1979: STAR TREK THE MOTION PICTURE PRODUCTION ART IN FUTURE LIFE MAGAZINE (STARLOG)

From late 1979: FUTURE LIFE (nee FUTURE, sister title to STARLOG) previews the Christmas release of STAR TREK THE MOTION PICTURE (a slow slog worthy of reappraisal... it really does have an epic quality that the other films in the original run were often lacking). 

This is production art from the film's opening sequence (and for many, the highpoint of the film) which introduced the Mars Bar-headed Klingons (and their austere interior decor)... and promptly dispatched them to demonstrate the power of the alien energy cloud. 

Storyboards credited to John Vallone. 

The sequence itself was simplified for the screen (no doubt down to the crushing Christmas deadline and general sense of chaos permeating the production) but still supplied some early tension which the rest of the film sometimes struggled to recover.  

Some of the other articles in the magazine are also interesting. THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES is one of the more overlooked Star Age TV projects and is worth rediscovering today. 

The Men-on-Mars piece, like yer average episode of TOMORROW'S WORLD, was a typical piece of futuregazing that was light years wide of the mark.  

1978: FUTURE MAGAZINE Issue 8 (Starlog)

From February 1979 (and the Random Scans file): The 8th issue of early STARLOG spin-off FUTURE, boasting a SUPERMAN THE MOVIE cover.  

FUTURE, launched in April 1978, was an odd mix of serious science and Starlog's traditional media coverage.  Presumably the magazine for the thinking fan and scientists who liked to settle down and watch Battlestar Galactica on a Sunday night.  This was the last issue to appear under the original title.  From the next issue, the masthead was subtly amended to become FUTURE LIFE.  

The mag surprisingly plodded on for an impressive 31 issues through to December 1981. 

1978: FILMATION'S FLASH GORDON in FUTURE MAGAZINE

It's back-to-the-FUTURE (magazine) yet again (I'm really getting my monies worth out of these sometimes hard-to-find back issues) for this great behind-the-scenes feature on the Filmation FLASH GORDON animated series.

The show, part of the post STAR WARS rush to get SF projects on-screen, premiered on NBC in 1979 as THE NEW ADVENTURES OF FLASH GORDON (not to be confused with the later DEFENDERS OF THE EARTH).

The show ran for (an unusually high) 32 episodes, split into two 16-episode seasons.  Surprisingly, the second run didn't appear until 1982.

The show remained faithful to Alex Reymond's original creation, even retaining the movie serial-style continuing adventure formula for season one (abandoned, in favour of self-contained episodes, for Year Two), and boasted animation several notches above Filmation's usual standards.

The show, apparently, didn't reach the UK until the BBC aired it from 17 October 1983.

Confusingly, there is a also a feature film version which is much more elusive than the TV series (which has been released on both sides of the Atlantic, although both sets now seem to be deleted).  The film (FLASH GORDON: THE GREATEST ADVENTURE OF THEM ALL) was, apparently, produced before the series but mothballed (possibly at the behest of Dino De Laurentisis to avoid any competition/ confusion with his own spangly Flash Gordon extravaganza) until 1982 (and pretty-much unseen since).  The principle difference between the two animated incarnations is that the movie is set on WWII era Earth.

Unlike the series, it's not been released on DVD but has definitely aired on British TV at some point (possibly a Saturday morning) as I've seen it!

FUTURE

ISSUE 3

July 1978

1979: BATTLESTAR GALACTICA in FUTURE MAGAZINE

Here's a brief FUTURE magazine news piece (issue 7, January 1979) on BATTLESTAR GALACTICA.  The most interesting bit, however, is the seldom-seen (and tricksy-for-the-time) accompanying Cylon picture.  I don't remember seeing it anywhere else although, presumably, it was supplied by Universal's picture publicity people and not concocted by Starlog's own designers.

1979: LESLIE STEVENS DISCUSSES BUCK ROGERS IN FUTURE MAGAZINE

Here's another dip into the FUTURE MAGAZINE vaults for an interview with Leslie Stevens, writer and supervising producer for the feature-length BUCK ROGERS IN THE 25th CENTURY opener (released as a quickie feature in the United States, UK and elsewhere).

FUTURE MAGAZINE

ISSUE 7

January 1979

1978: FUTURE MAGAZINE: BATTLESTAR GALACTICA and DOCTOR STRANGE (TVM)

Here's a couple of TV-related articles from another issue of FUTURE MAGAZINE (issue 5, October 1978), covering BATTLESTAR GALACTICA and the DOCTOR STRANGE tele-flick.

The latter, produced and directed by Philip DeGuere and starring 'tacheman Peter Hooten, aired on CBS in September 1978.  It didn't spawn the hoped-for weekly series.

1978: FUTURE MAGAZINE ISSUE 6: BATTLESTAR GALACTICA

It's back to 1978 and the BATTLESTAR GALACTICA hype machine is running on turbo boost: hyping the imminent arrival of the show on ABC.

This is an article from FUTURE MAGAZINE, STARLOG's long-forgotten little brother which attempted to mix science fact and science fiction (the latter, presumably, to bolster sales).  This issue (6, November 1978) would have appeared around the time the show premiered on ABC.

Future ran several other articles on the show at the time and we'll get around to running them at some point.

Future launched in April 1978, became FUTURE LIFE from issue 9 (March 1979) and eventually shuttered after 31 issues in December 1981.