Captain's bLog: 1124.14

• Five Years In Space:  This blog was five years old on November 2nd. Quite coincidentally, I'm sure, a couple of weeks ago, right in time for the anniversary, the Space: 1970 page on Facebook started getting dozens of "Likes" out of the blue. This was unusual, because the Facebook page has averaged only one or two "Likes" a month for years. Suddenly, there was a huge influx of new fans (presumably), and before too long, the page had surged past the 2,000 "likes" milestone. Needless to say, this sudden interest got me thinking about this site and how badly I've neglected it over the past year or so.

I recently wrapped up my two weekly webcomics (Perils On Planet X and the crime comic Gravedigger), and completed a couple other long-gestating writing projects. As I slowly clear my commitments from my desk, I'm looking forward towards the new year, and figuring out what I want to do next. One thing I definitely want to do is get back to regular posting here on this site.

I doubt I'll ever get back to the nigh-daily updates of a few years ago, but I'd very much like to manage a post two or three times a week. I have a surprising number of unfinished articles, dating back a couple of years. One of my goals is to finish those up, along with a few long-belated reviews (The Aliens Are Coming, Star Maidens, Beyond Westworld, Space Stars, Meteor, Saturn 3, etc.) and get back to some old features (like "Fave fives" and "Favorite Episodes"). I'm also considering doing an episode-by-episode review of The Fantastic Journey television series, one of the few shows from the era that's still not on DVD (many episodes can be found on YouTube, though). We'll see how I do over the next few months, I guess.

For what it's worth... I have been re-watching a lot of 70s sci-fi shows over the last few weeks....

• HD News: Basically, it's all good news/less-good news on the hi-def 70s sci-fi front. Rumor has it that Universal will be releasing a Region 1 Blu-ray set of the original 1978 Battlestar Galactica in early 2015. That's the good news. The less-good news for some folks is that it will apparently not include any re-done CGI special effects (although it seems that they were considering it for a while), but will instead use the same HD masters as the German Blu-rays from a couple years ago.

To be honest, though, I'm kinda glad they didn't replace the effects with new CGI, no matter how nice and slick it might look. Part of my love for these shows is the handcrafted practical effects, and I'm glad they're being preserved.

The long-awaited second season Blu-rays of Space: 1999 appear to finally be on the way, as well. Network has announced that Year Two will be released on Blu-ray in the UK in the Autumn of '15. There will also be a standalone HD release of the two-part "Bringers Of Wonder" episodes.

Before American fans get too excited though, here's the less-good news: there has been no official word as yet about a Region 1 Blu-ray release through A&E, the show's US licensors.

• Stuff to Check Out: My virtual pal Rob Kelly has recently revived his Power Records blog, which means, of course, lots of cool Star Trek, Six Million Dollar Man, Planet Of the Apes and super-hero 45 rpm audio bliss, not to mention scans of the fantastic comics and album covers that graced these nostalgic faves. He's posting pretty much daily, so click over and visit.

I've mentioned it here before (a long while back), but I'm quite taken by what I'm seeing of Spectrum Games' Retrostar RPG, which endeavors to recreate the feel of the kind of 70s space operas we celebrate here at Space: 1970. I get a very strong Star Frontiers vibe off the thing, so you Old School gamers might want to give it a look.

• Space: 1970 Still Wants You: As mentioned in my last "Captain's bLog" (back in July!), I've always been open to - and grateful for - submissions from my readers. Now I want to outright encourage you folks to send me any cool Space: 1970-era stuff you might think would be interesting to your fellow Star Kids. Rare photos and production art, behind-the-scenes stills, nominations for "Space Babes" or Reader Polls, personal photographs of you and your friends with your favorite 70s sci-fi toys, pretty much anything, really. Hell, even if you'd like to write a Guest Post, just e-mail me. I'll do my best to credit any contributions I use, of course.

That's it for now, I guess....

STAR TREK (1975) Power Records Covers

Here are some of the Star Trek comic book & record combos produced by Power Records back in 1975. The artwork in these comics was provided by Neal Adams' Continuity Associates (incl. contributions from Adams himself, Russ Heath and Dick Giordano), and the stories were written by Space: 1970 superscribe, Alan Dean Foster. The dramatic audio plays are pretty good - these two stories in particular are designed to make good use of the format - but suffer from not having any of the original actors involved.

As for the comic book art, it's generally terrific - but these books are somewhat notorious for making Sulu into an African American, and Uhura a blonde!  The Animated Series' Lieutenant M'Ress appears in "Passage to Moauv," but instead of being drawn as a felinoid, she looks like an Orion slave girl!

I still have this one!

There were additional Star Trek audio dramas from Power Records that appeared on LP s and 45 RPM records throughout the latter half of the Seventies, including a few that tied-in with the release of  Star Trek - The Motion Picture in 1979.

There are several sites on the web devoted to Power Records, where you can find MP3s of the records and pdfs of the comics. I prefer The Power Records Plaza, myself.

PLANET OF THE APES Power Records Gallery

I have fond memories of these Power Records comic book/audio adaptations of the Planet Of The Apes films (except Conquest - no doubt because it was so much darker and more violent than the others). Unfortunately, I no longer have any of these, dammit. I don't know who the artists were; most of the Power comics were prepared by Neal Adams' Continuity Associates, but they actual artists were uncredited.

I specifically recall getting the Escape book & record at our local K-Mart one Summer afternoon and being really anxious to get home to read it and listen to the accompanying audio dramatization on its 45 RPM record.  I remember that the Escape adaptation opened with a drawing of Taylor's spaceship in orbit over the Earth as the Alpha/Omega detonation turned it into a huge ball of fire. When I finally saw the actual movie, I was disappointed that it opened with the capsule already having splashed down.

I really need to post more about Power Records - their Star Trek, Space: 1999, POTA and Bionic book & record sets were so much a part of being a 70s Star Kid. There are several sites on the web where you can find MP3s of the records and pdfs of the comics. I like The Power Records Plaza, myself.

It's Fun To Read As You Hear!

For those of us who remember the Power Records comic book & 45 RPM record sets (and if you don't, go here or here), there was some cheesy charm - especially in those days before home video and the internet - to having new adventures of the Star Trek or Space: 1999 crews available at your fingertips. Sure, the voice actors didn't sound anything like the TV casts, and the stories were juvenile, but hey - it was the 70s. You took what you could get. And the artwork was pretty cool, too, if occasionally strangely inaccurate (Uhura as a blonde Caucasian?).

If you've never experienced the Power Records, um, experience, and you're not sure you want to download any MP3s or PDF files, someone on YouTube has approximated the joys of Power in video form.

So, here's the Power Records adaptation of Space: 1999's "Breakaway" in two parts. Nice art. Enjoy!

Part 1:

Part 2: