Fun Finds: Starlog Magazine, July 1979

In the Underworld, we recently celebrated our 15th anniversary as a site, so it's only fitting that today's Fun Find is a magazine that was celebrating an anniversary of its own. (Only three years at that point!) Hitting newsstands in the spring of 1979, Starlog offered up a "Spectacular," filled with photos and stories about the popular science-fiction movies and TV shows of the day. This was a time when that genre was experiencing a vast burst of popularity. Star Wars (1977) had changed the game. There'd only been one Superman movie and Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979), which would spawn numerous sequels itself, had yet to be released! A lot of the projects featured in this edition of Starlog have been focused on here over the years. I will link many of them in the captions section of the scans.

Though somehow I never read Starlog as a kid (or thereafter either!), this was "my" era. I was 12 and these shows and movies were a significant part of my entertainment life. Some still are. Read on for more on this period in which special effects and otherworldly stories were becoming big business. (Occasionally, I have dotted this post with pics from outside the magazine.)

I can only marvel at the way several readers who sent in letters of congrats, correction or complaint have their entire names and addresses published! Simpler times.

There are several conflicting opinions found on this page about this project or that. Just goes to show that it's impossible to please everyone. For the record, I thought Superman (1978) was wondrous. I had to look up The Late Great Planet Earth (1979) to see what it was as it completely escaped me as a kid. (Oh, and even though I know it was a nod to kiddie viewers, I thought Mel Blanc's vocals as Twiki were weird and out of place for the diminutive robot character.)

Just as information, this magazine (which I found for the grand sum of $1.00!) has residue in the lower left corner from a subscription sticker...! So in this case, there was no brown paper wraparound.

A lot of Superman II (1980) was filmed alongside the first film. In fact, Richard Donner had practically filmed the whole thing when he and the producers had a disagreement which ultimately led to Richard Lester being hired to finish up. From there, Lester re-shot many portions of the movie, made various changes and wound up as the credited director of the film. To add to the confusion, a Richard Donner version later appeared in 2006 (which itself included some of Lester's work!)

The kiddie show with Bob Burns as a gorilla was actually The Ghost Busters, which was popular enough to earn a second season, but Filmation opted to focus more money on The Shazam!/Isis Hour. Maren Jenson's movie saw release instead as Beyond the Reef (1979) and starred Dayton Ka'ne of Hurricane (1979.) The Star Trek pinball machine intrigued me. I could see from the thumbnail that the characters looked unusual to a degree. See below...

My first thought was that this had been intended to display the new characters of Decker and Ilia, but then nixed because no one knew them yet. Certainly Uhura (who barely appears on screen in the movie!) had no such moment as this. But...

...it turns out that the whole thing was basically a re-paint of an earlier machine (with a sexualized Uhura) that had been updated for the movie's upcoming release.

I thought that Clash of the Titans (1981) was marvelous. Loved that cast of names portraying the Greek gods and thought one of the best special effects to be found in it was a scantily-clad Harry Hamlin. Ha ha! Also, the first time I ever saw Jason and the Argonauts (1963), which was during movie day in grade school, that shot of Poseidon coming up out of the water to wreak havoc caught my eye.

The image of an almost naked man popping out of the sea... Well, let's just say it had an impact on me!

I was a big-time comic book collector from about ages 7 to 17. While John Buscema isn't necessarily a favorite artist of mine (that would fall more to Neal Adams, George Perez or Mike Grell), the renditions of the heroes shown here are the ones I am most familiar with and recall fondly. 

Interesting to see a pic of Veronica Cartwright and William Tuttle at the ASFFH Awards (which I cannot ever recall seeing aired on TV anywhere near me.) I can only laugh at the costume award for Eyes of Laura Mars (1978) in which I hated nearly everything placed on Faye Dunaway's back!

I remember ROM coming out (and not wanting one.) It tickles me that they mention one of his effects as "an eerily realistic breathing sound." Eeek!

Anticipation of the long-awaited Star Trek movie was feverish among fans. When it finally arrived, it was a hit, but mostly due to curiosity and nostalgia more than for its satisfaction level. The beautifully designed film plodded along and lacked the necessary level of original cast interaction, along with their established chemistry, in the final script.

Not referencing this particular photo, I always thought that Shatner looked about as good as ever in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. He was tan and trim and attractive in it.

If it isn't the best Shat ever looked, then I'd venture to say that it's about the best that his Captain Kirk ever looked.

As the feature film had initially been developed as a TV series (to be called "Star Trek: Phase II"), all the costs ($18 million!) from the abandoned TV version had to be absorbed into the budget. So while the film made substantial money, its overall profit margin was hampered by all sorts of pre-, during- and post-production expenses.

Now comes a magazine within the magazine, a review of some of the most popular topics in Starlog's history, featuring this terrific reproduction of the first issue's cover.

You aren't going to find many men of my vintage whose boyhood minds weren't blown with the introduction of Star Wars. The movie was just IT... and the toys... well, their success is legendary. (A shout out, too, to the tremendous contributions made by James Earl Jones, who provided the voice of key villain Darth Vader. Jones passed away on September 9th from diabetes at age 93.)

I recall seeing this movie in the theater and probably also saw it on home video, but it's not been a movie that resonated with me long-term.

My big takeaway from this article is how much one of the early prototypes of the Close Encounters aliens resembles Steven Spielberg's later E.T the Extra-Terrestrial (1982!)

I've already mentioned how I feel about Superman (and for me, no one ever equaled Christopher Reeve as that character.) As for Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), the remake was so creepy and gave me a residual fear (I'm not making this up) of too much plant life around me. LOL And who could ever forget that scream at the end?!

Interesting pre-production representation of Twiki (and Buck!) Memories of Starcrash (1978), which counted among its cast Christopher Plummer (!) are hazy at best. I can't be sure I ever saw it.

I watched and enjoyed several of the films depicted here, though I had trouble getting into The Last Wave (1977) and have never even heard of Dark Star (1974) - had to look that one up. I always adored Logan's Run (1976), however.

I realize I'm a broken record, but I will always prefer the sort of effects found in movies like 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) over the type that are prevalent today.

Likewise, I enjoy the filmed look of many of these older sci-fi films. Needless to say, some of the cheapest or cheesiest ones wind up being the most fun to sit through, however. (Like 1958's Queen of Outer Space, for example, starring that acting legend Zsa Zsa Gabor!)

Makeup used for Planet of the Apes (1968) was revolutionary for it's time and was an endurance test for the marvelous actors who underwent transformation.

It's fun to see some of these models in real scale with their creators/operators.

The caption fails to mention it (!), but the lady next to the model creator for the King Kong commercial is none other than the wonderful Fay Wray! How neat to see that the set from
was only that far off the ground when, in the movie, it appears almost bottomless.

I loved Star Trek from an early age. I do have to say, though, that "A Piece of the Action" was certainly never one of my own "best-liked" episodes...!

The concept drawings for the new rendition of the series actually have a degree of similarity to what later appeared on Star Trek: The Next Generation (a show I only ever watched sporadically.)

I faithfully watched Battlestar: Galactica. When you're a kid, you don't always get why a show is suddenly gone or retooled (as this one later was as Galactica 1980.)

I thought there was almost no one as beautiful as Maren Jensen (though it seemed as if she was barely on and had so little to do!) Naturally, Dirk Benedict and Richard Hatch possessed their own set of charms, which quickly grew on me as well...

As a tween, I was intrigued, but also slightly out of sync with the tone of Space:1999, but later grew to enjoy it quite a bit as an adult. Opinions are still divided on which of the two very different seasons is best. I lean towards the first while acknowledging that the addition of Catherine Schell the second year was neat.

That first season had a large, two story set and a sizeable contingent of command center crew. The second season had this area replaced by a far smaller playing area.

I watched Spider-Man, tuned in occasionally to The Incredible Hulk, but never saw The Fantastic Journey until a while back.

I was all about Wonder Woman, finding an obscure spot behind a hedge during recess and spinning away! Ha ha ha! I also enjoyed Shazam! But it took until recently before I saw Man from Atlantis. And I'd never even heard of Spectre till now.

Never saw much of UFO, but I know it had some interesting costumes here and there...! That shot of Chewbacca's grandfather comes from the infamous (and in some parts disowned!) The Star Wars Holiday Special. I was loyal to Logan's Run, but could never warm up to The Prisoner, even now.

Lost in Space (represented solely by that grainy saucer pic) is the only one of these programs I ever saw. Sometime I really need to check out Dr. Strange, though, especially seeing Miss Jessica Walter here.

Somehow I wasn't aware that Leonard Nimoy had performed on Broadway in Equus. He famously wrote a book called "I am Not Spock" and then years afterwards wrote a follow-up called "I am Spock!"

This pic actually preceded the start of the interview, but I decided to put it second instead of first.

"Mirror, Mirror," in which the Enterprise comes upon an alternate universe in which everyone is menacing and cutthroat, is my all-time favorite episode of the show. And I loved not only the rare chance to see Spock with a beard, but also the even rarer chance to see Uhura in a very curve-hugging two-piece uniform.

Hidden in this article about a sci-fi themed Los Angeles radio program is an anecdote about the hosts interviewing two of the leads from Star Wars shortly before it opened.

I thought some of you might enjoy this array of personalities who offered up congratulations to Starlog on its third year.

It likely occurred even earlier, but Moonraker (1979) is often cited as the moment when the James Bond franchise "jumped the shark." Still, in the wake of Star Wars, who could blame the producers for wanting to jettison into space with everyone else? While there was an Ian Fleming novel with this title, it concerned missiles rather than outer space travel, etc... and only a smidge of the plot was used for the film.

Although I loved Lois Chiles' sophisticated looks, and enjoyed several movies which featured her, I always thought she had a very flat speaking voice that doomed any chance of her becoming a leading star in the movies.

Don't worry if this movie doesn't sound familiar to you...

Despite all the anticipation, apparent interest and financing and a similar promotional article in Fangoria magazine, "The Cry of Cthulhu" was never made. (The confusingly spelled moniker is apparently pronounced "Thoo-loo.")

Especially since the demise of the big Hollywood studio era, with its armies of departments, technicians and creative staff, it can be a Herculean task to see a movie come to fruition. This one eventually fell apart due to its creators becoming tired of the battle to see it through and due to financial concerns.

I had never in my life heard of The Further Adventures of Major Mars (1976.)

Glancing at the pics, I thought this was a photo of Lech Walesa! Bob Burns (who is still with us today at 89) is a much-loved movie-prop archivist and longtime actor, specializing in playing apes (as in the aforementioned The Ghost Busters.)

Having finally looked up and found this project, I discovered that it is, in fact, an 8-minute long short film. Not a full-length feature.

Although none of them look alike (or even do much of the same thing), I am forever confusing Walter Hill, Arthur Hill and Arthur Hiller...!

See the caption at lower-right. Dang, I always hate to see nudity cut from a film...!

I found it interesting that the article refers to Alien (1979) employing an "Agatha Christie style" method of pumping off characters one at a time. How true! I just never made the connection. That was a very common conceit in sci-fi and horror movies. (Still is, I guess, especially in horror.)

As an impressionable kid of about 12 at this time, I found Alien petrifying (and did not see it in theaters. It was later on cable TV for me.)

I might not have bothered to include this "Part II" of an ongoing article, but the accompanying full-page artwork was rather eye-popping, so I wanted to include it. I had never seen this particular pre-production rendering. (I know it was pre-production due to the way the leads are depicted near the bottom.)

King Kong (1976) - And, at last, that's all for this one, folks!