Tuesday, June 22, 2010

1967 article "Space Age Crew Enjoys Old Fashioned Barbeque"

For a small but appreciative group of fans in the 70's, those who were lucky enough to have a specialty shop in their city, the fanzine "Enterprise Incidents" was pure Trek gold.

Editor/founder James Van Hise (best known to fans as the author of numerous "unauthorized" Trek books) often included reprints of vintage articles from past publications, for which I was grateful. From issue #6, published in 1978, comes this reprint of a 1967 article originally from the magazine "TV Star Parade," as some of the cast chows down on a cookout between takes.
(Click on images to enlarge.)

There's nothing like a cookout in the summer with good friends!

Another of the fun aspects of the fanzine was the artwork within. Although I don't even know the first name of the artist, "R. Wilber" often contributed nice pen-and-ink drawings to the magazine. Below are three examples for you to enjoy. If you are in the know about the artist, please leave the info in the comments area and I'll update the article. Hey, maybe we'll hear from Mr. Wilber himself, if he is still alive and well, as we hope he is.

Below: From issue #2, we see that not all aliens greeted Starfleet officers with open tentacles/claws/feelers/arms.

Below, from #3, an illustration for the episode highlighted that issue, "The Menagerie." I watched this two-parter again on my Blu-ray set just a few nights ago.

Below: And another from #6, this time depicting "Balance of Terror."

I'll post more of Mr. Wilber's art as I find it in other issues, as well as that by different artists. One of my regrets of the time period is that I never contacted James to submit some of my own artwork. I like to think it would have been accepted (don't all artists?), and I would have been proud to see it in a forthcoming issue! Here are a couple I would have sent in: "Mirror Uhura," and "Fight On Rigel 7." Do you think I would have made it?

10 comments:

The 4th Doctor said...

Fantastic article. I had seen one picture of Shatner and Nimoy from this, but never knew the context. It always amazes me how natural Nimoy looks in his complete Spock make-up. You'd think it would be silly, but it never is.

Anonymous said...

Interesting to see that Grace Lee Whitney was visiting the set during the second season.

Frederick said...

Isn't it, though? Kind of sad...

Astro Galaxy said...

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I enjoy reading it so I've created your link on my blog.
Happy Blogging!

Iddy said...

Frederick, your artwork is every bit as good as the other guy's work. The Rigel piece could be a book cover. Your Uhura has just enough hard 'edge' to her to be the real Mirror Uhura. Do you have more ST pieces? Do you still draw? It would be cool to see a comparison between your art from then and now.

Frederick said...

Iddy,

Thanks so much for the kind comments about my drawings! I don't draw much any more, so about the best I have is old stuff like that. Sad to say I've probably regressed in that area rather than improved.

Many of my other drawings are posted alredy, you can find them using the "Fred's Artwork" tag on the sidebar. Some very old stuff there!

Anonymous said...

I've never seen the BBQ pics before. I love to peek behind the scenes like that. Do you suppose these were actually taken early in season one before Grace Lee left?

I concur with the others in admiring your artwork. You should have submitted those drawings, Fred.

JM's Enterprise said...

Must be second season cause Shatner has the green v neck shirt.

Cool pictures. Nice to see the real Kirk and Spock in character on some new pictures

Anonymous said...

Loved the pictures, thanks for sharing them!

Unknown said...

Hello - I wonder if you can help. I'm trying to find out the name of the photographer of the Star Trek BBQ pictures. I can see that it originally ran in TV Star Parade magazine but wondering if there is a photographers credit or source anywhere in that magazine.
Much appreciated!