Is Yoda A Muppet?

Believe it or not I only realised this year that Yoda had the same voice as Miss Piggy! Digging further I discovered that the voice artist for both was the super-talented Frank Oz, who besides his Muppet duties, also voiced the Cookie Monster and Bert from Sesame Street, firm family favourites of ours. Sesame Street was simply beautiful children's TV and I can remember the Muppets being one of those rare TV programmes, which everyone stayed in for on Sunday evenings.

Voices, like fragrances, can travel though time with you. I can can quite clearly hear Frank Oz's dulcet tones in John Landis's American Werewolf in London, one of my all time fave films. Oz plays a flustered US embassy attache, who attempts to calm the 'Kessler boy' in hospital without any success!

Reading about Oz, I read about his friend and Muppets creator, the late great Jim Henson, who were both working together with puppets way back in the early Sixties. This got me thinking as to whether they ever saw any Gerry Anderson puppet shows in the States? Wonder what they thought?

The Real Space Glider

It was recently aired on the news that DARPAs new hypersonic glider failed during a test over the Pacific. Able to fly at 20 times the speed of sound after being launched from a rocket booster into the upper atmosphere, the Falcon HTV is a glimpse of the future of aeronautics. The classic wedge shape is very similar to space gliders and other ships seen in TV21 and other sci-fi genres. A long way from the bulky and boring space shuttle, the Falcon is the latest in a long line of vehicles capable of launch and reaching any point on Earth within an hour, thus giving the US first strike capability. The Dyna Soar was the first publically acknowledged project in this field and the Falcon has clearly come a long way since the early days of aeronautic design.

Project WARD: X-30 Art

Picture: Ebay

We've celebrated the X series of space toys many times on the blog but here's an altogether more artistic homage, an original painting of the X-30 Space Explorer, by [George] Ward, currently for sale on Ebay. I contacted the artist, who kindly gave me permisiion to post the above image. George explained to me how the painting came about:

Hi Paul! yes you can post the painting on your blog- It would be a honor!! the reason I chose this toy to paint is that it reminds me of how early space missions were mostly one lone pilot- the Mercury, Gemini programs that set the stage for the Apollo and the moon landing, had brave Astronauts doing solo flights! it just shows the greatness of the human spirit, man and machine vs. the unknown and all the promise that the 'space-age' had to offer! thank for the complement and have a great day! George Bryan Ward.

If Only: a Custom Tarheel SWORD Hawk

This 'If Only' isn't that too far fetched: a custom Tarheel Project SWORD Hawk. Tarheel did make SWORD and they did issue the larger Hawk, about the same scale as the Scouts, in the form of a NOVA rocket [pictured]. So, I give you the Tarheel SWORD Hawk, a true SWORD-SpaceX custom hybrid. Are there anymore SpaceX-like toys at the larger SWORD scale?

Andy B's Milk Men

Dear Woodsy,

Been meaning to send this for ages, in case it's of use. I know someone put a picture of these on the forum, but I have since found better images. Can't remember where I found the images, sorry [let me know if they're yours and I'll credit them, Woodsy].

The spacemen illustrated here were probably the first space models I had come across, certainly the first space free gifts I had seen, as a youngster. A boy living up the road had them, and I never managed to get any. Perhaps as a result, they continue to fascinate me.

One site says these were released by a company called Charben (in the US?), and also attributes them to Kelloggs. My memory may be poor, but I think they were actually given away by a Nabisco cereal, probably Shreddies, around 1963?

The back of the cereal packet had a lunar landscape on, I think designed to be cut out.

I don't know why one figure lacks hands, but I think the sculptor well anticipated how bulky space suits would be.

It would be good to know more about these figures.

All the best,

Andy B.

Isla Secreta Thunderbirds by Trol

New to the blog, I just love this toy, the Ilha Secreta Thunderbirds or Thunderbirds Secret Island. Made by Trol of Brazil in 1968, it really does look great in these pictures, which feature once again on the neat Brinquedos Raros. It reminds me a little of the island base issued to shops for displaying JR21 Thunderbirds toys, which we blogged last year, although I think this Trol island is a much smaller scale than JR21. Here are more views of the box and the toy base, which I assume is plastic. Lovely.

If only we could find pictures of the Century 21 Toys SWORD Moon Base! In the meantime, has anyone got one of these Trol Islands?

SWORD Robot Update

As promised here's the super cool Estrela robot as seen on the equally cool Brinquedos Raros. We've seen this bot before but the side-view of the box is new to the blog, which you can see a little clearer below.

Besides the MEV2 there's a Booster Rocket top left and also a red LEM. As we've discussed before back in April last year, the Booster appeared on the box top and together with the MEV2 on the robot chest TV scroll as well. It's likely that these images were copies of Ed Valigursky's original artwork, a tradition which, as we know, also included Century 21 Toys and their own Booster Rocket box art.

Has anybody got one of these Estrela robots?

May I present the Sword Rifle!

Earlier in the summer I came across this beautiful toy by Estrela of Brazil on an excellent website called Brinquedos Raros. The title of the rifle translates roughly to Machine Gun Spatial Patrol of Space. Of great interest to us in SWORDland is the fabulous artwork! You will immediately notice that the box lid is graced with no less than the Booster Rocket and a red Moon Base LEM. A Lost in Space robot joins the fun too together with astronauts and moon man, which look vaguely familar but I just can't place them.

The rifle is no less interesting. On the butt we can clearly see a MEV2 a la SpaceX! It's a veritable SWORD-SpaceX rifle!

All of these SWORD-SpaceX images are likely to have been lifted from Ed Valigursky's artwork from the important Man and Space book. The website dates the toy exactly to 06-03-1969.

We have seen Estrela featuring MEV2 before on it's toys in the form of a robot. More to follow on this!