Man, I would day-dream reading this. Used to buy them all the way up 'til adulthood. Thank God for the internet :confused:

:cry:

http://www.fanboy.com/2009/04/starlog-magazine-beams-out.html

Not surprising. I haven't seen an issue in the local stores in years.

David.

I stopped buying that rag when they spoiled the end of ST:TMP for me in an article they printed before its release.

I stopped buying that rag when they spoiled the end of ST:TMP for me in an article they printed before its release.

It had a surprise ending? I must have missed that one. :wave:

I had bought Starlog continually since first discovering it with Issue#3 - and continuing until Issue#300, when by then it seemed to have totally lost it's original luster and became more of a "teen" mag. I would occasionally pick one up if it had a compelling article or cover - but only rarely. Lately, I haven't noticed a new issue in months.

I'm sorry to see it go. But, for me, it had already gone years ago.

The same thing with Cinefantastique. Never missed an issue in decades, then suddenly it disappears off the newsstands, never to be seen again. I sure hope that Filmfax still manages to stay around for a while.

^ Yeah, after a while you get tired of the rah-rah-huzzah-for-hollywood fluff pieces. It became intolerable when they heaped equal praise for junk movies and good movies alike. If everything is wonderful, nothing is, ya know?

This idea of converting a magazine from print to Internet seems to be catching on. Some of the PC magazines I get (PC Magazine in particular) are stopping printing and bringing up websites that have to be subscribed to (i.e.: Paid for) in order to view their contents. I've already been called parochial in another thread, but I just don't like the loss of the printed magazine. Offer extra content online if you like, and even charge for access to it if you want, but I like that pile of mags in my bathroom! ;)
Larry

i remember buying the very first issue of starlog in a long extinct LBS... and then years later buying my first fangoria there.

like gato said, part of the problem is that they just turned into one big press release for new films. another is that they started up at the same time as the huge science fiction boom, and as it faded, so did their readership...(remember omni?)

besides, theyre primarily a news source (supposedly) for science fiction fans, who are very very likely to use the internet, and the net gives you instant news, where as you have to wait 3 months for it to come via magazine.

so r.i.p. starlog..... at least fangos still kickin'...

This idea of converting a magazine from print to Internet seems to be catching on. Some of the PC magazines I get (PC Magazine in particular) are stopping printing and bringing up websites that have to be subscribed to (i.e.: Paid for) in order to view their contents. I've already been called parochial in another thread, but I just don't like the loss of the printed magazine. Offer extra content online if you like, and even charge for access to it if you want, but I like that pile of mags in my bathroom! ;)
Larry

Too right! I guess you could read it via a laptop while having golden time on the can, but it just wouldn't be the same.

According to the Starlog web site, ceasing print publication is a temporary measure while they redesign the magazine. That may be self-delusion in the long run -- or just an overly-optimistic outlook -- but I will say that it needs a redesign, very much. It also needs a shift in approach to survive in print, I think.

They used to have a little box near the front of the magazine that gave the titles of films that were expected in the future, whether in production or just planned. How I used to look forward to reading the magazine just for that! It was the only place I could get such information back then.

Qapla'

SSB

I read Starlog religiously 30 years ago. But once Al Gore invented the internet it was only a matter of time..... :)

Seems like only yesterday I picked up the first issue. I've got a collection of the first 40 or so (they make great "light reading" in the john), but the last time I bought a copy was in the mid-80's.

Considering we live in an age when such venerable publications as Time Magazine, Daily Variety, the New Yorker, and Vanity Fair are struggling to retain a presence in their original format, I can't say I'm surprised by Starlog's demise. It's brutal out there.

I think that 33 years is long enough for this particular magazine. It was fun to read in the 70's and 80's, but when the staff started changing and the internet came on the scene, Starlog just didn't seem to be able to keep up. I've read more issues in a bookstore in recent years, but very rarely actually bought one.

I know that there are still a few good UK SciFi mags on the racks, maybe Starlog should be looking at them and seeing how those survive in an era saturated by electronic media. Until they figure that out, they should just keep it dormant.

Bryan

Considering we live in an age when such venerable publications as Time Magazine, Daily Variety, the New Yorker, and Vanity Fair are struggling to retain a presence in their original format, I can't say I'm surprised by Starlog's demise. It's brutal out there.

TIME is now about the same thickness and number of pages as was an issue of Spider-Man when I was 10 years old. I'm sometimes pretty hard on people when they lament that "things aren't like they used to be" but the decline of print media is really bumming me out in a serious way.

I'm sometimes pretty hard on people when they lament that "things aren't like they used to be" but the decline of print media is really bumming me out in a serious way.

What I find particularly disorienting is the gradual erosion and devaluation of traditional journalism. Forget H.L. Mencken and Ben Hecht; we don't even have Walter Cronkite any more. The internet has tremendous potential as an information delivery device, but who can you trust to report the news? At present some of the best and most reliable coverage is to be found on Comedy Central. And that's pathetic.

But I digress. Stepping off my soapbox, I lift a toast to Kerry O'Quinn, and F.S. Clarke. Although Starlog and Cinefantastique are no longer with us, their spirit lives on. Sort of.

Most of the stuff printed doesn't deserve to be. Think of all the paper used for newspapers alone. Or phonebooks. And even they get most of their money from ads. Put it on the internet.

Starlog use to be previews, behind the scenes, blueprints, and special effects. Then it became gossip. It went from STARs in the sky to Hollywood STARlog.

Kit Car closed down, and several hot rod suppliers. Times are tough, and the DIY people are getting older.

I guess that's what happened to our favorite movie magazines, Movieline and Premier. My wife is sad she can't find a basic movie magazine (previews, coming projects, reviews, stories on stars) to read any more.

So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish!

Started getting it (with issue 1) when I first saw it at a Trek convention in Wash, DC many, many moons ago. Got the first 100 or so issues (I think I'm missing 3) before I stopped collecting it. I didn't like the direction it was headed in.
As said before, they were the best source for upcoming movies and events and for the behind the scenes look at the many of the best (and not so "best") and only true source for sci-fi movies and TV shows back then. Then something happened (a sell-out if I remember correctly) and it was no longer worth reading.
For those into scale cars it's like comparing Scale Auto Enthusiast with Scale Auto. When the megabucks publisher bought it out from the garage printer, it went down, way down, in quality of offerings and page count.
Starlog and Scale Auto are two examples where profit above people can and will kill what was once a good thing.

I wish Jeff Bond would chime in here because this is literally his business, and I'm sure he could shed a little light on the decline of genre-related magazines.

Unlike Cinefantastique, which originally fashioned itself as the sci-fi equivalent of cahier du cinema (and was therefore the first journal to take the genre seriously), the ever-studio-friendly Starlog catered to a younger sci-fi fan readership. In both cases however the slow slide toward the mainstream was not done so the publishers could get rich... it was done so the magazines could survive. Like any other business, magazines must turn a profit in order to exist. Sadly (or not, depending on your point of view) that's becoming more and more difficult.

What I used to like about Starlog was the wild stuff they had advertised. I got a Colonial Warrior Jacket through them(color was way off, but it was still cool, it took way to long to get it). It used to have merchandise galore, the last time I glanced at it there wasn't very much being advertised. That's a death nil for any publication.

I'm not surprised, the Cons died when the internet took off(At least in Arizona) I couldn't tell you the last time I heard of any sci-fi con going on in Phoenix. Back in the mid nineties there was at least two Creation Cons a year. I figure since the cons went out the mags couldn't be far behind.

There is far more info available on the boards than any mag could ever publish. And you can talk to the guys that make this stuff happen. And the merchandise is way beyond any dealers room, and I don't have pay at the door to see it.

Still sad to see it go.

What I used to like about Starlog was the wild stuff they had advertised.

Case in point...

http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa304/CarsonDyle/starlog3.jpg

Famous Monsters also had great ads. I suppose a case could be made that ebay has become the super-sized, 21st century version of the Captain Company, but somehow it's just not the same.

Famous Monsters also had great ads. I suppose a case could be made that ebay has become the super-sized, 21st century version of the Captain Company, but somehow it's just not the same.

Nah, it ain't. This ad in particular was the preadolescent equivalent to porn for me. Never did get my hands on one.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_z2d4IxltHJI/SdJ-btxaqaI/AAAAAAAAAus/p_Bu9ys7SB8/s400/MasksAd_FamousMonsters.jpg

I can't remember when I last bought a Starlog. I also can't pinpoint the specific change but I felt I was getting less and less out of the magazine. I don't blame the internet as I like reading a magazine. I don't think I ever found a replacement for it.

For modeling magazines I liked the old Sci-Fi and Fantasy and the new one. It has excellent modeling articles and articles and interviews of people in the SFX industry.

I stopped buying that rag when they spoiled the end of ST:TMP for me in an article they printed before its release.

I believe that was issue 25, published around June or July 1979. It hade a Mike Minor painting of the Enterprise on the cover (his Star Trek: Phase II version).

What I used to like about Starlog was the wild stuff they had advertised. I got a Colonial Warrior Jacket through them(color was way off, but it was still cool, it took way to long to get it).

I bought that same jacket. It was called "The Warrior's Battlejacket." It was a loose replica of the Galactica flight jacket, having differences made so Universal-MCA wouldn't sue for copyright infringement. I remember the patch was embroidered with gold metallic thread, and the collar pins were re-casts of Army Intelligence pins, sewn on instead of coming with pinbacks (I quickly remedied that). The color was an olive green, but since it was made of a soft denim, you could easily dye it the proper color. A box of RIT, hang it up, and you were done!

But, being a stickler for accuracy, when my wife and I replicated the full uniforms, we used that jacket as a starting point, but accurized it.

I still have it. In it's original color and I did change the pins.

I still remember finding the first issue at a supermarket...was so worried that it was going to get dragged through a puddle on the conveyor belt by the cashier!

Pre-Internet, the early Starlogs were excellent resources for modeling. And the episode guides were great, too (before you could buy a whole classic series on DVD, the best you could do was read a synopsis!). Back in the early days, it was a real treat.

In my tradition of always coming late to the party, the first issue I found was #5. I brought it to a gathering of my sci-fi-fan friends, all excited, going "look what I found! Look!"

My friend John said "Would you like to see the first four issues?"

:freak:

"Why didn't you TELL ME about it?!" :mad:

:lol:

Nah, it ain't. This ad in particular was the preadolescent equivalent to porn for me. Never did get my hands on one.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_z2d4IxltHJI/SdJ-btxaqaI/AAAAAAAAAus/p_Bu9ys7SB8/s400/MasksAd_FamousMonsters.jpg

Yiou weren't the only, I can remember desperately wanting that Creature from the Black Lagoon mask with matching hands and feet.

Years later I wanted all their Star Wars mask.