Long before Entertainment Weekly, or Aintitcoolnews.com, or podcasts, Twitter feeds, blogs or THE INTERNET ITSELF, Starlog Magazine was in the business of covering all things geek. Spurred on by the popularity of the Star Trek conventions that cropped up in the wake of the classic series’ cancellation, editor Kerry O’Quinn and publisher Norman Jacobs launched Starlog in August of 1976. And after 33 years and 374 issues, Starlog is officially calling it quits, continuing for the time being as an online-only publication.
I’m sure many of you didn’t read Starlog, given that much of what constituted the magazine’s bread and butter — interviews with the people behind genre TV, film, and literature; casting and development news; photo galleries; reviews — is picked over a thousand different ways online before a monthly magazine could get to it. But in its heyday — the late ’70s through the early ’90s — Starlog was a vital part of the geek conversation. Starlog’s writers and reporters were on the scene for the beginning of the Star Wars phenomenon, the continuation of Trek as a franchise; there to break news on Raiders of the Lost Ark, Back to the Future, Terminator, Alien, and RoboCop; and documenting for future generations the classic wonders of Ray Harryhausen and Willis O’Brien, Richard Matheson and Robert E. Howard, Fay Wray and Charlton Heston.
Cheesy as it may be, here’s a 1984 TV ad for Starlog. What other sci-fi magazine can you think of that took out TV ads?
Starlog holds a special place in my heart because editorDavid McDonnell gave me my first job right out of college. Compared tothe vastness of Time Inc. — which publishes EW — Starlogwas a small operation: three editors (who also served as photo editorsand copy readers), a handful of designers and typesetters, and a cadreof trusted freelancers. But I learned an immense amount from my threeyears on staff, as much about shoestring, guerilla journalism as aboutscience fiction itself. And that crash course in geekery has served mein good stead — I wouldn’t be working at a massive magazine, writingcomics, selling movies, and moderating San Diego Comic Con panels withKevin Smith and Zack Snyder on them if Starlog hadn’t set me so firmly on the path.
So, for that, I’m both sad to see it’s pages disappear from shelves and eternally grateful that it lasted as long as it did. Anyone want to join me in paying tribute to Starlog today? Share in the comments below.
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Ah, Starlog! I remember it well. I would always read it when I went to the grocery store with my mom as a teen. LOL I loved Star Trek and they usually had an interview or article with someone from TNG.
I was an avid reader of Starlog back in the late ’70s/early ’80s. Living in rural VT, it made me feel plugged in to the genre world. Just the other day I saw the latest issue of Starlog on a magazine shelf at Barnes & Noble, and I was comforted that it still existed. It’s the end of an era, for sure.
Loved “Starlog”–great magazine for articles on sci-fi/fantasy TV, films, and books. Will be dearly missed and certainly not forgotten.
I was a reader from almost the very beginning. (I missed maybe the first 5 issues or so) I still have them piled.. somewhere. Great magazine from my geeky youth. It will be missed. I assume their sister publication, Fangoria, is also on the chopping block?
I read Starlog quite a bit in high school during my TNG phase – sad to hear that it’s ceasing publication (at least in the “real world”).
How I am going to miss Starlog. It was the first magazine I ever subscribed to much to my mother’s dismay!!!
Back then normal looking girls were usually not so open about their sci-fi geekness and I took a lot of flak for reading Starlog.
But you are right about it’s timeliness being an issue; I stopped reading when the issues contained outdated info and mags like EW were more up to date. (Shame on you EW!! – just kidding.)
RIP Starlog. Not too long ago I had the pleasure of running into Kerry O’Quinn and getting to thank him for that ‘zine’s place in my geeky growing up. It helped make me the geek I am today. Which, for the record, is not a bad thing.
I still have issue #1 sitting in my parents’ basement somewhere. It was sold to me as part of a garage sale collection of about 5,000 comics when I was 12. Along with the key marvel and DC (stacks of them my friends), was the first 20 issues of Starlog.
Issue 1 has a really cool synopsis of the entire run of Star Trek TOS episodes. This is simple “FAQ” or Wikipedia stuff now, but in 1977, that sort of information was not easy to find.
The internet may have killed printed fanzines, but the information being easier to find is something I think we can all be happy about.
RIP Starlog.
BTW other geek ‘zines may not have done TV ads, but Magic the Gathering did. Kind of impressive to see a card based RPG get that kind of tv props…
RIP, Starlog. I subscribed to the magazine from the late 1970s to the mid-1990s, and read every word in every issues. Living as I did in a small town much of that time, Starlog was like a convention that showed up at my front door and my only connection to the SF world.
I worked as an editor at Starlog for four years in the ’90s. I had read the magazine when I was young, then lost track of it in my high school and college years. When I started work, I was amazed to find out how little I was aware of the range of fandom that was out there. We published articles and convention coverage for fans of sometimes short-lived series like Star Man, Red Dwarf and Beauty and the Beast, right alongside the newest, big-time SF movie and TV projects. And don’t even get me started on the dizzying array of old-timers whose contributions to the genre were captured for the record in the pages of the magazine by historians like Tom Weaver. It’s clear to me now that the magazine was a blueprint for the rise of fandom on the internet. These days, everyone’s just a click away from learning about their favorite SF obsession and interacting with fellow fans. But back in the day, you had to wait for the next issue of Starlog to hit the stands. Here’s hoping another one does.
I have issue #1 (in really BAD shape!) along with the first 100 issues. I remember STARLOG announced an upcoming movie called ‘Star Wars’ and published conceptual art that got all of us so excited! STARLOG also published the first photographs of Christopher Reeve as Superman and Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones. No month was complete until I had my copy of STARLOG. A great publication that deserves a place of honor on every geek’s bookshelf. Just like mine. Thanks for the ride, STARLOG! It was fun.
Truly sad. I was a Starlog reader from the Seventies right up through the last issue. Starlog almost exactly matched my interests in TV, movies, books and comic books. It did a great job of looking back at old SF TV and movies as well as providing great in depth coverage of the current SF scene. I’m going to miss it.
What a sad – but expected – day for us old geeks. Back then in the late seventies even buying an issuie of Starlog (or later Fangoria) was an adventure over here in germany. There were only a few stores to get US-magazines and then you had to pay about 10 $ per Issue. Tough times, but you simply had to buy the mags to get infos about all the great movies wouldn´t get here until 8-12 month later.
Sadly the modern age robs us of these adventures. I will reread some old issues tonight as sort of a funeral for this old friend.
In 1976/77 in a place far, far away (Frankston, Victoria, Australia) two mates found a magazine and dreamed about far off galaxys (Hollywood) and our heros were the writers, Directors, SFX people and fellow dreamers in the Sci-Fi universe.
At 47 I open an old box filled with Starlog magazines and remember the wonderful impact they had on my life.
RIP STARLOG
Thanks for all the kind words, but don’t be too disheartened. In addition to editors David McDonnell and Alan Dart staying on to contribute to the brand new STARLOG.COM, we will be publishing special print issues a few times a year. This isn’t the end, but simply a revamp to bring Starlog into the 21st century. Which, considering the subject matter, is all too fitting, don’t you think?
As a high school library aide from 1977-79 I persuaded our school librarian to subscribe to Starlog! I have great memories of hanging on every word of Susan Sackett’s Star Trek II/TMP columns, and of not wanting to agree with Harlan Ellison’s TMP review, even if I had to admit I did.
Starlog and the Star Trek poster book were two of my teen treasures! In the pre-Internet age, those magazines (and the Ballantine and Bantam book releases) were oases to a parched, lonely fan thirsting for anything about Star Trek!
Ohh my, long time ago, I’m talking from Brazil, and get one of these was very difficult here, we pay extra money to get a relic like that in my country, I remeber the first time I got one, Return of the Jedi, What else I could comment, it’s a time it will never come back, and looks like yesterday, in fact I want to cry, because I’m a very luck guy for the living in that period of time, Thanks Starlog, and may the Force be with you all…
Always sad to see another magazine bite the dust. Cinefantastique, Premiere, Science Fiction Age, Sci-Fi Universe, Realms of Fantasy. The only genre mags left seem to be British, and how long will they last?
I haven’t read it in many a year, but I was a major fan when I could get my hands on a copy when I was a kid–which was kind of rare. I’m from a very small town and a trip to the “big city” (Green Bay) was few and far between. I’ll kind of miss just knowing that it’s there when I go to the bookstore.
I still have many of my old copies of Starlog from the 70’s in my folks attic. I’ve read a few of the more recent issues as people at work know I’m into that wort of thing so the mail room passes along any extra copies we get.
Great magazine. I feel I owe a bit of my career as a toy journalist to those brave nerds that went before me and showed me it was OK to write about the things I dig.
Good luck to the online version and I’m glad to hear there will be special print editions a few times a year.
Here’s to you Starlog!
I started collecting Starlog in 1983, and continued to collect the magazine up until now. I even managed to collect the early issues from the mid-70’s. It is not only a sad day, but an end of an era. Like the end of Star Trek, Star Wars, and Battlestar Galactica, the end of Starlog Magazine will truly be a memorable one.
To the staff at Starlog Magazine, it has been an honor and a privilege to have read your magazine over the past three decades. Your efforts and hard work definately paid off and made Starlog the best publication to cover the science fiction genre. You will be truly missed.
Thanks for the memories. They were wonderful….
Well to put it in a nutshell Starlog magazine was my only source of info on Sci Fi during the heyday of the late 70s and 80s. Together with Cinefex it was the window into that elusive world of films and film making. I still prize my collection today (wrapped in custom plastic bags.
It was a monthly ritual but life moves on and now the internet rules – and so it should.
I can’t believe it’s gone. I’ve just heard. One thing we are all forgetting: When we opened our brand new glossy Starlog each month, even the pages smelled sciece fictionish. Lets see a computer do that!! Kerry O’Quinn is still on my list of greats. I often go back and read his “From the Bridge” page. Let’s hope SFX at least hangs in… Mark Perry. Adelaide SA.
I was a science fiction-craving, starwars-shocked 14 year old, living in SF-ignoring France, when my father brought home from England issue #13! Quite a lucky number for me as it contributed to transforming my life in too many ways to mention, and paved the way to who I’ve become today, a content (no pun intended!)editor for two genre-movie channels in France. Little did I know 32 years ago, that Starlog was training me for my current position. I’ll always remember the friendly, laid back atmosphere when I visited the offices located not too far from the Pan Am building in NY (I know, this is a loooong time ago,in a New York City so far away!!!), and how great Kerry O’Quinn was to me when he heard I came all the way from France to say hello! When they published a first (and only!) issue in France, I hoped I would finally repay my debt and work for the french version, but it sadly never came to be.
Starlog lives on, in the deepest reaches of my heart, and the fondest of my memories.
Starlog bought some of my first articles when I began freelance writing. Later I joined OMNI, which paid better, but folded in the 90s. I’ll never forget going to a convention and finding one of my articles in a Japanese version of the magazine. Hope they survive and thrive online. I have. But that will require some creative thinking.
Man, what a great magazine! I subscribed from 80′ until 93′. There was so little sci-fi/fantasy media out back then(compared to today). It was a big deal when some exciting new film or tv show was coming out, and Starlog was the only way to really read about it. Always loved O’Quinn’s column. Hope it thrives on the web.
Ah Tis a sad day. Starlog is no more. I read this mag religiously growing up in the 80’s and it really brings back memories of all the great movies that were covered under this genre. Still have all my issues locked up some where. Time to take them out again and reminisce. Thanks for all of the great content Starlog, you most certainly will be missed by this geek.
Another comforting memory from my youth gone…I remember back in the 80’s devouring Starlog religiously for every scrap of new information available, before the days of instant online posts and websites….I still remember checking the newsstand every day back in the spring of 1983 anxiously awaiting the Return of the Jedi issue, that had the first pictures ever from the movie, with that cover fold-out spread..I carried that one around with me everywhere and read the articles over and over…Starlog, you will be missed…thanks for all the joy you brought to this geek’s childhood!
I was 12 years old when Starlog first appeared on newsstands. This fanzine fueled my appetite for all things science fiction since then. I hope the folks at Starlog maintain a published presence and continue to bring their unapologetic enthusiasm for the genre to their work in whatever medium they find themselves in.
I’m in shock as I am just now learning about the end of Starlog. I bought issue #1 when it first hit the stands and kept on collecting for years. It was there during some fun and formative years. Friendships were formed because of it and it covered Space:1999 — my favorite series at the time.
I quit buying the magazine regularly during the 90’s and then along came the internet — where genre fans could get sci-fi news almost instantaneously. I knew Starlog couldn’t last under those conditions.
Goodbye Starlog — you’ll be missed!