space1970: Laserblast

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

STAR TREK Meets LASERBLAST

Star Trek (with a weird, hybrid U.S.S. Enterprise), Laserblast (represented by David Allen's stop-motion aliens) and the Universal sci-fi classic, This Island Earth, collide in this cool magazine poster from the late 1970s. I'm sure one of you Star Kids out there can identify where this poster originally appeared and the artist who painted it... because I have no idea!

The artist's signature is indecipherable, unfortunately, and the style isn't instantly familiar.

If I had to guess as to its origins, I'd say it looks like something from the UK's Starburst or maybe the short-lived Science Fantasy Film Classics, or maybe Fantastic Films.

UPDATED: I knew I could count on you folks! Star Kids Martin Kennedy and Glen Mullaly have both identified it as being the work of John Allison. It appeared in Science Fantasy Film Classics #3 from the Summer of '78 (the one issue I didn't have!). Looks like my guess wasn't that far off. Thanks, guys!

Monday, August 23, 2010

Coming Attractions: LASERBLAST (1978)

I actually went to see Laserblast in the theater when I was sixteen, probably after seeing the TV spot below. At the time, I kinda enjoyed it, more for what the movie could have been than for what it was. The story is actually pretty cool - an "alienated," angry teenager stumbles across a powerful weapon that slowly transforms him into a literal alien as he uses it - but the execution is just terrible. The acting is horrible and the direction by Michael Rae is worse. No wonder it was his only film.

It's even become one of the more popular Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes, and gives the MST3K crew plenty of fodder. Still, I actually own Laserblast on DVD and I even dig it out and watch it once every couple of years. I like the green, Hulk-ish alien make-up, the laserblaster prop, and David Allen's stop-motion extraterrestrials are amusing and well-animated (even if some of the sequences are poorly staged and composited), and I still think there's a potentially decent story buried in there somewhere. Someone should remake it.

ABOUT THIS BLOG

This blog is dedicated to the science fiction films and television series of the 1970s - give or take a few years (say, 1969-1983) - including such nostalgic favorites as Star Wars, Space: 1999, UFO, Space Academy, the original Battlestar Galactica, Jason of Star Command, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Logan's Run and many others.

But be warned: I still love these productions with all the enthusiasm I held for them as a kid, and they will be treated here with affection and respect. If you're looking for someone to snarkily denigrate "old" movies - or like to do that yourself - you've come to the wrong site.

So journey with us back to the days when special effects were created by skillful hands and spaceships were detailed models, when robots were obligatory comedy relief, when square-jawed heroes and cloaked villains battled among the stars -- and the future was fun!

PLEASE NOTE: I do not sell (nor even buy, all that often) the memorabilia and merchandise I write about on this blog, nor do I have any idea what value your "collectibles" might have. That's not what this site is about, so please don't ask me.