ALL SCI-FI

Bud Brewster · Posted: Fri Oct 06, 2017 11:58 am Post subject:

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By gum, you're right! I'll fix THAT right now! Cool

(But I'll be danged if I could find a good one that showed that lovely figure in her best costume. Sad

)

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

Custer · Posted: Mon Nov 13, 2017 12:24 pm Post subject:

One thing about Princess Ardala, she always knew how to dress for formal occasions...

Slightly blurred at the moment, but worth sharing, yes? Very Happy

Bud Brewster · Posted: Tue Jun 12, 2018 12:10 pm Post subject:

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Here's an interesting article with some wonderful artwork of the spaceships in Buck Rogers by Bob McCall from Starlog issue #16.

Click on each page here to see a large, easy-to-read version you can zoom in on. Click on the large version again, and then zoom in as close as you want!

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

Bud Brewster · Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2018 11:30 pm Post subject:

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I found a great article about model building in Starlog issue #27.

Click on each page here to see a large, easy-to-read version you can zoom in on. Click on the large version again, and then zoom in as close as you want!

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

Bud Brewster · Posted: Sat Jun 16, 2018 7:32 pm Post subject:

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Here's a really nice article about the “men behind the camera” who created the soaring spacecraft that raced across our big 25” CRT televisions in the 1980s.

Ah, those were the days! Laughing

We were so easily dazzled by anything that looked like Star Wars’ second cousin, twice removed. Looking back on these shows now is a bit like gazing at our old prom pictures and wondering why we ever thought we looked good in those rented tuxedo. Shocked

But the dated look of those shows and their FX is not the fault of special effects men like Wayne Smith and David Garber, who yearned to fill outer space with cool starships, and they were willing to sell their blood to the Red Cross if that’s what it took to make it happen! Very Happy

In the early days of their careers, these two dedicated gentlemen cut their teeth on innovative projects for Paramount which involved Douglas Trumbull’s attempts to make his astounding Super-70 concept the “next big thing”, with films that blew Cinerama’s doors off and offered spectacular scenes of locations all around the world.

And they also designed an amusement part ride — a virtual roller coaster, that would make the park guests feel like they were actually on a ride! But after working on these projects for months, the backers pulled out.

(What a bummer, eh?) Rolling Eyes

Then a first attempt by a network to do a Buck Rogers series landed them a job to provide the FX. However, wouldn't ya know it, the network got cold feet and pulled out, so they had to shut down the FX studio they had created for the job.

(Another bummer. Life sucks and then you die . . . )

Ah, but along came the Leslie Stevens/Glen Larson project and the boys hired a new FX crew and started a new model shop. (When life serves you limes . . . make Margaritas! Cool

)

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These guys make no bones about the fact that they allowed spaceship designs by Ralph McQuarrie for Star Wars to inspire a few variations which ended up flying the friendly skies of deep space in the upcoming Buck Rogers series.

And to that I say, “What the hell, everybody’s designs are inspired by somebody else’s!”

Heck, it all started when Adam drew two parallel lines in the dirt that curved together at one end, and Eve said, “Hey, put fins on the other end and that’ll look cool!” Very Happy

Anyway, Smith and Garber’s people teamed up with John Dykstra and his crew for a while when they were working on Battlestar: Galactica, but Dykstra and company pulled out for reasons you’ll have to read the article to understand, and our boys ended up being saddled with doing the effects for both series!

This sounds like a good thing . . . and mostly is was! Only in some ways it wasn’t.

The reasons why it wasn’t "all good" included some construction work on the workshop’s ceiling in the optical department that created dust which drifted down and spoiled film elements that had to be redone. Add to this the fact that the personnel turnover was insane, with talented people frequently leaving for reasons not specified in the article.

(Life was back to sucking again. Sad

)

But David Garber is quoted as saying that it actually turned out to be good because they ended up with a fresh team with no prior ties to the ones who were either from Dykstra’s old team or from their own old team. It was just The New Team, with everybody ready to take America into space, via their big 25” CRT televisions.

In short: Margaritas for everybody, on the house! Cool

*

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The rest of this interesting article is about how the disorganized network kept throwing scripts at the FX crew just two weeks before they needed all the special effects work completed, and finishing the work on time was like trying to find an anniversary gift for your wife on the way home from work so she wouldn’t know you forgot the damn thing! Shocked

Despite the grueling nature of the work and the impossible deadlines, what Garber and Smith mostly talk about is how much fun the had! So, these guys are either certifiably insane or lying like used car salesmen. But the third option is that these men were dedicated to their work, they thrived on the challenges, and felt damn proud of what they accomplished.

I choose to believe the third option. Very Happy

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

johnnybear · Mission Specialist Joined: 15 Jun 2016 Posts: 441

Pow · Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2018 11:00 am Post subject:

Amen to that JB!

Custer · Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2018 11:18 am Post subject:

Princess Ardala had great taste in hats, too...

Bud Brewster · Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2018 11:29 am Post subject:

johnnybear · Mission Specialist Joined: 15 Jun 2016 Posts: 441

I sort of remember her on Matt Houston in the early 80s but I'm sure she never appeared in a bikini in that show or I'm sure that pleasure wouldn't have slipped my mind!
JB

Custer · Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2018 2:30 pm Post subject:

Ah yes - rather more ordinary costumes in Matt Houston, for sure:

Bud Brewster · Posted: Sat Jun 30, 2018 5:45 pm Post subject:

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This Starlog article from issue #21 is basically just a puff piece to promote the upcoming release of the Buck Rogers theatrical release, which became the pilot for the series.

But it does describe some of the film industry's convoluted requirements for getting any project done in Tinsel Town. It makes me appreciate the times when filmmakers navigate the rapids and succeed in providing us with enjoyable series, in spite of all the obstacles! Cool

Click on each page here (except for the first one) to see a large, easy-to-read version you can zoom in on. Click on the large version again, and then zoom in as close as you want!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

Robert (Butch) Day · Posted: Sat Jun 30, 2018 6:19 pm Post subject:

Bud Brewster · Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2018 9:33 pm Post subject:

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Apparently the folks at Starlog were quite fond of Buck Rogers, because they gave us another article about the series in issue #28.

Click on each page here to see a large, easy-to-read version you can zoom in on. Click on the large version again, and then zoom in as close as you want!

Below each image you'll see this:

Click here to see the original page above, before I enhanced it.

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~ Click here to see the original page above, before I enhanced it.

~ Click here to see the original page above, before I enhanced it.
_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

Bud Brewster · Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2018 9:56 pm Post subject:

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Apparently the folks at Starlog were quite fond of Buck Rogers, because they gave us another article about the series in issue #28.

Click on each page here to see a large, easy-to-read version you can zoom in on. Click on the large version again, and then zoom in as close as you want!

Below each image you'll see this:

Click here to see the original page above, before I enhanced it.

____________________________________

~ Click here to see the original page above, before I enhanced it.

~ Click here to see the original page above, before I enhanced it.
_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)