I'M NOT LION: MIGHTY JOE YOUNG WAS PRETTY DARN MIGHTY!

I adored 1949's Mighty Joe Young as a kid in the Sixties.

It must have been on the telly if I saw it.

The amazing black and white scene created by the dynamic duo of Willis O'Brien and Ray Harryhausen [his first film] where Joe grapples the lion wagon has stuck with me to this day. 

With my trusty Britains Gorilla like the one below I saw on Ebay [which you must have had too readers] I played out this scene over and over with my Chipperfields Circus set lions.

Seeing this different vintage set on Ebay - the Cragstan Kiddie Land Train - it took me right back to me monkeying around with my Mighty Joe.

I think someone has added the gorilla as its not listed on the box!

Do you have any Mighty Joe memories readers or any gorilla toys?

ALPHA MAIL

 Junior's room is full of spacecraft.

The old Fisher Price Alpha Probe is a great addition from earlier in the year but brand new Lego is the new kid on the blocks.

Looking at the Fisher Price astronaut I realised that the appendages on the helmet were binoculars.

Thunderbird 1 is on standby by the Junior's rock collection

Two icons finally came together to keep the staircase safe.

Have you got spaceships in the stairwell?

ACTION MAN AND THE BERZERKER

My quest to find at least one Gen1 Transformer wherever I look for old toys - car boots, Charidees - seems to be working so far.

On Saturday I visited a junk shop near me, where I wanted to buy something I'd seen a few months back when Wotan visited, a Gen1 Megatron for £20, a retirement treat. As usual, I'd umm'd and ahh'd far too long and old Megatron had split. 

Still, some further rummaging produced two 2010 soft plastic Hasbro Heroes Transformers [a bit too modern for me really], piccied below, and best of all a Gen1 1990 Barricade transforming racing car, pictured below in my cabinet, far right.

All three a pound!

In a second junk shop I found these PEZ. All from the Noughties, I could easily collect PEZ, as they seem to be relatively cheap and findable. A sweet world unto itself, PEZ has its own No Feet/ Feet division year of 1987. All these have feet. I imagine many serious collectors stick to just no feet examples but hey, I'm a beginner!

All 5 for a pound.

Somewhat dearer was this 2018 Action Man Action Soldier re-issue for 3+ kids by Art and Science. He's just missing his dog-tags but has his cap, uniform and boots are all there. £4.50.

The strange chap behind is Drift from Fortnite. He lights up, plays techno music and is a 12 incher. Just missing his mohican. A pound.

Another investment, I hope, was this large Fisher Price boxed Construx set

It looks complete and very appealing in its inner tray. Not something I would have had as a kid - too fiddley for me - but I can see the allure now. A fiver.

As I was leaving the shop I saw this in a pile of books. At first I thought it was a book but then realised it was the side of a box I was staring at.

It's a role playing game called BERSERKER from the early 1980's. I love the dark box art!

Inside it has unpunched card pieces and looks generally unused, so I was really quite chuffed. One pound, a Yorkshire bargain!

 

Is there anything here you would have liked?

BEHIND THE SCENES 'METROPOLIS' PHOTOS

 It's fair to say I don't watch many silent films, but one I do have in my collection of DVD's is the pioneering futuristic sci-fi film, Metropolis.

The film was made in 1927, and directed by Austrian expressionist film director, Friedrich Christian Anton Lang, better known as Fritz Lang, and based on a 1925 novel of the same name, written by Thea von Harbou.

Apart from the dystopian futuristic imagery, it is the unnamed gynoid robot in the film played by German actress, Bridget Helm, who also has the duel role as Maria, which stands out .

(In the novel, the robot is named Futura)

Here are some behind the scenes photos showing Ms. Helm while wearing the robot suit was kept cool.

(Below)The robot's creator, Rotwang, played by Rudolf Klein-Rogge has some attention to his make-up while the robot looks on.

 Bridget Helm has some make up applied

A different levels of Metropolis.

The Temple of Moloch being 'fed' with workers

A diagram of how one of the ground breaking effects was achieved.

The robot, or Maschinenmensch (Machine Person) was designed by Walter Schulze-Mittendorff.

KONGA COVER IN MINIATURE BY PAUL ADAMS

Hi

Just for fun, I decided to see if I could re-create the Monarch Books Konga cover - above - in model form. This is not a permanent diorama, it was only set up for the photographs.

I used existing models and kits, so they are not an exact match for the cover, but the figures are painted to match the Monarch colours. The grass and foliage are plastic, from the artificial flower section of a $2 shop (Pound Shop in Britain).

Konga himself is a Schleich Male Gorilla, height about 80mm. This is a beautiful model, which is very well finished - no re-painting was needed.

The lady is from the 1/24th scale Tamiya Campus Friends Set 2*. This includes five figures and a motor scooter. She is a 13-part kit in buff coloured plastic, and despite some very oddly shaped parts, the fit is excellent.

The gentleman is a kneeling mechanic from the 1/25th scale AMT Tip Top Shop set, one of a series of three garage accessory kits. He consists of just five parts, in white plastic.

Then it was just a matter of setting everything up, and taking the photographs. Here they are. I hope you like them.

Six photographs, the Konga cover is from Worthpoint, the rest are mine.

Paul Adams from New Zealand

*The Tamiya and AMT kits contain several other figures - I am sure I will be able to find uses for them too.

GOING APE! BAD MOVIE SIMIANS

In 1961 Michael Gough commands Konga to do fell deeds in Konga, despatching his enemies and disparagers with wild abandon.

Konga isn't alone in this premise. Michael Gough did it again in Black Zoo in 1963, the leader of a zoo cult deploying big game to kill their foes. It included a gorilla too!

Edgar Allen Poe went ape years earlier when he penned Murders in the Rue Morgue. Bela Lugosi helped bring it to the Big Scream in 1932.

More recently in 1988 Monkey Shines gave us a homicidal monkey doing the dirty work for a hospital patient.

You can probably think of more apes under the influence! Yes?

GALACTIC SPECIAL EFFECTS GUESTS

Some photos of the (galactic) guests at Smallspace 10.

John Leeson who provided the voice of K9 for most of it’s appearances. He also appeared in person in the Doctor Who story, ‘The Power of Kroll’, and two Blake’s 7 episodes, ‘Mission to Destiny’ and ‘Gambit’.

Here’s a group shot of several of the blokes who work, or who have worked providing special effects for several BBC TV productions including co-organiser of Smallspace, Mat Irvine.

Mike Tucker, who began his career working for the BBC effects department during the mid 1980’s, is an award winning special effects expert, and an Effects Supervisor for his company, The Model Unit, which he formed following the closure of the BBC effects department in 2004. He was one of the principal effects crew on ‘Red Dwarf’, and worked as an effects assistant on the final four series of the original ‘Doctor Who’. He went on to work on the revived series starring Christopher Eccleston, as model work supervisor.

Nick Kool,(above centre) here wearing the Model Unit tee shirt, is a senior visual & special effects technician who has worked on Red Dwarf and the revised series of Doctor Who. He also worked on the Netflix film, Enola Holmes 2, which starred Millie Bobby Brown (Stranger Things) and Henry Cavill (Man of Steel, The Witcher)

Alan ‘Rocky’ Marshall, is a model maker, creature effects technician, visual effects designer and senior visual effects technician. He’s worked on Red Dwarf, the revived Doctor Who and the Anderson Entertainment minisode, Firestorm. He also worked on Casino Royale (2006) and the TV series, ‘As Time Goes By’.

METAL MACHINES GORILLA ATTACK!

Zuru Metal Machines are a range of die-cast model cars, along the lines of Hot Wheels. Not really in the same league, but they do have some nice track sets and play sets.

This large 4-Lane Gorilla Attack Set features a giant gorilla and a couple of skyscrapers, along with track, and a single Metal Machines car. It seems that basically the same track set is available with different monsters, and different supports.

The Gorilla is a very nice moulding, and certainly looks ferocious. Unfortunately, only the upper half of the body is included, mounted on top of one of the buildings.

Moulded in orange plastic, with light grey for the face, hands, and chest. The buildings are gold. Overall length is 4 feet, or 1.22m.

There are two versions of the box top. One (I assume the earlier type) shows a complete ape, which does not match what is in the box. The other correctly shows the upper body only, mounted atop the far building.

I am sure the figure could be included in a diorama, but only being a half-figure, he would need to be carefully posed to hide the lack of a lower body.

Four photographs, from Toyzania and Worthpoint.

Hope you like it.

Paul Adams

New Zealand