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The Inside Star Trek magazine was the first "official" fanzine, distributed through the first officially authorized fan club for the Star Trek franchise, the Star Trek Interstellar: The Official Star Trek Fan Club. The magazine was published from 1968 through 1969, while the third season of Star Trek: The Original Series was in production.

Strictly speaking, neither fan club nor magazine was endorsed nor authorized officially, as the latter was not published under the auspices of the Paramount Publicity Department, the legal owner of the Star Trek brand, but rather by the privately-operated "Star Trek Enterprises", the short-lived, original name of Gene Roddenberry's merchandise company Lincoln Enterprises. However, the studio at the time was not in the slightest interested in their recent Star Trek purchase, and was actually looking for ways to cancel the series. As a result, no commercial or publicity activities on behalf of the series were undertaken by the department, and those that had been, such as the free mail-order distribution of publicity photographs to fans, were immediately scrapped upon the acquisition of Desilu Studios by Paramount Pictures in 1967. But, considering the closeness to the actual production of several of its contributors, the magazine, essentially an illegal publication, is for practical purposes, considered "official".

Ruth Berman produced and edited twelve eight-page issues (with the exception of issue 1, which had twelve pages) of Inside Star Trek and enjoyed close access to Star Trek's cast and crew during the production of the series' third season. After Star Trek was canceled by the network in 1969, the club and magazine were discontinued, as a depressed Roddenberry temporarily lost heart over the seemingly failure of his creation. Editor Berman immediately started a new fanzine, T-Negative, that ran for 35 issues from 1969 until 1979. [1]

Obviously endorsed by Roddenberry, editors were given access to the studio and contributions were made by Roddenberry, D.C. Fontana, John Dwyer, Matt Jefferies, William Theiss, Charles Washburn, Fred Phillips, William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, Walter Koenig, Nichelle Nichols, and George Takei, among others. Future Star Trek production staffer, but fan at the time, Andrew Probert illustrated a number of covers and some interior art work, as did Gregory Jein. [2]

Relaunch[]

Seven years later, in 1976, the magazine was relaunched, following a similar formula. While it was re-titled Star Trektennial News, it continued the numbering where Inside Star Trek had left off, issue 13 being the first one under its new heading. Again published by Roddenberry's company, now as Lincoln Enterprises, it was relaunched in order to keep fans appraised of his efforts to bring back Star Trek as a live-action production, from The God Thing, via Star Trek: Planet of the Titans and Star Trek: Phase II through Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Roddenberry's personal assistant during those years, Susan Sackett, together with Virginia Yable, served as editors for the magazine.

The magazine ran for another eighteen issues, returned to its original title from issue 25 onward, with page count intermittently increasing from 1977 onward as possible productions assumed more substance, and starting to include behind-the-scenes pictures. Publication ceased shortly before the release of The Motion Picture in 1979.

Issues[]

1968 Advertisment announcement
Star Trek Interstellar The Official Star Trek Fan Club 1968 1968 advertisement for Star Trek Interstellar: The Official Star Trek Fan Club and Inside Star Trek magazine from Star Trek Catalog #1
Issue # Cover Contents
1, July 1968 Inside Star Trek alternate cover
Original cover Inside Star Trek 1
Reprint cover
Cover: Rae Ladore
  • "Back to Space", by Ruth Berman
  • "Remarks to Television Editors", by Gene Roddenberry in a speech given on June 22, 1968, pp. 6-9
  • "Vulcan Pendent" [sic], by Ruth Berman
  • "Announcement: publication of Stephen Whitfield's The Making of Star Trek", by Dorothy Fontana
  • "It's A Small Galaxy"
  • "Terran Activities"
  • "Just Ask"
  • "Beaming up: William Shatner", interview by Berman, pp. 10-12
  • "Behind the camera: John Dwyer", interview by D.C. Fontana, pp. 12-14
2, August 1968 Inside Star Trek 2 Cover: Gregory Jein
3, September 1968 Inside Star Trek 3 Cover: N. Criss
  • "Terran Activities", p. 2
  • "Review of The Making of Star Trek", by Ruth Berman, p. 3
  • "Beaming up: DeForest Kelley", interview by Berman, pp. 4-7
  • "Just Ask", p. 7
  • "Third Season Preview", p. 8
4, October 1968 Inside Star Trek 4 Cover: Rae Ladore
5, November 1968 Inside Star Trek 5 Cover: Rae Ladore
  • "The Film Library", by Ed Cotter, p. 2
  • "Beaming Up: James Doohan", interview by Berman, pp. 3-5
6, December 1968 Inside Star Trek 6 Cover: Rae Ladore
7, January 1969 Inside Star Trek 7 Cover: Andrew Probert
  • "A Note On Casting", by Joseph D'Agosta, p. 3
  • Behind the camera: William Ware Theiss", Part 2, interview by D.C. Fontana, pp. 4-8
8, February 1969 Inside Star Trek 8 Cover: Andrew Probert
9, March 1969 Inside Star Trek 9 Cover and interior art: Andrew Probert
10, April 1969 Inside Star Trek 10 Cover: Andrew Probert
  • "Behind the camera: Music Editor", by Richard Lapham, p. 3
  • "Desilu soundstages", by Kay Anderson, pp. 4-8 (original publication as "Where It's At" in ST-Phile, issue 2, November 1968)
11, May 1969 Inside Star Trek 11 Cover: Andrew Probert
  • "Desilu soundstages", Part 2, by Kay Anderson, pp. 4-8
12, June 1969 Inside Star Trek 12 Cover: Rae Ladore
1976 Relaunch
13, May 1976
as "Star Trektennial News"
Inside Star Trek 13 8 pages, cover: G. Boudreau
  • Movie update
  • Visit with Gene Roddenberry's son, Rod

External link[]

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