1980 Harold Michaelson Interview

From Issue 30 of Starlog magazine (see the cover and another article here), published January 1980, comes this interview with the production designer of ST:TMP, Harold Michaelson. Michaelson took the existing Mike Minor designs for the new warp core from the planned "Phase Two" series and expanded it vertically to encompass multiple stories, as well as horizontally. The now-familiar design has been the design basis for every new show and movie ship's engineering deck... with the notable exception of the one movie that really could have used it... the recent '09 reboot. The money-saving use of a beer factory as engineering was nearly universally lambasted by fans, and hopes are that the producers of the sequel will listen to fan feedback and give us a real engineering room set, one befitting a big budget.

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"Whatever thou doest, Spock, dost not look up, lest thee seest up the robe of Surak."

The caption for the top photo is in error, as the ship on the design board is actually the air tram and not the Vulcan shuttle.

Bonus: Below, a fun video promoting the Star Trek "Battlestations" slot machine game. Since I don't anticipate ever going to Vegas, and I don't frequent casinos, this is about as close as I'll ever get to this game... but it does look like it would be fun to play. If I ever get rich, I might order one for my game room. The copy promoting the machine is under the video. Go to Youtube to view the video in larger format: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpGN0ixpErU



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"ST:3 The Search For Spock" Effects Article

From issue #28 of Enterprise Incidents (after the format change and national distribution as a sci-fi movie magazine) from April 1985 comes this behind-the-scenes article on the making of the effects for Star Trek 3. I do remember that the anticipation in my mind was much higher for #3 than it was for #2... there seemed to be very little advance publicity for TWOK, except for the furor over the leaked death of Spock. But after the movie was released and so well-received, the fan excitement over the third one seemed to be increased and there was much more in the media about it as it was being made.

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This Kruge miniature was used for the scene where he plunges into the abyss on New Genesis... the cut between the actor and the animated figure was disguised by a flash of lightning.

Ah, the good ol' days of model work.

Below is a detail from the 2-page spread put back together. I didn't want to shrink down the spread by showing both pages connected, so I scanned in the one photo that went across both so you could see it in its entirety. The detail visible on the scale model of the Excelsior is interesting to see, since we didn't get to see it much on screen in the movie.

It was still an ugly ship, though.

1979 Robert Wise Interview

1979 was one of the most exciting years to ever happen for many Trekkers, and especially me. From that heady time comes this interview with director Robert Wise from Issue 30 of Starlog magazine, which came out in December of 1979, bearing the cover date of January 1980. For many, this issue came after they had seen the movie, but since I had to wait until January to sneak off to see it (thanks to my uptight and perpetually-irritated stepfather) this material only stoked my fervor.

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However, the excitement was tinged with worry, as early word leaked out that the movie was less than stellar. We kept on believing, though, and didn't let the rumors dampen our anticipation. This article by Tribbles author David Gerrold from the same issue did worry me, though... fortunately it did earn enough to warrant a sequel, which amped up the action factor.

Bonus: From 1967, a photo of Shatner on a smoke break, from one of the movie-TV gossip magazines.

"I could knock the Marlboro Man right out of his saddle."

Coming soon: the Harold Michaelson interview from this same issue.

They Won't Let Spock Stay Dead

From the Beckley Herald, Friday, June 1, 1984 comes this oddly pictureless article about "The Search For Spock."

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Below, from the same page of the newspaper, the movies playing at the time.

Bonus: below, from the Macon, GA Central High School newspaper, published in 1974, an article by a friend of mine that I met there that year, Clay Weaver. Both being Trekkers and having other similar interests (like "Planet of the Apes" and "Kung Fu" movies) we hit it off immediately, because back then, us Trekkers had to stick together. The button in the photo belongs to him, as does the shirt it's on.

1978 Article: The Technology Of Trek

This time, I'm bringing you more material from Issue #3 of the awesome Science Fantasy Film Classics magazine, published July 1978. You can view the cover here, and earlier content I've posted from this issue here, as well as here. And there will be more to come in future posts, you can be sure. This time the article focuses on the wonderfully thought-out technology that set the show apart from all other TV sci-fi, and was years ahead of its time. It was the technological trappings that made the setting so believable. The article looks at the technology on the show and where things were at the time, and postulates which items could be created and how long in the future it might be. With the exception of the transporter, which was more of a time-and-budget-saving device than a real possibility, many of the ideas are much closer to reality now, and some have been realized. The furthest away from being possible any time soon is warp drive, being only a theory.
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Bonus: a full-page photo of Bill Shatner from one of the TV-movie magazine articles published in September of 1967, during the show's original run.

Trek 25th Anniversary Roddenberry Interview

The December 1991 issue of Cinefantastique featured a number of articles centered around the 25th anniversary of the original series, and sports a great painted cover of the Great Bird of the Galaxy being buzzed by various Enterprises.

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We're looking at a couple of the articles from this issue this time, starting off with an interview with Roddenberry musing about the future of Trek.

Next, an article about one of the recent Trek cruises as various Trek celebrities are interviewed.

1984 Cinefantastique Article on "The Search For Spock

From the May 1984 edition of Cinefantastique comes this 6-page article on "The Search For Spock." Lots of good behind-the-scenes photos, and interview with director Nimoy in this preview of the movie, and it's interesting reading about the making of one of the most anticipated of the sequels. The first page is from the back cover of the magazine, which is an unusual blurb about the inside contents; one seldom saw the back cover of a magazine used for this purpose.

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How well I remember my excitement connected with the release of this film! Although it would have been better if there were multiple versions of Spock appearing... a partial-cyborg Spock, a hip young Spock with a black leather jacket, a more severe and emotionless Spock that wore sunglasses, and a black Vulcan in cybernetic armor that calls himself Spock. Kirk and crew all wonder which, if any, are the real Spock, and then they all fight amongst themselves, and we find the real Spock at the end who has been regenerated, and he has long hair. He comes out with phasers blazing to help defeat an intergalactic threat, and we learn where the other Spocks came from. Wouldn't that have been way cool? They could have stretched that story out for several more movies. A "super" idea! Moving right along...

Bonus: Below, the filming of Spock's V'Ger spacewalk from "ST:TMP."