PLANET OF THE APES 80s VHS Collection Poster

I thought this was a cool piece of Planet Of The Apes artwork - an 80s video store poster advertising Playhouse Video's 5-cassette box set of the Apes features. Considering the cost of most studio pre-record VHS tapes of the era, I bet that set cost a pretty penny. I have no idea who the artist was, but he made some odd choices. First, there's that weird expression on Ceasar's face -- and what's with Taylor's hairline?

Captain's bLog 1028.10

Hey, Star Kids.Yeah, I know. It's been a while. All I can say is that I've been occupied elsewhere, and will get back to regular posting here as soon as possible.

•  Right now, I'm looking for some information. I know that there was a series of Flash Gordon paperback novels published in the 80s with cover paintings by Boris Vallejo (such as the one on the left, which, as Space: 1970 reader Jason Shepherd pointed out when he sent me the scan, has Flash in virtually the exact same pose as Buck Rogers in the Vallejo piece I posted a couple weeks ago). I would like to track these books down, but I don't know any of the titles, nor the author(s).

Can anyone provide or direct me to that information? For that matter, anyone know if they're any good?

• I've just received a copy of the new Dark Star: Hyperdrive Edition DVD from VCI Home Entertainment, and while I'll be posting a detailed review over on my DVD Late Show website in the next few days, I can say here that this new two-disc release is a marked improvement over the company's previous edition in almost every way, with a notably better transfer and a slew of supplemental materials.

It's not perfect - the lack of participation by director John Carpenter is disappointing - but it's pretty damned good. If you're a fan of the film, the new DVD is highly recommended.

You can order it here: Dark Star - The Hyper-Drive Edition

• Although the show doesn't really fall under the chronological purview of this blog, U.S. Gerry Anderson fans who may not have already heard, may be interested to know that his 1994-95 series Space Precinct, starring Ted Shackleford, is due out on Region 1 DVD from Image Entertainment on November 23rd.

I only saw two episodes of this when it aired late at night in my South Florida market, and I also read a novelization of the pilot episode, but I thought it was pretty interesting. I can understand why U.S. broadcasters were confused by it, though. It kinda looked like a kid's show, but the stories (at least the ones I saw) were rather serious and adult.

Anyway, I hope to review it for my Late Show site before it comes out, but if you're an Anderson completist and would like to pre-order the 5-disc set, you can do so here: Space Precinct: The Complete Series

Stella Star Tends Bar

All right, this Dr. Pepper commercial (in both 60 second and 30 second variants) is from the 80s, not the 70s, and, technically, beyond the purview of this blog. But then, I made the rules, so I guess I can break them.

The lovely Caroline Munro - Starcrash's own Stella Star - portrays the barmaid of this alien-packed intergalactic ginmill, which is clearly a homage to the Star Wars cantina scene.... and I thought it was too cool not to post it here. A lot of production value there for a soft drink commercial, but it was the Eighties, after all.