Tuesday 12 April 2016

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.  

1 comment:

  1. A lovely batch of pages.

    Agreed about ST:TMP and THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES.

    Ditto for THE BLACK HOLE.

    Btw the next edition of BACK ISSUE will cover the comic adaptation of the Disney epic along with many other movies.


    I seem to recall an article at that time in STARLOG touting a tv production of CHILDHOOD'S END but it never materialised.

    And what appeared recently on sky one ? Why a 3 part mini-series of the same story with Charles Dance as a super creepy alien.

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