News: SPACE RAIDERS (1983) Coming To DVD?

I don't have any product details or a release date - hell, I don't even have "official" confirmation - but it looks like the low-budget 1983 Roger Corman-produced interstellar opus, Space Raiders, will be coming to DVD soon, courtesy of niche DVD label Scorpion Releasing.

My evidence of this is the presence of the Space Raiders trailer on recent Scorpion DVD titles (specifically, the kung fu caper Force: Five, which I purchased not long ago). Scorpion also posted the artwork above (without comment) on their Facebook page last Fall, along with the posters of a few other Corman titles.

This flick from the tail end of the Space: 1970 era (as I loosely define it) stars Vince Edwards and Thom Christopher (Buck Rogers' "Hawk") and recycles copious effects footage from the legendary B-movie producer's earlier space operas, Battle Beyond The Stars and Android (Hmmm. Wonder if Scorpion might pick up that one?).

As more information about this release becomes available, I'll post it here.

Not The 70s: SPACE STATION 76

I don't know much about the upcoming sci-fi comedy, Space Station 76, except that it is directed by Jack Plotnik, stars Liv Tyler (whom I adore) and Patrick Wilson, and that it's currently doing the film festival rounds. Well, I also know that it apparently takes place in the future as it was depicted back in the ‘70s, with Old School sets, costumes, effects, moustaches and feathered hair... which is why I'm mentioning it here on Space: 1970 at all!

So far, the movie's getting reasonably good reviews online and I'm looking forward to catching it on Netflix one of these days. Obviously, I love the 70's sci-fi aesthetic (duh!) and am curious to see how well the filmmakers pull it off. If anyone's seen this movie already, please feel free to share your impressions in the comments.

News: THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN Season 5 DVDs Announced

For those of us who didn't buy the deluxe, Time-Life complete series set of The Six Million Dollar Man a few years ago, the good news is that the fifth and final season of the show will be receiving its standalone DVD release on February 18, 2014 from Universal Home Entertainment:

In Season 5 of this science fiction cult classic, the dangers are never greater and the assignments never more impossible as Steve Austin tackles national security threats on land, beneath the sea, and beyond the stars. 

Summoning every last atom of his bionic strength, Austin leaps into action against man-eating sharks, a reawakened Bigfoot, a murderous computer, hostile extraterrestrials, treasonous space explorers, and a nastily revitalized scientific probe. Revisit the astounding astronaut's final journeys in this unprecedented, digitally remastered DVD set featuring 21 uncut episodes!

This final Season not only includes Colonel Steve Austin (Lee Majors) in rematches with both the Bionic Bigfoot and the dreaded Venus Death Probe, but also features guest shots by a number of Space: 1970 favorite thespians, such as Pamela Hensley (Buck Rogers), Jenny Agutter (the Logan's Run feature), Ted Cassidy (Genesis II and Planet Earth), Rick Springfield (Battlestar Galactica), Jack Colvin (The Incredible Hulk), Jared Martin (The Fantastic Journey), Bibi Besch (Star Trek II), and in the final episode, John Colicos (Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek, The Starlost).

The six-disc set has a suggested retail price of $39.95, and will not contain the extra disc of bonus material included in the Time-Life edition.

Obit: Lou Scheimer R.I.P.

Sad news - Lou Scheimer, the man who (with his partners Norm Prescott and Hal Sutherland) brought 70s Star Kids such Saturday morning favorites as the Emmy Award-winning Star Trek - The Animated Series, Ark II, Space Academy, Jason Of Star Command, Shazam!, Isis, Blackstar, and the best screen adaptation of Flash Gordon ever, has passed away at age 84.

I can't begin to express how much those Filmation shows impacted me as a kid and influenced the person I've become. It was clear that Scheimer personally loved science fiction and fantasy, and his studio seemed to always have a genre show on the air on one network or another throughout the 70s.

Not only did he produce the shows, but he provided narration and character voices to almost every show he made. Sure, it was partly a cost-saving measure (Filmation was notorious for their low budgets), but there was clearly a lot of enthusiasm in his voice work. You can't listen to his vocal performance as Ark II's chimpanzee Adam, for instance, without hearing the fun he's having in his voice.

One of these days, I'm going to have to write up a Hall Of Fame post for the guy - he was that influential. 

Rest in peace, Lou.

New BUCK ROGERS (1979) Soundtrack From Intrada

I haven't seen (or heard) this myself, but I understand that Intrada has recently issued a 3-CD Special Edition soundtrack containing the majority of music cues from the first season of Buck Rogers In The 25th Century, composed by Stu Phillips, Johnny Harris, Les Baxter and others. According to the company:

3-CD world premiere release of soundtrack music from Season One of cult sci-fi TV series starring Gil Gerard. Generous set features primary episode composer Johnny Harris, who also arranged & conducted numerous versions of Glen A. Larson theme music, plus episode scores from Les Baxter, Richard LaSalle, Stu Phillips. Styles of music emphasize exciting symphonic splendor and colorful sci-fi atmosphere, but listeners will also find some rollicking outer space pop sensibilitiy to balance. While show was broadcast only in mono, Universal fortunately elected to record in 1/2" three-channel stereo format with vivid, punchy dynamics. Engineers recorded with mono in mind but happily ensured stereo mixes were possible for internal needs. All rolls of tape were vaulted in pristine condition

It retails for a hefty $35 bucks - which is why I don't have it. But I really want it. And I'll want the Season Two set they're promising, too. Sigh...

It doesn't seem to be currently available from Amazon, but it can apparently be ordered directly from the Intrada website (where you can find a complete track listing, as well).

SPACE STARS (1981) DVD Art Revealed

As noted back in July, the manufacture-on-demand wing of Warner Home Video, Warner Archive, plans to bring the 1981 Hanna-Barbara Saturday-morning animated series, Space Stars, to DVD this Fall. The DVD key art above has recently appeared online, so I thought I'd share it here.

With this show, Hanna-Barbara and NBC jumped on the post-Star Wars boom by reviving and repackaging the studio's 60s outer space heroes Space Ghost and The Herculoids (mixing both classic episodes and newly-made installments) with two other space-themed cartoons - The Teen Force and Astro (from The Jetsons) & The Space Mutts - for an hour-long programming block.

Hmmm. I wonder why The Galaxy Trio didn't make the roster?

UPDATE: According to TV Shows On DVD, Space Stars will be released next Tuesday, on October 8th. Warner Archive is accepting pre-orders on the set now through their site. Price is $29.95.

News: SATURN 3 (1980) Blu-ray Key Art Revealed

Shout! Factory has released the key art for their upcoming DVD & Blu-ray combo of Saturn 3, which uses the original U.S. theatrical poster image of the homicidal robot, Hector.

Coming in December as part of the company's Scream Factory line, this 1980 Stanley Donen "sci-fi gothic" film stars Kirk Douglas, Harvey Keitel and Farrah Fawcett. More product details (i.e. extras, exact street date) to be announced in early Autumn. I'll be sure to pass along the info as it becomes available.

Obit: Michael Ansara R.I.P.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, the imposing Michael Ansara, who portrayed Klingon Commander Kang in the classic Star Trek episode "Day Of the Dove" (as well as a couple of Deep Space Nine episodes), has passed away. He was 91.

The deep-voiced actor also appeared in a recurring role as Kane, Princess Ardala's right-hand man on Buck Rogers In The 25th Century (replacing Henry Silva, who had played Kane in the pilot), and also appeared in episodes of Irwin Allen's 60s sci-fi shows including Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea, Lost In Space, Land Of The Giants and Time Tunnel.

News: Hanna-Barbera's SPACE STARS (1981) Coming To DVD From Warner Archive

Well, it's a good thing there's been a lot of home video news lately, as I've been too busy with other projects to do much substantial posting here on the blog. Among many other announcements at San Diego Comic Con last week, apparently the folks at Warner Archive teased an upcoming release for the 1981 Saturday morning cartoon series, Space Stars.

As I wrote a while back: with Space Stars, Hanna-Barbara jumped on the post-Star Wars boom by reviving and repackaging their 60s outer space heroes Space Ghost and The Herculoids (mixing both classic episodes and newly-made installments) with two other space-themed cartoons - The Teen Force and Astro (from The Jetsons) & The Space Mutts - for an hour-long, themed programming block.

I don't believe an official release date has been announced yet, but I'll try and stay on top of it and let you all know as soon as I find out.

A Birthday Wonder!

On behalf of starstruck Star Kids everywhere, Space: 1970 offers many very happy birthday wishes to the era's most amazing Amazon - the ever-youthful Lynda Jean Carter (born July 24, 1951) of The New Adventures Of Wonder Woman!

News: SATURN 3 (1980) Coming to Blu-ray!

I don't have much info on this as yet, but apparently it was announced at the San Diego Comic Con this weekend that Shout! Factory (under its Scream Factory label) will be bringing Stanley Donen's 1980 space gothic, Saturn 3, to Blu-ray disc, possibly before the end of the year. As I find out more about this release, I'll pass it along.

Previously issued by Artisan Entertainment on DVD about a decade ago, with a fuzzy, unattractive, 4x3 "full-frame" transfer, the film is long overdue for a proper, widescreen anamorphic home video release, and getting it in 1080p HD is icing on the cake. Hopefully, this edition will include some extras - perhaps even the deleted "Blue Dreamers" sequence.

Saturn 3 stars Kirk Douglas, Farrah Fawcett, (a completely re-dubbed) Harvey Kietel and a truly nifty evil robot named Hector. The movie was conceived by Star Wars production designer John Barry, who also intended to direct it before his untimely passing - and it still bears his unmistakable visual style. It's easy to argue the film's dramatic merits, but the cinematography by Billy Williams and superb production design of the movie are gorgeous to behold - Saturn 3 is one of the coolest-looking space films of the Space: 1970 era, and should benefit greatly from the high-definition treatment.

I'm personally very excited by this news, and can't wait to add Saturn 3 to my Blu-ray collection.

UPDATE: Shout! Factory has confirmed that the Saturn 3 Blu-ray will be released in December. I know what I'm getting for Christmas...

News: SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN Season 4 DVDs in October

According to TV Shows On DVD, Universal has announced the wide release of the fourth season of The Six Million Dollar Man DVDs (previously available exclusively from Time-Life as part of a "Complete Series" package) on October 8, 2013.To refresh our aging memories, this is the year that Lee Majors sported that stylin' 70s 'stache!

The set includes all 22 episodes of the Fourth Season, along with three crossover episodes of The Bionic Woman. Episodes include: "The Return of Bigfoot," "Kill Oscar," "Death Probe," and "The Bionic Boy." Guest stars include Lindsay Wagner, John Saxon (Planet Earth), Stefanie Powers, Ted Cassidy (as Bigfoot!), Sandy Duncan, Farrah Fawcett (Logan's Run), Elke Sommer, John Houseman, Jennifer Darling, Carol Jones, Dick Van Patten, Joan Van Ark, Bernie Kopell, Robert Loggia, Ray Walston, Kim Basinger, Pamela Hensley (Buck Rogers), John de Lancie, Nehemiah Persoff, John Hoyt, Heather Menzies (Logan's Run TV), and Yvonne Craig, among others.

As noted above, this penultimate season not only featured the return of the alien Bionic Bigfoot (with Ted Cassidy replacing Andre the Giant in the role) but the inexplicably popular Venus Probe - a Soviet robot tank that accidentally lands on U.S. soil and goes on a rampage of destruction. Considering that the "Death Probe" was nothing but a malfunctioning machine with no personality, it's weird how excited I - and a couple million other kids - were by the damned thing. The "Death Probe" episodes were so highly-rated that the producers even had to bring it back for a rematch with Steve Austin in Season 5!

You can pre-order Season 4 now from Amazon: The Six Million Dollar Man: Season 4

News: HANGAR 18 (1980) On Blu-ray/DVD This Week!

Yikes! Here's another Space: 1970-era HD release that nearly slipped by me! Anyway, the 1980 Sunn Classics UFO conspiracy film, Hangar 18, starring Darren McGavin, Robert Vaughn and Gary Collins, is being released tomorrow on Blu-ray and DVD, courtesy of Olive Films. There's very little info out there on this release, but it does look like it's a new, 1080p HD 1.85:1 widescreen transfer, though no extras are listed.

I missed Hangar 18 at the theater in 1980, but I did catch up with it a year or so ago on Netflix Instant. While certainly no Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, with some pretty unimpressive, low budget special effects, it was still an enjoyable flick, due, in no small part, to its familiar cast of professional character actors.

Even though this disc - like Olive's other Blu-ray releases - is a little more expensive than I'd like, I still hope to be adding it to my video library soon. It should be in stores tomorrow, or you can order it online from Amazon: Hangar 18 [Blu-ray] or Hangar 18 (DVD).

UPDATE: I've now discovered (because I finally went to the Olive Films website!) that this edition includes a bonus feature after all: a commentary track with director James L. Conway (The Boogens) and writer David O'Malley. That sweetens the deal a bit.

UPDATE 2: ...or maybe not. The review that appeared today at Blu-ray.com claims there are no bonus features on this disc. I guess I'll have to see for myself once I get my hands on it.

UPDATE 3: Having now purchased my own copy, I can confirm that, despite the info on the Olive Films website, the released Blu-ray does not include the promised commentary track, nor any other supplemental features. Oh well. The transfer is very decent, however. There are quite a few specks on the print, but the image is sharp and well-delineated, colors are bright and stable, and the overall presentation is quite satisfactory. If you can find it at a discount (as I did), it's worth picking up.

And speaking of Space: 1999: here's wishing a very happy birthday to Moonbase Alpha's Commander John Koenig! Martin Landau is 85 years old today!

Thanks to Star Kid Jason Shepherd for the head's up!

Happy Birthday Sybil Danning!

Today marks the birthday of Space: 1970 favorite Sybil Danning! Best known to Star Kids (probably) as the Valkyrie Warrior St. Exmin in Battle Beyond The Stars, the statuesque Sybil also had a prominent guest role on the original V television series.

For more of the stunning Sybil, check out this VHS intro for the Space: 1999 compilation film, Alien Attack. She was also our Space Babe for March, 2011.

News: BATTLESTAR GALACTICA (1978) Blu-ray Wide Release in August

According to the TV Shows On DVD website today, Universal will be offering the "35th Anniversary Edition" Blu-ray edition of the 1978 Battlestar Galactica feature as a wide mainstream retail release on August 6th, 2013.

The suggested retail price is $19.99. It is now available for pre-order at Amazon via the following link: Battlestar Galactica [Blu-ray]

As regular readers of this site know, the disc is already available as a Best Buy exclusive, and I reviewed it - and my Best Buy experience - HERE at Space: 1970 few days ago.

As I said in my review: the disc looks very good, and it's great that fans will be able to find it and purchase it this Summer without having to deal with the corporate incompetence and related hassles of dealing with the Best Buy chain.

News: Final SPACE: 1999 New Release DVD Art

Above is the final key art for A&E Home Video's May 5th re-issue of the Gerry Anderson series Space: 1999 on DVD. Although released twice before in the U.S. by the company in a couple of different configurations/packaging options, this marks the first time the series has been offered in individual season sets on DVD in America. Note: these are standard-def DVD releases... the long-awaited Season Two Blu-rays still do not have an officially announced release date.

If you don't already have the show on DVD, you can pre-order the Space: 1999 Season One and Season Two set through Amazon and other online retailers.

SPACE 1999 Season 1

SPACE 1999 Season 2

News: 1978 BATTLESTAR GALACTICA Movie Blu-ray Confirmed - Coming In May!

Looks like the earlier rumors are true. According to various sources, Universal will be releasing a high-def Blu-ray of the 1978 theatrical release version of the Battlestar Galactica pilot on May 14th, which they are labeling as the "35th Anniversary Edition."

As long-time fans know, in order to help recoup some of its high production costs, Universal released a theatrical version of the Battlestar Galactica pilot, "Saga Of A Star World," around Christmas, 1978. It primarily played in non-U.S. markets, but it got some domestic distribution too, the theatrical experience augmented by the studio's patented Sensurround audio process.

Very few details about this edition are available as yet. Presumably, this will be the matted, 1.78:1 widescreen version that Universal previously released on DVD. No bonus features or supplements have been announced. It also appears that it will be Best Buy exclusive, so bear that in mind if you want to pick it up. (It's already on their website for pre-order HERE.)  

I'll be buying it for sure.

News: Kenner's Abandoned ALIEN Action Figure Line Finally Coming... After 34 Years!

I don't often cover news about new retro-Space: 1970's era merchandise, but this one's a little different. Back in '79, Kenner inked a deal with 20th Century Fox to release a line of toys and action figures based on their new sci-fi film, Alien. That deal resulted in an awesome 18" figure of the titular xenomorph - a toy that bombed when parents found it too scary for their kids. Also, there was some controversy about making toys for children based on an R-rated horror film (collectible toys for adults was a market that didn't exist yet). Kenner reacted by cancelling their plans for a line of Alien action figures at the 3.75" size of their popular Star Wars line.

Well, after After 34 years, fans of the Alien franchise will finally be able get their hands on the abandoned toy line thanks to the folks at Super7. With the aid of collectors and toy industry employees, Super7 has acquired original reference material for the abandoned toy line from 1979 as well as 34-year-old prototypes and, with authorization by 20th Century Fox, the full series will be released this year with preorders beginning at the San Diego Comic-Con.

From their website:

“Under authorization from 20th Century Fox, Super7 will produce the full series of ALIEN toys as part of our ReAction Figure Series (Retro-Action). Each is stylized exactly as items from the “golden age” of action figures with approximately five points of articulation, accessories, and period-authentic blister card packaging.

Preorders will begin at San Diego Comic Con!

Collect all five ReAction Figures -

THE ALIEN (“BIG CHAP”) – w/ removable transparent dome, extendable jaws and glow-in-the-dark head!

RIPLEY – w/ Flame Thrower

ASH – w/ Motion Detector

DALLAS – w/ Flame Thrower

KANE IN NOSTROMO SPACESUIT – w/ removable helmet and transparent visor”

For more info and photos, check out the Super7 website.

Another Bionic Birthday

Space: 1970 wishes the one in-six million Lee Majors, a very happy birthday today. America's favorite astronaut-turned-cyborg secret agent, the original Six Million Dollar Man, turns 74 today.