Bubble Funnies Mini Comic 3 - Captain America (1981)

14 page promotional comic with cover art by Herb Trimpe.

Steve

Marmalade Atkins in Space (1981)

I've been wanting to blog this one for a while but have been waiting for some decent images to appear.  This is the best we're going to get ,I think, but it will do the job

 

Marmalade Atkins was created by Andrew Davies.  She appeared first in book form in Marmalade and Rufus (1979) but within a couple of years had been adapted for television where she was played by the rather brilliant Charlotte Coleman.  Her TV debut was initially in the one-off Marmalade Atkins in Space, broadcast in 1981 as part of the Theatre Box series.  However this proved so popular that it was followed by two ten-part series entitled Educating Marmalade (1982/1983) and Danger: Marmalade At Work (1984).  I remember watching this anarchic kids show when I was probably a little too old for it but you know; Funny is funny, whatever the demographic.

A couple of the book covers and an illustration from within.

 

 

Steve

Buck Rogers in the 25th Century - Time of the Hawk, Part 1 (1981)

Same helmet as previously featured in the TV show although the suit seems a little different in this season 2 opener.


Steve

Time Bandits (1981)

Terry Gilliam's Time Bandits, a wonderfully eccentric film, that's only real fault is in trying to cram too much in.  It lacks breathing space, I always thought, and would - if ever considered  - lend its self to a very nice multiple episode TV remake.  If we can have Westworld again, we could have the Time Bandits!

Anyway, from the film's finale, this very nice spaceship and suitable dressed Time Bandit.  The helmet will be recycled from somewhere but I'll need to stick the DVD on again to have a better look.

 

As a tangential observation that thrilled me at the time of first viewing, I recognised that little blue spaceship as being a replica of one of the Micronauts vehicles, a much loved toy of the late 70's which I actually owned; more specially the Mobile Exploration Lab.  Some of the relevant bits of which can be seen below.

Obviously young Kevin, the films protagonist, had one of these on his bedroom floor as well.  kind of cool I always thought.


Steve

Blake's 7: Traitor (1981)

That's Forbus from the Blake's 7 episode; Traitor.  He's wearing one of those nifty RAF ventilation suits, that are sometimes a spacesuit, sometimes a Cyberman and sometime nice to dress pop stars in to make a video more interesting.  I think Forbus is one of those crippled evil genius types, so here its being part life-support... which is new.

I quite liked Blake's 7 the first time around although it does get a little painful by the forth season which might be why I don't remember too much about this one or feel particularly inclined to sit through it again.


Steve

Petlya Oriona (1981)

Petlya Oriona aka Orions Loop is another film from the Soviet Union, as it was once known.

From IMDB, because I've never had the pleasure.... "A strange phenomenon has been noticed on the outskirts of our Solar system that quickly approaches the Earth. It's called "Orion's Loop." A spaceship with a crew of people and androids identical to them is sent to intercept the anomaly. But strange events start happening as the spaceship approaches the mysterious loop."

 

Thanks again to Tim, for the pointer

 

 

Steve

Look-In #41 (1981)

Long running British comic / magazine + Much loved English band: Madness =  the above cover image!

 

Beyond that I can't explain why the band members are in space suits or what the logic or reasoning was behind this 1981 cover. But its a nice and odd image to start November off with.  Be back with more soon.

 

 

Steve

Vincent Di Fate - Gallery

Vincent Di Fate is an American artist specializing in science fiction and fantasy illustration. He was inducted by the Science Fiction Hall of Fame on June 25, 2011.

1980

Inseminoid (1981) - Lobby Cards

Steve

To the Stars the Hard Way (1981)

To the Stars the Hard Way AKA Per Aspera Ad Astraeen to give it its original Russian title is a 1981 Soviet film directed by Richard Viktorov based on a novel by Kir Bulychov

 

In December 2001 a new restored version directed by Nikolai Viktorov, the original director's son, was released as an anniversary edition.  This version featured revised special effects and soundtrack and 25 minutes worth of edits to sharpen the pace and lessen some of the old Soviet ideology

 

There is a further edited and dubbed version under the title of  Humanoid Woman but you should probably just give that one a miss.

Happy 2015
Steve

Warp Speed (1981)

A ship is found adrift in space with no trace of its crew, or any signs of life at all. A psychic is brought in to try to "join" her mind with the memories lingering in the craft so that she can find out what happened to the crew.

That suit is all kinds of interesting.  It appears to be one of the Mercury inspired suits that was first seen in Way... Way Out in 1966 and then pops up all over the place until this outing in 1981.  The helmet keeps going a bit longer.  Follow the: Way Out Spacesuit label to enjoy the journey.

Steve

Summertime on Icarus Jim Burns (1981)

Summertime on Icarus (1981)

 

Steve

Something for the Weekend #14

Well hello there!

 

Here is the lovely Linda Lusardi from back in the day when she was a page 3 girl in The Sun newspaper.  This is a cropped version of the full image because we're meant to be admiring the equally lovely space-wear and saving the internet from its self, one pair of tits at a time.

 

Linda is sporting one of the space helmets from Superman II...

Which as we've previously established was originally made for Moon Zero Two over a decade earlier.

 

Now I've a fairly good idea where this one ended up, which is here....

http://www.davidsissonmodels.co.uk/Moon%20Zero%20Two%20Spacesuits.htm

...although if anyone knows where it went in between times, to pick up the repaint, I'd love to know.

I've always assumed than anyone that knows of my blog will already be aware of David Sisson's excellent site where the final happy chapter of that particular prop can be discovered along with lots of other wonderful things but if you don't then you need to jump on that link and get over there asap.

colour me jealous

Steve

Mystery in Space Vol 1 #116 (1981)

Cover art by Jim Starlin

Astronauts (1981)

Astronauts was a British sitcom that aired on the ITV network in 1981. It was written by Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie, two of The Goodies.  There were 13 episodes over two series.

I liked The Goodies and I liked sci-fi but I quite vividly remember not liking this.  Of course it was all a long time ago and I was relatively young so maybe it stands up better than I remember.  I might just have been annoyed because it didn't star The Goodies themselves.

 

Steve