Friday 28 May 2010

Clackers


One of many examples of "grown-ups" letting us kids back then be trusted with toys that wouldn't even get beyond the drawing board today.
Now, folk'd be up in arms that two VERY solid plastic bolas could be put to all sorts of mischief but can't rememeber a single instance of anyone i knew being hurt by them - and they were EVERYWHERE for a while.

Was Benny Hill the cameraman?

Gordon Bennett, i know its the 60's and sexism was still rampant, but couldn't someone up in the Gallery tell the cameraman to point his lens (so to speak) elswhere?

Monday 17 May 2010

A Pictorial History Of Science Fiction






Guessing if you're a SF fan from childhood and were born in the early-mid 60's, you'd have been buying up the same books as me.
This is one i've kept on various bookshelves since getting it back in '76.
It's, oddly, not one of the endless tomes that were released on the back of Star Wars, as the most up to date thing in it is Space: 1999.
So its dated badly.
But still view it fondly. And that's because, as you most probably will recall, back in those pre videio, pre Star Wars days, SF was pretty hard to come by.
So to have a book with all these fabulous images in was pretty darn special.
I've included here my favourites that i can remember from back then: Garth and Jeff Hawk on one page, an excellent, clear shot of the Enterprise alog with some brilliant paperback covers, still the best shot of a Zygon i've ever come across - and stunningly atmospheric b/w images from Jules Verne.
How i poured over all of them.

Sunday 9 May 2010

Action Transfers




One of those things that seems kinda simple and dull now - you put the figures on the scene and then, er, what? - but they were GREAT. How you'd pine for the whole set, and how many times would you get the same scene over and over, especially, for me, this here one 'cause it has sharks in.
Fantastic site here, devoted to the whole range:

http://www.seven-wonders.co.uk/atranges.html

Saturday 8 May 2010

The Titans




Gawd knows how much pocket money i was getting - each week i had enough for all the better war comics, a quarter of sweets on the way to school each day, and every Marvel UK that was released.
Top of them was this one.
The innovative landscape made it very distinctive and the reason for it all the better - two full pages of reprint per page.
Okay, it didn't do the art any good whatsover, and the tiny print might've contributed to me wearing glasses now, but that was a LOT of classic Lee/Kirby tales for a few pennies.
You also got the bizarro notion of free posters which were just clumsy botches of different character shots, splodged together with no thought to complimentary artists or suitable folk: hence Frankenstiens Monster or Dracula mingling with the FF.