Starlog #4 — Arena on Archive.org

Enjoy these high-resolution scans — compliments of Archive.org — of an article in Starlog #4 that includes Frederic Brown's short story Arena, which was the inspiration of the TOS episode of the same name.

https://archive.org/stream/starlog_magazine-004/004#page/n33/mode/2up

The link below has enhanced versions of the Archive.org scans, which are even easier to read. (For the record, I enhanced them myself. )

http://www.allsci-fi.com/viewtopic.php?p=22585#22585

Enjoy!

PS: This is what the Gorn looked like in the short story!

 

Maybe this thread won't get locked; I for one admire your tenacity, but I was actually able to read the article after all by googling your username after the last one(s) were locked / the hyperlinks you gave deleted. The thread title intrigued me, esp. as I had read the original short story by Brown back in high school. I don't get why the artwork, which you have cropped above, would be considered at all offensive...except maybe to John Ashcroft.

 

The Horta is much stronger than an ordinary human being. Aroused it's great physical strength could kill!

 

I still have Starlog 4! In fact it's the earliest edition of the magazine I own! I missed the first three which had Star Trek and Space 1999 features in them to launch the book! This one had a big episode guide on The Outer Limits plus a feature on Arena including Fredric Brown's original story with Boris Vallejo style art!
JB

 

I collected Starlog from the first issue on, and still have them. My mother came home one day in 1976 with Starlog No. 1, because she saw it on a newsstand and obviously her son was obsessed with Star Trek. I was like, "What is THIS?" It was such a great find in the pre-Internet era.

I love it that Starlog journalists covered the whole history of science fiction, from Jules Verne and H.G. Wells all the way to the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica series. And now with the online archive, everybody has the complete collection.

 

I was always under the impression that the Trek episode was created as an original story, and the rights to Brown's story purchased after the similarity was noticed. Anyone know if this is actually true?

 

Yes, that's the case, according to various sources including Inside Star Trek by Solow & Justman. Gene Coon didn't intentionally base it on the Brown story, but according to one account, he remembered that he'd read it, so he couldn't be sure it wasn't a subconscious influence. Although mainly it was just that the studio legal department advised paying Brown for the story rights rather than risk a lawsuit later.

 

Yep. Apparently when Coon had to bang out a quick Star Trek story that week, he came down with cryptomnesia. The similarity was caught by Kellam De Forest Research, if I recall.

 

1001001, I regret deleting my posts (one of the them was an unintentional duplicate), and I obviously overreacted to the comment about the Boris painting. (I apologize for calling that person a bozo . . .)

I was disappointed when I was informed that you folks didn't want me to include an invitation to enjoy the 15 OTHER threads on my board which present Starlog and Cinefantastique articles with large, easy-to-ready jpegs obtained from Archive.org and enhanced by me for maximum clarity.

Some of the kind folks who replied on this thread might have already used the second link in my post above to read Arena, and they may have discovered some of the other articles at that site.

Any member who would like to have all the links to the threads with those great articles can send me a PM.

With that in mind, are the Starlog articles on Archive.org considered to be in the public domain? If so, can I create threads here on Trek BBS like my previous one that displays the enhanced pages?

It's obvious from the replies above that Trek BBS has many members who enjoy those great Starlog articles. None of the others I've seen on Archive.org have short stories that might case copyright concerns.

If you'd like to see a sample of what such threads would look like, click on the link below to enjoy a Star Trek article from Starlog #1.

 

Starlog content is not in the public domain. Somebody owns the rights to it, somebody who may or may not have given express permission to the archive. Thus, the more people poke around and ask questions about it online, the greater the danger that we might lose this immense journalistic resource. The archive could be taken away with a few keystrokes. [It doesn't even have to be the real owners who complain. A fake "owner" could attempt copyfraud, and that could lead to a take-down.] So how about we count our blessings and let it go at that?

 

That's a very smart way to look it, ZapBrannigan! The last thing I want to do is risk making trouble for Archive.org. Thanks for explaining the situation to me so well.

Your comment started me thinking about what I've been doing on my own board with those articles! Frankly, I got a little worried. However, since Archive.org lists their Starlog section this way on Google —

Starlog Magazine : Free Text : Free Download . . . Internet Archive

— they seem to be encouraging users to do more than just read the text at their site, the way we do with reference books at a library. But after doing a bit of research on the subject, I learned that one important consideration is that copies of shared material from Archive.org must fall under "non-commercial use". I found an Archive.org site that states this;
________________________________________

What is Non-Commercial Use?

Subscription services: if only subscribers can get to the material, then that is deemed commercial use, even if this is done by a non-profit organization.

If non-subscribers can also get equal access, then it is not commercial.

Ad supported websites that give away materials would be deemed commercial use. Therefore files offered from the AOL.com or NYTimes.com websites would be commercial use.
________________________________________

I'm no lawyer, but I think that verifies the need for caution here at Trek BBS when it comes to posting material the way I did in my earlier attempt to display the article with Arena in the Starlog issue! By gum, NOW I'm glad I deleted it, because Trek BBS is supported by ads!

However, my own message board qualifies as "non-commercial use". It's not supported by ads, and anyone can view it's material, whether they're members or not!

With that in mind, instead of running any risk by posting the complete articles here on Trek BBS, what if I shared those enhanced Starlog articles with you folks the same way I did in my post above — simply by posting the cover of the issue which contains the article (with an embedded link, like I did above), along with a message about why the article might be interesting to the members of Trek BBS?

That way the members here can easily enjoy my large, easy-to-read versions of the articles on a non-commercial site which isn't violating Archive.org's Terms of Service.

Does that sound okay?

 

As a young boy in 1976, my parents got me subscription to STARLOG. I loved every issue because it was my boyhood's internet. I still have all my STARLOG magazine issues from number 1 for the timeless articles.

 

You, sir, are my kinda' guy. Check your PM's please.

 

Apology accepted.

 

I'm grateful. I sure wish I could delete that post.

 

I prefer the term kleptomnesia, which is more direct.

I volunteer at the Internet Archive and they constantly deal with takedown requests. But they're not knee-jerky about it.

 

I'm glad they have some spine. Probably most people who try to intimidate, by implying that they might sue, are blowing smoke. And the current owners of Starlog (probably still the original publishers) might actually like having their great work available to today's sci-fi fans. The magazine was a business, but also a labor of love.

 

Quick question, sir. Are you the same Maurice who is a member of All Sci-Fi? If so, your contributions are greatly appreciated!

If not, I certainly appreciate your contribution here!

As a volunteer at Archive.org, perhaps you can tell us if the copies of the Starlog articles I've posted on All Sci-Fi are inappropriate from a legal standpoint. My modest little message board makes no money off those posts, we just want to enjoy the great Starlolg articles and discuss them among our intelligent members.

I guess my question is this. What is the worst that could happen if someone objected to those fine images being displayed on a small website like mine — one that is, in the strictest sense, making a "non-commercial use" of them?

The good folks here on Trek BBS seem to be erring on the side of caution by prohibiting images, but All Sci-Fi is splashing those wonderful jpegs all over the place like there was no tomorrow!

I hope I'm not doing any harm by sharing those Starlog articles with the modest 135 members of my non-commercial website. Do you think our threads which share those images might cause some of those "takedown request" you mentioned? I realize that this might happen with a site like Trek BBS which has thousands of members and which makes money from online ads.

I was hoping to post links here to All Sci-Fi which permitted the members to enjoy my carefully enhanced versions of the Archive.org scans, but I've be asked not to do this.

Perhaps your insider information on this subject will cause them to reconsider.

Thanks for your help in this matter.

Bud