1977 article "Spirit Of Star Trek"

From the great third issue of the short-lived "Media Spotlight" (which was a descendant of "The Monster Times" newspaper, except in magazine format and focused more on science fiction than monsters) comes more material. I have posted some from this issue in the past, and will continue until all the Trek content is available. You can view the cover here. View all the Media Spotlight magazine posts here.

This time the article is titled "The Spirit of Star Trek" and addresses the philosophy behind the series. Written by the (now) late Hal Schuster, who wrote loads of articles for magazines plus authored and published many unauthorized Trek books (those that were not officially published by the holders of the Trek copyrights).

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"Allowing Lisa Frank to design these spacesuits was not logical." 

Bonus: Below, a couple more pics from the "Official USS Enterprise Officer's Date Book," a "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" tie-in from 1980. You can find other posts from it under the "calendar" tag. The first one highlights the embarrassingly-designed costume pants that lets everyone know what kind of mood you're in. But since these are Bone's own clothes and not a uniform, we can only assume that they don't wear underwear in the future. And they're not ashamed of it.

 

"Why yes, Jim-boy... I AM happy to see you. Why do you ask?"

1977: "The Robots Of Star Trek"

I'm back this time with a couple of more articles from the magazine "Media Spotlight," a descendent of the newspaper "The Monster Times" which only lasted 5 issues. But they were good ones! Of course, it would have been better if the publisher could have afforded a better grade of paper and color photos like Starlog, which had premiered the year before. This time we are looking at an article from issue #4 on "The Robots Of Star Trek." You can view the cover here, which I have posted before.

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Next, an article from the same issue by noted fan author Jackie Lichtenberg, as she touches on several items of interest in the Star Trek universe in the column "Inside Science Fiction."

"No, I was NOT snorting coke! It's a printer's error, OK?"

Bonus: a smiling Nimoy in makeup with Gene from the filming of "The Cage."

Bonus: A page from the book "Where No Man Has Gone Before" focusing on the character of Xon, who almost replaced Spock as the ship's resident Vulcan in the planned series "Phase II" before it was upgraded to a movie and Leonard came on board.

"Who is this "Alfalfa" that you refer to?"

1977 Article: "James T. Kirk: Exorcist?"

Hitting the pages of another issue of Media Spotlight, a magazine that only lasted five issues, sadly... it was neat, since it was essentially a magazine-format version of "The Monster Times." In this case it even re-ran an article that had appeared in the pages of one of the issues of TMT; a write-up from the final issue of Media Spotlight (published October 1977) called "James T. Kirk: Exorcist?" It's a fun piece, and easier to scan in this format, that's for sure.

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Below, definite proof that this was the same as TMT, running the same merchandise ads in the back. I always loved these ads, building an imaginary wish list as I gazed at the items. You know, it's funny... but when I look at these pages, I still get a residual tingle of excitement, as the old feelings surface that I felt looking at them way back when.

Note the ad for a "Spock Pop," an item that would satisfy any desire one might have to know what a Vulcan tasted like.

Bonus: from the inside cover of this same issue, a candid shot of Nichelle on stage during a convention.

Bonus: a neat photo of Kirk and Spock, the one that adorned the cover of the TV Guide during the series first run. How I would love to have that issue!

Bonus: from the "Official USS Enterprise Officer's Date Book" for 1980 is this photo from the un-used scene where two security officers are zapped by the probe from V'Ger. They should have left it in, to add a little more action... at LEAST we would have got to see a phaser fired, if only once in the movie.

Proving the the red-shirt curse had more to do with the position than the color of the uniform.

UPDATE: recent readers may have seen the post about the Phaser Rifle prop being found. I have updated that post with a video that was made promoting the prop for the auction, that includes the maker of this piece of TV history! Watch the great video below, or watch it on Youtube! http://youtu.be/oWGNDoXG9R8



Update 4-9-13: The Phaser Rifle sold for $231,000! Here's a video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wR7XbMXBVHI

1977 Article: The Roddenberry Tapes

I don't know why I have neglected to post from this issue heretofore, but when I took it out of the bookcase I decided to change that immediately! Media Spotlight was a fine, if short-lived magazine, making it to only 5 issues as far as I can tell. This time, from issue #3, published March of 1977, comes an interview with the Great Bird of the Galaxy, Gene Roddenberry himself. It's interesting to see what the state of the first film was at this point from his comments.

First, a great cover that composites three separate images taken by noted celebrity photographer Gene Trindl; although the effect makes it look like they are either ghosts or trapped in interphase.

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"Well, Spock... DO SOMETHING!"

Next, the article which transcribes the questions from the press and Gene's answers:

Lastly, a nice black and white image of Spock that took up the entire back cover. There is much more Trek content in this issue, and I plan on covering it all in posts to come soon.

 

Bonus: A moody photo of Kirk that seems to utilize the same "gobo" shadows that Jerry Finnerman was so fond of using for his filming on the bridge. This was missed in later episodes, as was his use of gels to create the colorful background washes, particularly the third season where it looked like they used office lights to film everything and everybody.

 
"Strangers in the night... exchanging glances..."

1977 Nichelle Nichols interview

In May of 1977, I was 16 years old, going on 14. While other kids that age were concerned with dating, school activities or sports, I was more concerned with getting to the magazine stand and getting the latest Trek and monster magazines that were out. Of course, that information has no bearing on the material I'm presenting today, except to fill in my own background and show how important these items were to me then, and because of those memories, they are still great to take out and read.

This time we are looking at Issue #4 of Media Spotlight, a publication put out by the same people, or at least the same company, that did "The Monster Times," except in magazine format, not newspaper, and not as much fun; but still well worth buying. Of the various Trek-oriented articles in that issue, I'm featuring the interview with Nichelle Nichols, who always attracted my gaze in every shot she was in.

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That is a great photo on the cover!

Our first bonus item today from the scrapbook is a flyer for one of the mini-cons that were a big part of the grassroots Florida fan scene back in the mid-to-late 70's. Since I could never go to them, I settled for collecting the exciting, well-designed flyers for the events. I only wish I had made some kind of date notation on them; since the year is not on the flyer, I'm not quite sure. But remembering where I was living and what I was doing when I got them narrows it down to probably 1976. They usually consisted of four pages, all of which are scanned in for you below. I'll be posting more of these flyers for other mini-cons in the future!

This mini-con, as well as most of the others that I'll be posting ads for, were organized (at least in part) by James Van Hise, the man responsible for the great "Enterprise Incidents" fanzine, which later went professional and got nationwide distribution.

I like Uhura's sassy pose back there.

And below is a final bonus item, the cover of the MECO disco album of the ST:TMP music, which came out in 1980. I put it on cassette and played that thing to death! Nice painting on the cover of an alternate ship design; I suppose that big window on the front opens up onto the shipboard discotheque.

"I feel like trekkin', trekkin', trek the night away!"