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.

Cracked "Generations" Spoof

In December of 1994 this "Cracked" magazine spoof of the first "Next Generation" movie came out. Severin, who has been doing Trek spoofs for over two decades by that time, nails the features and costumes as usual... but, unlike some of the others, he obviously had not seen the film when drawing it. He is probably working from a script and promotional photos, as the deleted sub-orbital skydive sequence is still here. Hardly any of the scenes are accurate in the design details, which is typical when one is working from a script. But, he can't be faulted, as so often this was the case when the magazines were trying to get the spoof on the racks at the same time the movie was out.

(Click on images to enlarge.)

For the record, I liked their ending better than the one in the movie! Kirk really didn't have to die (again) at the end for the torch to be passed. He could have simply went off to live in peace and let everyone think he was dead.