Mad #216 (Albert Feldstein) - Star Blecch Issue - July 1980

This was the third Star Trek parody for Mad.  The first two (#115 & #186) parodied the television show.  The third covered Star Trek: The Motion Picture that was released in December 1979.  Mort Drucker was the Mad artist for all three.  Dick DeBartolo's script followed the movie story with few changes.  There were more bald jokes than we really needed.  The movie story was weak but the special effects were great and Star Trek fans loved seeing all of the television characters on the big screen.  The Star Trek franchise was just starting to explode with more tv series and movies to come.

Frank Jacobs wrote a parody of the Lewis Carroll (1832-1898) nonsense-poem Jabberwocky to introduce the presidential candidates for 1980 ("Election Year Jabberwocky").  The caricatures by Angelo Torres of Jimmy Carter, Ted Kennedy and George H.W. Bush are fairly good but his Ronald Reagan needs work.  Those microphone cables look dangerous to me.

This was the debut issue for Don (Duck) Edwing as an artist.("An Eye-Popping Scene on a Corner" & "The Big One That Got Away").  Edwing had been an idea-guy for other Mad artists for years  Although his drawings are not the best, he would now become a regular artist/writer for Mad.  However, his signature duck mascot was not found in this issue.

I thought the six-page, Lou Silverstone-George Woodbridge  high school yearbook parody ("A High School Yearbook For Average Clods") was below average. [JAM 10/31/2010]

Look for the pirate and the football player in the Star Beecch crew; the space shuttles on page 9 have wind-up keys.

Departments:
Another Waste of Space - Star Blecch - The (Gacck!) Motion Picture
See Note - An Eye-Popping Scene on a Corner
Malice in Blunderland - Election Year Jabberwocky
Hi Yo-Yo Silver! - Don Martin Looks at "The Lone Ranger"
Berg's-Eye View - The Lighter Side of Keeping in Touch
Oily Addition - Mad's All-Inclusive, Do-It-Yourself Energy Crisis Newspaper Story
Capitol Games - Mad's Plan for Making the Congressional TV Show More Entertaining
Grinding the Axiom - Mad Laws
Down, Prints! - Famous Family Album Rejects
Class Distinkshun - A High School Yearbook for Average Clods
Put Your Funny Where Your Mouth Is - An Al Jaffee Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions Fishing Adventure
Valet of the Dulls - Bentson

Fold-In - Roller Skater