Starlog photo guidebook Special Effects

Starlog photo guidebook Special Effects was a series of five books that consisted of in-depth articles about the various aspects of the production for movie and television productions in the science fiction, fantasy and horror genres of visual effects, then still called special effects (the distinction between the two only came in vogue during the second half of the 1990s with the advent of CGI). Published by Starlog Press (the first volume still under the original imprint O'Quin Studios, Inc.), the series was an offshoot of Starlog's Starlog photo guidebook-series (they themselves an offshoot of the Starlog magazine), and the series of staff writer David Hutchinson's "Special Effects"-articles that ran in the Starlog magazine from 1977 to 1984. But while the original guidebooks were little more than photo books organized around themes with limited accompanying texts, the Special Effects series contained in-depth articles. Some were edited articles by Hutchinson himself, originating from the magazine, but most were newly written, either by effects staffers of the actual productions themselves, or with heavy input from them. The series being a specialty publication was reflected in the production value of the publications as they were bound soft cover books, devoid of any form of advertising, with high quality paper and better reproduction of photos than was the case with the magazine. The first four volumes were published in the years 1979-1984, with a "Johnny-come-lately" fifth volume, released twelve years later in 1996.

Notable issues
Of particular relevance to Star Trek are the following volumes (volumes 1 and 3 not containing any Star Trek material):