The Capture
| Vid | |
|---|---|
| Title: | The Capture |
| Creator: | written by Bob "Yang" Asprin and drawn by Phil Foglio |
| Date: | 1975 |
| Format: | |
| Length: | |
| Music: | |
| Genre: | |
| Fandom: | Star Trek: TOS |
| Footage: | |
| URL: | |
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The Capture was a humorous slide show written by Bob "Yang" Asprin and drawn by Phil Foglio, shown and narrated at various conventions in the 1970s. It premiered at ReKWest*Con in 1975.
The slide show was inspired by a (very real) SF charter cruise that Kelly Freas and Gordon Dickson were on in the Bermuda Triangle, involving many of the leading SF authors, artists, editors, and fans of the day. Hearing about this, Bob Asprin asked himself: what if an alien vessel put the snatch on that ship? Paula Smith and Sharon Ferraro arranged for Phil Foglio to illustrate the story with cartoons that could be shot as slides and shown at their convention, ReKWest*Con (Kalamazoo, 1975).
It was a Hugo nominee.
A print zine using these images was published a year later. It was called The Capture Coloring Book.
The Slide Show Was Shown at these Conventions
- ReKWest*Con
- Detroit Triple Fan Fair
- AnonyCon
- WondayCon
- ConFusion
- Boksone
- LunaCon
- WesterCon
- Toronto Star Trek
- RiverCon
- MidAmeriCon
From Yang's Introduction in the Print Zine
From The Capture Coloring Book:
It was 4:00 am, WindyCon I (Chicago '74), following closely on the heels of "Kelly's Song" being sung for the nth time that Filksing. A bleary-eyed Trufan (Doc Passovoy as I recall) peered through the clouds of cigarette smoke in an effort to see the other side of the six-foot wide hall and asked, "Where's Kelly, or Gordie, for that matter?"The answer was, of course, that Kelly Freas and Gordon Dickson were on the SF Cruise, a charter cruise of the Bermuda Triangle involving many of the leading authors, artists, editors and fans of science fiction today. An idea blazed in my mind which I immediately verbalized. What if an alien vessel put the snatch on this ship with all the...
"Wow!" said the sing. "Gordie would write it..." "And Kelly would illo it..." "But who would they submit it to?" "Ben Bova! He's on board!" "Gee, somebody ought to write that story!!"
Ka-Chingg!!
That is the sound of a cash register going off in my mind. It serves as the sound of creative inspiration striking.
To keep a long story medium, I hammered off the bit as a series of communications between the commander of the capturing vessel and his immediate superiors, and blitzed it off to Ben in time for it to be waiting on his desk when he got back from the cruise.
The rejection slip was waiting on my desk when I got back from mailing the manuscript.
Being a sensitive creature, I react negatively to rejection, so I did what any mature, logical, 20th century man would do when confronted with an obstacle — I sulked. Someday I'll write better than all of...oops! That line's been used before. The story was retired except for occasional readings during room parties during cons. Then came ReKWest*Con (Kalamazoo '75). As Fan Guest of Honor, I was asked to write something for the program book, and callously tried to palm "The Capture" off on them...for a modest fee, of course. Fortunately, (or un-) the organizers, Paula Smith and Sharon Ferraro, had prior experience from editing fanzines and rejected it.
"Frankly, Yang, it reads aloud better than it reads on paper. But tell ya what..."
What they suggested was to nail a prominent Midwest fan artist (and when we couldn't get him we settled for Phil Foglio) to do a series of cartoons which would be converted to slides and used as a backdrop for a dramatic reading.
The rest is history. What was planned as a one-time fun bit became, at the insistence of the fans, a running series of showings: Fan Fair, AnonyCon, WondayCon, ConFusion, Boskone, LunaCon, WesterCon, Toronto Star Trek, RiverCon, and then the big one. Big Mac, MidAmericon and a chance at the Hugo.
Not bad for two unknown con artists from the Midwest.