Well it's Friday evening in the UK and the end of the working week. I've got that Friday feeling and plan to go to the local IMAX and see Batman the Dark Knight on the big screen with my mate Mark. And then I was sent this fabulous 1960's article (bottom of the two) from fellow enthusiast Kim about Project Sword Toys being displayed in a London nightclub and in cinemas to coincide with showings of Kubrick's 2001 A Space Oddysey. What a great story! Click on the picture to read the article and see how many different SWORD vehicles you can spot! It's amazing just how hard Century 21 were marketing Project Sword and yet not that many people remember it. The picture - bunny girls having fun with sword toys - is more than a grown man can take! PS. The top pictured text is another article - from a trade journal at the time - about the Hatchett's event courtesy of Darth. See also the Philosophic Toad's comment to this piece for more.
The whole link between SPACE ODDYSEY 2001 / SWORD and real Spaceship design is one to watch out for on the blog.
The whole link between SPACE ODDYSEY 2001 / SWORD and real Spaceship design is one to watch out for on the blog.
There is a newspiece in an earlier issue of Games & Toys which mentions an agreement between Century 21 Toys Ltd. and MGM on jointly promoting the S.W.O.R.D. toys and the film, 2001: A Space Odyssey. Sadly, I don't have a copy of that it, but did copy this line:
ReplyDelete"A Century 21 executive said there was such a similarity between the rockets and vehicles shown in the film and their own toys that they had a logical tie-up open to them."
Personally, I don't see any similarity between Project S.W.O.R.D. designs and those in 2001: A Space Odyssey; the similarity appears to have existed only in the minds (or wallets) of Century 21 executives!
For anyone interested in reading this short newspiece, it is on page 40 of Games & Toys for May 1968.