1976 TV Sci-Fi Monthly Issue #1

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What a great, little-seen photo for the cover!

In 1976 I lived in Ft. Lauderdale, and was 17. I had just bought my first car, a 1968 Mercury Cougar, and it has been my favorite car out of all I had; a first-love kind of thing. I finally had some freedom to go places I wanted (that were further than what I could walk), so every payday I would head over to my favorite place; a comic and SF collectables store called Starship Enterprises. I will add a post (with photos) on this wonderful place very soon; but suffice it to say for now that during that period I added many great items to my collection of books, magazines, etc.

One of the items I picked up each month was a British magazine called TV Sci-Fi Monthly, a newspaper-style publication with all color pictures printed on glossy paper. Sort of like a higher-class "Monster Times," which I loved also. I managed to get about 5 issues of the magazine, and in future posts I'll share more articles and images from it. I know you'll enjoy it; the magazine was excellent in both writing and original artwork! Below is the first in the series of articles on Trek from this awesome publication.

The second article inside was on Spock's boyhood, which I'll scan and post soon. Below is an image on the back cover that was worth the entire price; that photo of Vina as the Green Orion Slave Girl is one of the best publicity shots of her I've ever seen. Wowza!!!

Vina puts her best foot forward and into my heart.

Above is another installment of the Funky Winkerbean comic strip, from December 7, 1979. The week of the premiere of ST:TMP was an exciting one for the fans.

Fan Film: Paragon's Paragon

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Although fan-made Star Trek films have come into more of the public view lately, primarily because of the media exposure of "Star Trek: The New Voyages" by James Cawley and crew, they are not a new thing. Enterprising fans have been making their own Trek on Super 8 and videotape since the 70's. With the advent of digital video and PC editing available to the personal user, making Trek movies is more within the reach of the fan with time and a little money. They didn't have such technical tools back then... but that didn't stop them! They had imagination and the burning desire to make Star Trek themselves.

One of the earliest high-profile fan films (at least among other fans) was "Paragon's Paragon," by John Cosentino. The awareness was boosted by the article in the then-new magazine "Cinemagic" (issue 6, published in spring of 1976) and it has since become something of an urban legend; spoken of in hushed tones but seldom actually seen. It will be interesting to see if it turns up online anywhere soon as a result of the present inquiries about it.

The lack of computers to do effects (like the amateur film-makers of today have access to) meant they had to do the best they could with little-to-no budget. The hard work and long hours spent making sets and costumes, and filming under such limited conditions, are a testament to the love and devotion that the show has inspired among it's fans.

The story was a direct adaptation of the James Blish novel "Spock Must Die" which came out about 6 or 7 years earlier; although the article doesn't mention that. Here's the article in it's entirety... enjoy!

John, if you are still out there and get wind of this, please comment and catch us up on what you are doing, and if there is a way we could see what the film turned out like! We want to see it!

UPDATE: The film turns up!

Although the film is not available to view, I do have color screen captures from the video version to share with you! Go to this post to view them!

UPDATE #2 from 11-2010: John Cosentino contacts me! Yes, it's true, the film-maker himself found the posts I had made on the film, and emailed me. He plans on having the Super8 film digitized and then he will make available clips from it for us to see. Check back in soon for more developments!

Update for 4-24-12: John Cosentino, due to the input from fans wanting to know more, has begun a blog about the movie! Go here to read more, and get all the inside info! http://www.paragonsparagon.com/

A Labor Of Love

In retrospect, this mother (wherever she is) probably now realises this was a bit silly. But for fans at the time, ST:TMP was like the Second Coming and they weren't going to miss it.

If they'd stayed and she had the baby, everyone would have laughed and clapped at the end when Spock they had witnessed the birth of a new life form!

The excitement was at a fever pitch when the movie was coming out. In the next few posts I'll be adding some strips of a newspaper comic called "Funky" which reflected the anticipation.

Clipped from the Atlanta Constitution on December 6, 1979, the day before the movie opened.

Seventeen's ST:TMP article

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Clipped from an early 1979 issue of Seventeen, a teen girl's fan magazine. I tell ya, this one was embarassing to buy, but it had an article on the new Trek in it, so I gritted my teeth, mumbling something to the clerk that "it was for my little sister," and when I got home I quickly slit the relevant pages out and trashed the rest. Whew, that was close!

Sadly, the remaining text which is continued on another page was not with the others in my scrapbook. Where it went, I don't know, but chances are it was only a little bit with no pictures or it would have been all together. Update: thanks to Ruth Herr Sippel Pace, who follows my Facebook ST Scrapbook page, I have included the last page below. She had it, scanned it and posted it for me, so that I could complete this article online. That was really nice, Ruth! Thanks so much!

Below is a photo I clipped from... somewhere. I don't remember where this came from, a tabloid most likely, but it's nice candid shot behind the scenes, published sometime in the spring of 1979. But, Stephen Collins as "a relief pilot"? Where did they get that from?

Star Trek: The Motion Picture color movie ad

It was two weeks away from the movie premiere in December of 1979, and this full-color, full-page ad in the Parade Magazine was like an early Christmas!

I debated whether to put this on this blog, or on my movie ad blog, "Held Over!" but in the end I decided it fit better here. I'll be posting more articles and items that capture some of the excitement of the looming premiere that we fans experienced on the special holiday season.

First Run Candid Pics

Posting is at a Denebian Slime Devil's pace during the busy month of December, but here are a few scans of some candid photos snapped during the show's first run. They are from the TV/Movie fan mags out at the time, but in clipping them I neglected to keep the magazine name anywhere. It just wasn't important to me then.

Star Trek postcards from Lincoln Enterprises

My Star Trek Scrapbook pages open this time to reveal:
Postcards sold by Roddenberry's Lincoln Enterprises
(Click on images to view galaxy-sized scans!)

Even Captain Kirk's bowling balls are bigger. But, what was up with the eyeball?

Back in the mid 70's, the Lincoln Enterprises newspaper-format catalogs inspired dreams in my teen-age brain of the things I could get from it. The wonders it offered! I ordered a number of things from it, and had them mailed to my Grandma's house, where I would claim them when I went to visit on the weekends. She was my accomplice in "crime," the felony being that of aiding and abetting me in acquiring the unlawful Star Trek items that my stepdad forbade.

Mr. Spock caught playing with his models again.

These photo postcards were beautifully reproduced on glossy card stock, and were the pride of my scrapbook. The promotional photos of Kirk and Spock, taken before the second pilot was filmed, were glorious to behold.

Red is such a lovely color, isn't it?

But the photo of Uhura above was my absolute favorite, and the best -posed picture of her I've ever seen, and I've seen plenty, believe me. Be still, my beating heart!

Pay no attention to those barely visible wires!

This was the only color version of this picture I ever saw. It was always printed in black and white in the magazines I had seen it in. When I opened up my package and viewed this, my mind almost ruptured. Remember, at this time I hadn't even seen that many episodes in color yet.

I ordered some other items from Roddenberry's company later, which I'll share with you in future posts!

Flash! I've just discovered that you can still get the full set of these from the Roddenberry site!