I've never watched an episode of Space 1999. Before I get yelled at I need to defend myself. The fact is, I have never been aware of the show being in syndication. I have never even caught a fragment of an episode. I don't even know what the theme is. Other shows that I have never been aware of include The Avengers, Mission Impossible, The Fugitive, and The Man From U.N.C.L.E. I'm certain that all of these shows are awesome, but again, for some damn reason I have never seen these episodes in syndication. I've always wanted to see Space 1999 but the box set is just too expensive and I don't wish to gamble a lot of $ if I don't like it (although based on Jordan's comments from time to time I'm sure I'd love it).
Anyway, when I was a kid I somehow came into possession of a Mattel Space 1999 Eagle. It was an awesome toy because there were a lot of little features and this toy pre-dated the great Star Wars toy onslaught of 1978. Given that my mother throws everything away, which most likely accounts for my toy hoarding behavior, I've always taken very good care of my stuff, except for the Space 1999 Mattel Eagle. Somehow, this grand toy disappeared on me. To this day I don't know what the hell happened to it and it's driven me mad. My mother swears that she didn't touch it, although my Waterworld Trimaran mysteriously disappeared from my parents' basement recently, d'oh! Anyway, the Mattel Space 1999 Eagle is highly sought after by collectors. I'm sure there are a lot of reasons for this, chiefly that it was probably produced in low numbers and given the many pieces to the set it is virtually impossible to find one intact, if you can find one at all. For many years I've searched for the Eagle at toy conventions but I've never had any luck. When Ebay came along I became very excited that I'd finally have the opportunity to acquire one. Sadly a lot of people felt the same way so it's been virtually impossible to get one for less than hundreds of dollars. Even parts for the Eagle set command a lot of dough. Then last week as I was perusing the net for Christmas shopping I went on Ebay out of curiosity, as I haven’t thought about the Eagle in a while. Fate was on my side that day because I not only found one for a good price, but it had a “Buy it now” option. Longer story even longer, I finally have my Eagle on it’s way to me. This is my present to myself this year, Merry Christmas, JPX!
JPX's Ebay score!
8 comments:
AWESOME SCORE! I'm pretty sure Octo had that ship as well at some point. I remember it's distinctive design.
Plus, unlike JPX, we were cooler then because we knew Space 1999 existed and watched it.
D'oh!
I never understood your damn obsession with that ship so thanks for explaining. That's great though that you finally got your hands on it!
But as Ricky the guy from the Pensacola Star Wars store would say "Looks like a bathtub toy."
2-inch engine nozzles???
I'm so excited for you! Your story just about brought tears to my eyes.
I did have that toy and I'm not sure how its demise occured. I think I'm okay without it, though. I found myself another of the Dinky toy versions, and that was always my favorite.
Congrats, Boom Boom. That's an excellent score.
You can go here for a pretty definitive online catalog of Space: 1999 toys and models. (Part of the excellent Space: 1999 catacombs site, which is kind of an online Space: 1999 encyclopedia.)
For some reason the Space: 1999 toys and models are singular monuments of inaccuracy. I don't think there's a single toy or model that looks anything like its onscreen equivalent. And the action figures and playsets are especially bad; they just put stickers on walkie-talkies most of the time.
It's so bad, it makes Lego look accurate! (You want to fight, octo?)
Anyone else dare to follow Jordan's magic link? If not, you're totally missing out! I'm seriously considering hunting down that ridiculous Chest Pack Radio despite the fact that I've barely heard of Space 1999!
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