The Monster Times Star Trek Special #2: Part One

In 1974, while perusing the latest issue of The Monster Times I had just picked up, I saw an advertisement for both the Sci-Fi Special (in magazine format) and the newspaper format Star Trek Special #2. Since my grandmother's house was a haven where I could be myself and read what I wanted, and where I stored my collection of magazines and comics to keep them safe from my stepdad, I ordered both and had them delivered to her house. A few weeks later when I visited again, they had arrived and were waiting for me! It was an exciting afternoon and evening, I can tell you that, as I soaked in all the great stuff contained therein.

Below you will find scans of the issue's first half, with the second half coming soon.

(Click on each image to enlarge. Once open, you may have to click again to view full size.)

Bonus: If you fondly remember TMT, join a new Facebook group I have created dedicated solely to this fantastic publication! https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheMonsterTimes/

Animated M'Ress Bio

In her brief appearances M'ress managed to show more tail on the bridge than Uhura did, and that's saying a lot.

Last time, we looked at one of two bios of the new alien characters from the animated series that I bought in the early 70's from Lincoln Enterprises. We've seen Arex's dossier; now let's look at the other, for the intriguing cat-like M'Ress. A quick Google-image search for her name will reveal that quite a few fans found her sexy and worthy of much fan art depicting her in various poses, uniforms, and stages of undress. Here's a forum thread with M'Ress appreciation as its topic.

(Click on images to enlarge.)

Below, a pencil drawing I made of M'ress sometime in the mid 70's, when I was about 16 or 17. I've posted this before, but thought considering the topic it would fit good here in case some had missed the earlier entry.

"Okay, who's the wise guy that put the flea collar on my chair?"

Bonus: Below we see the cover of the second Blish original Star Trek novel, started by him before his death and finished by his widow, Judith Ann Lawrence, who often co-wrote his books with him and had in fact finished the last adaptation, #12, when Blish sadly passed away before completing it. "Mudd's Angels" was published in May of 1978. The cover art is by one of my genre favorites, Bob Larkin, who invokes the feeling of the earlier adaptation covers depicting the starship in close proximity to similar alien planet surfaces.

"Ahh, th' pimpin' life is good, me lassies!"

Below is the back cover, continuing the style seen in all the other direct adaptations in the series.

1974 "Movie Monsters" Trek article

From the December 1974 first issue of "Movie Monsters" comes an eight-page article on Trek. (You can see the magazine cover here, since I have featured the monster articles in it on another of my blogs.) The article is memorable to me mostly from the negative reaction I had to it; I hated it! The strange treatment of the photos accompanying it (except for the first one of the ship), and the somewhat derogatory review of the show really ticked me off when I read it. How dare anyone criticize the show? Reading it now, I have mellowed somewhat and I realize it was not as bad as it seemed at the time; but it was the first time I had read an article that was written in anything other than glowing terms, (notwithstanding this one, which was only an published reader letter)and I wasn't ready for it. I know now that the show was not quite perfect, only nearly so. :) Many of the claims are unfounded or just plain in error; but the one thing that rankled me most was that the writer blamed the third season decline on Roddenberry, when he wasn't even producing the show any more; Fred Frieberger was the one to blame for dragging a beautiful show through the mud of mediocrity. But, it seemed that the author was not aware of this.

(Click on images to enlarge.)

I wasn't the only one angered by the writeup; a few issues later they printed a story that was more positive in direct response to all the irate letters from the fans! Read it here, from an earlier post. Fan power!

Bonus: Below is another from the set of Random House greeting cards put out in 1976. (See all that I have posted by clicking the "greeting card" tag on the right.) The inside text consists of one word: "COURAGE!"

Bonus #2: Below are the front and back covers to the next James Blish adaptation, Star Trek 10. This was a first printing, published in Feb. 1974. I bought this in 1975 in Ft. Lauderdale, FL when I was 16. I still recall the excitement when I saw it in the high school bookstore where I bought it with my lunch money. It has a nice (and unusual for the Blish books) painting of the Enterprise blasting a Klingon Battlecruiser. The artist gave us some great detail, even adding extremely large rivets on the metal of the ship, as if it had been put together by NY bridgeworkers in the 1920's. I mean seriously, they had to have been as large as dinner plates to be visible at that range! Otherwise it's quite accurate.

"Break out the diving suits and the jackhammers!"

1974 article: The Monsters of Star Trek

This time I bring out of the collection cabinet issue #4 of "Monster Fantasy" magazine, published August 1974. This magazine was on the lower end of the monster mag quality spectrum; a step above "Quasimodo's Monster Magazine," but not by much. One aspect that contributed to that view was the cheap paper stock it was printed on, which greatly affects the quality of the photos, as you can see below. But the cover had some nice sci-fi artwork!

We're looking at the article on "The Monsters of Star Trek," which was another way the show set itself apart from most other sci-fi programs... notably the Irwin Allen shows, where a monster was a monster, to be feared and destroyed. On Trek, it was usually a matter of understanding and respecting the life-form that only seemed monstrous to us.

Below, from the back of the same magazine, a full-page ad for the Trek models, which will bring back memories for any fan of the time.

There was a book published on this same topic as this article, that of monsters, the cover for which you can view here.

"Spotlight on Star Trek" 1974 article

(Click on images to view full-size.)

This article was clipped by a 15-year-old me from the "Teen World" movie/TV magazine in 1974. I'm not sure when in 74 it was published, since I didn't save that information when I clipped it. I was a little short-sighted back then, I should have written it somewhere at the time. But who knew I would ever be needing that info again? I was only able to determine the year by the mention in the article about Gene and Majel having their son Eugene Wesley Roddenberry (nicknamed "Rod") recently. Now he's all grown up and running the family business, which back then was known as Lincoln Enterprises. It also mentions Shatner's marriage to Marcie Lafferty.

Bonus: Below, another glossy black and white promo picture of the whole regular crew on the transporter platform. This was part of the press kit sent out to stations to promote the syndication in the mid-70's.

Shatner article in Fighting Stars mag

(Click on images to view Shatner-ego-sized!)

Shatner learns to defend himself against attack by George Takei.

This issue of Fighting Stars was published in April, 1974 and I bought it off the newstand when I was 15, living in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. Seeing Bill's unique fighting style on the series has led to the coining of the term "Kirk-Fu," used to describe his trademark moves such as the double-handed chop to the neck or back, flying scissor kick, rolling into the enemy, and others familiar to every hostile alien, renegade starship captain and Star Trek viewer.

The writer's unfamiliarity with the show is evident in his referring to it as "Startrek," one word, all through the article. It seems that someone would have caught this before publishing, but apparently no-one at the magazine watched the show.

The photo below was the most exciting thing about the article to me, as it was... believe it or not... the first full-size color photo from the show I ever got. To say I was excited would be an understatement, and (to my regret now) when I got home I carefully cut out the page and proudly put it in my second scrapbook, which was a photo album, a step up from the bulging notebook I had taped everything in prior to this.

In looking at it you may notice yellow lines going through the page, which are the result of the photo's residing in the sticky-backed album all these years. Back then I didn't have the foresight to put a piece of paper between the clippings and the pages, to prevent them from sticking except around the edges. As a result, many of the items in that first photo album cannot be taken out now without ripping, and they are yellowing and showing lines.

The page above is the back of the photo, and shows the result of the aging in the scrapbook. For this post, I wanted all the pages of the article, so I very carefully removed the photo from the album, and was luckily able to get it out without tearing it or losing any of the print on the back. Below, the rest of the article scanned from the magazine as it still exists, intact.

The earlier-mentioned "Kirk-Fu" is not something that can be taught or actually used by anyone else in a real fighting situation; apparently only Kirk could master it, being the originator of the style. The philosophy of Kirk-Fu is that it is actually more of an extension of ego than actual effective physical moves. Kirk is beating his opponents by sheer willpower, defeating them by his intimidating charisma as displayed in moves that otherwise would be ineffective; or worse, damaging to one's own self. It's probable that his enemies, seeing his guts, bravado and righteous swagger, simply give up and fall before his unnerving blows.

For your education and entertainment, check out the Trekmovie.com post on the topic with video clips. The young Kirk as played by Chris Pine could learn from this, as he is consistently beat up in the new movie! Maybe he'll get his Kirk-Fu on in the sequel, as he gains more confidence.

Bonus: since today's entry is about Bill's fighting, here is an 8 x 10 publicity still from "Amok Time" scanned in from a later scrapbook (when I wisely began using plastic pages that the pictures could slide down in for easy removal later).

Just in: Newsweek has released an online slideshow with rare photos of some of the earliest Trek conventions, now the stuff of legend. Con organizer and fan Jeff Maynard, who sadly passed away last year, had entrusted his many photos to Angelique Trouvere, costumer fan who was famous at the cons for her sexy and detailed costume creations. Click the link to take a trip back in time!

Before you beam out to another site, I'd like your input on a couple of things. First, I have clippings from all the years and original cast movies up until the present day. I was holding back from posting any beyond ST:TMP until I had pretty much exhausted the earlier material, then move on to "The Wrath of Khan" and the others in the order they came out. But, I'm thinking now that might not be the best way. Because then, most of the entries would be similar as time goes by, focusing only on a particular time period. What do you think; should I post them in the order they came out, or should I skip around now, posting various items from any year, just to keep it changed up? That's how I'm starting to lean but I wanted to hear from you.

Next, since I have begun this blog, I have found a number of others that are posting some of their old clippings and articles. I have seen on them several of the same articles and clippings that I have, and was planning to post in the future. Should I post what I have anyway, regardless of whether or not they have already been posted elsewhere on some of the linked sites? Or would that be redundant? Let me know what you think!