1975 Model Rocketry Catalog

Although I never owned the actual model rockets, my 16 year-old self was excited to find this digest-sized Estes catalog in 1975 that featured their new Star Trek model rockets on the cover! We get a great cover painting, and a two-page spread inside about the models... nice. I am also including scans of any pages that mention or depict the Trek models. I was impressed with how accurate the Enteprise model was, without very much in the way of alterations to make it into an actual flying rocket. I know that if I had bought one, I would never have flown it, preferring to keep it in good shape to display (if I had lived in a home with a father that permitted such things). Enjoy!

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Although, the Klingon ship looks like it was built around a barrel.

Anyone familiar with early Trek merchandising remembers how the starship was often erroneously depicted with rocket exhaust coming out of the shuttle bay (which irritated me). In the case of this model rocket, it was actually correct!

UPDATE: I said earlier that I had a newspaper clipping somewhere of a local model rocket club launching the Enterprise. Well, I've found it, and it's below. It was clipped from the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel on May 25, 1975. I didn't save the entire article, only the photo and the line in the article about the launching of the Enterprise rocket.

Update: I have heard from a reader who was one of the people in the above photo! Blogger Robert Koenn said... "A friend just gave me the link to your blog. It is funny because I am in that picture. I am the guy standing on the far right side of the picture with my right arm up to my ear. This was a launch back around 1975 down in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. I lover ST but never owned a flying Estes ST kit. I do have numerous ST plastic models on my shelf and in boxes to build."

The Monster Times #2: Space Gear/Models Articles

This time we are once again opening up the fragile, yellowing pages of issue #2 of "The Monster Times, published Feb 16, 1972. I've posted several times before from this issue: here, here and here. How I loved this monster mag! More than any other, it covered the things I was interested in. Being a monster, comics, Trek and Apes fan, this newspaper-format publication hit them all and more. We revisit the cover of this fantastic issue again...

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This time we look at two articles... first, on the various props on the show, featuring both some original and fan reproductions. Note well-known fan Joan Winston modeling the original costume and fan-made prop!

Next, an article purportedly reviewing the various model kits available at the time. Who among us didn't have some of these at one time or another? (I'm surprised I didn't get brain damage from the glue fumes. At least, I don't think I did... hmmm. On second thought, that would explain a lot!) Anyway, the article is hampered by the fact that there is no real review of the model kits mentioned, only those handmade by a fan... and although they brag on his Enterprise, they don't actually picture it! Somewhat sloppy.

Bonus: Below, a pre-series publicity shot, taken after "Where No Man..." but before "The Corbomite Maneuver."

1978 Article on Trek's Computers

The short-lived but awesome magazine Science Fantasy Film Classics met an undeserved and early end, but the several issues I have are some of my most treasured mags from the time. I've posted material from issue #3 before, but it's so jam-packed with different Trek articles that it's time to feature it again. Reading this 1978 indepth look at (and practically a dissertation on) the technology behind the computers seen on Star Trek, is interesting from today's perspective and in light of computing advances. The article is actually a reprint of a 1977 article from the computer magazine Byte, so it's written with a little more authority than one might expect from a SF/fantasy mag.

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Bonus: below, from the same issue, a nice painting of the Enterprise defending K-7 from attack by the Romulans and Klingons.

1985 Interview with Nichelle Nichols

I'm back, after a short absence from posting, due to various mundane things taking up time from the fun stuff for a little while. From issue #30 of "SF Movieland" magazine (formerly "Enterprise Incidents" after it went mainstream), published June 1985, comes this article on the fetching Nichelle Nichols. Love that sassy pose... she is rocking that miniskirt!

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Bonus #1: an ad flyer from 1994 for a con featuring Nimoy.

Bonus #2: a publicity pic of Kirk and the shimmying (but ill-fated) belly-dancer Kara in "Wolf In The Fold." Her hootchie-kootchie dance was a memorable start to the episode, but to be fair some of the strength of the scene may have been due to the re-use of Vina's Orion Slave Girl dance music from "The Cage."

"How about dancing over here to my lap, gorgeous?"

Crossover Alert: Captain Kirk saves the day in the Cracked spoof of "Generations," to be found on "My Star Trek Scrapbook 2!"

1985 Cracked "Search For Spock" Spoof

Severin does his usual great job of capturing the actor's likenesses in this spoof on "The Search For Spock," from issue #209 of Cracked magazine, published January 1985. However, he does mix in uniforms from the first movie on the first page for some reason! No Trek cover artwork this time, sadly.

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Bonus: Below, a nice photo of the cast from the same movie, omitting Nimoy since at the time these were released it was supposed to be a mystery if Spock was in it or not. Was there ever any doubt? I was thrilled to see Uhura finally get her skirt back, thanks to Nichelle's request. Poor Chekov didn't fair so well with his wardrobe, however.

Fan Club Magazine article on Nichelle Nichols

Anyone visiting here even casually is aware of my Uhura fixation; blame it on my imprinting on her at the emergence of my puberty in 1973, I guess. Anyway, here is an article on Nichelle from the April/May 1990 edition of the Official Fan Club Magazine. First, the cover of the issue, which is from one of my favorite publicity photos, which places Uhura where I felt she should have been, one of the four main characters.

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Notice that Spock is not objecting to what would be an invasion of space from anyone else.

Bonus: Below, another rare pre-Trek photo of Nichelle putting her best foot forward. Lovely, but I actually prefer her with a few more pounds on her as we saw her during the series.

Bonus: Just for fun, a couple of photoshop manips where I put Uhura in the "U.F.O." Moonbase uniforms and purple wigs... doesn't she fit in wonderfully? She's mod, baby!

Bonus: Below, from the same issue of the fan club magazine, is a one page review of the (then) latest Trek novel "The Pandora Principle."

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.