1968 Article "Spock: Teenage Outcast"

Hello all, Frederick beaming back in for a quick post! I hope to be able to start posting again (more often) so check back in soon for more! I have always kept to my own personal collection for this blog, but when reader Bluejay Young, a Trekker since November '67, emailed me these scans, I knew I would make an exception. His journey into fandom began before mine, as I didn't truly discover the show til about 72, when I became a Trekker myself. This article titled "Spock: Teenage Outcast" came from the May 1968 edition of the teen mag FAVE.

The article is interesting in that it was Nimoy's response to a fan letter from a mixed-race girl that was struggling with fitting in. There is real concern and thoughtfulness in his response, and it was both interesting and compassionate; as he framed his advice in the form of telling how young Spock might have dealt with the stresses of feeling excluded from the group and being bullied. He used the fan's interest in the character, and how they related to the half-human, half-Vulcan Spock, to share some down-to-earth encouragement. The thoughts he attributed to Spock also demonstrate his ongoing interest in the development of the character, and prefigure the scenes of Spock's difficult youth and struggle with bullies and prejudice in the animated series episode "Yesteryear" and the '09 Star Trek film.

Enjoy!

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UPDATE: Thanks to BUZZFEED for linking to this blog entry and making some great captioned images of Spock and quotes from the article!

UPDATE 2: The hits just keep on coming! This page has gone viral, as the Huffington Post site also carried the story!

Update 3: On February 27, 2015 we lost the legend that was Leonard Nimoy. This page saw over 12,000 hits over the weekend, as people found the article from various sources that republished it online. I hope that the original article serves as a memorial to the compassion and thoughtfulness of Mr. Nimoy as people continue to enjoy the archive of it here.

Bonus: Speaking of inter-racial relationships; below is a fantasy moment made real; Kirk and Uhura making out! It looks like a behind-the-scenes moment from "The Wrath Of Khan," but I'm not sure. One thing that is clear, however, is that Nichelle and Shatner were close enough to kiss on the lips at one time, and there seemed to be none of the antipathy toward Bill  that showed its head among the secondary cast later on.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Replaying the moment from "Plato's Stepchidren" was a favorite game of theirs.

Starlog #1 Color Star Trek Section

When the first issue of Starlog came out in the July of 1976 (see the cover here), fans like me didn't just embrace it, we ran up to it on the magazine rack and placed wet sloppy kisses over it as we wept for joy. Here, at last, was a regular monthly magazine devoted to Star Trek and science fiction film and TV! And with an 18 page COLOR Trek section... it was almost too much to believe. This was back when color photos of the show were hard to come by in a magazine... at least until the first Giant Star Trek Poster Book came out a few months later. 1976 really was a watershed year for Trek-oriented publications. It seemed to be the year that Trek fandom really blossomed and the phenomenon became something more public.

I have posted material from this first issue before; here, here, here and here. But this time I am posting the color section that excited me so much when I saw it. It's probably hard for today's fan to grasp just how exciting this kind of thing was to us back then, but it's how it was. In fact, the magazine itself resorted to photographing the show off of a TV set for the sequence of images from "The Doomsday Machine," something I had done with my Polaroid instant camera. Back then, it was the only way we could "screen capture" images from our favorite show. Now, we can put the disc in a computer and grab all the frames we want. I'm presenting the 16-page color section in two parts, so here goes part one... enjoy!

R.I.P. Charlie Washburn

Another veteran of the original series, this time a behind-the-scenes name, has passed off the scene. Charlie Washburn, assistant director during the the second and third years of the program's run, died at age 73 on April 13th of this year. Here is an article written by Mr. Washburn himself, recalling his memories from his time on the show, scanned from the Trek 20th Anniversary issue of Starlog, #112, published in November of 1986. (See the cover to the magazine here.)

Here is a great blog post by Larry Nemecek about Charlie that does a good job of eulogizing him.

For some odd reason, the official site at http://www.startrek.com/ has refused to acknowledge Charlie's passing, as they do for anyone else that dies who was associated with any of the shows. I have posted this omission twice on their facebook page, but each time they have deleted the comment. Why? I think we should all post comments on the FB page and site and ask them that question. UPDATE: Finally, on Feb 23rd of 2013, the site did acknowledge Mr. Washburn's passing and his contributions: http://www.startrek.com/article/trekland-extra-15-oscars-remember-charlie-star-trek

Bonus: Below is another photo from the ST:TMP Date Book desk calendar that came out in 1980. (See more pages here.)

A Paragon Of A Blog!

"V'Ger seeks the Creator!"  Flash: the creator of the long-lost fan film "Paragon's Paragon" speaks at last!

We fans have been curious about the fan-film "Paragon's Paragon" since reading about it in an early issue of "Cinemagic." (Read the post with that article here, and a followup article with many screencaps from the film here.) Well, after finally tracking down the man primarily responsible for it, John Cosentino, and emailing back and forth several times, I have heard some good news back from him; he has started a blog that gives all the inside info on this early and ambitious fan film!

"Captain, it's Earth! We've found our way home!"

John's email contained this interesting information about the new effort:

I have finally decided to give into the Paragon seekers and have started a blog. Eventually it will have video clips but for now photos and history of Paragon and why it took so long to finish. As much behind the scenes information as I can muster up and never before seen photos. I hope they will like it.

The address is http://www.paragonsparagon.com/

Currently the last series of articles are the projects that kept me from finishing Paragon and are the first ones seen on the blog. Just scroll down and the Paragon stuff is there. The next series of articles will focus on "Paragon's Paragon." I felt it was important to show why I was distracted from Paragon.

Thanks for having a great Star Trek blog!

Your friend, John.

So there you have it, straight from the source. Visit the blog regularly as footage is to come!

Bonus link: Below, a captioned photo from the sci-fi humor page that spins off of "I Can Haz Cheezburger" groups of sites. Lots of fun, even if I have never been successful in getting any of my own captioned pics to post there for some reason.

Star Trek Poster Book #4

The Star Trek Giant Poster Book (actually a magazine) was one of the greatest publications to come out in the 70's on the show, and I never missed an issue. I said earlier that I would post all of them, and I plan on doing so, starting back now with issue #4, published December 1, 1976. (Read all of the previous posts by using the tag link.) They are spaced apart somewhat since I have to scan them in sections then put them back together in photoshop, all for your enjoyment. You may leave a token of your appreciation in the tip jar on the counter. Or better yet, leave a comment!

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As for the interior poster, you can see what it was from the thumbnail preview on the back cover, a frame blowup from "Day Of The Dove." No need to open it up and take a photo of it for this post, since it's not a great poster. In fact, that was the one consistent criticism I had against the magazine; most of the posters were simply grainy frame blowups, and only once or twice did they use sharp promotional photos, which were by far the best ones. Why they didn't go that route every time, instead of film clip enlargements, I have no idea; but the whole idea of the poster book suffered because of it. On the whole, though, an excellent publication.

1987 Cracked Star Trek IV Spoof

From the July 1987, issue #228 of Cracked magazine, comes this spoof on "The Voyage Home," published significantly later than when the movie came out, which was in December of 1986. The cover is rendered by Severin (who passed away recently) but the inside art is by Bill Wray, whose style takes humorous caricature over into plain grotesquery. First, the cover, then the spoof.

Bonus: from the same issue, a page of Trek Hurry Ups...

Bonus: a publicity still of Bones in makeup from "The Deadly Years." He was only slightly more crotchety in this episode.

A rare costume test photo for the un-made "Star Trek 7: The Search For A Retirement Home."

"Shatner: Then And Now" 1977 Article

From issue #3 of the "All About Star Trek Fan Clubs" magazine, published in June 1977, comes this loose filmography that features some photos of Bill from his various appearances. The feature runs out of steam quickly, as the last two pages switch to a nonsensical "biorhythms" article that takes up space (we'd learn more from a chart on his bathroom habits), but has some good photos from his "Barbary Coast" stint.

The cover art (scanned, as is everything on this site, from my own copy) is about the best the magazine ever featured, in my opinion.

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