1991 Christian Research Journal Article

From the Fall 1991 issue of the Christian Research Magazine comes this in-depth look at the philosophy of Trek as it related to religion, and Christianity in particular. Of course, in reading it, your view of the article will be influenced by your own views and beliefs. My own align with the writer of the article. But that doesn't diminish my enjoyment of the series or movies, as I know what to enjoy and accept, and what to reject and ignore, based on my own internal worldview.

 (To view full-size, click on each image. It will open up in a new window. You might have to click again to magnify.)

Bonus: Below, a rare pic of Shatner studying his lines (or maybe counting them) as he bikes between takes.

1991 article: "The Undiscovered Kirk"

 More from the 25th Anniversary issue of Starlog, issue #175, this time featuring an interview with Shatner about the newest movie "The Undiscovered Country." Besides the excitement over the film, Shatner talks a little about the last one which he directed, and explains why he felt it didn't go over as he had hoped. I don't blame Bill for everything wrong with the movie... he was a fair director, and with a better script he could have had better success. But, as with his Kirk character in ST 6, the responsibility for anything that happens on the ship falls onto the Captain... so he shoulders the burden for the relative lack of success of "The Final Frontier." This time, the ship was back under the command of Nick Meyers, who brought it back on course for one final glorious voyage.

(Click on images to enlarge; once it opens, you may have to click again to view full-size.) 

Bonus: Another variation of the "Spock with test tubes" shot from a photo session taken after the second pilot but before the first regular episode filmed.This whole set of pics made him look more like a chemist than a science officer, but at the time, a table full of test tubes and bubbling beakers was the fastest shorthand to suggest that a character was a scientist, "doing science." At least they didn't hand him a clipboard and stick him in front of a bank of old IBM computers with reel-to-reel tapes like "Lost In Space"!

 I still get extra nostalgic seeing pics from this session, since one of them was the first photo of Spock I ever clipped for my scrapbook, or even recall seeing.

1991 article: "Uhura's Mission"

Last time we featured some 25th Anniversary material from 1991, and we continue with the look back to that time period with today's entry; from issue #175 of Starlog comes this article on my favorite communications officer, Uhura, as portrayed by Nichelle Nichols..(Who still owns the role, I might add.)

(Click on images to enlarge; once open, you may have to click on it again to view full-size.)

Bonus: below, a couple of photos gleaned from around the web from Nichelle's early days as a stage performer, doing what she does best; dancing! 

Bonus #2: Below, from Starlog, a hilarious cartoon that looks at one of the most out-of-character moments for Spock in the entire series. At the end of the great episode "The Enemy Within," Spock, while signing off on a report for Janice Rand, says the line below with an uncharacteristically creepy leer. I know the episode was an early effort, when not all the characters were nailed down yet, but the line is something that would have been unsavory coming from anyone, much less Spock. Even coming from Kirk himself it would have been weird, if not completely unexpected. But Spock? It's like he was mentioning the unpleasantness in such a slimy way in order to see if he could get in on some of that action himself. Not cool.

Bonus #3: below, a page from a magazine article featuring a rare color photo of Nimoy as Spock on the bridge.

25th Anniversary articles from the Official Fan Club Magazine

Wow, Star Trek's 25th anniversary doesn't seem like it was so long ago when I remember it. It was in 1991, and this issue of the Official Fan Club Magazine covers it with an article on the stars titled "Star Trek: Past, Present And Future." The inside cover has a couple of interesting behind-the-scenes images from the filming of "The Cage."  The cover, by artist Keith Birdsong, portrays the good captain, along with some unnamed (and villainous-looking) bald guy in the background.

(Click on images to enlarge; once an image loads, you may have to click on it again to view full size.)

Below: From the same issue, a first look at "The Undiscovered Country."

Bonus: below, an ad from the back of Starlog for one of my favorite plate paintings, celebrating the 25th Anniversary.

Bonus: below, an unusual (and very smug) photo of Captain Kirk, who presumably just completed successful first contact with the Deltan ambassador.

"It's true... bald IS beautiful!"

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.

(Click on images to enlarge.)

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.

DC 25th Anniversary Comic Issue

Today we look at the cover and inside bonus material from the 25th Anniversary issue of DC comic's Star Trek comic. The 25th Anniversary of Trek in 1991 yielded a lot of material for fans, and the text and art tributes by various writers and artists in this comic are nice. Enjoy the ones I have picked to share! First the nicely-done cover art, illustrating the interior story which concerns Harry Mudd. The story art is extremely well done, also.

(Click on images to enlarge.)

Next, below are two pages with tributes by Chris Claremont, award-winning comic book writer and novelist; and author Michael Jan Friedman.

Claremont wondered about a new show 20 years hence from 1991... but it didn't take that long to see another show based on Star Trek!

Next we have reflections by fan favorite author Peter David, and writer Howard Weinstein, who penned an animated series script, "The Pirates Of Orion."

And below we see some of the special art in the back of the comic by various artists.

USA Today Articles on ST VI

From the Friday, December 6, 1991 edition of USA Today comes this nice article and positive movie review of "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country." It seemed fitting that the last original crew movie would premiere so close to the date of the first movie, "The Motion Picture" which came out in 1979 on Dec. 7th.

First, the review, which was highest up on the USA Today "Life" page...

(Click on images to enlarge.)

And second, the article, which was right under the review. I split the picture and the text so that both would be bigger in the scan.

The second part of the article, however, was long... almost from the top of the page to the bottom. I had to scan it in two sections and put them together in one image. Sorry for the smallish text, but it couldn't be split up or it would separate some lines of text. As usual, Shatner sounds the most clueless of the cast, with his odd "dust man" comment. The rest comport themselves well, all making the typical statements according to their personalities that we've come to expect over the years. From George's bubbly self-promotion to Walter's morose musings on the smallness of his part, the gang's all here.