Late last night I finished reading "These Are the Voyages: Gene Roddenberry and Star Trek in the 1970s: Volume 3 (1978-1980)" by Marc Cushman, the lasLate last night I finished reading "These Are the Voyages: Gene Roddenberry and Star Trek in the 1970s: Volume 3 (1978-1980)" by Marc Cushman, the last in Cushman's three-volume series looking at the decade of the 1970s in Star Trek and, in this third volume, focusing entirely on the development, production, reaction, and after effects of "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" (1979).
After a so-so volume two in my opinion (due largely to the material in the second book covering a period when nearly everything Roddenberry was working on didn't actually end up getting produced, so it was mostly about various scripts in development which didn't interest me as much), Cushman's standard format of chronologically working through a Star Trek project (in this case "Star Trek: The Motion Picture"), day by day, from speculation in the fan press regarding a new Star Trek project to the deals being struck to the script being written and directors and producers being hired, and on through actors being resigned or cast, production design, sets being built, cameras rolling, post production (special visual effects, sound design, editting, musical score being composed and recorded), and post release box office returns and newspaper reviews from across the country, again makes for a very interesting read, for the most part.
For fans of Star Trek, a lot of this material has already been covered in other books (including the wonderful "Return to Tomorrow: The Filming of Star Trek: The Motion Picture: An Oral History of the Legendary Production Documented As It Happened" by Preston Neal Jones, which I'm also reading at the moment.) However, Cushman's writing style and rapid day-by-day pacing kept me from ever getting bored even it is was information that I was already familiar with.
My biggest interest is nearly always in the actual shooting of a television series or movie, so these are the most interesting chapters to me. I do like how Cushman also includes chapters on the peripheral tie-in merchandise that was being released alongside the movie, such as the Pocket Books tie-in novel written by Gene Roddenberry, the Marvel Comics comic book adaptation, and the various magazines and tie-in books such as "The Making of Star Trek: The Motion Picture", "Chekov's Enterprise: A Memoir of the Filming of Star Trek: The Motion Picture" by Walter Koenig, "Star Trek: The Motion Picture Official Blueprints" set, etc.
Cushman spends a huge amount of pages recording snippets from newspaper and magazine reviews that saw print immediately after the release of the movie. He even acknowledges how lengthy that chapter is but states he wanted to give as wide a sampling of all of the positive and negative critical reactions to the movie as he could. I did start to find a lot of the reviews to be basically the same thing over and over again, but those not interested can easily skip to the next chapter.
The other thing that kind of was off putting to me was Cushman's tendancy to, like the the previous two volumes of this 1970s trilogy, feel that he needs to keep defending Roddenberry against perceived slights caused him by the powers all around him, including the various studio heads pulling the strings and making the important decisions. If Cushman feels that Roddenberry was slighted he switches to his editorial type voice, rushing to Roddenberry's defense and at times being critical and derisive of others who didn't recognize Roddenberry's creative talents.
A big element of this particular period in Star Trek history, when the motion pictures were beginning after a decade of no new Star Trek material except for the animated series, is the slipping of Roddenberry's authority and ability to control his creation as the copyrights now belonged to Paramount Pictures, who would end up marginalizing Roddenberry from executive producer on the original 1960s television series to just "producer" on the first movie and then to merely a "consultant" starting with "Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan". From that point on, the powers creating the movies didn't have to do anything Roddenberry wanted them to anymore, which was something he became quite bitter about (and probably justifiably so). Eventually he would take a more active role again in the development and production of the first season of "Star Trek: The Next Generation", but then his failing health would again sideline Roddenberry.
All of this is important and legitimate material to cover during this period in Trek history. However, in this one area Cushman is not the least bit objective. If there is more than one "take" on a conflict, he nearly always supports and sympathizes with Roddenberry's position, which can be a bit off putting.
That said, I still found this third volume to be a very enjoyable read, right up there with his first three "These Are the Voyages: TOS" series where he chronicled the production of all three seasons of the original "Star Trek" television series.
I'm sure there will be more of these books to come. Next up is the 1980s, which would cover the release of "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan", "Star Trek III: The Search for Spock", "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home", "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier", and "Star Trek: The Next Generation" (the television series). Cushman already goes into the early development of "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" in the final chapter in this book, framing it as the "after effect" of "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" (how Roddenberry ended up being pushed aside for producer Harve Bennett and director Nicholas Meyer and also the big controversy of the leaking of Spock's death in the second movie well before they began shooting the movie).
I highly recommend this (although, again, there are numerous other books on the making of "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" that would probably be just as good)....more
Finished reading "Superman: The Dailies, 1940-1941", the second of three softcover/paperback volumes reprinting the earliest "Superman" daily newspapeFinished reading "Superman: The Dailies, 1940-1941", the second of three softcover/paperback volumes reprinting the earliest "Superman" daily newspaper strips released by Kitchen Sink Press between July and September 2000. (It says "first printing: 1999" inside but the Grand Comics Database website says that this is in reference to the single volume hardcover version put out by Kitchen Sink the previous year.)
The title page gives this volume's title as "Superman: The Dailies: Volume II: Strips 307-672, 1940-1941". It has an introduction ("The Superman Bandwagon") by James Vance. In the way of creator credits, it has the obligatory "Created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster" on the title page. On the back of the title page it has a credit reading, "This book would not have been possible without these professionals who were, in one way or another, originally involved with the Superman comic strip: Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster, Paul Cassidy, Wayne Boring, John Sikela, Jack Schiff, Whitney Ellsworth, and Harry Donenfeld and Vincent Sullivan."
It goes on to say, "The editors [Peter Poplaski, Dave Schreiner, and Christopher Couch] would like to thank the following individuals for lending rare source material, without which this collection would not have been possible: Mitch Itkowitz, Bill Blackbeard (Director) and the San Francisco Academy of Comic Art, Rick Norwood, Jeffrey Lindenblatt."
This is another fun selection of some of the earliest Superman stories created. The Superman here is still very much in the mold of that of which you would find in the first year of the comic books. He also reminds me very much of the version of the Man of Steel in the syndicated radio show that began airing in 1940. A rougher around the edges version of Superman unafraid to toss crooks around, come crashing through walls, and use his super powers to coerce bad guys into confessing in one story while using them to assist down on their luck complete strangers in another.
The daily newspaper strips in this second volume tell the following stories (there are no Sunday Superman strips in this volume as the Sunday strips from this time period told an entirely separate storyline than the dailies): "Clark Kent--Spy" (strips 307-334, January 8-February 8, 1940), "Superman Goes to War" (strips 335 to 354, February 9-March 2, 1940), "Trouble in the Tenements" (strips 355 to 396, March 4-April 20, 1940), "The Big Boss" (strips 397 to 414, April 22-May 11, 1940), "'The Unknown' Strikes" (strips 415 to 462, May 13-July 6, 1940), "King of the Kidnapping Ring" (strips 463 to 510, July 8-August 31, 1940), "The Hooded Saboteur" (strips 511 to 540, September 2-October 5, 1940), "Pawns of the Master" (strips 541 to 588, October 7-November 30, 1940), and "The Meekest Man in the World" (strips 589 to 672, December 2, 1940-March 8, 1941).
I won't go into a whole lot of detail as to each individual story (I read this volume off and on over the course of a couple of years alongside the Kitchen Sink Sunday newspaper strips reprint collection and also the various DC Archives series reprinting Superman's comic book stories from the same time period in "Action Comics", "Superman", "New York World's Fair Comics", and "World's Best/Finest Comics"). However, I will say that we do get at least one appearance of Superman's arch villain, "Luthor", in this volume. And, among other interesting early attributes given to Superman in these first years, his occasionally used (but subsequently dropped and now almost completely forgotten) ability to "twist his flexible [facial] features" to disguise himself as someone else. (Which kind of makes you wonder why he didn't do this all the time while going about as Clark Kent, doesn't it?)
I do have to say that I enjoy the pacing of these early Superman newspaper strips over that of the comic books that were coming out at the same time. Each Superman comic book story in 1939 and early 1940s is always exactly 13 pages long. One Superman story in each issue of "Action Comics" (and, later, "World's Best/Finest Comics"). Four 13-page Superman stories in each issue of "Superman" (which initially was a quarterly shipping magazine but soon increased its frequency to bi-monthly). This fixed page count lends to a set pattern to most of the Superman stories of this era. And because there had to be lots of action, not very much in the way of interesting character moments. They are mostly, by necessity, plot driven.
The newspaper strips (both the dailies and Sundays, which, again, had completely different story continuities running simultaneously), thanks to their varying story lengths (and just the reality of the format, that the reader was getting them in extremely small segments, one strip per day or per week) have a much more leisurely pacing to them than the comic book stories and also allow the story to focus on one particular character over the course of several days or weeks.
For example, in "The Meekest Man in the World", we spend a lot of time right at the start of the story meeting this man, Eustace Watson, who is even meeker and more timid than Clark Kent(!) who has written a letter to Lois Lane (who writes the "love lorn" letters column of the newspaper) bemoaning his state in life. How his mild mannered nature is going to make him lose the girl he adores and also prevents him for being successful in life. Lois, as is the typical reaction of Lois during this time period, scoffs at how pathetic this man sounds.
Clark, however, takes an interest in Eustace and, as Superman, decides to help him turn his life around. So first we get to see Superman following Eustace around, observing his day. The way his landlady bosses him around. How he almost misses his street car because the driver intentionally leaves him behind How he always loses his seat on the street car to the same man every day. And then his similar situations he faces at work every day.
After we (and Superman) observe all of this, Superman then introduces himself to Eustace and convinces Eustace to allow him to take his place at work the following day. Of course, Superman then, disguised as Eustace, goes through each and every situation from the previous day, from the landlady to the street car to the elevator operator at work to his work rival for both a promotion and also for the affections of the boss's daughter (although she is always steadfast in who her affection is for, the man Superman is assisting).
Superman then, still disguised as Eustace, goes about securing four construction contracts as part of a contest to see which of the two men--Eustace or his rival--would get the promotion to manager. Of course, Superman cheats by using his super powers, but that's okay because the other guy has some goons try to rough Eustace (Superman) up and lock him up so that he can't finish the contest.
It's a fun story that of course strains belief (I especially liked the part where Superman--this time switched back to his actual Superman costume and appearance--forces himself onto a construction crew building a skyscraper so that he can speed up its construction to be finished in just one day, allowing "Eustace" to get another contract to win his contest.
I highly recommend the Superman daily strips books for anyone who likes Superman, likes 1940s era comic strips, and anyone who would like to learn more about what the character of Superman was like back in his earliest years. I gave "Superman: The Dailies, 1940-1941" four out of five stars on GoodReads. (One quibble I have with the presentation of the strips in this volume is that the individual strips are not dated, just the story sequences as given on the table of contents page. This volume came out over twenty years ago. I believe that most comic strip reprint collections these days do give the original date next to each and every daily (or weekly) strip.)
Where else can you find these strips besides the 1999 hardcover and 2000 softcover/trade paperbacks from Kitchen Sink Press? Well, they were released in another hardcover single volume collection, "Superman: The Dailies (1939-1942)", by Sterling Publishing in 2006.
IDW then published runs of "Golden Age", "Atomic Age", and "Silver Age" Superman newspaper strip reprint collection books beginning in 2013 in conjunction with the Library of American Comics, but they chose to begin their "Golden Age" dailies and Sundays collections after where the Kitchen Sink (and Sterling) volumes left off. Their intention was to later go back and reprint the 1939-1942 material again later on as the Sterling volume was still readily available at the time but never got around to doing so. (The Library of American Comics is now published by Clover Press, although a few existing comic strip reprint lines begun at IDW are still being published by IDW. They do not appear to still have the license to reprint the DC Comics characters, though, leaving their Superman "Golden Age" and "Atomic Age" comic strip reprint lines incomplete, the "Golden Age" missing the aforementioned 1939-1942 material, and only the Sunday strips from the 1950s "Atomic Age" being reprinted as they didn't have a full run of the 1950s daily strips to use as source material.)...more
A nice book of (mostly) rare photos taken from various sources (such as "film trims" of shot but unused footage that was later sold to fans by Gene RoA nice book of (mostly) rare photos taken from various sources (such as "film trims" of shot but unused footage that was later sold to fans by Gene Roddenberry's merchandising outfit, Lincoln Enterprises). A lot of official publicity photos (which have been seen elsewhere), as well. I particularly liked some of the behind the scenes pictures of the special effects guys filming the Enterprise and other spaceship models, as well as shots of the bridge where you can see the rafters above or the wooden slats below (the latter in an image demonstrating the "pie like" structure of the main bridge set which allowed sections to be removed to allow better access for cameras and lighting equipment).
I liked that the photos were arranged in chapters taking us chronologically through the first season in the order that the episodes were shot, and the inclusion of the shooting dates, budget (how much it cost to shoot that episode), and director and writer credits at the start of each chapter. (These books can be seen as a companion piece to Marc Cushman's "These Are the Voyages: TOS" three volume series, so a decent number of the pics here can also be seen in the first of first books, although those were all in black-and-white.)
The to thing that I found a bit bothersome was the quality of a lot of the colorized photos. Gurian usually does note these as having been "colorized from black and white" (but doesn't specify if that's the way he found them or if they were colorized specially for this book. Either way, the colorizing effect gives a lot of the pictures a very fake looking quality, and messes up the depth of focus (one character sticking out from the rest of the picture because of the overly bright color given to his or her clothing. I think I would have preferred less of these colorized pics in favor of the original black-and-white versions, if possible.
Still, it's an enjoyable book to page through. As its primarily a collection of pictures, there is very little actual reading necessary aside from a very long introduction by Gurian and then short captions accompanying each picture....more
I finished reading Marc Cushman’s “These Are the Voyages: Gene Roddenberry and Star Trek in the 1970s Volume 2 (1975-1977)” (which was just released tI finished reading Marc Cushman’s “These Are the Voyages: Gene Roddenberry and Star Trek in the 1970s Volume 2 (1975-1977)” (which was just released this past summer), checked out from the public library. As the title says, this is volume two of a three-volume series covering the works of Roddenberry (and the history of Star Trek) over the course of the 1970s, the ten year period between the cancellation of the original “Star Trek” television series (1966-1969) and the release of “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” (1979).
Cushman previously released three volumes simply titled “These Are the Voyages”, covering the original television series, season one being covered in volume one, season two in volume two, and season three in volume three.
I really liked the first volume in Cushman’s 1970s trilogy (his original intent had been to cover the 1970s in just two books but then found enough material to make it three) as it covered a lot of Roddenberry’s lesser covered projects such as the making of the film “Pretty Maids All in a Row” and his pilot films for “Genesis II”, “The Questor Tapes”, “Planet Earth”, and “Strange New World”, as well as the development and production of the 1973-1974 “Star Trek: The Animated Series”, plus the sudden surge of Star Trek’s popularity when it went into nationwide syndicated reruns and the start of the Star Trek conventions.
That was all in volume one (1970-1974). This second volume covering 1975-1977 is more Star Trek heavy as it follows Paramount’s waffling back and forth over whether to bring Star Trek back as a movie, a made-for-tv movie, or as another tv series. Roddenberry and the others hired to produce these projects went through multiple story outline approvals and script rewrites, only to keep having that particular project shelved in favor of a different one.
There was Roddenberry’s “The God Thing” movie script that was being developed from spring to summer of 1975, followed by scripts submitted by various other writers at Paramount’s request from August to December 1975. Roddenberry tried again (along with co-writer Jon Povill) in 1976 with a time travel/altered history storyline. Various other movie script false starts followed in rapid succession (including the Allan Scott and Chris Bryant “Planet of the Titans” script).
Interspersed with all of this are chapters on what all was happening with “Trekmania” at the time: the Star Trek conventions, the various Star Trek books and comic books released during this time, the opening of an all Star Trek retail store in New York City called the Galactic Trading Post, parodies of Star Trek like the one on “Saturday Night Live”, and also information about the various stars of the original Star Trek during this period, what film and television work they were getting as well as comments made in interviews at the time regarding if Star Trek would be returning and if they would be part of it if it did.
There are a few non Star Trek projects discussed in this volume, another pilot film of Roddenberry’s titled “Spectre” (this one a horror themed film timed to take advantage of a brief upsurge in interest in horror and the paranormal, ala “Kolchak: The Night Stalker”; the “Spectre” was actually shot starring Robert Culp and Gig Young and aired as a TV movie of the week but did not go to series because Culp turned in down) and the truly odd situation of Roddenberry being hired to write a feature length screenplay (titled “The Nine”) for a “secret organization” named “Lab-9” which claimed to have made contact with extraterrestrials via channelers and astral meditation. Roddenberry also developed another series proposal, “Battleground: Earth”, for 20th Century Fox, which didn’t get made but which much later on (after Roddenberry’s death) was turned into the “Gene Roddenberry’s Earth: Final Conflict” series.
The entire second half of this second volume is centered around “Star Trek: Phase II”, Paramount’s planned revival of Star Trek as a television series which would be the centerpiece of a brand new “Paramount TV Service” (a three-hour block of programming that Paramount would sell to independent television stations, the first hour being the new Star Trek series and the other two hours being original made-for-tv movies).
Now, there have been other books covering “Star Trek: Phase II” (including the excellent “Star Trek: Phase II: The Making of the Lost Series” by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens (1997)). So, I’m not going to go into much about “Phase II” here. Those already knowledgeable about Star Trek in the 1970s already know that after a year of development, including the purchasing of stories and scripts for up to sixteen episodes, Paramount then changed their minds yet once again, cancelling their plans for the Paramount TV Service and for “Star Trek: Phase II” as a television series in favor of doing “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” instead.
Cushman covers “Phase II” in his typical in depth manner, just as he did in his previous “These Are the Voyages” books. However, I must admit that for the first time I found myself pushing myself through parts of the book. Part of it may be simply because I was already pretty familiar with a lot of the “Phase II” stuff. However, I was not as familiar with the “God Thing”, “Planet of the Titans”, and other scripts, yet I still found that sections a bit hard to get through. I think it’s because there wasn’t much actual film or tv production going on on these chapters (or during this period of Roddenberry’s career), instead mostly pre-production work. I found reading about the various executives at Paramount and the producers and story editors working with Roddenberry (and especially the “Trekmania” chapters) to be of more interest frankly than reading long summaries of various story outlines and screenplay drafts for the aborted Star Trek films and “Phase II” episodes”. What was so interesting to me in the first three “These Are the Voyages” volumes about the original television series, the detailed accounts of all three phases, preproduction, production, and postproduction/reception of each and every episode, are by necessity missing here because very little of Roddenberry’s projects got past the scripts phase (until “Star Trek: The Motion Picture”, which will be covered in volume three).
The other thing that I found a bit disconcerting (and even at times outright annoying) was Cushman’s increasing tendency to step in to defend Roddenberry when others had negative comments about him or their experiences working with him, and also at times editorializing regarding *his* opinion of certain screenplay drafts and story outlines. At one point, Cushman says, “Comedy is subjective and this story [a story outline written by Theodore Sturgeon for “Phase II” titled “Cassandra” that Sturgeon apparently never submitted a finished script draft of] was intended to be humorous, so we’ll let you decide whether it works or not”. I may simply be forgetting but I don’t remember Cushman editorializing like this or using “we” like this in the first three “These Are the Voyages” books, or even very much in the 1970s volume one. This seems to me to be a shift in tone with this volume, one I don’t particularly care for as it takes me out of the more objective “this is everything that was happening at the time” mindset to “this is how Marc Cushman feels about it”.
That said, I did still enjoy much of this massive 600 plus page long book and I imagine that anyone who has already read the previous “These Are the Voyages” books will feel likewise. I give this a three out of five stars on GoodReads.
Cushman’s third volume covering 1978-1980 and the making of “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” came out either at the same time or immediately after volume two, so it’s already out, too. I’ve requested that my local public library try to order it as well, just as I did for volume two. (The Tampa-Hillsborough Public Library Cooperative is awesome at trying to get books that they don’t already have upon request. That’s how they added most of the “These Are the Voyages” books to their collection, upon my requesting them to, although I did already also have the first three TOS books as ebooks purchased from Amazon.)
I look forward to reading it should they be able to get it in, even though the making of “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” is a subject I have already read quite a bit about in other books (including another that I’m in the middle of reading right now, “Return to Tomorrow: The Filming of Star Trek: The Motion Picture” by Preston Neal Jones)....more
Just finished reading a few days ago “Return to Tomorrow: The Filming of Star Trek: The Motion Picture” by Preston Neal Jones (2014).
This mammoth booJust finished reading a few days ago “Return to Tomorrow: The Filming of Star Trek: The Motion Picture” by Preston Neal Jones (2014).
This mammoth book (672 pages in the print edition; I read the eBook version) has to be by far the most in-depth accounting of the making of the first Star Trek film (although there are others that I have also recently read, such as “Star Trek: The Motion Picture: The Art and Visual Effects” by Gene Kozicki (2020) and “These Are the Voyages: Gene Roddenberry and Star Trek in the 1970s Volume 3, 1978-1980” by Marc Cushman (2020), plus quite a bit is also covered in “The Fifty Year Mission: The Complete, Uncensored, Unauthorized Oral History of Star Trek: The First Twenty-five Years” by Edward Gross and Mark A. Altman (2016)).
This is definitely the source for information on the subject recorded most closely to the time of the filming of the movie and its release in December 1979 as Jones did his research and conducted his interviews at that time, intending it to be released as a special double-sized issue of “Cinefantastique” magazine to come out along with (or soon after) the film’s release. It took too long for Jones to complete the project and so it missed coming out then, and also subsequent efforts to still release it as a Star Trek themed special issue of that magazine or as a book of its own didn’t bear fruit (until now).
It is difficult to really rate a book like this as it very well much depends on the audience you are speaking to. For the casual Star Trek fan (or non fan), this is way too much information. It would completely overwhelm them and they would likely not make it very far into the book (especially due to the way it is organized, which I’ll get to in a moment).
However, for the die-hard Star Trek fan, even though much of this information they are probably already at least somewhat familiar with—and, as I already said, has already been written of extensively in other books and also covered in various television documentaries like last year’s “The Center Seat: 55 Years of Star Trek” series on The History Channel)—this is a proverbial gold mine of in-that-moment personal reflections on the creation of the film that in essence restarted the entire Star Trek franchise (leading not only to subsequent Star Trek films but also the spin-off television series, “Star Trek: The Next Generation”, “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine”, and all the ones that followed).
Not just the obvious “big names”, like Star Trek creator and film producer Gene Roddenberry, director Robert Wise, script writer Harold Livingston, and cast members William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, etc, but also Paramount executives like Jeffrey Katzenberg, musical score composer Jerry Goldsmith, and loads of behind the scenes crew and visual effects and sound effects artists (way more than I can list here, but ones who worked both in conjunction with the film’s initial visual effects company, Robert Abel & Associate; Magicam, Gregory Jein, and Brick Price Movie Miniatures (responsible for the creation of the studio models of all of the starships like the brand new “refit” USS Enterprise, the Klingon ship, the spacedock, orbiting space stations, and elements of V’ger’s appearance), and the ones ultimately hired to take over the huge job of getting the film’s visual effects completed on time after the firing of Abel, Douglas Trumbull and John Dykstra (and their respective effects companies).
This is also a great source for those interested in how films were created in the late 1970s, from the earliest stages like getting the film green lit and the script written and approved, through all parts of preproduction, to the actual filming with the director and the actors (including coordinating with on set special effects personnel to get what would later be needed to merge with visual effects elements later on), through the long and oftentimes back breaking post production process (when most of the visual effects are created, the sound effects, the musical score, the sound mixing, and the editing), and, ultimately the rush to get everything done jn time to strike film prints for the premiere date and hundreds more to be shipped to theaters nationwide and worldwide.
And *this* is the continual refrain throughout the book, about how the film’s release date of December 7, 1979, a date contractually agreed upon between Paramount Studios and hundreds of film exhibitors, was ironclad and could *not* be changed/extended to give them more time, regardless of all of the unexpected happenstances (such as the failure of Robert Abel’s company to produce any useable visual effects work after nearly a year of the film’s production schedule and the subsequent hiring of Trumbull and Dykstra with only a few months left).
Much of the effects work done in a very short amount of time ended up turning out amazingly well considering the shortness of time given them and also the level of film visual effects technology at the time. However, there were many elements that the artists wished they could have just a bit more time to perfect or redo but could not due to the deadline.
More importantly, the necessity to get hundreds of visual effects elements all completed right at the end of the film’s production schedule effected other elements such as Jerry Goldsmiths writing the score (because so much of the visual effects were still not completed), and, ultimately, the editing of the film.
The chief complaint about “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” over the years, pretty much from when it first came out all the way to today, has been primarily about its slow pace and overly long visual effects sequences (in particular Kirk’s journey in a shuttlepod out to the new Enterprise near the start of the film and, later, the long journey into and through parts of the massive V’ger).
Even the film’s director, cast, and other creators mostly agree with these criticisms, along with not enough actual clear looks at what V’ger really was supposed to look like, and also the lack of the personal interactions between the characters that made the original television series so enjoyable (aside from a few good Dr. McCoy moments in the film).
However, according to all (including Robert Wise), the incredible time crunch they were under had a lot to do with these problems in the final cut if the film because they had no time to do any test audience screenings or to do a second pass on the cutting (editing) of the film. The first cut was finished literally with no time to spare, just in time to make the film prints for the premiere in Washington, D.C, and to ship out to the theaters across the country.
All things considered, it’s amazing that “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” made its scheduled release date at all (many working on it felt it would be impossible at times) and that it came out as well as it did.
Again, this is a must have book for many Star Trek fans. I give it five out of five stars on GoodReads.
I must, however, say a bit about the book’s overall organization. While it takes you through the course of the film’s production pretty much chronologically (from the decision to make the film instead of a television series and what had already been done for the tv series prior to that through everything I’ve already talked about above), the actual interview remarks from each speaker are broken up and interspersed with each other through out the book.
It can be a bit confusing, going from a remark by the director, then several paragraphs from a visual effects artist talking about moire patterns and matte paintings, to another visual effects artist, back to the director, then *another* visual effects artist, then an actor like DeForest Kelley, and so on. Not only is it difficult to maintain a consistent train of thought but at times one also loses track of just where they are in the overall film production timeline of events.
And the second half of the book (where it gets into the bulk of the film’s post production visual effects work) gets at times *very* technical. I’m as big a geek about this sort of thing as just about anybody and even I had a hard time getting through some parts detailing difficulties they were having with those moire patterns, matte paintings, compositing of different effects like practical effects shot on the actual V’ger stage with the actors with power surge lightning effects needed in the backgrounds, etc. The difficulties caused by the tight deadlines, but also the limitations of the hardware they were using, which at times produced work not compatible with other elements needing to be merged all together in the same shot.
And that whole sequence where Leonard Nimoy/Spock flies on his extravehicular jet pack through the inner workings of V’ger’s “brain”, all of the amazing lights and color patterns and digitized information given various forms, etc. Much of it I had to read through more than once to try to grasp just what they were saying.
It all made for a very *long* read (after awhile I was only reading a few pages each night, which is why it took me six months to read it all. But, while at times a challenge to get through, I loved the overall experience and highly recommend this book. To certain people. Ones who are into Star Trek as heavily as I am. ...more
**spoiler alert** Just finished reading “Agents of Influence”, a Star Trek novel by Dayton Ward that just came out earlier this year (2020).
For those **spoiler alert** Just finished reading “Agents of Influence”, a Star Trek novel by Dayton Ward that just came out earlier this year (2020).
For those only vaguely familiar with Star Trek (the original 1960s television series), Captain Kirk, first officer/science officer Spock, Doctor McCoy, and the other Starfleet officers aboard the USS Enterprise were serving out a “five year mission to explore strange new worlds, seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before”. The tv series was cancelled after only three seasons (although they did come back a few years later to do a couple additional seasons of stories in “Star Trek: The Animated Series” which can be considered to represent some of “years four and five” of the mission.
There have also been loads of Star Trek tie-in novels (as well as comic books) set explicitly during that original five year mission time frame. “Agents of Influence” is another of those. However, of some small interest, “Agents of Influence” has been counted by at least one longtime fan to be the one hundredth original Star Trek tie-in novel published to take place during the five year mission time frame of the original tv series. (I will take his word for that. And there have been lots of novels released over the past few decades starring Kirk, Spock, and company that take place after the original five year mission, all the way up to and beyond the movies, as well as some that take place prior to the five year mission.)
All of that said, what did I think of “Agents of Influence”? It was all right. A bit slow at times. Dayton Ward begins the story on three undercover Federation agents that have been living in secret as spies on the Klingon home world surgically as altered to appear as Klingons. They are extricated and picked up by the USS Endeavor (a ship and crew featured in another couple sub-series of Star Trek tie-in novels, the Star Trek: Vanguard and Star Trek: Seekers series, both of which Ward contributed to). The Endeavour becomes heavily damaged in an encounter in an asteroid field with the Klingons and the Enterprise is routed to assist them.
Over the course of the novel, the focus constantly shifts not only between the Enterprise and Endeavour captains and other notable crew members like Spock (left in command of the Enterprise while Kirk is away from the ship) but also 1) the reactions back on the Klingon home world to the discovery of the escaped spies and what vital secrets they may have taken with them, 2) another group of Klingons operating in secret within the asteroid field developing an new energy draining weapon to be used against enemy vessels, and 3) a group of Orions “space pirates” that are in league with the Klingons in the asteroid field.
The jumping around keeps the story from building up as a lot of the non Enterprise and non Endeavour scenes seem expository and not as interesting (and they also were a bit repetitive at times, reflecting someone else’s reactions to events that had just transpired in the previous scene). I felt at times like this should have been a book entirely focused on Captain Katami and the Endeavour working to hold off the Klingons until assistance from the Enterprise can reach them rather than having it jump so much from one set of characters to another.
I liked the inclusion of Admiral Nogura, a character mentioned briefly in Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) as the one who gave command of the then completely refit Enterprise back to Kirk to confront the threat of V’ger and used in many of the Star Trek tie-in novels. As in the Vanguard and Seekers novels, here again Nogura is head over covert and highly sensitive Starfleet Intelligence actions. In this case, he accompanies the Enterprise in its mission to find and assist the Endeavour and to recover the three Federation spies (although once the bulk of the novel’s setting shifts to the crippled Endeavour, Nogura’s role and “screen time” is greatly diminished from that point forward as he remains with Spock aboard the Enterprise).
One thing that bugged me a bit as someone who has not yet read the Star Trek: Vanguard or Star Trek: Seekers novels is the “spoiler” (mentioned not once but at least three times, I think) of the fate of an important member of the USS Endeavour’s crew in those previous novels who did in one of them, leading to one of the other characters serving in their present position in “Agents of Influence”. From a standpoint of character background information, it makes sense that this character might reflect back on how he or she got to this point. However, again, as someone who plans to eventually read the Vanguard and Seekers novels I can’t help but think to myself that when I eventually do that I will then remember, “Oh, here’s that character who is going to die at some point”.
That’s only a minor quibble, though. Again, I found the pacing of this one to be a more uneven and that a lot of time went to peripheral characters that turned out not to be very important, story time that could have been focused on further developing the lead characters aboard the Endeavour (or on Kirk and the Enterprise regulars, although much of the time they seem only there to reflect upon the events transpiring around them, Kirk and his team assisting the Endeavour and Spock, McCoy, and Nogura back aboard the Enterprise).
I enjoyed “Agents of Influence” well enough, though not as much as I have some of Ward’s others (“From History’s Shadow”, “Drastic Measures”). I found it to be a pretty average quality Star Trek novel....more
I once again stayed up way too late another night last night to finish reading whatever present book I’ve been reading, in this case “Roger Moore as JI once again stayed up way too late another night last night to finish reading whatever present book I’ve been reading, in this case “Roger Moore as James Bond: Roger Moore’s Own Account of Filming ‘Live and Let Die’” (1973).
I really enjoyed this book, which is a day by day diary style account by Moore from his first days of shooting the movie to his last, and all of the many things that go into the making of a major motion picture like a James Bond movie and the many people involved in its making.
The first half of the book or more follows Moore’s shooting on location in Louisiana (mostly boat chases through the bayous and scenes in New Orleans) and Jamaica (where, among other scenes, the infamous Kananga crocodile farm scenes were shot). Then, just in time for Christmas, the first unit returned to England to begin several weeks of shooting at Pinewood Studios (for most of the movie’s interior scenes). Finally, for Moore and David Hedison (who plays American CIA agent Felix Leiter), several days of shooting on location in New York City, including scenes in some of the poorest and crime ridden neighborhoods of Harlem.
Moore agreed to record a daily account of all of this at the time so that this book could be released just before the movie as a promotional tie in. He details his encounters with fellow cast mates (like leading lady/“Bond girl” Jane Seymour and Bond villain Yaphet Kotto (“Mr. Big”)), Bond films producer Harry Saltzman, and director Guy Hamilton.
Even more interesting at times are Moore’s accounts of the head craft services person on location, George Crawford’s attempts to keep hundreds of film people fed each day and on schedule (including once even he accidentally *delayed* shooting for several hours when he accidentally took the car with Jane Seymour’s make up in it to go looking for food supplies, and another story of how, reluctantly, he had to turn over the chicken he was preparing for the film unit’s lunches when a refrigerator holding the raw chicken for a scene with the crocodiles got left off over night and the “crocodile bait” chicken went rancid; apparently even crocodiles won’t eat spoiled chicken).
Moore also details the many days that the weather wouldn’t cooperate, as well as his own various duties off screen such as interviews with various press reporters (the most common question being, “How will your James Bond be different from Sean Connery’s?”), still photography sessions, and promotional appearances.
Being a diary taken at the actual time of shooting, this book also goes into much more detail of Moore’s daily interactions with his wife at the time, Louisa Mattioli (which he was married to from 1969 to 1996), his children, and the personal friends and acquaintances he would spend his off hours with than Moore’s much later written memoirs do when he reflects in them back to this period of time filming his first James Bond film.
I highly recommend this book for fans of the James Bond movies and/or of Roger Moore, as well as those who would find it interesting to see just how a big budget, stunts and location shooting heavy movie of the early 1970s was made. (For instance, it wasn’t until his fourteenth day of shooting that Moore got to speak any real lines of dialogue, the two weeks prior to that having been mostly used shooting the boat chase scenes. Also, the headaches of trying to schedule the “royal premiere” date in London which required coordinating it with whichever member of the royal family who would be available to attend, something that American films—and even most British ones, I would suppose—would not have to deal with, but that is simply expected to happen with the release of a new James Bond.)
As I said, highly recommended, if you can find a copy. As this book came out nearly fifty years ago (1973), it is of course by now out of print. I got my copy to read via interlibrary loan with my local public library system (Tampa-Hillsborough Public Library) borrowing a copy for me from Salem State University Library in Salem, Massachusetts. Used copies can probably still be found online of either the first printings or subsequent printings (some under alternate titles like “Roger Moore’s James Bond Diaries” and “The 007 Diaries: Filming Live and Let Die”).
I give this a four stars out of five on GoodReads (and would probably give it four and a half if GoodReads as allowed for half stars in their ratings)....more
**spoiler alert** (Copy of review posted on my Facebook page on July 4, 2020.) Yesterday, I finished reading James Swallow’s “Fear Itself” (2018), the**spoiler alert** (Copy of review posted on my Facebook page on July 4, 2020.) Yesterday, I finished reading James Swallow’s “Fear Itself” (2018), the third of the “Star Trek: Discovery” series of original tie-in novels.
While the first novel, David Mack’s “Desperate Hours”, focused on the character of Michael Burnham and the second novel, Dayton Ward’s “Drastic Measures”, on Philippa Georgiou and Gabriel Lorca, “Fear Itself” mostly followed Lt. Saru, one of the most popular characters on the “Star Trek: Discovery” tv show (due to the excellent performances in the part by actor Doug Jones).
And, like the other two books (and seemingly most if not all of the Discovery tie-in novels that have been released so far), “Fear Itself” takes place prior to the events seen in the first episode of the tv series. In this case, it’s four years earlier, (“Drastic Measures” took place ten years prior, when Georgiou and Lorca were lower ranking officers, and “Desperate Hours” takes place a couple years after “Fear Itself”, just after Burnham became first officer).
Here, in “Fear Itself”, the cast of primary characters (the crew of the U.S.S. Shenzhou) is the same as seen in "Desperate Hours” and at the start of the first episode of the tv series (with the exception of an especially arrogant and irritating Andorian first officer, the one Burnham apparently later replaced).
Without getting overly detailed on the plot, Saru ends up on an alien ship that they have just rescued from a nearly catastrophic engineering disaster that would have destroyed the alien ship. Aboard, Saru finds a large number of a people of an alien race other than those whose ship it is riding in large cargo containers. Saru becomes concerned as to the nature of these people being there and their safety, despite the insistence of those in charge that it is none of his or Starfleet’s business.
While investigating, Saru finds that the people living in the containers on the ship’s voyage are named the Gorlans and that they communicate in a way that the universal translator can’t fully interpret due to their language not being only verbal but also in part via an energy field they each radiate. Undetectable to humans and to the Peliars (who are relocating the Gorlans to a new world away from Peliar Zel), Saru can feel the signals the Gorlans give off when they communicate but as intense emotions, and he still only partially understands them at first.
One thing leads to another and soon Saru and a small number of his crewmates from the Shenzhou find themselves in the midst of an uprising as the Gorlans forcibly take control of the ship. Their course has been laid in by the Peliar and can’t be overridden, though, so they find themselves still heading to where the Peliars intend to leave the Gorlans.
Meanwhile, the Shenzhou has been left behind damaged and unable to pursue after the Gorlans launch a surprise attack on them from the Peliar ship that they now control. They must effect repairs to the warp drive in order to be able to go after the Peliar ship that has Saru and the other crew members aboard.
However, first they are warned to leave the area and return to Federation space by another Peliar ship, this one a warship that then takes off in pursuit of the ship Saru is on, saying that they intend to attack the ship as soon as they catch up with it rather than allow the Gorlans to keep control of it.
And, even more threatening is the overhanging threat of the Tholians, whose space neighbors the area and who have been known to launch devastating raids against those whom they feel have encroached on their territory.
As for how I liked “Fear Itself”, I really don’t have a lot to say. I liked it, but didn’t *really* like it. During parts of it (especially during the first half or so of the book), I found my attention wandering a bit. I think mostly during the parts where Saru stumbles upon the Gorlans and begins to investigate who they are and what their situation is. While I really like the character of Saru, him off by himself wasn’t really particularly interesting, I found.
However, things got much more interesting over the Gorlans took over the ship. Once that happens, Saru finds himself in between the two quarreling parties and trying to keep himself and his crewmates from getting killed.
And things really kick up a notch once original Star Trek tv series’ baddies, the mysterious non-humanoid crystal shaped Tholians in their dangerous spinner ships (as seen in the episode of the 1960s Star Trek, “The Tholian Web”) make their attack. You can never go wrong bringing the Tholians into a Star Trek story (as they have always one of the more sparingly used alien enemy races).
Again, I did enjoy “Fear Itself”, and I recommend it to fans of “Star Trek: Discovery”. I give it three out of five stars on GoodReads. I would probably give it three and a half if GoodReads allowed for half star ratings.
The next book in the series is “The Way to the Stars” by Una McCormack, and focuses on the character of Sylvia Tilly (presumably, again, prior to the start of the tv series). While I really liked Una McCormack’s Star Trek: Picard novel that i recently read, “The Last Best Hope”, I think as after having read three Star Trek: Discovery novels in a row that I’ll take a short break from them before moving on to “The Way to the Stars”.
I have a couple nonfiction books I’m reading that are from the public library that i need to get back into, and also the third Game of Thrones novel, “A Storm of Swords”, that I also started to read and then put aside to read “Fear Itself”....more
(I thought I’d posted this back on October 4 but apparently not. Here is copy of review I posted on my personal Facebook page.) Well, it took me four (I thought I’d posted this back on October 4 but apparently not. Here is copy of review I posted on my personal Facebook page.) Well, it took me four months but I just finished reading the third book in the “A Song of Ice and Fire” series (a.k.a., the Game of Thrones” series), “A Storm of Swords” (2000).
At the time it came out, this was the longest book in the series, weighing in at 973 pages long. (It was later topped by the fifth and most recently released book in the series in 2011, “A Dance With Dragons” (1,016 pages).)
“A Storm of Swords” follows “A Game of Thrones” (1996) and “A Clash of Kings” (1998), and is followed by “A Feast of Crows” (2005) and “A Dance With Dragons” (2011). There are two more volumes planned in the series, the titles of which have been announced as “The Winds of Winter” and “A Dream of Spring”.
The HBO “Game of Thrones” television series, which made it known to the non fantasy reading public, began in 2011 (the same year that the most recently released book came out) and ended in 2019. The first two seasons of the tv series adapted the first two novels (season one adapting “A Game of Thrones” and season two “A Clash of Kings”). Season three (which I will begin watching now that I’m done reading “Swords”), is said to adapt roughly the first half of “A Storm of Swords”, the second half of which is aired in season four.
Ok, all of that preamble done with, all I can really say about “A Storm of Swords” is *wow*. Author George R.R. Martin really ups the intrigue and surprises in this third installment.
While there were a few times when it seemed a bit too long, at the same time his cast of characters is so large and the scope of his fictional fantasy world is immense that by this point it really is like reading one insanely long novel rather than several separate ones.
Martin’s formula throughout the series is to have a number of “point of view” characters, each chapter told from the view point of each of these characters. At times it can be a bit frustrating because (quite intentionally, I’m sure) Martin will end one chapter with a major surprise or cliffhanger and then spend the next three or four chapters jumping around to other characters in far off other corners of Westeros (he never has the same point of view character focus in two chapters in a row, although the character can *appear* in the following chapter seen from the vantage point of a different character).
And, oh, the surprises are many in this third book. Without going into specific plot points (because A) some of you might still want to read the books or watch the tv series and I don’t want to spoil the big moments, and B) for those who haven’t already read the first couple books in the series it wouldn’t make much sense anyway), I will say that George R.R. Martin is definitely not afraid to kill off major characters. Several of them are killed over the course of “A Storm of Swords”, irrevocably changing the landscape of the “War of the Five Kings”, and others are betrayed by those closest to them.
The characters this time are mainly the same as those on the previous two books. Some remain the focal points of the story, while at least one or two get a bigger role than they had in “A Clash of Kings” (the second book) while some others from “Clash of Kings” barely appear at all in “A Storm of Swords” (and one major character from “Clash of Kings” does not appear at all, although I read that he will return in subsequent books in the series).
My favorite characters remain largely the Lannisters (Tyrion, Cersei, Jaime, and Lord Tywin), Catelyn Stark, Arya Stark, and Jon Snow. Sansa Stark begins the novel still trapped in Kings Landing and finds that her circumstances have not really improved with the events of the previous novel. Likewise, Tyrion finds that the arrival of his and Cersei’s father, Lord Tywin, has not made his life easier either, especially with the wedding of King Joffrey soon to be held. Indeed, there are *three* weddings in this book, two of which go horribly wrong for major characters.
I could go more into detail about what happens but I don’t see a reason to do so. Those who are interested in this series probably have already read it or and already planning to do so, or have satisfied themselves with watching the tv series (which, after the fourth or fifth season had to go largely its own way since they got ahead of what Martin had written). And those who aren’t interested aren’t going to be swayed by me in this little review.
Suffice it to say, I remain hooked by this series and I look forward to “A Feast of Crows”, “A Dance of Dragons”, and the two as of yet unpublished novels after that. (I guess I should feel thankful that I didn’t start reading this series until last year. Those who started reading it earlier have had to wait five years between “A Storm of Swords” and “A Feast of Crows”, six years between “Crows” and “A Dance With Dragons”, and *ten* years between “Dragons” and the next book, “The Winds of Winter”, assuming that it actually comes out in 2021.
I give “A Storm of Swords” four stars out of five on GoodReads, and would easily give it four and a half stars if GoodReads allowed for half stars....more
Earlier today I finished reading the massive “Star Trek: U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701 & 1701-A Illustrated Handbook (2019) published by Hero Collector BEarlier today I finished reading the massive “Star Trek: U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701 & 1701-A Illustrated Handbook (2019) published by Hero Collector Books, a division of Eaglemoss, Ltd.*, Ben Robinson (General Editor). (* The same company that puts out the Star Trek: The Official Starship models collection that I’ve been a subscriber to since it started back in 2012.)
This is the second in the “Illustrated Handbook” series. The first was the U.S.S. Enterprise-D (from “Star Trek: The Next Generation”). A third just came out this past month focusing on the U.S.S. Voyager, and fourth, Deep Space Nine and the U.S.S. Defiant, is scheduled to come out in early 2021.
The illustrations, diagrams, floor plans, schematics, etc. that the "Illustrated Handbooks" are full of were originally released in "The Official Star Trek Fact Files", a "partwork" magazine series that ran in the U.K. from 1997 to 2002 and that was published by GE Fabbri (of which the current Eaglemoss company is the successor to). A large amount of the same material was also reprinted in the U.S. based "Star Trek: The Magazine" that ran from 1999 to 2003 (published by Fabbri Publishing (U.S.)).
The copious and highly detailed illustrations, floor plans, etc. are extensive in this collected volume, one that took me quite awhile to get through (my copy being one I checked out from the public library; I've been sure to recommend for purchase by the library all of the Eaglemoss books). Partially this is because the book is clearly designed to be more of a reference book to be picked up from time to time, the reader jumping from one section to another more so than as a book to be read cover to cover.
This "Illustrated Handbook" (which has the tagline, "Captain Kirk's original Starship Enterprise") after an introductory chapter, "History of the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701 & 1701-A: Operational History", breaks the material down into five subsequent chapters:
"U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701 [year] 2254" (covering the ship's exterior and interiors as seen in the 1964 first Star Trek pilot episode, "The Cage"),
"U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701 [year] 2257" (covering the version of the ship just recently seen in the second season of "Star Trek: Discovery"; this material obviously had to be newly created specifically for this handbook),
"U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701 [years] 2265-2268" (the version seen on the original "Star Trek" television series (1966-1969)),
"U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701 Refit [years] 2271-2285 (the heavily redesigned Enterprise from the first three Star Trek films (1979-1984)), and
"U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-A [years] 2286-2293" (the second Enterprise seen in Star Trek movies four, five, and six (1986-1991)).
For those who like me who are drawn to Star Trek largely due to the various cool looking starships, this is a must have book. For those who aren't as "into" the ships as they are the characters, stories, etc., they probably would find this book rather pretty to look at but hardly an essential purchase.
One slightly negative aspect of collecting all of this previously separately released Star Trek Fact Files material together in one book is that it does get pretty repetitive. Details that are described in the text on a page will then get repeated word-for-word in the captions accompanying the illustrations on the very same two page spread, and text on a particular subject from one chapter will be much like the text on the same subject in a previous chapter (example, the pages describing the handheld "phaser" weapons, communicators, or "tricorders" used aboard the ship during 2254/"The Cage" are very similar to those later in the book of the 2265-2268 tv series version, etc.).
At times the accompanying text is a bit of a chore to get through but the diagrammed illustrations of the pieces of technology do an excellent job of distinguishing between the various props used on Star Trek over its various iterations.
Besides the floor plans of the various interiors aboard the ship like the bridge, sickbay, engineering, crew quarters, transporter rooms, shuttle bay, etc, another real treat is the pages dedicated to the various uniform designed worn by the characters at different times, everything from the standard duty uniforms to the optional green "tunic" style top Captain Kirk occasionally wore, to the various medical outfits Dr. McCoy wore, on down to the no name security, engineering, and other medical staff uniforms, and the uniforms worn in the later movies.
It does strain the required format here of a seemingly chronological "in universe" handbook their having to place the newer "Star Trek: Discovery" version of the Enterprise in between that of "The Cage" and the rest of the original 1960s series because it's very difficult imagining why they (Starfleet) would redesign the interiors so drastically between the events of "The Cage" and those seen on "Discovery" (including the addition of a corridor behind the curved wall of rear duty stations on the main bridge and a second turbolift/elevator) only to decide to change it all back again a few years later. It's a minor quibble but another thing worth mentioning. (In another book they probably would have added the "Discovery" material at the end.)
Again, highly recommended for Star Trek fans that are big into the starships aspect of Trek. And, if you can find it at your own local public library, probably a fun book just to browse through for fans who have followed Star Trek from the beginning.
Last night (or, actually, early this morning), I finally finished “Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons” (1987 “Revised and UpdaLast night (or, actually, early this morning), I finally finished “Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons” (1987 “Revised and Updated Edition”) by Leonard Maltin. Easily one of the best nonfiction books that I’ve read in a long time.
Now, I should qualify things a bit first. One, as I said above, this revised edition came out in 1987 (the first edition came out in 1980). So there is thirty-three years of animated cartoons not covered here (1987-2020). Also, some of the more “social” aspects of the history are addressed differently than Maltin probably would today. (I saw one GoodReads reviewer mark him down for mostly glossing over the troublesome racial stereotypes in several cartoons. Maltin does mention them at times but does not ever really focus on it.)
Also, to appreciate and enjoy this book as much as I did, one must already have at least a partial interest in the history of animated cartoons. If that is not a subject that one finds of interest, then he or she will probably be at the very least a bit overwhelmed (if not bored) by the level of historical detail presented here.
However, for “cartoon buffs” like me, this is *the* book on the subject. There are loads of books out there specifically on the history of the Walt Disney Studios and their cartoons, and books also on some of the other studios like Warner Brothers.
However, this book has chapters on *all* of the major and minor studios that produced theatrical cartoons (both shorts and feature films, although the focus is often on the theatrical shorts; animated features by the studios are covered as well but to varying levels of detail).
Chapters on...
Walt Disney/Disney Studios (over thirty pages),
Max Fleischer/Fleischer Studios (Betty Boop, Popeye, Superman, etc.; over forty pages),
Paul Terry and Terrytoons (Mighty Mouse, Heckle and Jeckle; over thirty pages),
Walter Lantz (Woody Woodpecker, Andy Panda, Chilly Willy; nearly thirty pages),
Ub Iwerks (when he was running his own studio after leaving Disney (for those who don’t know, Ub Iwerks was a major creative force/partner of Walt Disney in Disney’s early years and a co-creator of Mickey Mouse); ten pages),
the Van Beuren Studio (Felix the Cat, etc; ten pages),
Columbia/Charles Mintz and Screen Gems (Krazy Kat, The Fox and the Crow; twelve pages),
Warner Brother (or “Warner Bros.”; Porky Pig, Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd, Sylvester and Tweety, Foghorn Leghorn, Road Runner and the Coyote, Tasmanian Devil, Speedy Gonzales, etc.; nearly sixty(!) pages (and I should mention that these pages, while loaded with black and white photographs and eight color photos pages, are two columns of text per page making it a very text heavy book; which is not a bad thing as it lets Maltin cover a lot of history and personal anecdotes in each chapter)),
UPA (“Gerald McBoing Boing”, Fox and the Crow, Mister Magoo, etc.; twenty pages),
and “The Rest of the Story” (works produced by other studios and independent animators from the 1960s onwards, the phasing out of animated theatrical cartoons at most of the studios in favor of animated feature films and animation made specifically for television, including the Pink Panther, “Yellow Submarine”, “Heavy Metal”, Saturday morning shows turned into animated features like Care Bears, He-Man and She-Ra (“Secret of the Sword”), and the films of Ralph Bakshi (“Lord of the Rings” and his more adult films) and Don Bluth (“An American Tale”); twelve pages).
And those are just the more well known characters I mentioned. Maltin follows the careers of seemingly all of the major animators, directors, writers, and (some of the) voice actors throughout their careers, way too many for me to list here.
At Warner Bros alone: Chuck Jones, Bob Clampett, Tex Avery, Friz Freleng, Frank Tashlin, Robert McKimson, and famous voice man Mel Blanc.
At Disney, Ub Iwerks, music man Carl Stalling, John Hubley, Jack Hannah, Ward Kimball, Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston, Milt Kahl, Marc Davis, Wolfgang Reitherman, Eric Larson, and John Lounsbery (many of whom would as a group become referred to as Disney’s “nine old men”, a group of veteran animators who worked with Disney from “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” onwards).
And several key figures moved from one studio to the other, the aforementioned Ub Iwerks who went from Disney to running his own studio, some time at Warners, and then back to Disney again, and Shamus Culhane, who spent time at Bray, Disney, Fleischer, Lantz, Warners, and Paramount.
The last one hundred plus pages of this book are devoted to complete filmographies for each studio, a listing of Academy Award nominee and winner theatrical cartoons (these two being things one can easily find online these days at places like Wikipedia but which would have been an important resource back in the pre-internet days of 1980 and 1987), a glossary of animation terms, and a now out of date “Sources for Cartoons on Film and Video” (on 16 mm film and VHS).
I could go on and on about this one but I won’t. I would have thought that a book from 1987 would be long out of print but I just checked and it’s still available from Amazon. I checked this copy out from my public library but will most likely be obtaining a copy for myself at some point. (Unfortunately, it is not available on eBook.)
I give this one a rare (for me) five stars out of five on GoodReads....more
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