ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

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Imagine my surprise when a did a Google search for the term I concocted to describe the "catamaran zeppelin" and found THIS at a site call Plugavel
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This flying catamaran reinvents the zeppelin





Imagined by the Italian design studio Lazzarini, this concept called Air Yacht (<— click to view the amazing photo gallery) is based on two manageable rigid 150-meter long tanks filled with helium, connected by a central bridge 80 meters long and 10 meters wide.

A kind of flying catamaran designed to accommodate a few ultra-fortunate privileged people looking for exclusive experiences. After landing in a helicopter on the deck of their Air Yacht, they will enjoy a 360-degree view from the vast living-dining room, and from all five of the suites.







© Lazzarini design studio

This flying palace is supposed to be able to navigate for more than 48 hours, thanks to the 400,000 m 3 of compressed helium contained in its tanks, and to the solar panels which provide power. The propulsion is provided by eight electric rotors which can pivot to allow the Air Yacht to land on the water — thanks to a ballast system — and to sail at 5 knots.

Of course, this is just a concept that is not intended to become reality, reality, at least not for now. But there is no doubt that a billionaire eager to impress his fellow creatures would not hesitate to put his hand in his the wallet to acquire such a toy..
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The photo gallery which the link in the article leads to has dozens of incredible images. Here's a few samples.





I love the fact that this "catamaran zeppelin" can land on water and allow passengers to come and go by boat!


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And of course the Air Yacht has a helicopter pad to bring in new guests, take home departing ones, and deliver supplies.

God, I love this idea . . .



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

[scotpens]

^^ That helicopter landing pad looks awfully narrow. The pilot would have to be able to literally land on a dime!

[Pow]

This air yacht is fantastic!!! Somebody needs to have this in a movie or TV series.

[Bud Brewster]

[Pow]

The Gold Key comic book does a very fine job with its adaptation of film. Writer Mary Carey is faithful to the movie with only 116-panels to tell the story. She omits the opening of the film where wealthy British industrialist Sir. Anthony Ross recruits American Professor John Ivarsson to help him search for his missing son. But that was simply all exposition in the movie, as the scenes shifted from Ross's London mansion, the gas lit, cobblestone streets of England via a hansom cab, train, boat, motor car to the Paris airfield.

The art is nicely rendered by regular GK artist Bill Ziegler. Bill captures the likenesses of the actors very well. His pages also beautifully recreate the visually epic adventure. I would have liked a larger panel showing one of my favorite scenes, the boulder rolling into the hole in the huge crater, which then causes the massive icicles crashing down in the underground cavern.

The final panel has the group traveling back to civilization. Captain Brieux, the Commander of the Hyperion airship, waving goodbye, thinks to himself, "We cannot return, nor can we ever forget . . . the island at the top of the world." The film never indicated that this is what the captain was thinking, but it could just as well have been his thought.

Professor Ivarsson agrees to remain with the lost Viking civilization in place of Donald Ross, which is who they originally designated as staying behind as the price for the rest of the party to leave their island. Ivarsson, who is an expert in Viking history, and who has no family ties, volunteers willingly and with enthusiasm. Now he won't just be studying Viking history, he'll be living it and discovering aspects of it that might have been lost to time.

I always find this moment where the rest of the party waves goodbye to Ivarsson as they disappear into the mist on foot, rather wistful for Ivarsson. He will never return to teaching or the modern world of 1907 that he knew so well. He knows no one in Astragard. How well will he be accepted? What work will he do there? Won't he miss the nicer things from the early 20th century, such as modern medicine for one? However, the Vikings weren't going to let the entire group of travelers go without their leaving behind one of the explorers, in order to ensure the group would keep their vow to never reveal Astragard to the rest of the world.

I was also curious as to what an expensive movie like this one cost back in 1974 when it was first released? $8,000,000 was the price tag. I then wondered what other movies from that time were budgeted at that also displayed marvelous visual effects? The Golden Voyage of Sinbad from 1973 cost $2,000,000.

So Ray Harryhausen had 1/4th the money to produce his entertaining movie. This circles back to our wondering about what if Disney & Ray Harryhausen had teamed up on Island at the Top of the World? Would the more lavish Disney budget have allowed for Ray to create and animate the creatures that Bud has provided some wonderful pictures for on this post? Or would Ray's awesome stop-motion animation merely add onto the Disney budget, and increase the film from eight million to ten million, now including animation costs?

[Bud Brewster]

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Mike, I can't find a site which offers good images of this comic, but if you can find one and provide the link, I'll gladly "Brewsterize" them with my usual enhancements and then post them here!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Pow]

From The Disney Films book by Leonard Maltin.

The studio's most eagerly awaited live-action film of the mid-70s was The Island at the Top of the World, a large-scale fantasy adventure about an expedition by dirigible to a hidden Arctic civilization in search of a wealthy man's son.

But Island turned out to be disappointingly ordinary; its main characters had no particular appeal, which made it difficult to become involved in their adventure. The special effects ranged from spectacular (a volcanic eruption) to obvious. It was not a bad film by any means, but it wasn't thrillingly good, either, a considerable letdown for Disney fans.

[Pow]

Have to disagree with the esteemed Mr. Maltin on this one.

I did not find this entertaining movie "disappointingly ordinary" at all. The pace moved in a brisk manner, plenty of marvelous visual effects to take in, and danger at every turn.

Maltin goes on to say that "the main characters had no particular appeal." I felt they did. Were they complex, richly drawn characters? No, I can't say that they were. However, I appreciated their various personalities. Sir Anthony Ross is a man desperate to find his only son. There is guilt on his part that he was the one who drove his son away. Sir Anthony is too sure of himself, blustery, pompous at times, manipulative. He needs to be taken down on occasion, and he is indeed brought down a few times. Professor Ivarsson comes off as an intelligent, warm and kindly man, who in the end, makes a tremendous sacrifice. Captain Brieux is both comical, eccentric and competent as the airship commander. Oomiak is a loyal and brave individual, an honorable man. I liked all these men for who they were.

Maltin said "it was not a bad film by any means, but it wasn't thrillingly good, either". I enjoyed some of the thrills and chills our searchers had to face, from wicked storms that savaged their airship, to hostile Vikings, deadly orcas, erupting volcanoes, a collapsing ice cavern.

Look, I'm not making a case that Island is one of the all-time fantastic action-adventure feature films. But it does a more than decent execution of a Jules Verne-like exciting saga. It remains a very fun ride for me to this day.