An Event Sociological

 Yesterday Junior and me watched Close Encounters of the Third Kind. A PG rated film so it was OK for a 6 and a half year old with me alongside.

I'd forgotten just how good it was too. Junior loved it and we both got quite emotional when the spaceships appeared each time, especially the Mothership towards the end. The end section was Spielberg at his best.

All in all watching Close Encounters together was a great experience and Junior keeps doing the hand signals and music a day later.

Looking up the film in my Space Adventure Collectables book I was surprised that the spaceships were never released as toys. All those lights were crying out for a mystery action battery operated glory back in 1977. Just a bendy, a game and a few books were released by the looks of it. Shame.

Have you had a close encounter readers? 

MIDNIGHT SPECIAL: It Wasn't!

Well, my free Netflix month has ended. I shall miss it but I'll live.

To close proceedings I watched something I had been looking forward to, Midnight Special and I hoped it would fit right into the Stranger Things vibe.

Essentially a film about a young boy and his connection to extraterrestrials, the tag line read something like 'Close Encounters of a New Kind'.

I was hugely disappointed with Midnight Special. It was a complete let down and having promised new encounters it delivered nothing but tedious stops on a pointless road trip filmed at night.

The only decent effect was used throughout the movie to keep it afloat, a Cyclops-like laser beam from the kid's eyes. 

Alas, light-up eyes were not enough to rescue it from oblivion. Annoyingly much of the action was filmed in the dark - presumably the 'midnight' in the title - but the 'special' never came.

I was glad when the kid was finally beamed up. 

Reminding me of Nic Cage's Knowing, Midnight Special was a missed opportunity to say something new and despite name-dropping Spielberg's masterpiece Close Encounters it offered no encounters of any kind whatsoever.

I may be being harsh. I doubt if it spawned any merchandise.

Just my opinion anyway. What did you think of Midnight Special?

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE TOY KIND

Just been enjoying Close Encounters of the Third Kind on the telly. Its the Directors cut and I'm pretty sure I've never seen the sandstorm opening before.

For toy collectors the early scene of the boy's bedroom is a treasure trove of Seventies stuff. Besides the cymbal-clapping monkey I saw my old fave the Mod Monster Blushing Frankenstein, who drops his trousers at the sight of the alien presence! There are loads of tin cars whizzing round including a police car and a train too.

For the life of me I can't find any video footage of the scene to blog or even a screengrab of the toys. Can anyone help?

One other thing, where the alien ships ever released as toys?