The original Star Trek Monthly available again

[JD]

Oh, I figured it would come out wherever it was printed first.

It does; it's printed in the US.

Ah, now I get it.

 

[BrotherBenny]

I have my copy. found it when I got home from work

 

[DimesDan]

I noticed in Smiths yesterday that it was out and I had a flick through, seems ok, but lacking in some way

As for the old mag being released in DVD format, thats great news, I started collecting it around issue seven (it had an image of Data from Generations on the front) and over only missing out on a few (the Next Gen Giant issue celebrating the tenth anniversary being a note worthy excemption from my collection.) untill I went to College and then university which saw me prioritising my money away from Trek and more Studenty pursuits. Also, I still have all the issues of Star Trek Monthly I own in the loft so having them all digiatlly would mean I can put them in for recycling and create some more room.

 

[PaulSimpson]

I noticed in Smiths yesterday that it was out and I had a flick through, seems ok, but lacking in some way

When you've bought a copy, let me know what you felt was lacking

 

[Therin of Andor]

For people curious as to those issues when a slightly different edition was being produced for UK/Aust and USA, these are my old blog entry comparisons:

http://therinofandor.blogspot.com/2006/11/st-magazine-ukaust-vs-st-magazine-us.html

http://therinofandor.blogspot.com/2007/02/comparisons-2-3-st-magazine-ukaust-vs.html

http://therinofandor.blogspot.com/2007/06/comparisons-4-5-st-magazine-ukaust-vs.html

http://therinofandor.blogspot.com/2007/08/comparisons-6-st-magazine-ukaust-vs-st.html

It'll be good to see these CD-ROMs come out. From memory, Australia once had a different local edition again, which was eventually blended into the UK version after a few years, but it meant that the content, cover art and lettercols of the first batches of UK issues (and the issue numbering) were quite different.

 

[Dayton Ward]

^ Reading that, I'd forgotten that the first article Kevin and I didn't appear in US #5, but was included with UK #132. That was kinda weird. ("Hey, Mom! I wrote a magazine article, but you have to fly to England to read it!")

 

[Danlav05]

This si marvellous news is this a seperate release or a 'free gift' with each issue?

I started collecting issue 20 onwards, wavered then came back. Unfortunately I don't have all the issues I bought, so this should be a nice trip down memory lane. I particularly enjoyed the 'Crossovers' special as a kid, so I look forward to seeing that one again, among others.

 

[PaulSimpson]

This si marvellous news is this a seperate release or a 'free gift' with each issue?

Separate release- they'd be one heck of a free gift!!

Paul

 

[Ktrek]

Paul - Do you happen to know what the asking price in U.S. currency will be for each volume? I think the success of the series will depend upon the right price point.

Kevin

 

[PaulSimpson]

Paul - Do you happen to know what the asking price in U.S. currency will be for each volume? I think the success of the series will depend upon the right price point.

Kevin

As soon as I do, I'll post the information; I believe that the info will be released when the website for ordering goes live at some point between now and issue 16's release. I know what I think it will be, but can't say til I am given the okay to do so

P

 

[PaulSimpson]

Resurrecting this thread - the discs are now available!

Price £19.99 UK, $30 US, £24.99 Overseas direct from

http://www.sds-group.co.uk/shop/

(the /shop isn't printed in the new mag unfortunately but it gets you to the page quicker)

All the articles are fully printable; the comic strips aren't included (although you can see where they were, and as the index for each issue is there, somebody can probably work out which story went where...) and the current Editor of Star Trek Magazine takes no responsibility for any contradictions you may find between the opinions expressed back in the mid 1990s and the way people speak about events now!!

Enjoy!!

Paul

 

[BrotherBenny]

Ordered mine

 

[Trek Survivor]

I won't get it, as I've got all the original issues, but man I loved Star Trek Monthly back in the 1990s. Don't get me wrong, I like the mag now too, but its true to say its a very different magazine (almost literally, save for the numbering) than it once was.

The editorial tone of the mag was distinctly British, and I liked that. Slightly irreverant, sense of humour to the articles... I re-read a lot of the early stuff a few months back. Great nostalgia and great fun. Of course, much of that is tied into what was essentially "Trek's finest hour" in terms of popularity, merchandise available etc.

 

[ChristopherPike]

Same here, I still have all the ST Magazines at the bottom of my wardrobe. Everything from Titan's first issue - a reprint of (Starlog's?) Generations movie mag, a stack some 3 foot high the last time I checked! As a Brit, it was (and still is) the essential publication - mainly because even when TNG/DS9 were wildly popular, the US Communicator seemed so damn hard to find over here.

I wish they hadn't lost the comic strip all those years ago. Interviews and special articles are meat & potatoes of course, but having your own continuing adventures, especially now the franchise is in a lean period - that would really help... in same the way Doctor Who Magazine delt with that show's prolonged absence. When it started ST Monthly was a great Trek variation on Marvel's (now Panini) DWM. Bringing back the strip would be a way of adding another 6-8 pages to a publication that feels a bit thin these days. Does IDW has exclusivity on this though or is it possible that two companies can do it, like Doctor Who? Supposing the licences are dealt out per series - there's already TOS and TNG comics, might not ENT or DS9 be up for grabs? The last series' reputation could be revised thanks to graphic artwork and a decent story (Romulan War anyone?) and then there's DS9 which remains massively popular with fans.

Just some random musing,

Chris

 

[DarkHorizon]

I'll be placing my order this weekend.

 

[PaulSimpson]

I wish they hadn't lost the comic strip all those years ago. Interviews and special articles are meat & potatoes of course, but having your own continuing adventures, especially now the franchise is in a lean period - that would really help...

To the best of my knowledge, we never originated a Star Trek strip in the magazine (I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong) - and the current strips are easily available. But who knows what the future may bring? We're certainly doing more with IDW so never say never to a strip...

Paul

 

[ChristopherPike]

To the best of my knowledge, we never originated a Star Trek strip in the magazine (I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong) - and the current strips are easily available. But who knows what the future may bring?

Cheers, Paul.

No, you're right - they were DC reprints from the '90s, starting off with the TNG/DS9 crossover, later a Titan graphic novel (became a free gift with a landmark edition as I recall). STM never did original strips but something along those lines might be worth considering.

 

[PaulSimpson]

To the best of my knowledge, we never originated a Star Trek strip in the magazine (I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong) - and the current strips are easily available. But who knows what the future may bring?

Cheers, Paul.

No, you're right - they were DC reprints from the '90s, starting off with the TNG/DS9 crossover, later a Titan graphic novel (became a free gift with a landmark edition as I recall). STM never did original strips but something along those lines might be worth considering.

I think of our TV/film mags, only Torchwood originates a strip. Although I guess we do to a certain extent, with Trek Life... Dave Reddick's little ensemble are getting very excited about the movie!!

Paul

 

[DarkHorizon]

Bringing this back up, because, well, I ordered the thing, I got the thing, and now I've reviewed the thing at my blog, reproduced here:

Well, it arrived on Tuesday, and, after a few moments of confusion about what the package was (since I hadn’t actually received an email confirmation that everything was OK with my transaction), I got on with the task of exploring the product.

Each issue has been carefully scanned and reproduced, with the exception of the comic strips that were originally featured in these early issues - licensing and copyright issues have prevented that. The interface is fairly basic, essentially a navigation frame built over a PDF document, but this release isn’t really about the programming, but the content. This first volume covers what many consider to be the "peak" of Star Trek in terms of popularity and impact - the mid 1990's, between the launch of Voyager and the release of Star Trek: First Contact.

Admittedly, there are some gripes, like the fact that the text doesn’t quite display properly - the fonts seem slightly reduced, making them harder to read as a result. Also, the "copyright restrictions" message on the comic strips is reasonable, but does it have to be displayed in place of every single page? Why not just have one page with the message on, and then skip to after the end of the strip? Otherwise, it is extremely hard to navigate past it, as you don’t really know how many pages you’ve skipped, and how many more there are before the magazine appears again. Obviously, this isn't an issue that has to be corrected for Volume 2, since this volume contains the only issues to include comic strips, and the restriction isn't likely to be needed again (unless there's an issue with the novel extracts...). The navigation menu - being set up by type of feature, rather than just the order in the magazine - is not all that helpful to navigate, as it happens, particularly if you want to jump past the comic strip (since you can’t tell what the first feature after it is).

Still, regardless of all that, it is a brilliant product, which does exactly what it says on the tin, and certainly will be of interest to those who crave background information on the various series. Volume 2 cannot come soon enough for me.

 

[PaulSimpson]

^^Thanks for this - the font issue is one I'm not aware of: I understood that everything was as it was, and nothing should have been reduced. I've forwarded your comments to the company and will report back any response.

As far as the comic strips goes, the way the issues are set up is that there are x pages on the disc set up per issue, and those pages are going to be there on the disc irrespective of whether we reprint the strip or not. I suggested putting the message there as a placeholder - we couldn't personalise each page for it.

As far as the extracts goes, I certainly hope that there won't be restrictions as and when we get to those - some of Dan Bura's finest photoshop work has been created to illustrate these (and given credence to a few theories in the "Cast the characters" thread... wait for the Vanguard piece this coming issue).

Paul