"Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home" review

From the scrapbook pages this time we read a review of the well-received "The Voyage Home." The inset clipping is from TV Guide. Of course these came out in 1986.

(Click on images to enlarge.)

Bonus: below, a page from the scrapbook that focuses on some clippings of mini-cons in the Miami area, with two of them from different papers on the same con, presented by the Star Trek Federation Of Fans. That was held on Labor Day weekend of 1975, which was August 30-Sept 1.(You can find out more about this fan club that was very active in the 70's by visiting their Facebook group here.) The inset photo clipping is from "The Star" tabloid, which often ran Trek-oriented bits now and then.

Bonus #2: The cover of one of the souvenir convention booklets put out by the STFF, with a great cover sketch of the androids Ruk and Andrea by co-founder Joyce Huser.

TV Guide ads for "The Wrath of Khan"

(Click on images to enlarge.)

Nice artwork of the principal characters from TWOK in this ad which spanned the bottom half of two pages, clipped from the TV Guide the week of the first network showing of "The Wrath Of Khan." There is no clue on the clippings to show when this was, although I know it was the mid-80's. If you know the date and year, share it in the comments with us and I'll update the entry. Below, the Close-Up entry for the movie.

Update: Thanks to reader Comboman who commented below, the year has been identified as 1985. That's about as mid-80's as you can get!

Final update: Commenter Rob has identified the exact date for us: Sunday, February 24, 1985. Thanks, Rob!

Below, a single newspaper publicity still made of up four images.

And two more of the postcards that came out commemorating the movie. Nichelle, lovely as always...

And Kirstie Alley, well before stardom and weight gain difficulties.

"I wonder if there's any of that banana cheesecake left."

ST:TMP Comes To TV

(Click on images to view larger size.)

These pages were clipped from the February 20th, 1983 edition of TV Guide. The "Close Up" mini-review below was actually very kind considering the savaging it took from a lot of theatrical critics. But on returning to its TV roots, Star Trek found its reception somewhat warmer.

Below, from 1996, a TV Guide ad for "A Captain's Log" special about the series. I have that on VHS tape somewhere.

TV's actual first interracial kiss somehow snuck past the censors.

Spock had the distinct impression that something was going on behind his back, but he couldn't quite place his finger on it.

And yet, there seemed to be a strange scent wafting in the air around him.
Uhura, feeling all tingly, couldn't understand how the Vulcan could turn that sweet thing down.

Happily, Pike discovered that he didn't have to make a choice between the two of them after all.

ST:TMP Prop article from Starlog

(Click on images to increase magnification.)

For your enjoyment today, an article scanned from Issue 47 of the sadly now-defunct Starlog, published June 1981. What were you doing in the summer of 1981?

Bonus #1: Below, a local ad in TV Guide for the weekday reruns, from June 23, 1986, clipped while I lived in Beckley, WV.

Bonus #2: Below, Shatner takes a tumble on his motorcycle... but the funny thing is how cool and collected he is doing it. It's like "hey, I actually meant to do that... to... demonstrate... the correct way... to fall from a bike." I know that the people on this blog will totally dig this picture! It's really just for them.

T.J. Hooker TV Guide article

(Click on images to view full-size.)

The cover of TV Guide from August 14, 1982.

(SALE ALERT! I will sell this TV Guide for $15 plus Priority shipping if you are interested in adding it to your collection! Email me through my blog profile and let me know if you are interested. Once sold, this notice will be removed.)

Snipped from the TV Guide out the week of the premiere.

Premiering on March 13, 1982, "T. J. Hooker" was Shatner's first successful starring role since Star Trek. It's no accident that T. J. is the reverse of J. T., the first two initials of Captain Kirk, as it was intended as an homage to the character and a nod to his many Trek fans.

Below is the two-page-spanning ad for the episode that co-starred Leonard Nimoy, which was aired on Feb. 5th, 1983. Nimoy not only guested in, but also directed the episode, titled "Vengeance is Mine".

I was never actually watched this show more than a time or two, I really only cared about his work as Captain Kirk. But I still collected the pictures and things about any actor on the show whether or not it was directly Trek-related, and it was good to see Bill getting a series again. On the other hand, I do own "Kingdom of the Spiders," "The Devil's Rain" and "Incubus" on DVD because he starred in them, so I suppose I didn't watch "Hooker" mainly because cops shows never did much for me.

And below, more of the self-serving part of this blog, another personal drawing. I know, these matter only to me and no-one else, but they do serve to show my interest and fan efforts, so I post them. This one was done when I was in high school, about the 11th grade, in 1975. I was 16 and living in Ft. Lauderdale, which happily gave me the opportunity to add much to my collection, as more and more Trek-oriented items were coming out. Not all was official; many of the photos and such were unauthorized, and many of the magazines were fan-produced, like the excellent "Trek" and "Enterprise Incidents." I'm telling you, it was a good and exciting time to be a fan living in Florida!

You can see that I was into the Franz Joseph Technical Manual, also!

It was in the same year that videotape came out, and the school's audio-visual department, which naturally I was involved in, acquired a reel-to-reel videotape recorder/player. (I still recall the smell of the videotape!) It was there I made my first videotape of an episode off the air, the second half of "The Menagerie."

Every day for a week, me and some fellow Trek fans would gather in a room off the library and watch that one black-and-white tape. As others saw what we were doing, they joined us, and by the end of the second week we had a packed roomful each lunch period, re-watching that one episode! The fight on Rigel 7 was a popular and exciting scene, as was the laser-cannon assault on the knoll on Talos 4; but the biggest reaction was to the dance by Vina as the Green Orion Slave Girl. Everyone was so into that, cheering, clapping and catcalling! Finally, the library staff made us quit since the crowd was getting too big and noisy. Fun memories.

Since we're talking about "The Menagerie": Above is a clipping (circa 1985 or so) from a video store trade publication, with the Great Bird being presented with the original painting of the beautiful art for "The Cage" poster. I'm fortunate to have a copy of that poster advertising the video release.

Shatner's Star on Walk Of Fame

Bill gets his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Clipped from "The Star" tabloid in 1983.

Here's a page full of facts about everyone's favorite Captain. You might learn something you didn't know, even if you're a big fan.

A small clipping from 'The Enquirer" of unknown date, probably the early to mid 70's. I clipped and saved any reference to the show, no matter how small or trivial, and certainly anything with a photo, even a picture I had already. Below is a good example; a "Tomorrow" show listing in a newspaper TV guide that had Trek cast and crew as guests. This was probably also in the mid 70's.

Was I obsessive, or what?

Star Trek Moves to Friday

The move to Friday in 1968 was the beginning of the end, but it didn't go down without a fight, with the fan letter-writing campaign saving it from cancellation at the end of season two. The bad timeslot, paired with the drop in quality (and budget) after Roddenberry withdrew in protest, was deadly. But the articles printed at the time are fun to read, as they gave hope to the fans at the time.

(Click on images to enlarge.)

And an earlier ad for the start of season 2:

It's too bad they didn't introduce the female Vulcan character in season two, as mentioned in the write-up above. We had to wait until "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" to see that. However, the might have been referring to the charcter of T'Pring, as a reader of this blog noted in the comments.

Below, the less-than-enthusiastic Nimoy and Shatner feign excitement over the death-knell of being exiled to Friday night.

"See this sign? It's a sign of the end." 

Sept. 8, 1966 premiere article

It's always interesting to look back at early articles and photos that came out during the program's first run. For first generation fans, finding the show was like discovering a vein of dilithium crystals with nary a Klingon in sight.

1975 article: Spectacular Star Trek Shindig

(Click on images to enlarge.)

Above is the first Atlanta Trek convention I was aware of, clipped from the Macon Telegraph on July 7th, 1975. I was 16 at the time, living in my hometown of Macon, GA, and Atlanta was tantalisingly only a little over an hour away. But it might have as well have been in California for all the chance I could go; the Anti-trek Gestapo (my stepfather) would see to that. I would have liked to have encountered Sandrell DeMaris.. an intellectual stripper. Isn't that the best kind? Notice that Sondra Marshak is mentioned, who was famous in Trek circles for her fan fiction stories. She and friend Myrna Culbreath went on to be professionally published as they co-authored over a half-dozen early Star Trek books, which were some of my favorites at the time.

Below is a pen-and-ink I did back in the late 70's of the Rigel VII fortress, the location of Captain Pike's exciting fight with the barbaric Kalar. "The Menagerie" was one of my favorite episodes (both parts) and I devoted a number of drawings to it, which I'll share here as time goes by.