Vulcan Mind Probe

A local TV magazine The One Show alerted me last night to the fact that the last remaining Vulcan is nearby. Earlier this year XH558 The Spirit of Great Britain, lovingly restored by volunteers, returned to Doncaster Robin Hood Airport [formerly RAF Finningly] to the applause of hundreds of aviation enthusiasts. Sadly I didn't know about it but have enjoyed the experience vicariously through TV and You Tube. Have a gander at its arrival yourself http://youtu.be/GovVIqGzDbg. The volunteers have formed a charity Vulcan to the Sky and the iconic plane is appearing at various airshows this year, which are listed on the charity site. There is also a link to a professionally-made video about the Vulcan.

Inevitably the classic deltoid wing design of the Avro Vulcan, seen below at Farnborough Air Show in 1953 [wikipedia], calls to mind the sweeping A wing of the SWORD Probe Force 1 [pictured in black and white for cold war atmosphere!].

Li'l Jack and his Space Force Attack Airships

The variations of Apollo Moon Exploring just keep on coming. Here's another one, called Space Force Attack Airships, from prolific rack-toy brand L'il Jack. This l'il beauty is currently for sale on fleabay for $25. Is it the only space pack or are there more? Trawling the cyberdeeps for more L'il Jacks came up with surprisingly few examples from this rack toy specialist - a Cap Rocket set, which sold in 1960's US shops for 2 for a $1 and a Landing Force set [described by the seller as HO scale].

Any more L'il Jack out there?

Photonics Anyone?

Browsing through NASA's website I was admiring the artist's impression of the Cassini Plasma Spectrometer pictured above [picture NASA/JPL]. Currently on hold, the mission to Saturn has suffered design problems with its voltage balance.

The design, with its parabolic disk, reminds me of that mega-rare Spacex toy, the Photonic Propulsion Space Station pictured above in a comic advertisement [picture: Toad]. I have never seen neither the toy or the backing card. Has anyone?

The lack of images of the toy spurred reader Mike B to create this fabulous backing card-style art back in 2009.

Not wanting to be left out I had a go too as part of my mini SWORD Y KINS box-art project that same year. Are there any other Photonic Propulsion Space Station pictures out there?

Ickee Nutty Satd'y

Sat here driving my family wild watching CITV. Sort of reminds me of the Saturday Morning cartoons I used to love when I was a kid. Glad to see the tradition is alive and kicking, a hearty mix of Ninja Turtles, Scooby Do [now that's longevity] and toy adverts. In fact nothing but toy adverts, which a dedicated childrens channel like CITV can do but were there back to back toy ads between those old Sixties cartoons, like one after the other, back then?

One toy ad this morning caught my eye. The logo reminded me of my old gum card favourites Nutty Initials [see below*] and Ugly Stickers. In fact the name's sort of similar - Ickee Stikeez.

Ickee Stikeez are suction cup creatures and look well-designed. They'd look great in a suction monster collection. Check out the YouTube commercial! http://youtu.be/I831qH7ppPY . Ickee!

* you can have lots of fun on this great site, Bubble Gum Cards Org, writing your name like I did or whatever you want with Nutty Initials. Have a go! Hee hee.

The Last Battlestar Space Wars Crash

Thanks for the favourite sci-fi and space films guys. I've collected a few of their lobby posters together from cyberspace here. Some of them I've never watched - Battle Beyond The Stars for example - and some are completely new to me like Star Crash [cheers Yorkie] and Star Odyssey. I collect old big box videos and I've never seen either of them on my travels. Great though! It's amazing [or maybe not] just how many Star Wars rip-offs were made [as happened to Alien and Abyss too] with lobby art to match. Naturally this happened with the toys as well. Was Star Wars the first space movie to be knocked off like this or did earlier icons like 2001: A Space Odyssey [nice one Mike] or This Island Earth [cheers Andy B] get the copycat treatment?

August Caption Comp

Whats R2 and Darth saying to each other then?

S.W.O.R.D WARS

Trying to lose my post-holiday blues I watched the movie Star Wars today, a guaranteed tonic, which worked. It's still amazing what Lucas, Katz, Dykstra et al achieved in 1977 without the benefit of CGI. I was once again struck by the similarity of shape between the huge Imperial Cruiser and the comparatively tiny SWORD Scout 3. My own homage to the iconic opening scene [above bottom] is above top. I'm currently half-way through The Empire Strikes Back! What's your favourite space or sci-fi film?

I, Pino

Just watching the movie I,Robot and it got me thinking of my toy robot PINO. I bought it in 2005, got it out the box once and attempted the basic imprinting. It cried when I left it alone and I just couldn't cope with deep droid sadness so back in the box it went [I wonder if that was a common experience?]. It's been in the attic ever since, six long lonely years!

The toy was marketed as a stranded being thus: " PINO lost his memory after his spaceship crashed to earth. Now he's alone and needs your care and attention. Look after PINO and be rewarded with fun and friendship as his personality grows.'

PINO's three ages reminded a little back then of Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics. Pino's ages were:

Age 1 - Pino displays basic emotions, sings songs and talks with other Pinos.
Age 2 - Pino displays a full range of emotions, walks, plays games (dancing Pino, Pino room guard, DJ pino, Program Pino, Pino's guessing games),responds to sound, light, infra red.
Age 3 - Pino now has a fully developed personality (either Friendly, Shy or Naughty).

I always wondered what would happen of 100 Pino's were placed in an empty room and switched on. Would they self-imprint and 'age' each other?

Anyone alse got a Pino story? Has the technology moved on from 2005?