Honda Asimo advert (2006)

Learning to love technology was pretty much what Honda was selling in this rather wonderful advert from 2006.

Asimo, a cute little humanoid robot and the poster child for ‘warm technology’ is seen wandering through a museum viewing the progression of man via the exhibits.

Along the the way he confronts this spacesuit and there's something resembling a moment of recognition for a direct ancestor.   It's TV advertising as an artform.


Steve

Carlsberg: Spaceman advert (2011)

This is what happened in July 1969.... according to the beer brewers of Carlsberg.

Is it me or are we getting a bit of a resurgence in moon themed adverts over recent years?  I think, perhaps we might finally be ready to go back.


Steve

Lister Fabric advert (1960)

How fantastic is this Lister fabric advert from 1960's.  There were loads of these kinds of cashing-in ads back in the days of the space race but they're so hard to track down and get a decent scan of.  This is a gem.  I'll  try and date it a little more precisely but for now simply enjoy.

Steve

Life on Mars - US Version (2009)

This is from the the last episode of the USA's version of the Life on Mars.

The end of the original UK version must rank as one of the greatest endings to any TV drama ever.  The end of the USA version must rank as one of the stupidest.

Not much more to say really, except; Sorry Harvey.


Steve

Watchmen (2009)

This is one of the retro villains seen in the 2009 film adaption of  the Watchmen graphic novel.

He's called the Spaceman and he's seen in flashback being thwarted by the 1940's superteam The Minutemen

An obscure find but well worth it.


Steve

Apostle From Space (1978)

Interesting!  More robot than space suit and seems much more retro than the late 70's.  Artwork seems sort of familiar or is it just reminding me of  Maria  from Metropolis

Steve

Science Fiction Quarterly - August (1954)

I know nothing about this but it sure do look pretty.  Now that's a very cool looking spacesuit design right there and we really should track down the artist.  Anyone?

Steve

Captain Future #1 (1940)

Brilliant... and that's just the title.  I don't know who the artist is yet I just know I want to be a Wizard of Science too. 

Amazing Stories - Novemeber (1954)

Vol 28, No 5 of Amazing Stories from 1954 with a rather fantastic composition by William Rembach of whom I know nothing but of whom I have just become a fan.

Steve

Amazing Stories - May (1929)

A classic cover from one of the all time classic publications of science fiction stories.  And thus far it's one of our earliest fictional representations of the spaceman over on this here blog.  It's from May 1929 and I'll try and get back here with an artist, unless anyone out there, more knowledgeable than I on such matters, wants to offer a name?

Update - So this is just 1 of Frank R Paul's 38 covers for Amazing Stories and having just had a search around the internet to find that out we best give Frank R Paul his own label because we'll be showing more of his work in the future

Steve

Doctor Who Terminus (1983) part 2

And lurking deep in the heart of Terminus is this dead spaceman but for reasons that I can't entirely remember now.

The costume and the helmet look like they've been loaned from the BBC's costume department having been featured somewhere else; Moonbase 3 or some such similar show.

Did I mention the scanty underwear and the spacedog yet?


Steve

Doctor Who Terminus (1983) part 1

It's a mad old tale is Terminus and one that probably only a hardened Doctor Who fan is going sit through.

The story set on the titular Terminus, a space station where they send all the victims of the incurable Lazars disease and ends with the big bang that created the universe.

Somewhere in amongst all of that there's a giant humanoid space dog called The Garm (which I like for all the wrong reasons), Nyssa, The Doctor's assistant strips down to her underwear (which I like for all the right reasons) and then there are these pair of space pirates.

That's right, the thigh slapping, "it's behind you" kind of pirates.  Dangerous like a disco is dangerous.


Steve

Doctor Who The Impossible Planet / The Satan Pit (2006)

A rather lovely little number this, inspired by NASA’s orange space shuttle suits with helmets built upon and around this...

which is a SCOTT safety Helmet. 

The story is set way in the future on Sanctuary Base 6, a space base on the surface of a planet which is somewhat impossibly orbiting a black hole.  It’s a cracking two parter with plenty of suspense and spooks to go round and well worth checking out if you haven’t had the pleasure yet.

A revamp of this suit appears the following year in the episode; 42 and the actual suit seen here and borrowed by The Doctor in these episodes turns up again a whole three years later when the Timelord goes a visiting Mars intent on a little stroll.

It's all been blogged so go check it out.


Steve

Doctor Who The Waters of Mars (2009) part 2

The Waters of Mars sees the return of the Sanctuary Base 6 space suit borrowed by The Doctor some three years earlier in the 2006 two part story; The Impossible Planet and The Satan Pit. 

It’s probably a budgeting issue that made them reuse the suit from a previous story but it does add a nice touch of continuity as we never actually see the Doctor give it back at the end of The Satan Pit.

This casual thieving of costumes might also explain why the TARDIS has need for such a capacious wardrobe.  So raise your hand if you've ever borrowed something that didn't belong to you and sort of forgot to give it back.

Guilty it seems but then that's how he acquired the TARDIS so he's been at it from the start.

Steve

Doctor Who 42 (2007)

I’m always a little disappointed by Chris Chibnall’s scripts which has nothing whatsoever to do with space suits but I felt  the need to say that by way of saying something, anything about this episode of Doctor Who.

At its heart it probably has the nub of a good idea but in its execution it’s functional at its best.  Maybe it’s because he lurks in the shadow of much cleverer writers and stories but Chibnall’s efforts always seem to be missing that little spark of originality and very rarely surprise or confound... which is a prerequisite of any good Doctor Who episode I always thought.

Anyway... space suits.  This one looks similar to those seen in The Satan Pit, which I like to think links the two stories to a shared universe but in truth is just a custom rebuild upon the original in order to save costs.

Nothing wrong with it really....  It does the job.
Oops! There I go talking about Mr Chibnall's scripts again.


Steve

Doctor Who The Waters of Mars (2009) - part 1

This is the space suit seen in the first few minutes of the 2009 Doctor Who special; The Waters of Mars.  It’s glimpsed only briefly and worn by Bowie Base crew member; Yuri Kerenski .  Set in the year 2059 this represents cutting edge technology for Earth’s first Martian pioneers.

Its alright this and a good effort for something that's only on the screen for a short scene.  I'm sort of surprised we haven't seen this again in a future episode.


Steve

Doctor Who The Invisible Enemy (1977)

The Invisible Enemy is the story of a sentient space virus that takes over the crew of the Titan shuttle.  The same virus also infects The Doctor’s brain and a cloned version, along with one of the lovely Leela, has to be miniaturised and sent in to root the nucleus out.

It’s all a bit of a homage to the 1966 film; Fantastic Voyage but it is perhaps most fondly remembered for being the story that first introduced K9, The Doctor’s much loved robot dog.  Or disliked for exactly the same reason depending on how you feel about the metal mutt.

Thinking about spacesuits in Doctor Who, I had forgotten about this one but once remembered I have to say that what we see on screen is rather splendid and actually looks like they’ve had a few quid spent on them. 

It also looks like elements of this suit were used again in the Blake’s 7 episode; Voices of the Past a couple of years later.  There's a blog post so go check it out.

Crackin stuff.


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