Space:1999

 

Sci-fi series were slim pickings in the 70s. There hadn't been a major television show presented in this country since Star Trek left the airwaves.   One could argue that UFO (1970, but syndicated into the early 70s in the US) was a serious show, but it did not have to the budget this semi sequel series did.  When Space: 1999 (1975-1977) debuted in syndication all over the country, it was a big deal.  The special effects were astounding.  The stories were interesting, and the second season had interesting additions.

more on Xenorama #19

Since I'm adding this here fine movie to Xenorama #19 I figured we needed a few frame grabs to go along with it, and so here we have them.  There are so many cool shots in the movie that using only a few is hard to do, but I narrowed it down to some really cool shots.  I left out most of the ones that had been seen before, and all of the cutesy nonsense with Gepetto and the Blue Fairy, because zzzzzzz, of course.  What we want to see is monsters and aliens, right?  That's what I thought!

The Invisible Boy 1957 (Trailer)

This was one of those movies I always read about. Usually it was in conjunction with THE FORBIDDEN PLANET and how popular Robby was/is. It never aired in my area, which is odd, since FB was a staple on Channel 2. It might have aired sometime when I was away during the summer. It was released on DVD with FB a while back, so that's where I finally got to see the movie.

Battle in Outer Space (1959)

again, the original one has been removed or something, so here's the theatrical trailer and a few tv trailers when it's paired with "Gigantis, the Fire Monster".  I would have been all over that show!

Forbidden Planet C57-D

it's not secret I love The Forbidden Planet.  the actors are great, the effects are awesome and the soundtrack is unusually weird.  all positive points.  and that it's such a major influence on Star Trek doesn't hurt.

Queen of Blood (1966)

this is one of those movies Roger Corman cobbled together with Russian sci-fi movies.  those Russian movies had some really cool effects.

this movie has some really cool shots, but overall it's ever so talky.  it has to be Curtis Harrington providing what good stuff there is here.

the movie sends a ship to Mars, where they find a green blood drinking woman.  well, they don't know she drinks blood until they bring her into their spaceship.  she feeds on a scientist or two before they realize what she is, then they give her some blood from their store room.  why on Earth do they think this is a good idea?
spoilers!

Battle of the Worlds (trailer)

I know I have watched this about three times, and yet, I barely remember anything of it, except that Claude Rains is quite enjoyable in it. I don't think I buy the trailer's line about it being "five years in the making" though. I do like the movie, as it's got a lot of ships and saucers and rays, which is pretty cool. it's a PD movie, meaning it shows up all the time on the multi-sets, usually with not very good quality. still worth a watch.

War of the Worlds (1953) trailer

one of George Pal's best!



this is one great movie. I saw it on the re-release in probably 1978 (on a double bill with When Worlds Collide (1951) and that was a very cool evening for me and my brother.  imDb says it was released in August 1977, but it probably didn't make it's way to Colorado for some time.  George Pal was the producer, and his output of fantastic films was really only surpassed by Eiji Tsuburaya.

Monster Zero trailer

it's also one of the coolest titles of ANY Godzilla movie.  in fact, the first time it aired, I didn't watch it because I didn't know it was a Godzilla movie.  boy did I regret not watching it when I found out at the playground the next day.

Starblazers

watching- or trying to watch- all of the Starblazers cartoon series.  Netflix has them all for rent.

I never saw it on it's first airing in the US.  it was never shown in Colorado, and at the time of it aired (1980) it was always shown very early in the morning in the places I saw in it the tv guide.

I think I would have enjoyed it though, despite knowing it was probably sanitized somewhat for the US audience by then.  it's a space opera with a lot of characterization, but plenty of action.  the US actors are pretty good, though some of the lines are pretty clunky.

the DVDs are arranged in 4-5 episodes, so watching one can take about 80 minutes or so.  it's an enjoyable presentation.  I've seen the movie adaption,  Space Cruiser Yamato, and that is really well done.

Star Snacks!

here's a cool bit of advertisement from the late 70s (can't be 1971 as the uploader claims).  it proves people everywhere want to drink Coca Cola, symbol of the free west. it's not only the drink of the gods, but aliens, too!

it's not quite Star Wars, but I bet Jason of Star Command would like it.

the Enterprise

as Scotty said, "with no letters or numbers..." (well, something like that).

still hasn't been improved upon since 1966.

Monsters from Space... 1999

these are many of the monsters the lovely Catherine Schell turned into on the second season of Space: 1999.  while I certainly enjoyed the show at the time, it's rather ungainly plot concept makes it a little harder to take these days.

still, the effects work is excellent, and the cast is likable.

Leslie Nielson stars in "Forbidden Planet" oh oh oh oh...

one of my favorite sci-fi movies of all time, Forbidden Planet (1956)!



it's got just about everything you could want, good score, great actors, cool effects and one of the most unusual scores ever made.

I'd love to write about this movie, but what could I possibly add to what has already been said?

wild is the word!

for Wild Wild Planet!



this is the first (I think) of the "Gamma I Quadrology" which also includes "War of the Planets", "Snow Demons" and "War Between  the Planets". I think a case could be made for "The Green Slime" and "Battle of the Worlds" as well to be included, since it's such a loose continuity.  I like this one the best of the four.

crabs have teeth!

well, giant martian crabs do, anyway! they also drool.

crab vs crab

there is nothing that isn't improved by any kind of giant monsters, crabs or not.  this is from

Pinocchio in Outer Space (1965), a really cool movie that  Fred Ladd produced. hmm, I have no idea what I did with the font! LOL. here's  your clip!

Thunderbird 2 is go!

Thunderbird 2 is an awesome ship.  that is all.

space rockers

and here you thought Buck Rogers' disco was bad.


and notice the cast!  I always liked the show, overall.

a few of my favorite ships

I love cool looking spaceships, who doesn't?  these days, most sci-fi ships tend to be rather bland and realistic.  forget that, gimme a sleek colorful ship any day- the Enterprise, the Jupiter II, or the Ultra Hawks from "Ultra Seven" are all awesome.

this is Thunderbird 2, from the movie Thunderbirds are Go! (1966).  it's generally regarded as the favorite, and it's a great looking ship.  it's used to haul around the various machines and items used for International Rescue's missions.

 

here we have the Moonlight SY3, possibly the coolest ship ever in Japanese cinema, and that's saying something!  it was used to combat the Kilaak invaders in 1968's Destroy All Monsters, and played an integral role in the saving of the Earth.

A Longmont time ago…

A Longmont time ago…

(A Star Wars Memory)

In the middle of 1977 my life was about to change. Surprisingly, I knew it would a bit, but not like it did. I had passed sixth grade (no useless graduations back then!) and was a little apprehensive about entering junior high. There would be new friends met, old friends lost and many other discoveries that I had no idea were going to happen to me. Mostly, junior high seemed very overwhelming and a little scary.
 

However, that was almost 3 months away, so I wasn’t that worried about it yet. I was going to enjoy my summer, and that meant sleeping in on weekday mornings! That first Monday though, I heard the television on earlier than normal. I knew there wasn’t a monster movie on. I had no idea what my younger brother Eric would have been watching. Turns out it was some morning show, and they were interviewing actors from this hot new film called STAR WARS. Along with the interviews, they were showing clips from the movie (in glorious full screen picture and mono sound, no less).

I was a sci-fi film buff by then, and pretty much thought I was quite the expert on the subject by age 12. Needless to say, I was not prepared to see space battles like that, or light sabers, or droids or that awesome music. Now, to be honest, I had seen the first issue of Marvel’s Star Wars comic book, since it predated the movie by a few months. But I passed it up, as it didn’t have a superhero in it, so how could that interest me?

So after watching the early morning talk show for 3 more days, Eric and I marched upstairs to ask (in the least demanding way preteen boys can do) our long-suffering mother if we could see this movie. And she said “yes” being the wonderful mother that she was. This was probably early in June. Which, is about two weeks after the movie would have premiered. Back in 1977, not every movie was released in every town. Longmont didn’t get STAR WARS right away. I am not sure if Fox was striking new prints for more theaters (seems likely), but it was after the movie had been out a week or two that the TV show would have been aired.

 

On what I believe was a Friday evening my mother piled Eric and me into the car and we went down to the Parkway for the 7 PM showing at the Parkway theater, Longmont’s second and “deluxe” theater. There was not a line there, but the place was full up.
 

We sat in our seats and the lights went down. To this day, the fanfare for 20th Century Fox makes me wait for the opening theme of Star Wars. And then…

Two hours later the entire theater emptied out, and I discovered I had to re-break myself of the habit of chewing my nails, and that being a space opera hero was not a bad thing at all. My mother was also impressed with the movie as well, though she would not see the rest of the films. All we could do was talk about the light sabers and the blasters and the spaceship battles. We were aware that we had nothing to fear from storm troopers, since they only thing they could hit was a Jawa Sandcrawler. They never were able to shoot the heroes! And of course, the speculation of what would be in the sequel, since there had to be one, Darth Vader got away and Luke needed to avenge Obi-Wan and his father’s death. No way would he let that go! I was sure that the second movie would be more of the same, though how Luke would learn to use the force was beyond me.
 

This movie pushed all other stuff out of my mind for a while. I was not talking about Godzilla, Spider-man or Star Trek. My brother and I had to talk about it incessantly, and then see it several more times that summer, in the company of other friends (Hi Charles!) and even our 8 year old cousin Ron-Bill, who took it far more to heart than either of us did. It was easy to see that summer, since it stayed at the Parkway for something like 8 or 9 months, if not longer. We had many light saber battles, and used our blasters in the name of justice to destroy any forces of the empire we might find.

And then school started, and at age 12 ½ life will start changing, even with laser battles and spaceships running around your brain. You start getting more clothes than toys for Christmas and birthdays, and I never had that many Star Wars toys (I grew up with Mego dolls, and didn’t care for the less than desirable poseability of the SW toys). The opposite sex also starts making life more interesting as well. So eventually, my interest in Star Wars and SW related accessories took a more normal course. But after seeing a young man destroy the mightiest weapon the Empire could build, suddenly junior high didn’t seem so daunting. It never was, either!