Fun Finds: Starlog, October 1980

I rescued this piece of sci-fi television history from potential oblivion in order to share it with you. I thought its subject matter would fit into the wheelhouse of many of my Underworld visitors' interests (and, natch, this era of TV is my own as well!) Starlog concerned itself with all realms of science-fiction, but this issue was particularly devoted to television offerings. We always dug Gil Gerard of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, so it was a thrill to find his smiling face on the cover. 

What a fun photo of Gerard with his Buck Rogers costar Erin Gray.

At the time of this publication, I was also a huge fan of Harrison Ford and his Han Solo was my favorite aspect of the Star Wars movies (along with Carrie Fisher.) The chick in the lower-left corner... get a life! It was nothing more than a nod to his cavalier character. Of course he actually loved her, he just wasn't a marshmallow who goo-ily professed it. The letter with the headline "Surprise!" - that would happen to me...

I am agog over the response to "On Censorship." It relates to our world today so precisely that I was simply stunned to see it here from 31 years ago. By the way, it's fascinating that letters included the writers' complete addresses! Probably promoted pen pal-ish communication between sci-fi fans, but - wow - what a potential risk if anyone should strongly disagree with you.

The shaving of Persis Khambatta's head for Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) was a real publicity goldmine at the time. The unknown beauty queen turned model turned actress had initially been slated for a proposed Star Trek TV series reboot, but it became a movie instead and she was thrust into an even greater spotlight. Personal issues including a brief marriage along with a serious car crash (followed a few years later by heart surgery!) didn't aid her ability to sustain a career. Sadly, she died of a massive heart attack in 1998 at only age 49.

Notorious Hollywood "creative accounting" with regards to Alien (1979) eventually led to a lawsuit. The issue wasn't resolved until 1983 when a sequel was planned. (And it - Aliens - didn't come to fruition until 1986!)

I guess I had no reason to know, but I never realized that George Reeves' Superman shirt was a bodysuit like this. Makes sense as it never came untucked! If anything, I'd have expected a full-length bodysuit with red trunks over it. Most surprising to me is that no one purchased William Shatner's Star Trek uniform! Interesting to see Somewhere in Time (1980), a movie I adore, mentioned. I wouldn't expect it in Starlog.

The TV-movie referenced in the first article "Follow Me If You Can" was filmed in 1979, but didn't make it to the airwaves until 1982 when it was retitled Mysterious Two. It had John Forsythe and Priscilla Pointer as the leaders of a cult, claiming to be aliens and seeking converts to their fold. The people the movie was based on eventually wound up being the leaders of the infamous Heaven's Gate cult, of which about 40 members committed mass suicide! I recently saw The Final Countdown (1980) for the first time and, though it wasn't stunning, it had its moments.

The movie "Air Raid" mentioned in the "Quick Takes" section was not directed by special effects whiz Douglas Trumbull (who intended to cast Paul Newman and Jane Fonda in it!) Plans were scuttled when Trumbull's current movie Brainstorm (1983) ran into production problems in the wake of Natalie Wood's sudden death. The story had a tormented, decade-long trip to the screen when it finally emerged as Millennium (1989) starring Kris Kristofferson and Cheryl Ladd! Strangely enough, I just saw Raise the Titanic (1980) for the first time not long ago as well. It was also rather underwhelming for me, though it's interesting that it was made before anyone realized that the ship had broken in two before descending to the ocean floor. The Apple (1980) was a notorious FLOP, which I have profiled here (and whose star, Catherine Mary Stewart, was my first celebrity interview at P.U.!)

Erin Gray might be enthusiastic about the season two changes for Buck Rogers, but, as it turned out, her role not only became more peripheral, but her character lost much of its authority and her costuming moved into the realm of bimbette!

It's fascinating to see her gushing over changes that would ultimately render her pointless on the show. As far as I'm concerned, the second (and last) season of the show suffered from never using luscious Pamela Hensley even once!

Thom Christopher's Hawk wasn't an uninteresting addition to the show, but most of the rest of the changes wound up being dire. It was cancelled after 11 episodes.

Mantley not only "got rid" of Gray's colonel image, he got rid of the show, period... Gray can be seen these days in TV ads for Cognium, a memory-improving supplement.

Remember me??

I suspect it's FAR more complicated now, but time was that an aspiring writer could submit scripts to his or her favorite shows and they might be accepted! I can recall reading once that a person attempting to do this should pick a show in the Top 30 so that the chances would be good that the series would still be on the air by the time the script was purchased! Thus, this writer's guide for Space: 1999 is interesting as it demonstrates some of the info needed for anyone who might have submitted a script.

Granted, this would not have been available to every Joe Schmo on the street, but it nonetheless gives a little insight as to what the show's producer felt was necessary for a potential scribe to know. Space: 1999 is another show whose second season is quite different from its first (and that season was also its last!) Incidentally, the two characters "yet to be cast" did not wind up being Italian. Australian Nick Tate and English/French-Burmise Zienia Merton filled those roles. 

More mid-series tweaking going on... So many shows lose the element that made them hits in the first place and often the attempts to perk them up fall flat. (Cousin Oliver of The Brady Bunch, anyone?)

Interesting notes on budgetary concerns with The Incredible Hulk. Back in the days of film (not video) and practical special effects (not CGI), the costs and logistics were really something to contend with.

These articles weren't terribly long and were continued on one more single page, so I scanned the remainder of them. If you don't know, Mork and Mindy ultimately married on the show and had a baby played by Jonathan Winters...! As for Hulk, it ended after five seasons despite being 35th in the ratings. A series of TV-movies came later which only ended due to Bill Bixby's fatal bout with cancer.

There are a lot of titles bandied about here that don't ring a bell with me! And I was a Saturday morning cartoon fiend. As for the prime-time things mentioned, I don't recall Irwin Allen having produced anything like the "Fantasy Project" mentioned. He did concoct a star-filled, if rather dreary, rendition of Alice in Wonderland, though, that didn't get off the ground until 1985. The Electric Grandmother did see life in 1982, as a TV-movie with Maureen Stapleton.

I do recall watching Thundarr the Barbarian, short-lived as it was. For reasons unknown, I always confused it with The Herculoids! (And, no, the latter show was not about Hercules enduring a painful medical condition... LOL)

British sci-fi shows tended to have their very own feel, which U.S. audiences either ate up like crazy or which left them cold. I can recall being a bit taken aback as a child when several of these series would be broadcast in (early) video versus the more familiar film and I was far more attracted to filmed programming.

I have to confess I RAN from Doctor Who and have still never seen any version of it, despite its enduring popularity. I'm still reeling from the fact that Pier Paolo Pasolini convinced star Tom Baker to appear fully nude in The Canterbury Tales (1972), a very earthy take on the literature classic and one of a trilogy of similar movies he helmed.

Now here is a program I have never, ever seen! I have heard of it before, but prior to this article I really knew less than nothing. It was way before my time and I don't recall ever having seen the show Tom Corbett, Space Cadet rerun.

It's interesting to read up on the backstory of the program from TV's earliest days. I suspect any surviving copies of the show are pretty rough-looking, but how fun that they were trying to demonstrate anti-gravity as seen in the top picture.

Amazing that the show was done live and yet the actors played multiple roles and the sets were re-dressed during commercials! Then again, we pull of things like this on the stage all the time.

When I was a teen in the mid-'80s, the term "space cadet" had a whole new meaning! It was part of the "Valley Girl" vernacular and referred to someone with a lot of air between their ears. Ha!

Frankie Thomas only performed one (unbilled) role after Space Cadet went off the air in 1955. He had many other interests, however, including bridge. Remaining a bachelor until his late-60s, he lived to be 85 when he passed away of respiratory failure in 2006. Per his request, he was buried in his Tom Corbett uniform.

It's important to note with an article like this that there was really no such thing yet as "home video" in any form. If you had a desire to see something once more, you had to know when it was on, be home at that time and make sure no one interrupted you! No recording, no pause or rewind. That's why the fact that a cancelled series being re-run in 2-hour movie form warranted four pages in this magazine.

This was a fun full-page poster from the original Battlestar Galactica series.

For any completists out there, I give you the rundown of these repackaged episodes.

Look at the size of this paperweight, then look at the prices of this paperweight! In 1980, that was a pretty penny. I found one of the silvertone ones on eBay that lists for $147.48 (located in Australia!)

This was a great chance to hear from one of Star Trek's more controversial figures, the producer who handled the third and final season of the show.

If nothing else, he produced the oft-mentioned episode in which William Shatner's Kirk was manipulated into kissing Nichelle Nichols' Lt. Uhura. As for The Tholian Web, it's interesting to me because by 1987, I thought I had seen every single episode of Trek, but somehow this one had totally escaped me. I rented it on video (!) and was delighted to see it. It is one of the better installments from the show.

One more often heard from the other side of Freiberger's skirmishes, but his take is presented here.

Now I want to read about his experiences with The Landaus on Space: 1999!

Heavens, yes, I remember the impact of John Williams' music for Star Wars (1977.) It was incredible to my 10 year-old ears. (Needless to say, his work on Jaws in 1975 had already turned the world on its ear!)

As a longtime fan of John Barry's music, I appreciated his work on The Black Hole (1979), a movie that didn't exactly live up to its potential.

The editor's high hopes for Buck Rogers didn't turn out to be warranted. (And apres po of nothing, I thought it was a woman until I got to the name at the bottom! Howard may have been more futuristic than he realized.)

I leave you with this mask ad on the inside back cover. I dunno, for some reason it made me chuckle that the the devil was for some reason so much cheaper than everything else!

The End!

By the way, there is a NSFW snippet showing Who's Who on Tumblr, for those not willing (or able) to sit through The Canterbury Tales. Click here. I happen to really like the film and the others, The Decameron (1971) and Arabian Nights (1974), though they are not for everyone.