Cinefantastique Cinefantastique was a magazine , operating out of Forrest Park , Illinois , devoted to television and movie productions in the horror , fantasy and science fiction genres , including " Star Trek " . It started out as a fanzine in , under the stewardship of Frederic S . Clarke . Under his auspices , it soon developed into a high - quality critical review magazine , relaunched and with a re - started numbering from onward , with in - depth articles about the genre . The high quality was reflected in the way the magazine was published , being printed on high gloss paper and featuring full color interior work , with advertising kept to a minimum and those limited to related products . Over time , a more journalistic approach was introduced as a new element in the formula . Reporters were sent out to get firsthand information of the people involved in the genre productions . Another element was introduced in , with the publication of the first double issue covering " Star Wars " , heralding the advent of theme numbers where editors were able to go in - depth into specific productions in the genre . Double issues became regular occurrences of " Cinefantastique " . Up until then the formula was comparable to the contemporary " " magazine . The magazine had a sister publication , " Femme Fatales " , which featured interviews with Nana Visitor , Terry Farrell , Chase Masterson , Jeri Ryan , Roxann Dawson , Jennifer Lien and female " Star Trek " guest stars . In , founder and chief editor Clarke committed suicide . After his death , perceived quality of the magazine in both content and product ( including those with " Star Trek " contents , as the last few issues covering the subject had not the depth and the wealth , the previous outings had ) started to wane noticeably , and readership began to decline rapidly , before the magazine ceased publication in 2002 . Mark A . Altman , one of the premier reporters of the magazine , having left the magazine previously , acquired publishing rights with Mark Gottwald and relaunched it under the new title CFQ in . Returning the publication to its original formula of being a critical review magazine , they were unable to regain the popularity it originally had in its heydays and publication ceased in after 25 issues . The contents of the " Cinefantastique " archives were sold off in the Profiles in History " Hollywood Auction 24 " of 31 March 2006 , its unique collection , especially the behind - the - scenes pictorial records , essentially lost for posterity . " Cinefantastique " relaunched as a webzine in August 2007 , called Cinefantastique Online , under the supervision of the magazine ' s former West Coast Editor , Steve Biodrowski . In 2009 , " Cinefantastique " was purchased by and is now a wholly owned trademark of Fourth Castle Micromedia , a New York based company owned by genre marketing veteran Joe Sena . Fourth Castle is best known for their EMCE Toys brand , whose first lines of " Retro Cloth " 8 " action figures were reproductions of classic Mego Toys . Fourth Castle produced a one - shot , " Cinefantastique Presents The Ultimate Guide To Zombies " in 2012 . The magazine is slated for relaunch in 2015 , Biodrowski continues to run " Cinefantastique Online " and Dan Persons produces podcasts for the publication . " Star Trek " affiliation . In , became the first television show to be covered in an episode guide issue . The set - up differed in that the guide was beefed out with behind - the - scenes articles . The formula was very well received by readers and was later expanded to double issue theme numbers and applied to other popular genre television series of the time , like " The X - Files " and " Babylon 5 " . Mark Altman , Dale Kutzera and Anna Kaplan became the premiere reporters on " Star Trek " . While not as specialized as its contemporaries , " American Cinematographer " and " Cinefex " , " Cinefantastique " covered a wider range of behind - the - scenes aspects of productions , which , however , gave a more complete picture of the production of the " Star Trek " spin - off television series than any of the the contemporary " official " Starlog Press television series magazines . At the time of publication , particularly during the years 1990 - 2000 , " Cinefantastique " became therefore the premier source of contemporary background information on the production of the television series , its two contemporaries concentrating on the movie features , and has arguably remained so to this date , especially where and are concerned . Unlike other , later and often somewhat filtered , even redacted , publications , including officially licensed reference book s or commentaries on home media releases , " Cinefantastique " s strength lay in the fact that production staffers of the television series proffered insights about their contributions , while their memories were still fresh , having been interviewed hot on the heels after , or even during , their involvement in a particular season . " Cinefantastique " s articles were accompanied by behind - the - scenes photographs , taken on personal title by " Cinefantastique " staff photographers and / or provided by production staffers themselves ( therefore not part of CBS ' licensing department ) , virtually unseen seen afterwards . Nor are any of these , or any other " Cinefantastique " artwork , likely to be seen ever again as the magazine ' s archive has ceased to exist after the print publication folded in 2006 , with much of its contents being sold in the aforementioned auction held that year . Anna Kaplan cited her interviews about the episode as an example of the magazine ' s strength , commenting , " " Only in CFQ could I have written complete coverage of " Trials and Tribble - ations " " Deep Space Nine ' s " homage to classic " Trek " on it ’ s 30th anniversary . I talked to all the writer - producers and many of the people behind and in front of the camera who contributed to that remarkable episode . David Hines also interviewed David Gerrold , who wrote the original series episode . The November 1997 CFQ issue devoted 18 pages to that one episode . None of the other genre publications , not even official Star Trek magazines , provided that kind of coverage " " . Coverage of the movie features through has not been as exhaustive as the television series or the earlier movies , due to the fact that these articles , essentially teasers , were published prior to those movie releases , meaning that what information could be divulged was restricted out of necessity . The heavy " Star Trek " coverage during the late 1980s and 1990s did alienate some of the long time readership as well as some of the writing staff , though former staff writer Dan Scapperotti ( who had done a piece on Leonard Nimoy for his directorial " Star Trek " debut , ) has mused years later , " " I was never terribly interested in STAR TREK , but those issues paid the bills . Every year you had to come out with [ at least ] one , because they were really hot issues . Looking back twenty years later , that ’ s interesting stuff . " " After Kaplan , with her colleague Sue Aram , had managed to churn out the last ( toned - down ) articles for its season 7 , the magazine went more or less dark on " Star Trek " for three years , until the article written by Jeff Bond ( at that time serving as the magazine ' s executive editor ) for its short - lived " CFQ " latter - day iteration , concerning itself with the last season of . His article turned out to be the only in - depth one on " Enterprise " in particular and very last " Star Trek " - themed article in general , to be featured in the hitherto " Star Trek " friendly magazine – even though the magazine was up and running again when " Enterprise " started its run – , before it went defunct indefinitely . " The Motion Picture " , " The Final Frontier " and " Nemesis " . Noteworthy is that – unlike the other " Star Trek " productions up to – coverage of , and was either relatively quite limited ( in the first case ) or altogether non - existent ( in the latter two cases ) . In the case of " Nemesis " , this was easily explained by the magazine being in the midst of its transition from " Cinefantastique " to " CFQ " , whereas " The Final Frontier " was conceivably passed over for its very bad reception at the time . Yet , the first case was particularly noteworthy , as " The Motion Picture " did receive extensive coverage in numerous contemporary magazines such as " Starlog " , " American Cinematographer " , and " Cinefex " , being at the time highly anticipated . Actually , " Cinefantastique " had planned a theme double - issue for " Star Trek : The Motion Picture " , and contributor Preston Neal Jones carried out extensive interviews with cast and crew for the issue , preliminary excerpts with some of which actually being pre - published in issue 31 , 1979 . However , editorial problems , due to the film ' s last - minute completion and the extent of the draft manuscript , meant that the double - issue was never published . A later release of the publication was advertised in several issues of the magazine – Volume 10 , Issue 1 ( among others ) featuring a full page ad for the release , showcasing the cover art by Roger Stine – but this did never come to fruition . The completed cover art was later acquired by Daren Dochterman , having bought it as on in the above mentioned auction . After an earlier failed attempt to release the manuscript in , it was ultimately published by Creature Features Publishing in as the reference book " " , using the original cover art . Notable issues . Of particular relevance to " Star Trek " are the following issues ( most of them with recognizable cover art by David Voight , annotated if otherwise ) :