MOONBASE CENTRAL: January 2019

Thursday, 31 January 2019

CENTURY 21 PUBLISHING UPDATE COMING

This special post will appear tonight at midnight tonight. If you like Century 21's more general books you'll like this post.

IS MERA A SEA-MONKEY?

Seeing this box art from Ideal's Mera the Super Queen I was immediately struck by a memory of another illustration of underwater family bliss .....

This!

Yes, its those crazy Sea Monkeys advertised in the back of Marvel and DC!

Own a bowlfull of happiness!

Did you have any instant pets like this?

UNIVERSAL MONSTER BENDER

As I enjoy a monster bender of Universal monster films this week a few thoughts have surfaced in the swill of grue.

I was recently talking to a teenager, who astutely asked if I thought, like him, that the Mummy was simply a zombie in bandages? Now I must say I didn't have an immediate answer to this as the anatomical borderland between mummification and zombiedom is somewhat blurred to be honest. What do you think readers? Is a Mummy a zombie?

Moving on, a friend of mine informed me of something that I really didn't know. Lou Ferrigno is deaf. Lou came up as I had recently seen him the US TV sitcom King of Queens, where's he's the neighbour of the titular 'king'. Amusingly Lou plays himself and everyone knows who he is in the show! I don't know what this device is called but I like it and I loved watching Lou as the Hulk back when I was a young avenger in the Seventies. I can hear the haunting closing music even now! Did you like Lou's Hulk?

Another super hero entered my life this week as well, one Aquaman. I saw the latest flick with my pal Mark and as we are both big DC fans we were excited and came away aqua-satisfied. The film was screened on a 4XD screen, which means that its visible on three of the four walls of the auditorium! I must say the experience did make me slightly dizzy but that could have been the dizzying nature of the film, with Aquaman and Mera swirling and whirling round Atlantis like crazy seahorses!

I was chuffed to see a nod to Gerry Anderson as the movie contains a short view of a TV showing Stingray! Another bit of fun for me was seeing Mera on screen for the first time. I've admired the Atlantean princess from afar for ages as she featured as a Ideal action doll back in the Seventies, one of the 'Super Queens'. Quite a few of my action figure books picture Mera in all her iridescent mermaidery. Here she is courtesy of Ebay:

Oddly enough I had thought that Mera and the other Super Queens like Batgirl were Mego but they were Ideal toys. I must say I love the box art and I think somewhere I might have a colour scan of the Ideal Batgirl box to make up a repro. No idea where that went. Its Super Queening somewhere in the loft, probably rolled in a tube.

And so Its nearly time to carry on my binge watch of Universal monster flicks. So far this week I've seen Abbot and Costello meet Frankenstein, House of Frankenstein, House of Dracula and currently I'm enjoying Frankenstein Meets The Wolfman.

These American takes on European myths are the very foundation of all monster fandom and it amazes me that they were all created before, during and after the Second World War.

For myself, it was Universal's second wind in the Sixties that made me a monster nut as the monster craze swept the US, the UK and the world and babyboomers everywhere fell in love with Universal's creatures of the night, their second outing in the light of the moon.

Along with the space race, the monster craze fashioned who I was back then and who I still am now. The dual attractions of Apollo and Lugosi swept me up in an irresistible tractor beam toward a friction-drive supernova childhood.

Its clear to me now that I had two sets of parents. My real ones, the dear Woodsies and my other ones, Neil Armstrong and Forry Ackerman, who between all four created the true me and brought me to this moment now writing this on a blog devoted to space and monster toys.

Who were your childhood influences readers? Are they still influencing?

LP TRANSPORTER

Here's my LP rocket en route on a die-cast transporter.

Have you any rocket carriers?

Wednesday, 30 January 2019

Terranova47's Belated Birthday Greetings

Hello Woodsy

A late response to this week's birthdays!
Terranova47
NYC

BRIAN'S SWAG

Thanks again to all who joined in my birthday celebration. Here's my cache of birthday swag!

Yes, I got a Pineapple!

-BrianF

NJ USA

Belated Birthday Card for Bill

Happy Belated Birthday wishes from Space-Ghost from the Southcoast

Mark J.

DICKIE HELICOPTER

Here's Grandson's new big boss plastic Dickie Police Coast Guard Helicopter.

It has a working winch, lights and a working rotor!

As Grandson says, "I like it!"

Tuesday, 29 January 2019

WE'RE COMIN' BRIAN!

NEW JERSEY'S LOOKIN' GOOD. LETS TAKE THE PARTY ROCKET.

YIKES! WE'VE BLOWN A GASKET!

A CARD FOR BRIAN FROM TONY

For Brian F, the man who gives us such fab creature features. All the best Brian :)

Tony K

SEASTAR5 UPDATE BY RICHARD DIXON

Hi Paul......Happy new year to you mate....sorry its been a while since I sent you anything over.....have been busy of late so here's a few images recently completed.....feel free to share with your readers.....Best regards Richard Dixon ....

PICTURE ONE - BLACK VIMANA BATTLE CRUISER - IMPERIAL LEMURIAN SUB CRAFT - WEAPONS FIRE - FROM SEASTAR 5 EPISODE NINE.....SEASTAR 5 THE SERIES .

PICTURE TWO - DSR -1 TAURUS - FLYING SUB CRAFT - FROM THE SEASTAR 5 - OVER THE REEF.....UNDERSEA MODEL LANDSCAPE ON THIS WAS BIG - SIX FEET WIDE AND FIVE FEET DEEP.....ALL UNDERSEA EFFECTS ADDED LATER IN POST PRODUCTION.

PICTURE THREE - USS ATLANTIS - AT MIDAS BUILDING DOCK WHARF - HAWAII.....ANOTHER LARGE MODEL SET - FOUR FEET IN HEIGHT AND THREE FEET IN WIDE......SEASTAR 5 THE SERIES.

PICTURE FOUR.....SEASTAR 5 COMES UNDER ATTACK FROM THE IMPERIAL FORCES OF LEMURIA.....ALL VFX / UNDERSEA EFFECTS ADDED IN POST PRODUCTION.....SEASTAR 5 EPISODE NINE - SEASTAR 5 THE SERIES .

PICTURE FIVE .....TYRANNIAN UNDERSEA PATROL CRUISER MOVING THROUGH THE CAVE ENTRANCE TO THE UNDERSEA CITY OF PATHOS - CAPITAL CITY OF THE UNDERSEA EMPIRE OF TYRRANIA - North Pacific.....A SCENE FROM EPISODE NINE - SEASTAR 5 - SEASTAR 5 PHOTO STORY SERIES .

Finally we have the first poster image of my latest studio creation - SINBAD GOLD RAIDER HEROES -

this is a new photo story model animation series which has just started this week in production....its my latest promotional item for the services / work expertise I do for the Toy Industry and Children's Comics.....its being made in a digital photography format with miniatures and should be released - in its first episode later in the year.....

images from the production should be available in the spring.......based on the Arabian Knights tales of Sinbad the Sailor - my inspired take on this will be different in some ways from what has previously been done - more on this very soon.....

Latest on SEASTAR 5.......now with nine episodes of the photo story series completed....it can easily all be seen by ...just Google me " RICHARD DIXON TPD STUDIOS - select the studio Home Page for the complete SEASTAR 5 menu from the search results.......all will then be revealed....

Thanks again Paul for putting my images on your site ....appreciate it .

Will keep in touch on progress on SINBAD .

Best Regards

Richard Dixon
UK