Brochure for 1st Trek VHS Release

Wow, it looks real and it's not even CGI, can you believe it?

In 1986 Star Trek was for the first time released on VHS through the CBS Video Library/Columbia House Video Club. Many a person still has the complete set of these old tapes collecting dust on some shelf! Scanned in for this post is a nice brochure made to promote the collection. As usual click on the pictures to view them full-size.

And since today's post is rather slim pickin's, here is another in the 1976 Topps card set.

Cracked Magazine Trek Spoof

(Click on images to enlarge.)

Issue 127 of "Cracked," published in September of 1975. This "Mad" imitator was on a somewhat lower rung, but I still quickly bought it whenever it featured a spoof of shows or movies I was interested in. This issue I picked up when I was 16 (going on 14) and lived in Macon, Ga. I used to get all of the spoof mags (Mad, Cracked, Crazy and even the trashy Sick) when they featured anything I was interested in, like Trek, Planet of the Apes, Kung Fu, and genre movies.

Although extremely silly, even as spoofs go, the artwork by Severin was good, with spot-on caricatures. One "plot" element is a Kirk sex-change which was the theme of a story in the "New Voyages" paperback collection of fan-written efforts the next year. But, what was with the red shirts on the cover?

I think it would have been funnier if all of a sudden the guys on the ship started chasing the female Kirk, like he did the women. Missed opportunity there to insert a little commentary. Today, "Cracked" only exists as a website, but it's a darn funny one and worth bookmarking. They even still have the occasional Trek article, like this one.

Since today's post centers around the silly, here's a cool candid shot of Nimoy as he "cracked" up with Kelley and Shatner during the filming of "The Apple." Perhaps they just got a load of David Soul's silver wig and eyeliner makeup!

The crew never knew that the whole time Spock was laughing at them behind their backs.

Nimoy: Star Of The Year

(Captain Obvious says: "Click on images to view full-size, crewman!")

Hope you enjoy these various clippings... not sure of the publication sources (except that they were TV/movie magazines) but all were during the original series run. Below, Star Trek meets Space:1999.

I have to admit the real excitement online right now is that the new Star Trek movie has had a surprise premiere! Go to TrekMovie.com for some early reviews and lots of excitement! Also check out the writeups at AintItCool.com. Folks, it appears that Star Trek Lives!

Star Trek '77 poster

(Click on images to view full-size.)

In spring of 1977 I was 18 and still living at home, and we were living in Macon, GA again, my hometown. I saw this poster in a bookstore, and they had another copy which they gave me. Of course I didn't get to go see Doohan thanks to you-know-who.*

Below is a cool newspaper feature that I found in a paper I picked up while traveling through N.C. Think of it, a regular Star Trek feature in the daily paper! Cool stuff.

And below is a picture I drew as a teenager, probably about 17, of Spock. Not good, I know, but I enjoyed drawing my Trek heroes.

*(Regular readers know it was my stepdad who made me go underground with my Trek fan activities.)

Fantasy Film Journal article on ST:TMP

Nice little article on the plans for the first movie, from the summer of 1978 issue of Fantasy Film Journal magazine.

Bonus: Can you identify the toy item this remnant of the backing card (below) came from?

When I was a kid in the late 60's, I bought the toy (well, my mother paid for it) and I ripped off the backing, but managed to save just this little section of the card with the jaundiced-looking Spock on it. The toy is gone, but the scrap of cardboard remains in my (where else?) scrapbook. If you know or want to guess, leave a comment.

I was inspired to post this by the blog entry about the toy over on Daren Dochterman's blog, here: http://blog.darendoc.com/?p=11 Enjoy!

Occasionally, I will add to a short post a little extra by featuring another Star Trek trading card. First, I'll post cards from the 1976 Topps set that so many fans remember fondly. Eventually you will be able to see them all, them I'll move on to other cards sets that feature the original series crew.

"The Omega Glory" Viewmaster Reel

(Click on images to view full size.)

It might be strange to some to hear that I became a Star Trek fan before I have ever actually seen a whole episode! I became hooked only by seeing items in print about the show... a photo of Spock was the first thing I ever collected when I cut it out of a Famous Monsters magazine. That led to the Gold Key comics, and then there was the Animated Series. As a Trek Kid in the early 70's, there was very little in the way of things to buy that could help one to view the actual episodes of the live-action show. A couple of years later I would discover the James Blish books, but at the time all I had was the comics, which were original, though often silly stories.

But one day sometime in 1971 I saw the Star Trek Viewmaster featuring the episode "The Omega Glory" and flipped out. Seeing pictures from the show in 3D was a heretofore unheard-of experience. I dreamed about getting it, saving my meager allowance, and at last the day came when I went shopping with my mother and I finally picked it up.

Joy!!! Rapture!!! I'm sure I had red squares around my eyes that night at suppertime from pressing the viewer against my face as I looked at all the reels again and again. Twenty-one photos from an episode I had never seen became embedded into my retinas and memory as I gazed at them for hours. Reading the episode story in the book that came with it (often inaccurate though it was) was a treat also. Looking back, it's amusing how the writer loved to give phrases acronyms, like "F.S.N.P." which was short for "Famous Spock Neck Pinch."

As you can see above, I managed to scan in some actual frames using the slide attachment on my scanner; but the results are a bit blurry, so there's no need to do them all. However, the scans I made of the enclosed booklet I am posting in their entirety. If you had one and lost it, this will bring back good memories. If you never had it, you will get a glimpse at one of the best Trek-oriented items available for many years. And if you have one but haven't taken it out for years, perhaps this post will make you want to do that very soon!

Shortly after buying the pack above, I discovered the Animated Series set of reels, and I will scan and post that booklet soon as well.

Below is an awesome photo, better than my scan, of the special shot that the Viewmaster crew created for the reels. Using the three foot model from the show, with an AMT model in the background for the Exeter, they photographed the setup using their special 3D cameras.

Below is an ad scanned in from "The Monster Times."

"Give me your thoughts..."

One thing about this blog that you may notice is that sometimes the post is more about my memories surrounding it than the item itself. That's because the memories that one has about a time or place that is brought up by an item is really more important.

However, I'm not posting these entries and writing just for myself. I'm doing it for you to enjoy, and hopefully bring some memories out of your personal treasure chest. If something here does that, please share it! I, and the other readers I'm sure, would love to hear how Trek impacted your life and helped make some great memories.

I look forward to reading about them!

Update: reader Jim commented below about a source for some frame scans that you can find here.

FBI Protects Trek Set

It's a good thing that the FBI helped protect those Star Trek secrets; advanced technology like warp drive, phasers, photon torpedos and transporters could be dangerous should it fall into the wrong hands! Clipped from The Star tabloid, September 1978.

Speaking of advanced technology, once people saw that big old viewscreen on the ship, they wanted one for themselves. So, the race for bigger and better TV screens, with which to better watch the show, began. This article was clipped in the late 70's sometime from one of the tabloids. Sorry I don't have more specifics, but I seldom saved such info on little clippings like this one. It's interesting that it took 30 years for big plasma screen TVs to become a reality, but now we have them and watching Trek (and other movies) on them is finally as good as we once dreamed!