Buried Treasures/Star Trek at 50: TV Novelizations

Karen: Continuing the theme of Buried Treasures this week, I came across these four paperbacks a couple of weeks ago while looking for another book entirely in one of the plastic bins full of books in my garage. I had honestly thought I had donated my Star Trek novelizations years ago, so I was delighted to find these James Blish books were still in my collection.

Karen: Blish wrote the adaptations for the episode of the original series. Twelve books were produced, and each book contained  several episodes, typically half a dozen or so. Initially he often worked from the early drafts of scripts, and so sometimes the stories in the books were slightly different than the episodes broadcast. When the Trek production crew discovered that the adaptions in the books were not mirroring the final episodes, they were annoyed, to put it mildly. Marc Cushman describes what happened in his book, These Are The Voyages Volume Two. It was actually Leonard Nimoy who first heard about the problem, when a fan wrote him and complained about how Spock was portrayed in the first novelization, as well as discrepancies in the adaptation of "The Naked Time." Nimoy went to Roddenberry with it. After the second book came out, D.C. Fontana was upset that Blish had left out the central point of her script for "Tomorrow is Yesterday," that Captain Christopher had to be returned to Earth because of his unborn son. She also found fault with his handling of "Court Martial" and "Operation:Annihilate!". Roddenberry wrote an executive at Desilu (Star Trek's production studio) and he contacted Blish's editors at Bantam books. All of the complaints were sent off to the author, along with a writer's guide for the series. Later books appeared to cleave more closely to the finished episodes.

Karen: Of course I knew nothing about this as a kid. Back in the mid-70s, I was just happy for any Trek product I could get my hands on. Although I only purchased four of these books, I read all of them through our public library. It was a way to relive the episodes, back in those days before DVDs and the internet. 

Karen: I thumbed through the books, and actually read "Space Seed" from book 2. I can see why the Trek production crew were frustrated with the adaptations. In "Space Seed," Blish completely leaves out McCoy's encounter with Khan in sickbay, the scenes establishing Khan and McGiver's relationship are also left out, and the physical confrontation between Kirk and Khan at the end is summarized in a single sentence! He also spells Khan "Kahn" throughout. To be sure, the stories are less than perfect. But they have a certain nostalgic value. I think however it has lessened since we have easy access to the actual episodes now. 

Karen: Any thoughts or memories about these adaptations?

Buried Treasures: Super Powers Mini-Comics, part two

Doug: As promised a couple of weeks ago, here is a look at two more of the mini-comics that were pack-ins with Kenner's Super Powers action figures beginning in 1984. We got some great suggestions for creative talent in that previous post, and would welcome the same detective work today.

Buried Treasures: Walt Disney's Comics and Stories 275

Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #275 (August 1963)
"Necessity May Be the Mama of Invenshun..."
George Stallings-Dick Moores

"Ghostly Confession"
Pencils - Nat Edson

Doug: Totally out of my comfort zone today, friends! A couple of weeks ago as I was continuing the Great Purge that has been the reduction of my collection, I came across three comics that I'd forgotten I had -- primarily because I was given them only several years ago and cannot recall from whom! They never made it into my longboxes, but had been stored separately. So here is some new fodder for today, and maybe for future Monday reviews. And by the way, this has shaped up to be a "Buried Treasures" week, with three more posts in this category to follow. Enjoy your visit to your hosts' archives!

The Grand Comics Database was a wonderful resource to find out a bit more about this comic. While credits for the entire book's contents are incomplete, it did help to answer some basic questions. My first query was about the Ducks story -- and yes, it was by Carl Barks. It's a 10-page farce with Donald trying to make a million and failing miserably... until his nephews bailed him out and saved the day.

The second tale is 4-pager starring Lil' Bad Wolf, the Big Bad Wolf, and of course the 3 Little Pigs. It was a cute little story featuring a plot by Lil' Bad Wolf to thwart his pop's plans to eat the Piggies. In the end, the Big Bad Wolf is saved by the Piggies from being eaten by a gator!

After a one page text story featuring Mickey Mouse, we come to the first of two stories I'll feature today. I chose this one simply on the grounds of Disney's ban on the sale of Song of the South - to my knowledge, it was released on VHS in the 1980s and/or '90s but has never been pressed to DVD. Presently, it is available on YouTube. I recall seeing it in the theater as a child, and when my kids were little we had a Disney Sing-a-long Songs videotape that featured Zippity-do-dah. In later years Song of the South has come under heavy scrutiny for its use of racist stereotypes. The 2-page story below (read across the two scans - there are three full rows of panels in the story) features characters from that film. Personally, I found about as much enjoyment reading the dialect in this story as I did attempting to read Tom Sawyer in high school (which would be none!). But overall I don't see anything racially offensive in this strip (no Tar Baby... yikes!). Note: all scans used in today's post were enhanced with photo software. The comic book from which the scans were made is pretty faded!

I also decided to include the full 5-page Zorro story. When I found the book and saw Zorro on its cover, I had hoped that I might stumble upon an Alex Toth production, but such was not the case. But the story was good, with an ending we've seen before and with quite a bit of action squeezed into such a short space. In a modern comic, this would have filled a six-issue arc and would be packaged as a trade paperback!

The book concludes with an 8-page Mickey and Goofy adventure and a 1-page Scamp feature. The Mickey and Goofy story features the boys on a mission to find Inca gold. Black Pete is along to complicate matters, and the story is actually continued to the next issue -- something I didn't expect. I guess I always viewed these humor mags as pretty much self-contained.

Below is a series of gags that readers could submit. This page immediately followed the Zorro yarn. While there aren't any knee slappers, there are a few in there that made me smile as if I was a little kid. But then, that's the mindset one may have to have when reading a comic like this. And when I could remind myself to do so, I had a pretty good time. It was good enough to make me want to, at some point, dig into the other issue of Walt Disney's Comics and Stories and the issue of Bugs Bunny that were "found" alongside today's book.

Star Trek at 50/Buried Treasures: USS Enterprise Officer's Manual

Karen: This one's a twofer: both a Star Trek at 50, as we continue to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Trek's debut, and a Buried Treasure, as we look at a piece of Trek memorabilia I discovered in one of my many bins of books in our garage.

Karen: Almost exactly two years ago, when we started the Buried Treasure category, I discussed the original Star Trek Technical Manual, one of the early Trek books to look at the universe of the show, and one that has been a perennial favorite. Today, I have its  poorer cousin, the USS Enterprise Officer's Manual. This was a fan-produced, spiral-bound book circa 1980, whose chief architects were Geoffrey Mandel and Doug Drexler, both fans at the time, who later went on to work on official Star Trek series, as well as other sci-fi projects. This is essentially a follow-up to the Technical Manual, retaining the styling of that book, while adding additional information, mostly based off of the original series, and with a few updates from Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Nowhere does it say it was authorized by Paramount, so the information in it isn't 'canon' but it's fun to look at. I'm pretty sure I got this back in 1980 or '81 at one of the Los Angeles Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror conventions (that's what they were called).

Karen: For a fan product, it's of high quality. The graphics are solid, the same clean designs as the Tech Manual. The only times it really looks at all amateurish is when whole pages are given over to text, and the font makes it look like it came right out of a typewriter (which it might have). It's broken down into sections - Personnel, Familiarization, Ship Recognition,etc. - that one might expect an officer of the Enterprise would need to know. Like the Technical Manual, you won't see the words 'Star Trek' anywhere in it. It's as if a time traveling Star Fleet officer accidentally left it behind for us  to glom on to. The majority of the material is a continuation of the TOS-era ships, uniforms, weaponry, etc. But the beginning of the manual lists the Enterprise's personnel, and this is broken down not in the usual "Command, Sciences, and Engineering/Support Services" from the series but rather the six divisions from ST:TMP. Also, characters such as Will Decker, Lt. Ilia, Lt. Cmdr. DeFalco, and others from the film are listed, as well as animated series regulars Lt. Arex and Lt. M'ress.

Karen: Full-page bios of the bridge crew from the television series are provided. There's some interesting stuff here. Check out Spock's page below -nice first name they came up with huh? Recall in "This Side of Paradise," he told Leila Kalomi she couldn't pronounce it. This guarantees it. Under Kirk's entry we are told he has a tendency to become overweight and frequently is put on a special diet. Sulu's first name is given as "Itaka" and Uhura's as "Upenda." Chekov is described as being like Kirk in many ways "although is extremely active sexually" ! I don't see how that's not like Kirk. Anyway...

Karen: One thing seemingly missing from the original Technical Manual, as David B. pointed out in comments in the post on that subject, were any schematics of enemy starships. Here, we get a couple of pages of Klingon ships in profile. Klingon uniforms (as well as Romulan ones) are also presented. I'm sure at some point full blueprints for a Klingon D-7 must have been published but I don't recall ever seeing them. Anyone know about that?

Karen: Oddly enough, the new Enterprise from Star Trek: The Motion Picture was not detailed in this manual. Maybe the book was assembled before they had enough good pictures of it to work from. But the image below should be recognizable to any of you who have been following the news about the upcoming series, Star Trek: Discovery.   Look familiar? The Discovery ship design has been around a long time. It was originally conceived by Ralph McQuarrie around 1976 for a Trek project but was nixed. And I think for good reason! But apparently someone saw it and liked it, 'cause it's coming back.

Karen: It's impressive to read through this book and see how much effort  -and love -these fans put into it. This kind of dedication is what kept Star Trek alive all these decades!

Buried Treasures: Mattel's Secret Wars Bad Guys!

Doug: Hey, friends. We're finishing a 2-part look at the back panels from Mattel's Marvel Super-Heroes Secret Wars action figure line, on sale way back in 1984 and 1985. There were two series sold in the United States, and a third wave sold in Europe that featured Electro, the Constrictor, and Iceman. While I never had those, I did have the 13 figures that were available domestically. I say it past tense, as I sold them last week!

Last week we looked at some Handbook entries and 4-panel comic strips from the heroes' packaging. Today, it's Bring on the Bad Guys! And be sure to check the bottom line on Magneto's card. Say what?

Buried Treasures: Mattel's Secret Wars Box Art

Doug: Yep, I'm still selling! And because of that, I'm still finding things I'd forgotten that I had. Of course I did not forget the 13 action figures in Series 1 and 2 of Mattel's Marvel Super-Heroes Secret Wars line -- they've been on one shelf or another for the better part of 30 years. I decided to list the entire set on eBay this week (search dlw66 under Sellers), which included all of the accessories. The auction was not live for 15 minutes when they sold on a "Buy It Now" for $150. How's that?

But what I'd lost track of were the short comics that adorned the back of each package. Today we're going to "hero up" and look at the good guys; next week we'll Bring on the Bad Guys.

Anyone with information on the creators associated with the little 4-panel comic strips, please don't keep it a secret (see what I did there?). The material on the left side of each of these was for the most part lifted from the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, albeit with some editing to focus the context toward the toy line. I got a kick out of these after not laying eyes on them since the mid-80s; I hope you enjoy them, too!