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In fact, I'd be most appreciative if you'd take a moment, post a comment, and tell me those things. I don't need to know your real name (unless you wish to give it), but I would be interested to find out a bit about those of you who stop by here regularly to read my ramblings. What's your favorite Space: 1970-era TV show? Movie? What's your best 70s sci-fi memory? Were you the only Star Kid in your town, or did you have friends to share your interests?
...and do any girls read Space: 1970?
Hi Chris,
ReplyDeleteI'm Guy Hoyle, and I was born in 1960. The original Sta Trek isn't a Space: 1970 show, but it's my favorite TV show. I also like Gerry Anderson's UFO. I like Space: 1999 for ts imaginative design, but its plots just don't grab me.
I think I discovered this page while searching for inspiration for a game of Encounter Critical. If you're not familiar with it, it's a modern version of a 1970s-era science-fiction fantasy RPG, presented in the style of the original Dungeons and Dragons.
I really enjoy this blog; checking out new entries is definitely something I look forward to every day.
Guy Hoyle
I'm nearly 44 and was born and live in the UK. Been interested in SF since as long as I can remember, had nightmares as a kid from watching Doctor Who and the Green Death, back in the days when most kids watched the show from behind the sofa. Always loved the Gerry Anderson shows, Captain Scarlet being my favourite. Then when I was 10 in 1977 I seen a clip from Star Wars on the tea-time news and like a lot of people my age that changed my life, started collecting Starlog,Fantastic Films,Starburst, Cinefantastique, Cinefex, Cinemagic etc... and pretty much any 'Making of' book I could afford as a kid. I think I found this blog looking for Space Academy and Jason of Star Command stuff. I'd say Blake's 7 is probably my favourite 70's era TV show and the original Star Wars my favourite movie, non of your Special Edition crap mind you. I have very strong memories of seeing Superman the Movie at a small cinema in Whitby here in the North of England and spending the rest of the week wondering just how they did make him fly ! I had pals who were SF fans and we'd make miniatures and Super 8mm movies on a weekend. I'd say the greatest times for me movie wise were from the mid 70's up until around The Abyss, after that period I think movies become pretty dull all round, too many FX, I prefer the old days when movies had hard times getting made, I believe that people had to put more effort in, they didn't have the $300 budgets of films like Spiderman 3 and Pirates of the Caribean 3 !! Love this blog, and really love posts about behind the scenes and FX work from the 70's - 80's era !! Keep up the great work !
ReplyDelete37 years old.
ReplyDeleteFondly remember growing up in the late 70's, (when fish sticks were actually made with real fish) seeing Star Wars in the theatre, Battlestar Galactica on TV. I also like 6-million dollar man and Bionic Woman. I have a love for 70's sci-fi in all forms.
Can't remember how I found your blog, but I did just a few months ago and glad I did...now I check it daily. You were on the Star Trek remastered extra's right?
I keep posting as 'Anonymous' because I don't have any sites nor urls, but I always sign my posts 'CR,' since that's my online handle. I'm in my early 40's, so this blog really appeals to me for many of the same reasons that Christopher set it up in the first place. (I also enjoy the other blog, DVD Late Show.)
ReplyDeleteI originally linked in here from a link someone posted at the eagletransporter forum. (That started out as a dedicated Space: 1999 site, quickly expanded to include all things Gerry Anderson, and also now includes not only classic British Sci-fi but international sf from all decades.) S99 continues to remain one of my all-time favorite tv shows. I liked Star Trek (TOS, films and even TNG), but have gotten rather bored with that whole franchise over the years. The only recent SF tv I like is Firefly and its sequel film, Serentity.
I pop in here at least once a week, and usually have my memories of 70's-era sf rekindled as though they were from yesterday. I remember thinking that Logan's Run was one of my favorite SF films, til Star Wars blew everything away a year later. (I even liked late-70's Japanese Star Wars rip-off/homage Message from Space!)
In the pre-VCR days, I stayed up late to watch any SF I could find, read Starlog (and even it's rooted-in-reality spin-off, Future/Future Life), drew pictures, built models, basiclaly grew up on what's now considered 'old school' SFX. I wouldn't have it any other way!
Ah, so much to remember, so much to talk about. Thanks for having this blog!
CR
I'm 48 and fondly remember many of the shows you discuss here.
ReplyDeleteProbably found the blog while searching for something, but what hooked me was the Land of the Lost episode by episode commentary. That was some good stuff; I've been hooked ever since.
I even went out and bought the boxed set with Ark II, Jason of Star Command, and Space Academy. I remember watching Ark II and Space Academy, but don't know how I possibly missed Jason. (I was probably up late Friday nights reading...)
Hi Chris, I'm 45 and I've been reading your blogs for some time, and this one since it started. I think I came upon the others either through interests in Toho films or pulp-themed roleplaying games. It only takes one great article to get me to subscribe! My favorite show at the time was TOS (in Ohio I had cable since the early 70s, and was able to watch Trek 2 or 3 times a day). But I also loved UFO and, later, 1999 even though it would be many years until I'd catch any other Anderson shows. As the 70s closed, I came upon Doctor Who, which remains my lifelong passion. Other than Star Wars, the movies of the time had virtually no impact on me. Like Andrew, I consumed the great magazines and Making Of books. I still can't believe (and kind of regret) that I never ended up behind the camera in any capacity. Best memory? My first con, age 13, a Trek-oriented weekend in '78 where I got my first glimpses of STTMP (Susan Sackett did a presentation) and I discovered the dealers room, real science fiction books and fans, and D&D :) That pic above could be from that very convention... the good old days.
ReplyDelete39 years old.
ReplyDeleteI don't recall who pointed me at this blog, I seem to recall someone linking to it, and following that link.
Hi, Chris: The name's Donald, and I'm a few months shy of my 45th birthday. I don't quite remember how I got here, but it was late one night when I was getting in my websurfing and was looking for sf/culty things to read about. Someone probably linked to you - maybe Gilligan at retrospace (maybe not, possibly it was one of the other retro blogs) and I followed the link and spent several hours when I should've been sleeping pouring over your archives.
ReplyDeleteAt age 5, I was into "Lost in Space", by age 6, I had graduated to Trek, at 8 or 9, Space: 1999, by age 11, it was Logan's Run, with sidesteps to the Bionic franchises, the various attempts at bringing super-heroes to the small screen (The Man from Atlantis, the Incredible Hulk, Wonder Woman, etc.). I watched Quark first run and found it funny and even remembered the theme song well enough to perform it when my brother played the DVD over the phone at me. (He was gloating that he got his copy first) :-)
I remember watching "Planet of the Apes" on CBS.., both in prime-time MoW slots and on the CBS Late Movie. I didn't watch the series when it aired, nor did I watch the DePatie-Freleng cartoon. In '74, I remember being too afraid to watch Kolchak on ABC, but wish I had after watching the DVD a generation later.
On the Saturday morning kidvid front, I don't remember being too into "Land of the Lost", but I do remember leaving the TV on NBC while it aired, so I managed to see a number of episodes. Sid and Marty had probably already warped me during my formative years with H.R. Pufnstuf and Liddsville.
I'm 33 years old. I've no idea how I found Space: 1970 now, but I've been following it for a while.
ReplyDeleteI'm a fan of science-fiction and fantasy of any decade, but mostly I enjoy Star Trek, particularly the much-maligned Motion Picture. I also have a fondness for the original Star Wars films, though who doesn't?
Because of my age I guess I was more of an '80's re-run kid, seeing a lot of '70's shows alongside the (then) new ones. As a UK resident, I enjoyed Doctor Who before it went off the air, and Blake's 7, which I still vainly hope might make a successful return too.
44 years old, and a sci-fi geek for as long as I can remember. Some of my earliest memories were watching reruns of Star Trek on channel 11 at 6 PM, right after "Beat the Clock" and "The Odd Couple". I remember seeing at least some of the "Planet of the Apes" movies in the theater during their original run (and Star Wars 36 times, back when it was still called "Star Wars"), and grew up on the Apes and Trek action figures and Major Matt Mason. Famous Monsters of Filmland was a staple.
ReplyDeleteGrowing up, most of the kids on my block were at least somewhat into scifi, and a few were as hard-core into it as me. I got into wargaming at an early age, and thence into role-playing.
If I recall correctly, I found your blog after you posted something on my own blog, and immediately added it to my blog roll.
Hey, I'm Kyle, 42 and live in Phoenix Arizona. Don't remember how I found this blog... was a probably over a year ago. I pop in to see if there is anything new almost daily.
ReplyDeleteFavorite memory growing up was Star Wars hands down. It completely blew me away. I liked Buck Rogers slightly more than Battlestar Galactica, I remember liking Six Million Man and Bionic Woman... Was also hooked on Star Trek re-runs. So many of the shows that pop up on here I have vauge recollections of... I know I watched Planet of the Apes and the Man From Atlantis, but don't remember the details. Some I am pretty sure I never caught, Project UFO, Space 1999, Jason of Star Command, but whether that was due to lack of interest or not broadcast in the 3 channel town I grew up in I don't remember.
Saturday mornings I was mostly a toon guy (Captain Caveman, Superfriends, Godzilla. But liked Shazam and Land of the Lost.
I'm starting to ramble, so will just say I love the site....
And Flash Gordon is still one of my all-time favorite movies.
Hi Chris -- I'm Joe, I'm 44, I'm up in Toronto, Canada and I honestly can't remember how I found you, but it was well within the first two or three posts you had made.
ReplyDeleteI have a guilty-pleasure love for the original live-action Filmation GHOST BUSTERS TV show, SHAZAM, LAND OF THE LOST, and if someone said something to me in 1978 that didn't have the words STAR WARS in the same sentence there was a good chance I wasn't listening.
You love all the stuff I loved and still love.
Am I the only one who remembers "Rickety Rocket"? It was a Cosby-kids styled blacksploitation version of SPEED BUGGY or WONDERBUG with a space ship instead of a talking car. It was lame, but it sticks out in my memory.
36 from Sweden. Been hooked on sci-fi ever since Logans Run but I think my first actual sci-fi memory was Buck Rogers. Oh yeah, and that really lame "The Greatest American Hero"-show from the early 80's. I actually feel dumber after watching one of the reruns, still I can't stop if I happen to see it's on. :P
ReplyDeleteBorn in 1966 and raised by television in the UK - Space 1999, Thunderbirds, UFO, Star Trek, Six Million Dollar Man, Planet Of The Apes (including the movies, of course). First VHS tape my parents rented for me to watch when they got our very first top-loader was Battle Beyond The Stars - which I proceeded to watch five times back-to-back!
ReplyDeleteWas - and remain - a big Star Wars fan and have read American superhero comics (initially British reprints and later actual American full-colour floppies)since I was about eight.
38 years old. I practically grew up at the drive-in, and one of my earliest memories is the "renewal" sequence from "Logan's Run". I didn't have many friends that shared my strong enthusiasm for all things sci-fi, but nevertheless I remained buoyed by reruns of "Star Trek", "Ultraman", "Johnny Sokko and His Flying Robot" and "Lost In Space", in addition to staying up way too late in the timeless cathode glow of UHF sci fi and horror marathons. Those days are like a lost signal now, but have not faded one iota within me. The original runs of "Space: 1999", "Logan's Run", "Blake's 7", "Doctor Who", "Electra Woman and Dyna Girl", "Shazam", "Battlestar Galactica" and "Buck Rogers" were vital components of my formative years. Surviving the transfer from VHS to DVD, I continue to enjoy all of these programs. Somehow, my wife has become (secretly) enamored of them as well.
ReplyDeleteIn an odd way, my near-solitary love of sci-fi prepared me for my calling as a professor of history; how people of the past perceived what the future would look like has become a focus of my continued research in social history. Science fiction is the cultural reservoir of our highest ambitions, or our greatest fears, in the modern era. This linkage can be traced from Washington Irving, H.G. Wells, and Edgar Rice Burroughs to William Gibson, Neil Stephenson and Max Barry. The dystopian, theocratic geopolitical of the early 21st century geopolitical speak volumes of the near-prescient quality of science fiction. Food for thought: the UN reported this week that by mid-century, the human population will exceed 10 billion. When I was a kid, I saw "Soylent Green" on UHF TV and immediately ran out and bought Harry Harrison's original novel "Make Room, Make Room!" It made perfect sense that we would snuff ourselves out by suffocating under the weight of billions and associated scarcity. Forty years ago, the population crisis was acutely felt in popular discourse and even entertainment. Although this frankly imminent doom no longer has a political voice, the population crisis didn't go away. And it is no longer exclusive to the realm of science fiction, but a crisis of now. That's sci-fi's most enduring power: to warn the future, and the present.
Hi Chris. I'm Rebecca. I'm 39 and I grew up in a small town in urban Canada watching re-runs and old sci-fi. I've always had a soft spot in my heart for B-flicks and sci-fi where the story always outdid the special effects. I also love Noir flicks, and pulp stories, epic-anything, and I'll try most "alternate" shows at least once.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite Sci-Fi shows has always been Outer limits (we control the horizontal, ...) and Space Patrol.
Growing up, I was one of many "space-heads"; but we saw ourselves as action-adventure heroes and enjoyed adventuring in space, through time, and even on earth (and in the lost places beneath it ) equally.
I found your blog a while back when doing a search on b-flicks and sci-fi tv shows; trying to find the name of an old series. I never found what I was looking for, but I saw what I liked and so I stayed.
Hey Chris,
ReplyDeleteI'm Steve Temple (40) and hail from Mississippi. I ran across your blog on the Google search engine -- I think that I was searching for StarCrash pics several months back. I'm a huge fan of Sci-Fi, Pulp and Fantasy (particularly really bad films that are worthy of MST3K treatment). I'd have to say that my favorite movies are the Star Wars films, because I was at the prime age for that (I was 6 when Star Wars hit theaters). As for T.V., I really enjoyed Battlestar Galactica (the original, not 1980), Logan's Run and Planet of the Apes (I'm a huge PotA fan). My favorite memories are of playing with the many space toys from the 70's, ranging from Mego figures, Star Wars, Space 1999, Micronauts, The Black Hole, Buck Rogers, etc. There are too many to list here, but those of us in the same age range know about the explosion of toys in the 70's. And if were weren't playing with toys then we were roleplaying outside with toy guns, lightsabers and anything we could create with our little hands. We really grew up in a great time!
45 years old, favorite Space 1970 style TV show was Battlestar Galactica with Buck Rogers running a close second. My favorite cartoons from that era were Flash Gordon and Planet of the Apes. I found this blog after discovering Atomic Pulp via Chris' Femme Noir series. Check it out if you haven't read it folks!
ReplyDeleteI am almost 44 and so grew up here in the UK on a diet of Doctor Who (in the heyday of its classic episodes starring Jon Pertwee and then Tom Baker), Star Trek re-runs, and then Blake’s Seven. In between that there were repeats of Flash Gordon as well as many of Gerry Anderson’s series. There was also The Tomorrow People, but that was on ITV and it was rare that our family would switch over to the UK’s only commercial channel. When I was six I wanted to be Joe 90, because like Joe, I wore glasses and they were just like his. I recall seeing Planet of the Apes when I was about seven, but on the whole, American imports were far and few between, although Logan’s Run appeared on ITV here.
ReplyDeleteRemember, this back in a time when television was limited to three channels in the UK, which would shut down after midnight and throughout the week, broadcast educational and schools programmes during the day.
Like many of us, Star Wars was the big change. I grew up on Science Fiction and suddenly this was like watching everything that was going on in my head up there on the screen. My friends and I loved all of it and were big fans, though not all of us had the toys. Merchandised toys were just a little suspect back then…
Other than that, I am an unemployed Proof Reader who lives with a Perky Goth and the requisite two black cats. For fun, I review pen and paper RPGs as a serious hobby.
How I came to be a subscriber to your blog exactly is something that I have forgotten. Glad that I did though as I have enjoyed all of your posts. It has encouraged me to go and pick up several DVD sets including Joe 90 and The Six Million Dollar Man (season 1), the latter I am looking forward to watching as I was never really able to see when it was broadcast. It was on too late, and again on ITV!
I think this comment will be almost identical to those that came before:
ReplyDeleteAged 49, from UK, grew up on Star Trek, Planet of the Apes, Fantastic Journey, Logan's Run. I think by the end of the 70s I was feeling quite jaded. I loved Ray Bradbury, and was p***ed off that none of the adaptations of his work came close to GETTING it; Rock Hudson in The Martian Chronicles to me represented the loss of all hope for decent SF on TV!
(Right now, I am belatedly doing a PhD on... Ray Bradbury's work in film, TV and radio!)
I can't recall how I found the Space 1970 blog, but it must have been a Google search.
There is one '70s show I would love to see again - although it was probably much worse than I recall - and that is LUCAN. About a teenager who had been raised by wolves.
- Phil
www.bradburymedia.co.uk
Hi Chris - I'm 41 years old, and some of my very earliest memories are of watching Star Trek, Space: 1999, and The Six Million Dollar Man on TV. Obviously, I liked sci-fi from the very beginning, but like every other boy in our general age group, I went absolutely bananas after Star Wars came out.
ReplyDeleteSeveral years ago, I stumbled across your Atomic Pulp blog somehow, and when you announced the creation of Space 1970, I immediately jumped over here as well. It's so refreshing to find some online commentary about all the stuff we grew up on that's based in genuine love and respect, instead of post-ironic snark. Keep up the good work!
I read your blog off and on; I'm probably here every five or six months, at which time I go back and read all the posts I've missed. :)
ReplyDeleteI was too young to remember or like a lot of the really early Seventies shows, though I often realize by the deja vu when I watch a rerun that I must have been sitting and watching it with my older brother at some point. I remember all sorts of weird old Seventies cartoons. I loved Wonder Woman and Buck Rogers in bursts, and I saw The Black Hole in the theater. Later I became a big fan of TOS, Doctor Who, etc.
Thank you for doing this! It's great stuff. (Oh, and I'm a girl.) :)
I'm Noel, a Minnesotan just a few months shy of hitting 30. I lurk here and on your other blogs and don't post much in the comments because 1970s scifi isn't something I know a great deal about. But I like your style and the way you cover the subject, and I've really enjoyed learning about it.
ReplyDeleteI found your sites about 3 years ago when I got my hands on a chunk of the Tekno Comix library and ran some random searches to see what else the talent involved had worked on.
Hi, Chris. Erik Lund here. I'm a Canadian, 46, living in Vancouver. I grew up in a remote mill town on the outer coast with practically no TV service, but for a few years we had a pirate tower beaming Bellingham, Washington's KVOS-TV into us. Star Trek, Space 1999, Battlestar Galactica. Even Space Ghost and Rocket Robin Hood. My cousins in the big city (Vernon!) got to watch Wonder Woman, Six Million Dollar Man, and Bionic Woman. Generally, the big budget network stuff seemed dumber than the older, lower profile stuff. Or was that just a teenage snob's viewpoint?
ReplyDeleteOops, forgot to mention that I followed a link here from the Lair of the Evil DM.
ReplyDeleteHi Chris,
ReplyDeleteI cannot recall how I got to this blog but I think it was from your Atomic Pulp page. I'm 39 and live in Washington state. I have to admit that I missed out on a lot of the treu glory of these programs because I was a very small for mosto fthe 70s and didn't see a lot of movies.
I grew up with Star Wars and Star Trek and my mother tells me about taking me to an all day Planet of the Apes marathon when I was three. Despite having missed a lot of these show when they first came out, I did catch them on the bounce when they came to TV.
Some of my favorites were Battlestar Galactica, Bionic Woman, the Incredible Hulk, and Land of the Lost. I loved a lot of the science fiction and fantasy cartoons of the 70's too like the old Flash Gordon Cartoon, Blackstar, Thundarr the Barbarian and their like.
-Eli
Dusty Abell here, 42, which seems to be right in the pocket of the average age of everybody here amusingly enough..... I can't entirely recall how I first found Space1970, but it's been a go to destination of mine ever since!
ReplyDeleteI grew up watching old sci-fi, monster and fantasy films, along with every other kind of movie and TV show back when thats what made up programming on the off network channels back in the day.....before the terrible age of the infomercial. Tom Hattens Family film Festival and his old Popeye cartoon show, KTLA channel 5 movies on sat. and sun at 5 oclock, movies till dawn, James Bond movies on the ABC sunday night movies and summer vacation was all the old 50's and 60's sitcoms! I discovered Star Trek in syndication and remember being so excited to watch Land of the Lost......
I'd spend the weeks leading up until the new saturday morning shows figuring out what I was and wasn't going to watch..... couldn't watch two shows at once back then, it required a lot of pre-planning! The TV guide behind the scenes article on Battlestar got me really excited for the premiere of that show! And I remember getting in front of the TV a half hour early so I wouldn't miss Rankin and Bass' animated Hobbit back in the day!
My uncle Mark took me to some of the big movies when i was little, 7th Voyage of Sinbad at a revival on the big screen (6 years old),Star Wars (at a drive in, he was on a date, i was 8), Close Encounters and Alien (the day the prop space jockey burned down at the Egyptian).
I was also big time into Starlog, Famous Monsters, Cinefex, and comics! This blog celebrates all that great stuff we loved as kidz! I'm glad Chris takes the time to do this because I truly get a lot of enjoyment looking back and remembering why the 70's were such a great time to be a kid!
Hi, I'm Erik, 36, and I live in Indiana. I probably came over here from My Star Trek Scrapbook a couple of years ago. I enjoy your retro reviews (even on shows I've never seen) and reliving old memories. As a wee lad I watched Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rogers, Trek, 6 Million Dollar Man and other genre shows. Thanks for the great posts and keep them coming.
ReplyDeleteGreetings. My name is Kevin, but I go by The Badger King. I am 39, and currently reside in the wilds of Manitoba, Canada (dial-up access only... boooooo!). I think I found your blog courtesy of the Grognardia blog, but don't quote me on that. Although I watched STAR TREK occasionally, I have always been a STAR WARS fan first. I can remember watching old 6 Million Dollar Man, Bionic Woman, and other strangeness that I barely remember (all I can remember from watching old PROJECT: BLUE BOOK episodes was the introduction... same with THE PHOENIX). I was also addicted to Space: 1999, and have the whole series on DVD (and bought it when you had to buy it 2 DVDs at a time.... grrrrr). I love you blog, because it reminds me of a lot of old TV shows that I had almost forgotten about. Keep up the good work!
ReplyDeleteMy name is Pierre and I am 48 years old. I stumbled upon your blog when the StarCrash DVD came out and I was interested in any information I could get on the film.
ReplyDeleteI remember stumbling upon the very first issue of Starlog in 1976 at a when I was 13 or so and my life really changed at that point. I can remember all sorts of detail about that day and the years to come when Starlog, plus all the other genre magazines that I still love came out on a regular basis.
I dreamed about being a special effects artist but eventually ended up as an animator then product designer but that early spark can definitely be attributed to my love of Science Fiction.
My earliest genre memories were of AstroBoy and Speed Racer, then eventually to reruns of Lost In Space and Star Trek. Eventually, the genre really broke open in 1977 with Star Wars and Close Encounters, then with the original Battlestar Galactica and Buck Rogers. There were so many fleeting moments of sci-fi greatness during those years and this website really helps rekindle those wonderful memories.
Thanks!
Pierre
I was definitely one of only a couple of kids into Star Wars and sci-fi. I don't remember how I came across Space 1970 but I think it was through either a Google search for a movie or a Google image search for a sci-fi actress. Great site! Good idea to ask people to comment like this, it gives a real grasp on your readership!
ReplyDeleteHey there! I'm 40 years old (born in ... 1970!) and found your blog from a post that James Maliszewski made over at Grognardia (the "old school" D&D blog). He's a big fan of yours.
ReplyDeleteI love classic 1970s era science fiction and really enjoyed a post you made a few weeks back about your memories of trying to figure out how to watch "Planet of the Apes" on TV since your parents dragged you over to their friends' house that evening. It really captured what it was like back then to plan a whole evening around watching something on TV that was likely not be aired again for several years.
Oh, and I'm in Pasadena, CA. And I've got your site on my "Blog Roll" on my blog as well.
Cheers!
Hey there! I'm 40 years old (born in ... 1970!) and found your blog from a post that James Maliszewski made over at Grognardia (the "old school" D&D blog). He's a big fan of yours.
ReplyDeleteI love classic 1970s era science fiction and really enjoyed a post you made a few weeks back about your memories of trying to figure out how to watch "Planet of the Apes" on TV since your parents dragged you over to their friends' house that evening. It really captured what it was like back then to plan a whole evening around watching something on TV that was likely not be aired again for several years.
Oh, and I'm in Pasadena, CA. And I've got your site on my "Blog Roll" on my blog as well.
Cheers!
41, Los Angeles, but grew up in NYC-CT area in the 70s. My favorite show is 1999, followed by classic Trek. I found your blog originally, searching for Space:1999 in Google Reader blog search. I was an only child of older parents, so I was lucky enough to have a lot of stuff - including the Alien doll, the Eagle transporter, Big Trak, Mego Trek/Apes/heroes, and of course all the Star Wars figures. I produced documentaries for various cable channels for 15 years, and got to meet lots of great Hollywood and TV names, who shared some great stories - and some who were just blah or downright cranky. Now I'm in law school and it's funny to explain to classmates half my age what it was like in the pre-VCR days to miss an episode of Battlestar Galactica knowing I might have only one chance to see it again in the summer rerun season, but if I missed that, then I might never see it again. Agony! My parents dragged me along to a dinner party once, and I begged them to ask our hosts to let me watch BSG on their black & white TV - better than nothing! I'm also the only one who knows the names of TV shows and movies that are the subject of various lawsuits we read about - Greatest American Hero, H.R. Pufenstuf, and Twin Peaks (Yes, they're that young to not have watched it, though they were alive.)
ReplyDeleteHi Christopher
ReplyDeleteI write and direct a webseries called Space Hospital that is based in a retro sci-fi setting, and when I go looking on the internet for design and story ideas, my search brings to this blog and your Atomic Pulp blog time and time again. What a great repository of knowledge and analysis this site is. Great work!
And if you ever are looking for some of that cheesy, pulpy sixties and seventies goodness in a newer package, check out our series at www.spacehospital.tv - It's loads of fun and contains a lot of only partially veiled references to many of the seventies sci-fi shows you showcase here.
Keep up the great work!
Robert
From then - Blake's 7 and Star Wars.
ReplyDeletebt
I just now stumbled across your blog while going an image search for '70s sci-fi movie posters. What a fun blog! Or I guess it might be more appropriate for me to say, "Impressive...most impressive."
ReplyDeleteI was 15-years-old in 1977 when Star Wars was released in theaters. I saw it in San Francisco, CA about three weeks after it had opened. The film quite literally changed my life. I had always been interested in the arts (acting, animation, etc.), but when I saw the imperial star destroyer fly over my head chasing the rebel blockade runner I knew that I wanted to do THAT for a living. Flash forward to today and I'm a blessed to be a successful visual effects, animation, & games consultant. I spent six years at LucasArts where I was a senior artist and VFX supervisor helping design and create games. I then moved to Industrial Light & Magic and spent another four years there working on the effects for the Star Wars prequels, Glaxay Quest, and other films. And along the way I was tapped by Lucasfilm to play Darth Vader for numerous projects including the Special Edition of the origial trilogy, video games, TV shows, commercials, magazine covers, print ads, and live appearances.
I'm not saying all this to brag. I consider myself very fortunate and very blessed to be able to do all that I do for a living. I mention my career highlights only because a) you asked everyone "Who are you?", and b) to show that I'm a fanboy who made good. The 1970s were a magic time (despite disco and bell bottoms). So many fun and imaginative films and TV shows during that era. It was everything that is discussed and celebrated here on this blog that inspired me to become a VFX artist, animator, and actor. And I've been privileged enough to work with some of my some of my favorite filmmakers of that era and act alongside some of my '70s heroes who I now can call my colleagues and friends.
So the next time someone tells you, "you're wasting your time on that junk" (something I heard a lot back in the day, but thankfully NOT from my parents) don't pay them any mind. You never know what wonderful real-life adventures it might lead to.
Now to answer your other questions...
Favorite 70s TV show: Doctor Who (2nd runner up: Jason of Star Command, just because...I don;t know, just because.)
Favorite 70s movie: Star Wars of course, but I also loved Superman-The Movie and Alien. And as a lover of "bad" films, I have a real warm spot in my heart for Starcrash and Battle Beyond the Stars.
Best 70s sci-fi memory: I remember standing in line all day at a collectibles shop in Berkeley, CA in 1978 to meet Dave "Darth Vader" Prowse who was signing autographs. The line was huge and I was practically at the very end of it. He was a delight to meet back then and so giving of his time to the fans. Little did I realize that sixteen years later I would inherit his famous role. We have never crossed paths since, but I still have great memories of that day.
Were you the only Star Kid in your town: Not by a long shot. All my buddies and I were deep into it. Toys, trading cards, magazines, posters, anything we could get our hands on. But I believe I was to only one who went on to make a career out of it.
Do any girls read Space: 1970: Um,...I plan on showing your blog to my wife. Does that count? ;)
Keep up the great work. Love this blog. I look forward to being a regular reader.
C. Andrew Nelson
www.candrewnelson.com
Found you while searching out The Starlost. I love all this stuff on your blog here keep it up!
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