People seem to dig these vintage
TV Guide ads - and why not? They're powerful memory triggers, especially for those of us who grew up in the pre-cable, pre-Internet Stone Age of the 1970s. This advertisement for the U.S. network television premiere of
Ed Hunt's
Starship Invasions is a great example. I was always the first one in my house to grab the new
TV Guide when it showed up in the mail, and immediately pored over its pages, looking for cool stuff to watch, so I could plan my schedule accordingly. I remember being pretty damned excited when I came across this particular ad in my weekly review of the magazine.
I had already read a couple of articles about Hunt's UFO movie in
Starlog, and its plot, with warring alien races, extraterrestrial abductions, undersea pyramids (in the Bermuda Triangle, no less!), and flying saucer space battles, pushed all the right buttons in my Star Kid brain.
Terrific descriptive copy, too, worthy of an Ace sci-fi paperback blurb:
"Forced to seek a new home, the Legion Of The Winged Serpent has selected Planet Earth." Wow.
Yeah, SI stands out in my mind as well since I was into anything Sci-Fi and actual UFO reports.
ReplyDeleteI was totally into UFO's at the time this movie came out. I was lucky enough to see the un-edited version first. The last time I saw it on TV it was chopped to pieces.
ReplyDeleteStarship Invasions is truly hilarious,in the mold of an Ed Wood film.For that alone I really like it though having only seen it once way back when.
ReplyDeleteIt's a really great movie to watch with friends (MST3K style). I just love watching Christopher Lee chew scenery without even talking (thanks to the telepathy thing, which is quite silly). And the abduction scene with the family makes me laugh every time. "Wow! A UFO!"
ReplyDeleteWow. Starship Invasions actually had a "network premiere"? The '70s were truly another era.
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