Kevin's Scratch Robot Braman

Hi,

A quick scratchbuild, using one of the little wooden figures that I use for Camberwick Green characters. This is Brains' robot Braman.

Kevin

UK

M.A.X and BRAINS

I quite like the look of these toys by Vivid Imaginations. I don't have any but the articulation looks good.

This is the Brains and M.A.X set from Thunderbirds Are Go [TV series]. 

These are on Amazon.

Are they in your collection?

TRANSPLANTING THE MIND

The other night I watched a flick called Selfless. Its stars Ryan Reynolds as a man who's body is used as the recipient of someone else's mind, someone much much richer. 

As expected it all got rather messy and the golden rule of mind transplanting was quickly broken; never find out about your donor.

This sub-genre of the 'spare parts for the mega-rich' has a long history and has interested scriptwriters and directors for years. The real science behind it is sketchy. Head transplants do have some technical papers to hang on https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6511668/ and brain transplants have a wiki page at least https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_transplant.

However, there are many films about mind uploading and whole body transplants. Gattaca springs to mind and I was surprised to see a recruitment company of the same name! In Freejack a donor who escapes is called just that, a Freejack and a phrase I love is the name of the mind trap in it, the spiritual switchboard! Total Recall explores the whole mess with memorable lines like 'Get your ass to Mars' and the UFO-like Johnny Cab. I suppose films like Avatar and the Edge of Tomorrow had mind uploading at their heart too or are these something else?

Many mind transplant films and no doubt many novels reveal society's class system, where usually its the mega-wealthy preying on the underclass as they are the only ones with all the dosh to do it. I suppose its a form of feeding; the rich digesting the poor or at least taking their bodies for themselves.

Hollywood has always been intoxicated with class at the core of many sci-fi films but what about classic British TV and film? Did mind uploading ever come up in the likes of the Tomorrow People, UFO, Space 1999 and the like readers?

NEWSPAPER ROCKETS ID

Reader Rob from the USA asked me about this image earlier in the Lockdown.

"I was poring over your amazing cull of vintage newspaper pages, and came upon one that really stumped me - although I have a feeling that Swordies will know what they are. They are two toys depicted in the Neisner's ad, and they are blatant knockoffs of Thunderbird 2 and Thunderbird 3, but weird permutations I have never seen before. What are these?"

Rob C

The two toys shown are 2 of the 3 Nova spaceships released by Tarheel Industries in the late 1960's.

We've featured them a few times on Moonbase as they do have Thunderbirds roots.

The left hand rocket is definately a Thunderbird 3 knockoff, but done with great style and the characteristically bright colours of Tarheel's toys. 

Interestingly I'd never noticed the similarity of the right-hand toy to Thunderbird 2 before until Rob mentioned it. Yes, its basic form and wings are there!

The toy may have been further inspired by a model in the film Thunderbird 6. See the labels below.

The third toy, not shown in this Newspaper ad for some reason, is the other Nova, a large version of the SpaceX Hawk space jet. Again click on the labels below.

The three Tarheel rockets came in individual window boxes and make great display items. Durham Toys also offered these three toy spaceships on blister cards as rack toys.

have you got any?

BRAINS' BLUE GLASSES

Being a specs wearer since the age of 12 I've always admired Brains' blue gigs.

They always reminded me of the prescription glasses I wore from the off. Mine were black though. I doubt if blue was an option in 1972.

I did see a female news presenter with a pair of thick pale blues specs on the TV the other day and I immediately thought of Brains or in her case Mrs. Brains.

I can't find any just like Brains online but here's something along those lines.

Have you got Brains' blue specs on?