looking for his work and for information about him online. Philip Wylie, Arch Oboler, and John P. Fulton are other names on the list that might have sparked an interest among other readers. Taken together, this list can help enrich your appreciation of the history and breadth of science fiction and fantasy.

There can be an endless but sometimes fun game played with the list of the genre’s most important people. Who deserved to be on the list but was left off? I would add Starlog’s own former columnist David Gerrold, for one. Or you can go negative and ask who was on the list but shouldn’t be.

Such lists are inherently subjective, of course, but if they’re done well, they can burnish the publication’s authority. One of Starlog’s assets through much of its life was its assumed role as a standard-bearer of establishment SF; it helped define important topics, trends, and people. So, even with my basic skepticism about featuring a big list for a second time in Starlog’s every-100-issues tradition, the editors and writers have acquitted themselves well.

In other content this issue, Kerry O’Quinn uses his From the Bridge column to recount a speech he gave to a Mexican university, where he found a lot of Starlog readers. Stan Nicholls interviews longtime Starlog favorite Arthur C. Clarke, who discusses his latest novel, The Hammer of God, and some of his other works, including the Rama books. Bill Warren profiles filmmaker Joe Dante, who talks at length about the craze for remakes (and big-screen reinventions of old TV shows). And Kim Howard Johnson talks with director Terry Gilliam about films – live action and animated.

Marc Shapiro checks in with producer Gale Anne Hurd about Penal Colony, though she also discusses her work on Aliens and the Terminator series. James Mitchell contributes his first Starlog article, an interview with filmmaker Tim Burton; they discuss Batman, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Cabin Boy, and his upcoming Ed Wood, among other projects. Stan Nicholls talks with writer/editor/science-evangelist Ben Bova. And another first-time contributor, J. Stephen Bolhafner, interviews author William Gibson, who talks all things cyberpunk (including his experiences with and about Billy Idol).

“[L]ife was almost wiped out on our planet many times in the past, most recently 65 million years ago, give or take a week. The current thinking is that a large meteor or comet hit the Earth, causing an ecological catastrophe–the dinosaurs and three-quarters of all other species on land, sea and air were destroyed. Now, there are lots of craters on Mars, including one so big it’s not called a crater, it’s the Plain of helos. It’s 1,000 kilometers across. If something that large hit Mars, it might very well have destroyed any life there by blowing away the atmosphere. Whatever it was sent out a shock wave so powerful that it liquified the rock as it went through. Imagine sitting down to tea when THAT happened!”
–Ben Bova, interviewed by Stan Nicholls: “The Promise of Space”

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

Starlog Internet Project: Starlog #19, February 1979: Wookie Life Day!

Every year, each magazine published in the United States that is distributed through the U.S. Post Office (i.e., mail subscriptions) is required to print a statement of ownership and circulation. This is the first issue in which Starlog has published one, and its reported paid circulation is the highest the magazine would see for many years. The paid circulation for the issue closest to the statement's filing deadline is listed as 195,736, including the number of paid subscriptions of 23,446.

Also in this issue is one of the odder attempts to extend the Starlog brand: Starlog co-publisher Norman Jacobs purchased a racehorse and named it Starlog. Two decades later, when I visited the office and was with the two publishers, they joked about whatever happend to that horse: "He's probably glue," said one.

Starlog #19
80 pages (including covers)
Cover price: $1.95

Science-fiction fans generally regard the Star Wars Christmas Special, highlighted on this issue's cover, as one of the low points of the George Lucas saga -- right down there with Ewoks and Jar Jar Binks. But despite the Special's presence on its cover, Starlog #19 is a good, meaty issue with lots of articles and photos to keep the SF fan -- casual or committed -- happy and busy.

Kerry O'Quinn opens things up with his From the Bridge column, in which he relates the high points of 1978 (producing records, launching Starlog in Japan, getting compliments from Isaac Asimov, and much more -- it was a good year for O'Quinn); Communications letters include bets on Buster Crabbe's life, viewer attempts to save NBC's Quark, a call for reader help with a new Photo Guidebook on roller coasters, and more; short news in Log Entries includes the announcement of the Starlog/Future short film competition (soon to become the Starlog/Cinemagic Short Film Competition, once Starlog buys that DIY film magazine), Duck Dodgers, Close Encounters of the Third Kind updates, Battle of the Planets comes to American TV (ugh), Starlog the horse, and more.

David Houston covers the return of Buck Rogers in Buck Rogers in the 25th Century; Jonathan Eberhart's Interplanetary Excursions, Inc., visits Olympus Mons on Mars; Ed Naha interviews Maren Jenson, "Athena" on Battlestar Galactica; David Gerrold opens a can of worms with Star Wars fans by asking "A Parsec in a Pear Tree -- or -- What Makes a Kessel Run?"; Richard Meyers and Charles Bogle interview Phil Kaufman, director of the new Invasion of the Body Snatchers; Ed Naha interviews Ralph Bakshi about his animated Lord of the Rings; two color pages are used to announce a Getaway Special contest to put a reader's experiment aboard a space shuttle (at $10,000, still probably a better investment than the racehorse); Robin Snelson looks at NASA's new jetpacks; Joe Bonham (i.e., Ed Naha again) interviews famed B-movie king Roger Corman; Natalie Millar lost the office bet and had to write the Star Wars Christmas Special article. In Space Report, Gerry Anderson answers reader questions on Fireball XL-5, Space: 1999 spaceships, and more; Susan Sackett's Star Trek Report covers watching dailies, set security, and the Trek softball team; Kent Dorfman covers "Superman: Ready for Takeoff"; Paul Mandell writes the SFX section this issue, exploring the making of the mothership from Close Encounters; Al Flyn looks at the new book Faeiries, illustrated by Brian Froud and Alan Lee; David Houston's Visions column looks at the early days of science fiction in mainstream culture (illustrated by a Boris Vallejo painting); and editor Howard Zimmerman takes a wrecking ball to Battlestar Galactica.

"It's hard to decide whether my basic reaction to ABC's Battlestar Galactica is anger or incredulity. ... The sad truth is that the plot inconsistencies are only part of the problem. There is no science background in the show whatsoever. Why don't Viper pilots wear pressurized suits when they fly? What good are those stupid-looking Egyptian helmets? What powers the Battlestar and its Viper craft? (If they possess faster-than-light drive, it has never been mentioned.)"

--Howard Zimmerman, editor, Lastword

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

The Starlog Project: Starlog #69, April 1983: Multiple Jedis

A few magazine insider notes on this issue: Starlog either switched printers or at least changed the paper stock it uses. Either way, the issue plumps up a bit more (that might sound strange; I mean it looks a bit less skinny, though the page count is the same as the previous month) and the uncoated (non-glossy) paper used for the black-and-white pages seems ... silkier. A bit smoother. Unfortunately, some of the black-and-white photos print very dark on this new paper.

Okay, so that doesn't interest you. How about this: The Return of the Jedi cover photo once again is not sufficiently tall to fill the entire cover, so black bands are added at the top of the image and at the very bottom of the image, as the magazine has done a few times in the past.

Still not interested? Okay, then there's this: This issue, Starlog announces the release of the first edition of the Starlog Poster Magazine. "10 GIANT POSTERS" shouts the ad on page 25. There are many exclamation points in the ad, too. But it was a science-fiction geek-out moment for many of us back then, because it did deliver a ton of cool posters in one package. Starlog would go on to publish quite a few editions of the poster magazines, including a series of poster magazines for its horror movie sister mag, Fangoria. This month Starlog also releases the second volume of its Starlog Scrapbook photo magazine, featuring E.T. on the cover.

Starlog #69
68 pages (including covers)
Cover price: $2.50

Now that the Star Wars sequel has finally been definitely named Return -- not Revenge -- of the Jedi, the fun can begin, as can Starlog's coverage of the movie, in earnest.

The rundown: Kerry O'Quinn probably was very pleased with the title for his From the Bridge column this month: "Out of My Drawers ...". But it's not what it sounds like; he instead is reaching into his drawers -- stop that line of thought right now! -- and sharing some of the newspaper clippings he's had stored in his desk drawers. Communications letters include Tron director Steven Lisberger, who takes the time to respond to reader reaction to his film, and other letters include support for a teacher facing censorship, thoughts on The Dark Crystal, and more; short news items in Log Entries include news of upcoming 3-D movies (Jaws 3-D, Space Hunter, and more), a peek at Blue Thunder, a profile of Matthew DeMeritt (who helped perform inside the E.T. suit for some later-discarded footage), Ralph Bakshi and Frank Frazetta are teaming up to make the fantasy film Fire and Ice, Famous Monsters of Filmland (and Creepy, Eerie, Vampiralla, and 1994) have ceased publication, and more.

Jill Bauman provides a photo display from the Eighth Annual World Fantasy Convention; Ed Naha interviews Anthony Daniels about Return of the Jedi; Lee Goldberg interviews Tom Mankiewicz, about scripting Bond films, working on Superman, and involvement in an upcoming Batman movie; Ed Naha explores the controversy over the nuclear holocaust telefilm The Day After; Susan Adamo returns to the pages of Starlog to visit the studio where The Empire Strikes Back is being recorded for public radio; James Van Hise interviews James Kahn about his work in E.T. and on Poltergeist; Robert Greenberger interviews Jedi producer Howard Kazanjian; David Houston contributes "A Walking Tour: Part Two -- Welcome to EPCOT Center"; in her final Fan Scene column, Bjo Trimble says good-bye, her column a victim of her burgeoning interests elsewhere and O'Quinn's concern that the magazine had too many columnists; a three-page photo spread (in black-and-white) goes behind the scenes of the making of The Dark Crystal; David Gerrold announces an essay contest for Starlog readers to write his column; John Dods follows up his interview with Tim Hildebrandt by profiling estranged brother Greg Hildebrandt this issue; Bob Martin's Space Age Games throws some red meat to the SF crowd, looking at space war games; and editor Howard Zimmerman wraps it all up in his Lastword column with a farewell to Bjo Trimble.

"Nobody gets an easy ride in this picture. 3PO has moments of almost psychological tension in this film, moments where he's not sure what's happening or why. He also gets to be something that he always wanted to be. You know the way some people dream of becoming movie stars? Well, 3PO has a goal like that as well. In this movie, he finally achieves it."

--Anthony Daniels, interviewed by Ed Naha: "Anthony Daniels: The Man in the Golden Mask"

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 #24, July 1979: Third Anniversary Celebration

The magazine publishes its first 100-page issue, celebrating its three-year growth into a behemoth in the niche that is the science fiction magazine publishing world. It includes a rare two-page table of contents, a buxom (I'm running out of adjectives) two-page publisher's column, a bunch of extra color pages, and a look back at the previous year in science fiction. In short, it's a muscle-flexing issue that tells the SF world that Starlog's the new measure of success and quality. Of note: For the first time, we see that sister magazine Fantastica has been renamed Fangoria.

Starlog #24
100 pages (including covers)
Cover price: $2.95

The double-sized contents page includes a collage of science-fiction images, created by editor Howard Zimmerman (something he would continue for the next couple anniversary issues). The cover is also the blocked-photo design the magazine's annual birthday parties would retain for nearly a decade.

Kerry O'Quinn jump-starts the party by retelling "The Roots of Starlog," how it was born in a manger... wait, that's not it. Actually, two art directors start their own business, and after a number of publications, attempt to put out for another publisher a one-shot magazine devoted to Star Trek. That publisher was unable to get his distributor to agree to a Trek-themed magazine, so Norman Jacobs and O'Quinn rethought the entire concept, making it an ongoing science fiction magazine that would cover many topics. "We decided that what was needed was a beautiful magazine (to help pull SF out of the pulp ghetto) with full-color art and photos -- an authoritative magazine featuring expert columnists, writers, and researchers -- an informative magazine including speedy news and behind-the-scenes interviews and articles," O'Quinn remembers. They eventually convince their distributor to carry the magazine, which quickly became a collectors item. O'Quinn, of course, doesn't neglect the proliferation within the Starlog family: trade paperbacks, records, Future/Future Life, SF Color Poster Books, Cinemagic, and Fangoria. Unmentioned in this column are the other titles produced by their company, such as Daily TV Serials (a soap-opera publication that lasted quite a few years in the 1970s and was briefly revived in the mid-1980s) and specials such as Hollywood Musclemen, The Fab 50s, and licensed movie magazines and posterbooks (there's an ad on page 71 of this issue advertising "official movie posterbooks" for Moonraker and Rocky II. Licensed movie magazines would become a very lucrative business for the company in the 1980s, when the company would reign as the number-one publisher of licensed movie publications in the country.

Now, on with the issue! The letters in Communications range from arguments over socialism and capitalism to news about model kits to a follow-up for the "Statues of the Gods" spoof article, and more; short news in Log Entries includes an SF and fantasy art gallery in Los Angeles, an update on Superman II, SF-themed pinball games, David Gerrold wins the Skylark award, and more. David Gerrold's State of the Art column features a grab-bag of news and notes, including a literal note that George Lucas passed along explaining his use of "parsec" as a time measurement instead of a distance in Star Wars, and the column ends with Gerrold's announcement that this is "the last State of the Art column that I would write." William G. Fowler compiles a seven-page index to Starlog's first 22 issues; a one-page "Space-Age Spaceware" looks at SF toys and games; Susan Sackett's Star Trek Report presents a roundup of news, including the item that "Bill Shatner is also active on our softball team." Speak of the devil! Barbara Lewis interviews Shatner (his third talk with the magazine in its short life so far, by my count).

A 32-page color anniversary section is fronted by a reprint of the Star Trek art from the cover of Starlog #1. Included inside is a photo-heavy recap of recent big SF events: Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Superman, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Buck Rogers, Starcrash, a roundup of other films, some classic films, a "Best of SFX" section, Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, Space: 1999, a roundup of other TV programs, three pages of space art, and Jonathan Eberhart on the photographic results of Jupiter probes.

Barbara Lewis also brings back Leonard Nimoy for another Starlog interview ("He Is Spock"); Allan Hendry gives advice for making photographs of things you think are UFOs; David Houston describes an SF-themed radio program called Hour 25; a four-page "Anniversary Salute to Starlog" prints birthday congratulations from the SF famous (such as this from Arthur C. Clarke: "I'm still in a daze this morning having just spent two hours on the phone with Carl Sagan, Ray Bradbury and the Voyager team, as the closeups of Jupiter arrive at J.P.L. in Pasadena. Now there's some spectacular artwork for you to publish and, I suspect, where the action is in the centuries to come. Best wishes to Starlog." Or this from Harlan Ellison: "Starlog deserves to flourish. ... You deserve praise and support because you fight the good fight, trapped between your own lofty ethics and your need to purvey cheap thrills to get [readers'] attention. It cannot be an easy task ... and I applaud you."). Bob Martin explains the Moonraker story; Fredrick King previews The Cry of Cthulhu; David Hutchison goes behind the scenes of the Major Mars film, which was to be part of the Intergalactic Picture Show, Starlog's never-realized feature film that was supposed to come out in the autumn of 1979; Bob Martin returns with an interview of Alien producer Walter Hill; David Houtson's Visions continues his look at Charles Darwin's influence on science fiction; and Howard Zimmerman's Lastword urges readers to be discerning in their appreciation of film and TV during this boom period in the genre.

"Starlog, with three years behind it, is a lusty young giant, symbolic of the new stature of science fiction in the visual media. May you and SF continue to grow and may humanity enter a good science-fictional world of space exploration for a growing and united world."

--Isaac Asimov, author, "An Anniversary Salute to Starlog"

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

The Starlog Project: Starlog #50, September 1981: It's Boba Fett Time

Putting Boba Fett on the cover of the magazine was probably a genius move. I wasn't aware until this issue came along that Fett -- who was, after all, a secondary character in The Empire Strikes Back -- had a fan base. But I bet his fan base grew even bigger because of this issue of Starlog. I don't know individual sales figures for issues of Starlog, but I'd be surprised if this issue didn't sell well, both on the newsstand and in back issue sales for years to come. In ancillary Starlog news this month, volume two of The Best of Starlog is released. But, hey, if you've been reading my Starlog Project all this time, then you already know everything that's reprinted in that special edition. In the staffbox, we see that Starlog has finally hired a circulation director, Richard Browne.

Starlog #50
68 pages (including covers)
Cover price: $2.50

My "Year of Empire" slogan was supposed to have ended an issue or two ago, but this issue of Starlog wouldn't have existed if it weren't for the Star Wars sequel. We get interviews with the movie's screenwriter, creator/producer, and one of its breakout actors.

The rundown: Kerry O'Quinn uses his From the Bridge column to give feedback on two very different movies: a re-release of Fantasia (positive) and Ralph Bakshi's new American Pop (negative); letters in the Communications pages praise Harrison Ford, rate Outland and Raiders of the Lost Ark, cast more light on actor Wilfred Hyde-White (from letter-writer and producer Richard Gordon -- by the way, brother to Fangoria columnist Alex Gordon), congratulate columnist David Gerrold, and more; Log Entries short news items include a sneak peek at the Andy Kaufman- and Bernadette Peters-starring Heartbeeps, first word on Looker, preview of The Powers of David Star (soon to be renamed The Powers of Matthew Star), report on the Superman II premiere, news of An American Werewolf in London, the Starlog staff visits the new Manhattan SF bookstore Forbidden Planet, and more.

Alan Brender pens the cover story, an interview with Boba Fett actor Jeremy Bulloch, who describes the before/during/after of appearing in The Empire Strikes Back; David Gerrold's Rumblings column has a debate with his own mind about the ways some people make use of their membership in the world of science-fiction fandom; Robert Greenberger describes "The Heavy Metal Story, or The Trials & Tribulations of Bringing Printed Fantasies to Life on Screen" (including a sidebar discussing the music in the film); in her Fan Scene column, Bjo Trimble gives tips for appearing in a science-fiction convention's masquerade contest; James H. Burns interviews Lawrence Kasden about his two recent screenplays, for The Empire Strikes Back and Raiders of the Lost Ark, in part one of a two-part interview; David Hirsch's In Syndication column recounts Hirsch's involvement in ITC Entertainment's Super Space Theatre packaging of telefilms; David Hutchison interviews Steven Spielberg about making Raiders of the Lost Ark; Andrew Mayfair covers a Sean Connery press conference where the actor talks about his work in Outland (and incurs the criticism of Harlan Ellison, as we'll see in a couple issues); David Hirsch recounts the Six Doctors Who; the final chapter of Kerry O'Quinn's interview trilogy with George Lucas is entitled, "The Revenge of the Box Office"; Robert Greenberger interviews actor Ray Walston, who discusses Mind Warp, Popeye, My Favorite Martian, and The Incredible Hulk; part three of Starlog's Fifth Anniversary Contest requires contestants to write a movie scene that could be used for a computer game; and Howard Zimmerman wraps it all up with a Lastword column roundup of recent movies (he liked Outland and Raiders of the Lost Ark).

"Question: Did you have trouble with the banality of the dialogue?

Sean Connery: No, I don't think it was that banal. But ... how banal?

Q: It seemed that every line was a cliche.

SC: But -- if you really think that, then ... how much do you get paid?

Q: A lot.

SC: No, how much?

Q: I don't think that's a fair question in front of my colleagues.

SC: All right, I see. If you think that's banal, then you obviously presume you can write better so why don't you write the screenplays and you can make a fortune.

Q: Yes, that's right.

SC: Have you tried to write one?

Q: Yes.

SC: Have you sold any?

Q: There's one that someone is interested in.

SC: One? Well, I hope they don't think it's too banal, otherwise you might be in trouble."
--Journalist and Sean Connery question-and-answer during press conference, by Andrew Mayfair: "Sean Connery Meets the Press"

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

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 #101, December 1985: Ewoks and Harlan Ellison -- Eeyikes!

So make it three-for-three: Of all of the controversies that have raged in Starlog's pages over the past decade, three of them involved a certain meek writer named Harlan Ellison. First, he got into a spat (a relatively silly one, admittedly) with Star Wars star Mark Hamill. Then he wrote one of the all-time great movie reviews in Starlog #33, in which he dissected Star Trek – The Motion Picture and set off a vociferous response from readers and industry professionals alike. Now, he is back with an interview in which he bites the hand that, um, interviews him.

Starlog #101
76 pages (including covers)
Cover price: $2.95

Ewoks. Why did it have to be Ewoks? The teddy bears take center stage on the cover this issue. Maybe Ellison's right.

The rundown: In his From the Bridge column, Kerry O'Quinn breaks the news that David Gerrold's column in Starlog is ending; letters in the Communications section include praise for Sting, reactions to Return to Oz and Back to the Future, comments on the Starlog Festival in Los Angeles, and more; poof! there's no more Log Entries, the short-news section that has appeared in Starlog since the very first issue, and it is replaced by Medialog, which this issue includes Patrick Daniel O'Neill with an update on Doctor Who, Eddie Berganza on the Hugo Award winners, Kerry O'Quinn on Star Trek IV, and more.

Julius Fabrini interviews actor and author George Takei; David Gerrold ends his long-running column with "Hail and Farewell"; Bertrand Borie and Randy and Jean-Marc Lofficier interview Sting about his work in The Bride and Dune; Fan Network includes a photo report on the premiere of Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, and queries from readers (including, "I love Godzilla and want to know more. When is the new movie due?"); Will Murray profiles Fred Ward (Remo: The First Adventure); Adam Pirani interviews Ewok portrayer Warwick Davis; Marc Weinberg profiles Misfits of Science actor Kevin Peter Hall; Lee Goldberg completes his two-part interview with writer Harlan Ellison ("My role in life is to be a burr under the saddle"); Randy and Jean-Marc Lofficier explore The Jetsons; John Adcox interviews author Lloyd Alexander; Brian Lowry profiles screenwriter Hal Barwood (Warning Sign); Adam Pirani visits the set of Irwin Allen's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland; Jean Airey and Laurie Haldeman provide a one-page chat with Doctor Who producer John Nathan-Turner; Will Murray reports on Doc Savage's return to radio; Edward Gross interviews actor Roddy McDowall (Fright Night, Planet of the Apes); the Videolog column covers the Video Visions Space Archives, and more; Chris Henderson's Booklog column reviews a number of new books; the Future Life pages include David Hutchison on an Imax astronauts film, Max Shannon on biochips, Scott Zachek on Cassini's mission to Saturn, and David Hutchison on a NASA phone service that lets you listen in on space shuttle mission talk; Adam Pirani interviews Legend director Ridley Scott; David Caruba profiles actor Patrick Macnee about A View to a Kill and Avengers; and David McDonnell's Liner Notes column recounts a pretty bad day, which included the Starlog editor reading Harlan Ellison's critical comments about Starlog.

"I have known [publisher] Kerry O'Quinn for years and I wrote for Future Life, so I will give you a very candid answer. I am always suspicious of whores. Starlog, Fantastic Films, almost all the magazines with the exception of Cinefantastique are flacks for the industry. They live off the free hand-outs and they can't really say bad things. How honest can a magazine like that be? ... I respect some of the things that Kerry tries to do. I respect some of the writers. The magazine does what the magazine does. I don't revile it and I don't usually publicly put it down."

–Harlan Ellison, writer, interviewed by Lee Goldberg: "Harlan Ellison: 'Call Me a Science-Fiction Writers – I'll Tear out your Liver!"

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 #63, October 1983: Spielberg tells Starlog, "Talk to the Hand"

Starlog #63 contains one of the most extraordinary editorials in its nearly 400-issue history. Publisher Kerry O'Quinn explains at length why Starlog -- at that time, the leading science-fiction magazine on the planet -- is only now (well, "now" being the October 1983 issue) getting around to covering Steven Spielberg's E.T., several months after most people have seen the movie and mainstream publications have all had their coverage. O'Quinn writes that the magazine struggled for a long time to get pretty much anything from Spielberg's offices, but the editors were all told that Spielberg himself approves all distribution of photos, etc., to the press, and he wasn't budging on this. The editorial was very unusual, because O'Quinn is famous for being Mr. Positive; Starlog itself was well known throughout its life for having a very good working relationship with Hollywood studies; yet here is Kerry O'Quinn not even hiding his bitterness at having his magazine get the cold shoulder while magazines such as People get E.T. interviews and photos.

He notes that one of his staffers makes the point that it's not just Starlog that's getting the brush-off; its competitors in the science-fiction media are also coming up empty. The reasoning, as far as O'Quinn and his team could guess, was that the studio was giving short shrift to the genre press on the assumption that their readers were going to show up for the movie no matter what, while the mainstream press needed to be courted to ensure a blockbuster.

I think -- and this is really my guess; I don't have any insider knowledge on this -- O'Quinn's frustration was particularly acute because a magazine like Starlog thrives or shrivels on the basis of how many big genre films there are. That's what drives tens of thousands of extra newsstand sales of an issue; the previous year was a relatively weak one for SF films, and Starlog's circulation fell by about a third. It rebounds a bit this year, as we'll see soon, but then again this is also the year of Blade Runner, anticipation for Star Trek, etc. ... The inability to climb aboard the E.T. bandwagon wasn't just about being dissed by a major industry player; it was about a lot of lost money that is very dear to small publishers. Now that Starlog finally had some E.T. press material, it is therefore not that surprising that it put the friendly space alien on its cover for two consecutive issues -- in its early years, Starlog almost never put the same film or TV program on its cover for two consecutive issues.

Starlog #63
68 pages (including covers)
Cover price: $2.50

Sure, the E.T. controversy is reason enough to remember this issue, but it is also the issue that contains a letter to the editor from yours truly -- my first. Okay, it's not exactly a Shakespearean text. I'm still not sure how I'd make a letter of praise about their good subscription service sound like poetry (write it in haiku?), but it's there nonetheless.

The rundown: In his From the Bridge column, "The Pix Are in the Mail," Kerry O'Quinn gets uncharacteristically angry at a movie studio and a film legend: Steven Spielberg; in the Communications pages, letters include some readers who are upset at perceived attacks on fandom by the magazine's columnists, writer Michael A. Banks responds to O'Quinn's editorial from the recent anniversary issue, an incredibly wise and talented teenage me writes a heartbreaking letter of staggering genius about a replacement copy he received for a damaged subscription issue of Starlog, and more; short news items in Log Entries include the impending marriage on The Greatest American Hero, first word on the fiasco that was the Ultimate Fantasy convention, James Van Hise produces a parody of Starlog, and more.

Ed Naha goes "Inside E.T." for the magazine's first feature on the film, speaking with Steven Spielberg and SFX creator Carlo Rambaldi; Tom Sciacca chats with composer James Horner about the score for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (and addresses why bagpipes were used for Spock's funeral scene); David Gerrold gives his reactions to the Trek movie, which he viewed with his pal Harlan Ellison and a few others ("We all agreed that Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is the very best Star Trek movie ever made. In fact, Harlan Ellison and I are even willing to go beyond that. We're agreed that this movie is also the third-best Star Trek episode ever made."); Jeff Szalay interviews Leonard Nimoy; the centerfold is given over to a big announcement of the magazine's "Science Fiction Celebrity Treasure Hunt" contest; Ed Naha describes the making of the Klaus Kinski film Android; Bjo Trimble answers letters in her Fan Scene column; James Van Hise interviews Blade Runner's Rutger Hauer; Quest features a page-and-a-half of illustrations by P.J. Murray and a humorous short-short story by James Reese; Ed Naha interviews the star of The Thing and Escape from New York ("Kurt Russell Has SomeTHING on His Mind"); Karen E. Willson interviews Sylvio Tabet, executive producer of The Beastmaster (illustrated with photos that make one assume that star Marc Singer must have gotten very cold in what passes for his costume); and Howard Zimmerman contrasts E.T. and Tron in his Lastword column.

"It's disillusioning to me. One of the people I admired has fallen in my eyes, just when he reached the top in the eyes of the critics. In his business dealings he seems to have forgotten his roots, his youth, his days as a fan, and learned how to play games in Hollywood (the place Lucas called 'an abomination'). I think it's a dirty, rotten, lousy, crass way for him to treat his most sincere and impressionable admirers -- you!"

--Kerry O'Quinn, publisher, From the Bridge: "The Pix Are in the Mail"

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

The Starlog Project: Starlog #112, November 1986: Star Trek Birthday Overdose

This issue is one that I can not think about without remembering a specific time and place. I was in my first semester at university, and my attention was elsewhere. I decided I wasn't interested as much as I had been in science fiction (I was reading The New Republic more than Starlog), so after issue #111, I stopped reading Starlog.

That lasted one whole month, and then I decided I missed it and began reading (and subscribing) again. But it makes Starlog #112 the only issue I ever missed buying (or receiving in the mail) in the 30 years that I read the publication. Luckily, I quickly got #112 as a back issue, because it's a great issue. It's almost completely devoted to Star Trek, on the occasion of that franchise's 20th anniversary. Starlog had even thrown a special 20th anniversary convention to celebrate the occasion, and it sounds like it was a highlight for all involved.

Starlog #112
100 pages (including covers)
Cover price: $3.95

Some production notes: The 100-page issue includes lots of color, though all color pages in the magazine (not including the covers) are printed on non-glossy paper stock. But the color is still very crisp, clear, and bright; in addition, the black-and-white pages are heavier and whiter than normal. This issue also is printed with a perfect (aka squarebound, or glued) binding, instead of the usual staples, for the first time in years.

The rundown: A classic-Trek photo of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy graces the cover. Kerry O'Quinn's From the Bridge column recounts the highlights of the magazine's convention, which was called (with a rather unwieldy title) Creation Conventions presents Starlog Salutes Star Trek; Communications letters include still more people angry at Gene Roddenberry's criticism of Christianity in his interview in #100, some thoughts on the Trek movie franchise, an anti-Trek complaint, and more; Medialog features David McDonnell's roundup of genre news (such as the announcement of a Mel Brooks SF satire to be called Spaceballs – originally titled Planet Moron); Fan Network stretches over six pages with an extensive listing of fan clubs, reader queries answered (such as, "Will you ever reprint the Star Trek episode guide from Starlog #1?"), Gigi Porter on location with Star Trek IV's crew; Richard Gilbert on the current (in 1986) whereabouts of the Star Trek Galileo shuttlecraft, Carr D'Angelo on an Enterprise-themed motorcycle that has to be seen to be believed, and more.

Former columnist David Gerrold pens a special essay on "What Star Trek Means to Me"; novelist Howard Weinstein writes the Other Voices guest column on "If You Think It's a Long Way to Tipperary, Try Following a Starship for 20 Years..."; Allan Asherman explores myths and Trek; in the Comics Scene section, Daniel Dickholtz looks at new Trek comics; an unbylined article features Gene Roddenberry's words from the Starlog Trek convention; D.C. Fontana's comments from a panel discussion at the convention get two pages; Edward Gross interviews Trek writer/director John Meredyth Lucas ("The Changeling," "Enterprise Incident"); in a "Writers of Star Trek" section, Gross also profiles Gilbert Ralston and Art Wallace; Carr D'Angelo reports on the Starlog convention itself in a six-page article, complete with lots of photos of speakers and attendees; Dan Madsen interviews actor William Shatner; convention appearances by Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelley get a couple pages each; Randy and Jean-Marc Lofficier interview James Doohan; John Adcox interviews George Takei; Nichelle Nichols' audience question-and-answer session is transcribed; Walter Koenig tells the convention crowd about his desire to take Chekov to Disneyland; Majel Barrett talks about how she got the part of Nurse Chapel; in a "Guests of Trek" section, Frank Garcia profiles Bruce Hyde (Lt. Riley) and Craig Huxley (Kirk's nephew), and Garcia and Mark Phillips profile Lee Bergere (Abraham Lincoln); Robert Greenberger uncovers the world of Star Trek novels; and Charles Washburn writes about his behind-the-scenes experiences as an assistant director for the Star Trek TV series.

In a non-Trek article, Alan Howard explains the special effects behind the film Flight of the Navigator; Randy and Jean-Marc Lofficier interview the great French comics artist Moebius (real name, Jean Giraud); John L. Flynn explores the world of science-fiction fan costumes; David Hutchison notes the latest genre video releases in Videolog; and in Liner Notes, editor David McDonnell recounts the many connections between Starlog and its partial namesake, Star Trek.

"Working with [Alejandro] Jodorowsky was a very intense collaborative process. We met every morning at eight, and worked until the evening. Jodorowsky was molding my personality. The first time he asked me to redo something, I was astounded! Nobody had ever questioned what I was doing before. But he always had a reason. It was never gratuitous. The whole creative process became like an initiation. It's because of this situation that I don't consider Dune a failure. For me, it was a success because I left the production a richer man."

–Jean Giraud, comics legend, interviewed by Randy and Jean-Marc Lofficier: "Jean 'Moebius' Giraud: Stripping the LIght 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.