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.

The Monster Times #2 Interview With Shatner

The second issue of The Monster Times newspaper was super-special to young Trekkers like myself, being pretty much the first magazine to devote an entire issue to the subject. Below is the entire interview with Bill Shatner, conducted just after the series had ended, in 1969.

(To view full-size, click on the images. Once open, you may have to click on it one more time to enlarge.)

If you loved TMT and have fond memories of it, you will enjoy the group I have created devoted to it on Facebook! Join today and get in on all the fun, as we have several contributors and editors of the magazine as members, including the interviewer in the article Steve Vertlieb, and writer Gary Gerani! https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheMonsterTimes/

Bonus: Below, a publicity photo of Chekov (Walter Koenig) and Yeoman Martha Landon (Celeste Yarnall).

"Leonard Nimoy Answers 40 Questions" 1967 Article

From a 1967 movie magazine comes this article with 40 intimate things you always wanted to know about Leonard Nimoy!

(Click on the images to view full-size. Once open, you may have to click again to enlarge.)

Bonus #1: A rare publicity photo of Shatner and guest star Celeste Yarnell from "The Apple." I have no clue what odd kind of alien plant he's using to impress her with his knowledge of...

"Why waste time with Chekov over there? Let's show the natives how it's really done."

Bonus #2: Rare publicity photo of Joan Collins as Edith Keeler.

"Oh, Mr. Kirk... would you help me with the dreadfully heavy doily?"

Bill Shatner: A Restless Man

From a movie/TV magazine in around 1967 comes this article about Shatner that still seems to be relevant to the way he lives his life!

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

Bonus #1: A 1967 article about the emotion-filled Leonard Nimoy. Note the half-shaved eyebrows that he had to endure for the whole series!

Bonus #3: Below, a rare publicity picture of Nimoy and Jill Ireland.

Bonus #4: Rare image of Jeff Hunter with a laser pistol prop! Note the industrial-strength tinfoil that was used for the cave walls and the rock formations on Talos IV. Very effective at creating rock-like surfaces! But I think a coat of matte-textured spray paint would have been more effective at making the reflective tinfoil surface look less metallic.

FM #64 Issue "Stark Trek" 1970 Article

From April 1970 Issue 64 of the venerable Famous Monsters magazine comes this early story on the show, and the bonus is some rare photos that have never really been seen since, like the one of the small copper-skinned ambassadors from "Journey To Babel" posing by the Jeffries Tube, and the closeup of the makeup of the doomed and diseased Only from "Miri."

(Click on images to enlarge. Once open, you may have to click on again to see full-size.)

FM artist Basil Gogos passed away this past week at 88. What a talent!

Bonus: Below, a clipping from a TV movie magazine from the first run of the show.

1984 Interview With Mark Lenard

 As a regular reader of this blog you may have noticed that a number of recent posts have been from the Enterprise Incidents magazine (as opposed to the earlier versions when I refer to it as a fanzine); well, I had recently taken out a stack from one of my collection cabinets and realized how much Trek material there was left to feature. So, I will continue to post articles from various issues until I feel that it has been properly represented here and not overwhelmed in number by Starlog posts (which are now all available online in a collection anyway).

This time we open issue #18, published in June of 1984 (the year that "Splash" came out; seems like a long time ago now), and we are featuring a nice lengthy interview with "Sarek" himself, Mark Lenard. Thanks again to editor and writer James Van Hise for publishing this. Enjoy!

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

Extra: As an aside, I wish to quote writer D. C. Fontana (from a letter to fanzine Spockanalia,) on the subject of other children belonging to Sarek: "Both his mother and father have been married only once... to each other... Spock is an only child... there are absolutely no other siblings..." So, that would put Star Trek 5: The Final Frontier" out the canoniacal window... where, I believe, it firmly belongs. 

Bonus #1: Since the article was released before the movie and there were no images of Sarek in his movie costume and makeup, below is a nice publicity photo.

 

Bonus #2: Below, another one of the1967 Leaf bubblegum cards that continues the trend of nonsensical captions.

Bonus #3: A rare autographed photo of DeForest Kelley that was found along with some others in a record jacket bought at a thrift store. Talk about stumbling onto hidden gold! Go here to view all the others, they are quite amazing!

1984 ST:TMP Special Edition Article

In 2001, fans of Star Trek: The Motion Picture were treated to Director Robert Wise's "finished version" of the film (The Director's Edition), as he had considered the theatrical release so rushed as to not be what he wanted on screen. This is to me the definitive version, the one I take out and watch now whenever I get the desire to revisit the movie. The tighter edit, the more lush sound effects, the cleaned-up visual effects, and most of all the new visuals created for it (for those that could not be added originally due to the last-minute pressures)... all combine to make it a more pleasant viewing experience, in my opinion. (Finally, we know what V'Ger itself looked like in a long shot without the cloud! I never knew in all those years it even had a defined shape. It reminded me of the ship hidden in Halley's Comet in the film "Lifeforce.")

However, back in 1983 we were treated to a longer version of the film that added in cut scenes. Did it improve it? I feel it did in some respects; some of the cut scenes needed to be back in, others are today more rightly relegated to the "Deleted Scenes" extra on the menu on DVD or Blu-Ray. But back then we were so excited to see "more Trek" that even a longer and more drawn-out version of the movie was interesting to see.

In this article by James Van Hise from his Enterprise Incidents magazine, issue #13 (the first to go national after the promotion from fanzine), published in January of 1984, we have a scene-by-scene comparison of the theatrical cut and the extended TV cut, which turned up on home video later. The intense desire by Wise back then to have a "finished version" can be seen in the write-up, and it was something that took over 20 years for him to get to do. I'm thankful we got to see him accomplish that before his passing shortly afterward.

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

Bonus: Below are two more pages from the 1976 Lincoln Enterprises "Star Trektennial" catalog that was the Trekker equivalent of Sear's Catalog. I have scanned the cover and first two pages before (page 1 here and page 2 here); and I intend on adding all of them in time. There are so many things on there that I wish I had ordered back then and had now.... 

Bonus #2: Below, the cover to my real introduction to Star Trek and the beginning of my love affair with it. I had never even seen a complete episode of the show up to that point, (only snippets here and there as the parents had me flip channels around) but was starting to become aware of it and absolutely loved what little I had seen. The animated episodes were next, and added fuel to the fire!

 

The cover blurb calls him Scotty, but tell me that doesn't look like Spock that McCoy is attacking with the SpaceVac!

Bonus link: Great poster from this Trekker Scrapbook blog! It looks like Pike and Vina are having fun and doing a great job at entertaining the inhabitants of Talos IV!