MOONBASE CENTRAL

Tuesday, 11 January 2022

GALGO WHEELS

Check out this link to the fab multi-wheeled toy truck of South American toy firm GALGO. It has a real Explorer 12 vibe! What do you think?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeUTx_-qkeY

WATCHING 2010: THE YEAR WE MAKE CONTACT

Following on from my previous post a couple of days ago on spending the afternoon watching 2001: A Space Odyssey, Wotan suggested I dig out my copy of 2010: The Year We Make Contact, and give that an airing.

Well, I took his advice and settled down to watch. The copy I have is a R2 DVD released in 2000, with the 2:35: 1 widescreen presentation; the downside is however, it's set in a 4:3 aspect; put simply it doesn't fill the screen!

I hasten to add I don't intend that as a metaphor. When it comes to 2010, I suppose it's inevitable to be tempted to make unfair comparisons with Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. Both are very well made but very different films.

2001 is a metaphysical, unconventional cinematic experience: In short, probably the best science fiction film ever made!

2010 is much more pragmatic and faster paced than 2001, and attempts to answer some of the questions raised in the original: In short it's enjoyable science fiction, and a lot easier to understand than 2001!

A couple of notable things to look out for; 2010 does contain a cameo of Arthur C Clarke, sitting on a bench, feeding the birds outside the White House, and briefly on a made up painted cover of TIME magazine, along with Stanley Kubrick.

But really I think 2010 has some pretty good imagery of its own, and some very good recreated sets.

Well worth a watch, in my opinion.

MPC WACKY RACERS

Here's a piece with the MPC Wacky Racers kits from Maxsmodels, Plenty on Star Car kits in this one too. Have you any of these kits?

Maxsmodels Livestream 15 - YouTube

Paul Adams from New Zealand

Monday, 10 January 2022

THE DAY BRIAN SHOOK HANDS WITH GODZILLA

Hi Woodsy. I share with you today a Medicom Toy Real Action Heroes Godzilla toy.

An interesting fact is it is not so much a Godzilla toy as it is a Takara Combat Joe toy.

Combat Joe is the Japanese version of Action Man or GI Joe. The doll comes with a rubber Godzilla suit to wear, accurately depicting how difficult it must have been to masquerade as the big G.

I had the rare opportunity to hand this toy to the original Godzilla costume actor himself, Mr Haruo Nakajima!

He was delighted by the concept of the toy and requested that I take it out of the package so he could see the finished product.

It took us a few minutes to figure it out, but after the toy was complete, we posed for a picture and he autographed the box.

Sadly, Nakahima-San passed away in 2017, but I am grateful for the opportunity to have met him.-

Brian F

NJ USA