the new blade runner movie

Just seen a poster for the new Blade Runner movie.

Is Harrison Ford in it?

It lands in the UK October 5th.

Anyone planning on going?

I never gt to see the original at the cinema. Did you?

memory of a kite festival

Last weekend we visited the local Heath Kite Festival in the village of mansions.

Its a beautiful event towards the end of September and the early autumn breeze seems perfect for lifting the kites.

Me and Missus Moonbase, although not flying, strolled lazily through the spectacle like a couple of wide-eyed schoolkids!

There is something special about soft shapes eeling high in the air especially when they include a twenty foot long octopus, which was really magical to see wafting over the heath.

Do you have a kite festival readers?

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Oddly enough seeing lots of kites over parkland like this always reminds me of David Bowie's early song Memory of a Free Festival, which I loved as a young teenager and still do. I adore the final lines about the sun machine coming down. The song's of interest to vintage toy fans too because Bowie uses an old plastic Rosedale organ to create the childlike notes, just like the one I had and no doubt many of you! You'll recognise the sound!

moonbase junior is one!

Hard to believe but our Grandson Moonbase Junior is one today!

Where did those twelve months go?

After the most difficult of starts Moonbase Junior, I'm pleased to say, is a healthy happy baby boy with 7 teeth!

We'll be joining him and his lovely young parents today as Junior tries out his first trike!

All Junior's friends and family will be celebrating with him tomorrow at his super hero first birthday party. There'll be jelly, cakes, quiche, jelly, pudding, meatballs and jelly!

We'll also be doing a short sponsored super hero walk for the premature and sick baby charity Bliss.  Me and Missus Moonbase  will be suitably caped!

To the jelly!

Can you imagine being one again! Just think of all the toys to come!

Have a great weekend readers.

behind the scenes of thunderbirds and captain scarlet with superm

I love behind the scenes pictures of Gerry Anderson's TV shows.

I was amazed when I found this archive of such snaps on the vintage SuperM website.

See what you think. Anything new there for you?

http://lester.demon.nl/superm/technology/bts/

seeking the pinnacle

Bill was talking about the rover today.

I didn't know it was the name of the big balloon which roams around the village in the Prisoner. Of course I remembered the big balloon itself as its so iconic.

The Prisoner Rover was essentially a border guard and prevents exit from the cupcake Kafkaesque village. In some respects it reminds me of modern overheated xenophobia driving borders up once more. In fact The Prisoner itself could be a metaphor for the isolation felt by anyone caught in the tightening jaws of uncaring insular states riven by division and prejudice.

But eschewing politics, as is only proper on an international Moonbase, we shall rise like a weather balloon set free and ask bigger questions.

The big question on my mind tonight concerns altitude and apertures.

More precisely I am perplexed by the modern phenomenon of sending balloons into the sky with cameras attached.

Just how high can these go? Should they ever pierce the atmosphere and enter space itself would they still function? Wood the balloon stop dead and the camera fail? Would any film or indeed the SIM card in the camera be corrupted?

Whilst I ponder these conundrums of cosmic video I shall step outside with a beer, kick the regolith whilst searching for that kodak moment of Friday night.

l i f t o f f

another new doodle: a noodle!

The PrIsonEr at 50

I have to say the Prisoner (and Danger Man) passed me by over the years and I can't say i've ever seen a full episode! For shame! Maybe now would be a good time to begin investigating the enigma..

spider molab

Look what the Amazing Spider-Man did to his Molab! ha ha 

just wanted to say it again.....

JOHN DRAKE IS THE PRISONER

The iconic sixties TV series The Prisoner is celebrating its fiftieth year, and still continues to fascinate, bemuse or just downright annoy viewers.

It’s central theme of a person’s individuality struggling against the collective might of authority still has a lot of appeal.  

It was first broadcast in Canada on the 6^th September 1967, followed by the UK on 29^th September 1967. America had to wait until 1^ST June 1968.

The academically inclined still like to pour over the inner meanings of the symbolism and the allegorical aspects of the series, as indeed was the original intention of its star, Patrick McGoohan. Others simply accept and enjoy the show’s surreal look, innovative ideas and mystery.

The Prisoner's London home - No 1 Buckingham Place ....Is this a clue? Ask Mrs Butterworth.

When I watched it as a youngster during its first showing in 1967, I  saw hero Number 6 as secret agent John Drake, and to be honest fifty years later I still do. I know now that to have referred to him as Drake would have meant paying the creator of Dangerman, Ralph Smart royalties, but that wasn’t my concern.

Abington Street Car Park across the way from the Houses of Parliament, the country's seat of power. We see Number Six enter, resign and leave followed by the mysterious Undertakers. Wherever you look it's another piece of symbolism, isn't it?

I’ve always liked the slick look of those sixties ITC shows and when John Drake or as he would become known, Number Six woke in the mysterious Village I was intrigued.  Following that long fast paced title sequence  when we see Number Six drive his Lotus Seven across London, down into an underground car park, and angrily tender his resignation to his pen pushing, tea drinking superior (played, as everyone knows by the series co-creator and script editor George Markstein)  I was hooked, along with the question ‘Who is Number One?

A View from The Villa: The Prisoner's first view of the Village.

As the series continued, only 17 episodes remember, what my young mind did see was John Drake….er Number Six  involved less in spy and adventure stories like The Chimes of Big Ben and Many Happy Returns  and more in science fiction and fantasy,  The Schizoid Man or The General .  Each story had its allegorical interpretation but I had to think about it. The Western episode Living in Harmony and the mind transference story, Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling were a little bewildering, but I have to admit, nothing could prepare me for the penultimate episode, Once upon A Time. Number Six was acting like someone who’d lost his mind, not the superspy hero that I remembered previously from Danger Man.  

The Green Dome, home of ever changing Number Two and his diminutive butler.

The last episode Fall Out was finally aired. Number Two, the face of authority was dead. Would we find out who Number One really was? Number Six wanted to know, as did most of the viewing public. It turned out that Number One was… quite disappointing actually.

Number Six's home in the Village...made very welcome.

When the series was re-shown several years later it had become the cult it is today. Many articles have been written theorising about all the various aspects of what the Village really was; who ran it, and who indeed was the real Number One.

George Markstein, the co-creator (some might argue the creator) of The Prisoner,  apparently had an alternative more conventional ending, however it was McGoohan’s alternative vision that gives the series it’s enduring cult appeal.

However I’m still reassured by George Markstein’s simple summing up of the hero:

“Who is Number Six? …no mystery,  he was a secret agent called John Drake who quit”

Be seeing you!

brian's plastic beasts and behemoths

continuing the T.Rex theme, here's Brian's from New Jersey:

Hi Woodsy, here's some Jurassic World toys and for a little contrast, I threw in some Chap Mei playsets.

I included a Pleeeeziosaur for Bill to enjoy. Its absolutely Beer- moth!

Brian, USA.

king kong v. t.rex: a comparison over the four King Kong movies

King Kong loved wrestling T. Rex in the movies. For fun I've put together four clips from You Tube comparing Kong's technique over the years: that's 84 years and four films! 

I've missed out any juniors like his son or Mighty Joe Young for the mo.

See what you think.

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1933

Fay Wray version,

the original and best!

and see the above in colour!

https://youtu.be/Jz77RxYhtoQ

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1976
Jessica Lange version

I couldn't find a clip of Kong boxing a T.Rex in this version so here's the King scrapping with a giant snake.

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2005
Naomi Watts version

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2017

Kong Skull Island

No T. Rex this time. Kong's nemesis in this latest flick is the Skull Crawler!

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Which is your favourite?

You can play them al at once by clicking each film in this mini clipboard!

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You got any Kong collectables? Games, books, records, toys?

hi mrs. woods, is woodsy coming out to play?

A huge difference between our Sixties childhoods and now is that we played out as kids back then. 

Kids these days stay indoors a lot usually spending hours on Xboxes and watching other kids on You Tube on their Xboxes!

So what did we do back then that drew us into the uncivilised, rampant world outside the front door, where foul-mouthed teenagers smoked on every dark corner and phone boxes were always full of giggling girls calling someone called Gary?

Well besides all the usual stuff like pushbikes, football, girls [and boys] and getting away from our folks, there was an absolute load of games. These I suspect were created and perfected in post-war streets in the Fifties, when even bomb-sites were a cool playground.

The most popular non-sport street game we played as kids was kick the can. This was basically hide and seek with a football. The kicker - seeker would boot the ball as far as he could and whilst retrieving it everyone else would hide somewhere in the street nearby. 

This was particularly effective if the ball was kicked down a ginnel as it acted like a sort of ball chute going nice and straight down the whole long alley. The hiders would leap into back yards, drop behind hedges and generally disappear. 

If found you had to beat the kicker to the stationary ball [it was originally a can in tougher times]. This often involved rough and tumbles on the way. To beat the kicker overall you had to remain hidden and stay hidden till tea-time or till everyone had given up. I have a feeling that the found could also look for the hidden and speed things up but my memory is a little rusty ... like a can!

Another popular game was tig or It. This was essentially a tribal rite whereby everyone ran in a wild frenzy whilst the chosen one would try to touch or tig you at which point you became it, it being the chosen one. If you could dodge like a cheetah then you were never it. It was all a good excuse for some serious running round and screaming!

Some grassy lawn provided further fun and one game I played a lot was stretch. Stretch was Twister with a knife. Any knife would do as long as it could be thrown into the ground. Once stuck you had to stretch with your foot to that point. The widest stretch won. Rudolph Nureyev would have been good at stretch!

The provision of an outdoor brick wall afforded even more excitement as you could play pitch and toss. This was a form of junior gambling, which required a skill set honed whilst skimming stones at the seaside the previous summer. To win you had to pitch a penny towards the wall. If it landed touching the wall you were on to win. If, however, another pitcher landed his or her penny on top then he was winning. It went on pitching and tossing until everyone had played. The closest to the wall won. The high point of this game, its zenith, its dim mak was to land a penny stood upright against the wall. Once achieved you were more or less immortal for the rest of the day!

There were so many other things we did playing out back then. Can you remember what you did?

Kev's Cabinet of curious creatures

Just took this shot of one of my display cabinets. It is full of creatures that look out at me each day! Two of them were built to speak, the time to worry will be when the rest join in.

Take care,

Kevin

SPECIAL ASSIGNMENT TIME IS VERY CLOSE

It’s Fanderson’s ‘Special Assignment’ convention this coming weekend and I’m beginning to get myself in the mood for another Gerry Anderson fest and hopefully seeing some old friends.

The last Fanderson convention was in 2015, and did have some fantastic high points (The lovely Sylvia Anderson, sadly no longer with us, and fascinating reminiscences from merchandise master,  Keith Shackleton) and I’m sorry to say, its low points (The Saturday night quiz with it’s completely baffling questions, making most fans seek the less taxing sanctuary of the hotel bar in the next room)

Dee Anderson, Sylvia’s daughter (seen here behind her mum) is making a special guest appearance  to talk about her time growing up in the Anderson household during those early APF days.

So what has this year’s convention got to offer? Well, on the surface more of the same. 

It’s celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of Captain Scarlet and The Mysterons which aired on 29^th September 1967 in the Midlands TV region.

While I know some fans are quite keen on the later TV series’ that Gerry did following Space: 1999, I do admit I'm primarily, though not exclusivly only really interested in those guests who worked on or were involved in those early days of APF, Century 21 ,Group 3 and just after. So, with that in mind here’s a few of the guests I’m personally looking forward to seeing.

Former AP Films SFX Assistant, Peter Hitchcock has flown over from Toronto to appear.  He did try to make it to the 2015 convention but couldn’t due to other commitments.  In a video interview he did for that last convention he tells of his first job as a projectionist, then a lip-sync operator. He worked with Derek Meddings, and his hand is seen in the Thunderbirds episode, The Perils of Penelope where the Pernod is shot out of Lady Penelope’s hand.   He’s a back room boy who I’m certainly looking forward to seeing.

The puppeteer Mary Turner is the lady who sculptured Lady Penelope. After several rejected attempts using the likenesses of several glamorous actresses of the time, it's generally well known that Mary used the likeness of Sylvia Anderson for Lady Penelope.

Nicholas Parsons, the voice of Four Feather Falls’ Tex Tucker, here having a laugh with David Graham at Andercon. That’s a series I can barely remember watching as a youngster, but I’ll enjoy Nicholas reminding me of it in just a minute...

The popular, Shane Rimmer. The voice of Scott Tracy, and subsequently a writer of several Captain Scarlet episodes.  Outside of Gerry Anderson, he made several appearances as different characters in the Bond films, in particular as Submarine Comdr. Carter in The Spy Who Loved Me.

David Graham, seen previously with Nicholas Parsons, is a prolific voice artist and best known as the voice of Parker.

And, just announced the shy and retiring Matt Zimmerman, the voice of Alan Tracy. Here he is giving me a warm welcome at Andercon 2015 a couple of years back.

Liz Morgan, the voice of Destiny and Rhapsody Angels in Captain Scarlet and The Mysterons.

Alan Perry, who joined AP Films as a camera operator before becoming a director, working on Captain Scarlet, Joe 90, Secret Service and UFO.

Georgina Moon and Penny Spencer are two actresses who appeared in UFO as SHADO Operatives.  I have seen Georgina a couple of times at various conventions, (Above: Here's Georgina at Andercon) but I’ve not seen Penny Spencer before.

A friend of mine is a big ‘Please Sir’ fan, so he’ll be happy to hear if Penny, who played Sharon Eversleigh  in the late 60's and early 70's comedy series has any memories about that.

Brian Johnson, famous for Space: 1999 and 2001: A Space odyssey  and designer Mike Trim, who came up with a lot of the vehicle designs for Captain Scarlet  are both making a welcome return.

Space 1999 model maker Martin Bower, who was actually at the 2015 convention as an attendee, but this time makes it as a guest.

Richard Culley, who joined Century 21 in 1967, and succeeded Keith Shackleton as the head of merchandising. He was apparently involved in the proposed Century 21 Prisoner spin offs, which included a comic strip in TV21 or possibly TV Tornado, (which I’ve mentioned before on the blog) and an action man- like No.6.  All were totally rejected by star, Patrick McGoohan who didn’t want the character to become a comic strip or a dolly.

Last, but certainly not least veteran TV21 artist, Mike Noble. Mike was very much part of those early days for me, as TV21 was just as important as the series for youngsters like me growing up in the sixties.

There are also several other fine guests who worked on Gerry Anderson’s later series:

From Terrahawks Judy Preece; John Lee and Steve Begg.

From The New Captain Scarlet Phil Ford; Mark Woollard; Dominic Lavery

From Dick Spanner:  Terry Adlam,  (and technically Shane Rimmer)

Plus there will be model and puppet displays, exclusive merchandise to purchase, and the usual signings. 

I know there's a lot of volunteers who have worked hard to make this happen and right now, it all looks like it could turn out to be quite a party.

Vintage Toy Boys 2005

Here's a slice of nostalgia nestling in my photo archive!

Its my mate Mark [below] and me at our toy stall at the Morley Vintage Toy Fair in October 2005.

We even had our own T-shirts made for Mad About Monsters, my old toy dealer name, which I started that year on Ebay and at fairs like this. I still have my old T-shirt!

Somewhere I'll have the receipts for that Sunday too. They won't have been huge.

We did enjoy ourselves though. It was always a lot more fun two of us doing it.

Have you ever had a toy stall anywhere?

flea crisis on the moon

We seem to be lurching from one crisis to another here at Moonbase!

First runaway humidity and now blasted fleas!

The Moonbase Mutt Blue has an infestation of the little stowaways!

The Lunar Vet has given him an injection, loaded us up with dog pills and taken ninety of our best shiny pounds for the privilege.

We also had to procure Flea Spray for Moonbase and some anti-flea bits for the hoover so the little critters don't breed in the dust bag and we don't need to chuck it after every daily vac!

All in all we are well over a ton worse off and Moonbase smells like an operating thearte after spraying the sofas and carpet with the big can.

OK, thats excessive moisture we are turning round, fleas we are driving back, so what's next? The Moonbase supply of Cream Soda going off? Nah, that's just too awful to think about!

Have you had a flea crisis? or maybe a flea circus?

PS. I wonder if fleas have ever gone into space on board a US, Russian or Chinese mission? Can they survive? Are they on the International Space Station I wonder? They'll need a damn big can of spray!

project sword toys in the uk and usa in the late sixties

Project SWORD toys by Century 21 Toys in the UK and Europe: a sample of the fleet.

Project SWORD in the USA by Tarheel Industries

I've no idea how the US prices compared with the UK for value. For instance in 1967 you could get a Space Glider or a Moon Bus in the UK for 24/11d and in the US $2.99. Does anyone know the 1967 exchange rate of US and UK currency or maybe even today's equivalents?

There were also two unusual Project SWORD Captain Scarlet-based crossover toys by Tarheel in North America.

Do you have any Century 21 or Tarheel Project SWORD toys in your collection?

A VISIT TO BOND IN MOTION

Just got back from The Smoke where I visited the Bond in Motion exhibition at the London Film Museum.

As their flyer states, it’s a ‘double-o-heaven’ for 007 fans, and I spent several very enjoyable hours looking at some of the cars, models, story boards and props that have featured in the official James Bond films over the years.

Here are a few photos I took of just some of the items on show, starting with my favourite Bond car – the Aston Martin DB5.

Although there’s apparently been nine different DB5’s used during the filming of James  Bond films over the years, the car on show is the one featured in Goldeneye, and sports the number plate BMT 214A, considered Bond’s private plate. Bond’s ‘company car’ DB5, as any Bond fan will tell you was originally numbered BMT 216A, and of course first seen in Goldfinger, and later in Skyfall and SPECTRE.

photo: Danjaq/EON Productions

photo: ITV Studios

Interestingly enough that numberplate attached to a ‘Dubonnet Red’ DB5 turns up an early Roger Moore Saint episode, The Noble Sportsman.  According to information found on the James Bond Vehicle Library, Belgium fan, Luc Vancampenhout reckons that BMT216A was the first Aston Martin DB5 ever built and after appearing in The Saint, was loaned to Pinewood Studios, re -sprayed ‘Silver Birch’ and became the gadget car from Goldfinger and Thunderball. In 1997, this car was actually stolen from a guarded compound at Boca Airport and never seen again.

The gadget laden Aston Martin V12 Vanquish, along with the villain Zao’s lethal Jaguar XKR, from Die Another Day, are both on display.  Here’s the Vanquish showing a full complement of weaponry. (Excluding the dodgy CGI!)

The exhibition boasted many of the cars from SPECTRE, which naturally included the beautifully designed Aston Martin DB10.  This one on display is one of the stunt cars that took part in the chase through Rome.

According to the Bond in Motion brochure the DB10 was created and manufactured especially for this Bond film, and only 10 have been built.

The car that chases Bond through the streets of Rome is the Jaguar C-X75. According to the brochure the car on display has the continuity damage consistent with the storyline.

The Ford Mach 1 Mustang from Diamonds Are Forever is another favourite of mine.  Well known for the famous ‘up on two wheels’ stunt, driver Joie Chitwood did it at the first attempt.  The car on show is the powerful early production Mach 1 ‘Fastback’ with a 429 Cobra Jet Ram engine.

The Lotus Esprit SI from’ The Spy Who Loved Me’, is another popular Bond car with me, or should that be submersible? Nicknamed ‘Wet Nellie’, the one thing that puzzles me is how does that fish get inside while it’s underwater?

The original ‘ Little Nellie’ heavily armed autogyro from ’You Only Live Twice’, a variant of the Wallis WA -116 Agile developed by RAF Wing Commander Ken Wallis, and named after the popular British music hall star Nellie Wallace, who during her  time was described as ’The Essence Of Eccentricity’. I suppose that pretty much sums up ‘Little Nellie’ with her two machine guns, flamethrowers, aerial mines, rockets and heat seeking missiles.

A small display of vintage and not so vintage merchandise is tucked away in the corner by the side of the coffee shop.

There are copies of Bond’s passports, driving licences (one showing an endorsement for speeding), Universal Exports business card, and his old Walther PPK complete with silencer.

There are several surviving miniatures on display, including a few superbly detailed models from Moonraker, including this Marines Shuttle.

And finally, for now this 1/3 scale model of the Aston Martin DB5 from Skyfall, used for the attack on Bond’s family estate.

Of course, this is just a taster of what's on show, and even if you just have a passing interest in the Bond films this is quite definitely for your eyes only!

James Bond will return