1990: STARLOG'S ACTION HEROES MAGAZINE ISSUE 2

From 1990, the 'that'll do' cover for ACTION HEROES magazine issue 2, another in the numerous spin-offs from the Starlog Group.

1995: STARLOG MAGAZINE PREVIEWS SPACE: ABOVE AND BEYOND

From 1995: SPACE: ABOVE AND BEYOND, FOX's one-season-wonder, is previewed by STARLOG MAGAZINE.

After a lousy opening night, the show settled down to be pretty good stuff.  It never quite managed to capture the TOUR OF DUTY in space vibe that i think it really needed (the writing wasn't quite good enough) but it put together some strong episodes played out by a good cast.  The world-building and back-story was also pretty interesting with lots of opportunities to explore various facets of the war with the aliens further had the show been renewed.  It did - however - pass out with a cracking two-part conclusion with unresolved cliffhangers aplenty.  It's on DVD (and the UK edition comes with some exclusive new material including a documentary).

1995: MAXIMUM PRESS REVIVE BATTLESTAR GALACTICA COMICS IN STARLOG MAGAZINE

From 1995: BATTLESTAR GALACTICA returns to comics (for the first time since the Marvel years over a decade earlier) as reported in STARLOG MAGAZINE.

Mximum Press (a bolt hole for publisher/ industry villain Rob Liefield when things got too hot at Image Comics) enjoyed some success with their take on the long-slumbering franchise, eventually publishing a bunch of mini-series (and booking a slot in the company's anthology), before stuttering to a hallt.

Most of it is hard to find unless you stumble across a dealer who has some in stock.  They don't tend to sell for much... there just wasn't much demand for them so copies are few and far between.  Only the first four-part series, set twenty yahrns after the TV show... and ignoring GALACTICA 1980... was ever collected into a trade paperback.  Which is - of course - decades out-of-print as well.

The complete run was:

• BATTLESTAR GALACTICA (4 issues + the trade paperback reprint)
• THE ENEMY WITHIN (3 issues)
• STARBUCK (3 issues)
• APOLLO'S JOURNEY (3 issues.  Written by Richard Hatch)
• JOURNEY'S END (4 issues)
• ASYLUM (a BG strip appeared in 1-5, 7-8, 10. A single-page pin-up appears in 6)
• THE COMPENDIUM (collects the BG strips from ASYLUM 1-4, 10)
• SPECIAL EDITION (collects the BG strips from ASYLUM 4-5, 7)

ASYLUM 6 also included a SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN/ BIONIC WOMAN story, the first outing of what was intended to be an ongoing revival of the Universal franchise.  

STARLOG MAGAZINE BUCK ROGERS IN THE 25th CENTURY RETROSPECTIVE - PART TWO

From 1996: the second part of STARLOG MAGAZINE's brilliant two-part look back at the making of BUCK ROGERS IN THE 25th CENTURY.

 

1996: STARLOG MAGAZINE BUCK ROGERS IN THE 25th CENTURY RETROSPECTIVE - PART 1

From 1996: the first of a two-part epic look back at the turbulent behind-the-scenes story of the making of BUCK ROGERS IN THE 25th CENTURY, as recounted in this excellent STARLOG MAGAZINE article.

1996: STARLOG MOVIE TIE-IN MAGAZINES

from 1996: The danger with publishing licensed tie-ins is that you have to take a bet on movies and TV shows that - unless they have a good track record (and Starlog even fell out of love with Trek towards the end) - could be a total stinker.  

Just like the Hollywood studios, STARLOG GROUP must have had a ratio of sustainable hits-to-failures which allowed the profits from the successful hook-ups to offset the losses from the disasters.

I'm betting none of these mags turned much of a profit for the publisher... Maybe that's why they had to charge 75 dollars (including postage) for a reprint (see previous post).  

1996: STARLOG ISSUE 1 20th ANNIVERSARY REPRINT EDITION

From 1996: STARLOG MAGAZINE celebrates 20 years in print with an expensive premium reprint that probably really is genuinely hard-to-find today.  At 75 bucks a copy (including postage... thanks guys) I wonder if this was ever a sell-out item.

JARED MARTIN STARLOG MAGAZINE CARTOON

More Martin: STARLOG MAGAZINE'S Mike Fisher riffs on the underlying obligatory sexual tension wafting through WAR OF THE WORLDS season one.

JARED MARTIN INTERVIEW IN STARLOG MAGAZINE

From the STARLOG MAGAZINE vaults: Journeyman TV actor Jared Martin died last week so, to mark his passing, here is a Starlog interview conducted to promote the first season of Paramount's low(ish) budget SF-horror hybrid (and late-night ITV schedule filler) WAR OF THE WORLDS.

Martin, who's other credits included gone-in-a-mo Seventies SFer FANTASTIC JOURNEY and a stint on DALLAS, was one of those samm-screen mainstays who never seemed to shine but had plenty of work.  I've not seen him ina nything new for decades but I was still sad to note his passing.

ROGER MOORE STARLOG MAGAZINE COVERS

More BONDage: There's no shortage of Roger Moore as JAMES BOND magazine covers out there but here are a couple of STARLOG MAGAZINE covers that I had to hand.

The former, a piece of MOONRAKER, marketing key art also turned up as a cover of 2000AD, demonstrating that The Mighty One wasn't adverse to a bit of piggybacking on a franchise when he wanted to.

1981: FORBIDDEN PLANET OPENS IN NEW YORK

From September 1981: STARLOG MAGAZINE reports on the opening of New York's FORBIDDEN PLANET store, imported from jolly ol' England.

1986: ALIENS MAGAZINES STARLOG HOUSE AD

The new ALIEN movie is out in the UK today.... so here is a STARLOG MAGAZINE House Ad for their two official tie-in publications to the first sequel, ALIENS.

I'm not sure whether the ad's copywriter (IE someone in the office) knew anything about the plot of the film (possibly not) or just decided to make up a top line that worked because there were two magazines regardless of the countless number of aliens that turn up in the movie itself.

1986: THE DC STAR TREK COMIC CELEBRATES 20 YEARS OF TREKKIN' IN STARLOG MAGAZINE

From 1986: More STARLOG MAGAZINE salutes to the STAR TREK spin-offs during the 20th anniversary year.  This time: the first run of the DC Comics series....

1978: STARLOG MAGAZINE TV PREVIEW

From 1978: More small-screen previews from STARLOG MAGAZINE: BRAVE NEW WORLD; MORK AND MINDY (the show that killed BATTLESTAR... despite being on the same team); teleflick MANDRAKE; PROJECT UFO and the FANTASTIC FOUR cartoon responsible for one of the biggest urban legends of the Star Age...

1978: STARLOG PREVIEWS BATTLESTAR GALACTICA

From 1978: Another STARLOG MAGAZINE preview for BATTLESTAR GALACTICA.

Which somehow manages to make the opening night look a lot less exciting than it actually was.  What's with all the old folk when you have handsome heroes and hefty hardware?

It feels like a piece put together for a magazine with a much older readership.  Who might just be tempted to tune in to seee the stars they remembered from their youth in this new-fangled space romp...