From retrothing, "Gerry Anderson is a famous TV producer who created legendary marionette TV shows in the 50's and 60's. These shows were seen around the world, and are still memorable thanks to the sophistication of the marionettes, the dazzling effects, and a bevy of marvelous vehicles.Anderson tried his hand at live-action sci-fi aimed at adults, the most notorious of these being Space:1999. Never letting the science get in the way of the fiction, the much derided Space:1999 has often been blamed for the death of television sci-fi until the mid 80's. Some of the confusion over the show's intended audience stems from Anderson's reputation as a children's TV producer, and like with any other Anderson production there was a raft of kid's merchandise.
Above you can see both a wrist AM radio and a loudspeaker, neither of which appeared in the series of course. Below are two definite stars of the show; the magnificent Eagle spaceships. The Eagles were made by Dinky Toys, a company with a great reputation for creating great toys. I remember seeing and playing with these as a boy at Marshall Field's in downtown Chicago (a surprise to have such expensive toys within arm's reach of children), and they were terribly fun. Lots of moving parts, detachable modules - even a magnet on a winch for picking up barrels of nuclear waste.
How many children were inspired to launch a career as a moon-hauling nuclear garbage collector after playing with these toys based on a rather ponderous and confused TV show for adults? Probably not many, but I have to admit that if you still have any of these toys, I am deeply envious... but not as envious of those who may still have the Dinky Enterprise. More about that later..."
5 comments:
I've got one of those toys AND a Dinky Enterprise. Suck on that.
I have several things to say about this.
1) I have to say I don't really appreciate the author's snide tone (about the show, the toys etc.) but the general point being made here is essentially accurate: Nobody knew what kind of show this was, because it was the 'seventies and sci-fi was in total disarray for eight years between Kubrick and Lucas. The "toys" for such a cerebral show makes sense only when you view Star Trek as being equally "cerebral" but able to move just as many AMT model kits and plastic phasers that shoot little discs.
2) No modern kid would put up with the suck-itude of those toys. I'm thinking in particular about the AM wrist radio and the "yell into it" device (just what Mom and Dad need you to have, right? Another "yell into it" toy) which have nothing to do with anything they ever showed on-screen. I simply cannot imagine anyone of any age wanting an AM radio on their wrist (or anywhere else) so I'm just stumped.
The Dinky Eagles were better than the Dinky Enterprise. The Dinky Enterprise could seriously make you wonder if the staff of the Dinky corporation were insane or drugged or if they were being told what to do by escaped lunatics who liked to watch sci-fi television shows. The Enterprise had a "bomb bay" that would open on the bottom and serve as a "stand" when the Enterprise "landed" on its "bomb bay doors," on the coffee table. The Dinky Eagles were a mixed bag: the design was accurate as hell, but the damn metal components were green! Bright metallic green. I won't even try to speculate what happened behind closed doors at Dinky Inc. that would result in the green Eagle.
The business about 'seventies kids wanting to put nuclear waste on the moon after playing with the Dinky Eagles (as opposed to, say, wanting to stop criminals after playing with the Batmobile) is not that good of a point. Think of Taxi. Those people weren't doing anything especially important -- they were just cab drivers. But this didn't make it any worse of a show! Somebody's got to deal with the nuclear waste (and it isn't going to be Commissioner Simmonds!) so why not have a show about that? They get more than they bargain for, almost immediately, anyway.
Yeah!
1. The thing that honked me off the most was his claim that Space 1999 was "notorious." Ah, shaddup! Sure, it had problems and yes, the second season was worse. But my love for it remains undiluted, and I know I'm not alone because of the insane fansites I visited while recently rewatching the whole run of the series.
2. The Dinky Enterprise was pretty darn disappointing. It was good old Dinky die-cast metal for the most part, but the warp engine struts were plastic and weak. Metal engines connected to a metal hull by plastic pieces an eighth of an inch think. The other bummer was the massive metal thingy atop the saucer section that enabled the disc shooter. The dish top didn't have much detail, so the big monster addition really screwed up the visual flow. Check it out.
The green-ness of the Eagles was because Dinky was afraid the stark white toys wouldn't be a hit with the kids. It's too bad; I'd say that Star Wars's ships proved that wrong -- most of those vehicles are white, but dirty.
I thought the lunar nuclear garbage comment was funny, but yeah, it misses the whole point.
The whole "let's put a real, 'seventies machine into the toy, even if it's a non sequitur was always a bummer.
I mean, the Tricorder that's actually...a tape recorder? The "laser gun" that's really...a flashlight?
Too true...who wants a toy that's "really" something else anyway? That's in direct opposition to what toys are all about.
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