ALL SCI-FI

[Eadie]

The ship today:






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Art Should Comfort the Disturbed and Disturb the Comfortable.

[Bud Brewster]

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Here are some pictures of Brent Gair's gorgeous models of the spaceship from this series.









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

[Gord Green]

Hey! My Great Uncle Martin had one of those in his garage!
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There comes a time, thief, when gold loses its lustre, and the gems cease to sparkle, and the throne room becomes a prison; and all that is left is a father's love for his child.

[Krel]

I believe that Uncle Martin's ship is now owned by Doug Drexler. A couple of years back Steve Neil did a few videos on fixing up the ship.

David.

[Pow]

Ray Walston would guest star on Bill Bixby's "The Incredible Hulk'' TV show.

The episode was entitled "My Favorite Magician.'' It was an homage to their "My Favorite Martian" show that they both co-starred in, as well as Bixby's one season TV detective series "The Magician."

[Bud Brewster]

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YouTube has all the episodes from all three seasons. The picture quality is excellent!
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________ My Favorite Martian - Season 1


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________ My Favorite Martian - Season 2


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________ My Favorite Martian - Season 3


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

[Pow]

Wikipedia: Unhappy with the early scripts that were being submitted by My Favorite Martian creator/producer Jack Chertok (The Lone Ranger), the network hired script doctor Sherwood Schwartz (Gilligan's Island, The Brady Bunch) to lend a hand.

Schwartz changed the Tim O'Hara-centric scripts and focused on the Martian, as a fish out of water, or, as he termed it "a highly intelligent alien marooned on this backwards planet."

IMDB: Ray Walston later admitted that taking the role of a Martian was done by him strictly for the money. He felt the role hurt his career and prevented him from getting substantial parts for years.

Walston enjoyed working with his co-star Bill Bixby, they became lifelong friends.

Uncle Martin's Martian name is Exigius 12 & 1/2, and he's 450 years old.

My Favorite Martian was the first science fiction "sit-com" on television.

The spaceship was purchased by magician David Copperfield for $100,000.

Extensive Overview of My Favorite Martian: A TV Classic:

The series was filmed on stage 10 on the DESILU Studios lot. Later on, Star Trek:TOS would shoot on stage 10 at DESILU for their alien planets scenes.

Eight women writers wrote scripts for the show back when female writers were a rarity for any television series.

In 1965, My Favorite Martian was mentioned in the Congressional record during an Armed Services Committee hearing on flying saucers.

Production Executive Harry H. Poppe worked as a road manager for the world-renowned Harry Houdini at one time.
This gave him invaluable knowledge that helped the show's special effects man, Jack Lannan, stage tricks seen on My Favorite Martian.

A year before becoming a top writer/producer/story editor on Star Trek: TOS, Gene L. Coon wrote the episode "Hate Me a Little" for My Favorite Martian.

On October 26, 1979, Ray Walston would guest star on Bill Bixby's series The Incredible Hulk in the episode "My Favorite Magician"

Art director James Hulsey based the structure of the Uncle Martin's spaceship on the e-type Jaguar sportscar.

The spaceship was made of wood and then painted silver. It was later recast using a stone mold into fiberglass with a steel under-skeleton resulting in the ship weighing near 400-lbs.

Based upon the observation of the bottom hull of the spaceship, it can be inferred that the vessel has 3 retractable legs although they were never seen on the show.

Gold Key artist Dan Spiegle did 9-issues for the comic book company.
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Note: I remember enjoying this show as a kid. Bixby and Walston were terrific and had a nice chemistry in their scenes together.

Years later when I met my friend, Ed Oldfield, in high school who was a fellow science fiction/comic book fan, he thought the show was dopey even as a kid.

I might find the episodes on the dated and lame side now, but it was charming as a young person.

And who ever would have connected the legendary magician/escape artist Harry Houdini with this show!?!

[Bud Brewster]

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I watched a few scenes of the pilot episode from the YouTube videos I posted above, and it certainly isn't the worst sitcom from the 1960s.

I think I'll watch a few episodes the next time I get a rainy day here in Charlotte. Heck, after a few of these and I might get a big kick out of it.


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

[WadeVC]

I always got a chuckle out of My Favorite Martian, and watch it every Saturday on Mets.

The chemistry between Bill Bixby and Ray Walston was great, and these two always managed to offer up a chuckle or two for the viewer.
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"You look like a pooped out pinwheel."
-Robot Monster

[Bud Brewster]

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Agreed!

And I loved the episodes in which Bixby got real angry about something, and he'd suddenly get large and green and scary.

Oh, wait . . . wrong show.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)