Vile Isles

EvilEd recently mentioned Island of Terror [1966]. It's strange. Some film titles call to mind a whole string of movies and this is one of them. I had to look it up on Wiki to make sure I knew which film Ed meant and as soon as I read the description a flood of monstrous memories came back. Of course, the Silicates! Those oyster-like creatures with a penchant for bone marrow. Yuk!

I suppose there was a definate 'Island' genre in Sci -Fi. I can think of Doom Watch, Mysterious Island and Night of the Big Heat to name but a few. The drama of remote populations battling hordes of  Hellspawn was simply irresistable! Horror films love islands too. One of the earliest I saw at Preston's Ritz or ABC was Tower of Evil sometime in the mid-Seventies. No doubt on in a double-bill but I can't remember the other film!

And the seperate genre of 'crawling creature' flicks had it's heyday in the 1950's and 60's. There was the Tingler, which fed on fear and the utterly yukky Fiend Without a Face, a sort of mobile brain slurper. I'm sure there are more. The Silicates of Island of Terror remind me of the rock monsters encountered by the crew of Zero-X on Mars. 'Rock Monsters', another genre!

Are there any more scary Islands, rock monsters or gelatinous creatures crawling around?

we slipped through the rip..

..into the other side

Sick Bay Cinema

Whilst resting my aching back in SWORD Medilab 1, along with a few dishevelled Spacex cadets still hungover from Wotan's bash,  I've been whiling away the hours rediscovering classic movies on You Tube. They seem to be carrying more and more full length films, many of them right up my street, namely those stuffed with monsters, spaceships and global catastrophes! Purely for medicinal purposes you understand! Playing today we have the 1965 disaster flick CRACK IN THE WORLD featuring one of my favourite early American stars, the golden-voiced Dana Andrews, who was fantastic in the classic Night of the Demon. In CRACK he has silver hair, which he may have had in DEMON but it's hard to tell as it was in black and white! CRACK plays out like a long episode of Thunderbirds without the Tracy Brothers saving the day!

 

Besides the theme of global destruction, of particular interest to Swordies is the Cape Kennedy Set-like gantry and rocket missile at the heart of CRACK, the obvious difference being that the rocket faces downward, as it's intended to blow a hole through the Earth's crust to release magma [pictured] - never a good idea!

 

You can watch too, just grab some popcorn, point all missiles downward and click here! On tomorrow's sick bay cinema may be 4D Man or The Man With The X-Ray Eyes.

Cruiser Lite

You're right, Woodsy ... it is tricky to get the hang of placing the "lites".

Lite Flite

Currently in sick bay nursing a back injury and amusing myself with the Lite Brite simulator! Results shown above. Not as easy as it looks! I did love Lite Brite as a kid. I can almost feel myself pushing those coloured pegs through the template paper. The one I remember the most is the clown. It reminded me of the one on the little TV screen in the rear of the Corgi Lincoln Continental I had. Anyway, should you wish to simulate your former Lite Brite genius have a go yourself.

Blade of Glory

On Our Final Voyage..

To Nobley Go

Woodsy, as Yorkie mentioned Mike Noble's Star Trek, a TV21 page by him above for comparison [with previous picture re-posted below, artist unknown]. There is a useful website with scans of many of the Star Trek episodes from comics (sorry can't remember address).

Andy B.