Patrick Stewart's "A Christmas Carol"

From issue #186 of Starlog, published in December of 1992, comes this article on Patrick Stewart's live stage performance of Charles Dicken's incomparable "A Christmas Carol." Although I never got to see him do it live (and I think he still does it, nearly twenty years later, I do treasure the audio CD set that captures his dramatic reading. In my mind, there could never be a better delivery, and now when I read the book I hear his tones and inflections in my head, enhancing the experience.

Some years later he would go on to act the role of Scrooge in a film version, and while it is a fine addition to my collection of adaptations, it doesn't outdo the audio recording. Hearing Stewart deliver so much of the original text is a better experience to me than seeing him limited to acting out the one role, as fine the acting was in that role.

1986 Article on Planned New Trek Show

From issue #53 of the Star Trek Official Fan Club Magazine (when it was still in digest-sized form), published in December 1986, comes this article on the new Star Trek series that Gene was working on, called "Star Trek: The Next Generation." It was so early in the planning stages that the article states that they had not yet even decided if the ship would look any different from the movie Enterprise, since there was so much footage of it already. I'm glad they went ahead and designed a new version, which was necessary for the show to further stand apart from the original. It's interesting reading about the contributions from TOS veterans, before they conflicted with Roddenberry and jumped ship. My opinion is that it would have been a better show from the start had they been allowed to have freer input.

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Bonus: Below, a TV Guide clipping featuring an ad for the first look at the show!

Bonus: Below, an ad flyer from sometime in 1993 (or somewhere thereabouts) for a convention featuring Data himself.

1993 TNG Sets Article

From issue #174 of Entertainment Weekly magazine, dated June 11, 1993, comes this photo feature on a few of the sets from The Next Generation. Really, they should have covered the main intemix chamber of Engineering rather than just the monitor board. They also missed others like Sickbay, the transporter room, the conference room, etc. This could have been a more in-depth effort rather than just a three page fluff piece, but it was from EW, and for the casual reader this was probably more then enough.

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1988 Mad Spoof: Star Blecch: The Next Degradation

Welcome back!This time we are looking at the first Mad magazine spoof of ST:TNG, from issue #282, published October 1988, which means it was on the newstands in September. Featuring spot-on caricatures by the legendary Mort Drucker, and writer Frank Jacobs on-target satire of the show, this spoof is one of the better ones ever done on the show. Set phasers to "tickle" and engage!

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Of course, the parody is made even better by the appearance of the original crew at the end. A satisfying conclusion!

1992 "People" Article on Brent Spiner

In one of my emails from a reader and online friend, the observation was made that material on the Next Generation was harder to find than the original series, and that each subsequent spinoff received less media exposure. This is true, attested to by the fact that my combined TNG/DS9/VOY scrapbook binder is only half as thick as my TOS one (actually I have several scrapbooks full of TOS stuff, and only one for the spinoffs). This time we are looking at an article from "People" magazine on Brent Spiner, TNG's Data, which came out on June 8, 1992. This interview with Brent Spiner is a rare look at a cast member who seemed to value his privacy more than most of the others.

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Bonus: Below is a flyer for a convention being held on March 22-24, 1991 in Orlando, FL.