Trek Movie article in Famous Monsters #145

Once again the collection cabinets open their doors, and this time we look at a report on the first Star Trek movie from issue #145 of the venerable "Famous Monsters" magazine, published July of 1978. This was still early in the film's production, and filming had not yet begun; that was slated for later in the fall. The sets were just being built, and as we know now, the script still undergoing re-writes. But it was an exciting time for us fans!

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Although dead for years, nothing could keep this fan from seeing the upcoming movie.

Below, from the same magazine, the results of a contest from an earlier issue. All too easy for Trek fans!

Bonus: Below, an incredible ad for a contest where some lucky fan got to win a pair of Leonard Nimoy's used Spock ears! This came from the December 1967 issue of Movie Stars. I wonder if whoever won them was mature enough to treasure them, or was it a kid who "taped them to their ears" as the ad suggests and lost them at recess? Thanks to Irene Batelaan of the Netherlands for submitting it! I usually only feature material from my own collection, but this was too good not to share. "Ears to you!"

Fortunately for Nimoy, the article was only referring to his latex tips and not his actual ears.

Enterprise in the Smithsonian 1977 article

From Issue #2 of "All About Star Trek Fan Clubs," published in April of 1977, comes this article on the display of the original 6 foot filming model of the Enterprise in the respected Smithsonian Institution. Although the few photos of the model are limited to the last two pages (the rest of the 6-page feature basically a tour of the museum leading up to the ship), it is still a nice look at how it was displayed at the time. Note that this was before the controversial (among fans) repainting.

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Bonus: below, yet another of the 1967 Leaf bubblegum cards. Spock looks uncharacteristically alamed while McCoy seems pretty calm about being in such a cold environment with no protection.

"Great Surak! This poor soul has been frozen solid, Doc!"

"Search For Spock" article from Twilight Zone magazine

From the August, 1984 edition of "Twilight Zone" magazine, comes this article on "The Search For Spock." The main article is an interview with Leonard Nimoy on directing the movie, and there is an inset writeup on Cathie Shirriff, who plays Valkris. She was first Klingon female we had seen in the movie series, beginning the welcome tradition of Klingon Kleavage.

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"I challenge you to a battle of the Bh'Rhests."

Bonus: Below, another of the 1967 Leaf bubblegum cards, this time sporting a caption that actually makes sense. If it had continued the trend the other cards followed, it would have sported something like ""What's on the menu?" or "Opening the mail."

And one last bonus image, a nice publicity shot of Kirk and Bones on the bridge, in a slightly different pose than the others taken at the same session. Kirk looks a little uptight over something in this one.

"Forget it, Bones! I'm not going on another diet."

1986 Official Fan Club Magazine article on Nichelle Nichols

From issue #51 of "Star Trek: The Official Fan Club Magazine," comes this cover article on my favorite mini-skirted African-American Communications Officer; clarifying "favorite" because their was another. (Did you know that? I'll be doing a post on that subject soon.) Anyway, this interview with Nichelle Nichols was conducted a couple of months before the release of "The Voyage Home," in which she had a larger role than the previous films.

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Bonus: below, a lovely publicity shot of Uhura from a set of photos in the official newspaper press kit. I got quite a few press kits back in the day since I was friends with the lady that worked at the newspaper who dealt with them.