Battle Beyond the Stars (1980)

Here's an old chestnut from my misspent youth; the remake of The Magnificent Seven in space, also known as Battle Beyond the Stars.  I'm half way through a rewatch this very evening and have rediscovered a very forgettable spacesuit scene.

I had spotted a hint of a space helmet when Richard Thomas first enters the spaceship Nell but had assumed it was there as set dressing but no, about 30 minutes in and it actually gets a bit of airtime.

These are not the best images in the world but then its not the best space helmet either.  Still, that's another one added to the list that we didn't have before


Steve

Blood Red Planet (2000)

By all accounts this film is a load of old tummy rot.  Who wants to own up to having sacrificing the 81 minutes of their lives to confirm if that's true or not.


Steve

Silversun - Jelly Belly (2004)

Silversun is a children's television series made in Australia by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).  It features the adventures of the adolescent members of the crew of the Star Runner, an interstellar spaceship carrying a cargo of 550 cryogenically suspended colonists to their new home; Silversun.  And now you know as much as me.

These images are from the 13th episode of the first season, entitled; Jelly Belly, and features that perennial favourite prop of the cash-strapped TV costume designer; the motor bike helmet sprayed silver.  Just add big collar to disguise with varying effect. 

 

 

 

 

Steve

The Killings at Outpost Zeta (1980)

A team of men and women investigate the mysterious deaths of two previous expeditions to a strategically important but barren world.

Steve

Doctor Who Nightmare of Eden (1979)

The Nightmare of Eden is another sci-fi romp for Tom Baker in the guise of the 4^th incarnation of The Doctor.  I was 11 when I first saw this and I still remember it quite well from that single viewing.  I remember the two spaceships that get merged together, the monstrous Mandrels that roam the ships corridors and even the twist ending about the source of the drug Vraxoin.

What I don’t recall though are these two space-chaps, suited up on the cheap with silver jump-suits and a couple of motor-bike helmets.

Classic Who on a classic Who budget.  Lovely!

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

The Tomorrow People - Series 1 (1973)

The Tomorrow People was produced by Thames Television for the ITV network.  This children’s sci-fi show was broadcast in its original form from 1973 to 1979.  Its basic premise concerns the “break out” of the next stage of human evolution; Homo Superior, AKA, the titular; Tomorrow People.

Being a children’s series, the main cast of the show were themselves children or young adults.  This served the story logic well as it is revealed in the very first episode that it’s during adolescence that the Tomorrow People’s psionic powers come to fruition.

Telepathy, telekinesis, teleportation and a nifty underground base are just a few of the perks of joining humanity’s elite but far more important than that is, of course, access to some shiny silver space suits!

Well now that I’ve named them such I should probably point out that in the show’s vernacular they’re better known as AE Suits which basically means that they are inclusively rather than exclusively spacesuits.  You see; AE stands for Adaptable for any Environment but in reality this translates as; this show has almost zero budget and these things are going to have to serve all elements of the plot from Arctic to volcanic wear.

The ones pictured here are only seen in the first series and were perhaps a little too tight-fitting to be practical or just too hot to wear beneath the studio lights but by series two they had been replaced by an updated design and a far more forgiving fabric.

And yes, those are modified motor bike helmets there but If I really wanted illustrate how cheap this show was, I would be posting pictures of the monsters and explaining how thinly the plot could be spread over multiple episodes.

And not that it has any real relevance to this blog but I feel compelled to add that, despite its many failings, the central premise of the Tomorrow People is a solid gold idea and that its theme tune and opening credits must rank as one of the all time classics of British children’s television.  Go You Tube it.  In actualization, it remains the best bit of the whole show.

Steve

Blake's 7: Headhunter (1981)

From the final series of Blake’s 7; Headhunter is the 6^th episode of the fourth series.

Now travelling aboard the Scorpio, the remnants of Blake’s original 7 are stuck in an airless ship , while a headless killer android tracks them down...and not to congratulate them on their stunning fashion sense.

These suits are just horrible, cheap bike helmets with additional techno-fins to give it that unnecessarily futuristic comicbook look.  It's an odd design choice given that A; it really is just horrible, and B; it doesn’t even tie in with the fact that everything on the Scorpio was meant to have an industrial, functional and less fantastical look than what had previously been seen when they were all flying about on The Liberator.

Did I mention that I think these suits are horrible?

 

Steve

Pathfinders In Space (1960)

First there was Target Luna, broadcast at the start of 1960 for the British ABC network, and then with a little bit of recasting the second series became Pathfinders in Space and was followed by two further series; Pathfinders to Mars and Pathfinders to Venus.  The shows were all written by Malcolm Hulke and Eric Paice and produced by Sydney Newman.

This image is from Pathfinders in Space and shows one of the early uses of the motorbike helmet doubling up for the space helmet.  The suits have some of that padded tubing around the arms, a look reminiscent of Destination Moon and its imitators.

We'll be back for series three in a bit

Steve