Kelly Freas Chekov Portrait

Well, it's been a fun series of posts to do, and this time we look at the last of the portraits painted by Kelly Freas of the Officers of the Bridge. Why is Chekov last? I admit, the order of posting was entirely my own choice, the pictures were not numbered. But in descending order of any list of the bridge crew, poor little Chekov always comes in last. Aside from the fact that he was only added in the second season, Chekov seems to have been the whipping boy of Star Trek, not even showing up in the animated series. Did Freas do him justice in his portrait, though? Let's take a look-see...

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Like his painting of Sulu, Kelly perfectly captures the facial features of Chekov, who actually seems the closest to his 1967 self than any of the others. And oddly enough, whereas most of the others gained longer hair (based as most were on photos of the stars taken at the time, the mid-70's) Pavel's is the same as the series; maybe Freas judged his Monkees haircut shaggy enough already. Nothing added to it for visual interest, as in most of the others, either; a phaser or something would have added a little zing. I would have given it an A+ for character accuracy, but I deduct a bit for the lack of flair here that had been given to the others. But for the very nice starfield background, this would have been somewhat lackluster. Even his expression seems a bit distant and sad; whereas his buddy Sulu looked happy and energetic, Chekov looks lethargic and introspective.

Not surprisingly, painful depression really was inwented in Russia.

Maybe the expression comes honestly... Chekov always seemed to get the crappy end of the stick; a Ceti eel in his ear put there by Khan, an butt-ugly Drill Thrall who wanted to molest him on Triskelion, a plasma-burned hand when V'Ger overloaded their shields, brain injury on an aircraft carrier in Earth's past, shot and "killed" in the Melkotion OK Corral illusion... even his Mirror universe double fared no better, as he end up screaming for hours in the Agonizer Booth. Chekov was famous for screaming in terror and/or torment; that would dial down your enthusiasm level.

Or, perhaps it was taken from a then-contemprary photo reference of Walter Koenig, who probably was depressed at his lack of work after the series, and was forever ambivilent about his typecasting. His interviews and book "Chekov's Enterprise" all bemoaned the fact that he was so underused. The one convention I saw him in, where he was onstage with TNG actress Marina Sirtis, he looked uncomfortable, as if he had been ill, or eaten lunch at Taco Hell. Though, to be fair, I guess years of people asking him to "say 'nuclear wessals!'" would drain the joy from any man. He could probably relate to "Galaxy Quest" more than any others of the cast.

Bonus: Below, the salute to Walter Koenig from Starlog's Trek 20th Anniversary issue #112.

"I wonder... am I helping my career by playing Chekov or hurting it?"

Thanks for sticking with me on this series of posts! Thanks for your comments, also. I love hearing from my readers. Now that you've seen them all, name your favorite!

Kelly Freas Sulu Portrait

For the last five blog entries we have been looking at the Kelly Freas paintings from the "Officers Of The Bridge," as the set was called when it was first premiered in the 1976 New York Star Trek convention booklet. Today we turn the corridor corner and encounter the shirtless sword-and-pec flexing Sulu, and I've gotta say that Kelly outdid himself on this one.

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"Shatner, beware my steel! And check out my abs, your flabby middle cannot compare!"

Looking closer at the face below, highlighting that familiar Takei smile, we see that Kelly simply nails the features on this characterization, and for that reason I have to put this portrait near the top when it comes to accurately capturing the features.

From the swashbuckling sash, which reminds one of the mirror universe (although that was a much deadlier Sulu), to the fencing rapier, Freas seems as though he had fun doing this one, showing Sulu practicing one of his hobbies that makes it more memorable than a pose at his usual station on the bridge. I confess that I would rather have seen Uhura's washboard abs than his... I'm sure, however, that Sulu's fans were thrilled.

This oiled-down and sweaty image brought to you by ""SULU Pour Homme," the cologne for men! Oh-h-h-h, m-y-y-y!

Below we see a publicity still that features Sulu in a similar pose. But for that one scene early in the series ("The Naked Time"), Sulu might never have broken out of the background to become an interesting character. Resisiting the natural impulse to have Sulu stereotypically emulate a samurai, the writer gave him depth and uniqueness by instead having fencing as a hobby, and secretly fancying himself one of the Three Musketeers.

"TWANG-G-G-G-G-G!"

Bonus: As with the other entries, I am pairing the paintings of the characters with the salute to the actor that brought them to life, from the Star Trek 20th Anniversary issue of Starlog, Issue #112, which came out in October of 1986.

And here we see a photo of George, (from the magazine salute) probably one he had taken himself near the time of the 4th movie, that seems to be directly inspired by the Freas painting.

"Give me a ship of my own or suffer the point of my sword!"

Next: From Russia with love!

Kelly Freas Uhura Portrait

So far, in our look at the bridge crew portraits by fantasy/sci-fi artist extraordinaire Kelly Freas, we've seen Kirk, Spock, McCoy and Scotty. Now, fellows, calm your churning hormones, for the post of the Freas portrait we've been most anticipating is here... Lt. Nyota Uhura! Kelly's ethereal style was perfectly suited to portray the galaxy's most beautiful communications officer. As noted by myself and other commenters, the resemblance to the characters was achieved in varying degrees of success. How does Uhura fare? Judge for yourself...

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"She walks in beauty, like the night."

Aside from the non-regulation silver go-go dancer boots, Uhura's portrait turned out pretty well. Although Nichelle's waist was nowhere near that small, her other assets are nicely portrayed. Her graceful hands and the familiar sexy pose that showed off her legs are faithfully reproduced here. But the bodies of the stars were never the issue. Nichelle's striking facial features are captured nicely, considering that, like several of the others, it is not a head shot but a full body painting, which makes faces more challenging to accurately depict, being smaller. The colors of the panel on her board, and the PADD prop add some visual interest as well. The only way it could have been better would have been to depict her in the mirror universe uniform!

"Message coming in, captain... it says I've been voted 'Hottest Starfleet Officer' for the fifth year in a row!"

Bonus: From issue #112 of Starlog magazine, the Trek 20th anniversary issue published in October of 1986, is Nichelle Nichol's salute pages. (I have decided to retroactively add each star's salute pages to the Kelly Freas portrait page of their character, so look back over them in coming days to see each one.)

Uhura doesn't need a phaser to stun you, just a look.

Such a pose from the scene in Star Trek III makes one wish that Nichelle had been given more such opportunities in the original series. She really was, as the only female regular on the bridge, criminally underused. But, considering the times, I suppose we were lucky she was there at all. Today, she would be a co-star, as evidenced by the character's prominence in the 2009 reboot.

Kelly Freas Scotty Portrait

We've recently been looking in detail at the individual paintings that Kelly Freas did in 1976 as part of a set called "Officers of The Bridge." (You can see all the posts, once they are done, by using the "Kelly Freas Art" tag on the right side of the page.) They were originally created for the program booklet (pictured below) for the New York Star Trek convention at the New York Hilton, held Jan 23-25 in 1976, which, besides the portraits, contained cast and crew bios by Ralph and Valerie Carnes.

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This time we are looking at Mr. Scott's portrait, which is one of the most interesting paintings in the set, in that Scotty is decked out in his dress uniform and traditional kilt. He's holding (what is probably) a basket-hilted Claymore, and the face appears to be based on a picture of James Doohan as he appeared at the time, beard and all. The background depicts Montgomery Scott's Scottish heritage, ranging from the ancient Celtic castle to an early pulp sci-fi-style rocket.

There Can Be Only One.

"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, and I'll run ye through."

And below we take a closer look at the chiseled visage of our Scotch-loving Scottish engineer, who looks as if a Klingon just insulted his beloved ship. Seriously, you do not want to mess with a man who is holding a sword and has an expression like that. A great piece of artwork, and one of my favorites in the set. I'm betting that this hangs somewhere in the Doohan household.

"Gr-r-r-r-r! The haggis is in th' fire now, fer su-r-r-re."

Update: Reader Rob Bignell submitted a comment with a link to this photo he found online, of Doohan at a convention in 1975. This confirms that the portrait was based on photos of Jimmy at the time, and it's very accurate! Thanks, Rob!

The fan in the photo still has scars from cigarette ash burns on her arm, which she treasures to this day and proudly shows her grandkids.

Below, a scan of a photo from one of my scrapbooks showing the wearin' o' th' kilt, which gives new meaning to the term "dress uniform."

"Mr. Chekov, if you keep insisting that the kilt was "inwented in Russia," Mr. Scott here is most certainly going to deck you."

Bonus: (Updated on 1-13-10) Here is the salute to Doohan from Starlog issue #112, which celebrated Trek's 20th anniversary in October of 1986.

Bonus #2: Below, a writeup from the same issue of Starlog on the location filming of "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home," which shows Jimmy turning on the legendary charm for a bonnie lass visiting the set.

Update: here's a link to a video found online where James Doohan talks about his encounter with a suicidal fan. Quite touching!

Next: the best legs in Starfleet! You know who I'm talking about.

Kelly Freas McCoy Portrait

Today we continue posting the set of paintings by Kelly Freas, which I acquired from Lincoln Enterprises in 1976. So far, we've seen the somewhat familiar Kirk and Spock, and today we see the portrait of everyone's favorite grumpy but lovable country doctor, Leonard McCoy.

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"Three guesses where this probe is going?"

Below, we take a closer look at the good doctor's face, and in this case I have no criticism; Freas perfectly captured DeForest Kelly's features. If the artist was working from recent photos of the cast rather than production pictures, as some commenters on previous posts mentioned, then DeForest had changed the least of the three main stars. Here we see only a few more creases, but the expression is pure McCoy, which shows that Freas certainly could depict accurate faces with no trouble. Using a sickbay wall panel as a background, and giving him a (fairly generic) medical instrument, adds some visual interest as well. All around, an excellent part of the set, and a beautiful painting on its own.

"I only peek in the line of duty. Now, get undressed, Nyota."

Bonus: (retroactively added on 1-14-10) Here is the DeForest Kelly salute from Starlog issue #112 (October 1986) which was the Trek 20th Anniversary edition.

By coincidence, this photo of McCoy perfectly matches the position of his head in the painting.

Bonus: Below, the cover of the "Wrath of Khan" paperback adaptation, published in July of 1982. After the "leisurely" pace of the previous movie, I (and many fans) were ready for some action, and by George, we knew from the moment we heard the title that we were likely to get it. The return of Khan! I was super excited, and picked up the novelization a few days before the movie came out. As I usually did in such cases, I read about 75 percent of it before stopping, in order to preserve any surprises that the ending of the movies brought. I was glad I did, when I saw the movie. Although the cover art is uncredited, it shows all the earmarks of a Bob Larkin painting, so that's my best guess. Anyone know for sure? Update: Two commenters think it's by Boris Vallejo, so it probably is. He did some great covers also. When I find out for sure, I'll post it!

"Spock, don't look now, but I think we're being followed."

Next: Another painting in the set; and if you say one word about what he's wearing, you could get kilt by this manly bearded swordsman.

Kelly Freas Kirk Portrait

Back in 1976 I bought the set of crew paintings by the awesome fantasy artist Kelly Freas from Roddenberry's Lincoln Enterprises. Although I have featured the Uhura portrait before (naturally), I have never posted the complete set. I decided this omission should not be continued, so I will be posting them all in succession until they are all here, starting with the good Captain, James Tiberius Kirk.

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The addition of the UFP symbol behind him is a nice touch. Looks like he left his girdle at home though.

Below is a closer look at the face, which, although a fine rendering, is just a tad off from Shatner's visage. While Freas was a fine artist, it seemed that in some cases (in this set, at least) the paintings did not quite capture the likenesses of the so-very-familiar features of our heroes. As more examples are posted, we see that there are varying degrees of success; with this being one of the better ones. I give this one an "B+" for character likeness. What do you think? Still, you can't fault the ethereal style that Kelly brought to each canvas, and not being an art critic, I won't try to. As for as likeness, it could be his artistic interpretation of the character, and not an effort at photographic reproduction.

Update: This photo below is actually pretty close to the image in the painting.

Since these are all 11 by 16 inches, they have to be scanned in two parts and then photoshopped back together. The crease in the middle comes not from the stitching process, but the fold in the paper from where I had them stored for years in one of my collection cases. I wish now I had stored them flat and unfolded in some protective folder, or even rolled up.

Sure, these posters can be seen at various places around the web, and even bought at the official Freas website. (who, sadly, is no longer with us.) But, those are not my prints, and not from my collection; and if a criteria for posting was a complete lack of availability anywhere else, I would hardly post anything at all. I decided awhile back that I would not consider other available online sources when featuring items from my collection. Why should I send readers off to another site for something I have in my own cabinets? And why limit what I put on my blog just because of what someone else has on theirs? So, come back soon for the next post on this lovely set!

Update: I have been retroactively adding in each star's salute page from the Trek 25th Anniversary issue #112 of Starlog to these Freas posts. Here is the Shat's...

Dec 7th: Happy Birthday ST:TMP!

Star Trek may have been born on September 8, 1966, but it was born again on December 7th, 1979. It's rebirth was a long time coming; although in retrospect it doesn't seem that long, for those of us who lived through the 70's as a fan, it was very long indeed. Now, as I look back, it's hard to believe that 31 years have passed since the newest Star Trek in over a decade was bursting upon us, heralded in the TV spots by the weighty tones of the equally weighty Orson Welles. This wasn't just a new movie... it was an Event!

(If you are new to this site, and haven't yet plumbed its depths, click on this link for all the entries tagged Star Trek: The Motion Picture to enjoy the many articles and items I've posted so far. It will take you back to that exciting time!) Here's an article you can skip to that came out the weekend of the movie premiere that spotlights Stephen Collins.

Here is a short article from issue #17 of Starlog (published in October of 1978) that features the upcoming movie, as it was just getting underway; for real this time.

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Here's the Star Trek Report from Susan Sackett from the same issue. There's a line in it from a hopeful writer about a planned book set "70 years in Star Trek's future." Don't think the book got published, but it is interesting that it just about coincides with the time of the future Next Generation series that came later. Coincidence? Or the germ of the idea to advance things to that time period? Like how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll Pop, the world may never know.

Bonus #1: Here's one of several coloring books that came out in 1979 using publicity photos from the movie for front and back covers. A nice picture on the front that I don't have anywhere else.

The phrasing of the text on the back is amusing: "The Enterprise has beamed down on you..." Huh?

Bonus #2: A nice b&w publicity shot, taken very early in the shoot (possibly on the first day) of the crew all together.

Nichelle's uniform would have been so much better by leaving off the pants and letting her wear high black boots.

And one more bonus, a nice photo of our heroes in those infamous one-piece jumpsuits that left nothing to the imagination below the waist.

One word that describes the movie that really doesn't fit any of the sequels in "epic." The scope, the leisuirely pace to enjoy the scale, and the lofty ideas and concepts all combine to take one on what feels like an important journey, and not just an adventure. The tagline, "The Human Adventure Is Just Beginning" is accurate (if not in the intended meaning), in that the action/adventure would only come in followups; but this one, more than any other, had the feeling of a truly big-budget film, and not just a movie. The oft-maligned drydock tour of the ship, criticized by many as too long and only being a showcase for special effects, was for me the highlight of it all; the long-hoped-for lingering look, in close-up detail, had tears of awe flowing from my eyes the first time I beheld the starship in all it's glory. I knew how Kirk felt as he gazed at her with love!

That said, the tightened and finished Director's Cut is the superior version, and the only one I take out to watch now. I look forward to doing that once more to celebrate this 31st birthday!

Star Trek 4 Starlog articles

This time we look at a couple of articles on Star Trek IV from Starlog issue #114, published January 1987, which means it was on the newstands in December of the previous year, when the movie came out. "The Voyage Home" was a great present for Trekkers that year! First, the cover...

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And next, the main article, which is an interview with director/star Leonard Nimoy.

Next we have a three-page look at the movie itself.

And finally, as a bonus, a cartoon from the same issue that re-casts the crew with some looney actors. Am I the only one that would like to see this idea realised now as a special DVD movie?