I just read that Starlog magazine is ceasing print publication, and as a fanboy my heart is broken. Back in the day before the internet it was damn hard for a fanboy to find anything anywhere on science fiction films and TV shows — and riding a wave of Star Trek fandom Starlog magazine filled that gap.

Suddenly anybody who could get to a newsstand could have access to a high quality magazine with amazing articles. In many ways Starlog was wikipedia before the web — early issues would feature detailed episode guides to every science fiction TV series that you could imagine. What also made Starlog cool was hat they wouldn’t just cover the latest hit, often they’d have articles on classic films from eons ago. Not only that but the articles would also go into loving detail on anything that they covered — in fact the magazine would often feature blueprints and rare photos that you couldn’t find anywhere else.

Knowing that I was a die hard Star Trek fan my father purchased my first issue for me, and it was as if my life had changed. Suddenly I realized that there were other fans out there besides me. And a few years later when my heart was broken that Star Blazers went off the air I was able to to start a fan club by placing a cheap ad in the classified section of the magazine. Starlog was also very generous to fans by printing up convention listings, so many a fanboy owes their start in fandom to Starlog. From what I can see they’re trying to turn the magazine website into a web portal — and while I hope that does well I feel like an era has just ended…