1987 Article On Sulu's Solo Trek

From issue #119 of Starlog Magazine, dated June, 1987, comes this short article on an early fan film, "Yorktown: A Time to Heal," another of those that never seemed to get finished and the footage seldom seen. This one is significant in that they snagged Sulu himself, George Takei, for their home movie. (One cannot help but think of Galaxy Quest a little here.) The trailer, which can be found online, looks about like you'd expect for the time, and in light of today's more polished fan efforts, is somewhat embarrassing to watch... probably for George more than anyone else involved, in retrospect. The film was never finished and the footage tucked away by one of the main masterminds, Stan Woo.

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Another thing setting the production apart from the average fan film was the involvement of several Hollywood professionals, as the article explains. For this reason alone, the footage might be worth watching. Who knows, maybe someday the film will be finished with digital effects and made available to watch. Even raw unedited film would be good to see, for the historical value.

Many, if not most fan films that are planned or actually begun fall to the same fate, thanks in part to the large amount of money and work required, for very little (if any) payback; other than the pleasure of watching one's self on film making imaginary Trek. It's happened a lot in the past, all the way back to the 70's (see earlier post on "Paragon's Paragon") and it will continue to happen; but of the few that actually get made, only the rare effort is watchable for anyone other than those involved and their friends and families. I can think of only a couple that are really enjoyable, and they are the exception. However, fans want to make their own for their love of the show, and for that I commend their efforts and say, "God bless 'em."

Read more about the ill-fated Yorktown fan film story in this Star Trek Expanded Universe Wiki entry. Update: I just found out that today is George's 73rd birthday. What a coincidence!

UPDATE, June 24th, 2010: I recently received an email from the filmmaker Stan Woo, with some additional info about the effort, which you can read below. Thanks for the details, Stan!
Thanks for mentioning Yorktown: A Time to Heal in your blog. This little opus just got too expensive to complete and at the time, it also killed my grades, so I had to give it up. My father financed the film and when my grades took a nose dive, he cut off funding. That was the beginning of the end. Then I just got caught up with life and it got put back in the backburner. Maybe in my retirement, I'll start working on it again. Right now, I'm working with Paul McCudden to finish some missing dialog for a final ADR session.

Some of the Da Han wiki stuff is accurate, but some are just out in left field, especially this "Axiom' project which I'm not involved with except for footage used in the unauthorized trailer. The two Yorktowns were only at the most 15 minutes long. The first one is total crap made when I was in 11th grade thru community college. The first film was more of a first "pilot". The 2nd ended up being a second "pilot" than a sequel. It started out as "Yorktown II", but when Takei came aboard, the continuity of the first film had to be abandoned. Therefore: "Yorktown: A Time to Heal", not Yorktown II: A Time to Heal. The final title of the first film is "Yorktown: In Temporary Command", not Yorktown: The Quadroplastine Incident. The film was reworked in 1984 and the Quadroplastine reference was removed from the film. The film is so bad that I don't want to subject the youtube community to it. Stephen J. Cannell was not involved personally. Gary Winter, executive in charge of post-production at Stephen J. Cannell Productions granted me access to their sound effects library. That's it.

Here's a link to a fansite entry about "Yorktown: A Time to Heal"; perhaps you can do a link.http://www.fastcopyinc.com/orionpress/fanfilms/yorktown.htm

This entry lists the actual credits. Any other claims in the web is not accurate.

-Stan Woo
Bonus: Below is a small selection of the many mini-clippings that I gleaned from the newspapers back in the early-to-mid 70's; some from tabloids, others from the daily papers. I'm serious, if it had the words "Star Trek" in it, I saved it. About the only items I didn't clip were the daily listings of the episodes in the TV Guide. Was I obsessive, or what? And to still have them in my scrapbook, is that compulsive hoarding or what? I don't know... you tell me. The dime is included because it was once touched by Jimmy Doohan who loaned it to me for a phone call. Nah, just yankin' your chain, I included it to give some scale to the size of the tiny clippings. I'm not that obsessed.

Below is another page from one of the Trek coloring books that I bought in the mid-70's. The likenesses are pretty good in it. Print it out and color away!

"Captain, do you mind moving that hand from my booty? This is not the time."

Enquirer Star Trek 6 Preview

Warning: if you haven't seen "Star Trek 6: The Undiscovered Country," DON'T read this sneak preview by The Enquirer. At least, that's how the first sentence should have read in the fall 1991 article, because they don't just preview it; they give away every single plot point in the entire blamed film! By blabbing the whole story, they ruined any potential surprises for a lot of fans who read the article. Typical, but this was really one of the worst examples of spoilerage just for the sake of sensationalism. Nice photos, though. One plot point they got wrong was that Spock falls in love; Valeris was not a love interest, only a trusted protege.

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Below is a newspaper ad for the movie that I clipped from the Friday, Dec. 6th, 1991 edition of the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel. This movie premiered only one day before the first Trek movie did, Dec. 7th, back in 1979 (reposted from my other blog "Held Over!").

Below is an interesting Trek-themed ad for the sound system in one of the theaters showing the new movie. Apparently Vulcans (or merely fans in rubber pointed ears) are accomodated in this theater. The shape of the ear is all wrong, however.

Bonus: Below are a couple of pages I got in a newsletter/catalog from Dage Co., (run by Tribbles author David Gerrold) during the summer of 1974. Interesting article by David about the efforts to revive the series, and already you could see the seeds of what would become "The Next Generation" being planted.

Bonus #2: a 1976 ad flyer for some high-class UV-reactive posters on black velvet, "suitable for framing." Anyone out there get any of these?

I'm alone for a few weeks, maybe more, as my wife is out of state visiting her sick mother. So, with not much to do, I've been enjoying this afternoon by taking my magazines out of the cabinets and organizing then better. Here's how it looks right now, and that's not even all of them yet, I still have the third cabinet to get them out of. Here's another pic, closer up, so you can see some of the covers better. It was taken from the same angle, only closer, but I flipped the photo so you can see them without craning your head around. It does make you dizzy to look at anyway, though.

1995 article: Nimoy Closes Book on Trek Myths

From USA Today, Oct. 23, 1995, comes this article on Nimoy, as he is promoting his new book, "I Am Spock." Aware that the title of his first book, "I Am Not Spock," was unfortunate, he attempts to set the record straight about how he feels concerning his Vulcan alter-ego.

Bonus: Below is a 1985 review of the "new" Star Trek 3 videotape release, from "Video Review" magazine. Buying movies was getting a little more affordable by then; this one was released for "only" $29.95.

Bonus: a rare 1991 Enterprise hologram card, the only one I found in any of the packages. The image appeared surprisingly clear in the scan.

And below, the back of the card. I'd like to know what this is worth, should I sell it.

Bonus: another Bloom County strip with the gang engaging in a little role-playing. But everyone must play by the rules or it's not as much fun!

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."

A Couple Of "Search For Spock" Reviews

Here's a good review of "The Search For Spock," clipped from The Washington Post, dated June 2nd, 1984. It does manage to give away a major surprise, that of the Enterprise being destroyed, as well as basically tell you that Spock is found alive and well, only not in so many words. Granted, that was pretty much a given, but the ship's destruction was supposed to be a shocking moment that was best left unspoiled by reviewers. Oh, wait, you didn't already know about that? Oops, sorry!

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And below is the Time magazine review of the film, clipped about the same time. I'm throwing in the "Ghostbusters" review as a freebie.

Bonus: the last of the four TOS coasters in the Newfield set... this time, featuring that flying butterdish named "Galileo II."

Bonus: The next of the "Trek Talk" features from "The Monster Times," dated January 1976, issue #45. (View all these I have posted by using the "Trek Talk" tag on the sidebar.) It makes note of the passing of James Blish, which was a sad bit of news to those of us that read and re-read all of his adaptations. These time capsules of Trek history are neat to read now, aren't they?

Look For Spock Behind Camera

Welcome, fellow Trekkers, to the blog where you can fondly recall items and articles that you had or still have, or catch some you might have missed. I am having a great time opening the collection cabinets and going through stuff that, before doing the blog, I hardly ever took out to look at. I'm finding stuff I forgot I had, or hadn't seen in years! The newspaper clipping featured this time is from an unspecified date in the summer of 1983, when production was starting on "The Search For Spock." This movie was highly anticipated by us fans at the time. Would Spock return? We shouldn't have worried.

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Below, a one-page bio of Nimoy from the pages of the teen magazine "16," notable for being published during the show's first season, when it was on NBC Thursdays at 8:30 PM. Note the personal address given! This was before the groundswell of popularity, when he replied to mail himself and sent out autographed photos in response to requests. Imagine that! UPDATE: In a comment posted by reader "JohnG7," we find out more about that; "16 Magazine was supposed to give Nimoy's public mail drop, but they printed his actual home address on Comstock Drive. Sacks of mail showed up every day that the family had to spend hours answering, and fans came to the house looking for Leonard. The next issue of 16 ran a correction but the damage was done. The Nimoys moved out within a year. -- JohnG7" Thanks for that, John! I do remember reading that somewhere, probably in one of his books, but I forgot about it.

"Bonus;" Below, a photo highlighting the problem with the jumpsuit versions of the uniforms used in "ST:TMP." Every time a male character appears in the movie in a scene that shows below the waist, it is obvious that they are going "commando." You can practically tell their religion, as the saying goes, and it distracts from the drama going on, generating uncomfortable snickers. This publicity shot is particularly disturbing, as Nimoy is showing a wet spot! E-e-e-e-e-e-w!

"Spock, I am not looking at you until you do something about that."

Maybe it had to do with the fact that a wardrobe person had to assist the actor in and out of the uniform to go the bathroom, but really, Len... shake it next time! I can't believe the photographer and all the publicity people let that one get by them, but they did, and now it's there for all to see, and wish they hadn't. If these had been used again in a sequel, the movie might have been called "Star Trek: The Search For Underwear." Stephen Collins as Decker fared especially bad in the movie wearing these, and I'm sure he hoped that Persis' bald head called attention away from his embarrassing bulges. No such luck.

Bonus: Below, some of the buttons I collected in the mid 70's. I picked these up at the store "Starship Enterprises." Yes, I admit, I occasionally did wear them to work as a teen. Little wonder I didn't date much.

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...