Biography
Ian McLean is an Australian Star Trek fan. He is best known for his portrayal of the Andorian Captain Therin.
Ian found fandom through Star Trek: The Motion Picture and then the monthly ANZAC House screenings of Star Trek episodes. He joined Astrex, the Star Trek Fan Club of NSW, Australia later in 1980. Ian became President of the club from December 1983 until 1992. He was active in SF media fandom and cosplay circles throughout the 1980s and 90s, and was well-known to attendees of the monthly ANZAC House screenings of Star Trek episodes. In 1989, he co-founded Battalion: The Australian Legion of Batman Fans, with Stephen Ford.
Regular contributions to Data (Astrex's Star Trek newsletter) included a long-running column, "Have Phaser, Will Travel", and fan fiction, articles and artwork to a variety of zines, such as Beyond Antares (Australian Star Trek: TOS), Medtrek convention zines, Prime Directive (the fanzine of Trek Australis), Locutus (the newsletter of Next Gen in Canberra), The Captain's Log, The Baum Bugle (US-based The Wizard of Oz zine) and New Zealand publications, The Kryptonite Fanzine and Katra: The Living Spirit. Ian was editor of two U.S.S. Hood Orientation Manual reference art zines, the Kiron III zine series (Star Trek: The Next Generation) and, with Lana Brown and Chie-Hoon Lee, the fanzine Androidz. Ian co-edited Utility Belt, the newsletter of Battalion, with Stephen Ford.
As Therin, Ian featured in the award-winning Australian fan films by Harpic Productions: Sale of the 23rd Century (1985) and Perfect Botch (1986). Senator Therin made a cameo appearance in the 2002 US fan film, Starship Exeter: The Savage Empire. Ian reimagined the character of Maltz the Klingon (from Star Trek III: The Search for Spock) in the 1987 fan film, Free Maltz!, and Lieutenant Commander Data in The Naked Never (1990).
Ian's other audiovisual productions include parody editions of TV game shows, Starfleet Blankety Blanks (1985), CometCon Blankety Blanks (1986), The Nearly-Wed Game (1987) and, while Fan Guest of Honor at New Zealand's ConVERGE convention, It's in the Beg! (1988). Snowball Fight was a JibJab animated production, created in 2009.
Ian is web convenor of two online SF media-related blogs: Have Phaser, Will Travel and The Andor Files (about Andorians in Star Trek episodes, movies, books, comics and gaming materials, a Rogues' Gallery of Andorians). He also hosts - with permission - a web version of Leslie Fish's early fannish work on Andorians, A Summary of the Physiological Roots of Andorian Culture, which originally appeared in print in The Sehlat's Roar #2. On Facebook, he is an Admin of the Star Trek: The Motion Picture Appreciation Society.
He and Therin have been Tuckerized in several licensed Star Trek novels (as Shantherin ch'Thane, Therin Park, New Therin Park, Veldaclien ch'Gorin, and the warship, IGW Therin).
Recipes for Ian's customized action figures and Mego Star Trek aliens are online. Ian also compiles an online list of officially licensed Star Trek audio books and Toon Trek, about Filmation's Star Trek: The Animated Series.
