Eat right, live long and prosper...

From a 1989 issue of Rolling Stone Magazine here's an ad produced by the American Cancer Society featuring Spock.

Star Trek Toyfare Covers...

As a toy collector I have been reading Toyfare magazine since its debut in the mid 90's.
To me it has always been upsetting how little Star Trek coverage the magazine has given us over the years. The amount of Trek covers can be counted in one hand. It annoys me that the same magazine has about a million and one Star Wars or superhero covers. Unfortunately that's just how it goes in this twisted world we live in. Here's a look at my 3 favorite Star Trek covers as well as some info on what you can find inside these issues.


Issue 11: July 1998

The cover of this issue features the latinum edition Seven of Nine figure. Inside is a bonus foldout poster with the same image. We also get a pretty cool column written by Playmates Toys' Star Trek product manager Chris Overly. His column gives us a cool look at what it's like to work on the popular Trek toy line.





Issue 17: January 1999

I really love this cover as I was really surprised to find the ST: Insurrection 9 inch line featured on the magazine's cover since the 9 inch figures were never great in sales. The Insurrection line tanked at retail ringing in the end of Playmates 90's Star Trek run. Inside you will find no Star Trek coverage whatsoever other than a brief mention on the Insurrection line as part of the Toyfare Holiday shopping guide.


Issue 141: May 2009

A great cover featuring the amazing 12 inch Spock and Kirk figures from the 2009 movie line. Inside we get a two page spread on the rest of the new line with quotes from Playmates' Senior director of marketing Pat Linden.

Premiere Magazine opens up the Star Trek vaults...

Back in the fall of 1996 Premiere magazine celebrated the release of the 8th Star Trek feature film by running a two page article in their December issue highlighting a couple of the more famous props and costumes from the first 6 Trek films. Here's a look at the two page article featuring some iconic Trek pieces as Spock's Genesis torpedo and his ceremonial robe from Star Trek 3 and 4.

Star Trek profiled in latest issue of Make-up Artist...

The new issue of Make-Up Artist Magazine has a very informative, in-depth article on the creatures created for the new Star Trek film by prosthetic designer Barney Burman, and his team at Proteus FX. The article gives us a detailed look at the design process and the reason behind some of the choices made for the new look of such Trek classic species as the Romulans and Klingons. The later got cut out of the film but the article tells us more about how they were utilized in the new film before the scenes got cut.



We also get some more info regarding the events that lead to Nero's ear damage and scarring, as well as details on how the make-up team was able to design and apply the prosthetics and tatoos for the new lead villain and his crew.





Burman started out as a make-up effects lab technician in his father's shop during production of Star Trek 3. He also played an alien creature in the film during a scene taking place at a bar, but the scene was cut from the finished film. Years later he also did some uncredited work at the make-up shop for Star Trek 6.





Burman and his team also created a "Salt Sucker" alien for the new film as an homage to the M-113 creature from "The Man Trap". The creature was part of a scene that got cut from the film, but fortunately a picture of the creature has now surfaced courtesy of Barney Burman himself.



Issue 78 of Make-Up Artist Magazine is on newsstands now.

The Future Begins: Part 3

The official launch date for all the Playmates toys has finally arrived. I just got back from a reconnaissance mission around town and I'm happy to say that after many long years toy shelves are finally stocked up with Trek merchandise once again.



The most impressive assortment can be found at Toys R Us. My location had an entire section devoted to Star Trek, and I've been informed its going to grow in the coming weeks as we get closer to the film's release. The great thing about the Toys R Us section is that it covers more than just the new movie. You can find a lot of other cool Trek swag from its various incarnations and multiple licensees.





They pretty much had everything from the Playmates line, although they were running extremely low on the 12 inch figures and a lot of characters had already sold out on the 6 inch assortment by the time I made it to the store. The Enterprise ship, as well as the Bridge playset, and transporter room playset were also available, as were all the role play toys.



Also available was a wide assortment of Classic Star Trek bobble heads from Funco including a talking Kirk and Spock, as well as a Gorn and an Andorian. I was lucky enough to find one of the metallic color chase variant editions of The Gorn. The model kits from Polar lights were also on shelves. The assortment includes a TOS Enterprise and Klingon Bird of Prey, as well as the NX-01 from Star Trek Enterprise. Mattel's Scene It game was also in stock.



The Art Asylum stuff from DST was in very short supply and they only had a few of the Spock and Kirk two-packs from "Amok Time" as well as from "The Motion Picture". It was very cool to see so much space devoted to Star Trek in stores once more.



More items such as the Tyco RC remote control ships line and the 12 inch exclusives of Pike and Sulu should be arriving in the coming weeks just in time for a major shelves reset Toys R Us is planning. The entire Trek merchandise section will move to the front of the store which should grab shoppers attention as soon as they walk through the door.



Right now the merchandise seems to be selling well. At Target the entire Trek section had been ransacked. Only a few playsets and some phasers were still available. All the pegs where the figures used to be were completely empty. I hope fans continue to support this line. It's the only way we'll be able to get more items produced by the multiple licensees.

More magazine articles...

Also this weekend you can get your hands on Entertainment Weekly's summer movie preview featuring Star Trek. The article on the new movie features new quotes from Leonard Nimoy and Zachary Quinto. The latest issue of Wired Magazine has also hit newsstands and the guest editor is none other than JJ Abrams. I just read it last night and I highly recomend it. Wired is one of my favorite magazines and to find some Trek content inside the latest issue is quite a treat. You also get a short comic book story by Kurtzman and Orci filling us in on Spock's whereabouts prior to the start of the new film.







Issue # 153 of Total Film Magazine has finally made its way to U.S. newsstands. I grabbed a copy this weekend and must say I was rather disappointed with their Trek cover story. The article mostly deals with the expectations to the film and the clips shown a few months back during JJ Abrams worldwide publicity tour. Not much info on the making of the film is provided. There is also a retrospective article looking back on all the previous incarnations of the franchise and the elements that JJ will hopefully take from each for his new film. The issue is available in four different covers, each featuring one of the main characters from the film.



Cinefex Magazine has also released details for their July 2009 issue (#118). The cover story will focus on the Visual Effects for the new Star Trek film. Here's the issue's description from the publisher: "For the 11th installment in the Star Trek feature-film canon, director J.J. Abrams reboots the franchise by returning to the series’ original characters, James T. Kirk and Spock, as they meet and compete at Starfleet Academy, then commence their illustrious careers aboard the newly-minted starship Enterprise. Industrial Light & Magic shares visual effects duties with Digital Domain, Kerner Optical, Lola VFX, Evil Eye Pictures and Svengali VFX".



Verizon Wireless has also launched their print ad campagin to tie in with the new Trek film.
They have also produced a new promotional site with exclusive content. The new site can be found here.

Lets close out this edition with Zachary Quinto and Chris Pine, together as they discuss their experiences during the making of the new film. The video interview can be found here.

Starlog's Star Trek covers

As we continue our series of tributes to the greatest magazine ever published I wanted to take a look back at my favorite "Star Trek" covers from Starlog Magazine's 33 year history.

Starlog has been the source for up to the minute info on "Star Trek" since day one. Back in the days when no one was sure whether we'd get a Star Trek feature film or a new television series Starlog was there keeping us up to date. When the time came for Paramount to launch "Star Trek: The Next Generation" Starlog brought us continuous updates on the show's early development with a series of columns written by show insiders David Gerrold and D.C. Fontana. Starlog was even the first to report about Denise Crosby's exit from TNG, and they always gave us a truckload of interviews and exclusive articles on the making of all the films and Trek spin- offs, as well as Trek related events such as the early conventions, the 20th anniversary show, and the Sea Trek cruise.

Let us now go back through time as I share with you some of my favorite Starlog covers featuring "Star Trek"...


Starlog 1: Star Trek: The Original Series.


Starlog 30: Star Trek: The Motion Picture.


Starlog 42: Mark Lenard.


Starlog 112: Star Trek: 20th Anniversary Celebration.


Starlog 135: Star Trek: The Next Generation.


Starlog 144: Star Trek 5: The Final Frontier.


Starlog 171: Brent Spiner (TNG).


Starlog 175: Star Trek 6: The Undiscovered Country.


Starlog's: Star Trek 25th Anniversary Special.


Starlog 291: Star Trek: 35th Anniversary / Enterprise.


Starlog 349: Star Trek: 40th Anniversary Celebration.

Starlog beams out for good...

Here's some crappy news for Sci-Fi fans everywhere. Starlog, the number one publication in the Sci-Fi / Fantasy community has announced they will cease publication of the fan favorite magazine after 33 great years. According to the news release on their website, considering the present state of the economy, the publishers feel its time for a major revamp and will be temporarily discontinuing publication while the model and redesign of the magazine are contemplated and executed. The last print issue available for the time being is #374, while issue #375 will be available exclusively as a digital edition in the very near future.
I grew up with this magazine and back in the days were we had no internet to research every single detail about our favorite films Starlog was there to deliver the goods. Their articles were in depth, seriously written, and they were always accompanied by great behind the scenes pictures as well as conceptual art, and sometimes even storyboards or blueprints.

I still go back and browse my back issues from time to time, always discovering something I might have missed in the past and finding myself surprised over and over at the quality and wide range of articles they published. The internet sites are great at spoilers, script reviews, gossip, and news updates, but there has never been an online outlet that can deliver the top notch writing, in depth articles, and interviews Starlog in known for. The magazine will be sorely missed.

Every time my brother and I would go to a bookstore together the first thing we'd do is seek out the magazines section and fish for the latest issue of Starlog. Afterward once we'd get home we'd read the magazine and begin our in depth debates and discussions about the films we just got to read about -- which were always the film we were looking forward to seeing in the near future. I'll miss our little ritual too.

This is rather unfortunate, but not totally unexpected. Now more than ever I will continue my quest to complete my Starlog collection once and for all by seeking out the back issues I've yet to add to my collection. Check back tomorrow for a look at some of my favorite Starlog covers devoted to "Star Trek".