Starlog ( magazine ) Starlog was a monthly print magazine devoted to science fiction film and television and was conceived in 1976 by Norman Jacobs and Kerry O ' Quinn . David Houston , who came up with the concept with O ' Quinn , became an editor for the magazine as well as a contributor with numerous articles and interviews . Originally published under the imprint " O ' Quin Studios , Inc . " , it was later accommodated in " Starlog Press " as the founders started to bring more and other genre publications into the mix , starting in 1979 with the horror / fantasy orientated magazine . According to the web - master of " The Starlog Project " , their original intent was to put out a one - shot magazine covering . On the urging of their distributor the magazine was enhanced with articles about other genre productions to make it more appealing to a broader general public . Still , its first issue , dated , did feature " The Original Series " on its cover and over the years the magazine remained " Star Trek " heavy with frequently published " Star Trek " - related articles , features and interviews . Given the founder ' s original intention and the fact that it was launched shortly before its conception , coverage of was particularly heavy . The formula caught on with the readership , and within two years the magazine was upgraded from a quarterly magazine to a monthly magazine . Apart from being one of the earliest specific genre publications , " Starlog " has also been one of the longest running , outliving its main contemporary competitor , " Cinefantastique " , by three years . In order to dampen the heavy " Star Trek " nature of the magazine ( not altogether too successfully one might argue ) , particularly so in the years 1986 - 1993 during the production of through , and , it was decided to split off the majority of the coverage for " Star Trek " from 1987 onward , when the spin - off television series went into production , into a number of officially endorsed " Official Star Trek Magazine " series publications , , " " , and " " , each running for several years , with a couple of ( previous ) movie features one - shots to boot . Aside from the " official " magazines and the below mentioned " Future Life " , " Starlog " magazine served as the source publication that spawned a slew of other spin - off serial publications , most of which also containing additional " Star Trek " material , including , " The Best of Starlog " , " Starlog Poster Magazine " , " Starlog Spectacular " , " Starlog Yearbook " , " Starlog Scrapbook " , " CineMagic " ( which specialized in focusing on production staffers and techniques , intended to be a " light " version of " American Cinematographer " ) , " Science Fiction Video Magazine " , " SFX Magazine " , " Starlog Photo Guidebook " , and " Starlog photo guidebook Special Effects " , each of which with a varying degree of success . As with the other publications of Starlog Press , " Starlog " , where its behind - the - scenes features were concerned , was notable for the reproduction of production material ( quite often made available by the production staff themselves ) , rarely seen afterwards . Nevertheless , as far as " Star Trek " was concerned , neither " Starlog " , nor its " official " spin - offs , quite achieved the wealth and the depth of the later 1990s volumes of competitor " Cinefantastique " , a bit ironically perhaps , considering the original intent of the founders . Yet , what " Starlog " did do that set them somewhat apart to this very day , was giving attention to the more peripheral contributors to the franchise , such as guest actors , guest directors , guest writers , people like novelization authors , as well as to lesser known production staffers and companies , who were rarely , if at all , referenced to in other publications as far as their " Star Trek " contributions were concerned . Starlog Press staff writer Edward Gross specialized in tracking down and interviewing these contributors . In , " Starlog " decided to " temporarily " discontinue publication of the magazine in a print format with its most recent issue ( # 374 ) , choosing to go exclusively into digital format at " Starlog . com " . The " temporarily " nature became permanent when that site shut down , surviving contents being accommodated on the website of its sister publication " Fangoria " . " Future Life " . Very early on , from 1978 onward , real - world space exploration related articles were included in " Starlog " as background articles for illustrative purposes . This gave O ' Quinn and Jacobs the idea to launch a true and similar sister magazine Future Life that broached the subject from the opposite site of the spectrum ; real world space exploration articles , lightened up with articles stemming from the realm of science fiction film , television and literature . The magazine , featuring interviews with real world scientists such as Isaac Asimov and , launched in April 1978 as a ( bi - ) monthly publication . The publication did not enjoy as near a success as its sister publication had , and publication ceased after 31 issues in December 1981 , with a special released in October 2006 , on the occasion of the 40th Anniversary of " Star Trek " . Three issues of the regular run , issues 9 ( March 1979 ) , 16 ( January 1980 ) and 17 ( March 1980 ) , contained " Star Trek " - related material . Despite its short life , the web - master of the above mentioned " The Starlog Project " has , nevertheless , cited accessibility , humaneness , being less dry , and realism as the strong points of the publication , thereby preferring it over the similar , but far longer - lived , contemporary " OMNI " magazine . Notable issues . As stated , " Starlog " has been very heavy on " Star Trek " throughout its entire run . However in some cases , content was restricted to short editorials , reviews , announcements and columns by staff writers . Listed below are those issues that contained larger and more in - depth articles and interviews .