From 1986: An advert for THE OFFICIAL STAR TREK FAN CLUB.
This advert appeared in the pages of STARLOG (to be specific: one of there STAR TREK IV: THE VOYAGE HOME tie-in mags).
It always amazed me why anyone, even pre-internet, would want to join the STFC. It always seemed remarkably bad value for money and it wasn't as if there was a shortage of other outlets for all things Trek.
At this point, their magazine was a glossy A5 affair which was also available via comic book stores. I purchased a few at the time but long since ditched them. They were short, the word count was sparse and, except for the opportunity to order more merchandise, didn't offer anything above and beyond what you could find in your average month's STARLOG (except that mag had other pesky film and TV shows cluttering up its pages).
And, if course, it wasn't as if there was a shortage of local clubs and copious fanzines and newsletters that went above and beyond the professional mags. The very best I encountered, during my dalliances around the edges of Trek fandom, was Scotland's IDIC. They always published great newsletters.
The organisers of the Trek club subsequently took over the all but moribund Star Wars Fan Club (another organisation who's legendary newsletter, BANTHA TRACKS, didn't seem that great), rebadged it the LUCASFILM FAN CLUB (sign of the times) and shifted both newsletters to a not-quite A4 format.., and a remarkably low page count padded out by plugs for mail order merchandise.
have you still got copies of the IDIC newsletter ? I should think that fanzines / newsletters are much harder to come by these days than back issues of regular mags.
ReplyDeleteDon't forget that the trek fan club mag evolved into STAR TREK COMMUNICATOR which at its peak made for an impressive package. Sadly it was axed after issue 150 although thankfully the trek mag by titan continues to this day.
And the lucasfilm mag became STAR WARS INSIDER, also still with us.