This Coming Friday a Look Back at Space: 1999

"Journey to Where" is one of the few good episodes of Space: 1999, a short-lived science fiction television series that didn't know where it wanted to go, outside of gravitating towards some annoying metaphysical nonsense, but one that continues to spark fond memories for those of us who were there watching from 1975 to 1977.

On Friday, I will run a thirteen-part series taking a critical but fun rescan of "Nineteen Ninety-Nine".

Visual FX keys Nick Allder and Brian Johnson

with the Eagle transporter — a fan favourite.

A Thot for the Day: Instamatic Knot

No self-described "professional photographer" should ever pick up his camera in order to take pictures, and on the screen see: "No card in camera."

(The modern day equivalent of: "You left the lens cap on.")

For my seventh birthday my parents bought me a Kodak Instamatic 133. From that point on it was a matter of graduating through several cameras, each one more sophisticated than the last. From that wonderful series of film cameras I was able to graduate to the digital type with minimal problems.... 

... generally.

An Animated Star Trek Premiered 51 Years Ago Today

On this day in 1973, another Star Trek series premiered: Star Trek, commonly referred to as "The Animated Series".

On the morning of September 8, 1973, I sat in front of the colour Zenith television to watch a series that I had only learned about the evening before when NBC aired an hour-long 'sneak preview' for their Saturday morning kids' shows. The premiere episode, "Beyond the Farthest Star", was exciting stuff to a preteen fan of the live-action Trek.

I don't have any physical-media copies of this program, although it is available on Paramount Plus. Tonight might see me chilling with a glass of wine in front of the flatscreen, watching a certain series premiere. (Wine is not something I would have enjoyed on a Saturday morning in 1973. Although, my bowl of Shreddies did taste kinda funny, now that I think about. I remember the strange imagery taking hold, becoming more and more strange and far out with each spoonful of cereal.)

What separated animated Star Trek from its competing kid-fare, was the scripting. Writers of note include: DC Fontana, Larry Niven, David Gerrold, (original-series director) Marc Daniels, and Samuel A. Peeples, who wrote "Beyond the Farthest Star".

A Star Trek Celebration Book (Outside and In)

This book has sat on my shelf for three years. After buying Star Trek: A Celebration, I gave it a very quick scan before filing it. Today, "Star Trek Day", is a good reason to crack it open again.

The chapters are varied and interesting. Many of us love the cast, and the characters they played, but I thought I would not cover their respective chapters, as most fans know all about them. For this post I decided to capture a few of those fascinating behind-the-scenes sections. A small sampling....

Art Department — Making Strange New Worlds

Designing for the Future — Unexpected Exposure

Makeup Department — First In, Last Out

VFX Department — Making the Impossible Real

Music Department — Opera in Outer Space

Los Angeles Times and Star Trek — September 1966

In September of 2015, the Los Angeles Times reprinted a story that it had first published on the 21st of September, 1966....

"Star Trek is Costly Sci Fi Epic"

In the semi-darkness of a massive sound stage on the Desilu-Gower lot, strange creatures dart about through web covered catacombs.

In a far off section, where it gleams eerily, grotesque screams penetrate the air. Above it, a rather sarcastic and unmistakable human voice shouts, “Hold it! Let’s take it again…”

I find articles like that fascinating. Yes, what did they think back then of a given show, especially one that would go into the history books, and endless reruns?

For the piece, then LA Times staff writer Don Page visited the Desilu sound stages. Star Trek had started regular series production that May, and only two episodes had aired ("The Man Trap" and "Charlie X") by the article's date of publication, so history hadn't yet decided if the whole enterprise to that point in time was big money well spent, or if yet another television series in the era of "deficit financing" would dig a big loss for its producing studio.

Star Trek Premiered on NBC 58 Years Ago Today

September the 8th, 1966, is a date known to many Trekkers.

I'm just old enough to have remembered Star Trek first airing but I must have missed it. Maybe my parents saw the trailer on CTV for the opening episode, "The Man Trap", and its great and scary monster, and made the decision to make sure I missed it. (It was Canada's CTV network that actually opened the series — on Tuesday, September 6th, 1966.)

The charade had to last but a few weeks: In October we left for West Germany, and I did not see the series on ZDF, ARD, or the two French channels. (However, I did watch the telefantasy series Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Invaders, and The Prisoner on French and/or German television.) ZDF began running Trek in 1972, which I found out about three years ago.

I first saw Star Trek in June of 1970. My British cousins were watching it on BBC2 ― in colour ― and I joined them in silence while visiting.

Back here in Canada, CTV's flagship station, CFTO, began its long run of "stripping" Trek. In September of 1970 a regular Monday to Friday at 5 p.m. screening schedule started the magic for many of us. "What is this exciting, striking, beautiful, and colourful show?", I must have pondered at the beginning as I got lost in its vortex. This was a communal experience for many viewers, for in the syndication market it was a true "water cooler" (and "water fountain"!) television series.

My own private joke regarding my own fandom: It was seven years ago that I bought the complete series on Blu-ray. Before that I had just odds and ends on VHS and DVD. As for the Blu-ray format, I've watched just one episode.

But I am a fan.

How many dramatic television programs are, or will be, remembered fifty-eight years after they hit the video airwaves?

Perhaps I should pop on "The Man Trap" this evening....

Toronto Star Photographs on the Star Trek Set

On Tuesday, September 6, 1966, Star Trek had its 'world premiere' on Canada's CTV network, and on the following Thursday the series debuted on its home network, NBC.

Before the series hit the airwaves....

Reg Innell was a photographer who worked for the Toronto Star. His assignment in June of 1966 was to visit Desilu Studios stages 9 and 10 (now Paramount 31 and 32) and cover two Canadian actors who were starring in a new science fiction dramatic television series. William Shatner and James Doohan were busy actors before that time and space, but it was Trek that shot them to some fame.

After Innell's death in 2018 his negatives were donated to the paper, and were rediscovered by Toronto Star video producer Kelsey Wilson.

As was the case with anybody who visited the Star Trek stages before the show had even aired, they had no idea what would become of the show in the years to come.

The episode in production when Mr Innell visited Desilu's Stage 10: "The Man Trap"

They're Canadian, eh?

Star Trek Premiered on CTV 58 Years Ago Today

Star Trek had its world premiere, not on September 8, 1966, on its home network of NBC, but two days earlier on Canada's CTV network. Canadians, and Americans living in 'border States', would get a sneak preview of what would turn out to be a legendary series... one of the greatest.

"The Man Trap" was the first episode aired in the show's original run (1966 - 1969), though not the first one produced. It was a fine introduction.

Tune to this channel on Sunday the 8th.

Tuesday, September 6, 1966: What civilians first saw of STAR TREK....

Picturing: My First 'Mirrorless'

Over the past few months I would read bits, and watch YouTube videos, on the advantages of 'mirrorless' cameras, and how a lot of professional photographers have switched over to the type in whole or in part. The big advantage for me would be the camera's smaller profile. Having a regular DSLR hanging off one's chest is not conducive to photographer anonymity, especially when doing street photography. This benefit has been noted by many photogs, big and small.

Today was my day to bypass the mirror and go straight to the sensor: I decided to start with the Canon EOS R100. One can spend a lot more money on a mirrorless camera, and I did consider going higher-end while perusing the many cameras of the sort today, even after doing a blitz of research and deciding on this model before stepping into the store, but Canon is always trusty... and it's been my camera brand since, and including, my SLR film camera (that wee beasty served me well when I worked as a hospital/medical/surgical and public relations shooter).

To the test phase! Well, after the battery finishes charging....

Poem: Cool Relief (2019)

Cool air is back!
It surrounds us

Gone for months
I missed it so much

Stifling, life-sucking
super-heat came
back in the spring

Taking energy away
replacing it with lethargy

Shirt-soaking humidity
Much worse in the city

cursed words out loud
looking for a rain cloud

Was it so hard to ask
for relief from
extreme heat and its blast?

we asked
How long can it last?!

Cool air came back

and it kisses me.

Hope it lasts....

___

2019

Simon St. Laurent

Space: 1999 Started Forty-Nine Years Ago Today?

On September 1st, 1975, which happened to be Labour Day, I was introduced to a dramatic one-hour SF television series that would... not live on; except, perhaps, through a few fond memories.

Space: 1999 ended up disappointing a lot of us; including those of us who had just hit our teens. As a matter of fact, of the television stations that acquired the show, many programmed it for Saturday mornings. In my immediate television broadcast area, and in keeping with this kiddie-fare theme, Barrie (Ontario, Canada) station CKVR ran it Saturdays at 10:30am. Those program buyers must have known something.

It was the "French CBC" (Radio Canada) network that premiered the British-produced series in this country: Labour Day at 6pm, and I was there with bells on to watch it through the monochromatic 10-inch Sony television set tuned to CBLFT in my bedroom. (The colour/English version would happen for me on September 6th — the following Saturday.)

Don't be fooled by "St. Laurent". My less-than-basic understanding of the French language allowed me to watch and enjoy "Breakaway", Space: 1999's semi-spectacular opening episode, in relative silence. But I was able to follow the onscreen proceedings, somehow. ("It blowed up real good!")

On September 13th, 2024, I will run a thirteen-part look-back at a series that ran for just two seasons (1975 - 1977), but one that still occupies a tiny bit of the memory bank. Why "September 13th" and not today? That's when the moon blew out of Earth's orbit.... (Don't ask.)

THE DARK SIDE OF THE STARS, too, it would seem.

Email Flyer: Best Buy Air Conditioner Sale (Toronto)

After returning home minutes ago, I checked my email. Consumer electronics retailer Best Buy has a promotional offer even I might not refuse: an Insignia Window Air Conditioner marked way down from $249.99 to $119.99.

This cheap bastard is fine with a fan during Toronto's lengthy and unrelenting hot and humid summers — unrelenting hot and humid summers — but "air-con" at that price is hard to ignore.

I know that if I were to pop down to the "Eaton Centre" Best Buy location, the front entrance will lead into a flotilla of stacked air conditioners.

Summer is not over yet....

Wikipedia Error: Film Crew Clapper Loader Entry

Wikipedia does, as we all know, certainly to those of us who may know too much about some subjects, contain errors. This morning I stumbled upon the Wiki entry for "clapper loader".

The article is a good overview, but as I scrolled down the page a certain explanatory graphic got my attention.

Each 35mm camera roll is actually 1,000 feet in length, not 2,000 feet. (A typical film load allows for about 10 minutes of 'capture' time.) The author of that description was thinking of 'printing rolls'.

Movie theatres would receive a feature film in cases of 2,000 film reels. The film lab's interpositives (IPs), internegatives (INs), and projection prints are/were 2,000 rolls.

My many years of loading motion picture camera magazines has never left me... I can still smell that "raw stock".

Picturing: Colours of Jean Sibelius Sq Park Toronto

— From October of 2020, but sure to be applicable this coming October —

We're in the last week of August, already. My dad warned me about something like this.

"Once you hit twenty, life goes like a rocket. Every time you turn around, another year's gone."

The trees above will continue their life cycle long after you and I are gone....

Video: Rebekah Wise - Bet You Won't - Ft Jon Kabongo

Above is the official music video for a new song by my niece, Rebekah Wise. "Bet You Won't" features Toronto-based rap artist Jon Kabongo.

Have a listen and watch....

Sunday Fun: It's in the Constitution

Years ago I was speaking on the telephone with a British friend of mine and we eventually touched on my... 'personality' (temperament).

Me: "Now you know why I'm the way I am, Paul. I'm half British, half French, with a shot of Irish."

Paul: "Yeah! And they hate each other!"

I could only laugh. I never knew Paul to have such impeccable timing and wit. His response was genuinely funny. And brutally honest.

A Thot for the Day: Smarts

 How long will it take for "Artificial Intelligence" to become "Intelligence"?

Quote: Roger Corman on the Hook

"You can make a movie about anything, as long as it has a hook to hang the advertising on."

From the man himself.

This Website Has Been Clicked 1,000,000 Times

Earlier in the week, while on my site's dashboard, I noticed the high number of daily views. Over the last few days, around 10,000 daily hits have dinged the 'Squibber' bell.

This morning... the one million mark was hit.

I don't know what to say. No doubt a percentage of these views were 'automated', but knowing that a lot of people have visited here and read one or more articles makes it... here comes the cliché... all worthwhile.

Thank you!

Note: the above pic is a snip from 9am today.

ReBook: Fantastic Television (Gerani & Schulman)

Copy Number 2.

I bought Fantastic Television when it came hot off the presses in 1977. Unfortunately I left it under a school desk during a class, and, no surprise, when I rotated to my next class, I failed to... you guessed it.

(A polyester-clad geek running down the hall in a flurry of panic would be disappointed.)

A wave of nostalgia forced me to Amazon.ca to seek a replacement copy of one carelessly discarded book.

(It came from Texas.)

Written by Gary Gerani, with some assistance from Paul H. Schulman, Fantastic Television ― A Pictorial History of Sci-fi, The Unusual and the Fantastic ― From Captain Video to the Star Trek Phenomenon and Beyond, the book's full title, is an intelligent look at old series of note, some of which were then barely 'old'.

When FT fell into my local bookstore I was aware of the overall subject of SF television in cursory terms. I had not yet seen Thriller and One Step Beyond. And the title of "The Outer Limits" was unknown to me ― two years later I would get my introduction, and the series would get a "Wow!" from me.

I understand that the authors took some heat for their 'brazen' opinions, I certainly don't agree with everything they write, but subjectivity is just that. And their perspectives are always well-considered, and never flippant. For those of us who discarded our teen years a long time ago, Fantastic Television is now a nostalgic document, albeit a classy one.

The series given chapter treatment, complete with an episode guide:

The Adventures of Superman (1953 - 1957)

One Step Beyond (1959)

The Twilight Zone (1959 - 1964)

Thriller (1960 - 1962)

The Outer Limits (1963 - 1965)

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1964 - 1968)

Lost in Space (1965 - 1968)

Batman (1966 - 1968)

Star Trek (1966 - 1969)

The Time Tunnel (1966 - 1967)

The Invaders (1967 - 1968)

The Prisoner (1967 - 1968)

Land of the Giants (1968 - 1970)

Rod Serling's Night Gallery (1970 - 1972)

Kolchak: The Night Stalker (1974 - 1975)

Space: 1999 (1975 - 1977)

Further chapters:

"American Telefantasy"

"British Telefantasy"

"Kid Stuff"

"Made-for-TV Movies"

FANTASTIC TELEVISION

- A Pictorial History of Sci-fi, The Unusual and the Fantastic -

From Captain Video to the Star Trek Phenomenon and Beyond

by

Gary Gerani

with

Paul H. Schulman

Harmony Books

1977

It's International Cat Day!

The 8th of August is International Cat Day. Today is the 8th day of August. How could I have almost missed this special day?

Look at that beautiful thing. His name was Tigger. My pet name for him was "Toco"....

Picturing: A Large Fly's Textures and Details

Yesterday I posted a piece titled Picturing: A Large Unidentified Fly of Ontario, Canada but realized afterwards that the embedded photo was of a view not close enough to show the fly's textures and details, which are quite interesting.

Enjoy!

"Ma!... Ma!... There's a rather large fly in my soup! Hmm... It's kinda pretty in its own way."

Picturing: A Large Unidentified Fly of Ontario, Canada

Early this evening I took a picture of this rather large fly relaxing on a concrete barrier. I'm hardly an entomologist, which makes it hard for me to identify this five-centimetre-long insect.

Before posting this I did do a quick online search via "flies of ontario canada", but there were no perfect matches.

Movie Poster: Metropolis

My own pick for the greatest motion picture, feature length, ever made can change daily due to a number of influencing factors, including what day of the week it is.

Today's Monday?

Oh....

The greatest motion picture ever made is Metropolis (1927).

***

It was time I bought a poster for Fritz Lang's magnificent futuristic opus. I grabbed the mini poster from Amazon then took it to Alternative Arts on Bloor Street, here in Toronto, to have it plaqued. They've done a few jobs for me, one of which was a plaquing of a beautiful old "Cunard" poster, and I've been impressed each time.

Their website: Alternative Arts

A Special Screening of Gariné Torossian Film Shorts

Last night at the University of Toronto's "Innis Town Hall" ran an Ad Hoc film screening program of shorts by Canadian filmmaker Gariné Torossian. And "Visions", it was!

Introduced by film scholar, preservationist, and experimental filmmaker Stephen Broomer, the presentation was a continuous stream — one reel of 16mm film — of several experimental films of varying lengths. As Ms Torossian joked after the house lights came back on, having the flicks playing back-to-back made for an intense screening experience.

Intense it was. But "good intense".

This former "optical camera/printer operator" liked these experimental film works as they brought back memories of working that highly-technical job. Layers of images building and flowing to other images building a story. The mind is allowed to race and flow, making what it will and can of nebulous non-constrained highly-kinetic pictures unbridled in both introspection and extrospection.

The degree of image manipulation on the film Shadowy Encounters (15 minutes, 2002) is probably why that was my favourite of the night. Girl from Moush (5 minutes, 1994) is perhaps the filmmaker's best-known work, and for me, that pic is up there.

An element I like about Torossian's work is the audio portion. She obviously values the aural side of experimental filmmaking. Many filmmakers in that motion picture form actually don't like having sound accompanying their imagery... their moving images are to be enjoyed sans audio. (I take that bit of film theory case-by-case.)

After the projection, Jim Shedden conducted the requisite interview, leading to a Q & A. Things were slow to start on that front as nobody seemed to want to ask a question, so I raised my hand and volunteered. That broke the ice and several thoughtful questions broke out from the attentive audience. (For those interested, I recommend Mike Hoolboom's insightful interview with Torossian in his excellent book, Inside the Pleasure Dome: Fringe Film in Canada.)

Along with Midi Onodera, Gariné Torossian is one of the more interesting experimental filmmakers to have worked in Toronto, and beyond, in recent decades.

***

It was nice meeting Stephen Broomer after the show as I admire his preservation work and appreciate his Black Zero label — valuable work as films made in the avant-garde or underground have a predilection for getting lost through the passage of time; not through emulsion decay as much as archival decay. (I ordered Zero's DVD, Josephine Massarella: Green Dreams.)

Toronto-based film writer Greg Woods and I chatted about our recent film-viewing adventures. I mentioned that I watched a program of The Killing of a Chinese Bookie and The Angry Red Planet. Greg laughed when he realized what I had meant. He initially thought I went to a screening of those two pictures. I laughed and said that I would program such offbeat public film programs: "Pork Chop Hill and (I had to think of a perfect match)... Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice."

Good Advice for Pierre "Prince Precious" Poilievre

Canada's fine prime minister, Justin Trudeau, is known for his verbal wit. A lot of Liberals feel he should use it more often instead of all-but totally ignoring the whiny and vile Pierre Poilievre, so-called leader of the Official Opposition. "PP", with a lot of help from his friends, has dragged Canada's Conservatives to a basement low... the radon gas of politics.

"I think this guy needs to touch grass."

Brilliant.

A Lunch Date with a New Canadian in Toronto

This afternoon I popped downtown to meet a friend of mine for one of our lunch catch-ups. The Thai food was great, as was the conversation. My buddy is from the US state of Wyoming, but after getting his PhD in New Mexico, he and his wife decided to move to this great city.

Will told me today that he's been living in Toronto for ten years. Time flies. I met him in 2016 when we worked on a contract together. His big news today for me, over and above that one-decade milestone: In June he and his wife became Canadian citizens. His parents flew up from the States to attend the ceremony, then decided to hang out here for a few days. Everyone had a lot of fun. Of course, we're talking about Toronto, Canada.

... and friend at a Second Cup here in Toronto

Picturing: A Special Television Episode T-shirt

"The City on the Edge of Forever" is one of television's finest hours. It's an episode of Star Trek (1966 - 1969), one of television's finest-ever series.

Now to the T-shirt.

A few years ago, my brother contacted me saying he was going to order a few Trek T-shirts, and asked me if I wanted one... take my pick. I checked the catalogue and was impressed. An artist in the States had produced designs for all 79 Trek episodes, with each being his own unique interpretation of that particular story.

Postscript: No doubt the shirt looks even better when hugging my somewhat Hemanic chest, but I elected to take the picture with the shirt lying flat.