1986 Grace Lee Whitney interview

Our archives open up this time to feature pages of issue #51 of the "The Official Star Trek Fan Club" magazine, published in August of 1986. At this time the magazine was in a smaller digest size, handy for rolling up and shoving into your jacket pocket to read during recess. Nah, just kiddin,' I'm sure everyone saved their copies in perfect condition like I did mine.

In this interview with everyone's favorite yeoman, conducted by superfan Dan Madsen, (read the Memory Alpha entry on him here and a Trekcore.com interview here) we find out a little more about this leggy actress.

New "space-age" material lifts and separates!

"Why, captain... you so seldom come to my quarters after hours."

 

Sadly, the green flashlight did not work out as a sellable toy tie-in.*

Bonus:below is another of the Leaf 1967 cards, this time featuring our damsel in distress.

Below, my autographed photo of Grace in a memorable pose!

"Did I mention I like having my legs looked at?"

Some earliers posts with Janice Rand photos can be found by using the Grace Lee Whitney tag on the sidebar.

Bonus: below is another of the four TOS coasters in the set, this time featuring the Romulans.

Bonus #2: continuing the Romulan theme, below is another of the Skybox Masterpiece Series, depicting the famous first encounter with the Romulan Bird Of Prey.

The card back, below, is in error concerning the number of appearances in the original series; the Romulans also appeared in it in "The Deadly Years." Later, it was further depicted as one of the ships that captured the Enterprise in remastered episode "The Enterprise Incident."

*The jokey caption in no way confirms that the flashlights were or were not some kind of spec phaser by a toy manufacturer as some are speculating (see the Trek BBS post here). I just like to add funny captions and this one coincidentally seemed to back up the argument. I have no idea if they were or were not, but if I were to weigh in on it, I would say that the flashlights, as well as the other equipment that they held in this pre-series photo session, were just odd props gathered for it, and not specially prepared in any way.

1984 Article on Trek Directors

From Issue #13 of Enterprise Incidents, published in January of 1984 (two issues after making the leap from fanzine to professional magazine with national distribution), comes this article on the various directors of the original series and analyses of the episodes they directed. Only this section of the magazine was in color, as it was cost-prohibitive to publish the still-new publication on all glossy pages with color stills. Although it was handy to be able to pick up the mag in the newsstands after the switch, and see color sections, I still prefered the original format, with painted or photo covers and no text blurbs, and printed on card stock. They just felt more special!

(Click on images to enlarge.)

Bonus: As any fan that received them knows, the catalogs from the Roddenberry-run Lincoln Enterprises were like the Sears catalog for Trekkers; a wish book that held all sorts of items that we young fans drooled over. I did order some of the things in them; not much, but some, and had them mailed to my Grandma's house to avoid discovery by the "Parents Against Star Trek" organization, founded and presided over by the only member, my stepdad. The items I did manage to get are still treasured by me, but I also treasure the catalogs themselves for the memories they bring out. Here is one I got in May of 1976 just as the "Star Trektennial," the ten year anniversary of the show, was gearing up. Below, the side where the address was placed for mailing...

The next page in the newspaper-format catalog is actually the front cover:

And here is the first actual page that it opens up to. You will notice the pen checkmarks I put next to items I planned on ordering, or at least really wanted. The only thing that could have made the catalog better was including items from the "Planet of the Apes" TV series! They featured "Kung Fu," so why not?

I'll post more pages from the catalogs in future entries as bonus items, so watch for them! At any time you can find all of them by using the "Lincoln Enterprises" tag on the right sidebar. I also plan on featuring some the the items themselves, as in an earlier post here. If you have good memories of these catalogs or getting items from the company, leave a comment and share them with us! As mentioned on this blog before, here is a Flickr photo group devoted to sharing film clips bought from this company. And, Rod Jr. is now running the company, (see this StarTrek.com article on it) and some of the old items can still be bought there, at http://www.roddenberry.com/.

Spock Stamp Collecting Ad

Hey, welcome back, friends! Glad you joined us, we were just about to open up one of the legendary collection cabinets and see what we could find to look at today. Grab a soda from the fridge, dig into some of the snacks on the table, and let's see what's in the stack of stuff I grabbed at random...

Well, let's see... first, here's a cardboard tabletop standee advertising the Space Exploration stamps that the Post Office put out in 1991. They tied it in with the upcoming "ST VI: The Undiscovered Country" which was coming out that December, around the same time of the stamps' release. The standee is about 18 inches tall, and was given to me by the lady behind the counter after the campaign was over. (I always cultivated relationships with people in various places that I could sweet-talk into giving me publicity items; shallow, I know.) Sadly, I didn't get the set of Trek stickers.

(Click on images to enlarge.)

"When it comes to hobbies, stamp collecting cannot be licked. Did that constitute a joke?"

Not a lot to post today in terms of articles and such, so I thought I'd add some bonus items to make up for it. Below, a scan of a pair of 3-D glasses that came with a ST:TMP poster that had a 3-D version on the flip side. They gave a slight illusion of depth as well as a slight headache, not to mention making the wearer look like a complete loser.

According to this design, big ol' metal rivets were key in starship construction technology.

Below, another cover from the extreme nostalgia-inducing James Blish Star Trek novels, this time #8. I bought this in 1974, from the high school bookstore where the kind lady ordered my Star Trek books for me. I read it through during a couple of classes, lunch and a study hall before I got home. Blish was doing a much better job of adapting the scripts by this time, to the point they were more than a synopsis as they were in the earlier ones. Every time I bought one of these novelizations, it was like manna from the heavens and I would re-read them til I knew them by heart. This red-saturated cover art brings back a lot of good memories that my love of Star Trek generated in the midst of a tense home situation.

Cool, how this alien planet had stalagmites coming up from the ground with no cave ceiling above to create them! And dig the dude with the space helmet, which I suppose he brought along in case there was construction going on overhead. It certainly was no good if there had been no breathable atmosphere; which seems to be the case since the ship is only a few hundred feet high.

"I am so-o-o-o screwed."

I suppose he can always call them on his "futuristic" walkie-talkie he carried with him. But considering he's a "redshirt," I don't suppose his chances of returning alive are very high anyway. The extra liability of red pants practically dooms him immediately. I know my reader Jay probably really likes this one!

Next, another of the 1976 Random House Star Trek greeting cards. The inside text reads "You're different!" Which could be a kinder way of calling the person you gave it to "a freak."

Next bonus: below, another in the set of 1967 Leaf bubblegum cards with the kooky kaptions. This time they must have been fairly sober when writing the caption; otherwise it might have read "Mustard and Relish" or "Looking for A Leprechan!"

And the final bonus item, below: a publicity photo of Shatner as Captain Kirk, looking particularly flirty at the yeoman taking the log entry. Note the conspicuous direction of the finger on his armrest. A subtle, perhaps even subliminal hint?

"Check it out."

1969 Star Trek Critique Article

Via a trip through the Guardian of Forever, from out of the dim past of the year 1969 (near the end of the show's first run) comes this article from issue #14 of the terrific magazine "Castle of Frankenstein." (Read an earlier post of the CoF #11 Star Trek article here.)

(Click on images to enlarge.)

"Castle of Frankenstein" was a monster/genre mag written on a more mature level than any of the other such publications of the time, and the graphic layout was bold and exciting. Covering science fiction as well as horror, and TV as well as film, the magazine was a real treat.

Above is a detail of the cover photo, corrected for the picture's reversed state.

Now, before you dig into the article, expecting to read details not seen since 1969, a word of caution; it's not a pro-Trek article. In fact, it's a printing of a letter sent to the editors by someone with not just a bone to pick with the show, but a whole skeleton. Reading the diatribe, one truly wonders if they are talking about the same show we know and love. But hey, the pictures printed with it are good!

I think you'll be amazed as you read the things they write about some of the episodes, several of which are now regarded as among the best. His insults of the various facets of the show, calling DeForest Kelley 'a hack," for example, and the makeup artists efforts "abominable," are laughable to me. His example of the "failure" by the makeup artists by "having to bring in John Chambers" to get Mr. Spock's ears right is wrong as far as I can determine; Fred Philips saved the day from another makeup artist's poor efforts by working many late hours making the ears as we saw them in "the Cage." Although John Chamber's contribution of the ears is a popular bit of trivia, neither the "Making of Star Trek" nor Nimoy's books "I Am Not Spock" and "I Am Spock" mention him as being involved in the difficult process. (This is backed up here.) The book "Inside Star Trek" does mention that Fred Phillips designed them and had them made in John Chamber's makeup lab; but the results that came back were still too crude, and Phillips had them sent to someone else at MGM to do them. Be that as it may, right or wrong, it has little impact on the sweeping charges brought by the irate writer that "the makeup is beyond belief, it is so bad."

Calling the ground-breaking exterior design of the Enterprise "lacking in grace and sleek beauty," (whu-u-u-u-t?) and the interiors "disgustingly bad," on the level of the old "Flash Gordon" serials, he compares the art design unfavorably to three of Irwin Allens' shows. That particular statement boggles the mind, because most of Allen's sets consisted of blinking lights and reel-to-reel computers against a black background. His criticism of the show's legendary, memorable musical scores is the final straw. I think it must have been Irwin Allen himself writing under an assumed name.

The photo above represents the writer's attack on the show.

Mr. Spock prepares to launch a counter-attack against the illogical critic and open up a can of well-deserved Tal-shaya.

Well, it was interesting to learn in historical hindsight that some saw this outstanding effort at bringing believable science fiction to the tube as greatly lacking; but as Captain Kirk said, "there's no accounting for taste." The editor's weak "rebuttal" at the end did nothing to argue against some of the more ridiculous statements, but the show itself is the strongest argument. It has stood the test of time and then some! If I had been the editor I would have filed this letter under "crank" and wrote something worthy of the magazine.

Update: The name of the writer is Craig Reardon, and I wonder if he is the same Craig Reardon that became a movie makeup artist? If so (and it seems likely since they are both from Inglewood, CA), this might explain his extreme criticism of that facet of the show's production (which was way off-base in my opinion, in any event). It would be ironic if this were the case, since he went on to do the makeup on one of the Star Trek spinoffs, Deep Space Nine! He would have been close to 16 at the time of the letter... so it's possible. I wonder if he still feels the same way about the original series now? It would be interesting to find out.

Below is a small writeup about the looming cancellation of the show from the same issue, which makes for fascinating reading. Too bad some other network didn't pick it up, give it a bigger budget and restore Roddenberry to producer status.

Bonus: below, the next in the series of four TOS coasters referenced in the last post. I never used these four to hold my drinks; I reserved that for the four Voyager ones.

Bonus: Lastly, another of the Random House Star Trek greeting cards from 1976. The inside text says "Let's keep in touch!"

"Oh, man... dude, it's like, it's like, I can totally feel the color of this paint! Seriously, you gotta come feel it! And bring the Fritos."

Consider that card's sentiment of "let's stay in touch" to be an invitation to comment about this post! I truly do enjoy hearing from my readers.

Blog Awarded

It's nice to be noticed and appreciated! I was notified this morning by Trek site Ex Astris Scientia webmaster Bernd Schneider that I had won this month's EAE Award, via this nice email...

Dear Frederick,

I enjoyed your blog a lot, and I am pleased to announce that you win the EAE Award March 2010. Congratulations! Here is a small blurb to be posted at EAS:

"My Star Trek Scrapbook is a gem among the growing number of Trek-themed blogs. It is unique because it showcases a plethora of Star Trek memorabilia from over 40 years, among them many newspaper or magazine clippings that even avid fans probably wouldn't have kept for so long. But thanks to the steady efforts of blog owner Frederick these funny or insightful documents from Star Trek's history have been preserved and are being made public again - with updates occurring as often as every few days. My Star Trek Scrapbook deserves praise for the quality of the content as well as of the presentation. Unlike many other bloggers Frederick is very careful in tagging and indexing his content, thereby improving the accessibility and avoiding that entries disappear forever on the umpteenth archive page. And anyone who still thinks that science fiction and nostalgia don't mix should check out My Star Trek Scrapbook right now, as well as the other sci-fi, horror and comic blogs by the same author."

Thanks for a very entertaining blog and keep up your great work!

Best regards, Bernd Schneider http://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/

Thanks again, Bernd! Recognition by you and an award from a site like yours is a real honor. May this blog, your site, and all the readers of both, "Keep On Trekkin'!"

1980 article on ST:TMP from "Superstar Heroes"

The time leading up to and around the release of "ST:TMP" was exciting, and a great period of collecting for me, since magazines and articles in any place were what I looked for. Below is the January 1980, issue #11 of "Superstar Heroes," which was on the stands in December of 1979. This publication was a step above in quality "Media Spotlight" but several below "Starlog." This extensive article on the new movie has some great pictures and info, but there are several inaccuracies concerning production on both the new movie and the original series. Oh, and thanks, writer, for totally exposing the plot twist of what V'Ger was. Way to blow what little suspense there was!

(Click in images to enlarge.)


Nice view of the model for the orbital dockyards office... possibly the best photo you'll see for examining details.

"Alright, for the next scene we'll have them stare in awe at the viewscreen for 20 minutes straight."

Bonus: Below is the first of some coming bonus images covering the 4 original series coasters in the set released in 1998 by Newfield Publications. Newfield offered the set of 16 coasters (four from each of the Trek series) for free when you tried out their subscription for card pages that went into Trek database notebook binder. (Here is the Memory Alpha page on it: Trek Giant Cards.) I didn't subscribe to it, I just got the binders and the first set of cards for it. But I will post what I do have, those pages on the original series that are interesting, as time goes by.

And another bonus, one of the nicely-painted cards in the Skybox ST Masterpiece Series put out in the 90's. Of course I'm starting out with one of my favorites from the series.... wonder why?

The kiss may have been forced by the Platonians, but the tongue he slipped her was all his idea.