Spockanalia

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Zine
Title: Spockanalia
Publisher: Garlic Press
Editor(s): Devra Michele Langsam and Sherna Comerford
Date(s): 1967-1970
Series?:
Medium: print zine, fanfic
Size:
Genre:
Fandom: Star Trek: TOS
Language: English
External Links: a few sample articles and pages have been posted as PDFs here; other PDFs are here; PDFs posted with publisher permission can also be found at the Sandy Hereld Memorial Digitized Fanzine Collection and Issues 1-5 archived at [The Fanac Fan History Project.]
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.
front cover of issue #1, Kathy Bushman
Devra and Sherna from issue #2, artist: Devra

Spockanalia is a gen Star Trek: TOS anthology of stories, poems, articles, art and letters.

It was the very first all-Star Trek fanzine ever published, done when the series was still in its first season on NBC. It was edited by Devra Michele Langsam and Sherna Comerford. Originally meant as a one-shot, it ended up as a five-issue series when the editors were inundated with material after the first issue appeared.

Originally a full 8 1/2 x 11 in size, it has been reprinted numerous times reduced to a 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 (digest-sized) format.

There were five issues of Spockanalia. The editor explains in the last issue that the plan was for the three editors to split into two groups and publish the zines Masiform D, and Nevertrodden Worlds, the latter which never got off the ground.

For similar zines of this era, see List of Star Trek TOS Zines Published While the Show First Aired.

In 2016, editor Devra Langsam gave permission to the Sandy Hereld Memorial Digitized Media Fanzine Collection to make online copies available to the public.

This zine series is also the topic of Where No Fandom Has Gone Before: Exploring the Development of Fandom Through Star Trek Fanzines and its accompanying webpage and archive by Jacqueline Guerrier (2018).

Its Origins

Comments by the Editor: 1971

In the 1971 editorial of Masiform D #1, Devra Langsam explains "Spockanlia's" origins, and its eventual transition into "Masiform D."

Three years ago I entered the weird and perverty world of fandom, primarily through the agency of the SATURDAY REVIEW, which printed Dick Plotz's letter.[1]

The appearance of Tolkien in that august periodical aroused a spark, etc, etc, …Sherna Comerford (now Burley) and I attended a moot at Dick's house, and thus were lured into devastation. Open ESFA, meeting Brian Burley - WKF, Lunacon… and then correspondence with Juanita Coulson, who wrote, "Why don't you two do a STAR TREK fanzine?" Strange how such innocent bait hid the many pitfalls awaiting two neofemme faneds. (Tsk. If I had known then....).

With Sherna and my cousin Debbie (keep a close eye on her) I co-edited SPOCKANALIA for two long maddening frustrating blissful years. SPOCK was as secondary universe fanzine, in which we assumed that the STAR TREK universe was the real world. It was in this hard school that I learned about the tendencies of all stencils to shred, of all ink repositories (of whatever, make, brand, or form) to leak, of all paper to catch and rip, I also learned about the difficulties of locating "the man who has that nice illo [illustration] for you," about' "the rule that the postawful must lose at least one batch, of illos for each fanzine, and how even the best contributors (and we had them) are sometimes a bit later than they thought, A rewarding and enlightening experience it was too.

In the spring of 1969 STAR TREK was cancelled and left the airwaves, Although it immediately returned via syndication, there could be no new authorized material to work, with. This, and the difficulty of editing a massive zine with two editors forty miles from the third, and one of the two in a pre-med course, impelled us to split up the zine.

Comments by the Editor: 2017

In 2017: Langsam said:

I was friendly with Sherna Comerford in high school and in college. I went away to grad school, and she wrote to me and said, “I just saw this wonderful television show. It has an alien with no emotions,” and I said, “That sounds really stupid.” (laughs) I didn’t actually start watching Star Trek until I came home and began work as a librarian, and Sherna and I both were enthralled with Star Trek, and she was currently a grad student at Rutgers in Newark, and she went to an open SFA. SFA was the Newark Science Fiction Society, and the open was their local convention,and she sat next to Brian Burley, and somehow they got into conversation, and he showed her a photo of Spock that he had gotten from the network.

Then he gave her the name and address of Juanita Coulson, who is a fan who lived out in Indiana and had been doing general science fiction fanzines for a very long time, and published a magazine with her husband, which was called Yandro, and it had some articles in it about Star Trek. And we started a correspondence with Juanita, and she said to us, “I think it would be wonderful if someone did a fanzine, just Star Trek, and you two young women might be able to do it. I’ll help you with the publication,” because she had her own mimeograph, and she knew how to publish a magazine.

Then she put us in touch with Ruth Berman and Eleanor Arnason, both of whom had material to contribute, and Juanita helped us with the layout and the artwork, and Sherna got the Publications Department at the University she was going to, to print the magazine for us. Then we collated it at the NyCon 3, the World Science Fiction Convention in 1967, which was held in Manhattan, and we got friends to help us collate, put it together, and staple it. It was a very long magazine for that time. It had 45 doubled-sided pages, and we did not own a heavy-duty stapler. We didn’t know there was such a thing. So, we were at the convention, in my bedroom we were doing this. We had a wall stapler, and we stapled it through the magazine, pried it off with a screwdriver, and somebody closed each prong of the wall staple with pliers, which is why if you have an original, first-printing copy, the staple will have started to cut through the paper because it has sharp edges, unlike a regular staple designed to staple paper together.

We walked around the convention with piles of the magazines in our arms, selling it to anybody we could find for 50 cents. That’s how we got started. [We sold] maybe 50 or 75. There were about 2000 people in attendance at the convention. [2]

We were very proud that we had produced [Spockanalia] and from the very beginning, we said we were not going to have articles about “I went to the set and I saw Mr. Spock’s dressing room.” We will only publish things that pretend that Star Trek is the real world. So, you can write an article about ancient Vulcan archeology as long as it doesn’t violate anything that has been established in the show, or you can write a story, but you cannot send us an article about meeting Mr. Spock at an autograph session. We did five issues, and then by that time, Star Trek was off the air, and a lot of people were starting to get interested in Star Wars and other things, so Sherna and I parted company. [3]

Somewhere around, there are probably, between the five volumes, probably somewhere around 20,000 copies [of Spockanalia] floating around. But it was over a 20 or 25-year period, so... I believe somebody has webbed it. I don’t know. I didn’t want to look. Originally, we put in copyright papers, saying that the original material was returned to the authors and that, of course, only the original stuff belonged to them, not any of the stuff from television. But of course, probably Paramount would have said that it all belonged to them. There has been a lot of confusion and argument about that. At one time, Paula Smith published a fanzine, and she put in the copyright notice, “this stuff doesn’t intend to violate anybody’s copyright. Of course it does, but we don’t intend to,” so, as I say, people — Paramount mostly — didn’t care because we weren’t making any money. If we had made substantial amounts of money, they might have gotten annoyed. We did send copies of the magazine to the actors, and I have a newspaper clipping showing Roddenberry holding a copy of one of the magazines. You can quite easily read the name of the magazine, and he never said anything about how he didn’t want me to keep on doing it, so...

[snipped]

[It's impossible to know if he actually read it] Well, at least he was holding it. (laughs)

[snipped]

We didn’t really have much from them. We had a nice, polite letter from Leonard Nimoy, from when we had sent him the first issue, and we had a letter from D.C. Fontana, in which she revealed Mr. Spock’s last name, which I can’t possibly spell for you at this point. We had been in contact because we had sent letters to Paramount, and Paramount had forwarded the material to the cast. So, at one point, Sherna and I went out, hoping to visit the set, but we had very foolishly decided to wait until after the science fiction convention that we were also attending, by which time they were on hiatus. So, we saw the prop room, which was annoying, but we did not have that close a relationship with the cast or the creators. D.C. Fontana and I still exchange Christmas cards, but that’s about the limit of [our contact. It was mainly] “Here is our magazine about your wonderful show; we hope you like it” kind of letters.

[snipped]

We didn’t have anything that [ TPTB ] could object to. I mean, it was not like the people writing slash, where the actors might feel uncomfortable about reading a story in which their character was paired with a same-sex — we didn’t do that. There were lots of fanzines that did that. There was a whole, large section of fandom that was devoted to doing that, but we didn’t do that, and we didn’t say things like “Oh my God, Kirk is so stupid!” or “Why doesn’t Spock ever learn?” We may have thought that, but we didn’t actually publish things that said that. [4]

People didn’t always agree with the way the stories were done, but we really, really tried extremely hard to stick to canon. We were very strict about “if it’s not in the episodes as aired, then it’s not real,” so even if you had an original script, and you said, “Look! It says this!” – if it was cut and did not appear on the television, then it wasn’t real. So even when they started publishing the books, we simply said “No, you can’t use that,” so it made it a little different. Other people wrote stories. They just made it all up, but we really tried very hard to stick to what we had been given. That was a challenge because the first two or three issues were published while they were still producing new episodes, and we were really nervous that somebody was going to come out with an episode that made us look stupid because it contradicted what we had printed, but it didn’t happen. Not that they were worried about it, but we were a little twitchy about it. I don’t think we were ever controversial. Possibly we were just too cautious for that. It wasn’t like Night of the Twin Moons, which Jean Lorrah published about Sarek and Amanda. It had some warm scenes in it, very well-written, but it was — some people were a little distressed by it because it wasn’t their image of Sarek and Amanda.

[We didn't published that kind of stuff.] I’m a prude. What can I tell you? I didn’t want to publish that. I don’t think that we ever really got that much sent to us, but you could look at the stuff we published, and you could see that it did not have a lot of graphic material in it. In one of my stories, there is one line where the woman, who is married to a Vulcan, remembers the feeling of “hot skin on her thighs,” and somebody wrote to me and said, “Is this the kind of thing you’re publishing?” (laughs) That was, I think, the hottest thing we ever did print. [5]

Some Philosophy from a 1968 Flyer

The flyer asking for submissions for the second issue emphasized some very distinct decisions regarding creative endeavors, canon, and the role of fanworks, at least in this publication.

first page of an April 1968 flyer
second page of an April 1968 flyer

We need material of all kinds for future issues of SPOCKANALIA. This includes serious material as well as humor, and everything from interlineations to multi-page articles, SPOCKANALIA articles must he about STAR TREK, of course, and we want to Play The Game. The Game is that the STAR TREK universe is the true Now. It exists, and any apparent discrepancies can be explained.

As a corollary, the only information we have about this universe, aside from our own present, is what we see broadcast on STAR TREK. We cannot make things up. That is the prerogative of the people at Desilu, and it is the only way to keep order in our worldbuilding.

We do speculate. We make logical deductions. We also bend the rules to include "facts" that are never likely to be mentioned on the program (like the existence of an underground newspaper among the junior officers of the Enterprise). But we can't impose our own creations on the program.

This policy is a little restricting. We cannot, for instance, use articles about the actual production. There are other fanzines that can use such articles, though, including Juanita Coulson and Kay Anderson's ST-PHILE.

Among the material we've had submitted, there's been a surfeit of poetry and fan fiction. Not many of us are really adept at either, so don't be surprised if we're pretty critical. Submit anyway; we don't bite!

Artwork should be done in black ink, on thin paper, line drawings. These can be hand cut on stencils. A certain amount of shading can be handled, as we did in SPOCKANALIA 1. Solid black areas, and pictures on lightweight, flexible cardboard can be done by electrostencil - at $1.50 per page.

So far, our repro has been completely mimeo, and the results have been quite satisfactory. If we get a good picture drawn for photo-offset, we might spend the extra money. We're not familiar with the process, though, so the artist should be.

SPOCKANALIA is irregular, but it seems to be a biannual. We want to keep publishing at least as long as STAR TREK is broadcast, but no issue will be published unless and until we have worthwhile material - and that's up to you.

Contributions and Awareness from Star Trek's Creators

Each issue of 'Spockanalia' had many examples of Roddenberry, Fontana, DeForest Kelley, and other Star Trek creators' interest, if not direct, comments and assistance.

Issue #1 has a short letter from Leonard Nimoy.

Issue #2 has a short letter from Gene Roddenberry as well as excerpts of several from Dorothy C. Fontana . Issue #2 also has letters by James Doohan, Leonard Nimoy, Walter Koenig, and DeForest Kelley, all (except for Koenig's) written "in-character." Fontana writes:

Both his mother and father have been married only once... to each other... Spock is an only child... there are absolutely no other siblings... I have projected Spock's last name as XTMPRSQZNTWLFB.

By issue #3, Gene Roddenberry and his production staff had taken even more note of the fanzine and submitted a letter to the editors stating:

Gene Roddenberry letter to the fanzine editors from issue #3
Dear Sherna and Devra: Please forgive me for doubling up like this, but we are very busy preparing for a new season's filming and Bjo assures me that you two are resigned to sharing letters. I hopes she is correct.

Yes, I saw the card and appreciated the thought; my shoulder is as good as new, thank you. Unfortunately, my time is not my own, or I would answer all fan mail myself, but if I have a choice of answering mail or producing a good show for you, I think you'll agree that the latter choice, is the best one. SPOCKANALIA is "required reading" for everyone in our offices, and I am most distressed that you were not told of this before. We have used all the extra copies to make sure that every new writer, and anyone who makes decisions on show policy have read your fanzine, and Juanita Coulson's ST-PHILE. The reason for this is that if we all understand what the fans see in the show, and try to understand why they are fans at all, we can then continue to hold those fans. Certain fanzines, and yours is one of them, have a mature and well- written format that is very instructive to our staff.

So thank you for the fanzine, please be assured that it is read and appreciated, and continue to publish it, if you will. We enjoy reading it. STAR TREK needs fans like you two.

Supposedly, a copy of "Visit to a Weird Planet" from issue #3 was also sent to Gene Roddenberry. [6]

In 2017, Langsam said:

From the very beginning, we had been sending copies over to Roddenberry and the actors, so — and they didn’t write back and say “Stop this at once you horrible people!” so we assumed that they didn’t mind, and we never got any cease-and-desist letters from Paramount because we were not doing anything that was really controversial, and if I made five cents a copy on a magazine, it was probably lying. Not that much because I had to buy the materials and of course feed the people who came to help me, and then everybody who contributed got a copy. You had story. You had a poem. You had art work. You got a free copy. So, there wasn’t what I would call a lot of profit involved, certainly not enough that Paramount would feel that they were being cheated.

We were sort of sailing under the radar [regarding copyright]. It was basically they couldn’t believe that anybody was really interested in that show that they’d canceled, and so they didn’t look at it. They didn’t look for it. They weren’t tapped into it, and there wasn’t — even though the internet may have started up some time in there, there really — it wasn’t, it wasn’t a lot of noise. If you weren’t in the circuit, you didn’t hear about it. It was like some of the really hot magazines that had stories that I would consider a trifle vulgar. Sometimes you had to know the editor or one of the authors or else you couldn’t get it because they wouldn’t sell it to you. You wouldn’t know where to write.

[snipped]

We did send copies of the magazine to the actors, and I have a newspaper clipping showing Roddenberry holding a copy of one of the magazines. You can quite easily read the name of the magazine, and he never said anything about how he didn’t want me to keep on doing it, so...

[snipped]

I don't know if he actually read it. Well, at least he was holding it. (laughs)

[snipped]

We didn’t really have much from them. We had a nice, polite letter from Leonard Nimoy, from when we had sent him the first issue, and we had a letter from D.C. Fontana, in which she revealed Mr. Spock’s last name, which I can’t possibly spell for you at this point. We had been in contact because we had sent letters to Paramount, and Paramount had forwarded the material to the cast. So, at one point, Sherna and I went out, hoping to visit the set, but we had very foolishly decided to wait until after the science fiction convention that we were also attending, by which time they were on hiatus. So, we saw the prop room, which was annoying, but we did not have that close a relationship with the cast or the creators. D.C. Fontana and I still exchange Christmas cards, but that’s about the limit of [our contact. It was mainly] “Here is our magazine about your wonderful show; we hope you like it” kind of letters.


For more on Roddenberry's involvement with fandom, see TPTB's Involvement and Interference.

Some Genre Firsts

Because it is the very first Star Trek zine, 'Spockanalia,' by nature, contains many genre firsts.

RPF

Issue #3 has a very early known example of RPF. "Visit to a Weird Planet" sends Kirk, Spock and Bones back to the set of the filming of Star Trek. The three characters meet, among others, Gene Roddenberry.

Sex, Female Gaze and Desire

In Spockanalia 3, Laura Harris' prose poem "The Alternate" appeared. It is supposed to be the thoughts of a woman in a relationship with Spock from the mirror universe, or someone very much like him. It describes sexual congress in a dreamlike, romance-novel style, explicit enough that the reader understands what's going on, similar to Anais Nin's Delta of Venus erotica.

In issue 4, the story "Time Enough" appeared. It was a simple tale of Spock's brief affair with a part-Vulcan officer during his next pon farr. When political circumstances necessitated her return to Vulcan, the two parted company amicably, without creating a marriage bond. This was the first of many relationship stories to follow. In this story, all the sex occurred "offscreen" and the entire story could have played as an episode of the show (considering Kirk's bedroom scenes in "Elaan of Troyius" and "Wink of an Eye"). But it was considered extremely controversial at the time.

The editors received many letters about "that dirty story" and had to remind readers that "psychologists say this is normal."

From the editor's comments in the fourth issue of Spockanalia (1969):

THAT DIRTY ARTICLE ON PAGE _____ We've been told that a couple of the items in SPOCKANALIA 3 are embarrassing, dirty, or downright trashy. If we've embarrassed you, we are sincerely sorry.

The recurrence of the theme of sex isn't surprising. Sex is a recurrent theme of life. The recurrence of the theme of sex involving Spock is also unsurprising. We STAR TREK femmefans find him attractive and highly masculine. Some of us are articulate, and the result is predictable (and even logical.) If anyone is seriously concerned... psychiatrists regard such feelings as perfectly normal (if they are non-obsessive) and artistic endeavour as a healthy outlet. Perhaps some of our readers are too accustomed to the tradition, in popular literature, of the male protagonist being aroused by the presence of attractive women. When they find that women write it the other way around, they find it strange. We, the editors of SPOCKANALIA, try our best to print only material which we consider well-written, interesting to us, and written within our format. We do not choose to limit ourselves by eliminating one effective segment of our submissions.

Telepathic Dialogue Punctuation

The fourth issue of "Spockananalia" contains the first published fan story, Time Enough, to use double forward strokes -- // -- to indicate telepathic dialogue. Author Lelamarie S. Kreidler explained this in an introductory note, reminding readers that telepathic communication is common among Vulcans. This practice was picked up by Jean Lorrah for her first solo professional novel, and explained to Joan Verba in Boldly Writing that she thought it was standard practice.

Ni Var

Spockanalia is probably best known for being the zine in which Dorothy Jones' poem "The Territory of Rigel" appears. It is a ni var supposedly composed by Spock during a late night watch on the bridge. This was the first time the term ni var was seen. "The Territory of Rigel" compares the darkness of the bridge on night shift to the brilliance of the star Rigel on the viewscreen. By implication, it also compares Spock's own Vulcan and Terran natures.

General Reactions and Reviews

1968

This one is good. I mean this in a truly literal sense. The articles, and there are many of them, are built around one basic prenise. That the Universe in which STAR TREK exists is a real one, and that therefore there has to be a resonable explanation for every­ thing that occurs in the show. Including Spock’s green blood, two hearts, half-human and half—Vulcan genetic background, racial tendency towards unmotional illogicality, distances possible by warp drive, the whole ball of wax.

If you care for competent, literate, intelligent articles very strongly differing from that crud, you get in REDBOOK and LIFE all the time, this is for you. [7]

1970

The first issue was put out when very little had been said about Spock and now the articles that fascinated my collector friends don't see like too much to me. I have read the same assumptions and extrapolation in other fanzines. Many of the later articles [in other zines] are just as good in the articles in 'Spockanalia, some perhaps, even better... It is curious how within the small realm of trekdom we have our legendary figures and fanzines. 'Spockanalia' is one. Any trekkie who hasn't seen a copy probably wonders what TRUTHS it contains, and like me, is disappointed to find not even one mimeographed, immortal truth in its pages. However, 'Spockanalia' is a must for every die-hard trekkie. [8]

1977

SPOCKANALIA is the oldest STAR TREK related zine… The zine wears well. Its contents equal or surpass much that is being printed to-day. A 'secondary universe' fanzine, SPOCKANALIA specializes in extapolative articles and essays based on extensions of current knowledge in psychology, chemistry, physics, biology, archeology, religion, and sociology. It provides fascinating reading, giving depth and validity to the concepts of the STAR TREK universe(s). Other features in SPOCKANALIA include art, fiction, poetry, etc. A must for any ST fan. [9]

1986

Good fiction and articles, gives you the feel of fandom when the show was still on the network. Letters from the actors in issue #2 were fun to read, especially the ones between Nimoy/Spock and Kelley/McCoy. Also contains the starship crews' "underground" newstape — "The Free Enterprise." [10]

Lacking a photocopier and believing that all the zines I had seen up to the time were out of print (after all, they were mimeo'd and dated several years earlier), I HAND COPIED several of my favourite stories so i could have copies of my own. I still have the notebook... [11]

Issue 1

front cover of issue #1, Kathy Bushman
the dedication page from issue #1, addresses redacted
back cover of issue #1, You are Receiving this Zine Because
front cover of issue #1, third printing, May 1968

Spockanalia 1 was published in September 1967 and contains 90 pages. Art by Kathy Bushman, Sherna Comerford, Juanita Coulson, DEA, Dick Flood, and Devra Michele Langsam. The front cover is by Kathy Bushman.

See the table of contents here.

  • a letter from Leonard Nimoy (7)
  • The Territory of Rigel by Dorothy Jones (8)
  • Off the Top; a Bulletin and Edtiorial (10)
  • A Most Illogical Song by Shirley Meech et alia (12)
  • Physiologica Vulcanesis by Sherna Comerford, Juanita Coulson, and Kay Anderson (14) (reprinted in Vulcan Reflections)
  • A Proposed Model of the Vulcan Heart by Sandy Deckinger (21)
  • To a Vulcan by Sherna Comerford (24)
  • Also to a Vulcan by Devra Michele Langsam (25)
  • The Vulcan Gambit by Shirley Meech (How Spock plays chess with Kirk, and how Kirk manages to win) (26)
  • Vulcan Psychology, A Brief Survey of Personality Development and Life Adjustment in a Human/Culcan Hybrid by Juanita Coulson (28) (reprinted (with an addendum!) in Vulcan Reflections)
  • Spock Shock by Sherna Comerford (the fan play performed at Star Trek Con) (28)
  • Vulcans and Emotions by Devra Michele Langsam (43)
  • Kirk and Spock by Ruth Berman (46) (reprinted from Pantopon] #17)
  • 'S Blood" by Sherna Comerford and Devra Michele Langsam (47)
  • Thoughts on Vulcan Culture by Devra Michele Langsam (48) (reprinted in Vulcan Reflections)
  • Excerpt from "The Young Vulcan's Handbook of Emotional Control" by Shirley Meech (55)
  • a record review by Dorothy Jones (58)
  • Star Drek by Ruth Berman (satirical adventure based on 16th century writer Edmund Spenser's fantasy universe as expressed in his poetry) (62) (reprinted from Pantopon #16; Ruth later filed the serial numbers off of it and published it as original fiction called "Ptolemaic Hijack" in Worlds of Fantasy Spring 1971. )
  • Acknowledgments (89)

  • from issue #1, letter from Leonard Nimoy

  • from issue #1, "Territory of Rigel," Dorothy Jones (see Territory of Rigel for more)

  • from issue #1, Kathy Bushman, from "Thoughts on Vulcan Culture"

  • from issue #1, DEA, from "Vulcan Psychology"

  • from issue #1, the first page of "Spock Shock"

  • from issue #1, Juanita Coulson for "Star Drek"

  • from issue #1, Sherna Comerford, from "A Proposed Model of the Vulcan Heart"

  • from issue #1, Kathy Bushman, from "Vulcan Psychology"

  • from issue #1, "Kirk and Spock"

  • from issue #1, Devra Langsam from "'S Blood"

  • from issue #1, Juanita Coulson from "Star Drek"

Reactions and Reviews: Issue 1

See reactions and reviews for Spock Shock.

See reactions and reviews for The Territory of Rigel.

[zine]: Much of the material in this premier issue is devoted to Mr. Spock and Vulcan (the planet and the people). In addition to the two editors—each of whom contributes articles in addition to their editorial column—contributors include Dorothy Jones, Shirley Meech, Juanita Coulson (co-editor with her husband Buck of the long-running fanzine Yandro), Kay Anderson, Sandy Deckinger (wife of SF fan Mike Deckinger) and Ruth Berman (SF fan and fanzine publisher/writer), some of them with multiple pieces. Cover artwork is by Kathy Bushman, who provides several pieces of interior art as well. Other interior artists include the two editors, plus Dick Flood, Juanita Coulson and Margaret Domenick (“DEA”). Several articles stand out. Coulson’s long article on Spock is perhaps the heart of the issue. Entitled “Vulcan Psychology: A Brief Survey of Personal Development and Life Adjustment in a Human/Vulcan Hybrid,” it goes into considerable detail to support its conclusion that “All things considered, the subject has made an admirable adjustment to a very difficult life situation…” Another significant piece is coauthored by Coulson, co-editor Comerford and Kay Anderson—“Physiologica Vulcanensis” discusses at length Vulcan physiology as influenced by their home planet, Vulcan, which is “very different from Earth. By human standards, it is large, hot, and arid. The gravity is high, and the amount of light (and probably other solar radiation) reaching the surface is extreme…” And editor Langsam’s “Thoughts on Vulcan Culture” is also a compelling read. [12]

Issue 2

Spockanalia 2 was published in April 1968 and contains 112 pages. Cover: Kathy Bushman; back cover: DEA. Art by Allan Asherman, Janie Bowers, Kathy Bushman, Rose Comerford, Sherna Comerford, Juanita Coulson, DEA, Jack Gaughan, Alexis Gilliland, Susan Hereford, Dale A. Kagan, Devra Michele Langsam, Chester Malon, Shirley Meech, Chuck Rein, Walt Strasser, Mike Symes, and Joyce Yasner.

front cover of issue #2, Kathy Bushman
back cover of issue #2, DEA
an update/submission request printed in Plak-Tow #2: "We are still in need of articles... Humorous pieces are always welcome -- if they are funny, and if they do not violate the characters... A bit of warning -- we are swamped with poor poetry and fiction. We will publish no fiction at all, unless it really seems special to us. Not many fen can write like Ruth Berman"
You are Receiving this Zine Because from issue #2, art by Jack Gaughan

See the table of contents here.

  • Off the Top, editorial (7)
  • a short letter (telegram, printed all in caps) by Gene Roddenberry (9)
  • excerpts from letters written by D.C. Fontana in which she mentions many things about Spock, including his last name (XTMPRSQZNTWLFB!), his lack of siblings, his vegetarianism, the placement of Spock's heart, that Spock (being half human) will not live as long as other Vulcans, that it was possible that Sarek didn't enter his first pon farr until he was sixty-four years old, that ALL Vulcan males given names begin with an "S" and all female ones with a "T," and that Spock is thirty-six years old. It begins with: "As story editor and a writer of STAR TREK, I came into possession of your SPOCKANALIA, which Gene Roddenberry brought back from the NYCON. (I couldn't go…I had to work on a script.) Since I've been instrumental in developing the characteristics and background of Spock too, some of which are mentioned in your magazine, I thought I'd drop a line…" (9)
  • a letter written by James Doohan, in the character of Montgomery Scott, in which he explains how he became a "Space Engineer" for Starfleet: "I very seldom tell this story because it has its embarrassing moment but here goes. Off the coast of Scotland are many small islands inhabited by few or none at all... I wanted a quiet place to write my thesis..." (12)
  • a letter from Walter Koenig congratulating the editors on the fanzine and in which he talks vaguely about the show's cancellation (14)
  • a letter from DeForest Kelley, in the character of Dr. McCoy: "My thrill comes when we touch a planet similar to Earth in the 1960s where a physician's mind and skill are still the prominent factors, not a computer... As for Spock, what the blazes do I know about Vulcans? I reach for his heart and come up with his liver.. I recently brought aboard a young Dr. M'Benga to get Spock off my back. I can't be bothered with rubbing my nerves raw about a physical jigsaw. I have enough problems without taking on all of Spock's peculiarities, mental or physical. He is capable of undoing every single thing I have learned in all my years of medical training and I don't intend to let him do it. I have warned Captain Kirk that one more Vulcan aboard our ship, just one more, and I will resign from the service..." (15)
  • a short letter by Leonard Nimoy, writing in character as Mr. Spock as he responds to "McCoy's" letter above: "If you can imagine what it would be like to have a toothache treated by a screaming witch-doctor..." (16)
  • A Revisit by Sherna Comerford (17) (Because some material in issue #1 was jossed, the editor does a little fancy footwork)
  • Graffiti by Sherna Comerford (26)
  • The Man in the Hero Suit by E. A. Oddstad (Captain Kirk has zipped himself into a hero suit, and now the zipper's stuck.) (28)
  • Things Are Seldom What They Seem by Ruth Berman (takeoff on Gilbert and Sullivan) (34)
  • Stars Over Vulcan by V.A.H. Nietz (Vulcan astrology) (35)
  • More Illogical Verses by Sundry (44)
  • The Dour Scots Engineer by Ruth Berman (45)
the graffiti page from issue #2

  • original art (not in zine) for issue #2, Kathy Bushman

  • original art (not in zine) for issue #2, Kathy Bushman

  • inside issue #2, Kathy Bushman

  • inside issue #2, Susan Hereford

  • inside issue #2, Jack Gaughan

  • inside issue #2, Joyce Yasner

  • inside issue #2, DEA

  • inside issue #2, Juanita Coulson

  • inside issue #2, a ni var by Kathy Bushman

  • inside issue #2, Allan Asherman

  • inside issue #2, first page of Fontana's excerpts

  • inside issue #2, second page of Fontana's excerpts

  • inside issue #2, "The Allure of Uhura" by Kathy Bushman

Reactions and Reviews: Issue 2

[1968]:

Spockanalia 2 is a disheartening thing to look at; all that work, that talent., that beautiful artwork and imaginative layout, wasted on STAR TREK. 114 pages of it, including 13 excellent full-page ST-character portraits: by Kathy Bushman. Which are the best things in the issue., because they don't have to be read.

The most dominant article, is the analysis-of-a-character type. Kirk is found to be a soul surrounded by a hard shell, a human in a hero suit. Scotty is fitted into the mold of the literature-stereotyped Scotsman, with a, likable dignity and a delightful sense of humour; Uhura is proclaimed sexy; the wits and hows of Vulcan-Terran mating are divulged.

It's all a bit hard to take. These articles all have in common the approach Spockanalia demands:. STand its people; are real, the- world of ST is real. A certain sort of euphoric participation is demanded by that sort of writing, and I don't take ST all that seriously. So I can't take Spockanalia. seriously. But it is impressive.

The best parts of issue #2 are the articles wherein the writers elaborate on ST, and not, analyze it. DEA, for instance, thinks the character of Mr. Spock: was created not by a Vulcan-Terran mating, not by a mad producer's mind, but simply by a man who had pointed ears and so slipped into the role. Best thing in the issue, because it was fun to read.

And if you twitch ecstatically at the sound of the ST theme, you'll probably enjoy all of the fanzine. Don't let my petty prejudices influence you.[13] [14]

[2014]:

...at the Toronto Triple fan Fair in June of 1968 I happened to purchase issue #2 (published the previous April) of SPOCKANALIA. Issue #1 had been published in September of 1967, at that time the very first fanzine devoted to Star Trek. However, by the second issue co-editor Devra Langsam was able to point out:

“Other Star Trek zines are coming thick and fast… We want to call special attention to Juanita Coulson’s ST-PHILE. It is a beautiful thing, done with loving care…”

It is interesting to note that Juanita is credited elsewhere with inspiring Devra and the other co-editor Sherna Comerford to create SPOCKANALIA in the first place. By issue #2 Juanita was still actively involved, singlehandedly cutting 80 illustration stencils for instance, but evidently by then she’d felt the need to produce a zine of her own as well.

Two other Trek zines mentioned as flourishing by issue #2 are WHERE NO FAN HAS GONE BEFORE by Bjo Trimble of LA (Bjo was instrumental in jumpstarting the letter and petition campaign to ‘rescue’ Star Trek from premature cancellation and see it through a third year of production), and PLAK-TOW, a Star Trek newszine by Shirley Meech (another contributor to SPOCKANALIA) out of Newark, Delaware.

I would guess that these and similar Trek zines of the day probably predate the establishment of organized Trekdom (I don’t actually know), but I have no doubt they stimulated and encouraged the creation of such clubs. Certainly one can see in the zines the beginnings of Trekdom as an entity unto itself entirely separate from SF fandom at large. SPOCKANALIA is all about Star Trek and nothing but Star Trek. The birth of a niche fandom. Amazingly, locs from cast members and crew fill eight pages immediately after the editorial. Apparently Gene Roddenberry picked up a copy of the first issue at the Nycon 3 Worldcon in New York, flew back to LA, and – I suspect – passed it on to the publicity department.

I don’t want to upset anyone, but apart from Fontana and a brief congratulatory blurb from Roddenberry, I believe the letters from Koenig, Kelley, Doohan and Nimoy were probably written by publicity hacks and merely signed by the actors. They don’t ‘feel’ like personal letters. More like typical Hollywood publicity working off the show’s ‘bible’ of character studies. But I could be wrong.

Dorothy Fontana, one of show’s writers, does provide several interesting bits. For instance:

“Spock is in actuality what humans call a given name. The Family name is unpronounceable and can only be rendered in Earth alphabet as a long series of consonants…I have projected Spock’s last name as follows: XTMPRSQZNTWLFB…”

Man, no wonder Spock had a hangdog, somewhat sheepish expression half the time. He was worried someone would try to pronounce his full name!

Fontana also writes:

“At no time did we say a pon farr overcomes a Vulcan at any specific age or at any specific interval… due to his half-human heritage, Spock will probably not live as long as most Vulcans… Therefore it may be logical to assume that his half-human heritage may also pull down the age at which his pon farr may occur…”

Fascinating… In “Revisit” co-editor Sherna considers the bizarre pon farr instinct and the plak-tow madness associated with it. She puts considerable thought into her analysis:

“If Vulcans were as truly rational as they claim to be, they would simply agree to dump tradition and put every pon farr male into a padded cell, with his woman, as soon as the first symptoms appeared.”

The point being that Vulcans did NOT have complete logical control over their own instincts and relied on ceremony and ritual to make it appear that they did. Quite delusional when you think about it.

John Mansfield (possibly the legendary Canadian Fan of that name who later chaired the Conadian 1994 Worldcon in Winnipeg?) contributes a delightful article purporting to be excerpts from a Klingon instruction manual for interrogating captured Vulcans. Sample advice:

“…the pon farr Vulcan finds that his interests lie in areas other than military information. It may take some effort and subtlety to turn his attention to our wishes…”

“As the prisoner in plak-tow is incapable of speech, and will invariably die without recovering this capability, such a prisoner is to be destroyed at once. Failure to do so may be fatal to the interrogator.”

According to John the Klingons are under the impression that Vulcans regard humans as a slave race and because of this have inserted officers into Star Fleet the better to manipulate and control it. Consequently Klingons have come to believe their own mission is to save humanity from the evil Vulcans. Interesting insight into Klingon motivational propaganda, or… perhaps… the truth?

Here I should point out the basic premise of SPOCKANALIA is that the Star Trek universe actually exists and the zine itself is a part of that universe.

One particularly insightful article, by E.A. Oddstad, titled “The Man in the Hero Suit” opens with a quote by Spock:

“Captain, you should make a very convincing Nazi…”

And goes on to point out: “Kirk is obsessed with the Enterprise, its crew, and his position as Captain. He’s forever talking about “my ship” and “my crew.” In his mind, they belong to him, and he belongs to them. Without them he cannot be The Captain. His first concern is not his duty, nor the public good, but the Enterprise. He has risked the lives of an entire colony to save the lives of nine or ten crewmen…His fears of becoming an ordinary slob, of no longer being the famous Captain Kirk, is something like a Ruling Passion… Kirk’s zipped himself into a hero suit and now the zipper’s stuck. He can’t get out, and nobody else can get in.”

This analysis is bang on in my opinion. Other contributors offer equally valid interpretations of the characters of Scotty, McCoy, Chekov, Uhura, and Spock.

And then there’s the question of the lack of truly alien aliens in Star Trek. There are some, like the Horta, but most are humanoids. Of course if Star Trek were a TV show this is because creating a mask or slapping makeup on actors is a lot cheaper and less time consuming than creating an alien out of whole cloth, so to speak.

But since Star Trek is a documentary series about the real universe, researchers Jean Lorrah and Willard F. Hunt go to a great deal of trouble examining all episodes in the series to date. They claim to find evidence within the show that the universe had been dominated 800,000 years earlier by a single race from which all modern humanoid races, including humans, are descended. The evidence offered is convincing, the logic of interpretation impeccable. Now we understand why the universe is predominately populated by humanoids and not just a hodgepodge of incompatible entities.

On the lighter side, there are samples of graffiti from the Enterprise washroom:

“Why doesn’t Star Fleet get us seat belts?” … “Sarek is a Romulan spy.” … “It may be logical but is it fun?”

And a cheeky newsletter published by the engineering department which argues ‘the bridge’ is a myth.

Throw in several more articles I haven’t even mentioned, numerous poems (one of them by Poul Anderson), and even a song (with music notation), and in just 114 gestetnered pages you’ve got several hours of intellectual entertainment well thought out, carefully reasoned, beautifully packaged, and of a high order of intelligence.

Beats me where some SF fans got the idea that Trek Fandom consisted of mindless media fen incapable of original thought who had somehow ‘betrayed’ SF fandom.

SPOCKANALIA proves that “Trekdom” set a high standard right from the get go, and if it sometimes failed to live up to that standard bear in mind the same can be said for all other SF fandoms.

To my mind Star Trek is science fiction, and its fans science fiction fans. Trek fandom helped SF and SF fandom break out of the “sci-fi ghetto” and evolve into mainstream popular culture. I happen to think that’s a good thing.

And it all began with SPOCKANALIA. [15]

Issue 3

front cover of issue #3, second edition, Allan Asherman
You are Receiving this Zine Because from issue #3
back cover of issue #3, second edition, DEA

Spockanalia 3 was published in September 1968 and contains 103 pages. Cover: Allan Asherman; back cover: DEA. Art by Allan Asherman, Alicia Austin, Vaughan Bode, Janie Bowers, Sherna C. Burley, Kathy Bushman, Mary Ann Cappa, DEA, Sara Fenstere, Jack Gaughan, Alexis Gilliland, Debbie Langsam, Devra Michele Langsam, Carol Lee, Sue H. Lewis, John Mansfield, Beth Moore, Jane Peyton, and Terry Romine.

The table of contents is here.

From an August 1968 blurb:

REPORT FROM GARLIC PRESS by Sherna Commerford Burley. SPOCKANALIA #3 is in the works, and we're still aiming for a Baycon ish.

We have from Lee Burwasser an article deriving the characteristics of the ancient Vulcans from the behavior of the current ones. From John "The Spy"

Mansfield comes the Klingon reaction to the incident we know as "The Ultimate Computer". And from Jane Peyton, we see Spock's reaction to the cruelest grief he is ever likely to know. We do not (sob sob) have the story promised by Dorothy Fontana. We hope to hear from her in time for #4, but we're not sure we will. Other goodies we do have include a brief incident aboard the ISS (alternate) Enterprise. Devra is shouldering most of the work of thish, a situation which will be alleviated as soon as my new apartment is set up, not long now. [16]

From the editorial:

Please Mr. Roddenberry: Don't let Star Trek become another run-of-the-grade-B type of science fiction show. There have been some unhappy signs of this, and we're worried. The wonderful culture you created seems to be slipping. The interplanetary Federation of sentient beings has become an Earth-dominated, U.S.A.-oriented colonial power. The starships are all human-run, and the crews are all American humans, with a few noble exceptions. The universe has more to offer. The marvelous science, while it always has its holes, is now becoming moth-eaten, from its cliched inability to learn from past experiences. The 'I, Mudd' androids could have easily solved the 'Return to Tomorrow' dilemma. And why must we be bombarded by planets identical with Earth 'except for one little thing.' This was handled very cleverly in "A Piece of the Action,' but elsewhere it has varied between disappointing and utterly poor. We nearly turned off 'The Omega Glory' in the middle! There's a new season starting. Please. Bring back your original standards. Write us another 'Menagerie' and let the 'Omega' be a thing of the past. If we fans have any voice in the creation of Star Trek, then we say, 'Keep it the way it was. that is what we want.

  • Editorial by Yeds (7)
  • Spock (a somewhat disturbingly violent limerick) by Marian Turner (9)
  • letter from Gene Roddenberry (10)
  • The Most Unforgettable Humanoid I've Ever Met by Allan Asherman (written as a Reader's Digest article about meeting Spock) (11)
  • The Mysterious Yellow String by Joyce Yasner (a very creditable imitation of John Lennon's humorous style, as if Lennon were narrating a Star Trek episode) (18)
  • Proposed Structural Sketch of the Vulcan Language by Dorothy Jones (18)
  • Duty Briefing: Stores and Supply by Juanita Coulson (20)
  • A Slanderous Song by Devra Langsam, Debbie Langsam and Joyce Yasner (32) (Extremely raunchy filk based on the Beach Boys' "Sloop John B". Lyrics here.)
  • Vulcan Nutrition by Tom Bulmer (Excerpt: "According to recent theory, Vulcan blood cells do not begin as true cells, but as highly structured bodies analogous to extra-cellular chloroplasts. Much of their color is due to light scattering. Illuminated from behind, Vulcan blood gives a red hue to any concentrated source of light, and may appear blue or colorless depending on different lighting methods.") (33)
  • Mare Frigoria by Terri Harris (35)
  • The Vulcan Reforms by Lee Burwasser (38)
  • Klingon Intelligence Report by John Mansfield (Transcription of stolen documents show Klingon misunderstanding, half truths and propaganda about Vulcan's control over the Federation.) (46)
  • The Alternate by Laura Harris (Narrated by an unnamed woman, musings about having a relationship with Spock from the mirror universe or someone very like that, during some strong PG-13 or perhaps mild R-rated sex. [17] (49)
  • Whoops! and Rank Out by Yeds (52)
  • Terms and Conditions of Residence Aboard a Starship Class Vessel by Joyce Yasner (53)
  • The Vulcan Heart: An Alternative Proposal by Dorothy Jones and Sherna C. Burley (62)
  • The Menace by Sherna C. Burley (humorous play) (64)
  • The Probable Place of Art in Vulcan Culture by Sue H. Lewis (71)
  • Alt by Terri Harris (74)
  • Intimations of Mr. Spock by John Boardman (discusses Sherlock Holmes and James Branch Cabell's character Dom Manuel) (75)
  • A Lament for the Unsung Dead by Jane Peyton (tells of the one time Spock did not come in time to rescue Kirk, told from Christine Chapel's POV) (This story was mentioned in Star Trek Lives!.) (80)
  • Excerpt from the Young Vulcan's Handbook of Emotional Control by Deborah Langsam (84)
  • Visit to a Weird Planet or the Inside Story Behind the Antagonism of a Certain Network Toward a Certain Segment of the Population online here by Jean Lorrah and Willard F. Hunt (RPF) (reprinted in Computer Playback #5) (sends Kirk, Spock and Bones back to the set of the filming of Star Trek) (a very early RPF) (89)
  • Acknowledgments (102)

Reactions and Reviews: Issue 3

See reactions and reviews for The Alternate.

See reactions and reviews for Visit to a Weird Planet.

from "Spockanalia" #4, a fan created this illo as a response to "Lament for the Unsung Dead"; it is Connie Faddis' first art published in a media fanzine
[Lament for the Unsung Dead]: --"Editor's note; We don't usually publish letters from our readers. However, we want to make an exception, and share this letter from Connie Reich. Concerning Jane Peyton's "Lament for the Unsung Dead" Connie wrote, "'Lament' keeps sitting on my mind and pinching it. It moved me so far as to illo it in an attempt to express it and so to get it out of my mind so I can think of more important things...."" [18]

[zine]: As with the first issue, much of the material in this issue is focused on Mr. Spock and on the planet Vulcan and its culture. In addition to the editors—each of whom contributes articles in addition to their editorial column—contributors include Marian Turner, Allan Asherman, Joyce Yasner, Dorothy Jones, Juanita Coulson, Tom Bulmer, Terri Harris, Lee Burwasser, John Mansfield, Laura Harris, Jane Peyton, Sue Lewis, Terri Harris, John Boardman, Jean Lorrah and Willard F. Hunt. Cover artwork is by Allan Asherman. Interior artists include Alicia Austin, Janie Bowers, Sherna C. Burley, Kathy Bushman, Mary Ann Capps, Margaret Domenick (“DEA”), Sara Fensterer, Jack Gaughan, Alexis Gilliland, Devra Langsam, Carol Lee, Sue Lewis, John Mansfield, Beth Moore, Jane Peyton and Terry Romine. There is also a full-page Trek cartoon by Vaughan Bode. Stand-out articles include Juanita Coulson’s “Duty Briefing: Stores and Supply,” about aspects of life on the Enterprise for those newly boarding; Lee Burwasser’s “Vulcan Reform,” about “the most startling event in Vulcan history…the redesigning of their entire culture”; and an “Excerpt from The Young Vulcan’s Handbook of Emotional Control,” which is “translated, with explanatory notes,” by Deborah Langsam. [19]

Issue 4

front cover of issue #4, Alicia Austin
original cover art for issue #4
back cover of issue #4, Kathy Bushman

Spockanalia 4 was published in April 1969, is 113 pages long and contains 15 stories, poems, illustrations, and letters. Cover: Alicia Austin; bacover: Kathy Bushman. Art by Alicia Austin, Vaughan Bode, Kathy Bushman, Mary Ann Cappa, Johnny Chambers, DEA, Dorothy Fenstere, Sara Fensterer, Jack Gaughan, Alexis Gilliland, Sue Johnston, Doug Levenstein, Rosalind Oberdieck, Jane Peyton, Connie Reich Faddis, B. Schlemmer, Mike Symes, and Joyce Yasner.

The table of contents is here.

The editors anticipated heavy backlash for "Time Enough" in this issue, and "The Alternate" in the previous issue:

We've been told that a couple of the items in Spockanalia #3 are embarrassing, dirty, or downright trashy. If we've embarrassed you, we are sincerely sorry. The recurrence of the theme of sex isn't surprising. Sex is a recurrent theme of life. The recurrence of the theme of sex involving Spock is also unsurprising. We Star Trek femmefans find him attractive and highly masculine. Some of us are articulate, and the result is predictable (and even logical.)

If anyone is seriously concerned.,.psychiatrists regard such feelings as perfectly normal (if they are non-obsessive) and artistic endeavour as a healthy outlet.

Perhaps some of our readers are too accustomed to the tradition, in popular literature, of the male protagonist be ing aroused by the presence of attractive women. When they find that women write it the other way around, they find it strange. We, the editors of Spockanalia, try our best to print only material which we consider well-written, interesting to us, and written within our format. We do not choose to limit ourselves by eliminating one effective segment of our submissions.

From the editorial:

The time is coming when Star Trek will no longer be able to maintain the fannish activity which it has inspired. The show has ceased publication, and syndicated repeats are not enough.. Soon, each ST fan must decide whether to remain a fan, and what his energies will be turned to next... As long as Star Trek material continues to arrive in sufficient quantity and quality, we will continue as we have. We expect to be able to publish an #5, and possibly even a #6. At the end of this time, Devra has decided that she will leave the fanzine. I, Sherna, will attempt to continue it under a new name, yet unchosen with an expanded format.

  • Leila's Poem by Andra Robbins (10)
  • Time Enough by Lelamarie Kreidler (the first fanfic relationship story. Spock begins to go into pon farr and seeks out the part-Vulcan LCdr. Lian Jamison to help him through it. By today's standards the story is PG. The pair part amicably without bonding or commitment when she is called back to Vulcan. This was the first story to use double slashes [//] instead of quotation marks to illustrate telepathic dialogue. It is online here.) (12)
  • Universal Constant by Rusty Hancock (26)
from issue #4, "Star Trek is dead. Long live Star Trek."
  • The Free Enterprise by Robin Schuster, Randy Cowan ,Jane Peyton, and Carle Johnson (27)
  • Mr. Spock on Logic: An Interview by Jacqueline Lichtenberg (the topi is logic in Kraith. (Lichtenberg said later: "My very first STAR TREK article and in many ways the salient basis of the Kraith series." [20]) (reprinted in Vulcan Reflections #2) (33)
  • A Tale of 3 Kirks by John Boardman (36)
  • Communication from Star Fleet" by John Mansfield (39)
  • Pierce by Sherna Burley (in "dramatic form" Boldly Writing says, "In the early fanzines, one could find such a story in play or script form every once in a while, but these seldom appeared after 1980.") (Pierce is a veteran officer who has gone quietly, unnoticeably insane after a hellish mission led by a Vulcan. Now he has it in for all Vulcans...) (42)
  • Star Trek Song by Ed Chamberlain (68)
  • Crank Letter by Jean Lorrah (71)
  • Vulcan Graffiti and Enterprise Graffiti (82)
  • Scotty: Inter-personal relationships within a closed community by Devra Langsam and Deborah Langsam (82)
  • How To Beat a Vulcan at Chess by Susan Kotar (90)
  • A Vulcan Compromise by Suzanne Laycheck (92)
  • Family Affair by Devra Michele Langsam (This was a gen story in the 1960s sense of the word, set in the Star Trek universe but with none of the canon characters. It's a lighthearted story about a human archaeology professor and her Vulcan husband.) (reprinted in Computer Playback #3) (94)

  • original art for issue #4, Kathy Bushman

  • inside page of issue #4, Alicia Austin for "Family Affair"

  • inside issue #4, Alicia Austin for "Family Affair"

  • inside issue #4, DEA

  • inside issue #4, Mary Ann Cappa for Time Enough

  • inside issue #4, Rosalind Oberdieck from "A Tale of 3 Kirks"

  • inside issue #4, Jane Peyton for Time Enough

  • inside issue #4, Connie Reichs for "Pierce"

  • inside issue #4, Vaughan Bode

  • inside issue #4, "Star Trek Song"

  • inside issue #4, Mary Ann Cappa for "Pierce"

Reactions and Reviews: Issue 4

See reactions and reviews for Time Enough.

Issue 5

cover of issue #5, Ev Turner
back cover of issue #5, Tim Courtney
Doug Lovenstein is the artist for the You are Receiving this Zine Because page from issue #5
dedication page from issue #5, illo shows Amanda and Sarek for a six-chambered heart carving

Spockanalia 5 was published in June 1970 and is 105 pages long and contains 22 stories, poems, illustrations, and letters. Cover: Ev Turner; bacover: Tim Courtney. Art by Allan Asherman, Alicia Austin, Mary Ann Cappa, Tim Courtney, DEA, Sara Fensterer, Alexis Gilliland, Dan Hatch, Sue Johnston, Devra Michele Langsam, Doug Lovenstein, Claire Mason, Rosalind Oberdieck, Dennis Pelton, Jane Peyton, Reg, Connie Reich, B. Schlemmer, Mike Symes, Ev Turner, and Joyce Yasner.

The table of contents is here.

From the editorial:

CONCERNING THE FUTURE OF SPOCKANALIA; There seems to be some confusion about the editorial switcharoo in progress. SPOCKANALIA will be split into two fanzines. Sherna is still hoping to put together the secondary universe fanzine announced lastish. It will be called NEVERTRODDEN WORLDS, Devra and Debbie will hold up the Brooklyn end with a a new fanzine which is tentatively titled MASIFORM D.

The SPOCKANALIA staff, in case you were wondering, will separate on the friendliest of terms. When we were split between Brooklyn and Newark, the problems of getting together were just about solvable, Now that the trip is even longer, and Sherna has a husband and household as well as a job, they are insurmountable. More and more of the work has fallen on Devra and Debbie, and more and more we missed the mutual inspiration of minds in frequent and close contact. So it's time to quit and take the next step, and if both, or only one, or even neither of the two new 'zines ever come out...it's been a grand five issues, and we thank you all for 
sharing them with us. AS FAR AS MASIFORM D IS CONCERNED: We will always be interested in STAR TREK material. Devra and I (Debbie) are both equally fond of STAR TREK-as-the-real-universe themes, but we are looking for articles of general interest as well. Our first issue is shaping up as a fairly good mixture of ST and non-ST material. NEVERTRODDEN WORLDS was projected in the last issue. In case you didn't see it. Sherna describes it as follows: "It will be a general secondary universe fanzine, accepting any well-written material and art on any secondary universe of interest to me. (And I can become interested in quite a number of things.) Some examples in mind for the future: Tolkien, the Foundation universe [Isaac Asimov], Pern (of Ann McCaffrey's DRAGONRIDER), Georgette Heyer, Superman, the Jurgen series, and anything else of fannish or fringefannish interest. As long as I enjoy it. (I am much more interested in articles than in fiction.)

BUT BUT BUT... I will give first consideration always to articles where the universe written about is the "real" one. This has been a vital part of SPOCKANALIA'S character."

From Boldly Writing:

Spockanalia 5 ran an important article, 'Concerning Sehlats' by Lee Burwasser. In this piece, the author looks at precedents in nature to see what sort of animal would have six-inch fangs. The author concludes, 'And so our portrait of the sehlat: a carnivore or just possibly tushed omnivore, general shape that of a giant panda, size on the order of an Alaskan brown bear, highly intelligent, and despite the six-inch fangs, of a patient and gentle disposition.... Question: did the sehlat belong to Spock, or was Spock in the care of the sehlat?' The Star Trek production staff read this article, and animators incorporated many of the suggestions into the drawing of the sehlat I-Chaya in the animated episode, 'Yesteryear'.

  • Editorial: Off the Top
  • Leila in the New Land by Dorothy Jones (10)
  • Lettercol (11) (consists of a single fictional letter by a Klingon, and in part: "The truth is that in the future you and the Klingons will become fast friends.")
  • To Summon the Future by Juanita Coulson (Told from the point of view of Mirror Chapel, it is a Mirror Universe story.) (12)
  • Septyar by Narda Roushdi (Pre-Reform Ancient Vulcan poem describing a beautiful crown and its jewels. (20)
  • Concerning Sehlats by Lee Burwasser (22) (reprinted in The Despatch #17)
  • Communication from Star Fleet Intelligence #2 by John Mansfild (26)
  • The Skyborn by Dorothy Jones (Kirk and Spock encounter a phenomenon from C.S. Lewis' Space Trilogy). (28)
  • The Free Enterprise, cartoons (43)
  • DO They by Nancy Giudice (48)
  • Vulcan-Romulan History by Cliveden M. Chew (49)
  • From the Files of the Terran Bureau of Investigation by Dorothy Jones (52) (reprinted in The Despatch #19)
  • A Note on the Vulcan Nervous System by Sherna C. Burley (53)
  • poem by Alicia Austin (53)
  • The Free Enterprise by Ev Turner, Sherna C. Burley, Shirley Meech, and Rosalind Oberdieck (56)
  • A Preliminary Survey of Tribbles and Martian Flat Cats by Ann Wilson (Robert Heinlein's Martian flat cats were extremely similar to tribbles.) (60)
  • Straw Death by Lee Burwasser (Starkly brutal story about Spock and McCoy as crippled veterans talking bitterly about what happened to the late Capt. Kirk.) (66)
  • Vulcan graffiti (70)
  • Enterprise graffiti (71)
  • Are You Married, Dr. McCoy? by Sandra Miesel (Starfleet paper pushers get after McCoy for not having filed the appropriate papers upon his marriage to Natira.) (72)
  • Recreations, or The Enterprise as Fun City, or More about R&R Than You Wanted to Know by Ruth Berman 78)
  • Cave-In by Jane Peyton (Spock and McCoy speak honestly to one another while trapped in a cave, something like in "Bread and Circuses.") (83) (later published in Star Trek: The New Voyages #2)
  • Visit to a Weird Planet Revisited by Ruth Berman (a companion story to "Visit to a Weird Planet" in Spockanalia #3. The author reverses the situation and has the actors of Star Trek beam up to the real Enterprise. This story was later republished in the pro anthology Star Trek: The New Voyages), originally without credit [21] (89)
  • You are Receiving this Zine Because

Reactions and Reviews: Issue 5

See reactions and reviews for Cave-In.

See reactions and reviews for Concerning Sehlats.

See reactions and reviews for Visit to a Weird Planet Revisited.

[zine]:

This zine is the first fanzine devoted to Star Trek, and thus has historical (and perhaps sentimental) value to the collector. It's also a really nice zine that covers everything.

For one thing, Visit to a Weird Planet Revisited is included.

Spock/Vulcan culture is slightly more emphasized than any other facet of Star Trek.

At the price per page, it's one of the lowest-priced zines around. This is a really good zine, guys. Buy it! [22]

Further Reading/Articles About/Meta

  • Star Trek Spockanalia -- The First Star Trek Fanzine, Archived version (October 20, 2014)
  • Visualizing Star Trek Fandom Through Letters, Archived version ("a spatial study in an attempt to demonstrate how Star Trek fanzines connected the fandom. The dataset used is derived from fanletters sent in to two Star Trek fanzines: Spockanalia (issues #1-5) and T-Negative (issues #1-20).)
  • A Proposed Model of the Vulcan Heart, Archived version ("A Proposed Model of the Vulcan Heart is an interesting and relevant section of Spockanalia #1. It is reflective of two early trends in Star Trek fandom and fan creation....it is an example of the act of self-insertion into fanworks.")
  • A Revisit, Archived version ("A Revisit is a unique but highly significant section of Spockanalia #2. It's existence is unique due to the timeframe in which the early issues of Spockanalia were published. Spockanalia #1 was published two weeks before the airing of Star Trek Season 2")
  • Star Drek & The Free Enterprise, Archived version ("Star Drek and The Free Enterprise are both fictional fan writings featured within Spockanalia #1 and Spockanalia #2. Rather than write case studies on Star Trek characters, these authors chose to write more fictional works, both with humorous intent. Star Drek is an extended fanfiction about the Enterprise crew traveling to a fantasy environment. ")
  • Physiologica Vulcanensis, Archived version ("This article in Spockanalia #1 is a study of Vulcan physiology through observation of Mr. Spock. It combines both canonical apsects witnessed in Star Trek episodes, and fan speculation on Vulcan anatomy and biology. Physiologica Vulcanensis is the first to provide many of what would be popular theories regarding Vulcan anatomy, ancestry, and reproduction.")
  • Lettercol, Archived version ("Lettercol is a section of the Spockanalia fanzine dedicated to displaying letters sent into the fanzine by readers. This is one of the most significant ways in which fanzines influenced early modern fandom culture. Letter sections of fanzines were commonplace and not only shared information, but also shared the thoughts of readers, many of which were many miles apart. ")

Print Runs

Spockanalia No 1:

  • 1st printing 350 - 9/67
  • 2nd printing 150 – no date
  • 3rd printing 150 – 1971
  • 4th printing 215 – 8/72
  • 5th printing 500 – 8/76
  • 6th printing 1000 – 7/76
  • 7th printing 1000 – 3/79
  • 8th printing 1000– 11/82
  • 9th printing 500 – 3/89 (for a total in-print of approx 4,865)

Spockanalia No 2:

  • 1st printing 500 – 4/68
  • 2nd printing 150 – 1/71
  • 3rd printing 500 – 11/74
  • 4th printing 500 – 3/76
  • 5th printing 1000 – 3/77
  • 6th printing 1000 – 6/80
  • 7th printing 1000 – 6/84 (total in-print approx 4,650)

Spockanalia No 3:

  • 1st printing 500 – 9/68
  • 2nd printing 250 – 1/73
  • 3rd printing 500 – 10/75
  • 4th printing 1000 – 8/76
  • 5th printing 1000 – 8/78
  • 6th printing 1000 – 8/82
  • 7th printing 1000 – 7/87 (total in-print approx 5,250)

Spockanalia No 4:

  • 1st printing 495 – 4/69
  • 2nd printing..500 – 7/74
  • 3rd printing 1000 – 5/76
  • 4th printing 1000 - 10/78
  • 5th printing 1000 – 10/82
  • 6th printing 500 – 3/89 (total in-print approx 4,500)

Spockanalia No 5:

  • 1st printing 500 – 6/70
  • 2nd printing 500 – 11/75
  • 3rd printing 1000 – 8/76
  • 4th printing 1000 – 4/79
  • 5th printing 1000 – 1/83
  • 6th printing 500 – 1/89 (total in-print approx 4,500)[23]

Internet fandom

References

  1. ^ Founder of the Tolkien Society of America, Dick Plotz corresponded with Prof. Tolkien and wrote a number of letters and articles to various national magazines in 1965-66. More at the Tolkien Fandom Review.
  2. ^ from Media Fandom Oral History Project Interview with Devra Langsam
  3. ^ from Media Fandom Oral History Project Interview with Devra Langsam
  4. ^ from Media Fandom Oral History Project Interview with Devra Langsam
  5. ^ from Media Fandom Oral History Project Interview with Devra Langsam
  6. ^ Fanthroplogy,
  7. ^ from En Garde #2 (1968)
  8. ^ from Pentathlon #1 (1970)
  9. ^ from Time Warp #1 (1977)
  10. ^ from Gerry Downes in Stardate Unknown #1
  11. ^ from a fan's recollection in Comlink #28 (1986)
  12. ^ from an ebay seller in 2011
  13. ^ The negative commentary relates to "traditional," predominantly-male Science Fiction Fandom's belief that Star Trek and its fans were mindless bits of fluff. See Science Fiction Fandom vs. Media Fandom.
  14. ^ from a review in Kevas and Trillium #1.5, see that issue for two other negative reviews of Trek zines.
  15. ^ Trekdom and the Quest for the Final Frontier of Ultimate Fandom. Will it Never End? , R. Graeme Cameron, February 2, 2014
  16. ^ from Plak-Tow #9
  17. ^ The editors were bombasted with letters about this. While it was nothing compared to what a child could pick up on any grocery store newsstand at the time, many fans young and old considered it too explicit for Star Trek standards. It's possible that fans were simply shocked by any depiction of "onscreen" sex.)
  18. ^ printed in "Spockanalia" #4
  19. ^ from an ebay seller in 2011
  20. ^ from The Sime/Gen Concordance
  21. ^ From Devra in the editorial to Masiform D #5 (1976): "I'm very happy to say that my copyright dispute with said Bantam Books has been settled. They had neglected to include my copyright statement when they published a story drawn from SPOCKANALIA #5 in The New Voyages, people told me that I should ask for money, too, but I hate fights (9 parts chicken, that's me)."
  22. ^ from Fanzine Review 'Zine #2 (1977)
  23. ^ This information regarding Spockanalia's editions and number printed has been provided by Poison Pen Press and Devra Langsam.
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