The Galactic Viewpoint
| Zine | |
|---|---|
| Title: | The Galactic Viewpoint |
| Publisher: | out of Valley Stream, NY |
| Editor(s): | James Burns |
| Date(s): | 1975 |
| Frequency: | four issues a year was the plan |
| Medium: | |
| Fandom: | Star Trek: TOS & SF |
| Language: | English |
| External Links: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
The Galactic Viewpoint is a Star Trek: TOS and science fiction zine.
This zine was planned to be published four times a year.
Perplexingly, there were two different yet similar issues published, each called #1.
Issue 1
The Galactic Viewpoint 1 was published in Summer 1975 and contains 27 pages.
From "Star Trek Lives: Now!":
Six years ago STAR TREK went off the air, and except for the animated series, which has also been cancelled for next year's season, there haven't been any news shows featuring the crew of the Enterprise. But, thank the great bird of the galaxy, STAR TREK will return as a feature length movie! [...] If the STAR TREK film is successful it is in all likelihood that we will again see the adventures of the Enterprise crew on television. If STAR TREK does return to television, it will not be as an hour series, but as a mini series of hour and a half or two hour movies in the format of Columbo. Roddenberry feels the old format is no longer suitable.
The upcoming STAR TREK film is obviously a result of the continuing interest in the show and the letters concerning the return of STAR TREK that have been pouring into the Paramount and NBC offices. The announcement of the film does not mean that we, the fans, should stop writing our letters; we should continue writing in our quest for better and better science fiction on television and in the movies. In our next issue, we hope to have more information on the film, but for now, LIVE LONG AND PROSPER!
From the editorial:
STAR TREK was, of course, a very good show, probably the best television series ever seen on television. But when looting at all the STAR TREK episodes together, one sees that only a little more than a third were actually good science fiction. STAR TREK fell into patterns, molds. They started to have too many episodes where they visited cultures paralleling earth's past or where a super power toot over the Enterprise for their own devious purposes. Now most of these episodes were fun to watch, but when looking at them from a science fiction point of view,they don't hold up. STAR TREK also [had] it's [sic] really had episodes, most of them being in the third season.
STAR TREK was not the "best science fiction series ever on television, THE OUTER LIMITS, an anthology science fiction show, was. Episodes like DEMON WITH A GLASS HAND, SOLDIER (both written by Harlan Ellison), THE INHERITORS, THE INVISIBLES, and FORMS OF THING UNKNOWN, all made THE OTHER LIMITS the fine show it was. However, to be a successful show, a show pretty much has to have a set of continuing characters, people the audience can care about. So, overall, STAR TREK was a better show.
As far as the STAR TREK movie goes, I kind of hold the same fear that Bill Shatner does. The movie might not keep up the quality of the original of the show. But then again, if the cartoon could, why not the movie?
First of all, my opinion of THE PLANET OP THE APES might be blurred by the fact that I was very young when I first saw it and I look upon the film with sentiment. I do feel, however, that PLANET was a good film. It could have been a much, much better science fiction film, but I felt it was a fun adventure movie.
[...]
Robert Heinlein's so called juveniles (the stories involving adolescents) are very good and are among the best fun science fiction novels ever written. They are light science fiction. His adult science fiction has introduced sock of the most interesting concepts science fiction has ever seen. The grokking process, his aliens, are just two examples of his creative genius.
- The Editor Speaks (3)
- Ben Bova Interviewed ("Mr. Bova, editor of ANALOG SCIENCE FICTION/SCIENCE FACT, was interviewed on September 17, 1974 at ANALOG'S office in the Conde Nast Building in New York City.") (4)
- Star Trek Lives: Now! (14)
- Animated Star Trek Canceled by NBC (14)
- Comic News (15)
- Apes Revival News (15)
- Tube News for the New Season (16)
- William Shatner: Portrait of a Starship Captain (detailed biography) (17)
- Con News (19)
- Alex Raymond: Creator of Flash Gordon (detailed biography) (20)
- Book List for July, August and September (22)
- Movie News (upcoming science fiction films) (24)
- What The Planet of the Apes Series Should Have Been (25)
- The Editor Speaks, continued (27)
- News (includes mention of James Blish's death, William Shatner breaking his leg on the set of Barbary Coast) (28)
from issue #1, James Burns?
from issue #1, from the 10-page interview with Ben Bova
from issue #1, from the 10-page interview with Ben Bova
from issue #1, James Burns?
Issue 1 (later reprint)
The Galactic Viewpoint was published in Winter 1975 and contains 15 pages.
The art is by Walter Simonson.
This issue is also called #1. It contains the Bova interview and an identical introduction by the editor, one which does not mention the previous first issue. The other content from the previous issue is not included, but there are some additional small additions at appear only in this one.
- Ben Bova Interviewed (this is a complete duplicate, retyped, of the interview in the previous issue) (3)
- Klingon Vessel, art by Walter Simonson (this is a duplicate of the art on the cover of the previous issue) (12)
- The Star Trek Convention 1975 (short ad) (12)
- Bigger, But Better? (article about Marvel comics) (13)
- Return to Planet of the Apes, review (14)
- Nice Tribbles, Nice Tribbles (review of David Gerrold's for-profit book, "Trouble with Tribbles") (14)