The Worlds of Poul Anderson - cover art by Joseph Lombardero (1974)

 

 

 

Steve

Otpokn Bo Bcenehhon (1974)

Otpokn Bo Bcenehhon, aka Teens in the Universe.  It's Russian I think.  After that you are on your own but if you find out anything good then come back and tell me.

 

You may want to start here; http://dcairns.wordpress.com/2008/04/30/otpokn-bo-bcejehhon/  I did.

 

Steve

Six Million Dollar Man - The Rescue of Athena One (1974)

Steve Austin is launched into space to rescue two astronauts stranded in a crippled space capsule

 

 

Steve

Six Million Dollar Man - Population: Zero (1974)

Season one, episode 1 from January 1974.  When Steve and Oscar investigate the death of the entire population of a small town, they are contacted by a scientist, once employed by the government, who is set on revenge for past grievances. Demanding $10 million or he will strike again, Steve must find and stop him 

 

 

Steve

Of Time and Stars - A C Clarke (1974) Peter Jones

First published in 1972.  This edition is from 1974 and was used on both the Penguin edition and the Puffin edition.

Steve

Doctor Who - Invasion of the Dinosaurs (1974)

It was quite a surprise to find a spaceman lurking in a story about dinosaurs that are being time scooped into modern London and you have to watch the whole six episodes to find out why but there it is.

Looks good.  Looks almost exactly like one of the space suits from Doctor Who producer Barry Letts' between seasons distraction Moonbase 3.  Which is understandable given that it is.  That show didn't go down very well and was unlikely to ever have been offered a second series.  They have added some detail to the helmet but otherwise its the very same thing.  Makes you wonder why more of the props, models and costumes didn't end up adding value to the next season or two of Who.

As a side note I'm going to have to confirm that the dinosaurs in this Who story, particularly the T-Rex, are pretty bad and pretty distracting and ruin what actually turned out to be a fantastic story.  Lets have a special edition with some nice CGI monsters.

Meanwhile here are some more pictures of the spacesuit.

Steve

Spike Milligan - Transports of Delight (1974)

It’s all there on the cover really.

This was one of the late great Spike Milligan’s many books of oddness and absurdity.  It was published in 1974 by Penguin and is, according to an online review, a slim volume of amusing photographs over which Spike had made various irreverent and humorous comments.  They then go on to recommend alternative choices of Milligan books more worthy of your money than this one!

More importantly to us than the value of the content though is that this is yet another outing for that Journey to the Far Side of the Sun (aka Doppelganger) space suit and helmet.  Presuming the cover shoot was done close to publication, this was after UFO, Doomwatch, Don Quick, Smash Mash and The Goodies had finished with it and around about the same time that The Tomorrow People collected it from space in the back of a van.  I kid you not!

Steve

Dangerous Visions 1 (1974)

Dangerous Visions 1 was a groundbreaking collection of short stories when published and is still very well respected now.

And what an absolute gem of a cover by Fred Gambino.  Definite shades of Kubrick's 2001, like quite a few book covers throughout the early 70's.

And here's the artwork in its purest form.

I'm going to put Fred Gambino in the labels because he's done quite a few spacesuits over the years and we are most assuredly going to be back round this way again.


Steve

The Tomorrow People - Series Two - The Doomsday Men (1974)

We've already talked about The Tomorrow People series two and about how not very good it was to begin with and how it got slowly worse as each story followed the next.  And it's all true except that there is a bit of a treat lurking in among those final four episodes.

The Doomsday Men is about a military cult that intend to stop a peace treaty being signed by taking over a nuclear space platform and threatening the world with destruction unless the world's leaders do what they want.

Just prior to all that taking place, one of the crew of the Damocles is cut adrift while working spaceside and is doomed to a cold death but for the intervention of  The Tomorrow People who decide to stage their top secret rescue mission by jaunting into space....in a big old white van.

Anyway what happens next is that I suddenly get a little excited because I realise that what we're looking at here is one of the spacesuits from Gerry Anderson's UFO series.

Now I've already explained in previous posts that these suits guest-star in a number of other TV shows throughout the 70's but this appearance was a new one on me and helped me make it through to the last episode of this dreary, stupid story

It was also quite funny to hear John, leader of the T-Peeps, refer to the spacesuit as old fashioned in one episode.  Really?  Well it certainly wasn't as cutting edge and modern as that rust-bucket of an old van you were cruising the upper atmosphere in earlier!

So there you go.  Another little outing for one of the coolest spacesuits there ever was and I feel sure there must be even more yet to be covered.  Well I know there's at least one more because that's what the next post is going to be about.  We're heading to the Moon in search of rabbits!


Steve

The Tomorrow People - Series Two (1974)

The second series of The Tomorrow People ran from February to May 1974, and consisted of three stories spread over thirteen episodes.  They're all written by Roger Price and while he might come up with a good story idea he just can't do the dialogue or maintain character or plot logic.  What I'm saying here is, as somebody who's working their way through the DVD box set, that this is slow and painful going.

I've often wondered if my enjoyment of watching old Doctor Who episodes is because its comfortably nostalgic and reminds me of being a kid.  If that's the case for the BBC show then it should also be true of the ITV one but alas its just not.  The adventures of the good Doctor are timelessly entertaining because by and large they are well written and populated by actors who can.  The Tomorrow People by and large is the polar oposit and even the story I remember the most fondly; The Blue and the Green, just falls apart over its five episodes.  The rest of series two then get worse.  And what I'm really saying here is that it might be quite a long time before I build up the courages to sit through series three.

And so to the new revamped AE suits which feature in this series.  I quite like them as it goes.

Despite the motorbike'ness of the helmets they have a style about them that is their own.  Gone is the shiny silver of the first series to be replaced with a less showy blue/grey fabric. I also like the tubing and the backpacks and even though they're probably made on the cheap like eveything else about this series, the consistancy between the elements even makes the helmet seem a part of the whole.  Well done who ever that costume designer was but for their contribution, there would be nothing positive to say.

And that's about it really...... except  for.... well... just wait for the next post and see.

Steve

Dark Star (1974)

In its earliest form Dark Star was a 45 minute long student film by director John Carpenter and writer Dan O’Bannon that enjoyed a relatively successful run around various film festivals in 73.

Having caught the eye of producer Jack H Harris it was transferred to a better quality film stock and extended by a further 38 minutes to bring it up to feature film length.

Although it’s quite a cult film which manages to be amusing while also being something of a pastiche of 2001 and certain elements of Doctor Strangelove, the film its self cost next to nothing with sets and space suits seemingly cobbled together from whatever was to hand.

As well as various household bits and pieces being used to dress the sets, the space suits seen in the film quite notoriously feature Styrofoam packing material doubling as the backpacks with a metal cake tray adding space age detailing to the chest unit.

It’s also been stated that the suits were especially made to resemble the Major Matt Mason action figures so as to allow the once popular toy to be used in the miniature effects shots with only minor customising.

Humble beginnings indeed but it’s still an entertaining film that also managed to launch a couple of successful careers that would go on to make some very substantial genre contributions.

Steve