BENEATH THE PLANET OF THE APES (1970) International Poster Gallery

Today I've got a selection of colorful one-sheets from around the world used to advertise the first Planet Of the Apes theatrical sequel in 1970.

For a long time, Beneath The Planet Of the Apes was my favorite of the Apes sequels (these days, it keeps going back-and-forth between Beneath and Conquest) for its exciting action-oriented - and utterly nihilistic - bonkers plot. Plus, you know, telepathic mutants, lots of Linda Harrison's "Nova" - and one of the most downbeat endings in sci-fi cinema history.

I do miss Roddy McDowell, though....

June's Space Babe: Ayshea

June's Space Babe is pretty, pouty Ayshea, as SHADO Operative... "Ayshea," on Gerry Anderson's first live-action sci-fi series, UFO. A fixture of SHADO's underground HQ beneath England's Harlington-Straker film studio, the raven-haired lovely with the prominent monogrammed pendant seemed to be one of the organization's most efficient and appreciated operatives. At least, Straker seemed fond of her.

Actress and singer Ayshea Brough was born Ayshea Hague in 1948, and had her first film role at age 9. She was a popular recording artist and TV presenter in England the 70s, hosting such music and variety shows as Discotheque and Lift Off before moving to Los Angeles for most of the 80s and early 90s. According to online sources, she was a well known Beverly Hills socialite and ran a property development and interior design business. She returned to the UK in 1993.

Behind-The-Scenes Pix #39: UFO

On the set of Gerry Anderson's UFO during the filming of the episode "Flight Path." I can't say for sure, but I'm guessing that's director Ken Turner and actor George Cole as disgraced SHADO agent Paul Roper. I'm certain someone will let me know if I'm wrong.

News: UFO Movie in 2013?

Well, according to the production company's website, the long-in-development feature film based on the late Gerry Anderson's 1970 television series UFO will begin shooting in the "first quarter of 2013," directed by Matthew Gratzner (a visual effects veteran who's worked on films like Alien: Resurrection, Iron Man and Spielberg's War of the Worlds) from a screenplay by Ryan Gaudet and Joseph Kanarek. Of course, the same site provides no definite casting information (not even the previously-announced Joshua Jackson as Paul Foster), so I'm not sure how ready to film they really are.

In any case, it's the first new "news" we've heard on this production in a couple years....

Behind-The-Scenes Pix #34: UFO

The late producer Gerry Anderson on the set of his first live-action sci-fi television series, UFO, having a very serious (it would appear) conversation with actors Peter Gordeno (SkyDiver One Captian/Sky One pilot Peter Carlin) and Ed Bishop (SHADO Commander Ed Straker).

UFO (1970) Paperback Novelizations

Here are the covers to the two UFO novelizations published by Warner Books in the United States. I actually have both of these, picked up at a yard sale in the mid-80s, if I recall correctly. At the time, I hadn't seen the series since I was a little kid of five or six years old, and really only remembered the cool SHADO interceptors, the purple-haired moonchix and the UFOs themselves. I didn't really recall the characters or how dark and grim the  stories were... reading these books, written by British author John Burke - under the pseudonym, "Robert Miall" - based on the original scripts, really surprised me with their paranoid tone.

It wasn't until a decade or so later that I finally saw the show again during its run on the Sci-Fi Channel in the mid-90s, so for many years, these two books were my only exposure to Gerry Anderson's classic series.

UFO (1970) Photo-Novel

I'm not entirely certain what this UFO book is exactly; the site where I discovered it had it listed as a French (though it looks - as a couple folks have pointed out - Italian) "Photo-novel, presumably an adaptation of the episode, "A Question Of Priorities." But any piece of UFO artwork that has Straker punching out an alien astronaut on the moon - without a space suit! - is just too friggin' cool not to post here at Space: 1970.

Man, Straker is a badass.

ADDENDUM: According to Space: 1970 reader Roberto Baldassari, ‎18 photo-novelizations from UFO were released in Italy In 1974. Seven of them were also released in France. This appears to be one of the Italian editions. My question is: how much of a badass is Straker on the other covers?

Behind-The-Scenes Pix #18: UFO

SHADO Interceptors race across the surface of the Moon with the help of a special effects technician in Gerry Anderson's 1970 series, UFO. Still one of my favorite spaceship designs of the era - even if they only had one missile each!

UFO (1970) International Movie Posters

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?

UFO Italian Movie Poster

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...

Coming Attractions: BENEATH THE PLANET OF THE APES (1970) Original Theatrical Trailer

Here's the trailer for the first Planet Of The Apes sequel, Beneath The Planet Of The Apes. When I first saw this movie as a kid, it really freaked me out. The mutants flat-out terrified me, and the explosive ending simply blew my little mind and disturbed the hell out of me. Then, for a long time, this was actually my favorite of the films, probably because of the apocalyptic ending and the film's overall nihilistic tone. I also dug the effects of the underground ruins and James Franciscus' more action-driven hero.

Nowadays, I like Conquest best among the sequels, but I'm still very fond of this one (all of them, actually). Enjoy.

UFO (1970) Publicity Shots

"Every mother's nightmare, every schoolboy's dream..."

Here are a couple of nice publicity stills from Gerry Anderson's UFO, featuring the lovely Wanda Ventham (Colonel Lake) and one of the "futuristic" automobiles originally constructed for Anderson's feature film Journey to the Far Side of the Sun/Doppleganger.

Ms. Ventham was our Space Babe for May 2010.

Space Babe: Wanda Ventham

Gorgeous Wanda Ventham as the no-nonsense Colonel Virginia Lake on Gerry Anderson's UFO. In the second production block for the series, actor George Sewell didn't return to reprise his role as Colonel Alec Freeman for some reason, so the producers brought back the statuesque, blonde Ventham, who had appeared briefly in the pilot, to take his place as Commander Straker's No. 2 at SHADO.

Lake was a very strong character, a tough and tough-minded officer who also happened to be a very sexy woman. She was competent, commanding and able to hold her own on screen with Ed Bishop's Straker - not an easy task.

Ventham has had a long and prolific career on British television as a popular guest artist and as a regular on numerous series. Among those appearances were roles in three Doctor Who stories.

Space Babe: Gabrielle Drake

Beautiful Gabrielle Drake as Lieutenant Gay Ellis on Gerry Anderson's UFO. She may have worn a purple wig and a silver miniskirt, but for the first third or so of the series, the sexy astronette commanded the SHADO moonbase, Earth's first line of defense against alien invaders bent on conquest (or at least human organ harvesting).

While the tone of the series was actually pretty grim, the style was pure, late Sixties' "mod," and nowhere was that more evident than in the outfits designed for SHADO's female staff. Sure, they were entrusted with the responsibility of a multi-billion dollar moonbase - not to mention the defense of all mankind - but form-fitting spacesuits and miniskirts were the uniform of the day.

Frankly, I'm not complaining. I even dig the wig.

Space Babe: Linda Harrison

Linda Harrison as the lovely Nova in the first two Planet of the Apes films. Though technically not a "Space Babe," she's definitely one of the few things in the Apes future worth living and fighting for.

I spent all day on Friday watching the five original Apes theatrical features and was once again struck by Miss Harrison's natural beauty and mute charisma. She may have got the part because she was producer Richard Zanuck's girlfriend (and later, wife), but she filled the role of the future's most lovely savage quite capably in both The Planet of the Apes and its immediate sequel, Beneath the Planet of the Apes.

UFO (1970) Movie Poster Art

As with Battlestar Galactica and other science fiction shows, the home video boom of the Eighties led to various TV episodes being repackaged and distributed on VHS and syndicated to independent television stations as feature films. Gerry Anderson's groundbreaking live-action sci-fi series UFO was among those programs; in 1980 two episodes were edited together and released as Invasion: UFO. The art above was created for that release.

Earlier than that, though, in the 70s, several compilation features were derived from the series and released in Italy. The art above was used to promote one of these movies, UFO Prendeteli Vivi.

I don't know who the artists were who painted these illustrations, but as a fan of the series, it's fun seeing this artwork