Coming Attractions: THE BLACK HOLE (1979) TV Spot

Here's a fun, 30 second TV spot for Disney's 1979 space epic, The Black Hole. Enjoy!

SPACE: 1999 (1977) Original Comic Art By Pat Boyette

Here's the very nice cover painting by veteran comics artist Pat Boyette for the 7th - and final - issue of Charlton Comics' Space: 1999 color comic book, obviously based on the Second Season premiere, "The Metamorph."

Boyette was a Charlton workhorse, drawing countless pages for the Derby, CT publisher for over twenty years. He created the Peacemaker character for the company, and also drew several adventures of the Phantom and Flash Gordon - among dozens of other characters/titles. In addition to being a fine cartoonist, Boyette was also an actor, writer and filmmaker. He passed away in 2000.

LOGAN'S RUN (1977) UK TV Show Tie-Ins

This hardcover Logan's Run "Annual" was released in 1978 by UK publisher Brown Watson, and contained - as these uniquely British publications usually did (Do? Do they still publish these things?) - articles and photographs from the short-lived 1977 television series, as well as a handful of newly-created comic book-styled adventures. I have a couple of these "annual" books from other shows, but I don't have this one.

Another British Logan's Run tie-in from '78 was this issue of Look-In, which sported this attractive cover painting of Gregory Harrison and Heather Menzies as Logan & Jessica, and also contained a two-page Logan's Run comic story. This is yet another treasure from across the Pond that has eluded me, but on the rare occasions that I actually get to attend comic book conventions, I always keep an eye out for it - especially as the cover copy promises "picture strips" for the Man From Atlantis, The Six Million Dollar Man, and The Bionic Woman, as well!

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!

STAR WARS (1977) Italian Poster

I can't believe I never saw this gorgeous Italian Star Wars one-sheet before today. I truly love this comic book-styled artwork by Michelangelo Papuzza. It reminds me somewhat of Russ Manning's work on the early Star Wars newspaper strips... and that's a very good thing. Enjoy!

THE STARLOST (1973) TV Guide Ads

More vintage TV Guide ads! Here are a couple of advertisements for the syndicated, Canadian-produced 1973 series, The Starlost, starring 2001: A Space Odyssey's Keir Dullea and Gay Rowan. One of the most derided genre series of the Space: 1970 era, I'll admit that it's not a very good show. Still, I find the characters likable and the premise is certainly intriguing - even if rather poorly executed on a microscopic budget.

In fact, I may have to pull the DVD set down off the shelf again someday soon....

November's Space Babe: Grace Lee Whitney

November's Space Babe is the lovely Grace Lee Whitney as Captain's Yeoman Janice Rand from the original, classic Star Trek. Beautiful in a beehive and short skirt, competent and professional, Janice Rand's tenure on the U.S.S. Enterprise was comparatively brief, but undeniably memorable.

Born Mary Ann Chase in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1930, Whitney was a talented singer and actress who brought some sex appeal and glamor to the first season of the seminal sci-fi series. She left the show during the first year, but returned to the franchise several times, appearing in most of the "classic cast" films, including Star Trek - The Motion Picture. She also appeared on the spin-off series Star Trek: Voyager, reprising the Rand role. 

In 1998, she published her autobiography, and she appears regularly at Star Trek conventions and autograph show.

Captain's bLog: Supplemental

I spent four and a half hours early this morning going through each and every Space: 1970 post from the last two years, replacing images that were lost in last month's hacker attack on one of my online accounts. In the early days of this blog, I hosted most of my pix on that server, because I thought it would be more secure than uploading them directly to Blogger.

Silly me.

Anyway, it looks like everything was recoverable, thank goodness, and I'm pretty sure I found everything. I did notice that a number of YouTube videos have gone dead because the accounts associated with them have disabled embedding or have simply disappeared. Not much I can do about that, unfortunately. If I get some spare time, I may go through those and see if I can replace the missing vids, but I don't hold out much hope for many of them.

Anyway, now that I've gotten the repairs and maintenance out of the way, I can start focusing on putting some new stuff together, beginning with November's "Space Babe" - and get back to work finishing up some long-promised reviews and features. Stay tuned!

SPACE: 1970 - Year Three Begins

Today marks the second anniversary of the Space: 1970 blog. Over the past two years, I've written around 450 posts (give or take a few) about the science fiction films and television shows - and related memorabilia - of the 1970s and early 80s. It's been an interesting experience - especially discovering so many other people out there with the same sort of affection and nostalgia for those programs.

I'm also amazed at how many 70s sci-fi treasures have been unearthed since I launched this blog. Starcrash and Battle Beyond The Stars on Blu-ray disc. The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman on DVD. The Gene Roddenberry "Pax" pilots, the Man From Atlantis, Message From Space, Thundarr the Barbarian - all of these have only just become available in the last couple of years on authorized DVDs. When I started this site, I only wished that I could see most of those again, and now I have them on my shelves.

I've wondered, on occasion, just how long I could keep this site going. But, as there are still so many topics I want to discuss, articles and reviews that I want to write - and so many new (to me) 70s genre artifacts that I keep stumbling upon - I'm sure I'll be able to keep it going for a good while yet.

Well, at least another year, anyway.

So, thanks to everyone who stops by Space: 1970 on a regular basis, for your enthusiasm, encouragement, and good manners. It's nice to have a place on the 'net where material like Far Out Space Nuts, Quark, Jason Of Star Command, Buck Rogers and even Starcrash, can be discussed without condescension and snark. I greatly appreciate it.

(Now, I'll be spending the night hunting down and replacing - if possible - each of the missing images from early blog posts that were lost in last month's hacker assault. Sigh.)

Behind-The-Scenes Pix #10: LOGAN'S RUN

Here's a cool "Behind-The-Scenes" shot of technicians working on the huge cityscape "miniature" for the feature film Logan's Run. Before I saw this photo I had no idea that the "City of Domes" model was that large!

PLANET OF THE APES (1974) - Roddy McDowell TV Movie Epilogues

When 20th Century Fox television repackaged episodes of the 1974 Planet Of The Apes television series into two-hour TV movies for syndication in 1981, they apparently shot original wraparound footage for each of the new "features" with Roddy McDowell as an aged Galen, who would wrap up the loose ends of the plot and tie the flicks together. According to what I've read, these short bits were only used once, during the original airings of these "movies" and only in the New York market. Here are two of those rare clips from the fifth and final flick, Farewell To The Planet Of The Apes:

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA (1979-80) Marvel Comics Cover Gallery - Part 2

Rich Buckler/Klaus Janson

Pat Broderick/Terry Austin

Pat Broderick/Terry Austin

Walt Simonson/Klaus Janson

Walt Simonson

Walt Simonson

Here's the second batch of covers from Marvel Comics' Battlestar Galactica series. As I mentioned before, this franchise really worked in comics, and the writers and artists really ran with the material, free of budget concerns and expensive special effects. With the unlimited scope of the comic book page, the Battlestar Galactica comic could include a slew of alien races and planets, as well as devote subplots and storylines to some of the supporting characters. It was - and remains - a great comic; one of my all-time favorites.

The third - and final - batch of covers will be posted soon.