Origins

In the mid-1970s, Kerry O'Quinn and his high school friend David Houston talked about creating a magazine that would cover science fiction films and television programs. (O'Quinn and Norman Jacobs had gotten their start in creating and publishing a soap opera magazine.)^[5]

O'Quinn came up with the idea of publishing a one-time-only magazine on the Star Trek phenomenon. Houston's editorial assistant, Kirsten Russell, suggested that they include an episode guide to all three seasons of the show, interviews with the cast, and previously unpublished photographs. During this brainstorming session, many questions were raised, most notably legal issues. Houston contacted Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry with the intention of interviewing him for the magazine. Once they got his approval, O'Quinn and Jacobs proceeded to put together the magazine, but Paramount Studios, which owned Star Trek, wanted a minimum royalty that was greater than the startup's projected net receipts, and the project was shelved.

O'Quinn realized they could create a magazine that featured only Star Trek content, but without its being the focus, and thereby circumvent the royalties issue. He also realized this could be the science fiction magazine he and Houston had talked about. Many titles for the new magazine were suggested, including Fantastic Films and Starflight, before Starlog was chosen. (Fantastic Films was later used as the title of a competing science fiction magazine published by Blake Publishing.)

Starlog debuts

The first issue of Starlog, scheduled as a quarterly, was dated August 1976. While the cover featured Captain Kirk, Spock, and the Enterprise, and the issue contained a "Special Collector's Section" on Star Trek, other science fiction topics were also discussed, such as The Bionic Woman and Space: 1999.^[6] The issue sold out, and this encouraged O'Quinn and Jacobs to publish a magazine every six weeks instead of quarterly. O'Quinn was the magazine's editor, while Jacobs ran the business side of things, dealing with typesetters, engravers, and printers.

Milestones

Starlog #100, Nov. 1985

One of the magazine's milestones was its 100th issue, published in November 1985. It featured the 100 most important people in science fiction as determined by the editors. This included exclusive interviews with John Carpenter, Peter Cushing, George Lucas, Harlan Ellison, Leonard Nimoy, and Gene Roddenberry.^[7]

In 1985 and 1986, Starlog teamed with Creation Entertainment to produce a series of conventions called the Starlog SF, Horror & Fantasy Festival. (Starlog produced other small-scale conventions during this period, as well.) The first show was held March 30–31, 1985, at the Boston Sheraton in Boston.^[8] Others were held June 15–16, 1985, at the Center Hotel, Philadelphia, and May 10–11, 1986, at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City. Nicholas Courtney of Doctor Who fame was a guest at all three shows.

The magazine's 200th issue repeated the format of the 100th issue, but this time interviewed such notable artists as Arthur C. Clarke, Tim Burton, William Gibson, Gale Anne Hurd, and Terry Gilliam.^[9]

The last issue of Starlog, issue 374, published in April 2009 features more modern science fiction media including the television show Fringe, an American movie Push, and the animated stop-motion film, Coraline.^[10]

Sale to Creative Group, Inc

After the entire magazine industry took a serious tumble in 2001, Starlog Group was eventually purchased by Creative Group, Inc., which continued to publish Starlog and Fangoria, and expanded its franchises into the Internet, satellite radio, TV, and video.

Starlog published its 30th Anniversary issue in 2006.^[11]

Warehouse fire

On December 5, 2007, a warehouse operated by Kable News, in Oregon, Illinois, which contained all back issues of Starlog and Fangoria magazines, was destroyed by fire. As back issues of Starlog are not re-printed, the only remaining back issues are now housed in private collections or those available on the secondary market.^[12]

Bankruptcy

Starlog publisher Creative Media filed for bankruptcy in March 2008,^[13][14] and, in June 2008, sold its assets to a group led by private equity firm Scorpion Capital Partners LP. Starlog and Fangoria and all related assets were purchased by The Brooklyn Company, Inc. in July 2008.^[15] The official website at Starlog.com ceased to operate in December 2008.

In March 2009, Starlog became a sister site to Fangoria magazine's official site, with a new web address tied to Fangoria. Simultaneously, production was halted on issue #375, scheduled for May 2009. New content began to appear on the Starlog website on April 7, 2009, after the site returned to its original Starlog.com domain. The Starlog.com domain is no longer held by Starlog. In order to access Starlog magazine, readers must access it through the Internet Archive.^[16] The folding of the print edition was officially announced on April 8, 2009, with the unpublished issue promised in the near future as a web-only publication.^[17][18]

In April 2014, Fangoria announced that Starlog would return in the summer of 2014, first as a relaunched website and later in the year as a digital magazine.^[19] No new issues of the magazine were created.^[16]

Editors

O'Quinn was the magazine's first editor. Houston took over for a year, and O'Quinn's successor was Howard Zimmerman when Houston was promoted to the "Hollywood Bureau". Zimmerman was eventually succeeded by David McDonnell, who was the final editor of the web-based science fiction magazine.