Space: 1999 Eagle Transporter

Ok, so a TV show about the moon being 'blasted' out of earth orbit to somehow travel 'faster-than-light' every week in fits and starts is a weird concept. But the special effects department did wonders for that program and as such - Space: 1999 is still remembered fondly to this date.

I loved the mechanical workhorse of Moonbase Alpha, the Eagle Transporter. Aside from the illogical ability for it to be able to 'survive' re-entry into a planetary atmosphere, the spacecraft is very functional and would make a great basis for a real-life spacecraft.

The front end of the spacecraft is the nosecone that can serve as a re-entry survival capsule. It is attached to a long service module with a main propulsion module attached on the opposite end from the nose cone. To each side of the service module are two pods that contain the reaction control jets and landing gear. Space is provided in the middle of the service module for different payload modules. From passenger, freight, research, (and weapons modules if we are logical), etc modules that can be switched out pretty quickly.

I was wanting to post some images are of some of the die-cast models that came out a few years ago and are now out of production. But blogger was having a problem while I was editing this article. Oh well. While taking a look online, the prices for them are climbing past the $100 mark. (Just looked in my wallet and I just have to cry!).

Images: Top photo is of the Eagle from the Space: 1999 TV program. Second image is of a concept artwork for the possible return to the moon program (once known as Constellation). This artwork was a real early version of what might be possible. One can just see the influence of the Eagle that might one day actually show up in real flight hardware.

Space Cruiser Yamato Modelling Sites

I'm in a space mood these days. UFO, Space: 1999, and Spacecruiser Yamato/Starblazers). This posting will deal mainly with the Yamato stuff.

The majority of these sites are in Japanese. But there are some great pictures, drawings, and models among them if you want to take the time to look around.



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Ref. kyougokudou (http://www.geocities.jp/rosehips_k/kyougokudou/yamato2kansaiki.html).
Lego Yamato (http://www.geocities.jp/jun_brick/s_yamato1.html).
Bandai Hobby Site (http://bandai-hobby.net/yamato/).
YouTube.com, Yamato tv commercial (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KO7IY_5Ax5o&feature=related).
Soy_ya works (http://www.geocities.jp/soy_ya/my_work/my_work.html).
Dourakuoyadi (http://www.geocities.jp/dourakuoyadi/).
Adm Kino (http://admkino.com/warship/).

UFO to Reboot in 2011!

I'm late with this news, but it seems that a lot of effort is taking place to do a major motion picture of the 1969 sci-fi British tv program UFO by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson.

This amazing team created many famous tv programs known as Supermarionation such as Fireball XL-5, Stringray, Captain Scarlet, etc. (mostally they were puppet-based, but UFO was the first Live action program that they came up with). UFO ran for 26 episodes. That was followed by the more famous Space: 1999 that ran for two seasons.

UFO is NOT for children. IT a a dark and sometimes frightening view of the then future 1980s (my god, that was 30 years ago now!). The basic premise of the program was that invading aliens are bent on kidnapping humans for body parts and taking Earth's natural resources back to their own dying world.

Earth is protected by the secret organization known as SHADO (Supreme Headquarters Alien Defense Organization). Its commander is one Commander Edward Straker. SHADO has a fully equipped moonbase with fighter interceptors, here on Earth, a fleet of submarines that can seperate into two parts - one remains submerged and the other is a flying interceptor. Finally, if a UFO manages to reach the surface, there are land-based APCs known as Mobiles to try and capture or destroy the invaders.

Plus the main characters were quite human - never quite living up 100% of the time as heroic. They had to wrestle with morality and ethics all the time. Commander Straker's personal sacrifices were some of the most moving of the series.

The ladies of the moonbase wore sexy silver suits with purple wigs for some reason. Why the guys didn't purple wigs - well, you have to guess. They had to wear the Nehru-style suits. But - there is always the lovely Lt. Gay Ellis!

Fans of the show would not let it die. When the internet came around, websites such as ufoseries.com and others kept the show alive for those who thought to look it up.

Now, it is the 21st century. And one Matthew Gratzner(director) seems to have picked up the baton to make UFO into a movie. So far, actors Joshua Jackson and Ali Larter have been picked to play Paul Foster and Virginia Lake respectively. There is even talk so far that this could turn into a trilogy of films. Scriptwriting duties by Ryan Gaudet and Joseph Kanarek have been taksed to revamp and update the concept. But they are keeping in mind the original tv fans of the show and is expected to do a better job than what JJ Abrams did with the latest telling of the Star Trek francise.

Principal photography is to begin in 2010 with a release n 2011.

The movie poster is pretty faithful to what the original moonbase interceptors looked like. In this poster version, there does appear to be a slight difference in the front missile. It may very well be a missile pod instead of the entire front end being just a nuclear tip missile.

As for sci-fi and adventure/spy films in general, this appears to be a very god year. Spacecruiser Yamato wil be a live action picture. Matt Helm will be coming back to the big screen and now this. I am a very happy camper now!

UPDATE: Found some additional websites including this one that has some concept artwork for this movie (http://www.cinemaspy.com/article.php?id=2584).

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Ref. (http://www.fanderson.org.uk/ufomovie/breakingnews.html).

(http://www.denofgeek.com/television/392179/looking_forward_to_the_ufo_reboot.html).

Matthew Gratzner interview (http://forbiddenplanet.com/pages/matthew-gratzner-new-ufo-trilogy/).