IN THE END: NEIL PEART R.I.P

It was with great sadness that I learnt this weekend of Neil Peart's death. Neil was Rush's drummer and always has been ever since I first heard them  on Christmas morning in 1975. My Mum and Dad had got me their LP Fly By Night and I was simply blown away. Neil's drumming and his song writing were out of this world and I've loved them ever since.

Rush were my teenage youth, along with Budgie and Lynyrd Skynyrd. I rocked till I dropped to Rush's mystical tracks like By Tor and the Snow Dog and the amazing 2112 album. I formed my own band with their riffs in my ears.

I regret that I never got to see Rush play live and see Neil pounding his way through Anthem or In the End. I must have practised air drumming and air guitaring to those tracks till I knew them off by heart! Rush were a big deal for rockers in 1975 and I once had a heated argument with a mate about who was the best rock drummer around. For me it was Neil Peart. No contest. My mate said Cozy Powell. Neil ended up being officially the fourth best drummer of all time. Dunno what happened to Cozy.

Having suffered from cancer for three and a half years it's time to rest Neil. You made millions of us happy for 45 years with Rush and your music will live on forever. Hang up your sticks and rest in peace my friend.

With a tear in my eye I'll play In the End.

THE NEW SUPERSONIC

MJ of Southcoast Base brought this cool craft to my attention, NASA's new X-59.

Check out this short animation.

As MJ says, its very Golden Astronaut/ SpaceXy!

What do you think?

PAUL V'S NEW YEAR WISHES

Belated as a result of a malfunction on Moonbase!

ANOTHER LOOK AT THE 16/12 EARTHBOUND SET

A few more shots of the Sixteen 12 Collectables Earthbound limited edition deluxe set, which is due for release in April.

I think it’s a fair bet to say that this will be another sell out, and probably before the official launch date too. Their website link for the set went live on the 6^th January and received an incredible 188 pre-orders in just that one day.  As there is also currently an ‘early bird’ discount offer on the full retail price until March 1^st, I suspect that number will rise significantly.

I have covered what’s in the set previously on this blog, but I don’t think it does any harm to have a recap.

Obviously, it features two spacecraft which appeared in the Space:1999 episode, Earthbound.  The Eagle in the set, which features the more realistic hand finished aluminium engine bells, carries the red striped Rescue/Medical pod.  Although, this pod only appears in four episodes, it does feature heavily in publicity material and merchandise.

The photos I’ve taken show the Sixteen 12 prototype model which feature more accurate red stripes than their Product Enterprise version. For this prototype, Sixteen 12 has chosen to omit the red across the pod window frames, seen in the episode, Collision Course’. In Earthbound, the red stripes continue across the frames. As Sixteen 12 are keen to point out, this is the first prototype, and all should be resolved before production.

The original Product Enterprise version:

The second ship is an in-scale Kaldorian spacecraft, a strange looking vehicle, not unlike an exotic perfume bottle, and the first alien craft seen by the Alphans.

The series’ original props were built by Space Models.

The set comes with a removable airlock tube which magnetically attaches to the pod door.  Although, we are given the impression that the airlock of the Kaldorian ship and the Eagle pod line- up, there is obviously a height difference between the two. Again, Sixteen 12 has plans to resolve this, possibly using a different Eagle display plinth.

The set wouldn’t be complete with an in scale Moon Buggy.

The set is limited to 1000 worldwide and once the early bird discount expires will retail for £230 + P.P.

For anyone who wants to buy, reserve or simply requires more info here’s a link to the Sixteen 12 Collectables Earthbound page.

http://www.sixteen12.com/s1999_dc_earthbound.html

NEW YEAR FIGURE MYSTERY

Hi Woodsy, a colleague of mine at work was given this figure, it has no markings on it, it's a 3,3/4 inch scale but at a loss where it's from, so reader's any ideas?? There's no wrong answer cos I haven't got a clue either! 

 Regards, MJ Southcoast Base

CANDY 1

I once asked whether anyone knew what had happened to Candy and Andy's stripey Mini Candy 1.

I may have found the answer but I need to double check.

Anyone ever see this car back in the Sixties?

Anyone have the toy version?

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABU FRICK?

Well Christmas is now a discarded wrapper and the New Year lumbers into its jittery stride. Despite vows of rude health Moonbase has already succumbed to its first pathogen as the Missus is down with a tummy bug. My own medical travails before Christmas have resulted in a formal meeting at work next week too! Add to that the dog secretly eating a bar of chocolate at a friend's house and we have not had the rosiest of starts to twenty twenty!

I am hopeful though of brighter times round the bend and the prospect of a further Moonbase baby Junior around Eastertime is particularly welcome. Grandparenting is the top job on the base these days!

In the meantime, I've continued the festive habit of film-watching and some recent viewings include London has Fallen, with all-round hard-man Gerard 'I am Sparta' Butler [Angel has Fallen has come out too although I've no idea what Angel means] and the harrowing horror Get Out, a sort of modern version of a body parts shocker like Coma.

I also caught the first half hour of a film that haunted me as a kid, Whatever Happened to Aunt Alice. Part of the Psycho-biddy sub-genre of horror, its about a cackling conniving widow who likes to fleece and bury her housekeepers in her desert garden. The terrifying lead Geraldine Page's demented laugh unnerved me for years to come and always gives me a shiver whenever I hear it on the telly!

Dracula was a tasty morsel for many of us and we've blogged about it already. The buzz it created reminded me of another classic monster adaptation in the Seventies, when Frankenstein got the TV treatment. I remember watching it with my parents and bearing in mind the UK had just three channels it will have been well watched in 1973 or 4. The adaptation cast Dr. Polidori as the 'mad' scientist rather than the usual Baron and the monster was played by handsome Canadian Michael Sarrazin. The stand-out scene which I recall to this day was when the monster bursts into a ballroom and rips Jane Seymour's head off and throws it across the floor. Shocking for a TV programme back then, it has stayed with me ever since.

The icing on the week has to have been Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker at the pictures. Many fine tributes and critiques will pepper the net so I won't go on, suffice to say that I enjoyed it greatly. I enjoy all Star Wars films as they all in some way conjure up the magic I felt when I first saw the original trilogy. From the initial 'In a Galaxy ....' to the opening scene I always get choked up recalling how elated I was seeing the first run years and years ago. I could tell my friend was similarly excited as he always asks 'up or down?' referring to the direction of camera pan at the start of the film. I got it right this time too! The movie overall was a choice galactic romp and old chums like the Falcon, 3PO, Leia and Lando made it special. I also liked the affection shown for different lightsabres and my new fave character is the diminutive droid mechanic Babu Frick the grease pug. Despite my ongoing misgivings about Sith Lord Kylo Ren, the only real thing missing is the vanished 20th Century Fox double spotlights opening now Disney have sadly taken over. I miss that opening so much!

Have you seen any of these and maybe the new Star Wars?

CAMEL TOYS SHOOTING STAR RACE CAR

This caught my eye online.

Shooting Star friction race car by Camel, a company I've not heard of before.

Sadly there were no pics of the toy on Yahoo Japan, just the cool box, although I may have seen this in kit form.

The toy looks very sleek and almost Project SWORD-like.

It's got that Land Speed Record vibe going on.

There's a whiff of other toys here too, Hoover's Space Racer and the X-series X50. Maybe even Project SWORD's Task Force 2 in car-form.

Here's the kit I was talking about, the green one bottom left by Otaki. The brown one next to it is the forerunner of SWORD's probe Force 3.

Anyone got one?