I downloaded Spockanalia 1 and 2 and man I hadn't realised how many pages these things were. 112 pages for issue 2! Sweet jesus. I expected something like 20 pages, like a comic book. This is wild.
The Fanzines of Trek -- in situ
- Thread starter Neopeius
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Here's a question that never occurred to me before this thread. What was the ratio of letterzines and/or newszines to fanfic zines?
My research was all in fanfic, and I always assumed that they were the more prevalent form. It occurs to me, though, that letterzines would be a lot easier to compile.
My research was all in fanfic, and I always assumed that they were the more prevalent form. It occurs to me, though, that letterzines would be a lot easier to compile.
That'll be September for us. Remember, they had all summer to compose and collect the material!
If you go to Fanac's chronological list, you can get a pretty good idea.By 1967, it does seem that fic is less common than other types of fan content in the zines.
Is Fanac reasonably complete? One thing I noted in my searches is that I'd find a one-off from some group which (I'm guessing) never produced another zine. I don't find these being referenced, for good reason.
It's not bad. If you check all the zines for a given month, there will generally be at least one that has a section summarizing all the other zines of that month, and that's where you can find the ones Fanac doesn't have.
For the 1950s, the sf mag Imagination has got a section called "Fandora's Box" that summarizes zines, too. First Mari Wolf then Robert Bloch did that column.
I have one issue of Interstat, nut we moved a few months back, and most everything that's not a day-to-day necessity is still in boxes. If I com across it I'll post it up somewhere.
I'm only 6 issues away from a complete run of Interstat -- but it's hard copies. I haven't found scans online anywhere. In fact, I've found remarkably few Trekzines online. There may be questions about copyrights (since zineds tended to revert copyrights to the content creators.) Or the editors might be waiting for someone to pony up some cash in exchange for preserving their work.
Sadly, I don't have permission to share. As was said, copyright; all the stuff is owned by the original writers. Plus, even though it's 55 years on, some may be embarrassed about what they wrote as an excited teen. I will summarize what's out there as we go, though.
And, specifically, Interstat didn’t start until 1977, so we’re still a decade out from coverage of that zine on this thread.
The February 1967 Science Fiction Times is in. Aside from passing on what he learned in last month's Yandro, James Ashe has this to say about the first Blish novelization:
"Don't knock Blish's adaptations of Star Trek plots into a collection of short stories. If you must criticize, first take a hard look at what we all considered fair science fiction around 1945! Fine reading for all but perfectionists. Hasn't anybody noticed that, perhaps for the first time, there's been some s-f on tv good enough to be adapted into a book?"
I thought his following piece was interesting, too:
"Murray Leinster's writing of Time Tunnel plots is, I believe, considerably superior to the tv version. Like Blish's Star Trek it compares very favorably with the average grade of science fiction not too long ago. Leinster has some counts against him in this work, but he's done a nice job on it."
"Don't knock Blish's adaptations of Star Trek plots into a collection of short stories. If you must criticize, first take a hard look at what we all considered fair science fiction around 1945! Fine reading for all but perfectionists. Hasn't anybody noticed that, perhaps for the first time, there's been some s-f on tv good enough to be adapted into a book?"
I thought his following piece was interesting, too:
"Murray Leinster's writing of Time Tunnel plots is, I believe, considerably superior to the tv version. Like Blish's Star Trek it compares very favorably with the average grade of science fiction not too long ago. Leinster has some counts against him in this work, but he's done a nice job on it."
I know Lost in Space got at least one novelization published, in 1965. It was a Pyramid paperback by Dave Van Arnam and Ron Archer. I have a web-found photo of the cover in my (very old) personal archives. An online search tonight turned up nothing, so I'd say it's a rare collectible and little-known today.
Edit: Look in the right place, and of course the Internet knows about it:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13561634-lost-in-space
Edit: This LIS book was actually published in Oct. 1967, despite the Year 1 cover photo. So Star Trek did beat it to the bookstores.
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There is actually a novelization of Forbidden Planet, and it isn't half bad. It was written by Philip MacDonald (as W.J. Stuart) in the 50s and follows an earlier draft of the script. But the best part is that the novel is divided up into sections, each one told by one of the characters. We see the action of the story as experienced from various viewpoints, including a section by Morbius. In my book, FP is proto-Trek. Recommended.
Thanks for the info, @MGagen and @ZapBranigan!
Another fanzine, Double Bill 16, is in. It is mostly fannish thoughts, notable for having Lloyd Biggle, jr. (a filthy pro) as one of the columnists.
Chief Editor Bill Mallardi, from Akron, OH, has this to say re: Trek and his part in efforts to save it:
"...I...have moved away from my folk's house....Since I have no TV set, and they know I enjoy STAR TREK, I have a standing invite every Thursday for supper and to watch STAR TREK before I go to work. And later on they'll give me their old set from the basement, as soon as it has some work done on it.
SPEAKING OF STAR TREK, I'm happy to hear it's been given the go ahead for 30 more episodes -- but needs at least 120 more! Thanks to Lloyd Biggle Jr., Sec. of SFWA, I was able to get a handful of those "Committee Letters" -- and even before Harlan Ellison mailed his out, I had sent mine. I also wrote in to the local paper, T.V. GUIDE, and NBC. I like the show very much, as I told Gene Roddenberry at the TRICON. (At the con he told me he was sweating it's [sic] reception by the fans after seeing the boos and hisses the TIME TUNNEL pilot received [much deserved]. To his pleasant surprise the STAR TREK pilots were applauded -- the fans recognized the fact that it was adult sf, and had believable dialogue! Let's hope it never changes, except for the better. It's the best sf show on TV in my opinion. It isn't perfect, but it comes closest than anything else to what we sf fans call good sf. I particularly like the way all of the main characters' personalities are developed. Besides the Capt., Mr. Spock, and Bones (the doctor) one of my personal favorites is Engineer Officer, Scotty. And the women are something else...
The only complaint I can make is that a few times (and only a few) it seems the plots were padded a bit to stretch them to a full hour, when they were actually 30 minute storys. [sic] Maybe what was needed then was more action. Most fans I know (and even non-fans) like the show, and even my father, who doesn't care for S.F., watches it almost as avidly as I do. I understand that there may not be too many sf writers doing the scripts any more - because of their demands for too much money. [This info came from the SFWA, first reported in Degler's December market issue; see above] Is this true or not? If so, it's the writers' faults, not Roddenberry's or the show's. They seem to have brought it on themselves - ruining a Good Thing instead of helping it along."
So Bill Mallardi's a fan, and he did his part in the First Campaign. Good on him.
Only other item was a passing reference from Mary Young in the lettercol:
"And television has the same problem [as books lately]...why cause people to think? It might disturb them. Take the supposed ratings of TIME TUNNEL over STAR TREK...of course there's hop, I hear rumours that ABC is thinking of bringing back the AVENGERS series as a replacement."
If Time Tunnel was beating Trek in the ratings, it didn't help in the end...
Also, the Avengers did come on, and it's in color. The first episode I've caught features time travel.
That's it for this week. More next, including the second issue of Vulcanalia!
Another fanzine, Double Bill 16, is in. It is mostly fannish thoughts, notable for having Lloyd Biggle, jr. (a filthy pro) as one of the columnists.
Chief Editor Bill Mallardi, from Akron, OH, has this to say re: Trek and his part in efforts to save it:
"...I...have moved away from my folk's house....Since I have no TV set, and they know I enjoy STAR TREK, I have a standing invite every Thursday for supper and to watch STAR TREK before I go to work. And later on they'll give me their old set from the basement, as soon as it has some work done on it.
SPEAKING OF STAR TREK, I'm happy to hear it's been given the go ahead for 30 more episodes -- but needs at least 120 more! Thanks to Lloyd Biggle Jr., Sec. of SFWA, I was able to get a handful of those "Committee Letters" -- and even before Harlan Ellison mailed his out, I had sent mine. I also wrote in to the local paper, T.V. GUIDE, and NBC. I like the show very much, as I told Gene Roddenberry at the TRICON. (At the con he told me he was sweating it's [sic] reception by the fans after seeing the boos and hisses the TIME TUNNEL pilot received [much deserved]. To his pleasant surprise the STAR TREK pilots were applauded -- the fans recognized the fact that it was adult sf, and had believable dialogue! Let's hope it never changes, except for the better. It's the best sf show on TV in my opinion. It isn't perfect, but it comes closest than anything else to what we sf fans call good sf. I particularly like the way all of the main characters' personalities are developed. Besides the Capt., Mr. Spock, and Bones (the doctor) one of my personal favorites is Engineer Officer, Scotty. And the women are something else...
The only complaint I can make is that a few times (and only a few) it seems the plots were padded a bit to stretch them to a full hour, when they were actually 30 minute storys. [sic] Maybe what was needed then was more action. Most fans I know (and even non-fans) like the show, and even my father, who doesn't care for S.F., watches it almost as avidly as I do. I understand that there may not be too many sf writers doing the scripts any more - because of their demands for too much money. [This info came from the SFWA, first reported in Degler's December market issue; see above] Is this true or not? If so, it's the writers' faults, not Roddenberry's or the show's. They seem to have brought it on themselves - ruining a Good Thing instead of helping it along."
So Bill Mallardi's a fan, and he did his part in the First Campaign. Good on him.
Only other item was a passing reference from Mary Young in the lettercol:
"And television has the same problem [as books lately]...why cause people to think? It might disturb them. Take the supposed ratings of TIME TUNNEL over STAR TREK...of course there's hop, I hear rumours that ABC is thinking of bringing back the AVENGERS series as a replacement."
If Time Tunnel was beating Trek in the ratings, it didn't help in the end...
Also, the Avengers did come on, and it's in color. The first episode I've caught features time travel.
That's it for this week. More next, including the second issue of Vulcanalia!
Yeah, I have a vintage copy myself - definitely worth reading.
King Kong got a novelization by Delos W. Lovelace in 1933. I snapped up a copy when it was reprinted in 2005 to coincide with the Peter Jackson remake. But I haven't read it. The first 29 pages are modern introductions.
The novelization of Metropolis came out (in German) a year before the film. It was translated into English to coincide with the US release. Ace Books reprinted the translation in the early 60s. I tried to read it last year after watching the restored film, but didn’t get very far, due to the 1920s sensibility.
Forry Ackerman’s fawning introduction didn’t help, either.
Forry Ackerman’s fawning introduction didn’t help, either.
Fanlore might be of assistance.
https://fanlore.org/wiki/Main_Page
Anecdotally, fan clubs often did a regular (monthly, bimonthly) newsletter and an irregular (annual?) fanfic zine. All the clubs I was associated with tended to do that.
It was also rereleased in the late 80s, around the time of the stage musical, "Return to the Forbidden Planet". I bought a copy for the Australian actor playing the roller-skating robot, Ariel (ie. Robby).
I love that this was also picked up on by the team that did Bantam's "Star Trek Maps". A few Easter eggs there.
My theory is that the Krell were "The Old Ones" mentioned by Ruk in "What Are Little Girls Made Of?"
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I've thought this as well.
I really missed out not living on either coast in the 60’s. One way to use the fanzines would be to see if anyone was a salesman who had relatives in big cities.
I have this nightmare of old storage units filled with trekdom that is to wind up in a dumpster:
“I wanted tools’! What’s this crap? Throw it out.”
I have this nightmare of old storage units filled with trekdom that is to wind up in a dumpster:
“I wanted tools’! What’s this crap? Throw it out.”
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