Leonard Nimoy 1931-2015

I don't normally become sad when a Hollywood figure passes, but today is very different. While I grew up watching and loving the original Star Trek series, my first personal encounter with Leonard Nimoy was at a Toronto Star Trek convention in the early 1990s. I went solo so as to not be tied-down by others, and after getting a drive to the airport hotel from my dad; proceeded to explore the various organizations, displays and merchant tables who happily took my hard-earned allowance in exchange for books, badges and other Star Trek-related knick-knacks. 

Special thanks for Comic Book Resources for this image.

All told, I would go to three other conventions of this kind and many more comic and fan-cons over my years, but seeing Leonard Nimoy in that crowded convention hall and hearing him speak about his time as the First Officer of the original starship Enterprise, was one of the best times I've ever had at a convention and something I'll remember to the end of my days. Indeed, since 1991, my good luck charm has been a Commander Spock trading card in a plastic case. This little memento has gone with me through exams, graduations, jobs interviews and almost every other cerebral challenge I've ever faced. And while it hasn't always worked (it's only a photo of Spock and not Spock's Brain after all!) I never-the-less will not go into any brain-focussed challenge without it again. To this day, not only does this little card remind me of the greatness of Mr. Spock's intellect, but also those fun times as a nerdy teenager decades ago. 

Spock from Star Trek. He has long been my favourite character in science-fiction and an inspiration. Today is a difficult day.

I know Leonard Nimoy was an actor, writer, director, photographer, philanthropist and musician. (A very good friend of mine, who I met in 1993 after sharing our mutual love of Star Trek emailed this partial Twilight Zone episode featuring Nimoy today – here it is.) I also know his first biography, I Am Not Spock sought to put some distance between him and the character that made him one of my heroes. But as I recall him, Leonard Nimoy will always be, not only a gifted actor who helped create one of science-fiction's most memorable and inspiring characters, but a funny, warm, erudite and welcoming man who loved every fan he met and subsequently brought a smile to their face. As I hinted, the news of his passing has turned an otherwise sunny Friday into a much more difficult one than I had anticipated this morning. Of course, the stars above will continue to burn and call to us – even if only in science-fiction stories – but knowing Mr. Spock is no longer with us, diminishes them just a little. LLAP, Mr. Nimoy – you will be missed.

The Star Trek Franchise: 1966 to 1979

We appreciate your interest in “Star Trek” and are sorry we have to continue to disappoint you. NBC, however, has no plans for the return of the series.

As reported in recent press stories, our Program Department does have under consideration a two-hour-science fiction film. Several concepts have been proposed for this project – one of which is “Star Trek”. While no decision has been made — nor can we tell you when one will – we are aware of your own high regard for “Star Trek” 

 NBC Audience Services

Title of Star Trek: The Original Series which aired from 1967 to 1969.

This short statement is what those who wrote letters to NBC received in reply to their correspondence. It was written on a post card and was most certainly read by thousands of disappointed fans in the immediate years after the cancellation of the first Star Trek television show. Of course, what came before this is one of sci-fi fandoms best known results – a letter writing campaign that saw NBC receive almost 116,000 letters between December 1967 and March 1968 – which kept Star Trek from being cancelled after its second season. However, what you might not know is that while Star Trek was on life-support almost as soon as NBC first aired the show on television, there were also licenced and Paramount-owned products that further enriched the fan's overall experience with the franchise, almost from its very beginning. This short piece will look at early Star Trek licenced and spin-off products and hopefully give you a sense of how fans were able to consume Star Trek in the earliest days of this now venerable franchise. 

The crew of the USS Enterprise from Star Trek: The Animated Series.This show featured the voice talents of the Original Series actors but only lasted two seasons.

In 1972 NBC went to Filmation and Norway Productions which – working with Desilu Studios who produced the live-action show in the early seasons, and using the same actors who portrayed the original crew – produced two seasons, one of 16 episodes and the other of six of Star Trek: The Animated Series which expanded the in-canon universe and filled the void felt by an increasingly vocal fanbase. Since the last airing of an episode in June 1969, the 79 episode show almost immediately went into syndication. Indeed, as its popularity started to grow, fans started to organize and the very first Star Trek convention was organized in 1971 by Elyse Pins, Devra Landsam and Al Schuster and took place on the weekend of January 21-23, 1972 at the Statler-Hilton Hotel in New York City. This event was covered by Variety, the trade publication, and featured sci-fi legend Issac Asimov, along with the king and queen of Star Trek themselves, Gene Roddenberry and Majel Barrett. 

The cover of the Gold Key Comics' Star Trek #4 (June 1969) with a reprint as Star Trek #35 (November 1975). Written by Dick Wood with art by Alberto Giolitti. Unless otherwise noted, all subsequent images are from Star Trek #4.

Comic book fans will appreciate that Star Trek comics started to appear on the shelves of stores in July 1967, shortly after the first season had completed. They were published by Gold Key Comics, an imprint of Wisconsin-based Western Publishing and interestingly, these books didn't come out with the frequency of other, more established comic publishers. The first was available in July 1967 and called the The Planet of No Return; the second called The Devil's Isle in Space and not available until March 1968. From there The Invasion of the City Builders appeared in December 1968; The Peril of Planet Quick Change in June 1969; The Ghost Planet in September 1969; When Planets Collide in December 1969; The Voodoo Planet in March 1970 and The Youth Trap in September 1970, the latter five issues having been produced after the television show ceased filming in January of 1969. The early comics universally featured a still photo of the television crew (usually Kirk and Spock) on the cover, but the similarities ended there. Have a look: from June 1969's Star Trek #4 The Peril of Planet Quick Change: 

Sulu beams down the crew to "Metamorpha", a quickly changing planet. Where's the Redshirt?

When you special effects budget is limited to what the mind can imagine, Star Trek can get kinda crazy... 

... and even use heavy machinery which was rarely seen on the television show. In the comics they were common place. How did they beam this tank down?

Splash from Part II of Star Trek #4.The comics were divided into chapters.

Not beholden to budgets or technology, the comics were much more detailed in their depiction of alien life and worlds. And the Enterprise crew always seemed better equipped with tools and rucksacks too. In a similar vein, the comics also make it clear that the artists had very little contact with the television show, with the backgrounds and crew tools being very different from the set designs of the television show.   

Splash from Gold Key's Star Trek #31 (July 1975). The writer of unknown but the art is by Alberto Giolitti.

Star Trek #31 was titled The Final Truth and had a Gamesters of Triskelion feel to it  – but with robots! 

First piece of licenced original Star Trek prose fiction was titled Mission to Horatius and was written by author Mack Renolds and published by Whitman Books (which was also owned by Western Publishing). It was the first original piece, as there had been previous Star Trek "novels" but they were actually adaptations of the television series from Bantam Books starting in early 1967. Following Mission to Horatius, Spock Must Die! by James Blish – which as the title suggests, was targeted more at adult readers – was released in 1970. Interestingly, despite the growing popularity of Star Trek and hints from Gene Roddenberry himself that the show might come back (which were most pronounced in the lead up to the failed launch of Star Trek: Phase II in 1978), the next Star Trek novel was Spock, Messiah! which was released in 1976 and written by Theodore R. Cogswell and Charles A. Spano Jr.  After the second novel, the Star Trek universe took off and novels based on the franchise proliferated. 

Cover of Spock, Messiah! by Theodore R. Cogswell and Charles A. Spano Jr. Published by Bantam Books.

Both Star Trek novels and comic books would bounce from publisher to publisher, in the latter case with Marvel Comics picking up the licence for a short period beginning in 1979 with the comics adaptation of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. However, that will be discussed later in the next installment of this ongoing mission based on the Star Trek Franchise where we will look at the 1980s and 1990s, covering the bulk of the Star Trek feature films as well as Star Trek: The Next Generation. Thanks for reading and have a great day!   

Fan Expo Canada 2013

I know its been a while since I've written on WGTB, but in my experience summer is prone to either a deluge of blog writing or very little. So to make up for the recent drought, I have a bunch of articles coming soon. But in the meanwhile, here are some choice photographs from Fan Expo Canada 2013 (August 22-25). Unfortunately, I was only able to attend the Friday of the four day show, but these pics should give you a sense of how Canada's largest fan and comics convention fared. It was pretty good, and certainly biggest and busiest I've seen yet.   

As usual, the Whovians and Deleks are out in force! 

As were the Trekkies as this convention featured some prominent Star Trek cast members. Here's the legendary George Takai signing autographs.

This year's Fan Expo was the first to use both halls of the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. Early attendance figures put it at over 100,000 people.

Sons of Anarchy was featured prominently this year and anecdotal t-shirt evidence says the fanbase is growing. Here's a SOA-themed Harley-Davidson.

Dark Horse brought a booth. Unfortunately DC and Marvel did not.

And Marvel heard about this perceived slight at the Marvel: Infinity panel. Left to right: An unidentified fan, Marvel SVP, Publishing Tom Brevoort, editor Ellie Pyle and creators Stuart & Kathryn Immonen. Highlights of this panel included: 

1) Re: the Ultimate universe: We must continue to expect the unexpected. But there is no confirmed information about Hunger and any Ultimate characters coming over to Earth-616.

2) Brian Michael Bendis is heavily involved in the upcoming X-Men: Battle of the Atom crossover, so we can expect something tying that arch to the recently completed Age of Ultron.

3) There may be more New Universe characters coming to Earth-616. This shouldn't surprise anyone after Jonathan Hickman's use of Star Brand in Avengers. 

Friday also featured a great panel with Walt and Louise Simonson. Seen here are an unknown tech-guy and host (left), Walt (middle) and Louise (right). It was fun hearing about the creation of Beta Ray Bill, Walt's upcoming creator-owned work with IDW, writing the Star Wars comics of the early 80s and why he changed Warren Worthington III in X-Factor. Louise offered some great stories about working with Walt and how the DC editorial team came up with the idea to kill Superman in the early 1990s.  

After the Simonson panel, there was another with the always engaging Neil Adams. Here, Adams spilled the beans about the Silver Age with stores about the Comics Code, the famous Green Lantern/Green Arrow issue involving a drug-using Speedy, and how he didn't get to finish The Kree/Skull War to his satisfaction.

Avatar Comics had a great display booth.

The Toronto Lego Users Group had a presence with a Death Star trench display and...

...a Lego Serenity from Firefly. I asked if any glue was involved and the host (left) said no.  

The Batmobile circa 1989. Looks like a homebuilt, but it's still very cool. 

80s icon KITT from Knight Rider.  

The cockpit of KITT. How would one do a U-turn in that thing?  

George Takei talks about working on the set of Star Trek, past convention practical jokes, his use of social media and a musical he co-wrote called Allegiance. It's about the experience of Japanese-Americans during the Second World War. He's such an engaging speaker!

While fellow Star Trek alum Nichelle Nichols spoke about her family history, her father's early support and encouragement and being one of the first  African-American women on network television.

And finally Ian McDiarmid a.k.a. the Emperor from the Star Wars universe spoke about his casting break as the Emperor in 1982, working on the subsequent trilogy as Palpatine and what it's like being a pop culture icon. The Scotsman was great and he even did that evil voice!

All in all it was a great day spent, and another successful FanExpo Canada. 

Random Thoughts: October 2011

You may have noticed I haven’t frequented my blog much of late. It has been a busy time and although it has been difficult to write consistently, here are some random thoughts about comics in October 2011. Because a writer writes... 

From Marvel's Alpha Flight #5, December 2011

I begin by expressing my disappointment with Marvel’s decision to end the current run of Alpha Flight at number eight. I know it was not originally planned as an ongoing series, but at Fan Expo in Toronto this August, it was announced the series would continue after eight issues. I know how much Marvel loves Canadians so sales must have really dropped, but it's disappointing none-the-less. If I could quickly offer some advice, I think the story would have been better if it had Alpha Flight working within the wider Marvel Universe. Certainly, Canadians love seeing Toronto, Parliament Hill and Vancouver on the panelled page, but I think it would have reached a wider audience (read American and British readers) if the Flight had left Canada and joined the superhero community for a couple of issues. Of course, this may still happen as we're only at issue 5/8 right now.   

From DC's Justice League #2, December 2011

In happier news, I was very glad to hear DC is bringing Captain Marvel back in a backup story titled The Curse of Shazam in the fifth issue of Justice League. Geoff Johns mentioned this at New York Comic Con and said it would be a reboot(!) of the Marvel Family franchise. In related commentary, Justice League #2 was a much better than #1 and I’m starting to enjoy the fresh and impetuous nature of the characters we’ve met so far. I’m still not sure about the $3.99 price, but it will be much easier to stomach with a Captain Marvel v. Black Adam story. Scroll down  two posts if you want to see how much I like Black Adam.

From Marvel's Uncanny X-Men #544, November 2011

Moving back to Marvel, I’m still not sure who’s camp I’m in with regard to the split we’re about to experience in X-Men. Regenesis was good, as was Uncanny X-Men’s final issue (I loved the nod to Jack Kirby at the beginning!) but I’m still not convinced Logan should be running a school. It just doesn’t seem characteristic!  That said, Beast’s line in Regenesis: 'I'm going to help Logan run a school. By which I mean, I will be actually running the school and Logan will merely have the best office' was great and I’m pleased Hank is heading back to the academy. I plan on reading both sides in the immediate future and will let you know my thoughts as they come up.  

From IDW & DC's Start Trek/Legion of Super-Heroes #1, October 2011

Finally, I picked up something at Orbital Comics in London this week I didn’t expect: a Star Trek/Legion of Super-Heroes crossover. It was good and had the Legion group, the mainline Kirk/Spock Star Trek universe, and the AMAZING Mirror Universe which long-time Trekkies will remember from such classic episodes as the ‘Mirror, Mirror’ and Deep Space Nine’s ‘Crossover’. As a long-time Trek fan, I am always excited to see the place where Spock had a beard! The Legion of Super-heroes wouldn't have been my first choice for a Star Trek/Comics crossover (I'd love to see Reed Richards work with Spock) but it was a decent establishing story and I’ll probably go back next month to see where it goes. 

He's not really 'Evil Spock'! From the Star Trek episode 'Mirror, Mirror'

So those are some random thoughts about the comic book world in mid-October 2011. Thanks again for visiting and FYI, I’m working on expanding my repertoire with a piece on a classic Arthur C. Clarke novel that should be up soon. Keep an eye on Twitter and blogspot and I’ll chat with you soon.