SELFRIDGES TOY DEPARTMENT 1970'S

This is fun. 

Selfridges toy store in the 1970's. 

Lots of things you'll recognise courtesy of You Tube.

A L I E N C O V E N A N T AND M Y M A N Y Q U E S T I O N S

This A L I E N prequel is on the box again tonight. I watched it the other day and caught it when it first came out at the flicks.

I am a big fan of the A L I E N universe and enjoy watching each new incarnation. Maybe you are too?

C O V E N A N T is an unusual installment in the franchise. Not as important as P R O M E T H E U S but its a direct follow-on.

The story of D A V I D will not be to everyone's taste I imagine as its the goriest of all the films I would say. More like a David Cronenberg horror in part, the tale of android insanity still has a lot going on.

As with all films we'll all have our own opinions and theories about what's on screen, so here's a few questions that C O V E N A N T raises. Its not a quiz. I'm just interested what you think:

1. Why did D A V I D kill everyone on the Engineers' planet?

2. Why did D A V I D kill Dr. Elizabeth Shaw?

3. Why is D A V I D obsessed with the A L I  E N ?

4. Why does D A V I D hate humanity?

5. What is the end-game for D A V I D?

6. Where is D A V I D going in the spacecraft at the end of the film and how does this relate to A L I E N?

7. What do you think is Scott's reason for having an Android in every A L I E N film?

PIPPIN TOYS HYDRO JET

I saw this on Worthpoint recently.

The Hydro Jet AX-02.

A cool looking speed boat toy that looks like a rocket!

Its by Raphael Lipkin and Pippin toys.

They also made the later Triang SpaceX II toy range.

Have you got anything like this?

Never-Before-Seen Pictures of the Day Thunderbirds' FAB 1 Came to Guildford

https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/nostalgia/fab-1-thunderbirds-guildford-street-17550924 

Courtesy of Getsurrey.co.uk

TV CONFIDENTIAL: CROSSROADS TO GALLIFREY

Continuing my ongoing observations of TV and film, here are a few things I've seen in the last week.

Crossroads to Crime: not Sci-Fi but a Gerry Anderson directed film nonetheless. I only saw about a quarter of this black and white crime drama but what I saw I enjoyed. Gritty and pacey, I imagine it was a decent filler in a double bill when it came out in 1960. Gerry was hopefully pleased. Has anyone else seen this film, maybe all of it?

Doctor Who: I watched a full episode last night with Missus Moonbase for the first time in years. I can see why we haven't kept up. OK, I know its a kids' programme but what on Earth has happened to this classic show? Countless uninteresting actors seem to surround the Doctor, who is thus relegated to an unmemorable bit part in a messy plot. Essentially the plot was about a holiday resort that had been built on a lethal planet full of mutant monsters, who had more than a passing resemblance to Rawhead Rex. I did like the monsters but that was all. The plasterboard resort set was terrible, the grey lethal planet surface tedious to the max and the action and dialogue simply awful. Yet the worst thing for me by far was the incessant musak which washes over the entire programme like stellar interference. Its just so much noise and since it never ends its impossible to decipher what the music means. Tension? Suspense? Light relief? Who knows, certainly not the Doctor. And what is with all the wise cracks everyone is making and calling each other mate? What ever happened to brilliant serious and frightening Who like the Sea Devils? No, despite the welcome earthy accent of the new Doctor, a fellow Yorkshire tyke, I shan't be watching it again in a hurry. How do you find it readers?

Mystery and Imagination: I caught the final episode of this old TV play series on Sunday. It was the last show, the Curse of the Mummy. I've seen about four of these now on the great Talking Pictures TV channel. All from the 1960's each of the plays was a TV adaptation of a classic horror or melodrama such as Uncle Silas, Frankenstein, Dracula, the Suicide Club, Sweeney Todd and the aforementioned Mummy, which was in colour. I think I recall this series when I was kid but then again the three channels we had back then were awash with TV plays like Armchair Theater and Play for Today so I may be remembering any number of them. Having read up on Mystery and Imagination this week it appears that many of the shows have been lost in the mists of time, which is a great shame. The ones left can all be found on a Network DVD, which Talking Pictures TV have been showing since November. And they contained hardly any if no music at all! How brave is that! Did anyone else catch any of them?

SIXTEEN 12 THUNDERBIRD 1 & 3 MODELS ANNOUNCED

Coming soon from Sixteen 12 Collectables, a new Thunderbird studio size range. Very exclusive and possibly not for everyone, but nice to see.

MEXICAN JET GYRO?

Check out this little blue Mexican Thunderbird 2 pod vehicle. I think its a Jet Gyro. Or?

Not sure what toy range this is from. It's Lili Ledy for certain but is it Mini Capitan Boy?

Its followed in the old 1970 film by the Lili Ledy version of the normal sized Billy Blastoff, Capitan Boy.

The Mini Capitan Boy range features in part 7 of this film series on You Tube

https://projectswordtoys.blogspot.com/2017/10/discovery-four-mini-capitan-boy-on-film.html

BACK TO EARTH

I've not seen this toy rocket before, the Mercury Atlas Booster by Gladen. Its like a larger version of the similar LP rockets we know well on Moonbase. This Atlas I saw on Ebay. It has a parachute and reminds of the Quercetti/ JR21 rockets many of us had as kids.

The header card has a striking image of separating modules. It reminds me of the brilliant card art for the Triang SpaceX Nuclear Ferry.