ST-Phile

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Zine
Title: ST-Phile
Publisher: Juanita Coulson
Editor(s): Kay Anderson & Juanita Coulson
Date(s): 1968 (January) - 1968 (November), reissued by the original publisher in May 1976
Medium: print
Fandom: Star Trek: TOS
Language: English
External Links: a few sample articles and pages have been posted as PDFs here/WebCite
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

ST-Phile is a Star Trek: TOS fanzine that contains non-fiction essays about the original show.

It is the second Star Trek fanzine ever published. (Spockanalia is the first.) Copies of ST-Phile are very rare and the last reprints were made in the 1980s from crumbling mimeograph stencils.

For similar zines of this era, see List of Star Trek TOS Zines Published While the Show Was Still On the Air.

Reprints Almost Twenty Years Apart

The editorials in the 1976 reprints go into great detail about the attitudes toward science fiction, Star Trek, mainstream audiences, and the changes in attitudes over time.

Issue 1

an issue that was signed by Gene Roddenberry, Leonard Nimoy, and William Shatner, an early example of TPTB's Involvement and Interference
back cover of issue #1, Juanita Coulson
front cover issue #1, Doug Lovenstein

ST-Phile 1 (archived here) was published in January 1968 and contains 49 pages. The art is by Juanita Coulson, Doug Lovenstein, John D. Berry, Margaret Dominick, Devra Langsam, Charles Rein and Bjo Trimble.

The table of contents and editorial from the May 1976 reprint is here.

Note from the third, and last, printing of issue #1 in May 1976:

ST-Phile's reappearance is due almost entirely to the persistence of Devra Langsam, co-editor of the highly regarded Spockanalia. Ever since STP went out of print, Devra has been nagging her readers to nag me to re-issue the fanzine... Many changes have taken place since 1968, not the least of which is an inflation rate beyond the power of the Federation Economic Dept. to control. It is regret I point out the increased price on this reprint edition [$1, plus a quarter for postage]. I must charge more to break even. Sorry... Another change which took place was in the original stencils for STP. For those unfamiliar with this problem, I'll explain; mimeograph stencils deteriorate with age and accumulated ink, and these stencils are no exception. It was a nail-biting process to get several of them to reprint at all for this issue -- and they will not take another run. They have literally disintegrated... In one respect, though, the deteriorizaton of the stencils has produced a bonus for this reprint edition. Doug Lovenstein's beautiful cover was butchered in the electro-stencilling process. So this time, I had the cover professionally printed, finally doing justice to Doug's work, Unfortunately, I can't afford to do that with the whole issue.

When STAR TREK first went on the air, Kay Anderson and I were well-satisfied members of science fiction fandom. There was no ST fandom, then. As science fiction fans, we were entertained and interested in ST, indulged in extrapolations and speculations {like most ST fans and many sf fans), and decided to put out a fanzine. In 1968 I already had sixteen years of experience publishing a science fiction fanzine, so the equipment and the know-how were already mine. Kay and I also decided our ST fanzine would be" strictly non-fiction, humor, speculation, verse, art, eye-witness accounts of trips to the set, etc. Our editorial collaboration was difficult, since we live 2000 miles apart, and it took us two issues, not one, to get said all we wished to say. But we did it and closed the book and went back to science fiction fandom.

(Then, in '68, the show was moribund and our feeling was "too bad; it was nice while it lasted"'. We had worked with Bjo Trimble and other science fiction fans to award Hugos for Dramatic Presentation to ST, participated in the temporarily successful mail deluge to save the show. But now that it was gone, we figured that was that. No one could have predicted the phenomenon that would take place after ST went off the network — not then.)

The Roddenberry outline beginning on the next page had not been printed professionally, yet, in 1968, and we were very grateful that Gene let us use it here. Since then, of course, it has appeared other places. Since then lots of ST material has appeared lots of places... hasn't it?

During those eight years I've lost track of some of STP's contributors, and kept in friendly touch with others. Bjo Trimble, besides managing the world sf convention art shows and being "the lady who saved STAR TREK" (very nearly literally), has gone onto costume designing, movie making convention committeeing and too many other projects to name. Kay Anderson has become sf fandom's woman in The Industry, with articles published professionally re SILENT RUNNING, and the popular film and tv column in fandom's fanzine newspaper, Locus, etc. Ruth Berman and Bob Vardeman and I are writing professionally in the sf field, and I hope fate has been kind with the lost/strayed, or stolen contributors to STP, too.

A word of warning: the ads within these pages are — remember! — eight years old. Caveat emptor, and be sensible. If you are interested in any of the offerings, drop a postcard or letter (no money) of inquiry — to see if the people are still at the same stand and/or still have anything to sell, trade, or swap. There was no way to gently remove the advertisements without wrecking the already fragile stencils, so they had to be left in. But I very much suspect the advertisers have long since forgotten they even placed these notices. Please keep that in mind.

Reactions and Reviews: Issue 1

FAN-ZINE LOVERS!! Two great zines crossed my desk which I want to highly recommend to all of you! The first one is "ST-Phile" which contains a wealth of information and fantastic sketches about STAR TREK and its crew. Sample contents: The Original STAR TREK Idea (by Gene Roddenberry) and A Preliminary Study on Vulcan Cultural Evolution. A MUST for all STAR TREK FANS... 50 per copy... [3]

Issue 2

cover of issue #2, Juanita Coulson

ST-Phile 2 archived here was published in November 1968 and contains 44 pages. There may not be a back cover. Art is by Alicia Austin, Mary Ann Cappa, Juanita Coulson, Margaret Dominick, Carol Lee, Gary Mason, and Rosalind Oberdieck.

The table of contents and the editorial for the May 1976 reprint is here.

From the editorial in issue #2 (original publication date, November 1968):

Here we go again. For various unhappy reasons, a woeful combination of physical, mechanical and temporal ills, this issue is late. Extremely. My profound apologies to our contributors... Equally, for various reasons this promises to be the last issue of ST-Phile. We certainly have not grown tired of or disenchanted with Star Trek, but producing this fanzine has become too much of a chore. The cost can be borne, but the loss of time cannot. Regretfully, we must close up shop. WIth this issue, ST-Phile will mostly pass into history, barring a miracle, not expected to be forthcoming. We have on had a small quantity of ST-Phile #1, if you happen to be missing that issue. I do not anticipate a third printing [there was one!]. My cranking arm couldn't take it.

From the publisher in issue #2 (reprint, May 1976):

As I explain in ST-PHIIE #1, co-issued with this fanzine, the whole thing is Devra Langsam's fault. Devra and Sherna Comerford published Spockanalia 'way back when, and both of them were introduced to the parallel universe of science fiction fandom (parallel, but not identical to STAR TREK fandom; I leave it to disinterested parties to decide which fandom is the piratical mirror image and which is the "real" fandom).

When STAR TREK came into being, Kay Anderson and I were science fiction fans — there was no STAR TREK fandom, then -- and we enjoyed the show. I had been publishing an sf fanzine for years, and it seemed like it might be fun if we co-edited an ST fanzine. So we did. It took us two issues, and then we quit, having chosen - to use the Good Witch's advice — "when one reaches the end, it is best to quit."

Unexpectedly, requests for the two issues of ST-PHILE continued after STAR TREK was no longer on the air. I was forced to reprint copies, a messy job. (Re-using already inky and stiffening stencils is one of the less sought-after jobs in amateur publishing, I assure you.) In the intervening eight years since that reprint Devra has nagged her readers to nag me, and they have.

So here, for absolutely the last time, is ST-PHILE #2, in company with her older sister, ST-PHILE #1. The stencils have crumbled into greasy junk, the Gestetner machine which printed many of them has long since disappeared into other fannish hands, and since I'm not as crazy as Devra, I have no intention of having these two fanzines reproduced by professional printing. That kooky I ain't.

The two fanzines were difficult to produce -- since Kay lives, in California and I in Indiana — but rewarding and fun to do. At least they were fun to do once. Doing them over and over again is a drag.

In a sense, we were outside the STAR TREK phenomenon, got swept into it by our interest and enthusiasm and then, as the magnetic attraction seemed to die (choked off by the network and bad scripts in the third season) we drifted out of the whirlpool and back into our original sub-world, science fiction fandom. But as all of us have learned in these eight years, STAR TREK refuses to die as a phenomenon. For many, its appeal and magnetism are as strong or stronger than they were when the show was originally on the-air. Kay and I are both involved in the somewhat slower paced and broader ranging science fiction world, and we continue to view with fascination — and sometimes non-comprehension -- the perpetual motion machine that is STAR TREKdom.

We were lucky enough to be in at the start, so to speak. STAR TREK was first previewed at a world science fiction convention, to a generally favorable audience. The sf fans had reservations, but on the whole were willing to forgive Roddenberry's concessions to the network and commerciality for the sake of getting science fiction on television regularly. The world convention awarded Roddenberry and Harlan Ellison Hugoes for Dramatic Presentation for STAR TREK episodes — and Kay and I were happy to participate in the campaigns to get those Hugoes awarded (in preference to the flabby announcement of "No Award"). We visited the set, got to know Roddenberry and crew, and appreciated our glimpses behind the glitter. In retrospect, I think STAR TREK was a trigger mechanism, firing a great many people with enthusiasm they hadn't known they possessed, and in some cases introducing them to a much larger scene of science fiction in general. For that, if for nothing else, STAR TREK deserves applause.

When STAR TREK went on the air, science fiction was an attic secret, and science fiction, to the majority of the population, was a) flying saucers, b) men from Mars, or c) musty old ridiculous stories about trips to the Moon.

We haven't broken down all those prejudices, but I think we've shifted the balance a little. A lot of people who never knew they liked science fiction know it now because of STAR TREK. And a lot of people who didn't like sf, and still don't but at least have a slightly broader idea of what science fiction is all about) and just how intriguing some of its concepts are.

And as for ridiculous stories about trips to the Moon...the stories may have been ridiculous, but the aspiration wasn't. Kay and I believe history will judge this century somewhat differently than certain narrow-minded people currently do; it will note, with rare approval, that at the same time humans were expanding their imaginations they were reaching out physically, stepping off their own planet for the first time; for one of the few times in history two nations fought each other, and killed no people on the opposing side, made countless useful spin-off discoveries in the process, and advanced the basic scientific knowledge of mankind in ways we can't yet completely fathom.

If that isn't a real-life version of STAR TREK's optimistic universe, I don't know what is.

  • Star Trek: '67-'68 Season by Juanita Coulson (3)
  • What I Did On My Lunch Hour by Ruth Berman (visit to the set) (4)
  • Liberalism in Outer Space by E.A. Oddstad (political structure of the Federation, how member worlds might be affected) (7)
  • The Trouble with Star Trek, a poem by Emily Mullen (11)
  • When You Were Five Years Old, a poem by Shirley Meech (12) (reprinted in The Despatch #20)
  • The Secret Censors by Gary Mason (an account of how Australian television censored the show) (13)
  • Improbability of Vulcan Cyclic Patterns, or Why Put Off Till Next Year What You Could Be Doing Tonight? by Emily Mullen (refuting idea that pon farr occurs only once every seven years) (23)
  • We're Getting the Message, Sir, a poem by Shirley Meech (26)
  • Where It's At by K. Anderson (also in Inside Star Trek #10, #11) (28)
  • The Unity of 'Operation:Annihilate' by Jean Lorrah (answer to Ruth Berman's discussion of the rapidly changing moods in that story in issue 1) (35)
  • Subtle Threads Among the Stars by J.K. Colander (41)

References

  1. ^ includes: "The Captain's Yeoman. Except for problems in naval parlance, J.M. Colt would be called a yeo-woman. With a strip-queen figure even a uniform cannot hide, 'Colt' serves as Captain's secretary, reporter, bookkeeper and with surprising efficiency. She undoubtedly dreams of serving Robert April with equal efficiency in more personal departments."
  2. ^ The Nineteen Coolest Illustrations from Star Trek Fanzines, Archived version (October 4, 2013)
  3. ^ from Chatter Boxes #8
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