1975 New York Trek Con article

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Gaze at this image for a moment and that music will start to play in your head.

Although I didn't attend them, reading about the early Trek conventions was exciting! Here was proof that others loved the show as much as I did, and that I wasn't the only one! (It's funny to think back on my earliest days as a kid when I first discovered the show, and thought I was the only fan.) Here is a first-hand account of the 1975 New York Star Trek convention, written by James Van Hise, who went on to publish and edit his own fanzine, "Enterprise Incidents." Many fans know him as the writer of a large number of unofficial Trek softcover books that had national distribution. The con report comes from issue #4 of "Trek: The Magazine For Star Trek Fans," printed in March of 1976. Incidentally, this was the first issue of the late, great fanzine that I ever saw or bought. Up til now, all the magazines and such I had bought only featured Trek now and then, but this was the first magazine of any kind, professional or fan-produced, that I had found that was devoted entirely to the show. For me, this was Nirvana. I have such good memories of the excitement and happiness that reading it brought to me at the tender age of 17. The fact that it had color covers and it was printed on card stock made it all the more special.

Bonus: a UFP patch that was on a hat I ordered back in the early 80's. The hat wore out but I took off the patch and saved it.

Bonus#2: Below, the cover of Blish's ninth ST adaption, featuring a painting of the Enterprise by an artist that would go on to do many more covers of various Trek novels. The depictions of the ship by this artist were more accurate than the ones on the earlier covers, and it was featured more prominantly. Boy, those were the days, whenever I found a new edition of these books. I pretty much bought them in order of publication, and eagerly awaited the next edition.

Now, I know that the Blish books are not rare, or hard to find images of the covers online; and that most fans are so familiar with them that there might not be much point in posting them here. But, these are my copies, and they meant so much to me at the time I bought them, and mean a lot to me now for the memories they hold; thus the reason for including them as bonus items. I enjoy sharing those memories and enjoy reading when commenters share their own.

Bonus: Below is one of several ad fliers Paramount distributed to sell the show abroad in the 70's. This is a from an article about foreign Trek material in the Trek Special #2 published in 1978.

"Look, Larry, it might be true that is space there is no up or down, but that excuse won't fly here. Just admit you made a mistake when you did the layout."

1976 TREK article: Enterprise Miniatures

This issue of Trek ("The Magazine For Star Trek Fans") #5, printed in July of 1976, was the second issue that I ever got, and boy, was this magazine a treasure for the Trek-fevered and Trek-starved teen that I was. Unless you lived through the time, and was as devoted to the show as I was, you can't understand the excitement and happiness that finding such a publication as this could bring. A full-color cover photo of my heroes... just awesome! And unless I had been living in Ft. Lauderdale, close to the magazine's publishers, I would never have been able to get them. As it was, I picked them up at the store "Starship Enterprises," a comics and genre collectibles store that I haunted as often as I could get over to it.

From the magazine comes this article on the various miniatures of the Enterprise used on the show; hope you enjoy it!

Below is some nice artwork that adorned the back cover of the magazine...

"I'm a doctor, not an actor!"

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Above: This first article comes from "Star Trek: Four Generations," a special collector's edition magazine produced by TV Guide, published in spring of 1995.
Although (by the second season, at least) listed in the credits as one of the leads, and his crusty country-doctor one of the show's most beloved characters, Deforrest Kelley was one of the least-interviewed of the cast members. Hence the relative lack of articles in my scrapbook about him, compared to the rest; who were pretty vocal and had plenty of exposure. Kelly seemed a very private individual who was not seeking the limelight as many stars usually do.
Below is a character/actor page from the Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home Poster Magazine.

Below, a small item from one of the movie star magazines published at the time of the series' first run. It attests to the fact of his preference for privacy.

Next, a bumper sticker that was part of a set including all the characters and their famous phrases. This one used the line that Kelley laughingly said he hoped didn't end up on his tombstone. Seeing it connected with him now on such items, made years before his passing, seems a bit sad; but no sarcasm or dark humor is intended.

Below, one of the awesome photo covers on "Trek: The Magazine For Star Trek Fans." If all you have are the "best of" books, you missed out on the truly best stuff. These were like finding an oasis in the Trek wasteland of the time, in the mid-70's.

"I wonder what the commissary is serving for lunch today... fried chicken, I hope."

"Pointy-eared hobgoblin thinks he can get the best of me, he's barkin' up the wrong tree."

Below, one of the ads for McCoy's Hamilton Collection commemorative plate, made for the show's 25th anniversary in 1991. Very nice painting by Thomas Blackshear!

Nice publicity photo below, scanned from one of the better calendars of recent years past.

"Hello, Mr. Spock! Over here, it's Christine! Hello?
Oh... he must not have heard me."

Below we see one of the images from the first set of official publicity photos taken of the cast of the new movie for public release.

"Closer to the camera, you say? How's this?"

Here's to De; a true Southern gentleman, and one of the few cast members beloved and admired by everyone else on the show. One never heard the complaints and sniping, either about him or by him, that characterized some of the other cast. We lift a cold mint julep to you, sir!

1978 "TREK" Article: Shatner Acting Critique

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Cover of Issue #10, from April 1978

"Trek: The Magazine for Star Trek Fans" was a great fan-produced effort published in the mid 70's to early 80's, that most Trekkers only know from the book compilations put out later. If that's all you know of it, believe me, you missed the best part; collecting the actual magazine issue by issue as it was put out back then in the original run. I happened upon my first issue, #4, in high school in 1976, and it was a goldmine. Printed on durable card stock paper, with color covers, awesome articles, rare photos, original artwork and more, it was the best fan publication out there, and remained that until "Enterprise Incidents" came along in the same format... and then we had two great mags to enjoy of similar quality. I picked up both mags at my source for Trek material, the comic book store "Starship Enterprises" in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. These zines account for many of my good Trek memories of those times as a youth.

Below is an article on the Great One and his acting style, which though imitated for comic effect and parodied ad nauseum, it is the reason Bill was so riveting to watch and dominated the screen. Enjoy!

"...and let us forget not the warning, 'I am not mocked,' saith the Shat."

"Not the face!"

If I were a girl I suppose I'd get all mushy and tingley looking at photos of Bill in his prime, but being a manly male, I merely recognize that he's a good-looking dude and dynamic onscreen. We guys can have our heroes, you know, without being less macho... okay? Besides, I have it too much for Uhura.

Bonus: The image used for the cover without the text.