space1970

A Close Encounter You Can Wear!

2012-01-27T18:04:00.000-05:00

"Through the science of LASER technology and recent advances in the art of holography - a new space age product - the hologram has been created for your pleasure and enjoyment!"

Check out this decidedly 70s piece of sci-fi memorabilia: a Close Encounters Of The Third Kind hologram pendant! This ad appeared in Starlog #15, back in the Spring/Summer of 1978. Cool.

My SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN Models

2012-01-26T04:22:00.002-05:00

I didn't just build spaceship models as a kid. I also assembled at least three Six Million Dollar Man "action" diorama kits: "Jaws of Doom," "Bionic Bustout," and "Fight For Survival!" They were rather sophisticated snap-together kits, and fairly-well detailed, as I recall. I'm pretty sure that they all had detachable sleeve and pants leg pieces that could be removed to expose the bionic workings underneath, as well.

The Fundimensions company produced at least two other Steve Austin models (one where he's tackling a biker on a motorcycle and one of the bionic man on a laboratory table), but I only remember having these three. In fact, I'm pretty sure that the alligator from "Jaws Of Death" is still in a box of miscellaneous childhood debris in my parents' basement. My favorite, though, was "Bionic Bustout," because it portrayed Steve in mid-jump, and I thought that was way cool.

One thing - I don't think I ever painted my Six Million Dollar Man models. I would have been about eleven or twelve when I assembled these kits, and the sort of control and precision that would have been necessary to paint them properly was well beyond my skill. (And the last time I saw that alligator, he was still white.) Who else remembers having these cool kits?

STARSHIP INVASIONS (1978) TV Guide Ad

2012-01-24T16:11:00.002-05:00

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.

HANGAR 18 (1980)

2012-01-24T02:27:00.002-05:00

Confession: I've never seen the 1980 Sunn Classics Pictures UFO conspiracy thriller Hangar 18. I remember the television commercials vividly, and I recall planning to go see it at the Waterville Cinema Center, but for some reason, I missed it. And while I'm willing to bet, based on stuff I've heard and read over the last thirty(!) years, that it's probably a pretty lousy movie, it does star Robert Vaughn and Darren McGavin, two of my personal favorites. So, as it's currently available on Netflix instant play, I'm going to have to watch it one of these nights....

Behind-The-Scenes Pix #14: LOGAN'S RUN TV Series

2012-01-23T15:54:00.000-05:00

Gregory Harrison and Heather Menzies on location during the filming of the 1977 Logan's Run CBS television series - which will be released on DVD in April. I am eagerly anticipating having this series - one of my favorites from my childhood - on my DVD shelves! Can't wait!

Pre-Order: Logan's Run: Complete Series

A Blast For Buck!

2012-01-23T00:35:00.000-05:00

Space: 1970 wishes a very happy birthday to Captain William "Buck" Rogers himself, TV astronaut and interstellar lothario, Gil Gerard!

McDonald's STAR TREK (1979) Kid's Meal - Klingon Ad

2012-01-22T05:44:00.000-05:00

A while back, I posted a commercial for the McDonald's "Kid's Meal" fast food promotion that the famous burger chain did in conjunction with 1979's Star Trek - The Motion Picture. Here's another commercial for that same promotion - featuring a Klingon "dad!"

Apparently, these were the very first McDonald's "Happy Meals"...

Gold Key BUCK ROGERS (1979) House Ad

2012-01-20T17:38:00.000-05:00

When Gold Key Comics adapted the 1979 Universal version of Buck Rogers In The 25th Century into comic book form, they offered the movie adaptation in multiple formats - and touted that fact in this house ad, featuring what appears to be Al McWilliams artwork.

Is that Ardala sporting a turban?

Interestingly, this Treasury-sized version of the Buck Rogers film adaptation was available under both the Whitman and Marvel Comics imprints....

GALAXINA (1980) Advertising Art

2012-01-17T23:30:00.002-05:00

It's been a while since I've posted anything here relating to the 1980 Dorothy Stratten vehicle, Galaxina, a decidedly underwhelming intergalactic comedy from Crown International Pictures. But I recently came across the cool foreign one-sheet above, and thought it'd be fun to share. For other Galaxina posters, go HERE.

And, while Galaxina is an undeniably bad movie... I enjoy revisiting it every once in a while. The screenplay is sophomoric and the direction leaden, and any movie that features Avery Schrieber in a major role demands a certain amount of derision, but it does possess those 70s miniature space effects that I enjoy, the late Ms. Stratten is delicious eye candy, there are a couple of decent Chris Walas-designed alien creatures (both featured in the art above) and... well, actually, that's about all this movie has going for it.

For those who might be wondering, I did pick up the Galaxina / Crater Lake Monster Double Feature Blu-ray from Mill Creek Entertainment several months ago, and must report that while the film is presented in widescreen and HD, it's derived from an inferior print and appears to be a simple standard-def up-convert, with no evident remastering done on the transfer. There are no extras, either. If you should happen to be a fan of the movie, you're better off hanging onto - or picking up - the Galaxina special edition DVD that BCI Entertainment put out a few years back. The transfer is better, and there are plenty of extras. Although technically out of print, it's still available for under $20.

SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN/BIONIC WOMAN Comic Book Toy Ads

2012-01-17T02:31:00.000-05:00

All the EXCITEMENT. All the REALISM. All the BIONIC™ ACTION!

Any Star Kid who read comic books in the 70s (and I'm guessing that's pretty much all of us) will have these 4-color advertisements for Kenner's Six Million Dollar Man and Bionic Woman action figures and accessories burned indelibly into their brain matter. Hell, I actually remember these ads better than the toys themselves!

Stella!

2012-01-16T15:50:00.002-05:00

Here's wishing the glorious Caroline Munro, also known known throughout the Haunted Stars as the stunning interstellar siren Stella Star, the best of birthdays!

The lovely Ms Munro was Space: 1970's very first Space Babe.

MESSAGE FROM SPACE (1978) Lobby Cards

2012-01-16T04:18:00.000-05:00

Today I've got a selection of colorful theater lobby cards from Toei Studios' interstellar epic, Message From Space. As I've said before, I'm a big fan of this bonkers space opera, and I enjoy it completely without irony. Now that I own it on DVD and I've had the opportunity to view it a few times, it's risen right up there with Starcrash and Battle Beyond The Stars as one of my favorite Star Wars "rip-offs!"

STAR WARS Anti-Smoking PSA

2012-01-14T04:43:00.001-05:00

This is probably why I never took up smoking. Thanks, Artoo and Threepio!

SCIENCE FANTASY FILM CLASSICS (1978)

2012-01-13T17:42:00.000-05:00

Pat of the fun of being a sci-fi fan in the 1970s was that the success of Starlog magazine (which owed much of that success to the unprecedented popularity of Star Trek reruns in syndication combined with the one-two boxoffice punch of Star Wars and CE3K in '77) inspired a number of other publishers to flood the newsstands in the latter half of the decade with science fiction film magazines of their own. None of them matched Starlog in quality or longevity, unfortunately.

Another short-lived Starlog imitator was the awkwardly-titled Science Fantasy Film Classics, which had a four-issue run from late 1977 through 1978. The issue at the top of this post, the fourth and final issue, was the only one I ever bought, and unlike some of the other genre film mags of the era (Space Wars, I'm looking at you), it was in color and reasonably well-produced. (If I recall correctly, that Mattel "Code Name: Galactica" toy insert that I posted here a while back, originally appeared in this magazine.)

Anyone else out there remember this mag?

Behind-The-Scenes Pix #13: BUCK ROGERS

2012-01-12T00:43:00.000-05:00

Space ace Gil Gerard waits in the cockpit of his Earth Directorate starfighter for clearance to launch into an interstellar dogfight on the set of 1979's Buck Rogers In The 25th Century - the first season of which has just been re-released on DVD by Universal Home Video.

Buck Rogers in the 25th Century: Season One

2012-01-10T23:50:00.001-05:00

The first (Super) Space Babe of 2012 is sultry super-heroine JoAnna Cameron, star of the Saturday morning adventure series, Isis (a/k/a The Secrets of Isis), produced by Filmation Studios for CBS beginning in 1975 as a companion series to their popular Shazam! program. The mighty Isis - with the occasional assistance of Shazam’s Captain Marvel - fought crime and saved lives every week, usually managing to teach kids a nice moral lesson before the end credits, too.

JoAnna Cameron radiated confidence, strength and a serene wisdom both as the mysterious Isis and as her bookish alter ego, California high school chemistry teacher Andrea Thomas. Using a magical amulet to imbue herself with the powers of an ancient Egyptian goddess, Isis protected children from a wide variety of dangers and disasters - and their own poor judgement. With her slender, finely-turned legs showcased by her white miniskirt, Isis gave prime time’s Wonder Woman a run for her money as TV’s sexiest super-heroine for two seasons in the mid-70s. (And for my money, Isis wins.)

The lithe and lovely JoAnna Cameron was born in 1951 and appeared in a handful of movies and television shows (including a two-part episode of the prime time Amazing Spider-Man) during the early and mid Seventies before retiring from acting in 1980. Reportedly, she moved to Hawaii, where she has enjoyed a career in the hotel industry.

Captain's bLog: 0109.12

2012-01-09T16:31:00.002-05:00

• For various reasons that I've addressed previously, my Space: 1970 blogging dropped off a bit over the last couple of months. To my surprise, the site still managed a fair amount of new traffic during November and December, and my recent post of those Frank Frazetta TV Guide ads for Battlestar Galactica (which I had the foresight to clip and save back in the Fall of 1978!) got linked to by SyFy's "Blastr" site and the Retroist blog, among others, which brought a surge of new visitors to S:70 just this past week. In fact, the last four days have had, by far, the highest number of unique visitors and page views to date. I hope that some of these new folks hang around.

• The last Space: 1970 Poll, posted waay back on November 4th, asked the immortal question: "Should Space: 1970 cover the superhero shows/films of the 1970s, as well as sci-fi?"

Well, the answer was a resounding, "Yes!" Of 203 votes cast by blog visitors, a whopping 176 were in favor of me adding 70s super-hero fare like The Incredible Hulk, Wonder Woman, Shazam! and Isis, and Superman: The Movie to the mix here on the site. I still have my reservations (it feels like I might be opening something of a Pandora's Box), but I can't ignore such unbridled enthusiasm from the S:70 faithful. I'll start working on integrating our favorite costumed crusaders into the site over the next couple of months....

• I finally saw Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes, and enjoyed it enough to pick up the Blu-ray and add it to my Apes collection. I still prefer the original movies, but I admit that Rise turned out to be a much better flick than I had initially anticipated. I'm still not a huge fan of mo-cap/CGI characters, but in this particular case, it worked well enough. I did enjoy the clever references to the original film cycle, of course.

• Support Space: 1970: The site now has more than 350 "followers" here on Blogger, and the S:70 Facebook fan page is up to over 770 "likes." My sincere appreciation to everyone for their support! I also want to thank everyone who have used the Amazon links on this site to make purchases of vintage sci-fi on DVD/Blu-ray (and the few who've made Paypal donations - if you'd like to contribute, there's a link in the right-hand sidebar). Every little bit helps.

• Shameless Self-Promotion: Anyone who enjoys my writing and reviews on this site should check out my DVD Late Show site, where I have been reviewing B-movies, cult films and genre television shows on DVD and Blu-ray disc since 2005. Among the over 700 reviews are plenty of Space: 1970-era favorites, like Battle Beyond The Stars, Damnation Alley, Starcrash, The Starlost, the Space: 1999 Blu-rays, and many more.

• That's it for now. January's Space Babe will be posted shortly....

UFO (1970) International Movie Posters

2012-01-07T16:02:00.000-05:00

Here's a selection of "fab," International (mostly Italian, I believe) posters for ITC's feature film compilations of episodes from Gerry Anderson's first live-action science fiction series, 1970's UFO, all of them featuring Ed Bishop's Commander Straker. I love how some of them look like James Bond spy movies, while others have a very 50's pulp "alien invasion" vibe - which, now that I think of it, is a pretty fair way of describing the program.

Back in the early days of this blog, I wrote about these UFO "movies" and posted some art from a couple of the film releases, but I knew there were a lot more of them. I've been hunting and collecting scans over the last year or so, and here are the results of my various Google safaris. Gorgeous, aren't they?

PROJECT UFO (1978) Promo

2012-01-07T03:37:00.001-05:00

Another video rarity discovered on YouTube: a static network promo for NBC's Jack Webb-produced series Project UFO, from 1978, that, from the music at the beginning, sounds like it aired right after an episode of Saturday Night Live!

SPACE: 1999 (1975) Tie-In Novelizations

2012-01-06T02:55:00.002-05:00

I know that these novelizations of first season Space: 1999 episodes by E.C. Tubb & Year Two by Michael Butterworth have been reprinted and re-issued in recent years with some new cover art and some additional, original adventures, but these are the Space: 1999 paperbacks that I had as a kid (and still have, obviously - note how beat-up and scuffed those covers are!).

Each of these books took three or four episodes and linked them together as a single story (much like Alan Dean Foster's early Star Trek animated "Logs" novelizations) and for many years - since we only got Year 1 here in Maine and it was never re-run - they were my only way of re-experiencing the stories and enjoying the ones that I missed on TV. In fact, I still scour used bookstores for the volumes I'm missing....

INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1978) Art By Mike Saenz

2012-01-05T02:17:00.001-05:00

This atmospheric rendering of the cast of Phillip Kaufman's 1978 remake of Invasion Of The Body Snatchers, appeared in the sixth issue of Fantastic Films magazine, cover-dated April, 1979. The artist is Mike Saenz, an illustrator and graphic artist whose work has appeared in numerous comics, magazines, graphic novels and computer games.

In fact, in the 80s, Saenz pioneered the use of computer-generated art for comics with Shatter, a series published by First Comics, and the graphic novel, Iron Man: Crash.

Original Frazetta BATTLESTAR GALACTICA (1978) TV Guide Ads

2012-01-04T03:20:00.003-05:00

A couple months ago, when I was going back through the entire blog replacing images that had disappeared, I realized that I had never posted these first three Battlestar Galactica ads, published in TV Guide in 1978 to support the premiere ("Saga Of A Star World") and subsequent two-part follow-up ("Lost Planet Of The Gods"). One of my first posts on this blog did showcase Frank Frazetta's original paintings for this ad campaign, but I never got around to scanning and posting the actual advertisements that I clipped and saved back when I was 15.

I did scan and post several of the other Galactica ads, and even Frazetta's for "War Of The Gods," but missed these - and then, I was without a functioning scanner for a year or so, and apparently forgot that I'd missed them.

Anyway, I've got a new, working scanner now, so I'm remedying the situation. Click on the images for slightly larger views.

I'm planning on having 2012's first Space Babe posted before the end of the week, and will hopefully fall back into regular posting again as the month goes on. Happy New Year!

Season's Greetings!

2011-12-24T21:18:00.000-05:00

Best wishes from R2-D2, C-3PO and all of the busy droids and robots here at Space: 1970. Have fun, stay safe, and we'll see you all here again after the holidays - whichever holidays you celebrate!

William Shatner For Commodore Computers

2011-12-22T05:43:00.000-05:00

Star Trek's William Shatner shills for Commodore Computers' VIC-20 - "The wonder computer of the 1980s" - in this vintage commercial from around 1981. Gotta love the cutting-edge video "transporter" effect!

Behind-The-Scenes Pix #12: STARCRASH

2011-12-20T15:29:00.000-05:00

Here's a cool shot of a modeler (perhaps Armando Valcauda?) detailing the special effects miniature of Stella Star's spaceship for Luigi Cozzi's Starcrash. Personally, while there are plenty of valid criticisms one can lob at the movie's model work and effects, I must admit that I truly love the funky spacecraft from this flick!

2011-12-19T17:03:00.001-05:00

Space: 1970 wants you!

I've always welcomed contributions and ideas for the site from the readers of this blog. More than once I've featured artwork that was sent to me or brought to my attention by a faithful Space: 1970 Star Kid, and I'm always grateful when someone sends something cool my way. In the case of pictures/images, I don't currently have a functioning scanner, so lately, I'm kinda at the mercy of what I can find during my periodic Google safaris.

I do try to credit stuff sent to me. I may forget once in a while, but that's just because I'm a doofus. Recently, I was able to feature a couple of vintage Season 2 Buck Rogers ads from TV Guide thanks to reader "Bishop37."

I'm always looking for cool "Behind-the-Scenes" pix, rare promotional artwork, newspaper/magazine ads, or memorabilia, and especially, good-quality pix of our "Space Babes." Specifically, I'm still looking for good pix of Tamara Dobson from Jason Of Star Command, Jean Marie Hon from Ark II and Man From Atlantis, Katie Saylor from The Fantastic Journey, and Maggie Cooper from Space Academy.

Additionally, I'm open to suggestions for articles, reviews or features. Suggestions for "Space Babes," topics for essays, Polls or "Fave Five" lists - are all welcome. Constructive criticisms are appreciated, as well.

Space: 1970 recently celebrated its second anniversary. The site now has over 340 "followers" here on Blogger, and the Facebook fan page is up to 750(!) "likes." My sincere appreciation to everyone for their moral support!

I also want to thank everyone who have used the Amazon links on this site to make purchases (and the few who've expressed their appreciation for the site through generous Paypal donations - if you'd like to contribute, there's a link in the right-hand sidebar). Every little bit helps - if I can manage to buy a new scanner, I've got a lot more TV Guide and newspaper ads to share, and tons of magazines and other memorabilia to cull material from.

If anyone has material to contribute - or suggestions/general comments regarding Space: 1970 - feel free to drop me a line via e-mail.

SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN (1978) Pinball Machine Flyer

2011-12-19T02:41:00.000-05:00

Yet another vintage pinball machine flyer, this time for Bally's Six Million Dollar Man table from 1978. Can't say I'm particularly impressed by the backglass art - seriously, is that supposed to be Lee Majors and Richard Anderson? - but I do love the photo of the 70s swingers cheering on their goofy friend, who appears to be so pleased with his score that he's doing a Fonzie-styled, double thumbs up!

Disco Space!

2011-12-17T04:00:00.003-05:00

Another disco album inspired by John Williams' Star Wars themes and melodies, this one by "Blue Galaxy & his Orchestra." I'm posting this mostly because I like the album art - and the misspelling of "Star Treck" - or is that how it's spelled in France...?

News: LOGAN'S RUN (1977) TV Series DVD Art

2011-12-16T21:06:00.001-05:00

To follow-up on the last post, here's Warner Home Video's artwork for the Logan's Run - The Complete Series DVD set, due in April of 2012.

Pre-Order Logan's Run: The Complete Series

News: LOGAN'S RUN (1977) TV Series Coming to DVD in April 2012

2011-12-14T22:20:00.004-05:00

One of the most popular posts on this site - at least in terms of hits - is the one I posted back in January, when TV Shows On DVD announced that Warner Archive had the 1977 Logan's Run television series in the works for a 2011 release. I've also received tons of e-mails and queries asking whether I had any more information on the projected release, especially as the end of 2011 drew closer without any sign of the popular program actually showing up on disc.

A couple of months ago, I was actually talking to a fellow who works for Warner Archive, and I asked him what the status of the title was, mentioning how many inquiries I get here at Space: 1970. I wasn't allowed to pass it along at the time, but I was told that Warner Home Video was considering offering it as a traditional retail package instead of as a manufacture-on-demand Archive product. They just hadn't decided yet which format was the most economical.

Well, apparently it's now been decided, since the aforementioned TV Shows On DVD site posted a report today that Logan's Run - The Complete Series will be released wide in stores and to other retail outlets (like Amazon) on April 10, 2012. The 3-DVD set, containing all 14 episodes (including the feature-length pilot episode), is priced at $39.98 SRP. No extras have yet been announced.

I'm a huge fan of the series, which starred Gregory Harrison, Heather Menzies and Donald Moffat, and am very excited by this news. With this much-desired and highly-anticipated video release, I'll now have virtually all of my favorite childhood shows on my DVD shelves.

Pre-Order Logan's Run: The Complete Series

News: THE INVISIBLE MAN (1975) Coming To U.S. DVD in 2012

2011-12-13T01:21:00.004-05:00

According to an article a couple weeks ago (sorry it's taken me so long to report it here) at the TV Shows On DVD website, VEI of Canada will be releasing both DVD and Blu-ray editions of the complete 1975 The Invisible Man television series, starring David McCallum, Melinda Fee and Craig Stevens, in the U.S. on May 1st, 2012.

The 12-episode series was originally scheduled to be available in Canada on DVD & Blu-ray in October, but that release has been delayed until February, 2012.

The show, which was a variation on the Six Million Dollar Man formula by way of H.G. Wells (co-produced by the bionic franchise's own Harve Bennett), cast McCallum as Dr. Daniel Westin, a researcher who is permanently rendered invisible in a lab accident. This makes him an ideal covert agent, and he's soon going off on secret missions with his supportive wife, Kate (Melinda Fee) for a private think tank called KLAE.

As a kid, I really enjoyed the show, and am looking forward to revisiting it on disc.

Pre-Order The Invisible Man - The Complete Series DVD

Pre-Order The Invisible Man - The Complete Series Blu-ray

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA (1979-80) Marvel Comics Cover Gallery - Part 3

2011-12-08T23:44:00.004-05:00

Walt Simonson

Bill Sienkiewicz/Klaus Janson

Michael Golden

Walt Simonson

Brent Anderson/Klaus Janson

Walt Simonson

Here's the final batch of cover scans from Marvel Comics' terrific Battlestar Galactica monthly comic book series. As I stated in previous installments, I think Marvel did a great job with the property, especially any story that involved artist/writer Walt Simonson. It's a shame that it didn't continue on, like other Marvel licensed comics that outlived the properties they were based on, like ROM and The Micronauts...

Additional Battlestar Galactica comics would be published in the 90s by Rob Liefield's Maximum Press and Realm Press, and again recently by Dynamite Comics, which released comics based on the SciFi/SyFy Channel revival show, as well as the original ABC incarnation - and even Galactica: 1980! I hated the Maximum books, liked some of the Realm issues, and have never laid eyes on any of the Dynamite comics.

Still trying to catch up with overdue assignments (like my DVD Late Show reviews), and get back in a blogging mood. With luck, regular posting will resume shortly. I still need to select December's "Space Babe!"

BUCK ROGERS (1979) TV GUIDE Preview

2011-11-30T15:20:00.001-05:00

While I try and get myself back into a blogging mode, here's a look at the snarky original TV Guide preview for Buck Rogers In The 25th Century, which dutifully name-checks both Galactica and Salvage 1 (!), and appeared in the September 8, 1979 issue of that esteemed periodical.

Captain's bLog: 1129.11

2011-11-29T03:14:00.000-05:00

My apologies for the lack of posts here over the last couple of weeks. Right about the time that I was able to clear up the technical issues that were affecting the site, my wife and I suffered a personal loss that really knocked me down, emotionally. I simply haven't felt up to doing much of anything for weeks, including blogging about old sci-fi TV shows and movies.

I am starting to get myself together now, and hope to resume regular posting here shortly. Thank you for your patience.

Behind-The-Scenes Pix #11: THE STAR WARS HOLIDAY SPECIAL (1978)

2011-11-17T15:44:00.003-05:00

Harrison Ford and Peter Mayhew reprise their Star Wars characters Han Solo & Chewbacca on a cheap mock-up of the Millennium Falcon cockpit (notice that it has no floor!) for the infamous 1978 television spectacular, The Star Wars Holiday Special - which aired on CBS 33 years ago today.

MAN FROM ATLANTIS (1977) Promo Art

2011-11-10T15:37:00.000-05:00

Here's an unusual bit of promotional art for the Man from Atlantis television series. I'm not sure where it was used (although I'm guessing it was a magazine cover or interior illustration), nor can I quite make out the signature. Still, it's pretty cool!

If anyone has more information on this piece, please post it in the comments - I always like to know where this stuff comes from!

FLASH GORDON (1980) International Posters

2011-11-09T05:05:00.001-05:00

Click for larger view

Here are a few foreign theatrical posters for Mike Hodges' 1980 Flash Gordon that I haven't shown here before. The two variations above are (I believe) from Thailand, and each feature somewhat different artwork from the U.S. and U.K. posters... while the Japanese variant below features a unique collage of painted art and publicity photographs.

As I've said many times, Flash Gordon is one of my favorite movies from the Space: 1970 era, and I love discovering new "artifacts" like these from the film.

Oh, and by the way - when I was replacing missing photos here on the site the other night, I added a new pic of Ornelia Muti's Princess Aura to her "Space Babes" post. Check it out!

Coming Attractions: THE BLACK HOLE (1979) TV Spot

2011-11-08T18:09:00.000-05:00

Here's a fun, 30 second TV spot for Disney's 1979 space epic, The Black Hole. Enjoy!

SPACE: 1999 (1977) Original Comic Art By Pat Boyette

2011-11-08T14:32:00.001-05:00

Here's the very nice cover painting by veteran comics artist Pat Boyette for the 7th - and final - issue of Charlton Comics' Space: 1999 color comic book, obviously based on the Second Season premiere, "The Metamorph."

Boyette was a Charlton workhorse, drawing countless pages for the Derby, CT publisher for over twenty years. He created the Peacemaker character for the company, and also drew several adventures of the Phantom and Flash Gordon - among dozens of other characters/titles. In addition to being a fine cartoonist, Boyette was also an actor, writer and filmmaker. He passed away in 2000.

LOGAN'S RUN (1977) UK TV Show Tie-Ins

2011-11-07T02:01:00.000-05:00

This hardcover Logan's Run "Annual" was released in 1978 by UK publisher Brown Watson, and contained - as these uniquely British publications usually did (Do? Do they still publish these things?) - articles and photographs from the short-lived 1977 television series, as well as a handful of newly-created comic book-styled adventures. I have a couple of these "annual" books from other shows, but I don't have this one.

Another British Logan's Run tie-in from '78 was this issue of Look-In, which sported this attractive cover painting of Gregory Harrison and Heather Menzies as Logan & Jessica, and also contained a two-page Logan's Run comic story. This is yet another treasure from across the Pond that has eluded me, but on the rare occasions that I actually get to attend comic book conventions, I always keep an eye out for it - especially as the cover copy promises "picture strips" for the Man From Atlantis, The Six Million Dollar Man, and The Bionic Woman, as well!

New Poll!

2011-11-04T16:51:00.001-04:00

I've posted a new poll question in the right-hand sidebar. This Space: 1970 Poll is a little different from previous ones: instead of asking you to choose a favorite program, character, etc., I'm giving you an opportunity to help shape the direction of the blog.

"Should Space: 1970 cover the superhero shows/films of the 1970s, as well as sci-fi?"

For the last year or so, I've been considering this question. There's no doubt that television shows like Wonder Woman, Shazam!, Isis, The Incredible Hulk, and feature films like Superman: The Movie, were big parts of my 70s sci-fi childhood. But I'm also not sure that I want to open up the blog to discussing these titles on a regular basis. It seems like it might be straying a bit too far off topic (or opening a Pandora's Box!). Admittedly, shows like The Six Million Dollar Man and Man From Atlantis are on the cusp anyway; essentially superheroes without capes. And something like The Incredible Hulk was, in its TV incarnation, more sci-fi than superhero. So, I'm looking for some input.

As always, feel free to discuss your your choice - or make your arguments, pro or con - in the comments!

STAR WARS (1977) Italian Poster

2011-11-03T16:20:00.001-04:00

I can't believe I never saw this gorgeous Italian Star Wars one-sheet before today. I truly love this comic book-styled artwork by Michelangelo Papuzza. It reminds me somewhat of Russ Manning's work on the early Star Wars newspaper strips... and that's a very good thing. Enjoy!

THE STARLOST (1973) TV Guide Ads

2011-11-03T01:41:00.001-04:00

More vintage TV Guide ads! Here are a couple of advertisements for the syndicated, Canadian-produced 1973 series, The Starlost, starring 2001: A Space Odyssey's Keir Dullea and Gay Rowan. One of the most derided genre series of the Space: 1970 era, I'll admit that it's not a very good show. Still, I find the characters likable and the premise is certainly intriguing - even if rather poorly executed on a microscopic budget.

In fact, I may have to pull the DVD set down off the shelf again someday soon....

2011-11-02T17:33:00.001-04:00

November's Space Babe is the lovely Grace Lee Whitney as Captain's Yeoman Janice Rand from the original, classic Star Trek. Beautiful in a beehive and short skirt, competent and professional, Janice Rand's tenure on the U.S.S. Enterprise was comparatively brief, but undeniably memorable.

Born Mary Ann Chase in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1930, Whitney was a talented singer and actress who brought some sex appeal and glamor to the first season of the seminal sci-fi series. She left the show during the first year, but returned to the franchise several times, appearing in most of the "classic cast" films, including Star Trek - The Motion Picture. She also appeared on the spin-off series Star Trek: Voyager, reprising the Rand role.

In 1998, she published her autobiography, and she appears regularly at Star Trek conventions and autograph show.

Captain's bLog: Supplemental

2011-11-02T14:50:00.002-04:00

I spent four and a half hours early this morning going through each and every Space: 1970 post from the last two years, replacing images that were lost in last month's hacker attack on one of my online accounts. In the early days of this blog, I hosted most of my pix on that server, because I thought it would be more secure than uploading them directly to Blogger.

Silly me.

Anyway, it looks like everything was recoverable, thank goodness, and I'm pretty sure I found everything. I did notice that a number of YouTube videos have gone dead because the accounts associated with them have disabled embedding or have simply disappeared. Not much I can do about that, unfortunately. If I get some spare time, I may go through those and see if I can replace the missing vids, but I don't hold out much hope for many of them.

Anyway, now that I've gotten the repairs and maintenance out of the way, I can start focusing on putting some new stuff together, beginning with November's "Space Babe" - and get back to work finishing up some long-promised reviews and features. Stay tuned!

SPACE: 1970 - Year Three Begins

2011-11-01T22:53:00.003-04:00

Today marks the second anniversary of the Space: 1970 blog. Over the past two years, I've written around 450 posts (give or take a few) about the science fiction films and television shows - and related memorabilia - of the 1970s and early 80s. It's been an interesting experience - especially discovering so many other people out there with the same sort of affection and nostalgia for those programs.

I'm also amazed at how many 70s sci-fi treasures have been unearthed since I launched this blog. Starcrash and Battle Beyond The Stars on Blu-ray disc. The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman on DVD. The Gene Roddenberry "Pax" pilots, the Man From Atlantis, Message From Space, Thundarr the Barbarian - all of these have only just become available in the last couple of years on authorized DVDs. When I started this site, I only wished that I could see most of those again, and now I have them on my shelves.

I've wondered, on occasion, just how long I could keep this site going. But, as there are still so many topics I want to discuss, articles and reviews that I want to write - and so many new (to me) 70s genre artifacts that I keep stumbling upon - I'm sure I'll be able to keep it going for a good while yet.

Well, at least another year, anyway.

So, thanks to everyone who stops by Space: 1970 on a regular basis, for your enthusiasm, encouragement, and good manners. It's nice to have a place on the 'net where material like Far Out Space Nuts, Quark, Jason Of Star Command, Buck Rogers and even Starcrash, can be discussed without condescension and snark. I greatly appreciate it.

(Now, I'll be spending the night hunting down and replacing - if possible - each of the missing images from early blog posts that were lost in last month's hacker assault. Sigh.)

Behind-The-Scenes Pix #10: LOGAN'S RUN

2011-10-26T23:17:00.000-04:00

Here's a cool "Behind-The-Scenes" shot of technicians working on the huge cityscape "miniature" for the feature film Logan's Run. Before I saw this photo I had no idea that the "City of Domes" model was that large!

PLANET OF THE APES (1974) - Roddy McDowell TV Movie Epilogues

2011-10-25T15:11:00.004-04:00

When 20th Century Fox television repackaged episodes of the 1974 Planet Of The Apes television series into two-hour TV movies for syndication in 1981, they apparently shot original wraparound footage for each of the new "features" with Roddy McDowell as an aged Galen, who would wrap up the loose ends of the plot and tie the flicks together. According to what I've read, these short bits were only used once, during the original airings of these "movies" and only in the New York market. Here are two of those rare clips from the fifth and final flick, Farewell To The Planet Of The Apes:

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA (1979-80) Marvel Comics Cover Gallery - Part 2

2011-10-24T23:28:00.000-04:00

Rich Buckler/Klaus Janson

Pat Broderick/Terry Austin

Walt Simonson/Klaus Janson

Walt Simonson

Here's the second batch of covers from Marvel Comics' Battlestar Galactica series. As I mentioned before, this franchise really worked in comics, and the writers and artists really ran with the material, free of budget concerns and expensive special effects. With the unlimited scope of the comic book page, the Battlestar Galactica comic could include a slew of alien races and planets, as well as devote subplots and storylines to some of the supporting characters. It was - and remains - a great comic; one of my all-time favorites.

The third - and final - batch of covers will be posted soon.

Captain's bLog: 1023.11

2011-10-23T02:07:00.002-04:00

I wanted to explain why there have been no new posts here for the last week or so. I was informed by several visitors through e-mail and the Space: 1970 Facebook page, that they were getting malware alert warnings when they visited the site. Upon investigating, I discovered that asshole hackers/hackbots had installed malicious code within one of my online accounts, an account where I store many of the image files used on my various websites and blogs, including this one.

My wife, much more computer-savvy than I, went into the account, found intruder code and deleted it. The site was re-submitted to Google for examination and approval. I don't know if it has cleared Google's scanners as yet, but I haven't seen any new warnings in my Firefox or Explorer browsers. If anyone is still getting warnings, please let me know.

I didn't want to post anything new here until I (hopefully) had the problem taken care of.

With luck, everything will be cleared up by November 1st - the second anniversary of this blog. Keep your fingers crossed, Star Kids.

THE BIONIC WOMAN Season 3

2011-10-12T02:56:00.003-04:00

I picked up the Season 3 DVDs of The Bionic Woman last night, and just finished watching the opening two-parter, "The Bionic Dog." (I'll get to "Fembots In Las Vegas" tomorrow night!) As always, I'm struck by how much heart and humanity Lindsay Wagner brought to the role of OSI agent Jaime Sommers, no matter how far-fetched - or absurd - the scenario.

The Universal DVDs appear to be up to the quality of the previous two season sets - of course, I've only watched two episodes so far - with solid, 1.33:1 "full frame" transfers and mono audio. As with the earlier sets, there's a surprising number of extras, especially writers' commentaries on select episodes.

I'm looking forward to working my way through the episodes over the next week or two, and am genuinely thrilled to now have the entire series - one of my childhood favorites - on my DVD shelves. It's rather remarkable how well the show holds up, and most of that is due to Wagner's sincerity, humor and dramatic ability.

Now I'm waiting for the retail releases of the individual Six Million Dollar Man season packages. I bought Season 1 when Time-Life offered it as a special deal a few months ago, but I simply cannot afford the big, complete series, box set.

NEWS: BUCK ROGERS (1979) Season 1 DVD Re-release in 2012

2011-10-12T01:36:00.005-04:00

Back in 2004, Universal Home Entertainment released Buck Rogers In The 25th Century - The Complete Epic Series on DVD. This package contained both seasons of the television series. (These episodes are all currently available on Netflix Instant, BTW.)

Now, according to the TV Shows On DVD website, Universal has announced that they'll be re-issuing the first season only of the Space: 1970 TV favorite as a stand-alone, 6-disc DVD set in January of 2012.

All 21 episodes of the first season will be included on the half-dozen single-sided DVDs, presented in full screen video, English mono sound, and with subtitles in English, French and Spanish. The original 2004 complete series release had no bonus material, and there have been no extras announced for this edition, either.

The forthcoming Buck Rogers Season 1 discs will have a Suggested Retail Price of $24.95. The Complete Epic Series set, which is still available, is priced around $26.95. (And currently only $20 at Amazon: Buck Rogers in the 25th Century: The Complete Epic Series)

Gil Gerard PSA (1981)

2011-10-11T04:52:00.002-04:00

Buck Rogers himself, Gil Gerard, encourages young people to embrace technology and pursue high-tech careers in this Public Service spot from 1981. I love these sort of pop culture artifacts!

STAR TREK (1983) Arcade Game Flyer

2011-10-11T00:01:00.000-04:00

Here's the flyer for Sega's cockpit model of their Star Trek "Strategic Operations Simulator" game, which appeared in arcades and bowling alleys a few months after Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan surprised everyone by becoming a huge box office hit and demonstrated that the Trek franchise still had plenty of exploitation potential left in it.

I honestly don't remember playing this game; does anyone know if it was the first authorized Star Trek electronic video game? I know there had been a couple of pinball machines, but I'm wondering whether there was a Trek video game before this one?

THE BLACK HOLE (1979) by Jack Kirby

2011-10-10T03:07:00.002-04:00

Click on Image For Larger View

Back in 1979, the Disney folks hired legendary comic book artist Jack Kirby to adapt their new sci-fi epic, The Black Hole, into comic strip form for newspaper syndication. Like the Star Trek newspaper strip that appeared around the same time, it was intended to promote the expensive film. Apparently, it did get picked up by a few papers, but didn't last long - no doubt because the movie was a box-office disappointment.

In 2007, Disney published at least some of the strips - with new, digital colors - in their Disney Zone digest magazine.

LOGAN'S RUN (1977) TV Guide Preview

2011-10-07T06:30:00.002-04:00

From the September, 1977 "Fall Preview" issue of TV Guide, here's the magazine's write-up for the Logan's Run television series. Based on the Michael Anderson MGM feature film of the year before, which was based, in turn, upon the novel by George Clayton Johnson & William F. Nolan, the Logan's Run television show only ran for 14 episodes. It was produced by the guys who had run The Fantastic Journey the year before, and starred Gregory Harrison, Heather Menzies and Donald Moffat.

I was - and remain - a big fan of the show. I've been told that the Warner Archive manufacture-on-demand DVD label has a complete series set in the works, but no release date has been announced as yet. In the meantime, the series is apparently available for online viewing and download from iTunes and at Amazon.

Behind -The-Scenes Pix #9: STAR TREK

2011-10-06T03:41:00.002-04:00

William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy, on location (at Vasquez Rocks, I'm guessing - doesn't quite look like Bronson Canyon to me, but I may be wrong) perusing some high-brow literary magazine between takes on the original Star Trek television series.

2011-10-05T23:32:00.001-04:00

October 2011's Space Babe is Sigourney Weaver as Warrant Officer Ripley in director Ridley Scott's 1979 sci-fi Gothic, Alien. As portrayed by the then-relative newcomer, the strong-willed Ripley proved to be the ultimate survivor, not only escaping from the clutches of the titular extraterrestrial xenomorph, but going on to thwart its toothy brethren in three sequels. Of course, most of us here at Space: 1970 remember her primarily for her scanty panties at the original film's conclusion. Shame on us.

Born as Susan Weaver, the tall, striking brunette has appeared in a number of genre films, but has also garnered considerable acclaim as a serious dramatic actress. Among her sci-fi/fantasy credits are the aforementioned Alien franchise sequels, the Ghostbusters films, James Cameron's Avatar, Paul, and the delightful spoof, Galaxy Quest, which poked good natured fun at the kinds of TV shows we celebrate here at Space: 1970.

Captain's bLog: Supplemental

2011-10-04T05:07:00.001-04:00

Been suffering from a stubborn head cold, but I'm starting to get back on track. I plan to have some new posts up here throughout the week, including this month's "Space Babe." Stay tuned.

PLANET OF THE APES (1968) Theatrical Posters

2011-09-30T00:45:00.000-04:00

"It's a madhouse!" As Planet Of The Apes co-writer Rod Serling might put it: submitted for your approval... a selection of colorful theatrical posters and one-sheets from around the world, all heralding 20th Century Fox's first simian sci-fi epic back in 1968. Enjoy!

Fourth Coolest Toy Ever: Mego STAR TREK Communicators

2011-09-29T16:57:00.001-04:00

When I was in fifth or sixth grade (circa 1975-76), my pal Mark Usher and I formed a short-lived Star Trek "club." There were four of us in all, as I remember, and once a week, we'd all go over to Mark's house after school and basically play Star Trek all afternoon. He lived on an old farm, and his parents cleaned out an old outbuilding for us to use as a clubhouse - or, in our case, "starship." His father even made a sign that said "U.S.S. Enterprise" and placed it over the door. (I vaguely recall that he misspelled it somehow, but I could be misremembering.)

His mother was an artsy-craftsy sort, and she wanted to make sure that we weren't getting into trouble, so she actually created Trek-themed projects for us to do. We made plywood "control panels" for our "ship" - including a "transporter console" with sliding levers (wide beads on strings) - which Mark's father mounted on the walls of the shack. We made uniforms out of appropriately colored tee-shirts, which his mother helped us draw insignias on with fabric paints, and we made papier-mâché planets, which we suspended from the ceiling of our clubhouse/starship with fishing line.

But mostly, we role-played being crew members of the Enterprise, and explored the alien cornfields and woods on the Usher property. We kept in touch with the Mego Star Trek Communicators, which were - as the advertising proudly exclaimed, "real, working walkie-talkies!" But unlike the other walkie-talkies we had as kids, these had flip-up lids, just like the ones on TV. Of course, they were considerably larger than their television counterparts, colored blue, and had telescoping antennae - but they worked.

If you didn't wander too far apart, anyway.

Mark also had the "Command Communications Console," which was a nicely Trek-styled base set tuned to the same CB frequency, and the only actually working piece of equipment in our ramshackle starship. It didn't get used much, as I recall, because no one wanted to be the Communications Officer and stay behind "on the ship" while the rest went exploring.

For those keeping score, the coolest 70s toy ever was the Mattel Space: 1999 Eagle Transporter. The second-coolest toy of the Space: 1970 era was Kenner's 18" Alien. And the third was Kenner's Bionic Bigfoot from The Six Million Dollar Man.

ARK II (1976) Network Promo

2011-09-29T05:59:00.001-04:00

Still under the weather, hence this quickie video post. A rare bit of 70s TV ephemera: a very brief (10 second) network promo for Filmation's Saturday morning, post-Apocalyptic sci-fi adventure series, Ark II.

What's with that weird art?

FAR OUT SPACE NUTS (1975)

2011-09-28T23:12:00.001-04:00

"I said 'lunch,' not 'launch!'"

I recently commented to friends that with the release of Man From Atlantis on DVD, I now had virtually my entire TV childhood on my video shelves. There are still a few notable exceptions, though, including the Saturday morning sci-fi sitcom, Far Out Space Nuts, from 1975.

Produced by Sid & Marty Krofft, the show was basically a pared-down Gilligan's Island in space (ironically, Filmation actually produced a cartoon of that very premise in 1982, Gilligan's Planet), with a bumbling simpleton and his blustery, overweight companion stranded on an alien planet after accidentally being shot into outer space on a NASA rocket.

It made sense then, that the Kroffts cast Gilligan himself, Bob Denver, in the lead role of "Junior." In the part of Space Nuts' "Skipper," the Kroffts cast chubby comic Chuck McCann as "Barney."

Their furry alien sidekick, "Honk," was played by Patty Maloney. The diminutive actress also appeared on Buck Rogers as distaff ambuquad "Tina" (and at least twice as Twiki, filling in for Felix Silla), and played Chewbacca's mischievous offspring, Lumpy, in the Star Wars Holiday Special.

Although I'm certain I watched it every Saturday morning when I was ten, I sincerely don't remember much about the show except that, like Filmation's Ghost Busters (another childhood favorite of the era), it was filled with lots of old fashioned, vaudeville-styled slapstick and juvenile wordplay, with every story taking place on the same "alien planet" set. I recall lots of cool space monsters, though, several of which appeared at the end of the show's titles - and probably re-appeared on the Krofft's The Lost Saucer, which aired the same year. (I also watched Saucer, but liked Nuts better.).

Goofy as it is, Far Out Space Nuts is still a part of the tapestry of space and sci-fi themed entertainment that shaped me as a Seventies Star Kid, and I would love to have the show on DVD on the shelf next to my Space Academy, Ark II, Land Of The Lost, Flash Gordon, Star Trek animated series, and Jason Of Star Command boxed sets. And, considering how many honest laughs I still get out of the Ghost Busters show (for example), I'd probably genuinely enjoy watching Space Nuts again, too!

Captain's bLog: Supplemental

2011-09-27T01:05:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the lack of new stuff so far this week. Fighting a head cold. Regular posting will resume shortly...

2011-09-25T00:01:00.000-04:00

A very happy birthday to Luke Skywalker himself. Mark Hamill turns 60 today.

Coming Attractions: JOURNEY TO THE FAR SIDE OF THE SUN (1969)

2011-09-24T16:37:00.001-04:00

And today, for your weekend viewing pleasure, we present the theatrical trailer for Journey To The Far Side Of the Sun (a/k/a Doppelganger), the 1969 feature film produced by Gerry Anderson (Space: 1999). It's an interesting movie, with a dark tone and overall aesthetic that is very similar to Anderson's subsequent TV series, UFO.

In fact, a number of the props, costumes and musical cues from the film (most notably the "futuristic" automobiles) showed up on that series a year or two later, along with a few cast members.

Captain's bLog: 0924.10

2011-09-24T03:40:00.003-04:00

• I haven't posted one of these site updates since a little over a month ago, and I'm pleased to see, looking back, that I've managed to actually post most of the articles I'd promised. I'm still working on that post about the aborted mid-70s Star Trek II television series (commonly referred to as "Phase 2" these days), and trying to wrap up the second podcast. Hopefully, I'll have it ready soon. I did mange to completely miss posting a September Space Babe - how exactly I forgot, I'm not sure. But at least we had that Erin Gray/Wilma Deering gallery to enjoy. I promise a good 'un for October.

I'll also try to finally finish up that review of Strange New World, get another "Favorite Episodes" post done, and finally write a review/article on the Hammer sci-fi Western, Moon Zero Two. Of course, I will keep posting any cool bits of art, Behind-The-Scenes photos, ads, posters, ect., that I come across.

• Wow. It's been a pretty great Summer for Space: 1970-vintage home video releases, with Battle Beyond The Stars and Damnation Alley hitting Blu-ray and DVD back in July, Warner Archive's surprise Man From Atlantis discs and the upcoming Canadian release of The Invisible Man (!). Not to mention those controversial Star Wars Blu-ray editions all the kids have been talking about. Over the next few weeks, we have the third (and final) season of The Bionic Woman hitting the shelves, and the first season of The Six Million Dollar Man is finally getting a general retail release.

Truly, this is a great time to be an aging, nostalgic sci-fi geek. Now I'm just waiting for the complete Logan's Run and Fantastic Journey television series to hit home video, so I can have my whole childhood on my DVD shelves!

• I'm kinda kicking myself now for not catching Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes in the theater this Summer. The reviews, from both critics and sci-fi fans were surprisingly popular. Of course, I'll be checking it out on disc in a month or two... but still. What did you people think of it? Was it worthy of the Planet Of The Apes name?

• Support Space: 1970: The site now has over 330 "followers" here on Blogger, and the Facebook fan page is up to 712 "likes." My sincere appreciation to everyone for their moral support! I also want to thank everyone who have used the Amazon links on this site to make purchases (and the few who've made Paypal donations - if you'd like to contribute, there's a link in the right-hand sidebar). Every little bit helps.

• Shameless Self-Promotion Dept: Anyone interested in my non-70's sci-fi writing should check out my personal/professional homepage, Atomic Pulp. That's where you'll find previews of my upcoming comic book and fiction writings, a bibliography of my published works, and links to my various other pop culture blogs and websites.

More BUCK ROGERS 2nd Season TV Guide Ads!

2011-09-23T15:54:00.001-04:00

Thanks to Space: 1970 reader "Bishop37," here are two more vintage TV Guide advertisements from early 1981, promoting the delayed second season of the revamped Buck Rogers In The 25th Century television series. Both of these illustrations appear to be the work of the same unidentified artist who created the ad I posted a few days ago.

The top ad heralds the two-hour season premiere episode, "Time Of The Hawk," which introduced Thom Christopher as the series' new resident alien, avian humanoid "Hawk." The other is for the third episode, "The Guardians." When I was a kid, poring over TV Guide each week, planning my viewing schedule, I loved these kinds of advertisements, which always promised so much... which is one reason why I post them on this blog. They spark great memories from a less cynical time.

A bunch of Buck Year One TV Guide ads can be found HERE.

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA (1979-80) Marvel Comics Cover Gallery - Part 1

2011-09-23T05:01:00.002-04:00

Dave Cockrum/Bob McLeod

Dave Cockrum/Bob Wiacek

Dave Cockrum/Rudy Nebres

Walt Simonson/Klaus Janson

Rich Buckler/Klaus Janson

In 1979, Marvel Comics launched their Battlestar Galactica comic book series. In issues #1-3, writer Roger McKenzie and artist Ernie Colon adapted the premiere telefilm, "Saga Of A Star World," while Issues #4 & 5, by McKenzie and Walt Simonson, adapted the following two-part story, "Lost Planet Of The Gods." Starting with issue #6, Marvel began publishing original adventures, also written by McKenzie, with pencil art by Rich Buckler. Inker Klaus Janson provided the finishes on most of the run.

Unlike Star Trek, Galactica's type of space opera better lent itself to the Marvel Comics style of storytelling, and Simonson and Buckler, in particular, really had a handle on the material. It also appears that Universal gave the company a bit more leeway than Paramount had given them on Trek, because their Galactica series really pushed the concept and introduced a lot of great ideas.

I really love this series - especially the issues that Simonson worked on.

I'll post the second batch of covers shortly.

Behind-The-Scenes Pix #8: THE BLACK HOLE

2011-09-22T18:00:00.000-04:00

This week's Behind-The-Scenes photo, from The Black Hole, takes us to the effects stage of Walt Disney Studios, circa 1979, and the shooting of one of the two 12-foot USS Cygnus miniatures with Disney's A.C.E.S. (Automated Camera Effects System). Aside from the pair of 12-foot, full models of the Cygnus, there were several other sectional models built to a much larger scale for close up shots. The 12-foot miniatures weighed 170 pounds each and were constructed primarily of brass. They were built from scratch, with EMA tubes and domes used for detailing. Under the brass exoskeleton were sections of translucent plastic, built in sections, which housed about a hundred and fifty automotive light bulbs. The two models cost $100,000 and took a crew of 12 to 15 people approximately a year to build.

One of the two models was completely destroyed filming the story's climax. The other miniature went to the Museum of Modern Art in New York for a while after filming. It's fate since then is a mystery.

The Black Hole ultimately received two Academy Award nominations - one for Best Visual Effects and one for Best Cinematography.

News: 70s Sci-Fi on Netflix

2011-09-22T04:42:00.001-04:00

As noted in the post below, I happened to notice earlier this week that Space: 1970 staples Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rogers In The 25th Century, Star Blazers, and - um - Galactica: 1980 have recently been added to Netflix's Instant streaming program.

I'm not shilling for the company here, but I thought that U.S. readers with Netflix subscriptions might like to know.

BUCK ROGERS 2nd Season TV Guide Ad

2011-09-21T01:05:00.002-04:00

Here's the only TV Guide advertisement I've found so far for the second season of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. In this case, it's for the second episode of Year Two, "Journey To Oasis," guest-starring 70s sci-fi fave Mark Lenard (Star Trek, The Planet Of The Apes, Cliffhangers!) as an old flame of Wilma's (!?).

I posted a bunch of first season Buck Rogers/TV Guide ads HERE, a while back.

FYI: I just noticed that the complete Buck Rogers (as well as the original Battlestar Galactica) series is now available for instant streaming on Netflix.

BEYOND WESTWORLD (1980) TV Spot

2011-09-20T04:30:00.001-04:00

Here's the original CBS network promo for the premiere episode of the (very) short-lived Beyond Westworld television series from 1980. It starred Jim McMullan as Delos Security Chief John Moore, who had to stop a rogue roboticist named Quaid (James Wainright) from using the Delos robot technology to replace key political, military and corporate leaders and thus, conquer the world.

SPACE: 1999 (1976) Original Comic Art By Joe Staton

2011-09-15T05:30:00.004-04:00

Veteran comic book cartoonist Joe Staton was still relatively new to the field when he drew the first two issues of Charlton Comics' Space: 1999 series, but he handled the assignment marvelously. Case in point: this terrific cover painting for Issue #2, pitting an unarmed Commander John Koenig against a massive, indigo alien warrior in hand-to-hand combat. I've always really loved this cover, with its fiery, crimson sky and simple, effective composition.

The story it accompanies is pretty nifty, too. Also drawn by Staton, with a script by Nicola Cuti, its plot - which has Koenig and and the alien stranded on a planet together, beginning as enemies and finally working together - prefigures Enemy Mine (and the Barry B. Longyear story it was based on) by nearly a decade.

Joe Staton also co-created (with Cuti) the super-hero series E-Man for Charlton before moving on to DC Comics, where he drew virtually every major character in their line, including a long run on Green Lantern. As it happens, he's a friend of mine, and a valued collaborator. He's drawn several of my comic book scripts, including my crime comic/graphic novel, Femme Noir: Dark City Diaries.

News: THE INVISIBLE MAN (1975) Coming to DVD

2011-09-15T03:47:00.006-04:00

According to TV Shows on DVD, the 1975 David McCallum sci-fi adventure series, The Invisible Man, is coming to DVD in October from Canadian company VEI. The complete 12-episode series will be offered on DVD and - rather surprisingly, for a show of this vintage - Blu-ray.

In this version of The Invisible Man, which was clearly intended to be the network's answer to The Six Million Dollar Man (and was even co-created by Harve Bennett), McCallum played Dr. Daniel Westin, a scientist who accidentally turns himself permanently invisible in an experiment. With the help of his wife (Melinda Fee), he creates a remarkably lifelike rubber mask and pair of gloves, and is soon recruited by the government to be a secret agent. Westin received his orders from Walter Carlson (Craig Stevens).

I enjoyed the show as a kid, of course, and saw a few episodes on the Sci-Fi Channel back in the 90s. I seem to remember that it had a slightly lighter tone than the bionic shows, and I liked that the hero was married and that his wife was his partner in his adventures.

At the moment, the set looks like it will only be available in Canada, at least initially. Amazon.ca is already taking pre-orders.

News: MOON ZERO TWO (1969) Re-released on DVD

2011-09-14T15:45:00.000-04:00

Warner Archive, the manufacture-on-demand arm of Warner Home Entertainment has just re-released the 1969 Hammer Films "Space Western," Moon Zero Two on DVD.

Previously-issued on a Best Buy exclusive double feature disc with Hammer's prehistoric romp, When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth, it was reportedly withdrawn from distribution because the packaging failed to inform buyers of the little bit of cavewoman nudity in the dinosaur flick. I bought that edition when it came out, but I have noticed that it's commanding fairly high prices on the online resale sites since.

Presumably, the new MOD disc uses the same near-pristine, anamorphic widescreen transfer from the Best Buy DVD.

In any case, Moon Zero Two, which stars James Olson and Space: 1970 siren Catherine Schell, and features some groovy future-mod costuming and set design, goes on sale today at the WB Shop. Retail is $19.95 plus shipping.

DVD Review: MAN FROM ATLANTIS - THE COMPLETE TELEVISION SERIES (1977)

2011-09-13T04:48:00.002-04:00

In 1977, NBC followed-up four TV movies about the water-breathing superhero known as "Mark Harris" with a single-season, hour-long weekly television series of 13 episodes. Now, Warner Archive has brought that series to Manufacture-On-Demand DVD with the 4-disc, Man From Atlantis - The Complete Television Series set.

As the series begins, there have been some changes made in the format used in the TV movies (reviewed HERE). Mark Harris (Patrick Duffy) has become more acclimated to the surface world and has taken on a more active role with the government-allied Foundation For Oceanic Research. No longer just a test subject for scientist Dr. Elizabeth Merrill (the lovely Belinda J. Montgomery, who, inexplicably, is absent from the final two episodes), he now commands the Foundation's deep-sea submersible, The Cetacean, and carries out missions at the behest of Foundation Director C.W. Crawford (Alan Fudge). Many of these missions consist of foiling the evil plans of capricious capitalist Mr. Schubert (the great Victor Buono) to accumulate wealth and power from the sea.

With the Cetacean's newly-redesigned command deck and presence of a regular bridge crew (including Communications Officer Jean-Marie Hon of Ark II), the weekly Man From Atlantis somewhat resembles an underwater Star Trek (the show's creators had strong ties to that seminal sci-fi series), but the overall tone of the show was much lighter than either its interstellar inspiration or the preceding Man From Atlantis teleflicks. In fact, while the show looks great - with consistently nice photography, great sets (the interior of the Cetacean submersible and the Foundation's underground headquarters are both really slick, by 70s TV standards), and marvelous, Old School miniature effects - the stories are no longer science fiction, and tend instead toward aggressively non-violent, kid-friendly fantasy.

With stories featuring mischievous imps, friendly (and unconvincing) sea beasts, misunderstood giants, mermaids, pirates and magical time-travel, as well as far too much Mister Schubert (who figures in 5 of the first 7 episodes) - a character that had been slightly menacing in the first TV movie, but was too genial, comic and physically unimposing to present much of a threat on the series - the weekly Man From Atlantis lacks any semblance of dramatic weight or real sense of adventure. The cast remains appealing, and the character of aqua-man Harris is very likable, but the weekly show is a definite step down from the four TV movies that preceded it, and just reeks of network interference based on timidity and/or condescension.

Guest stars in this single season include Laurette Spang (Battlestar Galactica), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Dee Wallace, Pat Morita, Ted Cassidy, Dick Gautier, Pernell Roberts, Rene Auberjonois, John Shea and Billy Barty, among other familiar faces.

Warner Archive's presentation is remarkably nice. I don't know how much actual remastering was done on these episodes, but the 1.33:1, "full frame" transfers are surprisingly bright and clean, with only minimal occurrences of visible speckling or other detritus. The episodes are complete and uncut, and spread across four discs. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono audio is clear and free of distortion or distracting hiss.

If you grew up with Man From Atlantis and have the same sort of nostalgia for it that I do, the technical quality of these Warner Archive MOD discs is very nice, and definitely worth the somewhat higher price. But if you've never seen the show, or memories of it are somewhat vague, I'm not sure how well it will hold up. It is very much a 70s genre show aimed at a young audience, and while it's kinda fun and definitely charming, it's not really good science fiction. I enjoyed revisiting it and am pleased to have it in my collection; your mileage may vary (as they say).

BUY: Man From Atlantis: Complete Television Series (Remastered, 4 Disc)

On this date in 1999...

2011-09-13T02:55:00.002-04:00

...the moon was blasted out of orbit, taking with it the 311 inhabitants of Moonbase Alpha.

AND: A very happy birthday to Dr. Helena Russell - Ms. Barbara Bain turns 80 today!

STAR TREK @ Space: 1970

2011-09-08T16:21:00.005-04:00

Back when I posted the magazine version of Marvel Comics' Star Trek - The Motion Picture adaptation, one of you pointed out that the composition of Bob Larkin's cover painting was a homage to the original Star Trek series art by James Bama that was used in early promotional material and on the cover of Bantam Books' first collection of James Blish short story script adaptations. And damn - I don't know how I missed that before!

I haven't posted quite as much about Star Trek on this blog as I have other shows, because a.) although its actual popularity was at its highest in the 70's through extensive television syndication and it was tremendously influential on shaping my love of the genre, it was technically a 60's show, and b.) there's tons of Trek on the web already. But, as today is the 45th anniversary of the series, here are links to some of my previous Trek-related posts. Enjoy!

STAR TREK (1979) Pinball Machine Flyer

My Enterprise Incident

STAR TREK Animated PSA

STAR TREK 4 Art by Lou Feck

These Are The Voyages...

2011-09-08T05:15:00.002-04:00

45 years ago today, the starship Enterprise set out on its first five-year mission, and boldly took us all where no man had gone before. Happy anniversary to Star Trek - the original series. Without it, this blog wouldn't exist, and I'd be a completely different person.

Behind-The-Scenes Pix #7: SPACE: 1999

2011-09-08T01:18:00.002-04:00

Filming "Breakaway," the premiere episode of Gerry Anderson's Space: 1999 at Pinewood Studios in England, 1973.

2011-09-07T23:06:00.000-04:00

Well, the results are in. With 216 ballots cast, the clear winner in the "Which 70's sci-fi robot, droid, or android was YOUR favorite?" poll was Star Wars' astromech droid R2-D2, with a whopping 57 votes. Coming in second, with 36 votes, was the original, classic Cylon Centurion from Battlestar Galactica. The drones from Douglas Trumbull's Silent Running, Huey, Dewey & Louie, took third place.

I voted for V.I.N.CENT from The Black Hole, myself, but then I'm sucker for levitating robots and Roddy McDowell. The same film's menacing Maximilian placed a solid fourth in the poll. I admit, I was surprised that Space Academy's Peepo didn't get more votes, but, like Buck Rogers' Twiki, I think he was maybe just too annoying. I was pleased that Quark's Andy garnered at least one vote, though.

Look for another poll in a month or two!

STARCRASH (1978) Pre-Production Art

2011-09-07T03:32:00.001-04:00

Apparently, today is Starcrash director Luigi Cozzi's birthday. In celebration, here's a gallery of some of the deliciously pulpy pre-production pieces created by Italian artist Niso Ramponi for Cozzi's much-maligned - but greatly loved, at least around here - intergalactic epic, when it was still known as The Adventures Of Stella Star!

DVD Review: THUNDARR THE BARBARIAN (1980)

2011-09-06T23:55:00.003-04:00

"The year, 1994. From out of space, comes a runaway planet, hurtling between the Earth and the moon, unleashing cosmic destruction. Man's civilization is cast in ruin. Two thousand years later, Earth is reborn. A strange new world rises from the old. A world of savagery, super-science, and sorcery. But one man bursts his bonds to fight for justice. With his companions, Ookla the Mok and Princess Ariel, he pits his strength, his courage, and his fabulous Sun Sword, against the forces of evil. He is Thundarr, the Barbarian!"

In my personal pantheon of Saturday Morning cartoons (subcategory: "adventure") few programs rate higher than 1980's sci-fi-fantasy, Thundarr The Barbarian, which ran for two seasons on ABC.

As that awesome introduction quoted above says, Thundarr chronicled the adventures of a brave barbarian warrior (actor Bob Ridgely, who, around the same time, also gave voice to legendary adventure heroes Tarzan and Flash Gordon on their respective Filmation animated series) with a lightsaber-like, flaming magic sword; a smart, sexy and sarcastic Asian princess-cum-sorceress (Nellie Bellflower); and a large, hairy, Wookiee-like anthropoid warrior (Henry Corden) as they roamed the transformed landscape of a post-Apocalyptic Earth, battling a seemingly-endless procession of power-mad, evil techno-wizards and vicious mutant creatures.

What more could anyone ask of a fantasy adventure cartoon?

Produced by Ruby-Spears Productions, and created by veteran comic book scribe Steve Gerber (Man-Thing, Howard the Duck), this action-packed animated fantasy epic featured imaginative (if somewhat formulaic) stories, appealing characters, great voice acting, and character designs by two of the greatest comic book artists to ever wield a pencil. Thundarr and his friends were visualized by the animation veteran Alex Toth (Space Ghost, The Herculoids), while virtually every other character (and vehicle, setting and/or prop) were designed by the legendary Jack Kirby (Captain America, The Fantastic Four, Devil Dinosaur).

While the animation lacks the slick sheen of modern, computer-assisted shows, and is a bit "rough around the edges," it's actually among the best seen on Saturday morning TV at the time, and far more polished than most other Ruby-Spears shows of the same vintage. It's apparent that the studio recognized that they had something good in Thundarr The Barbarian and put some extra care and attention into it.

The Warner Archives 4-disc, manufactured-on-demand DVD-R set includes all 21 episodes from the show's two seasons, presented in their original 1.33:1 "full-frame" aspect ratio, with Dolby Digital 2.0 mono audio. The film elements have not been remastered in any way, and show considerable age-and-neglect-related wear. On some episodes the otherwise bright colors appear faded, and most installments are dusted with specks and other minor damage. Overall, the picture quality is fair-to-good, and, unlike some off-air recordings, the episodes are complete. There are no bonus features included.

For my money, Thundarr The Barbarian is one of the all-time great fantasy adventure cartoons, with solid, smart scripting, fabulous visuals and a classic hero. Sure, I wish that the bean-counters at Warners had green-lit a fully-restored and remastered, mass-market DVD release, but I'm personally grateful to see it on DVD at all, in an authorized and complete form. If you're a fan, buying the set is a no-brainer; even with its faults, it's far superior to any of the old bootlegs floating around the convention circuit. If you're unfamiliar with Thundarr, but love Old School adventure animation, you might want to take a chance and order it - I doubt you'll be disappointed.

BUY: Thundarr The Barbarian (4 Disc)

STAR WARS (1977) Burger King Glasses

2011-09-02T15:29:00.001-04:00

Let's forget about George Lucas and his infuriating OCD Star Wars Blu-ray changes for a moment, and return to a simpler time... when there was only one Star Wars, and it was not yet A New Hope... and fast-food franchises actually sold drinking glasses made of glass. When a 13-year-old Star Kid actually managed to persuade his folks to take him to Burger King four weeks in a row so he could collect all four commemorative glasses.

The artwork on those glasses was great. I particularly liked the Darth Vader one.

Erin Gray/Wilma Deering Gallery

2011-09-01T16:47:00.005-04:00

Don't have time to write up a post right now, so here's a Space Babes "Extra" - a gallery of Buck Rogers publicity stills I've been saving, featuring the delectable Ms. Erin Gray as Earth Defense Directorate Colonel Wilma Deering.

Ms Gray was the Space: 1970 Space Babe for March, 2010. Enjoy!

NOTE: September's Space Babe will be posted shortly!

UFO Italian Movie Poster

2011-08-30T21:03:00.000-04:00

back in the early days of this blog, I wrote about the 'feature film" compilations made up of episodes from Gerry Anderson's UFO television series, and posted some art from a couple of International movie posters. Well, here's another one...

New Space: 1970 Poll - 'Bots!

2011-08-30T16:32:00.008-04:00

Time for another Space: 1970 Reader's Poll, which you'll find over at the top of the right-hand sidebar. This one fits right in with the graphic I've been using for the feature, because it's all about 70s sci-fi retrobotics - in particular: "Which 70s sci-fi robot and/or droid was YOUR favorite?" I'm limiting this to live action feature films and U.S. TV shows, but if you want to write-in Doctor Who's K-9 or some other android or robot I missed, feel free to do so here in the comments.

By the way, if you read this blog through its RSS feed, you should know that the Poll is only available here on the actual site. Have fun!

D'OH! I can't believe I forgot The Delos Gunslinger from Westworld! (And the Fembots, too.) Dammit....

STAR WARS Atari Arcade Game (1983) Flyer

2011-08-29T17:34:00.001-04:00

Click for Readable View

"Gold Leader, this is Red 5. I'm going in!" In the Summer of 1983, I fed probably $300 in change into this Atari arcade game (the upright model) at a Waterville, Maine pizza parlor. That was the Summer after my last year of High School, and I was working at a paper mill to make money for Art School. In the evenings, I would meet up with a few of my friends for pizza and Star Wars. If I recall correctly, this same restaurant also had the Astron Belt laserdisc game (with the Message from Space movie footage) for a while, but that one was infuriatingly difficult to play.

Star Wars, on the other hand, was so damned much fun, with its colorful vector graphics, John Williams themes and soundbites from the movie. If I recall correctly, we all got pretty good at it (the owner must have had it set on "easy" mode!), and spent hours at that joint eating mediocre pie and pumping quarters into the game. Considering how few other customers I can recall ever seeing in there, I suspect we were keeping the place in business all by ourselves....

THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN (1976-77) Charlton Comics Cover Gallery

2011-08-27T03:35:00.001-04:00

Joe Staton

Neal Adams

Hector Castellon

Jack Sparling

Fred Himes/Pat Boyette

I'm told that Colonel Steve Austin, the Bionic Man, has returned to comic books with a new series from Dynamite Comics, so I figured this was a good time to head over once again to Charlton Comics, and take a look at their color comic book version of Universal's The Six Million Dollar Man television series. They also simultaneously published a magazine-sized black & white series (as they did with Space: 1999), but this time out we're focusing solely on the color book.

Charlton Comics got spotty distribution in my area, so I'm pretty sure the only one of these issues I ever bought off the newsstand was Issue #4, which caught my eye because I also had the Six Million Dollar Man model kit of Austin wrestling with an alligator (I also had the one were he's kicking in a door with both feet - I should try and find pix of those; they were great little diorama kits!).

My pal (and collaborator) Joe Staton drew the first issue, and as he told Comic Book Artist magazine, in those days pre-Internet & home video, visual reference for licensed comics was sometimes hard to come by:

"We had moved upstate by the time I was working on Six Million Dollar Man... back in the days when dinosaurs drew comic books, we had one TV station, didn't get the show, we didn't have any photos, so we came into town to the Ramada Inn in Kingston, got a room, because somebody told us the Ramada Inn got the station it was on. We didn't have a tripod, so we piled up some books under [my wife] Hilarie's camera in front of the TV in the hotel room, trying to shoot photos off the television! That was most of the reference I had for the book.

There was always a lot of trouble to get the reference. For Six Million Dollar Man, we called up an Air Force airbase, the same airbase the Six Million Dollar Man crashes on in the pilot episode, and they sent me this whole official pile of photos on airbases. If I were a Russian spy... If anybody needs good photos of secret defense installations, call up and say you're doing a comic book and the Air Force is very accommodating!"

Behind-The-Scenes Pix #6: ALIEN

2011-08-26T16:32:00.000-04:00

That's movie-making for you: hurry up and wait. Actor Bolaji Badejo, as the titular extraterrestrial terror, takes a break between takes on the set of Ridley Scott's Alien at Shepperton Studios in England, probably in late '78. I love this pic because it shows how friggin' scary-cool H.R. Giger's design was; especially that skull face which was obscured in the film by the smooth, black "carapace" that is missing in this photo.

Have a great weekend, Star Kids!

STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE (1979) Alternate Poster Art

2011-08-26T02:22:00.001-04:00

This is another art treasure that I stumbled across recently. Apparently, this is an alternate poster image created for Paramount's Star Trek - The Motion Picture campaign, painted by the incredible Bob Peak. It's a very striking composition, although probably too low key and sedate for what the studio was trying to sell to audiences as an epic science fiction adventure - and I do like the art they went with for the one-sheet better.

I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that I never saw this painting before coming upon it online a short while ago. Does anyone know if this was used on any 1979-vintage Trek merchandise or in promoting the film in non-U.S. markets?

ESCAPE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN (1975) & RETURN TO WITCH MOUNTAIN (1978) Double Feature TV Spot

2011-08-26T00:25:00.000-04:00

In 1978, Walt Disney Productions re-released their G-rated space kids-on-the-run thriller, Escape To Witch Mountain on a double bill with its sequel, Return From Witch Mountain. Here's a 30-second TV commercial for that telekinetic double feature. Obviously, these movies were childhood favorites, in large part because I saw them at the drive-in with my family. Even then, though, I wished that we'd seen a lot more of their flying saucer and learned more about their people.

For the record, I actually enjoyed the 2009 update - I thought the kids were quite good, Dwayne Johnson was likable enough, and I have a serious crush on Carla Gugino - but I don't believe I ever saw any of the various other remakes and spin-offs done for television in the 80s & 90s. There was a short-lived TV series, too, right? Or am I misremembering? (I must be - I can't find one on the IMDb....)

DVD Review: MAN FROM ATLANTIS: THE COMPLETE TV MOVIE COLLECTION (1977)

2011-08-25T23:03:00.001-04:00

In the spring of 1977, NBC aired a made-for-television science fiction movie about a mysterious man who was discovered washed up on a California beach after a storm. He nearly dies, but a beautiful marine biologist is able to save his life when she realizes that he breathes underwater. No one - not even the aquatic stranger himself - knows where he comes from; the best guess the government super computers can make is that he might be the last survivor of the sunken continent of Atlantis.

That telefilm, Man From Atlantis, buoyed by the charismatic Patrick Duffy (pre-DALLAS) as the amnesiac sub-mariner, was a ratings hit, and the network commissioned three additional 2-hour movies, which aired throughout that Summer, followed by a weekly, hour-long series in the Fall. Now, Warner Archive has remastered and packaged those first four installments as "The Complete TV Movies Collection," and fans of the series should be very pleased with the result.

In the first, Man From Atlantis, the sea-born stranger adopts the monicker "Mark Harris," and helps the U.S. Navy foil the diabolical plans of super villain Mister Schubert (the always entertaining Victor Buono), who intends to conquer the world. In the second film, Man From Atlantis II: Death Scouts, Mark - now working for the independent Foundation For Oceanic Research with his lovely savior, Dr. Elizabeth Merrill (Belinda J. Montgomery), must deal with a pair of hostile extraterrestrial body-snatchers - the vanguard for an alien invasion force. In Man From Atlantis III: Killer Spores, a returning space probe brings a lethal microscopic life-form back to Earth, and in Man From Atlantis IV: The Disappearances, the world's top scientists - including Elizabeth - are kidnapped by a mysterious organization.

All four TV movies are fairly entertaining, if a bit slow by today's standards, with decent scripts grounded in science and pseudo-science. Much mileage is gotten out of Mark's naivete/innocence and his "stranger in a strange land" situation. Duffy's charisma carries the flicks pretty well, and there's plenty of rather amazing (for the time) underwater action sequences, and plenty of classic, Old School special effects. Most notably, the unique submersible vehicle called The Cetacean, which is introduced in the pilot film as property of the villain, but is soon co-opted by the heroes, becoming Mark's mobile base of operations.

The two-disc, manufactured-on-demand DVD-R set from Warner Archive sports newly-remastered, "full-frame" 1.33:1 transfers. Picture quality is pretty remarkable for TV films of this vintage; there are a few minor nicks, specks and scratches, but nothing particularly distracting. Colors are surprisingly bright, and details are quite sharp. The 2.0 Dolby mono audio is clear and crisp, with no notable hiss or pops. Overall, it's a high-quality TV-on-DVD presentation.

Obviously, like most everything else I cover on this blog, I loved these movies when I was 13, and I am very aware that my childhood nostalgia for the Man From Atlantis colors my opinion of these TV movies today. If you grew up with the show back in the late 1970s - or just have a fondness for genre television from that era - you may want to pick these discs up. The presentation is extremely good, considering that the source material is 34 years-old. I happen to think they're a lot of fun, and you might, too.

Note: The complete 13-episode weekly series is available from Warner Archive, too, and my review of that DVD set will be posted here and at my DVD Late Show site shortly.

BUY: Man From Atlantis: Complete TV Movies Collection (Remastered, 2 Disc)

SPACEHUNTER (1983) Publicity Stills

2011-08-25T16:25:00.000-04:00

Today, I present a handful of B&W press stills I've collected online from the 1983 interstellar Western, Spacehunter: Adventures In The Forbidden Zone. As I've written before, I'm a big fan of Spacehunter, and would have loved to see a few more adventures of Wolff (Peter Strauss) and Niki (Molly Ringwald). Alas, it was not meant to be....

Goulart & Kane's STAR HAWKS (1977)

2011-08-24T17:12:00.002-04:00

Inspired - as so many things were in the late 70s - by the tremendous success of Star Wars, the newspaper feature syndicate NEA (Newspaper Enterprise Association) got it into their heads that a space opera comic strip that evoked the cosmic high adventure and swashbuckling derring-do of George Lucas' movie might be a popular addition to the nation's comics pages. They contacted comics historian and science fiction author Ron Goulart (who had written a quartet of Flash Gordon novels for Avon Books, and would later ghostwrite William Shatner's popular "Tek" series) to develop their proposed comic strip.

Click for larger view

Goulart then contacted comic book veteran Gil Kane, artist on scores of DC and Marvel titles, to collaborate with him on what ultimately became Star Hawks - which began on October 3, 1977 and ran through 1981. Star Hawks was a pulpy concoction that chronicled the adventures of Interplanetary Law Service officers Rex Jaxan, Chavez, and Alice K, as they battled a procession of interstellar criminals and miscreants. The strip actually took place in Goulart's "Barnum System," a sci-fi setting that he used in many of his original novels (incl. Clockwork Pirates, Galaxy Jane & Shaggy Planet), and, in 1980-81, Goulart even published two Star Hawks prose novels titled Empire 99 and The Cyborg King.

According to Kane, in a 1978 Comics Journal interview: "I got a call from Ron Goulart, who told me he'd been having some talks with Flash Fairfield, who is the art editor of the comics at [the newspaper syndicate] NEA, and they wanted to see me about going to work on that strip. I met with them at that time. Ron had done about two weeks of material, but it was very far from where we went with it. So we reworked the material, and I'm very strong ... on romance and lyricism, and I started to advance the cause of that kind of material and make it less satirical and more of a classic[-style] adventure strip. [For the hero,] originally I had James Coburn in mind. ... The hero's friend, Chavez, was modeled after a bald-headed Victor McLaglen."

The format the team pushed for was unique for newspaper syndication: the daily strip was laid out in two tiers. Each daily was twice as deep as a normal daily strip. This format allowed artist Kane great flexibility in his layouts, but it did hinder NEA's efforts to sign on papers to carry the strip. The strip ran daily and Sunday for three and a half years, for a total of 1,252 strips - in the end, the dailies had gone to a standard single-tier format, and the writing had been taken over by the great Archie Goodwin, who also wrote the Star Wars newspaper strip (as well as a million other things).

My local papers didn't carry the strip in the 70s, but I did pick up the two paperback collections published by Ace/Tempo in 1980/81, and read many of the installments in the 80s when Hawks was reprinted in early issues of Amazing Heroes magazine. I love Kane's depiction of the series universe and the stories are fun and fast-paced.

I know that Hermes Press has reprinted the entire run of the strips in a single volume, Star Hawks The Complete Series, but according to the customer reviews on Amazon, the art reproduction may not be as good as it could be, and I'm hesitant to shell out for the (rather pricey) book, if it doesn't look very good - especially as Kane's art is what I love best about the strip.

Captain's bLog: 0823.11

2011-08-23T16:26:00.000-04:00

• Still working on some new posts, including Man From Atlantis and Thundarr The Barbarian DVD reviews, a new Reader's Poll and articles about the Gil Kane/Ron Goulart sci-fi newspaper comic strip Star Hawks and the aborted Star Trek II television series from the mid-70s. I know there's not much of August left, but I'm hoping to get all of those posted before the end of the month. I am almost finished with the second Space: 1970 podcast, too, but it probably won't be available until September.

• Support Space: 1970: The site now has over 315 "followers" here on Blogger, and the Facebook fan page is up to 690 "likes." My sincere appreciation to everyone for their moral support and loyalty! I also want to thank everyone who have used the Amazon links on this site to make purchases (and the few who've made Paypal donations - if you'd like to contribute, there's a link in the right-hand sidebar). Every little bit helps.

• So stay tuned. I am working hard on getting some more substantial posts finished soon. In the meantime, enjoy this cool Star Blazers art!

Sybil Danning Presents: SPACE: 1999 - ALIEN ATTACK

2011-08-20T17:39:00.000-04:00

Here's a fun, campy clip: from the mid-80's U.S.A. Home Video "Sybil Danning's Adventure Video" line of VHS tapes - an "action flick" imitation of the Elvira-hosted horror tapes - the nigh-legendary Sybil Danning, best remembered by the Space: 1970 faithful as the statuesque Valkyrie from Battle Beyond The Stars, introduces one of the Space:1999 "feature" compilation films, Alien Attack.

And here's the original VHS cover art:

Behind-The-Scenes Pix #5: PLANET OF THE APES

2011-08-19T05:38:00.001-04:00

Just a day at the beach for lovely Linda Harrison and alpha male/omega man Charlton Heston during the shooting of Franklin Schaffner's original Planet Of The Apes in 1968.

SPACE WARS Magazine (1978) - Original Cover Art

2011-08-19T00:46:00.007-04:00

Here's a very cool art find (thanks to Anthony Taylor): the original cover painting by an uncredited artist for the December 1978 issue of Space Wars magazine, one of the many Starlog imitators, published between 1977 and 1980 by the imaginatively-named "Stories Layout And Press Inc." I don't believe that I had this particular issue, but I'm pretty sure I had a few Space Wars mags in my stash at one point or another. If I recall correctly, Space Wars was all black & white, printed on the cheapest newsprint, with terrible photo reproduction and poor layout. Still, I read my copies over and over until they fell apart.

From the likenesses, it's obviously heavily photo-referenced, so it's odd that artist is so off-model on the Vipers. Still, I'm kinda tickled by the liberties taken with the design of the Colonial fighters - the changes are actually pretty damned cool!

ADDENDUM: As Tim pointed out in the comments, this art also appeared on a Dynamite magazine cover - with considerably less obscuring copy. I thought I'd seen it before!