News: MESSAGE FROM SPACE (1978) DVD Coming From Shout! Factory In April

I don't have much information on this yet, but a pre-order listing has appeared on Amazon for a domestic DVD release of Kinji Fukasaku's 1978 space opera epic, Message From Space. I don't know if it will be just the U.S. United Artists version, or will include the original Japanese language version as well, nor do I know if any bonus material will be included. As more information becomes available, I'll post it here on the site.

Message From Space has already been available in the U.S. on DVD from Eastern Star for a while (it's the version I have). My review of that disc can be found HERE. I was quite satisfied with the quality of that edition, and I'm curious to find out what difference - if any - there is between the Eastern Star and forthcoming Shout! edition. However, if they offer the title on Blu-ray, I'll definitely pick it up!

The Shout! Factory edition is due on April 16th, and can be pre-ordered here: Message From Space

Milton Bradley STAR BIRD Commercial

As a follow-up to yesterday's insanely popular post - here's a vintage UK TV spot for Milton Bradley's Star Bird toy!

Fifth Coolest Toy Ever: Milton Bradley's STAR BIRD

In the late Seventies everybody wanted a piece of the Star Wars merchandising goldmine, even companies that didn't have a license. In 1979, Milton Bradley Electronics introduced the best of the wannabe products, though, incorporating then-cutting-edge electronics into a sleekly-designed starship toy that, while original, looked like it should have been in Star Wars. They called it The Star Bird - and it was the coolest 70s space toy that wasn't based on a movie or TV show.

The toy was equipped with electronics that created an engine sound when turned on. If the toy was pointed upwards the sound would be altered by a ball bearing switch to generate an acceleration or taking-off effect, while a nose down orientation produced the sound of decelerating engines. A button at the rear of the cockpit activated the red LEDs at the front of the toy, along with a blast noise, to simulate the firing of the vessel's blasters.

MB offered a couple of variations on the Star Bird design, including a "fighter" configuration known as The Avenger and black plastic-molded version of the fighter, called the Intruder. A Star Bird Command Base was also offered. 

The Star Bird is, in this Star Kid's opinion, the fifth-coolest toy ever - it would probably ranked higher if the ship had actually appeared in a TV show or movie.(And unlike the other really cool non-TV/movie ship, the Interplanetary U.F.O. Mystery Ship model, you could really play with the more rugged Star Bird!)

For those keeping score, the coolest 70s toy ever was the Mattel Space: 1999 Eagle Transporter. The second-coolest toy of the Space: 1970 era was Kenner's 18" Alien. The third was Kenner's Bionic Bigfoot from The Six Million Dollar Man, and the fourth was Mego's Star Trek Communicators.

News: PERILS ON PLANET X Webcomic Ready For Launch!

I hope you'll all forgive me for plugging a personal project, but I wanted to announce here that my new webcomic series, Perils On Planet X, with art by the exceptional Gene Gonzales, will debut on February 1st, with a new page being posted every Friday at perilsonplanetx.com.

Perils On Planet X is an interplanetary adventure in the tradition of Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter of Mars or Alex Raymond's Flash Gordon, though it incorporates influences from virtually every science fantasy/space opera you can imagine, including plenty of Space: 1970 favorites. (For one example: the green skies of our planet Xylos are a "homage" to the green skies of Blackstar's planet Sagar.)

The plan is to serialize the entire graphic novel (around a hundred pages or so) online, and then collect it in a print version upon its completion. We already have six month's worth of pages completed - and nearly six months' more drawn and lettered - so maintaining the weekly schedule won't be a problem.

I'm confident that anyone who reads this blog regularly will enjoy what Gene & I have come up with for this comic series, and hope that every Space: 1970 Star Kid will make a weekly habit of reading Perils On Planet X. I've literally been working on it for more than a decade and am eager to see how it's received. Please check it out come February 1st. Thanks!

THE PEOPLE THAT TIME FORGOT (1977) Theatrical Posters

While I still have the dazzling Dana Gillespie on my mind, here's a selection of theatrical one-sheets (and the British quad) from her film, The People That Time Forgot, the 1977 matinee adventure that co-starred Patrick Wayne (Sinbad & The Eye Of The Tiger), Sarah Douglas (Superman II) and Shane Rimmer (UFO, Warlords Of Atlantis).

The John Dark-produced, Kevin Connor-directed sequel to their 1975 Edgar Rice Burroughs adaptation, The Land That Time Forgot, People is an entertaining lost world epic in its own right, with charmingly low-tech effects and lots of prehistoric derring-do.

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.

January's Space Babe: Dana Gillespie

Our first Space Babe of 2013 is lost world lovely Dana Gillespie, from 1977's The People That Time Forgot. Quite fetching in her plunging doeskin, the British-born cavegirl was an appealing ally and guide to adventurer Patrck Wayne as he searched the dinosaur-infested time-lost land for the wayward Doug McClure.

Born in March of 1949, Gillispie is a popular singer of pop and "risque" blues tunes, and was the original Mary Magdalene in the first London production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Jesus Christ Superstar in 1971. Aside from The People That Time Forgot, the shapely young actress' genre credits include a memorable role in Hammer Films' bizarre adventure film, The Lost Continent in 1968.

These days, the multiple-award-winning Gillispie still performs regularly in England and Europe with her London Blues Band. Her personal website can be found HERE.

Erin Gray - The Ultimate Space Babe

You may have noticed the "Popular Posts" list over in the right-hand sidebar of this blog. This widget tracks the most popular posts on this blog in the last 30 days. For the last twelve months - give or take a week or two where it may have dropped to number two or three - the most-viewed post on this site has been the "Erin Gray/Wilma Deering Gallery."

I can't say I'm surprised. Not only was Ms Gray's Wilma Deering stunning in shiny spandex, she was a strong, courageous, intelligent and fiercely feminine icon of the Space: 1970 era with a devastating smile and the sexiest laugh ever heard on TV. Star Kids of both genders couldn't help admire her... and that admiration and affection continues today (anyone else watch her on The Guild?). I hereby pronounce her the "Ultimate Space Babe!"

Here's wishing all Star Kids - those who grew up in the Seventies with the sci-fi shows, movies and memorabilia of the era, and those of subsequent generations who discovered this stuff years later - a very happy, safe, and space opera-filled New Year. Enjoy a toast of Saurian Brandy, Tranya or ambrosa tonight (drink responsibly - that stuff has a helluva kick), and I'll see you all here again on the 2nd.

News: KORG: 70,000 B.C. (1974) On DVD

Not strictly sci-fi, but close enough for my blog, Korg: 70,000 B.C. was a 1974 live-action Saturday morning children's series revolving around the day-to-day struggle for survival of a family of  (English-speaking) Neanderthals.

Created by Fred Frieberger (producer of Star Trek Season 3 and Space: 1999 Year 2), the show was a rare foray into live-action by Hanna-Barbara and starred Jim Malinda as Korg.

A plaintive hunting horn, heard over a ruddy sunrise, signaled the start of something different on Saturday mornings in the mid-seventies. Clan Korg had arrived to take kids and kids at heart on a series of live-action anthropological adventures across the dangerous terrain of prehistory. Aided by consultants from both New York's American Museum of Natural History and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Korg ditched battling dinos and discovering fire for a more mature focus on the dawn of cooperation and compassion amongst our Neanderthal brethren as personified by it's pre-nuclear family. Korg is the patriarch of the clan, which includes Mara, his mate; Bok, Korg's younger brother; and Korg's three offspring: Tana, 15; Ree, 12; and Tar, 11. Together, they brave opposing tribes, cave bears and fire while discovering the roots of art, diplomacy and commerce in the world of 70,000 BC. Burgess Meredith narrates.

 I'm not quite sure how I missed it, as I usually try to stay on top of releases from Warner Archive, but I guess they released the complete series of Korg earlier in December as a 2-disc Manufactured-On-Demand DVD set containing all 16 episodes.

I can't say I remember the show well; I rarely watched it, preferring the more fantastic primeval thrills of the Land of The Lost. But I do know that it had its fans among the era's Star Kids.

The discs can be ordered directly from Warner Archive or through Amazon: Korg: 70,000 B.C.

Coming Attractions: FUTUREWORLD (1976) Theatrical Trailer

Following up on yesterday's great Westworld/Futureworld news, here's the original theatrical trailer for Richard T. Heffron's return to the Delos resorts, where nothing can possibly go wrong... again. Futureworld. Enjoy.

News: WESTWORLD (1973) & FUTUREWORLD (1976) Coming To Blu-ray In March

Here's some good news for those of us Star Kids who are equipped for HDTV: Warner Home Video will be releasing the 1973 Michael Chricton killer android thriller Westworld, starring James Brolin, Richard Benjamin (Quark) and the unstoppable Yul Brynner (The Ultimate Warrior), on Blu-ray disc in March of 2013.

And in a nice bit of marketing syncronicity, Shout Factory has licensed the rights to the 1976 American-International-produced, Richard T. Heffron-directed sequel, Futureworld, starring Peter Fonda and Blythe Danner (with a cameo by Brynner) and will also be releasing it on Blu in March!

I can't wait! Wouldn't it be extra-cool if Warner Archive would take this opportunity to unearth from the vaults and dust off the short-lived 1980 television series Beyond Westworld at the same time?

Both of these eagerly-anticipated Blu-ray discs are available for pre-order from Amazon:

Westworld [Blu-ray]

Futureworld [Blu-ray]

Hailing Frequencies Open!

Here's wishing the multi-talented Nichelle Nichols - the Star Trek franchise's first, best, and (with apologies to Ms. Saldana) sexiest Lt. Uhura - a very happy and joyous 80th birthday. Ms. Nichols was the Space: 1970 Space Babe for January, 2011.