BATTLESTAR GALACTICA (1978) Press Stills

I recently came across this collection of publicity/press kit stills issued by Universal Studios to promote the premiere of ABC's Battlestar Galactica back in '78. Readers of the fan magazines of the time will recognize many of these photos - but there are few rarer ones in here too. Enjoy!

The original Galactica Space Babes!

You know, I still think the Ovions  were the most convincing insectoid aliens I've ever seen

Coming Attractions: THE CAT FROM OUTER SPACE (1978) TV Spot

I was a bit too old for this Disney flick when it came out back in 1978, but my wife is a big fan of The Cat From Outer Space. We have the DVD in our library, but I haven't looked at it in ten years or so; the last time I tried to watch it, I fell asleep about halfway through. Now, to be fair, this was before I was diagnosed with sleep apnea, so it may not have entirely been the movie's fault. Maybe I should try again one of these days when I'm in the mood for some light cheese.

That said... I do like the critter's space ship.

The Envelope, Please....

And... the results of our most recent Space: 1970 Reader's Poll are in!

A week or so ago, I posed the musical question: "Which 70's LIVE ACTION Super-hero Show Or TV Movie Was YOUR Favorite?" For the purposes of this poll, I excluded "on the cusp" characters like bionic Steve Austin & Jaime Sommers and Atlantean Mark Harris, and chose to limit the choices to a.) characters directly derived from super-hero comic books (including the non-costumed Hulk), and b.) characters that had distinct super-hero identities/costumes (i.e. Isis, Electra Woman).

With an astounding 291 votes cast, the winner is: The Incredible Hulk, with an even One Hundred votes! I voted for The Hulk, myself; not only was it a terrifically fun show, the Bill Bixby-Lou Ferrigno series was one of the most successful genre shows of the decade.

In the early days of balloting, the Green Goliath was running neck-and-neck with second-place winner, The New Adventures of Wonder Woman, starring the eternally-beautiful Lynda Carter. WW ultimately ended up with a very respectable 74 votes. In fact, for the first half of the week, the two CBS shows were never separated by more than a single vote. But sometime around last Thursday, the Hulk received a boost of Gamma radiation, I guess, and surged ahead to victory.

Tying for third place were the Saturday morning classic, Shazam! and prime-time's The Amazing Spider-Man, with 23 votes apiece. To my delight, every nominated show garnered at least a couple of votes, even that goofy Hanna-Barbara Legend Of The Super-Heroes! I was genuinely surprised to find Isis so low in the tabulations - even Electra Woman & Dyna Girl beat the Egyptian goddess by a single vote!

Thanks to everyone who participated! Keep visiting the site - you never know when I might post another Space: 1970 Poll!

Buying THE BLACK HOLE (1979) DVD... Again

Another glimpse into the life of an aging Star Kid:

I've had the Anchor Bay DVD of Disney's 1979 space opera The Black Hole ever since it came out back in 1999. While the disc does include a widescreen version of the movie, it was not enhanced for 16x9 displays. That was fine for me back in '99 - I didn't have a 16x9 TV. But I do now, and last time I tried to watch the disc, I was really annoyed by the lack of anamorphic enhancement.

So, anyway, I have a birthday coming up, so I ordered myself a copy of the Disney DVD re-issue of The Black Hole that came out in '04. I know that it has one bonus feature (a behind-the-scenes featurette) - which is one more than the AB disc had - and an anamorphic widescreen transfer, so it is something of an upgrade.

And yes, I am well aware that the '04 disc wasn't restored or remastered, so it still contains all the visual flaws and is basically the same transfer as the earlier Anchor Bay edition, but... at least it will display properly.

Once I told my wife that I'd purchased a second "upgraded" copy of the movie she looked at me and said, cynically, "You know, now that you've spent money on it again, they're probably going to announce a Blu-ray version."

I smiled and replied, "Man, I hope so."

July's Space Babe: Yûko Asano

July's Space Babe is pretty Japanese actress Yûko Asano, plucky astronette of Toho Studios' 1977 space opera, The War In Space. As Jun Takigawa, the token female crewmember aboard the Earth spaceship Gohten, she was pretty much destined to be kidnapped by the evil Supreme Commander Hell of the alien space battleship Daimakan ,and his Wookiee-like, battle axe-wielding, "Space Beastman." Also inevitable, of course, was the alien leader forcing her to wear a skimpy leather slave outfit.

An award-winning actress and singer,Yûko Asano was born on July 9th (coincidentally, my own birthday!) in 1960, and has had a prolific career in film and television in Japan.

Captain's bLog: 0702.12

• Star Kid Kurt Belcher dropped me a line over on Facebook to let me know that the first issue of the relaunched GEEK magazine, on newsstands now, included a brief, but positive, mention of the Space: 1970 blog in its "Web" section. As always, it's nice when the site gets noticed by quote real world unquote media, and while it was a very small mention, it was nicely spotlighted on the page (right above the Mego Museum, one of this Star Kid's favorite sites). 

•  Poll: This is the last day to vote in our current Readers' Poll. If you haven't cast your ballot yet, you'll find it over at the top of the right-hand sidebar. If you read Space: 1970 only through an RSS feed, you'll have to come to the site to vote.   

•  Netflix News: Space: 1970 favorites Starcrash and Battle Beyond The Stars (along with a bunch of other Roger Corman-produced/distributed B-films), are now available on Netflix Instant Play in the United States.

These movies join such 70s TV staples as Jason Of Star Command, Buck Rogers In The 25th Century, The Incredible Hulk, Star Blazers, Battlestar Galactica Classic & Galactica: 1980 on the company's Instant program. It's almost like being a kid again... except it's better, because now you can watch them anytime you want! 

•   Support Space: This site now has over 400 followers here on Blogger, and the Facebook Fan Page recently topped 950 "Likes," although I'm not sure how many people that "Like" the Facebook page actually ever visit the site. It seems like most of them just "Like" the various pix I post over there.

I also want to thank every person who has used the Amazon links on this site to make purchases of vintage sci-fi on DVD/Blu-ray (and the few who've made Paypal donations - if you'd like to contribute, there's a link in the right-hand sidebar).

•  Blatant Cross-Promotion: Anyone who enjoys my writing and reviews on this site should check out my DVD Late Show site, where I have been reviewing B-movies, cult films and genre television shows on DVD and Blu-ray disc since 2005. Among the over 700 reviews are plenty of Space: 1970-era favorites, like Battle Beyond The Stars, Damnation Alley, Starcrash, The Starlost, the Space: 1999 Blu-rays, and many more.

STAR MAIDENS (1975)

I've mentioned here before that I haven't covered some British cult 70s sci-fi shows, like Blake's 7 and Star Maidens, not because I wasn't interested in them, but because I'd never seen them. Well, I recently stumbled upon several half-hour episodes of the English-German co-production Star Maidens on YouTube, and although I hate watching video on my computer, I checked out the first couple installments.

Needless to say, I was delighted. Sure, it's goofy and campy, and not at all "good," but I loved the distinctly 70s production design, costumes, miniature effects and music. (all of which are in evidence in the opening credits above.) And hey, it can't be much worse than, say, The Starlost.... and I like The Starlost!

My wife and I recently acquired a multi-region DVD player, so, once I scrape up the money, I think I'll order the complete series on disc from the UK. It looks to be fairly affordable. Maybe for my birthday.