Fandom in the 70s... The Star Trek Dream TV Special..

[MANT!]

From KTVU Channel 2 In Oakland CA. broadcast Sept. 24, 1975

http://blogs.sfweekly.com/exhibitionist/2011/11/retro_nerd_star_trek_bob_wilkins_ktvu.php

I remember that convention, I'd badgered my dad to take me, but our VW microbus blew an engine on the way from our home to San Francisco...

Some still say that the 70s were the Golden age of Star Trek fandom...

 

[Warped9]

That was fun! I remember the '70s and the '70s era of fandom. It was a great time when a lot of us searched and grabbed onto every and any bit of Trek related information we could get our hands on. We gobbled up books and toys and models and blueprints and all sorts of cool stuff. And unlike some of the tie-in merchandise today it was all affordable.

Being a Trek fan might not of been cool in a lot of other people's eyes, but I think a lot of us were having too much fun to really care what others thought.

 

[Nerys Myk]

I grew up in the Bay Area in the 70s and KTVU probably contributed to me becoming a Star Trek fan. Wilken's Creature Features was also a staple.

I wonder if I know any of the people in those clips?

 

[Maurice]

A lot of this show's footage ended up in the locally made (SF) documentary "Back To Space Con", which is a poorly oraganized and badly edited mess, but the vintage footage is terrific.

 

[Forbin]

Somewhere I've got a picture of the old Corvair I was driving in the 70s with a silver mylar "Star Trek is..." bumper sticker.

 

[Redfern]

Ah, the days when the release of the Franz Joseph ship blueprints was like discovering the lost Ark of the Covenant! The multiple lits from AMT: starships, command centers and field gear. The Mego action figures! And I was of an age when it did look totally insane to play with these treasures!

(I didn't learn of gatherings called conventions until the late 70s by reading StarLog and similar magazines.)

Sincerely,

Bill

 

[Warped9]

I learned of conventions in the early '70s, but I didn't attend one until 1977 and then not again until 1990. I then attended Toronto Trek for several years in succession during the mid to late '90s into the early 2000s, but I haven't been to one for the last several years now.

But I, too, recall the excitement of getting hold of FJ's blueprints and then his technical manual. It was like an early Christmas. It was alike reliving my experience receiving my first AMT Enterprise on Christmas Eve 1970. And I recall that even though I had already seen all the episodes I devoured the James Blish adaptations as well as the Alan Dean Foster adaptations of the TAS episodes. I was eager to collect the early original novels starting with Spock Must Die! which is still perhaps my favourite. And then came along Bjo Trimble's Star Trek Concordance. Cool.

 

[AtoZ]

That was fun! I remember the '70s and the '70s era of fandom. It was a great time when a lot of us searched and grabbed onto every and any bit of Trek related information we could get our hands on. We gobbled up books and toys and models and blueprints and all sorts of cool stuff. And unlike some of the tie-in merchandise today it was all affordable.

Being a Trek fan might not of been cool in a lot of other people's eyes, but I think a lot of us were having too much fun to really care what others thought.

Perfect post. I am in 100% agreement with you.

 

[Warped9]

And there was only one Star Trek, one brand. No infighting amongst fans which developed with each successive new version of Trek.

 

[Redfern]

Just squabbles was to who was cooler, Kirk or Spock.

Sincerely,

Bill

 

[22 Stars]

I remember these days fondly as well. With home made Trek posters hanging along the classic Spock holding the giant enterprise model, poster.

The beginning of my collection and love for all things Star Trek. Learning things about the show that even my older brother didn't know... how was that possible!!

 

[Noname Given]

Yep, Star Trek Fandom in the 1970ies was interesting. And you had the first schism as there were some who LOVED and others who HATED TAS, etc. Then from 1975 on there was the:

"Paramount is rumored to be working on a Star Trek revival..."

But it wasn't until Star Wars blew BO totals away that Paramount seemed to suddenly get REAL serious about it.

And in fo wasn't instantly available either - you had to wait for magazines like Starlog to get werifiable info on what might or might not be in the works (of course even that magazine diodn't start up until circa 1976 or so - but I started getting more into fandom involvement ariound 1975 or so, even though I'd been watch Star Trek first run from the third season on. Of course I was a lad of 6 in 1969.)

 

[Redfern]

And even then there was the "lead time" for the magazine, so the information was usually 6 months out of date by the time one read an article in StarLog. But those columns from David Gerrold were like a fine wine.

On a tangent, who among us used the Exploration Set AMT model kit to "role play" our favorite space opera heroes? (Of course, back then, we simply called it "let's pretend". "Role play"? What's that? Tumbling exercises? )

Sincerely,

Bill

 

[CaptainMatt]

Oh wow. I grew up without the internet in the 1980s and only knew about forthcoming Trek productions (movies, Next Gen) from either Starlog or from TV specials and adverts. Nothing quite like the 70s, but still a different world than what we got now with online access.

 

[22 Stars]

And even then there was the "lead time" for the magazine, so the information was usually 6 months out of date by the time one read an article in StarLog. But those columns from David Gerrold were like a fine wine.

On a tangent, who among us used the Exploration Set AMT model kit to "role play" our favorite space opera heroes? (Of course, back then, we simply called it "let's pretend". "Role play"? What's that? Tumbling exercises? )

Sincerely,

Bill

Count me in. Rumor has it that i even locked a friend in a large trunk in the living room pretending it was monster that ate him on an alien planet.... my bad. Sorry Adam!

That exploration kit was like magic. As were the Mego walkie talkies and dolls.

 

[Therin of Andor]

No infighting amongst fans which developed with each successive new version of Trek.

In every group of passionate people there will be infighting. It's inevitable. If you didn't witness any, it doesn't mean it wasn't there.

 

[Redfern]

Oh, really weird incident with the Mego figures. My buddy Kyle and I were in a neighboring apratment complex, one structured rather like a hotel with long drab corridors with domacile doors lining both sides. There was a central "atrium" three stories high with "bridges spanning the second and third levels. For forgotten reasons I was on the second level while Kyle was on the ground floor. And for additional unknown reasons, we wanted his Kirk figure on the second floor. So he tossed it my way and as it barely reached my altitude, I caught it, or so I thought. "I got it," I exclaimed. Kyle countered, "What're you talking about? It's fallen right here!" That wasn't right. "Uh, Kyle? I seem to be missing Kirk's legs." I'm notsure how it happened; the timing was so bizarre, but upon grabbing the doll, the internal rubber band that held the arms and legs tight against the chest and hip pieces snapped at that very instant! The result was that I held Kirk's head, chest and arms, loosely held together by his tunic, in my hand, while the hip and legs, held together by the pants, fell to Kyle's feet! As frustrating as it was for Kyle's figure to "break" like that, we still had to laugh at the insanely small odds this could happen!

Sincerely,

Bill

 

[Therin of Andor]

And even then there was the "lead time" for the magazine, so the information was usually 6 months out of date by the time one read an article in StarLog.

I would dispute "six months". Interviews had a longer lead-time than "news". Starlog reserved several pages for last-minute announcements, so information in that part was only ever a few weeks delayed. (Of course, in the beginning, "Starlog" was a quarterly magazine, not monthly.)

 

[Captain Robert April]

Anybody else remember the Star Trek Welcommittee?

 

[Maurice]

My most vivid memory of that time is when I was in Jr. High and met a fellow fan who was passing through the small town I lived in, and he gave me a Star Trek fan club newsletter that had a piece about the upcoming Star Trek movie...which was Planet of the Titans! It was like being in a secret organization to have such "inside" information.

Yes, this was like 1976/77.