SPACE FOR SITTING

 I've always loved space chairs.

Major Matt Mason had a cool recliner in his Mattel space station, maybe the granddaddy of all toy space chairs.

Those Moonbase Alpha guys had some neat seats too from Mattel. Howzabout this for classy 1975 design! I remember chairs like that in airports!

Those Moonbase chairs were even elevated on an illuminating pedestal! How uplifting! Now where's my Moonbase chair!?

Arco flew the flag for fashion dolls too with their super cosmic Space Place.

Complete with back pack, console and what looks like a transporter beam.

But its that grandiose space chair that does it for me. Replete with a million flashing 'lights' its boxy outline is straight from Star Trek I would say.

It swivels too!

Did you have a fave space chair readers?

JUST THE JOB

 Some jobs just never made it to the toy factory.

I had a Post Office and a bus conductor and a supermarket as a kid.

I think I might have been an air traffic controller too.

But I never saw a window cleaner toy set or a chimney sweep toy set! For obvious reasons, but they would have been fun!

Even an Action Man outfit for jobs like that would have done. Imagine, an Action Man butcher or a carpet fitter! Why just firemen and soldiers?

What job toy sets would you have liked to see readers?

MYSTERY SPACESHIPS

 More mystery spaceships on another header.

This was for a generic space water pistol I saw on auction.

What are those ships?

FANDERSON BIRTHDAY BASH : 40 FAB YEARS

Here's a few photos I took at last Saturday's Fanderson birthday party which took place at the Pinewood Hotel in Slough.

It was a very pleasant informal affair celebrating Gerry & Sylvia Anderson's series, and the 41 years since Fanderson was formed, albeit a year late due to Covid -19.

It wasn't a convention in the traditional sense,  more a simple get together to catch up with friends , and enjoy a few drinks and a barbecue. Of course, as it was a birthday celebration there had to be cake!

A couple of special guests came along to join in the celebration: Puppeteers, Mary Turner & Judy Preece.

There was a small but excellent display of replica puppets and vehicles organised by Simon Greetham, Tony Freeman and Richard Ashton.

Tex Tucker from Four Feather Falls. 

The figure's stand is signed by Nicholas Parsons, who as most fans will know voiced Tex in the series.

Mike Mercury, pilot of 'Supercar'.

Colonel Steve Zodiac, pilot of Fireball XL5.

Looking good, boys!

Troy Tempest, Captain of Stingray.

Pilot of Thunderbird 1, Scott Tracy.

Indestructible Captain Scarlet!

Mysteron agent, Captain Black

The 'Dove' from Journey to the Far Side of the Sun aka Doppelgänger 

Joe McClaine

Father Stanley Unwin as seen in The Secret Service.

Julie, from the pilot film, The Investigator. She would later  go on to appear in the Jif Dessert Toppings commercial sporting a different hairstyle.

A studio scale replica of SKY 1.

A 22" Product Enterprise Eagle Transporter.

Those stalwart men who made the display possible - Simon, Tony and Richard.

I know there was quite a few people who helped get this very enjoyable event off the ground, and my thanks to them, as well as the hotel staff who did a great job.

I did manage to take a couple of snaps of two of the blokes who helped things run smoothly...

Fanderson treasurer and one half of the Fanderson sales team, Stephen Brown (the other half of the sales team is Lynn Simpson)

Fanderson Chairman, Nick Williams, about to address the audience.

Nick talked about how things were going with Fanderson in general, and about changes to the club's magazine, which is now called 'FAB Express', and will sport a cover not unlike TV21.

The question now is will there be another informal birthday bash, next year?

I hope so!

Many Happy Returns, Fanderson!

STATION TO STATION

 I'm looking at these bits from Mattel's Moonbase Alpha station play set from 1975 pictured on Ebay.

Weren't similar parts used in the earlier Major Matt Mason Space Station?

BLISTERS YOU WANT

 

This is just one picture of the huge array of different blisters found over the last few years containing varying assortments of LP and Apollo Moon Exploring toys.

This Toy House one even has the Billy Blastoff miniature space car or 'space sled'.

Paul Vreede's fab SpaceX website features many more of these sets as does the prolific Space Trucks You Tube channel of Steve Nyland. See the links below.

Have you blisters like these?

OMMADAWN

Unashamedly stuck in the Seventies I'm listening to Ommadawn on You Tube whilst the Missus watches an emotional US series with far too much real life in it for my liking called Maid.

Ommadawn was the third album by the young musical genius, Mike Oldfield. Its two sides of pure instrumental heaven with guitars and who knows what else. Mike could play virtually every instrument on Earth and did on his albums. When he was just 19 he made Tubular Bells, an iconic Virgin platter that even made it onto the beginning of the Exorcist, which no doubt helped it along the way.

Ommadawn has a short spoken and sung part about riding on horse-back, a passage I used to sing to my daughter when she was a kid in the 80's. Hey and away we go, cross the land cross the snow ..... you may know it. Quite lovely. He also mentions Hergest Ridge, his Seventies place, which I assume he bought when he made a few pennies from Tubular Bells. 

Hergest Ridge was also Mike's second album and one I have never heard. I went straight from Bells to Ommadawn for some reason. So now Hergest Ridge is on my bucket list along with a few more missing rock albums, Stormbringer for one and some old films like Razorback and Electra Glide in Blue.

These first three albums were all recorded by Mike before he was 22, an amazing feat for someone so young.

I was in a band back then and never got further than singing my tunes in pubs!

Hey and away we go, cross the land, cross the snow.

Do you like Mike Oldfield's stuff?

PS. This is Mike's new LP, 26 albums later, Return to Ommadawn! I love the cover! I may just have to give it a whirl!

BLISTER ATTACK

 

Here's another of the galaxy of plastic spacemen captured in rack packs.

This is by Toyco of Montreal. Super Space Action.

The card art rings a bell.

Here's similar if not the same alien antics on Toyco's bigger boxed Alien Attack set [pic courtesy of Worthpoint]

Did you have any Toyco toys?