• It's been a long time since I've posted anything here - over a month, in fact - and this is the first post I've made in November... and that's nearly over. I even missed marking
Space: 1970's
fourth anniversary on the 1st. Really rather embarrassed about that.
I have no good excuse. November's just been a bad month for me overall, writing-wise, and this site has suffered from that unfortunate (and frustrating) motivational drought along with all my other writing projects.
But that doesn't entirely account for the reduced posting here since the Summer. I've kinda been feeling like it's getting harder to find cool images to post, and the more involved articles - essays, film and DVD reviews, "Fave Episodes," "Fave Fives," "Hall of Fame," etc . - well, it's
always been difficult for me to make the time to really do them up properly. And that's
always been frustrating, because, for me, anyway, those are the most personal and satisfying posts to write.
Another factor in my
Space: 1970 ennui is that due to recent changes in my state's tax laws, I no longer receive any kickbacks from Amazon's affiliate program. Don't get me wrong - this site was never about making money, and it never amounted to much anyway, but the couple hundred bucks a year at least helped me justify to myself the time and effort I put into
Space: 1970, and it did allow me to buy more cool 70s sci-fi stuff (videos, books) for my collection. (I do still have the Paypal button over in the right-hand sidebar, but nobody's donated anything in over a year.)
Now, I know this all sounds pretty grim, but I'm not about to abandon this blog. My passion for disco-era sci-fi (
and sci-fi disco, for that matter) hasn't diminished one iota. I'm just going through an extended low-energy phase (or as they're referred to around here, a "funk"), and with a little luck, I'll be back up to speed soon. In the meantime, I'll try to scrape up a few more interesting photos over the next few weeks so the site doesn't go completely fallow. I appreciate your patience.
• I did pick up the
Hanna-Barbara series
Space Stars on DVD from
Warner Archive, and will try to post a review here soon. I will say now that the transfers are surprisingly good, and Warners has included some fun additional content that was not included in their original network airings. If you're a fan, it's a great package.
In upcoming video releases, I'm definitely still looking forward to the imminent release of 1980's
Stanley Donen sci-fi gothic,
Saturn 3, on Blu-ray from Shout! Factory, which goes on sale on December 3rd.
I'm somewhat less excited about Sony's new manufactured-on-demand
Salvage 1discs - I'm deeply annoyed that the studio has chosen to release only a couple of random episodes on standalone (expensive) discs, rather than assemble a complete series package. Also, my interest in the show diminished after the moonshot pilot, so I have little incentive to pick up these releases. If you're interested,
TV Shows On DVD has the release info and packaging pics.
• Friend of the blog/Star Kid
Paul Quinn recently sent me some cool stuff - all but one of the
Beyond Westworld episodes and the 1983
Roger Corman flick
Space Raiders, along with a complete run of
Starlog magazine on DVD-ROM. This kind of "audience participation" certainly helps motivate me to keep plugging away at
Space: 1970, and I wanted to publicly thank him for his generosity.
• Finally, I'm still working on my sci-fi adventure webcomic,
Perils On Planet X, which is illustrated by the talented
Gene Gonzales, and colored by the equally-talented
Ian Sokoliwski. It runs a page a week, with a new one posted every Friday, and it's absolutely free. We're about halfway through the second chapter now, and the story is moving along like a rocket, packed with
Flash Gordon-styled pulp thrills. I hope you'll check it out, if you haven't already.
