THE CAT FROM OUTER SPACE (1978) TV Guide Ad

I won't claim that Disney's 1978 kiddie comedy, The Cat From Outer Space, is one of my favorite 70s sci-fi flicks, because it really isn't. In truth, the last time I attempted to watch it - when my wife bought it on DVD about a decade ago - I fell asleep.

But, it is a nostalgic favorite of  many Star Kids and it's clearly the studio's reaction to the tremendous popularity of Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind - two more-or-less adult films that were hugely popular with kids and sold lots of toys - from the previous year, so it does fit in here at Space: 1970.

Here's a vintage TV Guide ad trumpeting its World Network Television Premiere on CBS.

Captain's bLog: 1217.12

•   Obit: I begin this Captain's bLog with some sad news. I've learned that actress Dolores Mantez, who portrayed lovely Lieutenant Nina Barry, the purple-wigged moonbase commander on Gerry Anderson's 1970 series UFO, passed away in November.

She appeared in 23 of the series 26 episodes, with probably her most memorable appearance being in "Sub Smash," a tension-filled hour of drama where her character was trapped on a crippled SHADO submarine with Ed Bishop's Commander Straker and very little air.

Although a busy actress on British television during the Sixties, she retired from acting in 1972 to devote her attentions to her family. Rest in peace, Ms. Mantez.

•   Star Wars Graphic Novel Giveaway: While I remain disappointed in how few of the folks who entered actually followed directions - even after I repeated the instructions - I'm otherwise pleased by the overall response to this first Space: 1970 Giveaway. After disqualifying all the entries that didn't follow the rules, I randomly drew the winning name of Star Kid Mark Holmes, from far-off Willingboro, New Jersey.

Sometime in the next few days, I'll be shipping out the Dark Horse Star Wars Omnibus Vol. 2 and the adaptations of Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back. Keep an eye on the mail, Mark!

 •  Press: Last friday, Huffington Post blogger Jason Apuzzo wrote an article about the upcoming Disney Star Wars sequels and 70s science fiction cinema. I enjoyed the article for the most part (especially the parts that seemed to be borrowed from - or at least influenced by - my writings here), but the best part was that he included a link to Space: 1970 at the end of his post. This resulted in a nice uptick in hits from new readers. Hopefully, some of them stuck around!

•  Blatant Cross-Promotion: And here's my usual shameless plug: anyone who enjoys my writing and the DVD reviews on this blog  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 on the site 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. 

SPACE WARS (1977-1980) Cover Gallery - Part 2

Issue #8

Join us as we once again venture into the domain of the downscale genre mags of publishing mogul Myron Fass' Stories Layouts and Press Inc., purveyors of cheap newsstand fodder, with a second batch* of the lurid Space Wars covers that beckoned seductively to our adolescent eyes from the newsstand racks and tempted our meager allowances out of our pockets. Starting with issue #8, Fass' editors/art directors switched away from painted covers to garish, sloppy photo montages, as you can see here....

Issue #9

Issue #10

Issue #11

Issue #13

Issue14

Issue #15

 * Check out the first Space Wars cover gallery HERE.

Saturday Morning Cartoons: SPACE STARS (1981)

In 1981, Hanna-Barbara jumped on the post-Star Wars boom by reviving and repackaging their 60s outer space heroes Space Ghost and The Herculoids (mixing both classic episodes and newly-made installments) with two other space-themed cartoons - The Teen Force and Astro (from The Jetsons) & The Space Mutts - for an hour-long programming block called Space Stars.

I really don't remember much about this series - I was getting to the age where I preferred to sleep in on Saturdays, and aside from Thundarr & Blackstar, I wasn't watching many new cartoons then - but I do remember being disappointed that the new Space Ghost shorts featured a re-designed Phantom Cruiser, eschewing the sleek, classic Alex Toth look in favor of something that more closely resembled a Star Wars or Galactica type spaceship.

So pretend it's Saturday morning, September 26, 1981, and enjoy this brief taste of Hanna-Barbara's Space Stars!

ARK II (1976) Animated?

In 1976, Filmation produced its first live-action science fiction adventure, Ark II. This single-season, post-Apocalyptic kid's show (think about that for a second - that was the 70s!), chronicled the adventures of three multi-cultural/ethnic young scientists - Jonah (Terry Lester), Ruth (Jean-Marie Hon) and Samuel (Jose Flores) - who, accompanied by their talking chimpanzee, Adam, roamed the barren wastelands, bringing their scientific aid (and superior morality) to the ravaged remnants of humanity. Fun Saturday morning escapism, huh?

Anyway, at some point, Filmation considered reviving the series in animated form. To that end, model sheets were drawn up and the studio presented their proposal to CBS. For whatever reasons, the network didn't bite, and the designs went into the filing cabinet - later to appear as an "extra" on the Ark II DVD set from BCI/Eclipse.

As a fan of the original series, I kinda wish that Filmation had produced an animated continuation. In animation, the Ark II crew could have encountered menaces and environments (mutants and volcanoes and other cool stuff) beyond the meager budget of the live-action program....

The Interplanetary U.F.O. Mystery Ship

My best friend in elementary school was named Robert. He was an only child, and his parents were divorced. Needless to say, he got a lot of the toys and model kits that I desperately wanted and never had. Among them was AMT's "Interplanetary U.F.O. Mystery Ship," which was, undeniably, the coolest starship model that wasn't actually based on a TV show or movie. And it glowed in the dark.

Man, I coveted that model. AMT put its picture on the boxes of the Star Trek kits and as I watched my Enterprise nacelles droop on their pylons, or the neck of my Klingon battle cruiser sag under the weight of the command "bubble," I'd look at that picture and wish I was building that ship. What graceful lines, what implied power... and no damned pylons! (Let me be clear: I was thrilled to have those Trek models; I just wasn't a good enough model builder to assemble them correctly, and I knew it.)

I didn't know then that it was a slightly modified re-issue of a 60's kit called the Leif Ericson Galactic Cruiser, nor that it was actually designed by Matt Jeffries, designer of Star Trek's own U.S.S. Enterprise. All I knew is that it was an awesome-looking spaceship model, and that I really wanted one of my own to build and hang from my ceiling on fishing line.

Well, now I do. Or soon will, anyway, when the kit I ordered from Round 2 Models shows up here, hopefully in time for Christmas. Thanks to my mother-in-law's holiday largesse, I was finally able to score one of these awesome model kits (or a reasonable facsimile thereof) for myself. Round 2 also offers the non-glow-in-the-dark Leif Ericson, but I wanted the one that most closely resembled the 1976 version I remember.

Of course, now comes the hard part: finding time to build it... and then, somewhere to display it when I'm done. Or I could just put it into storage with all the other unbuilt model kits I've bought over the last ten years....

More FLASH GORDON (1980) International Posters

Man, there was a lot of promotional and advertising art created to sell Dino de Laurentis' Flash Gordon movie in the various world markets. The artwork at top is particularly interesting to me because it's an original painting that doesn't use any of the familiar art elements seen on most of the other International posters, but does include the comic strip's Prince Thun of the Lion Men (there is a Thun in the movie - briefly - but he doesn't have a tail) and other characters and creatures that don't appear in the movie at all (including what appears to be the witch queen, Azura).

I wish I had a better scan of the second poster - the rope-swinging Flash is pretty dynamic.