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.

Fun Finds: PreVIEW Magazine, January 1979

Ah, my loves, I've been holding out on you...! When I bought the prior issue of PreView (presented in an earlier edition of Fun Finds), I didn't let on that there was another one I bought at the same time, but which is from a couple of years later. So now I've gotten around to sharing it with you as well. This era of entertainment was "mine," as I was almost twelve and very much tuned into the people who were then "hot" in TV and movies. I think this will be a fun, nostalgic trip down memory lane for some of you as this magazine is chock full of all sorts of pictures of personalities. Let's go!

Hmmm... There are worse ways to start a magazine than with luscious Brad Davis in a bathtub! Suzanne Somers' streak of good fortune wasn't going to last forever... MAJOR issues at Three's Company were on the horizon and her career went through some serious trauma as a result. I honestly thought out of the corner of my eye that the lower right pic was of One Day at a Time's Bonnie Franklin until I looked more closely! LOL Lou Ferrigno's wife Sue was soon to be his ex.

I like Charles Frank, but Young Maverick only ran for 8 episodes before hitting the TV junk pile. And I have to concur with Helen Rose about Diane Keaton's style choices! I adored burly, hunky Dan Haggerty.

At this time, Tommy Lee Jones had costarred in The Betsy and Eyes of Laura Mars (both 1978) and Coal Miner's Daughter (1980) would be on the horizon. Leo Sayer's marriage ended in 1985 after a dozen years. Sorry Fanilows, but I have never understood Barry's hair...!

God bless the publishers of this magazine for publishing - in color! - that hooty promo shot of Miss Bette Davis (from Death on the Nile, 1978!) Ron Palillo was quite clearly on the set of The Love Boat during a guest appearance which aired in January of '79. Anna Kashfi never did return to the screen. A 1963 TV appearance was her swan song.

Bill Royce, who wrote the blurb on John Travolta, needs a terminology check. "Honey Wagons" were port-a-potties, not catering trucks! Check out slim, young Steve Guttenberg. After the career speed-bump of Can't Stop the Music (1980), he finally gained some footing with Police Academy (1984), Cocoon (1985) and 3 Men and a Baby (1987.)

The movie Karen Black refers to is the crazed Killer Fish (1979!) Maybe Jacqueline Bisset has finally cleared up whatever was going on during the giggling scenes with Paul Newman in the tepid When Time Ran Out... (1980.)

As a kid I was GOBSMACKED by Maren Jensen. But, you know, she never had anything whatsoever to do on Battlestar Galactica. Totally thankless "role."

I always thought Richard Hatch was dreamy... Did you know that in all the years that Little House was on TV, Melissa Sue Anderson was the only actor ever to receive an Emmy nomination?! That it was as Leading Actress in a Drama Series (when Mary went blind) must have really burnt Melissa Gilbert's butter, too! LOL She lost to Sada Thompson of Family.

I was never able to warm up much to Pam Dawber, but Dirk Benedict was a huge favorite of mine back then! He has an early tribute right here.

Jill Clayburgh went on to marry playwright David Rabe and they proceeded to have two children. (Lily Rabe, an actress in her own right, was born when Clayburgh was thirty-eight. Michael Rabe, also an actor, came when she was forty-one!) Roy Scheider's marital methods only worked until the mid-1980s when he and Cynthia divorced. He re-wed in 1989 for a second time.

I can remember going to see I Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978) with my little sister and thinking, "One of these people is Paul Newman's daughter??!" She segued behind the scenes after this and, thus, assured herself the anonymity she desired. By the way, the use of O.D. in the headline is in hideously poor taste since her brother Scott Newman did so in November of '78, but perhaps this "January 1979" issue went to press before that.

When I was a kid, it seemed like Marsha Mason was an omnipresent, important actress, but it wasn't long before she seemed to fall off the face of the earth! I remember noting that she had a part in one of Johnny Depp's early efforts, Nick of Time (1995), and in fact she still acts, but not as prominently as she once did.

I loved reading this account of George Nader and Joan Crawford! (Though she was never alleged to have treated all four children badly...just the bad ones!) Jan-Michael Vincent was a handsome, talented actor, but even then he was showing signs of being a hot mess...

Stalk much?? I wonder if things like this, which were QUITE prevalent back in the day, still exist in our new culture of obsession, break-ins, etc...

This feature cracked me up, with all these mall-browsing fashionistas weighing in on whose clothes suck...! (Because a "CAT Diesel Power" ball cap is apparently on trend.)

I really wasn't expecting a preview of a movie like The Deer Hunter (1978) to turn up in a publication like this!

I've only seen this movie once, on home video in the 1980s and that was enough. It's a movie I felt was important to see, but not one I need to see again.

Maybe I'll revisit it someday, though I found it pretty disturbing the first time. John Cazale died of cancer after making only five films, but WHAT a collection! (The Godfather, 1972, The Godfather: Part II and The Conversation, both 1974, Dog Day Afternoon, 1975, and The Deer Hunter!)

We loved Sunrise (1927) when we saw it in a theater and it made us a lifelong George O'Brien fan. There was always (futile) talk of a Doris Day comeback.

BIG error here... Joan Crawford never worked on My Forbidden Past (1951.) Ava Gardner did and, in fact, that's a picture of her. So the author's attempt to be cutesy-catty was a fail... In other news, we adore Don Grady.

Shaun Cassidy actually wound up marrying Ann Pennington in 1979 and they were together till 1993. This is the first time I ever saw The Bee Gees' father and I can really see a resemblance between them (and Andy Gibb.)

Likewise I can see some of Jaclyn Smith in her mother's face here. Amusing anecdote about Cary Grant offering a female fan his "number."

Dolly barely resembles herself in this shot.

Mr. Shortridge (who I recall as one of "Toni's Boys" in an episode of Charlie's Angels) left acting in 1989 to pursue painting full time. He later wrote a book about reconciling Christian faith & doubt.

We still hear about this charity today.

An interesting assortment of folks on hand...

Eek! I wonder what Steve Allen said to irk one of The King's fans...

I'm one of the heathens who actually LOVES the renditions of the Beatles songs that The Bee Gees performed in Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978.) Those harmonies are sweet...

Once more, I'm quite stunned to see a movie like this one being given a tribute in PreVIEW!

I can't imagine Tinsel Town making a movie this stark and introspective now. My big takeaway when seeing it in the 1980s was that Geraldine Page's character reminded me so much of my mother's new mother-in-law, who drove her nuts!

I just loved these two back in the day. And for a brief while they were white-hot. Benedict, of course, went on to more lasting success with The A-Team.

I really got an education here when it comes to Stephen Bishop. I recognize some of his songs, but his name and face meant nothing to me until I looked him up! (He also sang "It Might Be You" from Tootsie, 1982.)

Can you tell I have a LOT less to say about musical performers than I do other celebs?

Sunburn (1979) turned out to be a discombobulated MESS. Whatever Eleanor Parker's contribution was, I'd guess that 95% of it was cut from the final print. We all know what a debacle Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (1979) turned out to be. Yet we love it like the wounded animal it is. "The Hamster of Happiness (!)" didn't see the light of day until 1981 when it was released as Second-Hand Hearts. "Two of a Kind" became Just You and Me, Kid (1979.) God only knows what order those birthdays are in (and none of them are "January!")

The Grass is Always Greener Over the Septic Tank (1978) is a Carol Burnett film that you almost never hear about! I never see it on TV or mentioned anywhere.

Wow... talk about obscure! Living Legend: The King of Rock and Roll (1980!) I had no idea Ginger Alden did that. Priscilla Barnes' show The American Girls was done and gone after seven episodes.

I don't think we tended to see a whole lot of Linda Evans at this point. She was still a good two years away from Dynasty. I almost didn't recognize Stella Stevens with that dark hair! (On a salacious note, I once heard that the reason Kate Jackson and Andrew Stevens' marriage blew apart was because he caught his wife and his mother in bed together...! Crazy if it happened.)

Robert Stack's autobiography (which I didn't even know existed!) was actually called "Straight Shooting," not the title referred to here. No trace of "Sex in America" either, unless it saw the light of day as Something Short of Paradise (1979), which was not directed or written by Steinberg, but did star him.

I can recall being so disconcerted as a kid whenever I spotted "Fonzie" with a mustache! Sally Struthers' (only) marriage broke apart in 1983. It's true that Karen Lynn Gorney's career hit the skids after Saturday Night Fever (1977.) John Travolta vaulted to superstardom while she was off-screen until 1991 playing "Woman in Subway" in The Hard Way! In the meantime she taught acting and dance for a while and released a very obscure album based on her Fever character. But she's been acting again with relative success since 2005, too. And I'm sorry, but did sixteen year-old Leif Garrett and fifteen year-old Kristy McNichol really need to be at the Playboy mansion for a party...??

Whether due to his confident C.H.i.P.s character or the sexist douche he played in Airport 1975, Erik Estrada always seemed to me to have ego for days, but he was certainly handsome and his uniform was eye-popping at times.

Estrada married for the first time in 1979, but not to the woman shown here. He wed Joyce Miller, but it was over within one year.

I refuse to believe that Susan Sullivan went out with Erik Estrada! I think they were just photographed at an industry event.

My God! Another unexpected film being profiled in this magazine. This one I'd never even heard of before.

This served as one-time Warner Brothers' leading man George Brent's final film. He played the judge in the case against Charles Colson. Colson proceeded to a life of Evangelism, prison reform and the occasional political tangle with this person or that.

This same year, Andress would make Clash of the Titans with Harry Hamlin and pursue a relationship with him (resulting in a son at age forty-four.) They were kaput by 1983 however. Not sure what Hugh O'Brian was doing with Albert Schweitzer, but maybe it ultimately led to or enhanced his youth charity HOBY.

Steven Keats wound up co-starring with Suzanne Somers in Zuma Beach (1978.)

Note that there aren't any quotes from Kate Jackson about how she finally took to the new girl Cheryl Ladd...! As for Chevy Chase, he was paid $3 million in 1993 to finally headline his own late night talk show on Fox. It lasted five weeks and was listed by TV Guide as the 16th worst TV show of all time!

Erik Estrada did wind up with three children by two of his three wives. Whenever I happen upon an old episode of Little House, which was indeed considered corny and old fashioned at the time, I am struck by how good it actually was, especially the earlier seasons. One time not long ago, I caught myself welling up and all it was was a recap of the prior episode! LOL

I'm sorry, but they were just an odd couple. They had to cut and paste them together for this cover! (Or maybe they just felt they had to go with a shirtless Andrew, which I can understand...)

One can only imagine the horror that Tony Randall would have felt over today's network television!

In between Maude and The Golden Girls, Rue McClanahan did the ill-fated Apple Pie and spent one unhappy season on Mama's Family.

A shot of some of the soap stars of the era. My, things have changed...!

Laurette Spang married John McCook (of The Bold and the Beautiful) in 1980 and quit acting by 1984, though she has recently been announced as part of an upcoming partially-animated sci-fi project with Gil Gerard and Walter Koenig.

Ruth Buzzi wound up marrying Kent Perkins in 1978 and they are still together today! Um... Liza Minnelli and David Bowie?!?!? Sandy Duncan divorced the husband with her here in 1979 and wed again in 1980 to a man with whom she had two children and is still with now.

Bianca Jagger did in fact divorce Mick in 1978 amid his affair with Jerry Hall, though he was never faithful during the union. 

As I've noted before, I love it when the back cover of a magazine continues with the blurbs and photos. But I had to laugh at Jon Peters saying that his then-gal Barbra Streisand has "no ego as a performer." Jimmy Osmond's movie The Great Brain (1978) made $68.00 in two days at a San Francisco theater!! Oh dear...

Oh, just one more thing...