Star Trek: The Animated Series Coloring Book

The Animated Series (or TAS as it is known) holds a lot of nostalgia for me and many others. Although I was already a fan of Trek before I saw it, TAS was really my first extensive introduction to the series, since it was in first-run, while in the early 70's the original series re-runs had not kicked in to the extent they would a few years later, and were harder to find. Although I never had a TAS coloring book, I have found an excellent site by Kail Tescar devoted to the series that has created an entire gallery of such pages! Go here to view them, then print your choices out and let your kids have at it! You can help a little too.

Below are some samples from the site. Sharpen your crayons and  have fun!

Bonus: a sexy painting of Lt. Uhura found online for your enjoyment!

View the full size image here.

Source:  http://instagram.com/p/XXtN2PtcNj/#

Happy Valentine's Day, Kirk-style!

Kirk was a real romancer, so, guys, take a cue from him today and learn how to make your lady swoon! If you don't get the same results, tell her to close her eyes and imagine you are the young Captain Kirk.

In case you didn't get enough, here's another one with the same theme, but using a different song: http://youtu.be/yvbS-2LWIOU

Bonus: Star Trek's first couple: Decker and Illia from "Star Trek: The Motion Picture." They would later be re-named and written into "Star Trek: The Next Generation" as Commander Riker and Deanna Troi.

The Red Shirt's Dream

(Click on the image to view full-size.)

 "This is the traditional Earthman greeting, honest!"

 I was finally going through my accumulated emails from my various blogs after the Christmas holidays, and found some neat messages. One was the subject of my last post, the Trekker from Logan's Run. Another one contained a link to a very amusing and well-drawn and animated video, which I am sharing below. I particularly like the humorously exaggerated depiction of the Green Orion Animal Woman! Here's what the email said about the video:

Hey Fred! I love your blog, what an awesome collection to share with the world, I'm really enjoying it! I wanted to pass along a project I'm working on, I hope you enjoy it as I enjoy yours - it's a Star Trek parody about those members of the intrepid space crew who were unlucky enough to don red shirts. In an even unluckier twist, they keep coming back for more..

.(go here to view it full-size:) http://youtu.be/kTr9hR-hfr4

This is the first of the scripts to be animated, more to come! I appreciate the look, and hey, if you love it and want to post it on your site, I'd appreciate that even more!

Best regards, Rich Moyer Creative Director / Animator

www.richmoyer.com




Watch another of Rich's Red Shirt animations here for even more voluptuous G.O.S.G. action! http://youtu.be/JWR_MoZA-9g 

BONUS: want to see something else funny? Watch this trailer for the '09 Star Trek film re-edited using bloopers from the film ! It's priceless!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYnLO-MVRaY#t=93

The Trekker In "Logan's Run"

 In 1976, the biggest movie to come out that year (at least according to me) was "Logan's Run." I saw it several times in the theater, bought the novel, and the soundtrack LP. I even saved up about $50 to buy a set of over-sized lobby cards from the movie at the Ft. Lauderdale specialty shop "Starship Enterprises."

One thing I noticed immediately was that a Star Trek fan extra snuck in the Vulcan salute at the end! Have you ever seen it? Watch at the end when the young people are reaching for the old man... right in the foreground, one of the raised hands briefly makes the Vulcan hand sign, and it made it in the movie! And it wasn't just off to the side in a subtle motion... but it actually blocked the view of Peter Ustinov's face for a moment! See my screen capture of the moment below... (click on the image to view full-size.)

"Live long and prosper, old dude!"

I originally wrote about this in a post about "Logan's Run" over on my sci-fi/nostalgia blog "Fantastic Flashbacks." You can read the original post here.  I ended the post with the line "My sneaky Trekker friend, whoever you are, I applaud you!"

Well, thanks to the internet, that person has stepped up and claimed this bit of filmic Trekker identification! Here is an email that I got from him:

 Fred,

Thought you might be interested to learn that I was the Vulcan Hand Salute kid in Logan's Run.  My mother was a talent agent in Dallas after we moved here from L.A. in 1970.  I had done many national commercials through an agent there and my mom decided to open an agency in the new film frontier of Dallas.  As a result, she always sent me on extra calls for films made in Dallas at the time like Logan's Run, Phantom of the Paradise, Semi-Tough and others.  I remember working weeks on end on LR culminating to the big finale of filming the destruction of "Dome City" filmed at the Ft. Worth Water Gardens.  We were directed to wait on the far side of a wall for the explosions and then came over to gather around the first old person we'd ever seen, played by the late Peter Ustinov.  I also remember a girl from our agency was selected to be the one to touch the old man's face.  Rumor has it this required a "special audition", but who really knows. Anyway, I was simply wanting to find a way to locate myself in the crowd and didn't do it long, I thought.  I feared it would get noticed and end up on the cutting room floor, but as you mentioned, made the final print.  I had forgotten about this until a friend of mine from back then called me and said the salute had made the Internet.  So, there it is and thanks for the applaud.

Adam Wyse

Thanks, Adam, for writing and sharing with me -and the readers- your story! Now we know... and you certainly did make your mark that stood out from the rest of the crowd!

Bonus: Since today's post concerns the Vulcan salute, here is a nice image I found online that is a mock-up of the old Gold Key Trek comics with nice modern artwork!

1984 Interview with Angelique Pettyjohn

Recently I have been posting articles from issue #17 of the magazine  Enterprise Incidents, published in May of 1984 (see the cover here). I am still mining this issue, this time with an interview with actress/model Angelique Pettyjohn that portrayed the exotic drill thrall Shahna from the episode "The Gamesters of Triskelion." (Read her Wiki entry here.)

With a script that just as easily could have been written for "Lost In Space," (with some more dumbing-down) it is nevertheless fun to watch, as Kirk once again uses his sex appeal on an innocent alien woman to achieve escape. Another notable example of this was when he blew the mind of Kelinda in "By Any Other Name," and I'm sure you could think of a few more without really trying. "Cheesy" is the word of the day on this episode. But even bad Trek is good, and this is not as bad as some others.

The character of Shahna is best remembered by the casual viewer of the show as the "green-haired girl in the tinfoil bikini" that critics hold up as a typical example of the exploitation of women in the original series. It's true that the actress was a Vegas showgirl, and her impressive physique was put on full view in the now-famous silver halter that would have looked right at home on a Vegas stage. The voluminous green-tinted wig completed the outfit, and you just know the producers -particularly Roddenberry- were all giggity over her, so for once the detractors who call TOS sexist were somewhat justified. (One has to wonder why a warrior such as Shahna would take such time to tease her hair and apply all that make-up just to go out and fight the other thralls.)

Angelique did some other TV shows and B-movies, and  later went on to act in some adult films, and sadly passed away in 1992 of cancer.

This article reveals the poor layout that was sometimes a problem in the magazine once it went national, with most of the pages mostly empty space with one small photo. But it is a nice interview, and it's just for you Shahna fans out there that were so struck with her as a kid! Me, I was too enthralled (ouch!) with the fact that Uhura got to go on an adventure to be very smitten with Shahna. But I can certainly understand the attraction she must have had on a lot of adolescents, and I won't claim there weren't a few hormones stirred up by her "Jiffy-Pop" outfit!

(Click on images to enlarge; once open, you may have to click on it again to view full-size.)

 

 

 

 

Below, a couple of publicity photos taken during the filming.

"One quick flip over the hip, and it's roll in the hay time!"

 
Shahna appears to be directing traffic in this photo, and in that getup she would be a traffic-stopper; but more likely causing some accidents!.

Bonus: Below, from a coloring book put out as a tie-in with ST:TMP (featured only on the covers)  are a couple of pages with activities that will amuse you for hours on end. Or, the kids in your life. Print them out and color away!

 

1984 Andrew Probert Interview

Andrew Probert has been responsible for the look of Star Trek since 1979 in so many ways, and the influence of his work still is evident today even in the new Trek movies. Here is an interview with this amazingly talented production designer and artist from Enterprise Incidents #17 published in May of 1984.

Most of the article is concerned with his work on ST:TMP, which expanded the look of Trek universe from the low-budget TV series to motion-picture quality detail and design. Sharp-eared fans (pun intended) may have heard his name used on-screen in TMP, during the subspace radio chatter that was audible over the Epsilon Nine outpost exterior scenes. "Commodore Probert" was the officer named by the voice that was relaying orders for various ships... ships that even more attentive fans may have noticed as having been named and numbered in the Star Fleet Technical Manual!

 (Click on images to enlarge; once open, you may have to click again to view full size.)

My first exposure to Mr. Probert's work was when I ordered prints of his awesome paintings of the TOS cast members from Lincoln Enterprises in the early 70's. Below is a photo of the three I ordered and are now framed on my home office wall. I wish I had gotten the entire set, but my funds were limited back then. Come to think of it, they still are...

Bonus: below, from the same issue, is a short feature that looks at the environmental suits used in the third season of the show. The rare photo of Walter Koenig in the suit is the highlight.

Bonus #2: A pensive-looking Kirk is featured in a publicity still taken during the filming of the third-season clunker "Spock's Brain."

Making of Visual Effects for ST:TMP Part 3

Welcome back (that is assuming you've been here before)! As a reward for your return, here is the promised Part Three of the article on the making of the effects from ST:TMP from Enterprise Incidents #17, from May of 1984. It contains some great images of the models, including one you don't see many behind-the-scenes photos of, namely the K'Tinga Class Klingon Battlecruiser.. First off, the cover of the issue...

(Click on images to enlarge; once open you may have to click again to view full-size.) 

Then, the article itself, full of great photos and informative text.

Below, a larger scan of the above photo, included so that you can see more of the detail.

Another larger scan of an inserted image, I thought this beautiful painting by Probert deserved a closer look.

That's it for this time, come back soon, because I will be posting much more Trek material from this issue, including an interview with "Commodore Probert" himself! (If you recognize that reference you are a sharp-eared Trekker indeed.)

Bonus link: Check out Madman's Shipyards! Cool renderings of various Star Trek ships, including a whole section dedicated to re-envisioning the Franz Joseph Tech Manual ships in the new movie universe style.