TERRA NAUTS

Pulp covers are a great place to find esoteric spacecraft. Here are two from the old TERRA storybook line, part of the grand German tradition for popular Sci-Fi publications. The big red tip on the top picture looks like the nose of Thunderbird 3! The one below looks like a mash-up of a Scramble Bug and a fire engine. Looks like the pilot got out just in time!

Interesting pulp cover spaceships and vehicles always welcomed for posting on the blog. Email me.

TV Heaven or TV Hell?

So what was Christmas and New Year TV like in your neck of the woods? In England I found it OK I suppose. Being film-oriented and not having Sky I rely on the three main channels and those on Freeview for my movies. I managed to see Moon, Blade Runner, Planet of the Apes, Nightmare Before Christmas and Dog Soldiers. I know I missed Silent Running 'cos Bill B saw it.

 

 

Not bad I suppose but all too soon do the channels return to their usual slurry of reality TV and endless loops of Jean Claud Van Damme and Steven Seagal films. I'm beginning to think that UK TV executives bought their entire back catalogues for a bag of chips and a pepsi and are laughing all the way to the bank, whilst we wither in a visual desert!

 

 

Tens of thousands of movies have been made since the dawn of film, so c'mon TV execs, please vary our diet and give us some Hammer Horror, Fifties Sci Fi, Sixties Thunderbirds, Seventies ghost stories, Eighties videos and, well, just about anything other than another season of Jean Claud Seagal, which we saw last year and the year before that! 

 

 

As usual I will have to turn to You Tube for my films before I start doing roundhouse kicks in my sleep! How did you find your TV or indeed radio this festive holiday folks?

Skaro Supplemental: Dalek Saucer

Regarding my Dalek posts and artist Richard Jennings, reader and contributor Andy B pointed out that Jennings had illustrated an article on flying saucers in the 1963 Eagle annual and the spaceships in the monotone drawing were dead ringers for the Dalek saucers seen in the Dalek books and the back pages of TV 21. He reckons they would have been based on the George Adamski flying saucers seen in the fifties, which ultimately turned out to be hen house heaters.

 

 

Well spotted, Andy.

PINK THUNDERBIRD 2 SPOTTED OVER THE CITY

New LBZ Spinning Top

Readers who follow the blog might remember that sometime ago I stumbled across a LBZ spinning top on Ebay, which contained a silver Thunderbitd 2 and illustrations of the Scramble Bug and Moon Prospector. This top is pictured above.

 



 

Well I was fascinated to see yet another LBZ top containing a Thunderbird 2 on Ebay. This time TB2 is a cool pink and white. It's flying over a neat cityscape of planes, trains and automobiles. It comes with its box too, at least the main section but sadly no lid, which I speculate may have shown the toy's specific name. It always amazes me just how influential a design Thunderbird 2 was in popular culture even in the late 60's and 70's, when this toy will have been made in Germany. Anyway, I didn't bid but enjoy the pictures, courtesy of decagon7. Which TB2 do you like best, silver or pink?

WAITING FOR THE FERRY

Are There More Original Nuclear Ferry Diagrams?

 

Ever since Bill B posted his origin of the Nuclear Ferry - the Ling Temco Vought [LTV] Nuclear Ferry four years ago, I have tried to find more information about their concept. I'm sad to say the trail's gone cold. To remind readers what the LTV Nuclear Ferry looked like I have simplified the drawing in Bill's original post. It's easy to see how this was probably the basis for Robert McCall's famous LIFE magazine painting of the vehicle, but I feel sure that NASA must have given him more diagrams to work with. But where are they? Any help would be gratefully received.

 

 

The full article, which appeared in Bill's original post is pictured below.

 

I did manage to find this photograph of the LTV staff from 1967 posing in front of one of their rocket designs.

Looking for the Nuclear Ferry inevitably brings you to Robert McCall's fantastic painting in LIFE. Over the years we've found out when he painted the original, where it's hung and drooled over the fabulous use of it in the US's LIFE and UK's Look and Learn Magazines. For those readers who haven't yet had a look at the LIFE Nuclear Ferry I found this copy of the whole magazine on Google books. Enjoy!

SWORDCAST CENTRAL

Woodsy and Wotans inaugural Xmas SWORDCAST is now available, with pictures! Hear us with a slideshow accompaniment for the uninitiated, at the special SWORDCAST CENTRAL page selectable at the head of the page, or pop over now! January edition is currently available on Celtica Radio right now too! we spoil you, we really do!

DALEK! Part 4

Even though I had no interest in the incumbent Doctors after Tom Baker left, I still enjoyed picking up the odd magazine and occasional toy or model mostly out of a sense of nostalgia.

A twentieth anniversary special was published by the Radio Times, in 1983 which had most of the Doctors, including Colin Baker who would join the series the following year, appearing on the front cover. The back page carried a photo of the Doctor’s perennial enemy.

Dr Who toys were thin on the ground during the eighties probably due to the programme’s declining popularity. The Welsh based company, Dapol, better known for it’s model railway accessories, released several Doctor Who figures. I bought a few for my son who would have been around four at the time. I got him a Dalek and a figure of the Doctor. He quite liked the Troughton inspired comedic performances given by Sylvester McCoy, desperately swimming against the tide of change as the series slowly ground to halt, effectively being cancelled in 1989.

The only Dapol toy to survive. But then the Doctor always survives!

Strangely enough, a new stage play came out in 1989, the year Dr Who ended.

Doctor Who : The Ultimate Adventure was written by Terrance Dicks and starred Jon Pertwee! We took our four year old to see it as a special treat (for him or me?).

When the Daleks finally appeared he got quite agitated and so Dad had to take him out of the theatre. I guess that’s the power of the Daleks!

The next wave of new Dalek collectables as far as I’m aware began in 2000 When the company Product Enterprise started releasing Daleks of all shapes and sizes.

 

 

I got one of their large ‘ Classic’ Daleks along with a couple of smaller Daleks from the first film.

I think these are excellent collectables and even the retro styling of the box artwork is all in keeping.

Corgi Classics released a special boxed set of die cast and plastic figures to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of Dr Who. It came as no surprise to me that Tom Baker’s incarnation was chosen as the representation of the Doctor.

 

 

A nicely detailed Dalek as well as a Davros figure was included in the set.

In March 2006 the new revamped series of Doctor Who was launched amidst much publicity. Episode six was called Dalek, and that meant more Dalek merchandise was guaranteed!

New Year Quiz 2013

Right SWORDIES, it's a new year so that means a New Year Quiz:

The rules are simple. ONE ANSWER PER READER. I'll say it again in case , like me, you're still suffering from Christmas gluttony, ONE ANSWER PER READER. So that means just leave ONE answer to ONE question in the comments. This allows for many readers to have a go. I'll keep you posted if you're right or not. As always, it's a mix of Sci-Fi, weird science and Toys with one or two SWORD questions thrown in too!

 

 

1. Which is the odd one out of the toys? Scramble Bug, Dyna Soar, Molab, Nuclear Ferry, Zero-X

2. Which god-like character does X-Men's Jean Grey evolve into?

3. Which horror comic used the phrase 'Horror Mood' as its marketing?

4. What was Arnie Schwarzenegger called in the film Predator?

5. Along with solids, liquids and gases, what is the fourth state of matter called?

6. What do the beginnings of the films Day of the Triffids and 28 Days Later have in common?

7. Which of these did Aurora Models NOT make? Godzilla, Dracula, Frankenstein, Gorgo, King Kong

8. What is the nearest star to our own?

9. Which of these toys is the odd one out and why? Hot Wheels, Corgi Rockets, Hot Birds, Whizzwheels, Sizzlers

10. What unusual feature would you find in the back of the Corgi Lincoln Continental die-cast toy car?

 

 

Go for it! Remember, answer JUST ONE question!