1979: ALIEN BURSTS OUT OF FANTASTIC FILMS MAGAZINE

From October 1979: FANTASTIC FILMS magazine covers ALIEN.

This is Volume 2, Issue 5 of the second tier Star Age journal.

1978: FANTASTIC FILMS Issue 4

From October 1978: the fourth issue of FANTASTIC FILMS magazine.

I picked up a few of these in a 50% off sale over the summer so I'll post them as-and-when. Like their genre companions, they provide a nostalgic snapshot of the Star Age... And the covers may remind you of some long-forgotten treasure that somehow didn't gather much in the way of cultural traction.

1979: BUCK ROGERS IN THE 25th CENTURY in FANTASTIC FILMS MAGAZINE

From 1979: the ninth issue of FANTASTIC FILMS magazine (July) runs an extensive ten page feature devoted to the screen-size flip-flopping opener to BUCK ROGERS IN THE 25th CENTURY (aka Awakening, albeit off screen). 

Like much of the early print media related to the show (and, indeed, the Mego action figures which were all derived from the movie), the Big Bad of Draco (Ardala's pa) is prominently featured in the publicity stills. In the final cut, the scenes involving Joseph Wiseman's character were all, the exception of none brief scene reminiscent of the yet-to-be-shot debut of the Emperor in THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, droped from both the theatrical and TV cuts. 

The character was referenced  ("Your father...") by Ardala and Kane throughout their first season appearances but it was obvious the writing team had no plans to bring the character back.

Unlike BATTLESTAR, Buck's deleted scenes have no been fully explored on line and don't seem to have entered the public domain. Hopefully they'll be unearthed, along with any blooper reels and a full account of the making of the series for any future Blu Ray release. There is a fan cut of the movie in circulation which combined scenes from the two official edits. 

The BUCK ROGERS movie was shot, alongside the opening instalments of BATTLESTAR, during the summer of 1978 (allowing the Draconia's corridors to double as the Viper Pilot transport tube amongst other double-ups), but not released until the following year. 

1978: FANTASTIC FILMS MAGAZINE issue 1

From June 1978: the launch issue of yet another Star Age magazine launched in the wake of the success of Star Wars... FANTASTIC FILMS.

To the credit of the editorial team, this was (for its time) a pretty good package and, whilst not quite Starlog, was certainly several notches above the various quickies that Warren and co were churning out.

The attempts to translate the alien language of CE3K and others is fun but also the sort of thing that gave fandom a bad name in the mainstream media... At least in the Star Age.

FF wasn't initially big on cover numbers and frequently relaunched with new volumes which makes trying to figure out which issue is which pretty tricky. This is identified in the small print as Volume 1, issue 1 but there was an earlier "première" issue dated April '78 which I don't have in my collection.

The magazine eventually ran through to 1985.  

1980: SATURN 3 on the cover of FANTASTIC FILMS

From 1980: The robot from ITC's SATURN 3 graces the cover of FANTASTIC FILMS Volume 3, Number 1 (aka Collectors Edition 7 according to the cover).

Interestingly, they have it as Saturn III (with roman numerals) but I can't find the film's title presented like that in any official print publicity (even overseas releases)... presumably because they didn't want to look like a sequel. 

1982: WHO KILLED THE BATTLESTAR? (Fantastic Films Magazine)

Here's a great 1982 article, by William D. Adams, analysing why BATTLESTAR GALACTICA was unceremoniously canned after a single season (1978-79) on-air.

It appeared in the oft-forgotten US magazine FANTASTIC FILMS, issue 29 (June 1982).