Space Babe: Heather Menzies

Heather Menzies as Jessica 6 on TV's Logan's Run. Her adventures on the show were strictly Earthbound, but lovely Heather was one of my favorite Space Babes of the 70s. I had trouble actually finding a good, sexy still of Heather as Jessica online, but she was really a very unique beauty and a very appealing heroine - with truly great legs.

She was a child actress who appeared in as a Van Trapp kid in The Sound of Music, and as a young woman, she was a popular TV actress who also starred in a couple of B-movie genre films like Piranha and Sssssss. To me, though, she'll always be Jessica 6 on the short-lived television version of Logan's Run. Of course, part of my affection for Heather may because around the same time she appeared on Logan's Run, I happened to get a look at the pictorial she did for Playboy...

Here's a link to her website.

SPACE: 1999 - Final Message From Moonbase Alpha

Ever wonder what happened to the inhabitants of Moonbase Alpha, once we stopped receiving transmissions of their adventures?

Well, back in 1999, regular series writer Johnny Byrne and cast member Zienia Merton (Sandra), managed to get this final message out to reassure fans that the Alphans... well, watch it for yourself.

70s Sci-Fi Obscurities

Although it sometimes seems like every cult show or film is available on DVD (Genesis II, Planet Earth, The Shape of Things To Come, Galaxina!?), for the really obsessive 70s sci-fi buff, there are yet a few obscurities that are still unavailable on disc. In fact, most of them have never been released on home video in any format. This includes genre television shows like Project: UFO and Logan's Run, and my two personal holy grails: the Canadian flying saucer epic Starship Invasions, starring Robert Vaughn and Christopher Lee, and Toei Studios' Message From Space, starring Vic Morrow and Sonny Chiba.

I saw Starship Invasions on network television in the late 70s, and actually went to see Message from Space at the old Waterville, Maine Cinema Center (it's a church now). Starship seems to have all but disappeared from this reality (though YouTube user CyprusCorners has a retitled version uploaded - along with lots of other genre treasures), while Message did run at least a few times on cable's Starz Action movie channel earlier in this decade.

I keep hoping that some adventurous DVD label will release these films on disc in their proper aspect ratios and digitally remastered... but considering just how comparatively obscure these titles are, I'm thinking it's unlikely. Sure, there are bootlegs and "gray market" versions floating around, but aside from being expensive, the quality is usually awful.

Is there some forgotten film from the era that you wish was available on DVD? Let me know in the comments. Who knows who might be reading this blog?

Space babe: Caroline Munro

Caroline Munro as Stella Star in 1978's Starcrash. Kicking off what is intended to be a weekly feature here at Space: 1970, showcasing the most beautiful women of the era's science fiction and fantasy productions, is the stunning Caroline Munro as the sexy space smuggler in Luigi Cozzi's Seventies Spaghetti space opera epic.

The lovely Miss Munro was the cinema's perfect pulp adventure heroine, with memorable turns in Captain Kronos Vampire Hunter, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, and as Dia The Beautiful (and she certainly was!) in Amicus' enjoyably absurd adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs' At The Earth's Core.

Visit her official webpage.

Coolest Toy Ever - Mattel SPACE: 1999 Eagle 1

On Christmas morning 1976, I received one of the greatest gifts of my entire childhood. Better even than my Star Trek and Planet of The Apes Mego figures. It was Mattel's two-foot long Eagle Transporter playset from Space: 1999.

This thing was a monster and came with small action figures of Moonbase Alpha's John Koenig, Helena Russell and Victor Bergman in their bright orange space suits. There were also tiny accessories like little laser guns, helmets and other bits of exploratory equipment. The cockpit opened and could hold two figures, and the passenger compartment was large enough to reach in and move them around. There was even a hatch in the bottom with a working winch!

The nose section and red engine section were detachable and could even be joined together to make a small reconnaissance craft. It was, without a doubt, the coolest spaceship toy ever.

Sadly, this is not a photo of my Eagle (I wish!) - all that remains of the one I received all those decades ago is the main chassis and nothing else; all the other parts having been lost or destroyed through years of dangerous space missions to the alien planets of my backyard. Oh, the perils I used to subject that tiny crew of Alphans to!

Obviously, I got an awful lot of fun out of that thing, and if my fortunes ever turn around, I'd love to hunt down an intact one one day.

Of course, I later had the Eagle (and Hawk fighter) model kits, and they were cool, too, but once built, there really wasn't much you could do with the ships other than display them. That didn't actually stop me from playing with mine, though... which is why they no longer survive!

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: THE SECOND COMING (1999)

Most readers of this blog have probably already seen this, but I thought it was worth posting, and since it's directly tied to the 1978 Battlestar Galactica series, it seems appropriate to this site, as well.

Ten years ago, prior to Universal Studios' revamp/reimagining of Battlestar Galactica for the Sci-Fi Channel, actor Richard Hatch wrote and personally financed this four-minute promotional trailer for a proposed, straight-forward sequel series.

Taking place a couple of decades after the conclusion of the '78 show, Hatch's version had Apollo in charge of the Colonial fleet, having succeeded the now-deceased Adama. Starbuck is missing, and when Baltar returns, warning of a new, more-deadly generation of Cylons, Apollo must train a new force of young warriors to battle the threat.

Several original cast members - Terry Carter, Jack Stauffer, George Murdock, and the late John Colicos - joined Hatch's ambitious project (along with Galactica 1980 villain Richard Lynch), but I don't believe that Universal ever seriously considered going with the actor's proposed revival.

Hatch ultimately used many of his story concepts in a series of authorized Galactica novels co-written by Christopher Golden (and others). I have three of them, and they're actually pretty good.

Video Copyright 1999 by Su-Shann Productions.

Coming Attractions: STARCRASH (1978) Trailer

Seriously. I love this movie. Too bad there still isn't a decent DVD of it out there.

SPACE ACADEMY (1977)

Set in the "Star Year" 3732, the short-lived Space Academy Saturday morning kidvid series (it mutated into Jason of Star Command a year later) chronicled the adventures of a group of young space cadets led by handsome Chris Gentry (Ric Carrot, The Swinging Cheerleaders) and his telepathic sister Laura, (popular 60’s and 70’s child actress Pamelyn Ferdin). Other cadets include Brian Tochi, Ty Henderson, Eric Greene and the incredibly hot Maggie Cooper (An Eye For An Eye). Under the tutelage of their teacher/headmaster, Commander Isaac Gampu (Jonathan Harris of Lost in Space, with a bizarre haircut), the earnest young cadets learned important lessons about honor, duty and life while exploring the galaxy and unraveling the mysteries of the universe.

Shot on a very low budget (although still the most expensive children's show up to that time), Space Academy was Filmation Studios’ second live-action science fiction series, following the previous year’s post-Apocalyptic adventure, Ark II (which was sort of Damnation Alley for kids). Despite the budget, SA is surprisingly well crafted, with good production values, sets and costumes, not to mention high-quality, pre-CGI special effects that rival those produced for other 70’s sci-fi projects, including the vastly more expensive Space: 1999. Nowadays, it’s common to call such handcrafted, painstaking miniature work "cheesy," especially when compared to today’s hi-tech, computer-created effects, but that’s just insulting, ignorant and inaccurate. Space Academy boasts damned fine effects work and it adds immeasurably to the show’s charm. In fact, effects supervisor Chuck Comisky went on to supervise the effects on Roger Corman’s 1980 epic space opera, Battle Beyond the Stars, and some of his crew members worked on Star Wars and its sequels.

The model work is remarkably detailed and nicely-designed. The Seeker shuttles were designed specifically to resemble the Ark II vehicle so that the budget-conscious studio could reuse the expensive full-size prop. The Academy model itself is fascinating, as it depicts the space station as being built on and into an asteroid. It makes for a cool and unique visual.

Scripts are a mixed bag – ranging from some thought-provoking sci-fi and effective character studies to childish kid’s space adventures, but the cast is likeable and every half-hour episode is entertaining, each delivering the obligatory moral just before the end credits. Additionally, Maggie Cooper frequently wears a miniskirt. My favorite episode, though, is probably the one where the show’s obligatory cute robot, Peepo, had to battle an evil ‘bot portrayed by Bill Malone’s recreation of Robby The Robot from Forbidden Planet. (Robby also appeared in an episode of Filmation’s previous live action sci-fi show, Ark II.) Another favorite is "Star Legend," in which the cadets encounter a "Flying Dutchman"-styled ghost ship, which just happens to look exactly like the Academy – upside down!

BCI/Eclipse’s now out-of-print DVD set includes all 15 episodes of the single season on 4 discs, and is also available in a Filmation Sci-Fi box set with Ark II and Jason Of Star Command. The full frame transfers look very good for their age. BCI has also included plenty of nostalgic bonus features, including a half-hour documentary/cast reunion and two episode commentary tracks with producer Lou Scheimer, cast members Carrot, Tochi and Greene, and effects supervisor Comisky. There’s an extensive still gallery, all the episode scripts on DVD-ROM, commercial bumpers and more.

The only disappointment in this fine DVD set is that neither Pamelyn Ferdin (Laura) nor Maggie Cooper (Adrian) were involved in the reunion/documentary. It’s a shame, because Ferdin was one of the most prolific and familiar child actresses of the era and probably has some great stories, while Maggie Cooper was… well, an uber-babe.

• TRIVIA: Cadets Brian Tochi and Pamelyn Ferdin both appeared in the third season Star Trek episode, "And The Children Shall Lead."

The BATTLESTAR GALACTICA Movies

Although not common, neither was it unheard of in the 60s and 70s for television producers to release select episodes of their series to theaters as feature films. The 60s spy show, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., for instance, made a regular practice of it, with each of their two-part episodes being designed specifically to be combined and released internationally as feature films.

In 1978, Battlestar Galactica was the most expensive series ever produced for television. In an attempt to get as much return on their investment as possible, Universal Studios actually released an edited version of the 3-hour premiere episode to theaters during the holiday season, augmented with their patented, rumbling Sensurround process (of course, few theaters were actually set up to employ the process, so despite the ads, most patrons got regular theater sound). This version was subsequently released on home video (and is still the version on DVD).

Universal also produced two additional Galactica features. Mission Galactica: The Cylon Attack was made up primarily of footage from the two-part episiode "The Living Legend" (featuring Lloyd Bridges as The Pegasus' Commander Cain) with additional scenes spliced in from "Fire In Space." It was pretty-well executed, really, except for a poorly written, off-screen bit of dialogue dubbed in at the end to tie up some unresolved plot threads. This feature was released theatrically overseas, as a syndicated television film, and on VHS home video.

The final Galactica feature was an edited-down version of the 3-part Galactica: 1980 premiere, and was called Conquest of the Earth. This also was released to overseas theaters, independent television stations and home video. Now, as I remember it, the worst part of this particular compilation (beyond it being Galactica: 1980, I mean) is that it completely eliminates the only remotely interesting portions of the original TV episodes: the time-travel adventure with Richard Lynch (probably because it dealt with Nazis) leaving only the really dull running around Los Angeles on the flying Viper motorcycles stuff.

Apparently this strategy was pretty successful for the studio, because in 1979 they actually released the pilot to their new space series, Buck Rogers In The 25th Century, to theaters a couple of months before it debuted on television! More on that later....

THE WAR IN SPACE (1977)

From director Jun Fukuda and special effects wiz Nakano Teruyoshi, the creators of several Seventies’ Godzilla epics, comes Toho Studios’ 1977 interstellar adventure, The War In Space (Wakusei Daisenso).

Conceived by Toho Studios as a fast Star Wars cash-in, the final film owes as much to Gerry Anderson’s television shows UFO and Space: 1999 and the Japanese studios’ own Sixties sci-fi thrillers Atragon and Battle in Outer Space as it does to George Lucas’ intergalactic epic.

In the (then-future) year of 1988, UFOs attack the Earth. While the invaders are devastating New York, Paris, Tokyo and the world’s other major cities, a team of scientists race to complete a space battleship called Ghoten. Once launched, the ship and its crew head for Venus, to counterattack the aliens. Along the way, the only female crewmember (lovely Yuko Asano) is kidnapped by the green-skinned, Roman-helmeted alien leader and his horned wookie, UFOs engage in high-speed dogfights with the Earth fighters above the barren Venusian landscape, and space ships explode impressively.

The old school, handcrafted special effects work – finely detailed miniatures on mostly-invisible wires – is expertly executed and effective. The spaceships, in a decidedly Asian conceit, resemble sea-faring vessels, and the alien flagship is specifically modeled on ancient Roman sailing ship designs. The Ghoten features a huge drill bit (shades of Atragon!) and cool, giant revolvers that fire missiles and are also used to launch sleek, one-man fighters. The UFOs are original and unique. Made on a fraction of Star Wars’ budget, The War in Space demonstrates that ingenuity and imagination can carry the day even when money’s tight.

A few years ago, Discotek Media released The War in Space for the first time on U.S. home video (I believe) on DVD with a brilliant 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer, completely restored and remastered. Audio options included both the original Japanese language track and an English dub, presented in both the original mono and in a newly created 5.1 remix. The Japanese track is preferable, as it’s stronger and more robust. Discotek also included a bevy of cool bonus features, including a fascinating video interview with special effects director Nakano Teruyoshi, the original theatrical trailer, an extensive still gallery, and an informative booklet that includes poster art, spaceship design sketches and liner notes.

As a fan of 70's outer space epics and Japanese fantasy films, I’ve been wanting to see this movie ever since I saw the poster art in a 1978 issue of Fantastic Films magazine. It took almost 30 years, but I wasn’t disappointed. It’s a terrific presentation of a great old-fashioned space opera, and I recommend it highly.

THE STARLOST (1973)

Like many other things in my life, I first discovered the existence of The Starlost through the pages of Starlog magazine in the mid-70's. I learned there that it had been a short-lived 1973 television series created by Harlan Ellison, who, dissatisfied by the final product, had chosen to use his pen name of "Cordwainer Bird" in the credits.

I also knew that Keir Dullea, of 2001: A Space Odyssey, played the lead role of Devon, a young Amish man who discovers that his small world of Cypress Corners is actually an artificial biosphere, one of many that make up the Earthship Ark – a vast multi-generation spacecraft. Venturing beyond his own artificial world, he discovers that a cataclysmic accident several hundred years before killed the command crew of the Ark, and it is now crippled and off-course, heading directly toward a star. With his friends Rachel (Gay Rowan) and Garth (Robin Ward), Devon searches the Ark for some way to correct the ship's course, or for someone knowledgeable enough save it and the millions of people isolated in their own biospheres – most of whom are unaware that they are on a spaceship at all.

And that was about it.

In the late 80's I came across a paperback copy of Phoenix Without Ashes, Edward Bryant's novelization of Ellison's original pilot script for the series. The introduction to the book – by Ellison himself – detailed the series' troubled production and the reasons for the acclaimed author's unhappiness with the show. The novel was pretty good, and piqued my interest, but as the series had only run for 16 episodes and was virtually unseen in syndication, I figured I'd never see the show. Which disappointed me, because I love 70's sci-fi television, no matter how bad its reputation.

Well, considering all the obscurities that have been dug up and released on DVD in the last decade, I should have guessed that somebody would put it on digital disc eventually, and sure enough, the folks at VCI Entertainment have done just that. All 16 episodes of the Canadian-produced show are now available on a compact, 4-disc set.

Produced on a very small budget, the show was shot on videotape and featured modular sets that could be disassembled and reassembled in different configurations to suggest new sections of the vast Earthship Ark. There was also extensive use of chromakey (bluescreen), which enabled the production team to drop the actors "into" miniature sets, which saved even more money. Too bad most of the miniatures were pretty unconvincing.

The videotape filming, sets and costumes give the series a look similar to Doctor Who episodes of the same vintage, but The Starlost doesn't have the same charismatic characters or ambitious storylines and unbridled imagination of Who. In fact, it's pretty mundane all around.

The stories started out okay – if overly cliched – but soon devolved into silliness, with the sort of ludicrous faux science that was common in the era's sci-fi TV. And that's a real shame since some decent guest stars appeared on the show, including familiar genre faces John Colicos (the original Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek), Barry Morse (Space: 1999), Simon Oakland (Kolchak: The Night Stalker), and Walter Koenig (Star Trek, Babylon 5).

Still, I found myself growing somewhat fond of Devon, Garth and Rachel, and I thought that most of the episodes were - at least - entertaining.

Nonetheless, I can completely understand why Ellison disowned the show, and why noted science fiction writer Ben Bova was embarrassed to be credited as the series' "science advisor" – he was completely ignored by the producers, but they kept his name in the credits for the publicity value. Same with special effects ace Douglas Trumbull (2001, Silent Running, Close Encounters of the Third Kind), who quit the show before the first episode was shot, but remained credited as a producer for the entire run.

VCI's DVD set includes all 16 episodes on 4 discs, packed into one standard-sized case. The transfers are sharp and clean, but as noted above, the show was shot on videotape, so the picture quality is far from perfect, with some minor video "noise" and some bleeding colors. It's probably better than it looked on TV in '73, though. The only extra is a presentation reel used to pitch the syndicated series to independent stations before production, hosted by Dullea and Trumbull. In this short film, the series is verbally described by Dullea, accompanied by stock effects shots from Trumbull's then-recent feature, Silent Running.

The Starlost is a classic missed opportunity – with Ellison, Bova and Trumbull aboard, it should have been something remarkable, and revolutionary. Unfortunately, the realities of independent television production, and the bad judgment of the producers resulted instead in an artistic and commercial misfire, interesting only to die hard fans of 70's genre television like myself.

If you consider yourself such a fan, then VCI's set is worth checking out. Buy it from Amazon here: The Starlost - The Complete Series

STARCRASH (1978) International Posters

Luigi Cozzi's Star Crash (a/k/a The Adventures of Stella Star) is one of my favorite movies. Usually dismissed as a cheap Italian Star Wars knock-off, it's actually much, much more than that: it's a cheap Italian knock-off of all three Flash Gordon serials, Barbarella, hundreds of pulp space operas and comic books, and a half-dozen Ray Harryhausen movies. It literally has everything: a scantily clad heroine, a comic relief robot, stop-motion monsters, lightsabre duels, space amazons, space troglodytes, a galactic villain with a beer belly, ray guns, awful spaceship miniatures, beach ball planets, Christmas tree light stars... and a score by Academy Award winning composer John Barry!

It also has some delightfully pulpy movie posters. The one at the top is the American one-sheet, and it's kinda cool, but the other two – wow! I especially love the last one, where the artist had the balls to paint the Millennium Falcon (flying backwards!) as one of the spaceships.

Actually, in all of these the spaceships look better than the ones in the movie.