The Starlog Project: Starlog #91, February 1985: Sting and Dune

Sting, lead singer for The Police and a co-star of the new David Lynch Dune film, is on the cover. In his end-of-the-book editorial, editor Howard Zimmerman says the magazine is taking a big risk by featuring Dune, because the early word on the film is that it's a sleep-inducer. Nonetheless, they must have thought Sting would bring in a certain number of new readers to reduce the risk.

Some updates on the world of Starlog: The magazine's cover logo is now sporting a new boxed tagline: The Science Fiction Universe. (The company would eventually make that tagline a registered trademark, along with the logo itself.) Also, the fourth volume of The Best of Starlog magazine, now including some never-before-published articles (so, not really a best-of magazine after all, is it?), is out.

Starlog #91
72 pages (including covers)
Cover price: $2.95

There's no foldout poster this issue, as those two pages are moved elsewhere into the magazine and another two pages are added (hence the slightly higher page count, as with issue #87, but at least this time they didn't trumpet it on the cover).

The rundown: In his From the Bridge column, publisher Kerry O'Quinn gives encouragement to a reader seeking help with his artistic career; letters in the Communications pages include Walter Koenig thanking the magazine for plugging his stage show, reader reaction to Buckaroo Banzai and The Neverending Story, thoughts on actor Jeff Goldblum, and more; short news items in Log Entries include Chris Henderson on a traveling museum exhibit on robots, Chris Steinbrunner on the upcoming World Fantasy Convention in Ottawa, David McDonnell on the departing magazine design staffer Denise Lewis Balestracci, Chris Henderson on The Plague Dogs, and more.

David Gerrold's column prints some of his lymericks; Lee Goldberg interviews 2010 actor Elya Baskin; Kim Howard Johnson talks to the Monty Python troupe about their "wacky TV exploits with flying saucers and alien desserts"; Steve Swires previews Larry Cohen's black comedy The Stuff; Marc Weinberg interviews actor Charles Martin Smith about his work in Starman and his screen test for the role of Luke Skywalker; Weinberg also interviews Kenneth McMillan, who plays the villainous Baron Vladimir Harkonnen in Dune (plus a sidebar by Paul Mandell talking with Alicia Witt, who plays Alia); Martha J. Bonds interviews actor and author Walter Koenig; Lee Goldberg interviews author Michael Crichton about Runaway; Dennis Fischer previews the CBS program Otherworld; David R. Smith recounts plans for a Disney version of an Oz story in the 1950s, The Rainbow Road to Oz; David Hutchison examines the special effects of V; and in his Lastword column, Howard Zimmerman shares his misgivings about Dune.

"I liked the idea of bringing some creature from outer space into a mundane English suburban setting, and then being almost ignored and all but absorbed into everyday English life. That reminds me – we actually did start writing a film with a science-fiction opening, with these aliens coming out of their spaceships, rather like Close Encounters. Suddenly, the door bangs shut behind them, they can't get back in and suffer enormous embarrassment."

–Michael Palin, a real python, interviewed by Kim Howard Johnson: "Science Fiction, According to Monty Python, Part I"

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 #90, January 1985: Hide the Womenfolk, It's Gene Simmons!

Gene Simmons and his band KISS would have a long relationship with Starlog. Simmons, apparently a science-fiction fan, is interviewed in this issue about his role in the movie Runaway. In the 1990s, Starlog Group would publish a number of official KISS special magazines. KISS (or at least its record company) was one of the first advertisers in Starlog magazine a number of years earlier. Anyway, he's back, freaky long tongue and all.

Starlog publishes its annual postal statement of ownership and circulation this month. The total paid circulation for the issue closest to the statement's filing deadline is listed as 190,699 (down from last year's 227,420), including the number of paid subscriptions of 13,408 (down from 18,100 last time).

Starlog #90
70 pages (including covers)
Cover price: $2.95

The Peter Hyams-directed sequel 2010 takes center stage, grabbing the cover spot of Starlog #90. And page 59 is a big ad for Starlog's official 2010 movie magazine (which, for the record, has a pretty cool cover). Also this issue, the two-page foldout poster is officially redubbed just "Poster" (as opposed to the "Science Fiction Classic Poster" or "Fantasy Classic Poster), so that saved the editors a lot of typing time each month. It features the classic Silent Running this month.

The rundown: Kerry O'Quinn's From the Bridge column is another "Grab Bag Notes," with comments on his new intern, the North By Northwest soundtrack album that O'Quinn produced, Isaac Asimov's visit to his office, and more; Communications letters include feedback on Supergirl, Conan the Destroyer, Sheena and Greystoke, a quick thank-you from Muppet-meister Jim Henson, and more; short news items in Log Entries include Robert Greenberger on the box office performance of genre films in 1984 (Ghostbusters and the Indy sequel were tops), David McDonnell on a V comic book from DC, a roundup of SF books from Chris Henderson, and more.

Chris Henderson interviews actor Joe Morton, star of John Sayles' The Brother from Another Planet; Lee Goldberg interviews actor Roy Scheider, star of 2010; Brian Lowry interviews screenwriter Stanley Mann (Conan the Destroyer, Firestarter); Lee Goldberg talks with Ewok Adventure director John Korty;  David Gerrold's column worries about "A Dilemma for Gods"; Randy and Jean-Marc Lofficier interview Dune's Dean Stockwell; Adam Pirani talks with Jeannot Szwarc, director of Supergirl; Richard Robinson interviews KISS star Gene Simmons; Robet Greenberger interviews actress Karen Allen of Starman; Mike Clark interviews actor Michael Ironside of V; Edward Summer recounts the life and history of Pinocchio; and Howard Zimmerman talks 2001 and 2010 in his Lastword column.

"I used to publish my own magazine, Cosmos ... with the mimeograph machine down in the basement. It used to elicit letters from professionals. I got a letter from Isaac Asimov commenting on the magazine. Jack Gaughan, a famous illustrator for Amazing Stories, would write letters. Many of the guys who wrote in at the time as fans went on to become professionals. Fred Clarke used to contribute and he went on to publish Cinefantastique. And there was Marv Wolfman, who now writes for DC Comics."

–Gene Simmons, singer/actor, interviewed by Richard Robinson: "Gene Simmons: A Famous Monster Turns to Science"

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