PLANET OF THE APES Movie Poll!

It's Poll time again! For this one, we're dealing with the first great sci-fi film franchise of the Seventies: 20th Century Fox's time-twisting Planet Of The Apes cinematic saga. The question is a simple one: "Which Planet Of The Apes Film Is Your Favorite?"  Just for the hell of it - and for completion's sake - I included Tim Burton's 2001 remake and 2011's re-imagined prequel, Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes, even though, technically speaking, they fall outside the purview of this blog.

Personally, I'm expecting the 1968 original to win in a landslide... but I'm willing to be surprised. You'll find the Poll (as usual) over at the top of the right-hand sidebar, so vote now!

As always, feel free (hell, I encourage you) to discuss and elaborate on your choices in the comments!

Captain's bLog 0408.13

•  As you may have noticed, March was pretty much a bust as far as maintaining any momentum in posting to this blog. This can be attributed to a number of factors, including a bit of seasonal depression deriving from a seemingly endless winter, a touch of creative burnout, and some now-resolved physical ailments over the last few weeks that had a disastrous effect on my overall productivity. Then, last week, I lost a dear friend, and that really sent me reeling, too.

Anyway, I'll be making a very sincere effort to resume somewhat regular posting here beginning this week, starting with this "Captain's bLog" post, and, over the next few days, some long-promised reviews (Westworld, Futureworld & 1974's Wonder Woman). Stay tuned.

•  Poll Results: Last month, I posted the musical question: "Which 70s "Space Princess" Was The Sexiest?" With 271 votes cast, the clear winner (116 votes!) was Ornelia Muti's smokin' "Princess Aura," from 1980's Flash Gordon.

Making a respectable showing in second place, was Pamela Hensley's sultry "Princess Ardala," from the Buck Rogers television series, with an impressive 92 votes. Carrie Fisher's iconic "Princess Leia," from the original Star Wars trilogy, placed a distant third, with 43 votes. Sorry, Your Worship.

 •  DVD News: Various sites recently reported that the long-awaited Space: 1999 Year Two Blu-rays had gone up for pre-order at Amazon, with a release date of May 17, but this was an error on Amazon's part. In May, Space: 1999 is being re-issued on DVD (again) in Season One and Season Two packages. There's still no confirmed release date for the Second Season Blu-rays.

• Remake News: Disney is still teasing a remake of 1979's The Black Hole, to be directed by TRON Legacy's Joseph Kosinki. This past week, it was announced that Prometheus screenwriter John Spaiht was penning the new script. Hard to get excited about any of this... I didn't hate TRON Legacy, but I wasn't very impressed by it, either, and as for Prometheus.... oh well. We'll always have the original, and if the remake actually gets off the launch pad, maybe we'll finally get a Blu-ray.

• Space: 1970 on the Radio: Well, not exactly - but your humble Captain will be appearing on an upcoming episode of the Earth Station One podcast, where I'll be joining in on a discussion about the character of Buck Rogers - in all his incarnations. No doubt, I'll be talking a lot about Gil Gerard and Erin Gray... and TWIKI, too. Of course, I'll post an announcement here when the episode goes live, later this month. 

•  Blatant Cross-Promotion: First, I want to remind you all again that my new weekly sci-fantasy webcomic, Perils On Planet X, drawn by the talented Gene Gonazles, can be read for free at perilsonplanetx.com.  This serialized interplanetary swashbuckler sees a new page posted every Friday, and chronicles the adventures of modern-day Earth astronaut Donovan Hawke, stranded on the lost planet of Xylos, hundreds of millions of years in the past. The story is packed with monsters, beautiful women and lots of Flash Gordon/Blackstar-styled thrills. I hope you'll check it out, bookmark it, and follow the comic each Friday.

Anyone who enjoys my writing and the DVD reviews on this blog should check out my DVD Late Show site, where I have been reviewing B-movies, cult films and genre television shows on DVD and Blu-ray disc since 2005. Among the over 700 reviews on the site are plenty of Space: 1970-era favorites, like Battle Beyond The Stars, Damnation Alley, Starcrash, The Starlost, the Space: 1999 Blu-rays, and many more.

Poll: Space Princesses!

Well, we're long overdue for another Space: 1970 Poll, so here's the first one of 2013: "Which 70s Space Princess Was The Sexiest?"  You'll find the poll itself over at the top of the right-hand sidebar here on the blog, and, as usual, feel free to explain your vote in the comments or berate me for failing to include your favorite!

The Envelope, Please....

And... the results of our most recent Space: 1970 Reader's Poll are in!

A week or so ago, I posed the musical question: "Which 70's LIVE ACTION Super-hero Show Or TV Movie Was YOUR Favorite?" For the purposes of this poll, I excluded "on the cusp" characters like bionic Steve Austin & Jaime Sommers and Atlantean Mark Harris, and chose to limit the choices to a.) characters directly derived from super-hero comic books (including the non-costumed Hulk), and b.) characters that had distinct super-hero identities/costumes (i.e. Isis, Electra Woman).

With an astounding 291 votes cast, the winner is: The Incredible Hulk, with an even One Hundred votes! I voted for The Hulk, myself; not only was it a terrifically fun show, the Bill Bixby-Lou Ferrigno series was one of the most successful genre shows of the decade.

In the early days of balloting, the Green Goliath was running neck-and-neck with second-place winner, The New Adventures of Wonder Woman, starring the eternally-beautiful Lynda Carter. WW ultimately ended up with a very respectable 74 votes. In fact, for the first half of the week, the two CBS shows were never separated by more than a single vote. But sometime around last Thursday, the Hulk received a boost of Gamma radiation, I guess, and surged ahead to victory.

Tying for third place were the Saturday morning classic, Shazam! and prime-time's The Amazing Spider-Man, with 23 votes apiece. To my delight, every nominated show garnered at least a couple of votes, even that goofy Hanna-Barbara Legend Of The Super-Heroes! I was genuinely surprised to find Isis so low in the tabulations - even Electra Woman & Dyna Girl beat the Egyptian goddess by a single vote!

Thanks to everyone who participated! Keep visiting the site - you never know when I might post another Space: 1970 Poll!

New Space: 1970 Poll: Heroes & Heroines

Hey, Star Kids, it's time for another reader poll! Our last poll, way back in November, asked whether the Space: 1970 blog should include the super-hero shows and movies of the era in its sci-fi coverage. The answer was a resounding "YES!," so I've been mixing some super-hero material into the site over the last few months.

As a follow-up, this poll asks: "Which 70's LIVE ACTION Super-hero Show Or TV Movie Was YOUR Favorite?" Note, I'm only asking about non-animated television programs and made-for-TV movies/specials, so no Superman - the Movie write-in votes, please. You'll find it over in the right-hand sidebar, right on top. You only get one vote, so make it count!

If I forgot to include something, be sure and let me know here in the comments (as if I'd expect anything less).

Captain's bLog: 0109.12

• For various reasons that I've addressed previously, my Space: 1970 blogging dropped off a bit over the last couple of months. To my surprise, the site still managed a fair amount of new traffic during November and December, and my recent post of those Frank Frazetta TV Guide ads for Battlestar Galactica (which I had the foresight to clip and save back in the Fall of 1978!) got linked to by SyFy's "Blastr" site and the Retroist blog, among others, which brought a surge of new visitors to S:70 just this past week. In fact, the last four days have had, by far, the highest number of unique visitors and page views to date. I hope that some of these new folks hang around.

•  The last Space: 1970 Poll, posted waay back on November 4th, asked the immortal question: "Should Space: 1970 cover the superhero shows/films of the 1970s, as well as sci-fi?"

Well, the answer was a resounding, "Yes!" Of 203 votes cast by blog visitors, a whopping 176 were in favor of me adding 70s super-hero fare like The Incredible Hulk, Wonder Woman, Shazam! and Isis, and Superman: The Movie to the mix here on the site. I still have my reservations (it feels like I might be opening something of a Pandora's Box), but I can't ignore such unbridled enthusiasm from the S:70 faithful. I'll start working on integrating our favorite costumed crusaders into the site over the next couple of months....

• I finally saw Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes, and enjoyed it enough to pick up the Blu-ray and add it to my Apes collection. I still prefer the original movies, but I admit that Rise turned out to be a much better flick than I had initially anticipated. I'm still not a huge fan of mo-cap/CGI characters, but in this particular case, it worked well enough. I did enjoy the clever references to the original film cycle, of course.

•  Support Space: 1970: The site now has more than 350 "followers" here on Blogger, and the S:70 Facebook fan page is up to over 770 "likes." My sincere appreciation to everyone for their support! I also want to thank everyone who have used the Amazon links on this site to make purchases of vintage sci-fi on DVD/Blu-ray (and the few who've made Paypal donations - if you'd like to contribute, there's a link in the right-hand sidebar). Every little bit helps.

•  Shameless Self-Promotion: Anyone who enjoys my writing and reviews on this site should check out my DVD Late Show site, where I have been reviewing B-movies, cult films and genre television shows on DVD and Blu-ray disc since 2005. Among the over 700 reviews are plenty of Space: 1970-era favorites, like Battle Beyond The Stars, Damnation Alley, Starcrash, The Starlost, the Space: 1999 Blu-rays, and many more.

• That's it for now. January's Space Babe will be posted shortly....

New Poll!

I've posted a new poll question in the right-hand sidebar. This Space: 1970 Poll is a little different from previous ones: instead of asking you to choose a favorite program, character, etc., I'm giving you an opportunity to help shape the direction of the blog.

"Should Space: 1970 cover the superhero shows/films of the 1970s, as well as sci-fi?"

For the last year or so, I've been considering this question. There's no doubt that television shows like Wonder Woman, Shazam!, Isis, The Incredible Hulk, and feature films like Superman: The Movie, were big parts of my 70s sci-fi childhood. But I'm also not sure that I want to open up the blog to discussing these titles on a regular basis. It seems like it might be straying a bit too far off topic (or opening a Pandora's Box!). Admittedly, shows like The Six Million Dollar Man and Man From Atlantis are on the cusp anyway; essentially superheroes without capes. And something like The Incredible Hulk was, in its TV incarnation, more sci-fi than superhero. So, I'm looking for some input.

As always, feel free to discuss your your choice - or make your arguments, pro or con - in the comments!

Well, the results are in. With 216 ballots cast, the clear winner in the "Which 70's sci-fi robot, droid, or android was YOUR favorite?" poll was Star Wars' astromech droid R2-D2, with a whopping 57 votes. Coming in second, with 36 votes, was the original, classic Cylon Centurion from Battlestar Galactica. The drones from Douglas Trumbull's Silent Running, Huey, Dewey & Louie, took third place.

I voted for V.I.N.CENT from The Black Hole, myself, but then I'm sucker for levitating robots and Roddy McDowell. The same film's menacing Maximilian placed a solid fourth in the poll. I admit, I was surprised that Space Academy's Peepo didn't get more votes, but, like Buck Rogers' Twiki, I think he was maybe just too annoying. I was pleased that Quark's Andy garnered at least one vote, though.

Look for another poll in a month or two!

New Space: 1970 Poll - 'Bots!

Time for another Space: 1970 Reader's Poll, which you'll find over at the top of the right-hand sidebar. This one fits right in with the graphic I've been using for the feature, because it's all about 70s sci-fi retrobotics - in particular: "Which 70s sci-fi robot and/or droid was YOUR favorite?"  I'm limiting this to live action feature films and  U.S. TV shows, but if you want to write-in Doctor Who's K-9 or some other android or robot I missed, feel free to do so here in the comments.

By the way, if you read this blog through its RSS feed, you should know that the Poll is only available here on the actual site. Have fun!

D'OH! I can't believe I forgot The Delos Gunslinger from Westworld! (And the Fembots, too.) Dammit....

Captain's bLog: 0406.11

•  Well, despite a Blogger hiccup that made about a hundred votes disappear overnight a few days ago, the second Space: 1970 Poll seems to have been a popular success. The question was: "Which 70s Saturday Morning Live-Action Sci-Fi Kid's Show Was Your Favorite?" Although it wasn't spelled out, the poll was meant only to cover series that originally aired on Saturday mornings on American television networks (ABC, NBC & CBS) during the 1970s.

There were 143 votes in total, and the Sid & Marty Krofft production Land of the Lost received 61 of them. I voted for Lost myself - of all the series on the ballot, Land of the Lost had the most well-realized sci-fi setting and strongest writing (especially during the first season). Plus, you know, dinosaurs. If not for Land of the Lost, I might have voted for Jason of Star Command. It was ridiculous, but it was action packed, and full of fantastic special effects.

Filmation Studios' Ark II came in second, with 19 votes, and the same studio's Shazam! and Jason of Star Command tied for third place. The only show on the ballot to receive no votes whatsoever was the caveman adventure Korg: 70000 B.C. (produced by notorious Star Trek & Space :1999 producer Fred Frieberger). I included comedies like Sid & Marty Krofft's The Lost Saucer and Far Out Space Nuts, because, silly as they were, both shows had some pretty neat alien costumes and sometimes, cool miniature space ships/planetscapes.

One more note about the Polls - if you read this blog through its RSS feed, you should know that the Poll is only available here on the actual site. 

•  Look for full-length posts on Planet Earth and Strange New World later this month, as I've now watched both discs from Warner Archive. Strange New World was the only one of the Warner Bros "PAX Trilogy" I hadn't seen since its original airing, and I was surprised how much of it I remembered. I'll also be reviewing the Tron Blu-Ray disc sometime in the next few days at my DVD Late Show site, so stay tuned. Look too for the long-promised Omega Man post, another "Favorite Episodes" article. No, really. They're on the way. I mean it....

•   Still looking for a good publicity photos of Jean Marie Hon from Ark II and/or Man From Atlantis, The Fantastic Journey's Katie Saylor, and Space Academy's Maggie Cooper for future Space Babes post. I'm also looking for a videotape or DVD of The Questor Tapes. Finally, if you enjoy this blog and you'd like to help support this site financially, please consider buying your vintage genre DVDs through the Amazon links on this page, or maybe making a donation via the Paypal link in the sidebar. I'm trying to save up for a new scanner so I can pillage my vast magazine and memorabilia collections for the blog.

Thanks to everyone who stops by, and especially to those who link to Space: 1970 and spread the word on Twitter and Facebook. Your support is greatly appreciated!

Poll Problems!

Very strange: this afternoon, at least a hundred votes seem to have disappeared from the current Space: 1970 "Saturday Morning Sci-Fi" Poll tabulations. Obviously, there's some weird - and damned frustrating - glitch in the Blogger Polls at fault.

I guess that means everyone can vote again.

New Space: 1970 Poll

I thought it was time for another Space: 1970 reader's poll. This one is really for the Seventies Star Kids: "Which 70s Saturday Morning Live-Action Sci-Fi Kid's Show Was Your Favorite?"

For this poll,although I've excluded animated series, I've included super-hero shows and sci-fi comedies. If I've forgotten your favorite, be sure to let me know in the comments!

Captain's bLog: 1213.10

• The results of the first official Space: 1970 poll have been in for a few days, but I'm finally getting around to writing about it. The question was: What's your FAVORITE prime-time/syndicated Sci-Fi show originally airing between 1970 and 1980? A staggering two hundred and twenty-two Space: 1970 visitors voted.

Coming in at #1 was the original Battlestar Galactica, with 66 votes. In second place was Space: 1999, garnering 40 votes. The big surprise for me was that third place was taken by Gerry Anderson's other 70's live-action opus, UFO, with 30 votes, just barely knocking Buck Rogers in the 25th Century into fourth, with 29. Fifth place was The Six Million Dollar Man, with 26 votes.

So what does this mean? Well, that maybe I should write more about Battlestar Galactica and UFO, for starters. I'll post another poll soon.

• Starting on December 20th, I'll be running a week's worth of posts dedicated to the post-Apocalyptic science fiction of the 1970s: The End of the World as We Knew It. It's the first "theme week" I've attempted here, and I'm curious as to how it will be received. There will be seven days of reviews and articles about flicks like The Omega Man, The Ultimate Warrior, etc., running through the holiday.

• And speaking of the holiday, there's a chance that I'll be posting something special on the 25th as a present for all you loyal Space: 1970 readers. It depends on how much time I can scrounge up between now and then to pull it together....

•  I've posted my review of The Bionic Woman Season One DVD set from Universal over on my DVD Late Show site. You'll find it HERE. In rewatching the show for the first time in decades, I was pleased to find that I still really enjoyed it, and that Lindsay Wagner - who was almost too good an actress for this type of show - was still as lovable and admirable as Jaime Sommers as I remembered. A rare kudos to Universal, too, for including the Six Million Dollar Man episodes that introduced the character. I still cannot afford the Time-Life complete Man set, and I would have been more than a little annoyed if those episodes had not been included in the first season Bionic Woman package.

• Another recent review at my DVD Late Show site that might be of interest to Space: 1970 readers, is my coverage of the Space Precinct - Complete Series DVD set from Image Entertainment. Produced by Space: 1999 and UFO's Gerry Anderson, this 90's syndicated sci-fi cop show has a distinctly 1970's vibe. Review HERE.

•  Oh, and unless I've miscounted... this is my 200th post.

The SPACE: 1970 Poll

Back when I launched this blog, I ran a reader's poll asking "What's your FAVORITE prime-time/syndicated Sci-Fi show originally airing between 1970 and 1980?" Of course, back then, the site had only a fraction of its current readership, so I thought I'd try again. If people enjoy these polls, I'll post more of them - whenever I manage to think of a fun question to ask.

Feel free to suggest future questions in the comments, or explain your choice. Or complain that I forgot something - because that's always fun.

OOPS: I made a mistake in the Poll, so I had to delete it and start over. My apologies to the seven people who had already voted.