MILLENNIUM STAR KING: HAN'S PINK FALCON

I imagine the number of Star Wars knockoff toys is as limitless as the hairs on a Wampa's back.

Here's a prime example, the Star King.

Looking a lot like a pink birthday cake, it appears to be a Millennium Falcon with something vaguely familiar slapped on top. A Klingon bird of prey maybe?

I saw this one on an online site ages ago. It has 8 space sounds!

Looking at the back of the box  there are two more mash-ups: one a USS Enterprise and the other a more generic flying saucer. Both of them have strange engine attachments like the Falcon.

What do you think of the Star King readers?

DO YOU STILL WATCH TELEVISION?

I heard two predictions recently: the household telephone will vanish completely in the UK within 5 years and similarly that terrestrial television will have ended within 20 years.

Both of these were king when I was a kid. Mates phones on the house phone [when my Dad took the lock off!] and I watched everything - Thunderbirds, Blue Peter, Department S, everything - on the telly. First black and white and from 1970, colour, bought for the World Cup!

But the ground is shifting.

Now our own house phone doesn't get used much at all, although it is an essential lifeline for an elderly member of our family, who rings us every night on it. I can't see the actual landline connection going though because we need it for our router, unless of course something else is invented.

As for the the telly I can see why such a prediction has been made. Young people have all but ditched TV in favour of You Tube, which they watch on a multitude of devices in their rooms. Traditionally programming isn't needed either. You Tube presenters can entertain kids for very little cost.

That's not to say that toddlers and infants don't watch telly. They do and the output from CBBC and CITV is good. Thunderbirds Are Go is currently on and my own Grandson loves Bing and Duggie on the TV.

But things are changing. At the expensive end of the revolution. Netflix and Amazon Prime are the heralds of a new programming, which all other TV channels will have to compete with. Many will fall by the wayside. Like our High Street shops, which are increasingly empty, the next generation of snowflake offspring will determine the future by how they loyally interact with social media and the internet and nothing else.

My own TV tastes are increasingly specific too. Much of what is on - countless channel's worth - is of no interest to me at all.  Increasingly I turn to You Tube and free offers on Amazon and Netflix to find a decent film to watch.

Having said that I rely on the TV for News and I watch it religiously in the evenings, which probably accounts for my permanently nervous disposition!

What do you think readers? Are house phones and the TV on their way out?

MORE PILOTS

More snaps of the Grandson's Dickie pilots test driving some of his toys!

RADIO CONTROL SPACE PATROL

I dunno, there's just something damn cool about this weird 80's toy.

Its a remote control six-wheeler by Dynamic Toys called Space Patrol.

Like the love child of an X-Wing and a FAB1, its got a an Andersonesque UFO  lure to it and it must look cool in action.

What do you think readers?

GEEKS LIKE US

I was a glasses-wearing long-haired geek at High School.

Back in 1971 when I first landed in the 'first year', things will have seemed rosy and bright like a sunlit democracy. But I was wrong.

High School was a desert island peppered with fighting tribes. Straying from your own tribe could prove dangerous. I learnt not to stray.

My tribe were the geeks. We weren't called that back then. We were seen as swats because we were in the highest stream. Nowadays British kids would call us try-hards.

Not everyone in my stream were Geeks. There were sporty types, captains of the school's teams, rock climbers [we lived not too far from the Lakes] and very prim and proper kids too. The girls in there were just as different. It was a catholic school so religion played a part as well.

Geeks like me tended to be into fantasy, sci fi, rock, Bowie and cover art. We were basically young hippies in school uniforms and in the fifth year we came into our own as uniforms were ditched.

The school also housed some very very tough kids too. These guys wrestled with lions before breakfast and thought David Bowie was a girl. Some girls were toughies too but it's the lads I remember because alas I stumbled into their sights now and then. Like every school we had bullies.

Hard was how these guys were described and how they saw themselves. Confusingly they would ask geeks 'Do you think your'e hard or what?'. I had never been hard. Quite the opposite, I was a softy and I knew it. A glasses-wearing long-haired wuss as the hard nuts would have said. They would abbreviate it to 'you speccy four-eyed c....!' just to make my day.

Brushing with the hard nuts was an unpleasant experience and for a time it blighted my school life in the third year. I joined the lunch time art club to get out of their way in the playground and corridors. It was my misfortune that they heard of my interest in martial arts. Yes I was a Bruce Lee fanatic but I wasn't a fighter. It was an ideas thing for me, the East, Bushido and all that. 

Luckily even hard nuts get bored and I re-entered the population freely and began to enjoy school again having learnt where and where to not go on campus.

I stuck with the geeks and in the fifth year we had our own part of the common room. We played ping-pong and even played our electric guitars there, discussing whether Neil Peart or Cozy Powell was the best rock drummer around!

I met a girl in the fifth year as well: JJ. What she saw in me I don't know as we were like chalk and cheese. But I must admit I thought she was gorgeous!

That final year at High School meandered on without event. I went out with JJ. I met up with the hairy geeks. We listened to Rush and Budgie. Exams loomed as they always do at the end. Life was teenage sweet.

But it was not to be. By the end of the fifth year life would never be the same for me or any of my family as our dear Mum died suddenly at the young age of 56. She never got to see so so many things.

Now, staring at 60, older than my Mum ever was, this glasses-wearing balding geek can look back with a rueful eye and make sense of the senseless things and smile at stuff that couldn't be smiled at back then.

Time for a coffee readers.

SIXTEEN 12 IMMUNITY SYNDROME EAGLE 3, GLIDER & FRIENDS

I read that the latest Space:1999 Eagle ‘episode collection’ set from Sixteen 12 has now sold out according to their website.

These popular die-cast collectables are good for those folk who prefer their models ready- made, and, of course are perfect for diorama photo shoots.

As most collectors already know, the ‘Immunity Syndrome’ set features aluminium engine bells, removable pod, moon buggy and a display platform.  It also features a highly detailed Re-Entry Glider which I particularly like.

Although I’ve already  taken photos for the blog highlighting aspects of this set, and all that comes with it, I thought I’d experiment with a few more  shots that vaguely attempt to mimic a couple of scenes  that feature Eagle 3 and the Glider from the episode.  For the smoke effects I  decided to use a small fog machine on some of the photos.

Here’s Eagle 3 about to take off for the planet where Comr. Koenig and the Alphan survey team are stranded.  The planet was first seen as habitable, but had, in a short space of time become a hostile environment.  Even the metal parts on their Eagle spacecraft had begun to dissolve, effectively trapping them all.

In the episode, the Re-entry Glider is made from carbon fibre and immune to the corrosive effects of the planet.  

The Glider attached to Eagle 3 enters the planet’s cloudy atmosphere.  As Eagle 3 begins to develop faults, pilot Bill Fraser releases the holding clamps, and the Glider falls to the planet’s surface.

The planet’s erratic weather conditions forces the Glider to crash land in a small wooded outcrop.

After coming to a stop, the Glider’s two battered passengers, Helena and Maya leave it to look for Koenig and the rest of the Alphan survey party. 

Okay, the Moon Buggy doesn’t actually make an appearance on the planet, but I didn’t want to leave it out. 

I believe Sixteen 12 have provisionally scheduled the next ‘episode collection’ sets to be released at the end of March 2019. These are from ‘The Exiles’ and ‘New Adam, New Eve’. They are also planning to release the Retro ‘Dinky’ Eagle at the same time.   

CLASSIC LEGS OF ACTION

I saw this trio of action fellas on the Bay. 

They're hip and lookin for a good time!

I know the Captain well but not the others. Two of them come from Mattel's place: Pulsar and Cap Laser.

The headless guy in the middle is Maskatron. He's from the house of Kenner.

But all three seem to have been given the same legs, give or take an inch.

Am I seeing things or are are they all borrowed from GI Joe/ Action Man?

*I love Pulsar's trousers! I want some!

BROOKE BOND RACE INTO SPACE WALL CHART

Hello Woodsy

I'm not sure if I sent these before. Brooke Bond's The Race Into Space teacards. I know you have blogged the set before but not this format. 

There was always an album sold to hold the cards but from the very first series in the 50's Brooke Bond also made wall charts that were used in schools. I remember them quite well as I used to look to see what the cards looked like that I still needed! 

The wall charts used to be canvas backed like wall maps. When they saved money by not doing this there were extras left over so in the early 70's Brooke Bond started selling off the extras. I bought a number of them as gifts and still have some. British trees etc. 

Terranova47

NYC