Star Trek: The Magazine was an officially authorized magazine published monthly from April 1999 to March 2003 by Fabbri Publishing (US), the US arm of UK publisher GE Fabbri, on behalf of end copyright holder Midsummer Books Ltd.
Following four test issues, a total of 48 112-page issues were published in three volumes - 24 in Volume 1 and 12 each in Volumes 2 and 3. In addition, ten "special edition" issues sported two covers, the penultimate one of which also had a third cover, for a grand total of 63 covers (including the test-issue covers).
The publisher also offered readers the opportunity to buy faux-leather dark blue cassettes, only obtainable from the publisher, for storage of the magazines. Each cassette was able to hold twelve issues.
About one-third to one-half of each issue contained repackaged "in-universe" reference features and artwork, such as technical schematics and diagrams ("Briefings"), from the Star Trek Fact Files, the originating British partwork publication by the same company, whereas the rest consisted of "real-world" (production) material, such as interviews and reviews. In part, the North American-targeted magazine fulfilled Fabbri's contractual obligations for worldwide distribution to the licensors, as the Fact Files had been sold everywhere but Canada and the US.
Major Fact Files contributor Larry Nemecek, who was otherwise not involved in the US magazine derivative, gave two reasons for why it was decided against to publish The Fact Files in North-America; while partworks were already a common and popular publication format in the Commonwealth (Canada excepted) – and Japan for that matter – , it was all but an unknown phenomenon in North-America, and the financial risks were deemed too great to warrant a try with a for American readership unfamiliar format, or as Files Editor-in-Chief Tim Leng had put it, "[the untried formula of] partworks do[es]n't work in America because it's such a big market." [1]. Additionally, the print franchise company Pocket Books was offered the opportunity to release the project in one format or another on the home market, but they declined, erroneously believing the British project a mere simple rehashing of their own Star Trek Encyclopedia, which also resulted in the partwork formally prohibited to be sold in North-America. It was precisely the latter reason why Midsummer Books/GE Fabbri decided to try to introduce the Files-based Magazine in North-America for themselves. But in a sense, The Magazine eventually proved Nemecek's and Leng's point as it was terminated prematurely due to dwindling subriptions as the issue prices were deemed too steep by American magazine readers – subscriber loyalty being a prerequisite for partworks to work, which simply is not there with the primarily price-motivated American readership. [2]
Unlike the Fact Files which had been wholly conceived as an in-universe publication, The Magazine was a mixture of in-universe and real-world material and behind-the-scenes articles, including numerous interviews with Star Trek cast members and production staffers. Though not specifically credited as such, most of these interviews were conducted by staff members Ben Robinson and Trisha Palmer. Marcus Riley also contributed to the magazine.
Later, GE Fabbri (again) re-edited this material (previously published in The Magazine and Fact Files) for their 2004 release of Star Trek: The Collector's Edition and 2007's Star Trek: The Original Series - The Collector's Edition, which were published in, and intended for Europe and the Commonwealth.
While about fifteen percent of the content of each issue was taken up with advertising (including merchandise reviews), it was strictly limited to Star Trek-related merchandise, with one to four pages, including some articles disguised as such, serving as an impromptu franchise message board.
Publication credits[]
Star Trek: The Magazine was created by Midsummer Books Ltd. (in the magazine credited as producer), which was the legal end copyright holder, despite the magazine being published under the aegis of joint venture partner Fabbri. The production team included: Publisher Peter Edwards, Managing Editor Trisha Palmer, Editor Ben Robinson, Project Coordinator Penny Smartt-Juday, Art Director Rob Garrard, Production Editors Peter Griffiths, Marcus Riley, and Emma Tennant, Designers Peter Green, Paul Britton, and Danny Baldwin, Artists Rob Garrard, Ian Fullwood, Peter Harper, Studio Lidell, Stuart Wagland, and Adam Willis, Art Coordinator Emily Mitchell-Heggs, Writers Robert H. Justman, Rick Sternbach, Herman Zimmerman, Trisha Palmer, and Ben Robinson.
Coloring was done by Bright Arts Graphics (S) Pte Ltd, Singapore, and Modern Litho, London. Issues were printed and bound by World Color in Lebanon, Ohio. Their mailing address at publication was in Westport, Connecticut.
The art and writing for the in-universe sections was already done solely at Midsummer's offices in Hammersmith, London, UK, for the Fact Files source publication. None of the British writers and artist therefore, were ever stationed in the USA, save for chief editors Robinson and Palmer in particular, who were the only two British staffers known to be regularly sent to the USA for extended periods of time. The real world production sections on the other hand, were US-created. When on assignment in the USA, Palmer and Robinson conducted their bussiness out of a small rented editorial bureau, located on 419 N. Larchmont Blvd, Los Angeles, California, which was intentionally chosen for its close vincinity to the Paramount Pictures lot, a mere three blocks away. [3]
Issues[]
| Test Issues These issues are extremely rare, as they were only test-marketed in two cities: Columbus and Seattle. They contained excerpts of articles which were published in their entirety in later issues of the regular run. | ||||
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| Issue # | Month | Cover | Contents | |
| 1 | Published November 1998. | 
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Looks similar to the May 1999 premiere issue. Instead of the Borg on the premiere issue, there is a Bird-of-Prey. Cover: Patrick Stewart. Briefings: Star Trek: Insurrection ships, The Son'a, and the Borg. | |
| 2 | Published December 1998. | 
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Cover: Nicole de Boer. Briefings: Deep Space Nine, USS Prometheus, Transporters, and the Borg. | |
| 3 | Published January 1999. | 
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Cover: LeVar Burton. Briefings: Communications, The Dominion, and the USS Enterprise. | |
| 4 | Published February 1999. | 
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Cover: Patrick Stewart. Briefings: Star Trek: Insurrection ships, Weapons, Starship Voyager, and the Romulans. | |
| Volume 1 | ||||
| Issue # | Month | Cover | Contents | |
| 1 | May 1999 | 
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Briefings: Star Trek: Insurrection Ships, The Borg, The Son'a.
Interviews: Patrick Stewart, Rick Berman, Ira Steven Behr, and Brannon Braga. Features: Creating Seven of Nine, The Crew that Never Was, Designing Tricorders, Herman Zimmerman's Production Diary (Part 1), An Inside Look at "Dark Frontier". | |
| 2 | June 1999 | 
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Briefings: Deep Space 9, Starfleet and the Federation, The Klingons, USS Prometheus
Interviews: Kate Mulgrew, D.C. Fontana, Jason Alexander Features: Star Trek: Insurrection Concept Art (Part 1), Herman Zimmerman's Production Diary (Part 2), Designing the Cardassian Freighter, Star Trek Memories: Tim Russ | |
| 3 | July 1999 | 
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Briefings: USS Enterprise, Weapons, and Transporters
Interviews: Leonard Nimoy, Armin Shimerman, Peter Lauritson, Michael Westmore Features: Star Trek: Insurrection Concept Art (Part 2), Dan Curry: Star Trek's VF Supremo, Star Trek's Art Department PAs, Designing the Akira-class, Making PADDs | |
| 4 | August 1999 | 
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Briefings: USS Voyager, Communications, Romulans: 2200s, Starfleet Uniforms: 2266
Interviews: Nicole deBoer, John de Lancie, Features: Creating Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (Part 1), Star Trek: Insurrection Concept Art (Part 3), Joe Longo Property Master, Star Trek Memories: Andre Bormanis | |
| 5 | September 1999 | 
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Briefings: USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D), Species 8472, Parallel Earths
Interviews: Garrett Wang, Brannon Braga, Wil Wheaton Features: Designing the Hypospray, Creating Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (Part 2), Visual Effects: From Motion Control to Computer Animation, Karen Westerfield Makeup Artist | |
| 6 | October 1999 | 
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| 7 | November 1999 | 
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| 8 | December 1999 | 
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| 9 | January 2000 | 
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| 10 | February 2000 | 
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| 11 | March 2000 | 
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| 12 | April 2000 | 
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| 13 | May 2000 | 
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| 14 | June 2000 | 
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| 15 | July 2000 | 
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| 16 | August 2000 | 
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| 17 | September 2000 | 
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| 18 | October 2000 |  Cover 1  Cover 2 |
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| 19 | November 2000 | 
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| 20 | December 2000 | 
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| 21 | January 2001 | 
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| 22 | February 2001 | 
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| 23 | March 2001 |  Cover 1  Cover 2 |
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| 24 | April 2001 | 
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| Volume 2 | ||||
| Issue # | Month | Cover | Contents | |
| 1 | May 2001 |  Cover 1  Cover 2 |
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| 2 | June 2001 | 
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| 3 | July 2001 |  Cover 1  Cover 2 |
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| 4 | August 2001 | 
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| 5 | September 2001 | 
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| 6 | October 2001 | 
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Briefings: USS Enterprise-E, Tasha Yar, the Voth, galactic archaeology.
Interviews: Patrick Stewart, Rick Sternbach, Ira Steven Behr and Michael Piller.
Features: Gravity, Federation members, Gene Roddenberry tribute, 35 years of Star Trek, Star Trek: Starfleet Command - Orion Pirates. | |
| 7 | November 2001 | 
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| 8 | December 2001 |  Cover 1  Cover 2 |
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| 9 | January 2002 | 
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| 10 | February 2002 | 
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| 11 | March 2002 | 
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| 12 | April 2002 |  Cover 1  Cover 2 |
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| Volume 3 | ||||
| Issue # | Month | Cover | Contents | |
| 1 | May 2002 | 
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| 2 | June 2002 | 
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| 3 | July 2002 | 
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| 4 | August 2002 | 
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| 5 | September 2002 |  Cover 1  Cover 2 |
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| 6 | October 2002 | 
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| 7 | November 2002 | 
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| 8 | December 2002 |  Cover 1  Cover 2 |
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| 9 | January 2003 | 
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| 10 | February 2003 |  Cover 1  Cover 2  Cover 3 |
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| 11 | March 2003 | 
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| 12 | April 2003 |  Cover 1  Cover 2 |
Interviews: Nana Visitor, Casey Biggs, Nicholas Meyer, and Ira Steven Behr.
Features: Star Trek: The Next Generation the Seventh Season, The Art of Matte Painting, Designing Hirogen Ships. | |