RIP Starlog

[palitoy]

Scoop - Where the Magic of Collecting Comes Alive! - Starlog.com Relaunches Site, Ceases Print (http://scoop.diamondgalleries.com/public/default.asp?t=1&m=1&c=34&s=259&ai=82061)

Looks like Starlog is no longer a magazine, even though I stopped buying issues in the late 1980s, there was a point where I couldn't wait until the next issue.

Starlog was the first place I bought mail order vintage toys (Palitoy Talkign Dalek and a Mego Frankenstein) and it was kind of my window into sci fi geekery. I grew up kind of rural so Starlog was a big deal.

The new site will allow downloads of it's past issues, which is pretty sweet.

[toys2cool]

all good things must come to an end,it's pretty cool that it lasted as long as it did

[EMCE Hammer]

I feel old. One less thing to pass on to my kid:-( I guess it's irrelevant with the rise of the interweb.

[Mikey]

Starlog was great back in the late 70's early 80's.
I was first introduced to it in highschool back in 79-ish
I had a subscription from around late '79 to '84-ish.
After 84-ish, they seemed to stop focussing on classic sci-fi and went in more for the new current movies (which I didn't care for).
The last issue I ever bought off the newstand featured Mel Gibson in The Man Without a Face... It was this kind of content which turned me off to it for good.

RIP, SL
You were good from the start

[Gorn Captain]

I stopped reading about eight years ago.
The articles just didn't seem to be so good anymore, and imported mags like this usually set you back $10-15 here.
I still a ton of them stored away, as I started reading them from issue 15.

[palitoy]

I think the thing that turned me off more than the focus to everything that's new was the "trek focus" of the interviews. It got to be where they'd interview some veteran actor who had appeared in over say 50-70 movies and hundreds of TV shows and their questions would be "What was William Shatner like?"

I found that kind of dull and narrow minded, the people they were interviewing wouldn't have any insight or annecdotes either because it was one week in their lives 25 years previous.

[samurainoir]

LOVED Starlog as a kid. Oddly enough, I discovered it because my school library had one copy. I signed it out constantly and read it and looked at the pictures every day. All the stuff I loved in one magazine... Star Wars, Buck Rogers, Doctor Who, Battlestar Galactica, Superman, Lost in Space and lots of other scifi stuff.

Stopped reading Starlog when I discovered horror movies and Fangoria.

Flipping through my box of old magazines, I'd say Cinemafantastique was my favourite since it seemed to tread the middle ground between the two, and went into much more depth than either one.

[Mikey]

Stranglely, I was never a fan of Cinemafantastique.

They had GREAT covers but were overpriced considering how many pages they had.

[Captain]

I used to live for Starlog. Up into the late eighties....then the cost of the book and lack of decent material (ie coverage of crappy movies of the period) caused me to pretty much stop. With the internet spreading rumors, news and information faster than it even actually happens, the need for a mag like Starlog just died. I hope their web-site works out for them.
The only sci-fi magazine I really miss was the old Star Trek Magazine. Yes, it was pricey, but I loved the cutaways, and other general Treknology articles. They should have dumped the interviews and just focused on the tech end of things in my opinion...maybe printing a line of resource books or something?......OOps...sorry, I'm wandering off topic again...wheres my ritolin!

[Nostalgiabuff]

guess that explains why they suddenly ended their relationship with Diamond and took down the store

[david_b]

Starlog was great back in the late 70's early 80's.
I was first introduced to it in highschool back in 79-ish
I had a subscription from around late '79 to '84-ish.
After 84-ish, they seemed to stop focussing on classic sci-fi and went in more for the new current movies (which I didn't care for).


I was excited to purchase Issue #1 when it first hit the stands.. Back in the day (as most of you should remember..), there wasn't any intelligent magazines out on the stands except for 'Hollywood Monsters' and stuff like that for any good pics or interesting stories.

That ALL changed with Starlog #1.. It paved the way for everything, a few years before Star Wars came on the scene.

An actual Star Trek episode guide.., high quality color paper, insightful articles, current news, letters to the editor.. It was about time..!

I stopped when I started attending college, much about the time like Type1 said, they stopped focusing on older fare.., besides there wasn't much good sci-fi to come out of the '80s at that point, other than Trek and SW.., so I stopped collecting as well.

I remember my heart stopping when iss 6 announced the cancellation of Space:1999.

david_b

[Mikey]

Anybody ever buy the Starlog Photoguides ?
At one time, I owned them all.

Also, I had the Robby the Robot send-away poster and Space 1999 Tech Manual notebook.

[palitoy]

there wasn't any intelligent magazines out on the stands except for 'Hollywood Monsters' and stuff like that for any good pics or interesting stories.

Heh, I discovered "Famous Monsters" long after I had Starlog and I remember thinking "Who writes this stuff?". I had been spoiled.

[Mikey]

once in a great while i'd treat myself to a Starburst, but it was nowhere near the quality of Starlog.

Also, it was too expensive because you had to get it in specialty shops.

[palitoy]

once in a great while i'd treat myself to a Starburst, but it was nowhere near the quality of Starlog.

Also, it was too expensive because you had to get it in specialty shops.

I remember buying one of those crappy imitators that came after Star Wars broke out, I think it was called "Laser Blast" or something awful like that. It made "Cracked" look like "National Lampoon"...

[clemso]

I loved Famous Monsters & Starlog, now your talking

[cjefferys]

That's too bad. I used to love reading that magazine back in the early 80's, along with Fantastic Films (and the occasional Cinefantastique). I think I still have some issues stashed away somewhere. I would re-read those mags constantly.

[garagesale]

I found Starlog in 1976, subscribed until 1985, and picked it up occasionally as recently as last year. In 1983, I actually went to their offices on a trip to NYC and met editors Howard Zimmerman and Kerry O'Quinn. They were very to cool to the 18 y/o super-geek. I loved that magazine dearly at one time. Sorry to see it go. Neat that they remain as a website, though.

JamesD

[Hector]

Oddly enough, its sister publication, Fangoria, will still be printed.

I too was a big Starlog follower, I actually had a subscription for many years.

But sadly, the internet is spelling doom for many of these publications, case in point, the struggling newspapers.

At least Starlog will carry online.

[mego73]

Stranglely, I was never a fan of Cinemafantastique.

They had GREAT covers but were overpriced considering how many pages they had.

Also, back in the day, Cinemafantastique was quite pretentious. I have picked up a few issues from Ebay and they have some great insightful stuff. But the editorial viewpoint comes off as quite snobbish.

I got a laugh about the Logan's Run cover issue back in 1976. All the articles about the movie are basically ripping on it (the regular articles, not the review) saying how disapointed they were in it and such. I can understand them not liking the movie but ripping it, in the midst of articles and interviews about the people that made the movie is major Comic Book Guy.

The highest praise reviews for these guys were given to movies like Three Women, a surreal, dreamlike film from Robert Altman that may or may not be Science Fiction. Also they championed The Wicker Man (the original, not the remake with Nick Cage), which is really well done, unusual thriller but it's not "the Citizen Kane of Science Fiction/horror" as they called it.

I'd love to see what these guys thought about Zardoz.

But by the mid 1980's Cinemafantastique was pretty much just like Starlog.

About the demise of Starlog, I haven't bought Starlog in years, but it still makes me a little sad.

[Drain]

Anybody ever buy the Starlog Photoguides ?
At one time, I owned them all.

Also, I had the Robby the Robot send-away poster and Space 1999 Tech Manual notebook.

Ya, I bought them 2nd hand from a Comic book store. Think I am missing one or two. Have a couple of the pricer back issue in my collection

RIP Starlog.

[trekman101]

It's a sign of the times.....print costs verses subscription and news stand revenue.The reader base for these publications has been eroding for years.
Sad to see it go from hard copy to e-copy.

[ctc]

>The only sci-fi magazine I really miss was the old Star Trek Magazine. Yes, it was pricey, but I loved the cutaways, and other general Treknology articles.

THAT was a great source of material for customs! And yes, it was VERY pricey....

>The reader base for these publications has been eroding for years.

Yeah. I think part of it is that the internets are a quicker and more prolific source of info on the nerdly arts than a mag could HOPE to be any more.

Don C.

[Gorn Captain]

I loved Starlog.
Read it from issue 15, and only stopped about eight years ago.
In later years, they seemed to really just cover the worst movies.
Seeing a long article about a movie in Starlog made me think "crap movie" instantly.

And imported mags here cost between $10-15, so...

Still, the end of an era. In the 70s and 80s I really loved every issue!

[Gorn Captain]

I remember buying one of those crappy imitators that came after Star Wars broke out, I think it was called "Laser Blast" or something awful like that. It made "Cracked" look like "National Lampoon"...


Hey, Laserblast was a fun movie!:silly:
I'd love to see it again.
Low budget yes, but I miss those B-movies.
Starcrash, Beastmaster, It came without warning, Blood beach, The Hearse,...

Jeez, I'm getting old....