1972 "Forbidden Planet" Article

Forbidden Planet was a landmark film, one that most Trek fans consider to be a prequel of sorts to the show (certainly one of the major inspirations), and one that sci-fi fans hold dear to their hearts as one of the greatest genre movies of the 20th century. In issue 17, published November 30th, 1972, TMT finally focused on this classic with a film-book that recounted the events of the film with photos.

(To view the page scans full-size, click on each photo; you may have to click again to magnify to full-size.)

1975 "Space:1999" Premiere Review

Below is an article I clipped from the September 11, 1975 edition of the Miami Herald. I lived in Ft. Lauderdale at the time, and although I was a fervent dyed-in-the-wool Trekkie, I enjoyed other good sci-fi series also. This is one of several articles I clipped about it, and I'll post more in the future. The author was withholding judgement on it until he saw more, and I'm sure he felt as I did that it was too dry and hard to follow. It's significant that it took bringing in the man that screwed up Trek's third season, Fred Frieberger, to bring it at least up to a level of action and characterization to improve the second season. Even then it never equalled or surpassed Trek as it's promoters bragged it would; at least in my opinion. Although the effects were superb, I enjoyed the earlier effort "U.F.O." more.

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Below is an earlier article, clipped from The Macon telegraph, about the upcoming show. It was this one article that, more than any other, predjudiced me against the new program. Replace "Star Trek"? Never! I would have been more open to it if every article about it didn't compare it to Trek. Here's an article from my other blog that does the exact same thing on a bigger scale.

Below are a couple of ads, one for an interview with the stars and another for the show itself, taken from the same publicity photo.

Logan's Run TV show article

Clipped the day before Halloween in 1977, from the Macon Telegraph's local TV guide. Despite having a pretty cool intro theme, and the involvement of veteran Trek writers David Gerrold and D.C. Fontana, the series never got up to running at full speed and was pretty forgettable. Tooling around in an fugly car --one of the worst-designed sci-fi vehicles ever-- and saddled with a boring robot that would have made Data look like the life of the party, they hit too many potholes in a series that really should have been renamed "Logan's Drive" to be accurate.

Basically a retread of Roddenberry's failed "Genesis II" pilot (survivors travelling around a post-apocalyptic U.S. encountering splinter groups), rather than a real sequel to the theatrical movie, the viewer was left asking "are we there yet?"

Their wheels would have made Buck Rogers lower his thumb and let them drive on by.

1974's Shazam TV Show

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(Note: This is a post I already made some time ago on another of my blogs, "Held Over!" but since creating this one it seemed to fit here better. So, I'm reposting it here in case you missed it over there, and just to put it where it belonged.)

The scan above is from TV Guide around 1974, while the "Shazam" Saturday morning series was in early production. (Sorry about the faded Scotch tape in the middle.) Jackson Bostwick, the first (and my favorite) Captain Marvel on the show, is shown doing the flying stunts. If it seemed that the Big Red Cheese was flying roughly 10 feet above the highway most of the time, this truck-based flying rig explains why. They could have taken a cue from the effects done in the 1940's Captain Marvel serial, which were far superior to anything else done at the time and were the best seen in movies or TV for over three decades later, including this show.

The article above I clipped from "The Star" tabloid about the same time. I really liked the show and seldom missed it Saturday mornings. I still get a chill watching it when he changes into Captain Marvel! The musical buildup, the animated effects of the transformation, and the subsequent leap into the air, were all done very well. They handled the drama and power of the change better than any other medium has, including his appearance on the Justice League episode "Clash." Sure, this Cap was more involved in lifting fallen trees and stopping runaway cars than fighting super-villains, but for a kid's show it was well done and exciting, and I have great nostalgic memories of it. I hope how soon the first season is released on DVD! As it is, I have my episodes taped off of TV Land latenight showings from a few years back.

Below, an article from a local TV guide supplement published in the Macon Telegraph (GA) on Oct. 6, 1974.

And what teen boy could NOT have a crush on Isis as portrayed by JoAnna Cameron? The article above came from a local TV guide newspaper supplement that I clipped while living in Ft. Lauderdale FL in 1975 when she joined the lineup with her own show.

Let's hope that the still-in-development Shazam movie gets made soon, and that it fulfills the possibilities of the character. It could really rock! And wouldn't it be nice if they gave Jackson a cameo role in it also? And the second actor to fill the red tights, John Davey, did a good job, but you always like best the actor you saw first in a role.

1978 Battlestar Galactica set design article

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This article from the Miami Herald TV listing insert was published on August 5th, 1978, before the series had premiered. It wasn't very often that a designer of a sci-fi series was interviewed, it was almost always one of the stars or the show's creator. So this early look at the set design and the interview with the person that created them was a welcome look behind the scenes.

1978 Star Wars Poster magazine #10

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This 1978 poster magazine from my collection is especially valuable to me due to the personal autograph I have on it from the man behind the voice of Vader, James Earl Jones! I was working at a radio station in 1987 in West Virginia when he was there filming "Matewan," based on a true story that happened in a mining town in the Mountain State. Filming was taking place in a park that had an exhibition mine open for tours, and word reached us that he was coming to the station the next day for a live interview. I took this issue as well as a SW poster of Vader, and he was kind enough to autograph them both for me.

He was a great guy, very gracious, and it was an honor to meet him. It was made even more memorable because he came in full miner's costume, on a break fron the set! I only regret that I had no picture made of me with him. I guess I didn't want to impose too much on him, considering the little time he had there.

Below are the rest of the pages of this 31 year-old magazine, inside and back. I thought you might enjoy seeing the rest of it, if you don't have it!

Did you have, or do you still have, any of the toys depicted above? I bought my 7 year old little brother the landspeeder and blaster pistol for Christmas.

Below is a snapshot of the inside poster, which was too big to scan without messing up.

And as a bonus, from one of my five other blogs, "Held Over!" here's an earlier post of a full-page ad for the re-release (based on the artwork above), clipped by me from the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel on Friday, July 21, 1978.

Exciting times when I clipped this!

June 1989 "Time" article on Batman movie

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"Time" magazine article on Batman from June 19, 1989.

It's very hard to believe that it was twenty years ago last Tuesday, June 23rd, Tim Burton's breakthrough Batman movie opened. It just doesn't seem like that long to me. But it has been, and I've seen nothing online commemorating that in my (admittedly limited) web browsing. It was looking through stuff to post on my "Held Over!" blog, posted the first Batman movie ad, then realised: "Holy Coincidence, Batman!" I was only off one day in posting it 20 years after it premiered! So, here are a few items from the old scrapbooks. starting off with the most mainstream of venues, "Time" magazine.

A couple of articles from the local WV newspaper where I lived at the time it came out...

This was only lucky dude in the clipping below, but the car had no engine! I wonder what he ever did with it... probably sold it to some collector or museum. What good is a Batmobile if you can't hop in and tool around town after dark?

Below, from USA Today, a trio of Jokers yuk it up in line waiting for the movie to open.

Here's the newspaper ad I posted over on "Held Over!"

Below you'll see one of the press kit publicity photos for the movie.

Planet of the Apes TV show premiere (Updated)

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Above, the TV Guide Fall '74 spotlight section highlighted the new shows, and POTA and Night Stalker were both of great interest to me, and are the ones I clipped out and saved.

September 13, 1974 was a red letter date, as it was the premiere of the most anticipated (by me) show just about ever. I was a tender skinny lad of 15, and the Apes movies had fascinated me, even though up to that point I had only recently managed to catch the first on TV in Florida while babysitting a neighboorhood kid (a situation that enabled me to catch many good movies on Saturday nights and even get paid for it). But, the POTA magazine by Marvel had just come out, and it was my main connection to the simian phenomenon. I made sure I got each issue no matter what. I'll be posting cover art, stories and comics from it quite often on this blog in the future.

Below, an ad from the same issue of TV Guide about the show. Since it was so difficult for me to see the movies, the TV show made it a whole lot easier to visit the Ape planet, and whenever I spent the weekend at Grandma's house, which was a lot that year, I was able to catch it, which elated me beyond words.

Next, a local television guide supplement in the Macon Telegraph (GA) supplied me with an ad...

...as well as an article, which I quickly clipped and put in between the pages of Apes section of my scrapbook. That section grew quite rapidly that year, for sure. Also pictured in the same page scan are some other snippets and articles from the same time period.

As with Star Trek, I was always on the alert for Apes article in any kind of magazine, tabloid or newspaper. My keen eye spotted a teen "Flip" magazine, which the cover had a text blurb that there there was an Apes article inside!!! And the article had exclamation marks after every sentence, sometimes in multiples!!! OMG!!! Embarrassed, but undeterred, I bought the mag, apologetically telling the clerk (who could care less!) that I was picking it up for my (non-existent!) sister!!! Once home, the article and photo was very quickly cut out and in my scrapbook, while the offensive teen mag was relegated to the bottom of the outside trashcan... lest it be found by my stepdad, who would have raised a real ruckus over it had he found it!!! Then, there would have been a lot of exclamation marks as he yelled!!! (Whew.)

Besides the trading cards, which I'll post images of often in the future, one of the bigger and more exciting items associated with the show was the novelizations that came out. Below is the front and back covers of the first one, which adapted two of the episodes.

It was with true joy that I snatched up the POTA series DVD set a couple of years back, and sometimes I will devote an evening to "the 70's" and watch an episode of "Apes," Kung Fu," and "Kolchack" back to back and lift my glass of blue creme soda to the memory of Grandma, who allowed me to have the freedom a kid deserves, to pursue and enjoy the things that interested me the most.

Here's a neat POTA TV show fan site that you'll enjoy visiting.

1978 Quark TV show articles

(Click on images to view large sized scans.)

Sponsored by Glad Trash Bags. Hefty, hefty, hefty!

Although few seem to remember it, the short-lived TV series "Quark" was a favorite of mine. It ran only three months, from February to March of 1978. Like "Star Trek" on laughing gas, it parodied not only that show but sci-fi movies as well. (Visit the Quark wiki page for more info.)
Below, a still from the pilot, which featured a character dropped for the regular series; Dr. O. B. Mudd was a crusty, eccentric scientist that was replaced by the Mr. Spock-like Ficus, to much better effect.

Below is an article I clipped from the Macon (GA) Herald TV guide supplement, on February 24, 1978.

The characters were a lot of fun to watch and interacted humorously with each other: the put-upon and unappreciated Adam Quark, commanding the garbage ship; his genius and emotionless first officer Ficus, who is a humanoid plant from Vegeton; the identical Bettys (one is a clone, but it is unknown which) who navigate the ship and are hopelessly in love with Quark; Gene/Jean the engineer, a transmute who is constantly switching back and forth between male and female personalities; and Andy, the cowardly swearing robot.

Ficus enjoyed listening to "Classicial Music To Make Your Plants Grow" in his off-duty time.

The scanned crew photo at the top of this post was one I acquired at a movie/TV show collectables store in Florida in 1979, and put it in my scrapbook. The article below is from Famous Monsters #144 from June 1978. Sadly, the show had been cancelled by the time the article was published!

Something I hoped for, but I never expected to see, was the recent DVD release, which I snapped up immediately and have enjoyed since. One thing that hampered the show was a near-nonexistent effects budget, so this would be a nice one to see remastered with updated effects! Maybe some fan could take this on and make available online? Anyone? (Crickets chirp.) I guess not.

I have a number of other magazine articles and clippings which I'll post in the future, so keep an eye out (like O.B. Mudd) for more Quark!