"Dr. Spock" Probes Unknown

This article, clipped by me sometime in 1977 from the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel (I didn't preserve the date), was difficult to scan by virtue of the fact the the first column ran pretty much the length of the newspaper page, meaning I had to scan it in three parts and photoshop it back together. Poor layout, methinks. But the worst thing about it is that whoever added the headline made the tired old "Dr. Spock" mistake. Come ON, people! Poor Leonard must have been so very, very tired of this happening. I added the photos to take up the empty space left when I clipped the article from the paper.

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Below is a funny comic panel from fanzine "Enterprise Incidents"(#6, September 1978) that illustrates the frustration that Nimoy (and Mr. Spock) must have felt over the mistake! Another thing that used to get under my skin, and was certain to elicit a quick (and snarky) correction from me, was someone calling the show "Star Track."

Too late the poor schlub learned that Vulcans can turn violent with little provocation under certain circumstances.

Bonus: Below, a nice publicity photo of Nimoy as "They Call Me MISTER Spock" from Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan."

"Did... you just call me... DR. Spock? Because unless my ears deceived me, you did. And these ears do not lie."

Bonus #2: A verra nize b&w publicity photo of Kirk and Spock from the glory days of the original series. This is one of my favorite shots of them together, for the memories it brings back to me. Scanned from the same issue of "Enterprise Incidents" as the cartoon above.

Kirk and Spock commemorated their friendship with a visit to their Sears photography department.

And, because I'm in a generous mood today, yet another bonus below, this time a great pen and ink by Ralph Fowler (see his tag link for more) from -again- the same issue of E.I. I love this guy's work, and wish I could hear from him!

I used to wonder occasionally, upon hearing an ignorant person use the "Dr." title for Spock, if the actual Dr. Spock ever got tired of dealing with kids asking him where his pointed ears were. One can only hope.

Mad's "Star Blecch IV: The Voyage Bombs"

You never know what era of original-characters Trek I'm going to post from; the show, the movies, the animated series; I just skip around to keep it interesting. But sometimes one post will inspire another, as did the last article on "The Voyage Home." I've decided to follow up with the Mad spoof on it, from issue #271, published June of 1987. Artist Mort Drucker does his usual superb job on the caricatures, not content to simply repeat his earlier versions but accurately reflecting the ages of the stars in the current movie (if not always flatteringly.) However, he wrongly depicts the whales as sperm whales and not humpbacks.

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The joke involving Sulu in the bottom panel is even more humorous in retrospect.

Bonus: Here is the next edition of "Trek Talk," from issue #37 of "The Monster Times," which came out December of 1974.

Bonus #2: below is another of Ralph Fowler's terrific drawings, this time depicting a tense moment from "Amok Time." This was scanned from the historic first issue of the fanzine "Enterprise Incidents." Ralph; buddy... if you're out there checking this out, email or comment, I (and the readers) would love to hear from you!

Don't tell me you don't hear that piece of music in your head as you look at this.

When Capt. Kirk Saved Oddjob's Life!

This time, we have a short article about an incident that occured during the filming of Shatner's cheapie flick "Impulse." Our hero! Found in the June 1977 issue of the magazine TV's Dynamic Heroes.

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I've posted an article on "Impulse" before, go here to read it. To see the newspaper movie ad for this film, go here to my other blog "Held Over!"

Bonus: below, an ad that Nimoy did in the early 80's for a telescope company. Really, who better as a spokesperson for such a product? It's only logical.

And below, a beautiful piece of promotional art by artist Keith Birdsong, for the card set that he contributed to in the 90's. Excellent work!

And finally, below is another of the incredible works by Ralph Fowler, from an issue of Enterprise Incidents. Yet another example of his attention to detail and interesting alien architectural designs. Ralph often drew scenes that surpassed the TV budget of the show and took it into movie scope.

William Shatner's Life Story In Pictures

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This two-page spread covers Bill's life story in pictures up until 1967 or so, at least. Not sure of the date and source of this article, since I scanned in the reprint of it from issue #4 of "Enterprise Incidents" magazine, itself published in 1977. But, I would venture to say the original was from a "Movie Life" magazine, circa late 1967.

Bonus: a great shot of Bill in the 60's trenchcoat from "Assignment: Earth," which was a great look for him. From his expression you get the idea that he thinks so too.

"Don't I look stunning? Get it? The phaser...? Stunning..?"

Bonus: from the same issue of "Enterprise Incidents," comes two mind-blowing drawings by our man Ralph Fowler. The detail and imagination, not to mention scope, of these two pieces of artwork is incredible! First, Ralph shows us something we never saw in the episode, as "The Doomsday Machine" carves up the planet (and 430-odd people) while Matt Decker watches helplessly from his wrecked ship. He was just never the same after that.

Next, a scene from Ralph's imagination, as Kirk and Spock find themselves under attack by a couple of antagonistic defendroids on an alien planet. The robots and architecture design of the buildings is indicative of his great talent. I hope he comments or contacts me someday so I can ask him about his work!

"Squeeeeeee!"

Bill's Trek To The Top

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From the collection cabinets comes a magazine article from 1968, reprinted in a late 70's issue of the fanzine "Enterprise Incidents." Not sure of the movie/TV magazine it came from.

Below, another of Ralph Fowler's awesome drawings from the same magazine. I have word that Ralph has visited the blog, and I hope to hear from him soon. If I do, I'll let you know! Ralph, if you read this, please consider doing a blog of your own featuring your artwork on Trek and other genre subjects. I'd love to see it!

"Hello.... anybody home? Hello...?"

Bonus: magazine ad for the new "Official Star Trek Poster Magazine" that came out in 1976. I managed to get all of them, and they are a treasured part of my collection.

Whoopee! "My Star Trek Scrapbook" has been posted as one of the Top 5 Trek blogs over on Film Fresh's own blog. Check it out!

Ralph's Romulans

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We feature this time the awesome artwork of Ralph Fowler, featured on the covers of "Enterprise Incidents." Artist extraordinaire Ralph Fowler was a regular contributor to the terrific fanzine "Enterprise Incidents." Issue #6, above, was published September, 1978 by the prolific James Van Hise. Full of photos, artwork, articles, fan fiction and more, this lovingly produced publication almost seemed a companion magazine to "Trek: The Magazine For Star Trek Fans," which preceded it by a year or so. Although seemingly inspired by "Trek's" example, it often surpassed it in the quality of the rare photos, artwork and articles. But for the most part it was very close, and I hold them both in high esteem, treasuring my copies of each.

Issue #7, pictured below, depicted a Romulan attack on Earth. Ralph's specialty was ships, technology and architecture, all rendered with precise accuracy and near-photographic detail. This was before CAD and Photoshop, kids... so don't feel superior to the artists that did it by hand.

As if a Romulan invasion wasn't bad enough, the eastern coast of the U.S. was threatened by a hurricane. Some days nothing goes right.

Below, an interior full-page piece of art that incorporated both his space scenes and ship interiors. Fowler never ceased to amaze me with his paintings and drawings! I'll be showcasing more in future posts, for sure.

Bonus: Below, the cover art of a coloring book. The beginning of the K/S rumor can probably be traced to this one item. There is just so much wrong here that it could almost be a "spot the mistakes" game.

The significance of the pump should not be overlooked.