Inside Star Trek ( magazine ) The Inside Star Trek magazine was the first " official " fanzine , distributed through the first officially authorized fan club for the " Star Trek " franchise , the . The magazine was published from through , while the third season of was in production . Strictly speaking , neither fan club nor magazine was endorsed nor authorized officially , as the latter was not published under the auspices of the Paramount Publicity Department , the legal owner of the " Star Trek " brand , but rather by the privately - operated " Star Trek Enterprises " , the short - lived , original name of Gene Roddenberry ' s merchandise company Lincoln Enterprises . However , the studio at the time was not in the slightest interested in their recent " Star Trek " purchase , and was actually looking for ways to cancel the series . As a result , no commercial or publicity activities on behalf of the series were undertaken by the department , and those that had been , such as the free mail - order distribution of publicity photographs to fans , were immediately scrapped upon the acquisition of Desilu Studios by Paramount Pictures in 1967 . But , considering the closeness to the actual production of several of its contributors , the magazine , essentially an illegal publication , is for practical purposes , considered " official " . Ruth Berman produced and edited twelve eight - page issues ( with the exception of issue 1 , which had twelve pages ) of " Inside Star Trek " and enjoyed close access to " Star Trek " s cast and crew during the production of the series ' third season . After " Star Trek " was canceled by the network in , the club and magazine were discontinued , as a depressed Roddenberry temporarily lost heart over the seemingly failure of his creation . Editor Berman immediately started a new fanzine , " T - Negative " , that ran for 35 issues from 1969 until 1979 . Obviously endorsed by Roddenberry , editors were given access to the studio and contributions were made by Roddenberry , D . C . Fontana , John Dwyer , Matt Jefferies , William Theiss , Charles Washburn , Fred Phillips , William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , DeForest Kelley , James Doohan , Walter Koenig , Nichelle Nichols , and George Takei , among others . Future " Star Trek " production staffer , but fan at the time , Andrew Probert illustrated a number of covers and some interior art work , as did Gregory Jein . Relaunch . Seven years later , in 1976 , the magazine was relaunched , following a similar formula . While it was re - titled Star Trektennial News , it continued the numbering where " Inside Star Trek " had left off , issue 13 being the first one under its new heading . Again published by Roddenberry ' s company , now as Lincoln Enterprises , it was relaunched in order to keep fans appraised of his efforts to bring back " Star Trek " as a live - action production , from " The God Thing " , via " " and " " through . Roddenberry ' s personal assistant during those years , Susan Sackett , together with Virginia Yable , served as editors for the magazine . The magazine ran for another eighteen issues , returned to its original title from issue 25 onward , with page count intermittently increasing from 1977 onward as possible productions assumed more substance , and starting to include behind - the - scenes pictures . Publication ceased shortly before the release of " The Motion Picture " in 1979 .