THE BLACK HOLE "Press-Out Book" (1979)

Here's a cool artifact of the 1970s, a Black Hole "Press-Out" Book, with fold-up paper spaceship models from Disney's 1979 outer space epic.

The book was printed on a light cardstock, and you'd press-out perforated images of the various Black Hole ships like The Cygnus and The Palomino, and fold them into cool little replicas of the cinematic spacecraft.

I kind of want this book now, though I doubt today's kids would find it much of a diversion. Not many people - adults or children - seem to build models anymore, of any kind. Why bother when everyone'll have a 3D printer soon, I guess?

Countdown: this is Space: 1970 post #995...

PLANET OF THE APES TV Annuals

1975 Annual

1976 Annual

1977 Annual

Here are the covers for the UK Planet Of The Apes Annuals, published by Brown & Watson between 1975 and 1977. As with all of these uniquely British publications, these were hardcover books aimed at children, containing articles, stories, comics and activities/puzzles.

Having grown up in U.S., I never knew these publications existed until I was an adult and saw images of them on the Internet. I now have a Space: 1999 annual and the Star Maidens one, both bought online a few years ago. I wish I'd had these as a kid - especially the ones that tied-in with short-lived genre shows like Man From Atlantis and Logan's Run.

VULCAN! (1978) Cover Art By Bob Larkin

I remember receiving a copy of Kathleen Sky's original Star Trek novel, Vulcan!, in my Christmas stocking in 1978. I spent the rest of that holiday afternoon at my grandmother's house ignoring my relatives, reading it.

I haven't revisited it in decades (though I still have my original copy), so I can only barely recall the plot. I've since learned that it was based on a spec script the author had submitted to the Trek offices during the Original Series' third year. Supposedly, Roddenberry liked it, but as the show was canceled without a fourth season, the script was never produced. A decade later, she adapted it into a novel for Bantam Books.

I may not remember the story very well, but I never forgot the striking cover art. Here's a scan of the original cover painting by the masterful Bob Larkin, found online.

The Official BATTLESTAR GALACTICA Scrapbook (1978)

One of several Galactica book tie-ins from 1978, James Neyland's Official Battlestar Galactica Scrapbook was a reasonably in-depth look at the making of the "Saga Of A Star World" pilot film, and featured tons of cool stills from the show (including an 8-page "cosmic color" photo insert).

The book includes interviews with Glen Larson, John Dykstra, costume designer Jean-Pierre Dorleac, and pilot director Richard Colla, as well as extensive background on all the major cast members and the characters they portrayed.

There's a lot of stuff crammed into its 104 pages, but the one note that always stuck in my head was the revelation that the much-derided Colonial motorcycles seen in the Galactica: 1980 spin-off were actually planned to be part of the heroes' land transportation "fleet" as early as the planning of the pilot!

I still have my copy of this book sitting on my film/TV reference shelves, although it is, admittedly, a bit scuffed and dented after all these years.

(Yes, I have mentioned this book here on the blog before, but thought it worth revisiting.)

BIONIC WOMAN U.K. Annuals

As with most popular television series of the Seventies, The Bionic Woman (along with its older sibling show, The Six Million Dollar Man) was popular in the United Kingdom, and received the uniquely British "annual" treatment for young viewers. There were two of these hardcover collections of fiction, games, articles and comic strips, published by Brown Watson and with artwork by Ian Gibson, released in 1977 and '78.

Special thanks to Star Kids Scott Weller (for much better cover scans) and Jeremy Briggs (for additional publication info)!

News: Patrick Duffy's MAN FROM ATLANTIS Novel Due 2016

Patrick Duffy, star of the short-lived 1976-77 Man From Atlantis television series, has long talked about writing a novel based on the series, exploring the origins of his character, Mark Harris. Now it appears that he's finally done so, with the book scheduled for release in June of 2016.

Dive deeper than ever before and discover the origins of The Man from Atlantis.

When TV unveiled the series Man from Atlantis no one knew the how, where and why of Mark Harris.  Over time the show’s star Patrick Duffy formulated his own version of the history of Mark and his people.  Here at last is the book that gives every reader and fan of the show the life and mythology of Atlantis, who they were and where they came from. Patrick Duffy’s close connection to his fictional character makes this a behind the scenes fantasy story.

Mark Harris, the Man from Atlantis, has been quietly living under the protection of Dr. Elizabeth Merrill who saved his life in 1976. By studying his abilities the two have contributed countless advances for mankind’s development. Only a select few know his true identity.

Jason the whiz kid of the science lab.

Stacy the bright young intern–who is constantly flustered by Mark’s presence.

Dr. Nagashima, a master of oceanic knowledge who Elizabeth lured from Japan to join her inner circle.

Then their California ocean side laboratory is shaken when several attempts are made upon Mark’s life. He discovers the assailants have powers similar to his and he is lead into the uncharted depths of the oceans. As he discovers his past Mark’s origins and genealogy finally come to the surface

The novel, simply titled Man From Atlantis, is already available for pre-order through online booksellers like Amazon.

The Adventures Of Lando Calrissian

Following the success of Brian Daley's trilogy of Han Solo novels in 1979-80, Del Rey Books released a three-volume cycle of Star Wars universe novels by L. Neil Smith, featuring the Millennium Falcon's previous captain, the roguish Lando Calrissian in 1981. The titles were:  Lando Calrissian and the Mindharp of Sharu, Lando Calrissian and the Flamewind of Oseon and Lando Calrissian and the Starcave of ThonBoka. (My spellchecker's having a stroke.)

Like Daley's Han Solo books, these novels took place well before the events of the original Star Wars films, and were set off in corners of the galaxy that seemed to have little connection with the Imperial settings of the films. Unlike the Solo novels, though, the Calrissian adventure were just plain weird. Even when Lucasfilm was building and putting considerable effort into reconciling its "Expanded Universe," the events, characters and planets in these books were essentially ignored. Still, at the time of their release, there was damned little new Star Wars adventures to be had, and offbeat as they were, they were eagerly snapped up by young fans.

Plus, they had great cover paintings by Williams Schmidt.

The Mindharp Of Sharu

The Flamewind of Oseon

The Starcave of ThonBoka

DARK STAR (1974) Novelization By Alan Dean Foster

First, a confession: I have this book somewhere in my collection, but I don't believe I've ever read it. That said, I'm glad I own a copy (and will read it, one of these days), because I just love the fact that 70s sci-fi superscribe Alan Dean Foster not only penned the novelizations of the screenplays to Star Wars, Alien, The Black Hole and a bunch of Star Trek animated episodes, but the offbeat, satirical Dark Star, too! (Oddly, the British posters for the movie actually credit Foster for the film story, which of course, was written by John Carpenter & Dan O'Bannon...)

The prolific science fiction author Foster actually appeared on VCI Entertainment's special "Hyperdrive" edition DVD  in an interview segment (also included with the more recent Blu-ray version) where he discusses how he came to write the novel and his thoughts on the film that inspired it. Over the course of the segment, he also discusses his career, specifically how he came to become the "go-to guy" for genre film tie-in paperbacks.

More German PLANET OF THE APES Novelizations

Escape From The Planet Of The Apes

A while back, I posted the covers of several German paperback editions of some of the Planet Of The Apes television show novelizations by George Alec Effinger. The artwork on those covers was pretty wild. Well, here are the same publishers' editions of the Escape From The Planet Of The Apes (1971) by acclaimed science fiction author Jerry Pournell, and Battle for The Planet Of The Apes (1973) by David Gerrold.

Battle For The Planet Of The Apes

As with those previously-showcased covers, these illustrations are delightfully lurid, and have a certain primitive charm. Interestingly, though the scenes depicted don't seem to be derived from those particular films/novels, at least this time the German artist(s) got the apes' outfits (mostly) right - unlike the weird, Civil War cavalry outfits the simians sported on the other set of covers!

SPACE: 1999 (1975) Year One Novelizations

As I noted in my last Captain's bLog, I'm currently working to fill in the gaps in my library of Pocket Books' 70s Space: 1999 paperback novelizations. I've had four of them since I was a kid, but until a week ago, I wasn't sure how many total volumes Pocket had actually published.

Turns out that there were ten books published in the U.S.  The first six were adaptations of the television scripts, with authors E.C. Tubb, John Rankine and Brian Ball taking three or four TV episodes per volume and linking them together to make a single novel out of them. In the few of these I've read, the authors have done a remarkably good job, seamlessly combining the TV scripts and fleshing them out in imaginative ways. I tend to like Rankine's efforts the best.

Starting with book #7, Alien Seed, by Tubb, the series turned to all new, original adventures for the Moonbase Alpha wayfarers. I have yet to read any of these - I didn't get them as a kid, and only recently started collecting these later volumes - but I look forward to diving in soon.

I believe that all of these books - as well as a number of new novels - have been reprinted in recent years by a company called Powys Media. I don't have any of those books, and, frankly, I don't have much interest in them. I prefer to stick with the 70s originals. At the moment, I'm still missing Alien Seed and Rogue Planet... but I should have them soon.

Then, I can work on getting all of the Year Two novels from Warner Books!

MAN FROM ATLANTIS (1977) Tie-In Paperbacks

As I've mentioned before, as an avid reader from age five, one of the few Space:1970-era collectibles I really made an effort to buy as a kid (and still do) were the film and TV tie-in paperbacks. In those pre-home video/pre-cable days, it was virtually the only way to re-experience the movies and TV shows you enjoyed (well, a lot of us made audio recordings on cassette, too). Fortunately, pretty much all of the major 70s TV sci-fi properties got tie-in novels: Star Trek, Space: 1999, Battlestar Galactica - even Buck Rogers got two, and the Planet Of the Apes show got four.

In 1977, Dell Books commissioned veteran tie-in author Richard Woodley (The Bad News Bears, Slap Shot, Con Air) to pen four paperback novelizations of the NBC Man From Atlantis telefilms: Man From Atlantis, Death Scouts, Killer Spores and Ark Of Doom (The Disappearances). The first two of these books hit the racks just around the time the weekly series premiered in Autumn, and I remember saving up my Junior High allowance of 50¢ a week to buy them when they came out. Woodley was a solid wordsmith, so they're pretty decent adaptations - and good reads, too.

The second two volumes, Killer Spores & Ark Of Doom, didn't make their way to bookstores until 1978, and the show was already off the air. This probably explains why they were published without the MfA logo or numbering. The nicely painted cover artwork by Vincent DiFate (replacing the photo covers of Volumes 1 & 2) does portray the likeness of actor Patrick Duffy, but otherwise appear to be designed to attract the eye of general sci-fi readers rather than just fans of the recently-cancelled show.

I didn't pick up these last two books in '78 (I wonder if their distribution was less pervasive than the earlier books?), but have added them to my library recently, thanks - in part - to Star Kid "Caeric ArcLight," who kindly sent me a nice copy of #3.

STAR MAIDENS (1976) Paperback Novelization

"On Medusa, the laws of nature had decreed that the female of the species should reign supreme - leaving the lesser able males to take care of domestic chores, nursery duties and other menial tasks.

For eons, the Medusan women ruled their world. But then Medusa entered the orbit of Earth, and rumour got out that here was a planet controlled almost entirely by men... a paradise planet to which two of the most rebellious manservants managed to escape, so beginning the feud between Earth and the incredible Star Maidens..." 

Yes, I still intend to review the Star Maidens (1976) German-British television series here at Space: 1970. I have the DVDs on hand, and just need to carve out some time to sit down and watch the whole series from beginning to end. I've enjoyed the episodes I've seen so far, and want to watch the rest... I just haven't gotten to it yet.

Here's the cover to the Corgi UK paperback tie-in novel by Ian Evans. I do not own a copy. Wouldn't mind having one, though...

BUCK ROGERS (1979) Tie-In Paperbacks

Today we have the covers of the two authorized Buck Rogers In The 25th Century paperback tie-in novels, published in 1979. Written by Richard Lupoff under the pseudonym "Addison Steele," these books are, frankly, awful. The first book is a novelization of the TV pilot/theatrical film script by Glen Larson & Leslie Stevens, and appears to be based on an early draft, as there are a number of differences between the book and movie.

I've read some fine nonfiction books by Lupoff (his Edgar Rice Burroughs: Master of Adventure is essential reading) but his prose here is awkward, clunky and amateurish. That said, I do like the cover painting, even though it looks like the Gil Gerard likeness was painted by a different artist, and I wish the starfighter wasn't obscured by the logo.

Buck Rogers: That Man On Beta is based on an unfilmed script or treatment by Bob Shayne, and is even worse. The characterizations are all off, the world portrayed in the book only vaguely resembles the world established on the show, and the writing style is, once again, a struggle to get through. The cover art has a nice, pulpy, space opera feel to it... doesn't look anything like Gil here, though.

Even though I coveted these books back in the day, I only managed to get my hands on them in the past year or so. While I'm glad to have them in my collection, I'm equally glad that I didn't pay too much for them.

STAR HAWKS (1977) Paperbacks

 

As we've seen here before, back in '77, in the pop cultural afterglow of Star Wars' unprecedented success, lots of folks tried to cash in on the perceived appetite for space opera entertainment. Along with the film and television knock-offs, toys and games, there were a handful of "original" sci-fi comics, many of them with the word "star" in the titles. One of these was the Star Hawks newspaper comic strip, which I've written about here before.

As knock-offs go, Star Hawks - written by sci-fi author and comics historian Ron Goulart, and drawn by legendary comic book artist Gil Kane - was reasonably successful, running daily and Sundays for three and a half years, for a total of 1,252 strips. Some of these strips were collected into two standard-size paperbacks by Ace/Tempo books, in 1979 and 1980. To the publisher's credit, the artwork was not cut apart panel-by-panel and re-formatted to standard page size, but run intact - although the strip's unique two-tier format required that the art be run on its side, forcing the reader to turn the book sideways to read it.

Actually, I don't find that to be a problem, but the small size of the lettering does make it difficult for these aging eyes to read, even with these damned, old man bifocals I wear these days. 

Anyway, aside from two strip collections from Ace/Tempo, Goulart wrote two Star Hawks prose novels, published by Playboy Press, beginning in 1980. The first of these, Empire 99, makes its connection to the newspaper strip very clear, with a cover and interior illustrations by comics collaborator Kane - and even trumpets its comic strip origins as a selling point. The second novel, on the other hand, came out well after the strip had been cancelled, and was marketed less as a comic strip tie-in. 

I haven't included a scan of that second novel, The Cyborg King, here because a.) I don't have it (yet), and b.) it doesn't have a Gil Kane cover, and c.) I couldn't find a decent cover scan online.

ADDENDUM: Thanks to "Tex," here's a scan of the cover of the second Goulart Star Hawks novel, The Cyborg King:

Books In The Basement

So... the other night I was poking around in my parents' basement and found a box of books that I thought were long lost and/or I'd forgotten I had. In the first category, was my near-mint first printing of Donald Glut's Empire Strikes Back novelization from the Spring of 1980 and nearly a dozen volumes of The Best Of Trek - a series of paperbacks published by Signet Books that collected fan-written Star Trek articles from G.B. Love's seminal fanzine, Trek. In the "forgotten I ever had" category was the fourteenth and final Battlestar Galactica paperback from Berkley Books, Surrender The Galactica!

That latter discovery was especially fortuitous, because, as I've noted elsewhere on this blog, I've been slowly filling in my collection of Berkley Galactica titles, buying them piecemeal from various online dealers, and Surrender has proven to be the priciest of the books in good (or better) condition. So, what a pleasant surprise to discover I already owned a copy - and in like-new condition!

As a Star Kid, I didn't collect a lot of toys/action figures - I had model kits - but, being a voracious reader, I did collect a lot of books and magazines. All these years later, it's still the books that really spark my nostalgia and the only Space: 1970 "collectibles" that I still hunt down and buy.

Bantam STAR TREK Paperbacks By James Blish

Acclaimed science fiction author James Blish was commissioned by Bantam Books in 1967 to write paperback adaptations of the NBC television series Star Trek. Over the next eight years - until his death by lung cancer in 1975 - he continued to adapt classic Trek episodes into short story form, filling eleven (and a half) volumes for Bantam Books.

Each book contained a half-dozen or so such adaptations, and each volume went through multiple reprintings. Upon his death, his wife, Judith Ann Lawrence, finished adapting the remaining episodes, which were published in Star Trek 12 and Mudd's Angels (containing adaptations of "Mudd's Women" and "I. Mudd," along with an original Harry Mudd tale) in 1977.

Blish also penned the very first original Star Trek novel, Spock Must Die!, in 1970, and regardless of what modern fans may think of it now, it kicked off an unprecedented publishing phenomenon that continues unabated to this day. While original novels based on television shows existed prior to Spock Must Die!, they were limited to tying into shows that were still on the air. An original based on a cancelled TV show would have been unthinkable before Trek.

The author lived in England at the time, and when he was writing early volumes, Star Trek had not yet started airing in the U.K. He worked from scripts provided by Paramount, and this led to occasional inconsistencies between his versions and the aired episodes. But, overall, he did a fine job capturing the voices of the characters, and the short story form was pretty much a perfect way for fans to re-enjoy the series in those pre-home video/unpredictible rerun days.

Indeed, for many Star Kids, Blish and Bantam's Star Trek paperbacks were the first genre merchandise we collected. I may have had a Planet Of The Apes coloring book or Mego action figure before I discovered Blish's books - but they were probably the first books I ever bought with my own money... and I still possess every single one of them.

STAR MAIDENS 1978 Annual

I finally have my first British sci-fi Annual in my Space: 1970 library! And it's all thanks to Star Kid Robin Groen, who generously sent me a copy of the 1978 Star Maidens Annual, published by Stafford Pemberton Publishing Co., Ltd.  As with most of these uniquely British collectibles, it's a slender hardcover with a number of prose stories, photos, articles, puzzles, colorful illustrations and a short comic story.

As I  have mentioned, I did order the Star Maidens DVDs from the U.K. a while back, and I will make a point of reviewing the short-lived series - which is actually pretty interesting in a decidedly 70s way - early in 2013.

The LOGAN Trilogy

Despite the fact that the world portrayed in William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson's original Logan's Run novel bore little resemblance to that realized in the 1976 MGM motion picture adaptation, the film's iconography - specifically the costuming and hardware - was certainly pervasive.

Not only were they used in the 1977 CBS television series (although that was probably more a case of budget-conscious recycling by MGM than any deliberate aesthetic choice) but the two sequel novels written by Nolan - Logan's World (1977) and Logan's Search (1980) - both had initial paperback printings fronted with artwork clearly and undeniably based on the movie's designs.

Of course, none of this really means much - I just wanted an excuse to post scans of these books from my childhood library.

The Logan's Run paperback at top is one of two variant movie tie-ins that I have. The other was a book club edition I picked up in school; the cover was nearly identical but for a few minor changes to the main figures of Logan and Jessica. Logan's shirt was no longer ripped and Jessica wore the silver dress with art lifted directly from the film poster.

I've read all three novels several times, and while I'm a fan of Nolan's writing - and even corresponded with him for a while in the 90's when he penned a couple articles for a magazine I edited - I have to say that I actually prefer the movie (and even the TV series) over the books. The books are undeniably more original and imaginative, but I saw the movie & TV show before I ever read any of the books, and that's the Logan's Run that fixed itself in my head.

German PLANET OF THE APES Paperback Covers

Man The Fugitive

Escape To Tomorrow

Journey Into Terror

A while back, I shared the covers of a couple of George Alex Effinger's Planet Of The Apes novelizations based on the 1974 CBS television series. While the U.S. editions sported unimaginative cover photos of the TV cast (Ron Harper, James Naughton and Roddy McDowell), these German editions feature appealingly lurid paintings where the gorilla soldiers appear to be wearing post-Civil War Union cavalry uniforms... huh?

Anyway, I got a kick out of seeing these covers, and thought you might, too. Have a great weekend!

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA (1978) Photostory

"This is not a book!" Ahhh... a true artifact of the pre-home video 1970s -- the photo novel (or, in this case, "Photostory." I guess Bantam Books had the "Fotonovel" trademark sewn up). Yep,  fumetti-styled comic adapations of television shows and movies in handy paperback format so fans could kick back, play their soundtrack LPs, and re-experience their favorite flicks, all in the comfort of their own homes.

Here are the front and back covers of Berkley Books' "Photostory" of the Battlestar Galactica pilot film, with illustrated with "more than 700 exciting live-action scenes!"

I don't have this one (CORRECTION: I do now. My wife just bought me a copy off Etsy.), but I do have the first half-dozen or so of the Star Trek "Fotonovels" that Bantam Books published around the same time, which really kicked off this particular vein of sci-fi tie-in. These things were really popular for a few years there at the end of the 70s, but faded fast once VHS home video players came along.