This Buck Rogers Invader is new to me. It's a saucer with a motor and the box claims it can spin hundreds of feet into space!
A mix of toy and rocketry!
Anyone ever had one?
This Buck Rogers Invader is new to me. It's a saucer with a motor and the box claims it can spin hundreds of feet into space!
A mix of toy and rocketry!
Anyone ever had one?
Ed's Archeresque parachutist reminded me of how much I like those old Buck Rogers book cover illustrations with similarly strange and endearing poses as those Archer figures.
My favourite Buck pose is this.
Arms and one knee bent, head looking down in a gas-powered ascent.
At once unreal yet oddly hypnotic, I wonder where this kind of art came from?
The flying leg positions of vintage Buck Rogers art have always intrigued me.
Here is a short Buck Rogers film from the 1930s, with Buck in a space battle with the Tiger Men of Mars. The budget was clearly rather limited, so do not expect too much.
Given the attire of Wilma Deering, I wonder if fashion designer Mary Quant was a science fiction fan ? At one point Dr Huer urges Buck to 'get above' Killer Kane's ship - how do you get above someone in space ? This was apparently the very first screen appearance of Buck Rogers.
(2) First Buck Rogers Film - YouTube
The background to this short is given on a site called Cafe Roxy. Seems it was made for the 1934 Chicago World's Fair - even though the copyright date on the film is 1935. It did not play in movie theatres, but may have been later used in department stores to help sell Buck Rogers toys.
Café Roxy (caferoxy.blogspot.com)
Paul Adams from New Zealand