They Won't Let Spock Stay Dead

From the Beckley Herald, Friday, June 1, 1984 comes this oddly pictureless article about "The Search For Spock."

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Below, from the same page of the newspaper, the movies playing at the time.

Bonus: below, from the Macon, GA Central High School newspaper, published in 1974, an article by a friend of mine that I met there that year, Clay Weaver. Both being Trekkers and having other similar interests (like "Planet of the Apes" and "Kung Fu" movies) we hit it off immediately, because back then, us Trekkers had to stick together. The button in the photo belongs to him, as does the shirt it's on.

To Spock Or Not To Spock

From a newspaper clipping dated August 4th, 1977, comes this interview with Nimoy as he contemplated the pros and cons of playing the Spock character again. We're glad he was persuaded to when the plans were finally nailed down for the movie; I don't think we would have been so lucky had the been a new Trek series in the 70's.

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Bonus: Below, a Shatner family picture from a movie/TV magazine sometime in the late 60's.

1986 "USA Today" article on "The Voyage Home"

The success of the fourth Trek movie, "The Voyage Home" is covered in this article from "USA Today," dated Friday, Nov 28th 1986. The fact that director Nimoy is primarily interviewed made for good publicity, unlike it would have been had they talked exclusively to Shatner, who said in practically every interview that he had no clue why the show and movies were successful. Here the focus is rightfully on the movie, not an actor's attempts to establish a separate success. Nimoy always comported himself intelligently (his "Bilbo Baggins" video notwithstanding) representing the franchise well. Shatner does chime in though, expressing his disapproval of the plans to bring "The Next Generation" to TV without the original cast (although neither he or Nimoy would probably have returned if asked). His effort to direct the next movie is brought up, and the fans could already hear the rumble of distant trouble brewing on the horizon as he considers covering ground that Nicholas Meyer had already done in "The Wrath of Khan."

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Bonus: Below, found for sale on the web, is this unusual photo of bridge semi-regular Sean Kenny in his stand-in role of the crippled Captain Pike. His passing resemblance to Jeffery Hunter solved the problem of Hunter not wanting to reprise the role, and the heavy makeup --along with the character's lack of ability to speak-- sold the "illusion" if you'll pardon the pun. This is probably a make-up test/documentation photo, rather than a publicity photo.

"Dr. Spock" Probes Unknown

This article, clipped by me sometime in 1977 from the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel (I didn't preserve the date), was difficult to scan by virtue of the fact the the first column ran pretty much the length of the newspaper page, meaning I had to scan it in three parts and photoshop it back together. Poor layout, methinks. But the worst thing about it is that whoever added the headline made the tired old "Dr. Spock" mistake. Come ON, people! Poor Leonard must have been so very, very tired of this happening. I added the photos to take up the empty space left when I clipped the article from the paper.

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Below is a funny comic panel from fanzine "Enterprise Incidents"(#6, September 1978) that illustrates the frustration that Nimoy (and Mr. Spock) must have felt over the mistake! Another thing that used to get under my skin, and was certain to elicit a quick (and snarky) correction from me, was someone calling the show "Star Track."

Too late the poor schlub learned that Vulcans can turn violent with little provocation under certain circumstances.

Bonus: Below, a nice publicity photo of Nimoy as "They Call Me MISTER Spock" from Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan."

"Did... you just call me... DR. Spock? Because unless my ears deceived me, you did. And these ears do not lie."

Bonus #2: A verra nize b&w publicity photo of Kirk and Spock from the glory days of the original series. This is one of my favorite shots of them together, for the memories it brings back to me. Scanned from the same issue of "Enterprise Incidents" as the cartoon above.

Kirk and Spock commemorated their friendship with a visit to their Sears photography department.

And, because I'm in a generous mood today, yet another bonus below, this time a great pen and ink by Ralph Fowler (see his tag link for more) from -again- the same issue of E.I. I love this guy's work, and wish I could hear from him!

I used to wonder occasionally, upon hearing an ignorant person use the "Dr." title for Spock, if the actual Dr. Spock ever got tired of dealing with kids asking him where his pointed ears were. One can only hope.

1989 Newspaper Article On Star Trek Fans

When you have such dedicated fans like Star Trek has inspired, sometimes the media focus goes from the show to the followers; after all, they are fun to write about. This time I'm bringing out an old article from the Friday, June 23, 1989 edition of the Charleston Gazette about the members of the local fan club in nearby Huntington, West Virginia, which I lived near at the time. This one had to be scanned in three sections then photoshopped back together. I hope you appreciate the work. :)

These fans had a lot more guts than I would have, to appear in a newspaper photo in costume. I was more of a closet Trekker, having been forced there of necessity by my step-dad while I was living at home. Even after getting married and out on my own in 1981, very few co-workers or casual acqaintances knew of my interests. But that's not to say I was any less interested than these fans; I simply kept my enjoyment to myself. I did, however, attend a couple of meetings of their club, and a convention in Charleston where Walter Koenig and Marina Sirtis were the guest stars. Star Trek: The Next Generation had premiered in 1987 and public interest was high.

There are actually two articles on the front page, and they are continued on separate pages which are posted under it; one focused on the franchise, and the other on the fans.

It would be so easy to poke fun at these un-self-conscious fans, but we're all in the same boat. If they were Star Wars fans, now, that would be different. We could laugh then.

I bet getting the lady in the wheelchair in place for the photo at the local strip mining site was difficult. If you are one of the fans in the photo, or were a part of the Huntington or Charleston fan club, and merely even lived in the area and remember the activity, leave a comment, I'd like to hear from you!

I can certainly relate to the quoted fan Jonathan Jones, who, according to the article, moved to WV from Florida, which was also my case exactly. I strongly echoed his sentiment that "West Virginia is Star Trek hell." Which meant that finding material there was a real challenge. Fans had to stick together, because collectable items were almost impossible to find.

Below, one of the movie ads that ran in the same edition of the newspaper; from them we can see that the article above was probably ran to coincide with the release of the fifth movie. Also out that week were "Batman," and "Honey, I Shrunk The Kids." The ads for those can be seen along with many others from my collection at the blog "Held Over!" at http://www.heldovermovies.blogspot.com/.

Bonus: Below, cover art by one of my favorite genre artists, Bob Larkin. This was the cover for the 1982 Marvel comics paperback collection of issues from their monthly comic series. His covers were not only faithful to the characters, costumes and settings, but were always dynamic and colorful.

An alien, having determined the human's weaknesses, used the music of historical villain Britney Spears to incapacitate the crew.

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...

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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.

"ST VI: The Undiscovered Country" review

From the scrapbook comes this positive review of the last original-cast film, clipped from the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel newspaper, published on or near December 5th, 1991.

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It's funny how two different reviewers can have such wildly conflicting opinions on the same film, based on their perception of the source material. Here is another review, from the Miami Herald, which I posted earlier.
Bonus: Below, from the scrapbook is a popular publicity shot that many fans are familiar with!

Bonus #2: another of the wackily-captioned 1967 Leaf cards, this one particularly head-scratchingly strange.

Below is a photograph of a poster-sized pen-and-ink drawing I did in my senior year, 1976. The photo reduction is all that remains of it, the original having been wrecked during various moves. The dark shading over the text was a photo developing error by the friend in school that took it, they were not shaded in the original.

ST 5: The Final Frontier review

Coming out of the scrapbook this time is this June 10th, 1989 article from a Beckley, WV newspaper. "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier" is the one film in the series of original-cast movies that I was embarrassed for anyone else to see, or for reviewers to review. I apologised to my wife after we left the theater, and I pretty much gave up on seeing another good Trek movie, turning my attention to the then-new Next Generation show. Fortunately, it was not the last, and we got one more good one from the crew before they retired to Starfleet's nursing home. This would have been a poor way to end the films; a low warp factor indeed.

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Bonus: below is another from the set of Star Trek greeting cards put out in 1976 from Random House. (See all I've posted by using the "Greeting Card" tag on the right sidebar.)

Below, the inside of the card with a "button" you could punch out and hang on your shirt, if you didn't mind being punched out for it also.

Bonus: Below is another of the wackily-captioned 1967 Leaf bubblegum cards, which never saw widespread distribution.

Shatner's head never thought he'd end up as a gag on Futurama.

Another bonus: (aren't I nice?) Below is another of the fine cards in the Skybox Masterpiece series, all of which are painted scenes. Lovely and patriotic!

And below, the back of the card.

ST:6 "The Undiscovered Country" review

From December 7th, 1991 comes this Miami Herald review of the sixth Trek outing, the last with all the original cast. Written by someone that is obviously not a fan, it is a lukewarm review that manages to denigrate the entire series of movies. Take it with a grain of salt, as I did when I read it. You can tell when a reviewer is prejudiced against a film's source material to the point that they can't write a fair review.

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One of the most laughably ridiculous phrases is when he writes that the movie "zips and snorts and wheezes past sets and situations that seemed new when George Lucas invented them for Star Wars in the 70's." O-o-o-kay, we know where you're coming from now, Bill.

Bonus: Below, from around 1981 comes a clipping from the kid's section of the Sunday paper (from Beckley, WV) about Leonard Nimoy...

Bonus #2: Below is another of the Random House Trek greeting cards that came out in 1976, which I picked up at the store Starship Enterprises from this display. Needless to say, I didn't give these to people for their birthdays or any other occasion; they stayed in my collection.

Below is the inside of the card.

Bonus #3: Below, another page from one of the Trek coloring books from the late 70's.

"Nyota, what say we get together after our shift tonight?"

"Your cabin or mine, sugah?"

1995 article: Nimoy Closes Book on Trek Myths

From USA Today, Oct. 23, 1995, comes this article on Nimoy, as he is promoting his new book, "I Am Spock." Aware that the title of his first book, "I Am Not Spock," was unfortunate, he attempts to set the record straight about how he feels concerning his Vulcan alter-ego.

Bonus: Below is a 1985 review of the "new" Star Trek 3 videotape release, from "Video Review" magazine. Buying movies was getting a little more affordable by then; this one was released for "only" $29.95.

Bonus: a rare 1991 Enterprise hologram card, the only one I found in any of the packages. The image appeared surprisingly clear in the scan.

And below, the back of the card. I'd like to know what this is worth, should I sell it.

Bonus: another Bloom County strip with the gang engaging in a little role-playing. But everyone must play by the rules or it's not as much fun!

A Couple Of "Search For Spock" Reviews

Here's a good review of "The Search For Spock," clipped from The Washington Post, dated June 2nd, 1984. It does manage to give away a major surprise, that of the Enterprise being destroyed, as well as basically tell you that Spock is found alive and well, only not in so many words. Granted, that was pretty much a given, but the ship's destruction was supposed to be a shocking moment that was best left unspoiled by reviewers. Oh, wait, you didn't already know about that? Oops, sorry!

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And below is the Time magazine review of the film, clipped about the same time. I'm throwing in the "Ghostbusters" review as a freebie.

Bonus: the last of the four TOS coasters in the Newfield set... this time, featuring that flying butterdish named "Galileo II."

Bonus: The next of the "Trek Talk" features from "The Monster Times," dated January 1976, issue #45. (View all these I have posted by using the "Trek Talk" tag on the sidebar.) It makes note of the passing of James Blish, which was a sad bit of news to those of us that read and re-read all of his adaptations. These time capsules of Trek history are neat to read now, aren't they?

Look For Spock Behind Camera

Welcome, fellow Trekkers, to the blog where you can fondly recall items and articles that you had or still have, or catch some you might have missed. I am having a great time opening the collection cabinets and going through stuff that, before doing the blog, I hardly ever took out to look at. I'm finding stuff I forgot I had, or hadn't seen in years! The newspaper clipping featured this time is from an unspecified date in the summer of 1983, when production was starting on "The Search For Spock." This movie was highly anticipated by us fans at the time. Would Spock return? We shouldn't have worried.

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Below, a one-page bio of Nimoy from the pages of the teen magazine "16," notable for being published during the show's first season, when it was on NBC Thursdays at 8:30 PM. Note the personal address given! This was before the groundswell of popularity, when he replied to mail himself and sent out autographed photos in response to requests. Imagine that! UPDATE: In a comment posted by reader "JohnG7," we find out more about that; "16 Magazine was supposed to give Nimoy's public mail drop, but they printed his actual home address on Comstock Drive. Sacks of mail showed up every day that the family had to spend hours answering, and fans came to the house looking for Leonard. The next issue of 16 ran a correction but the damage was done. The Nimoys moved out within a year. -- JohnG7" Thanks for that, John! I do remember reading that somewhere, probably in one of his books, but I forgot about it.

"Bonus;" Below, a photo highlighting the problem with the jumpsuit versions of the uniforms used in "ST:TMP." Every time a male character appears in the movie in a scene that shows below the waist, it is obvious that they are going "commando." You can practically tell their religion, as the saying goes, and it distracts from the drama going on, generating uncomfortable snickers. This publicity shot is particularly disturbing, as Nimoy is showing a wet spot! E-e-e-e-e-e-w!

"Spock, I am not looking at you until you do something about that."

Maybe it had to do with the fact that a wardrobe person had to assist the actor in and out of the uniform to go the bathroom, but really, Len... shake it next time! I can't believe the photographer and all the publicity people let that one get by them, but they did, and now it's there for all to see, and wish they hadn't. If these had been used again in a sequel, the movie might have been called "Star Trek: The Search For Underwear." Stephen Collins as Decker fared especially bad in the movie wearing these, and I'm sure he hoped that Persis' bald head called attention away from his embarrassing bulges. No such luck.

Bonus: Below, some of the buttons I collected in the mid 70's. I picked these up at the store "Starship Enterprises." Yes, I admit, I occasionally did wear them to work as a teen. Little wonder I didn't date much.