It's a God-Awful Small Affair

Can we really be the only inhabited planet in the Universe? I really can't see it. It's almost inconceivable that out of billions of planets Earth is the only one capable of sustaining life. Rudimentary forms of life have been found in almost all extreme environments across the World so it's surely possible that nature has developed extra-terrestrially.

 

 

I'm not saying that we are part of some cosmic community of advanced civilisations bristling with Galaxy-class technology. If that was the case how come we haven't heard from any, a question lying at the heart of the Fermi Paradox. I personally would be quite happy with evidence of more modest fauna like Martian daphnia, Titanic algae  or Ioan plankton, although I'd think twice before bringing them back to Earth!

 

 

Isn't a yearning for some cosmic neighbours the very essence of Sci-Fi, a desire to refute the idea that we are alone in the Universe? What do other readers think?

BREADFAN

The early Seventies were shot-blasted by epic eruptions of heavy rock. There were tons of great bands and I loved lots of 'em: Rush, Free, Montrose, Purple, Sabbath, Zep, Humble Pie, Hendrix, Skynyrd and last but certainly not least, Budgie. Budgie were a power rock trio from Cardiff, Wales. For a short glorious time they rocked the very foundations of giants like Zep and Sabbath with blistering riffs, thumping bass lines and towering drums, not to mention haunting vocals. They were the heaviest rockers around and my first electric guitar was bought for me, after much nagging, by my Dad, in the hope that I might deem to learn at least some of thier rock-god riffing!

 

 

Here's a clip from You Tube of Budgie in 1973 playing BREADFAN, a searing missile of guitar magma, which burst forth from their NEVER TURN YOUR BACK ON A FRIEND LP, a work of rock genius. For those about to listen I salute you!

Broken Swords

 Toys, at te end of the day are meant to be played with. Kids aren't collectors and don't consider the future, or even the past - they just enjoy the now. Thats why it always amazes me when stuff turns up in mint condition, almost half a century after it hit the shelves. But then, when pristine models and toys do appear, are we doing them a disservice by not opening the packet and taking the rocket for a whoosh around the room ?

Well back to reality and here are my three first SWORD toys, the Task Force. These have been put to the task and played with, luckily, some curatorial gene kicked in at the same time and although they suffered a few hard landings, I managed to at least attempt the odd repair, or at least keep most of the bits. TF1 lost one of the wheels down a knothole at school within days of purchase and all three have been thrown into cupboards and boxes over the years as my tastes wavered and evolved.Until the advent the Project SWORD checklist and more recently, this blog, I assumed that all the toys in this group came in red with grey undersides, or in the case of the TF2, in orange.

In fact, untill I met Woodsy, I had never seen other toys like these. Every kid had a thunderbird, but nobody had SWORD.

 So here are the sad remains of my Task Force, ready for restoration...

The Elephant In The Room

Watching TV yesterday tea time I had a deja vu. On the screen was a painting like this one, so linked to my childhood that I had to stop eating and sit up. It showed a herd of elephants relaxing in the African bush and looking straight ahead, as if they were staring at a camera. The TV informed me that it was by one David Sheppard, Britain's greatest living artist.

 

 

I knew it was by David Sheppard when I saw it, as I'd read his name a thousand times on the bottom of the picture just above the white Sixties cheesy frame. It wasn't my picture, it was my Brother Steve's, hanging proudly in his bedroom above his stereo and LP rack. Being older than me I would stare in his room with awe and wonder. This was the lair of a teenager and as such had to be respected and envied in equal measure. Those Sheppard elephants would say to me; "You may gawp at us but you'll never understand, not like you're big brother!"

 

 

I can honestly say I loved those elephants but for the life of me I can't be certain which picture it was. Having googled the artist it would seem he liked the pachyderm and painted them with gusto at various points in elephant family life: single bulls, pairs and entire clans! He did the same with lions, which are equally as arresting. I shall have to ask my brother what happened to his own elephants!

 

 

Does anyone else have a childhood painting [s] they stared at in awe?

THE COLOUR PURPLE

There aren't many colour variants in the Century 21 PROJECT SWORD toy fleet. The three I can think of which mere mortals like us have a chance of finding are the three red Task Force craft, which have grey undercarraiges as seen in this Canadian collection, which appeared on Ebay some time ago [pictured above and below]. Normally these have red undercarraiges. Have any of you got the 'greys' in your collection?

There is, however, a Century 21 colour variant which is as rare as rocking horse doo doo, the yellow topped- purple undercarraiged and winged Probe Force 3. I have only ever seen one of these beautiful things, which was auctioned by Vectis a few years back, along with a C21 Sam Lovver's Saloon as pictured below. The PF3 came in a standard SWORD box and one wing was damaged.

Fortunately supercollector and friend Ferryman bagged it and it remains within the Moonbase Central community. Here it is in all its yellow and purple glory. What do you think?

How I Wonder

I've just been admiring the stars in the night sky. The Big Dipper, part of The Great Bear, is clearly visible just across from our house. We called it the milk pan when we were kids! I'm sure some of you can see it too! Anyone else like stargazing?

Run Silent, Run Deep

You can't keep a good submarine down, so as theres been a lot of deep sea toys surfacing on the blog, I thought i'd wade in and add a few of my own. Above is a japanese, self righting submarine torpedo. Battery powered, the sub powers through the water and the pilot stays upright in his central bubble!

Fisher Price Adventure People - borderline toy, just edging into the kindergarten department, but with more than a whiff of bathyscaphe about it. The addition of a gripping claw swung it - oh and a nice rubber octopus too.

Matchbox Deep Diver, wheels underneath and an opening hatch, but the Matchbox legacy made it a definite for the collection.

Of course where you find Matchbox Hot Wheels are never far away, Mattel 'Fathom This' sub with integral propellors along the centre of the hull. Odd.

A Matchbox/Mattel hybridisation, Mega-Rig mini subs and frogman with sub-scooter.

Little Big Man lives again with National Geographics 8 inch doll series. Twodeep sea explorer figures, one scuba diver with shark and sea scooter and one aquanaut complete with DSRV.

Extremely posaeble, with depth gauge, spear gun, mask, tank, knife and deck shoes!

Nat Geos Deep Sea Research Vehicle. Gripping claw, water tight canopy, moveable engines and speargun.

Mini radio controlled sci-fi sub.

Johnny Quest and his mates out for a swim with the Porpoise DSRV.

Close up of Tomy Extreme Team diver with special powered sub suit.

Spam & Chips

Ive temporalily disabled commenting as we seem to have been targetted by some pinhead with a penchant for meaningless spam commenting. As soon as ive taken out the trash, ill pop it back on.

Wotan