RETURN FROM WITCH MOUNTAIN (1978) Poster Art

Yeah, I like me some Witch Mountain - what kid of the Seventies didn't? The original two-film series from Disney featured a couple of likable adolescent leads in Ike Eisenmann (who would go on to star on TV's The Fantastic Journey and a play small part in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan) and Kim Richards, some genuine menace thanks to veteran heavies like Ray Milland and Christopher Lee (and Bette Davis!) and some all-too-brief glimpses of a cool flying saucer!

Here are some of the one sheets for the second film, released to U.S. cinemas in March of 1978, Return From Witch Mountain. Personally, I think it's the weaker of the two movies, but I always enjoy Chris Lee.

I really like the striking and atmospheric poster above. I don't know the identity of the artist, but I really dig the other-worldliness of the image, which is superior to the rather TV-like look of the actual film.

PLANET OF THE APES Toy Guns by Mattel

These toy weapons definitely wouldn't fly today (can't give kids toy firearms anymore), but you have to admire Mattel's shameless repackaging/recycling of some leftover plastic Western & WWII rifles and revolvers as Planet Of The Apes playthings. Just add a couple of POTA logo stickers and a cheap, Ben Cooper-styled ape mask, and you're ready to go!

This ad appears to have originated from a retailer's sales brochure or industry trade magazine. Does anyone remember seeing these as a kid? Or have one?

Kelly Freas STAR TREK Portfolio (1976)

In 1976, legendary science fiction illustrator, Frank Kelly Freas, published the Star Trek Portfolio, featuring gorgeous charcoal portraits of the officers of the U.S.S. Enterprise. Needless to say, it's a highly-desired collectible these days.

Beginning in 1950, Freas provided the covers to hundreds of science fiction and fantasy magazines, including Weird Tales, Planet Stories, Astounding Science Fiction (and Analog), among many others. In the field of genre paperbacks, he created cover illustrations for DAW, Signet, Ballantine Books, Avon, all 58 Laser Books (which are now collectors' items), and over 90 covers for Ace books alone. He provided many covers for MAD Magazine, artwork for NASA's Skylab program, and in the Eighties, for numerous gaming publications. He also painted the cover to Queen's classic LP, News of the World, and was the first person to win ten Hugo Awards.

He passed away in 2005.