Space:1999/50 ― Opening Titles: Year Two

While the first season of Space:1999 was generally disappointing to this then young teen, I harboured some anticipation for its second: "Year Two", as many fans call it.

During the summer of 1976, the CBC ran, in high rotation, an ad campaign for their upcoming 1976-1977 television season. "See the brightest stars on C B C!" sang the enthusiastic women's chorus over cartoony animated stars, then a voiceover promoted alongside a quick succession of clips from upcoming shows. Space:1999 was looking a little different; still recognizable, but somehow looking enhanced. The imagery was all of a few seconds, but suddenly I couldn't wait.

Saturday, September the 4th, at 5pm... "Breakaway"? Oh, no. I'd seen the series opener a few times. No need to see it again. However, being a full-network presentation, the print was total high-quality 35mm (with the broadcast itself originating from a 2-inch "Quad" video playback).

Okay then. A geek had a hard time waiting, but I understood. The CBC wanted to show the episode that had kicked off the series, and the moon out of Earth's orbit. I'd have to swim through another week of high school. It was going to be a long week.

Saturday, September the 11th, and hello! I really dug that new opening. The most striking change was the theme music. Immediately I loved it. One listen and the tune was embedded. Very catchy space stuff. The beat was wow and now. The images were energetic. Both elements had been recharged and rebooted; dedicated to the concept of a new introductory sequence; a lead-in to a series of necessary alterations.

(As this episode, "The Metamorph", rolled out, I became convinced there was an effort in the production's front office to improve the series.)

As I learned upon watching the end credits, Derek Wadsworth was the composer of Space:1999's new signature tune, and his work had continued into the episode's next hour.

The episode's underscore supported and enhanced the action onscreen, and, at times, it was pretty and inviting. The storyline carried dark moments, including its hinting at an impending exploding home world, but when called for, composer Wadsworth grooved with the gardens of playful levity in the Grove of Psyche ― before the big bang. (The background music wasn't alienating like it had been in much of Year One. That season's repetitive re-tracking of certain cues made for a viewing experience that could be both dreary and depressing.)

Year Two's opening was a much-needed fresh kickoff to a series-premise that was preposterous, but one that did hold some promise. Mr Wadsworth's amazing Space theme was proof that the right opening title music can set one off in a new and improved direction.

Bravo.

Editorial note: The picture cutter must have enjoyed assembling this title sequence. What exactly is John Koenig firing at? The previous season? (Symbolism that I never noticed until I began to key this in. Credit to my space brain.)

Space:1999/50 ― Opening Titles: Year One

My introduction to Space:1999 happened in the early evening of Monday, September 1st, 1975, when CBLFT (the CBC's French-language flagship station) premiered it here in the Toronto-area market. I did not see the colourful new SF series in colour that day, as I had watched it on the 10-inch black-and-white Sony portable in my bedroom. (The chromatic, and English-language, version of Space awaited me the following Saturday morning. This then space cadet was there with bells on to greet "Breakaway", the series opener.) The dynamic visuals alone, even in a monochromatic state, were worth the price of admission. My initial reaction to this television series theme music? Good! Till the 22-second mark: that's when the twangy electric guitar took over. I remember wincing. "That's corny."

The theme was composed by Barry Gray, the talented music man of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson film and television productions. His stellar contributions were an important part of the Anderson's successes. In the case of Space:1999, maestro Gray made the series seem more important, and better, than it actually was. One could argue that the best parts of Space, its first season, that is, were the opening and closing title sections. ("Sections"? Sorry, that's a carryover from when I worked in "titles and opticals".)

Most memorable were the opening title "This Episode" segments. A friend of mine in Grade 9 said one day: "You can tell how good the episode will be." We were young. Quite the reverse was true in a lot of cases. (Utilizing the same device on the earlier Anderson puppet series, Thunderbirds, proved the theory of "how good" to be true, more often than not, certainly for us kiddies.)

Before I go, in the name of controversy the best Space:1999 theme tune is from Year Two....

Space:1999/50 — Ring Around the Bathtub (Review)

I copped "Ring Around the Bathtub" from a friend of mine. That mocking title about sums up Space:1999's most rotten Year One episode: "Ring Around the Moon"

For as much as I like to point out its badness, I find myself being strangely drawn toward this "Ring". There is something I cannot explain about its appeal. Perhaps it's lines like "This is Triton's universe" that keep drawing me back, time and again, with "Plan 9" pleasures. By the way, outside of noting "Triton's sun", "This is Triton's galaxy" is all we need to know. Specifying a universe is completely unnecessary. Unless we're talking of alternate or multi-universes, stating that Triton is of a particular universe is wholly redundant in a uni-universe paradigm.

(This kind of ineptness, unfortunately, happened far too often on Space:1999 ― science fiction produced by people who didn't understand science fiction, which might explain why the show's first season worked best as "horror". The second, and final, season was less horrific.)

The film editing in "Ring Around the Moon" is rough, giving the viewer the impression that there were problems in editorial. The inter-cutting between scenes is often awkward and disjointed; as though a scene or two is missing here and there. Perhaps the script was missing a scene or two, here and there. Without having access to the original script, it's hard to know what happened.

The episode's narrative-logic is also "off". Its opening scene contains one of those crewmembers-going-berserk moments. Fine. But this serious matter goes on for two minutes before Dr. Helena Russell yells to Sandra Benes, "Sandra, get security!" No! What took you so long? Anyone?

Perhaps the biggest problem with the episode is the awful acting, especially by Martin Landau; even the usually above-the-fray Barry Morse suffers from unconvincing deliveries. (In all fairness, Morse thought he was working in a nuthouse with this program. Morse left Space at the end of the first season, telling the producers something like "I'm going off to play with the grownups now".) The one person who shines here is Barbara Bain as Dr. Russell. Her performance is restrained, and applicably subtle. The good news is that Bain had a chance to show her thespian stuff in Space:1999's slightly improved second season.

One element in "Ring Around the Moon" is outstanding: The music; not composed by Barry Gray in this case, but by Vic Elms and Alan Willis. Its sparseness and rawness adds to the out-of-whack nature of the episode's storyline. As a matter of fact, the score's "beat" would foreshadow Derek Wadsworth's vibrant and fitting Year Two music.

(For me, Barry Gray, as much as I love his work on previous Gerry & Sylvia Anderson programmes, was clearly not into this series ― one indicator of this was the composer's reuse of themes he had originally written for the 1969 Anderson feature film Doppelganger [Journey to the Far Side of the Sun]. One can also hear a major smack of his opening theme tune for the 1968 film Thunderbird 6 in the Space title music. Composer Gray produced some fine cues for Space:1999's first season, but most were seemingly telexed in.)

Like a few episodes of this series, "Ring Around the Moon" is best viewed at 2 o'clock in the morning, I think. Which will be the time of the day when I'll watch this one again....

Postscript: Along with "Earthbound", "Mission of the Darians", "Journey to Where", and "One Moment of Humanity", "Ring Around the Moon" is the Space episode I've watched most often. Yes, I did admittedly open this piece with "Space:1999's most rotten Year One episode", but I also said that I find myself being strangely drawn toward "Ring Around the Moon". Not a lot makes sense.

Space:1999/50 — Earthbound (Review)

"Earthbound" is one of Space:1999's finest hours.

When the promising Space premiered in September of 1975, I was there in front of the colour tube to welcome another starfield patch... even if stars were a bit on the scarce side in this colourful import from the UK. Since I know the old SF television series very well, due to my then space cadet rating, I can pick and choose what I want to watch. And I choose this episode.

Despite the chintzy-looking alien 'sleeper ship' set and its even chintzier inhabitants, the Kaldorians, the episode works because of an engaging story and a great character: Commissioner Simmonds, played to perfection by Roy Dotrice, was sorely needed as a continuing foil for the bland Moonbase Alpha regulars ― not in an annoying Doctor Zachary Smith (of Lost in Space) way, but as Simmonds the full-blooded reactive and contrarian human being. It was not to be, however.

Simmonds is the floating variable in "Earthbound". Visiting alien leader Zantor, portrayed most effectively by some dude named Christopher Lee, is an unknown quantity in a friend-or-foe sense; but having the boisterous bureaucrat producing his own sneaky threat made for interpersonal drama that was all too rare on Space:1999. (Year One, that is; Year Two was a huge improvement in that regard.) This dynamic sets up and plays out the themes of "nobility" and "trust".

The episode's middle section, involving a threatened Helena Russell, suffers a little from a false false alarm ― obviously the sequence was inserted to fill out the script's page count ― but the more driven element of the narrative picks up when the good Commissioner does what he feels is right: for him. The ending is potent, and one for the memories bank ― and worthy of EC Comics. Space:1999, Year One, is considered by many of its fans to be more horror than science fiction.

Postscript: Along with "Mission of the Darians", "Ring Around the Moon", "Journey to Where", and "One Moment of Humanity", "Earthbound" is the Space episode I've watched most often.

Space:1999/50 ― Breakaway from Earth

Summer, 1975. As per my usual habit after arriving at my local shopping mall, I immediately made my way to W.H. Smith, the bookstore. After perusing the shelves for a few minutes my eyes made contact with two particular pocket books sharing the same main title: "SPACE: 1999"

One book was black and one pink. On the covers were some eye-catching photos. What was this? Well, according to the books' back cover text, Space:1999 was a new and exciting science fiction television programme from ATV.

I'd have to wait a couple of months for this new and exciting show to premiere.

French CBC premiered Space:1999 here in Canada on Monday, September the 1st ― Labour Day. For the English-language premiere of "Breakaway", the show's opening episode, I'd have to wait till 10:30am on the following Saturday. That's right, CBC affiliate CKVR programmed Space for Saturday mornings ― they were not alone in this regard. (Due to the majority of television networks taking a pass on the series, it had to be sold on a station-by-station basis.) Hamilton, Ontario, independent station CHCH gave a little more respect: Sundays at 5.30pm.

UFO, a previous Gerry and Sylvia Anderson SF series, had been given a full-network run by CTV (Canadian Television) beginning in 1970. No doubt CTV was pitched on buying the producing team's latest show, but they passed. French CBC ("Radio Canada") bought in, but the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's English-language side waited until the second, and as it turned out, final, year of Space before committing to a coast-to-coast transmission. In the Toronto television broadcast market, that meant "Saturdays at 5pm".

Before I go I have to say something controversial. After all, my piece thus far has been pretty "vanilla": While it had problems of its own, the second year of Space:1999 was an overall improvement on Year One.

"SPACE: 1999" (Orbit Books)

AD 1999. On the moon's near side a colony of scientists

and astronauts prepares for man's first venture into

deep space . . . On the far side of the moon catastrophe

threatens as the nuclear waste dumped there edges towards critical mass . . .

Space:1999/50 — Fifty Years Ago?

I can't believe I started high school fifty years ago. I also can't believe that the television series Space:1999 premiered fifty years ago. For me, both were somewhat disappointing, with the scholastic side lasting a few more years, too many years, but with better characters aboard... although the second season was a definite improvement.

What?

Let me explain.

Over the next few days I'll run a series of my own: a 13-part look-back in nostalgia at Space:1999.

Picturing: Friday the 13th TV Series VFX Crew

In October of 1988 I worked on a few episodes of the television series titled, simply enough, and not with any nod to accuracy, Friday the 13th: The Series.

Two episodes I remember working on:

"13 O'Clock"  —

A stopwatch can stop time, allowing its owner to move about in an otherwise frozen-still world. I was one of a few artists who painted mattes. To start the whole process, a rotoscope artist took a roll of film that had been shot of a actor that needed to be popped in over a specific scene. With an image projected onto a sheet of animation paper, he carefully drew a black outline of the actor, making sure to follow the contours very closely. This painstaking procedure was done frame by frame. It was then a matter of taking the animation papers — there could be many hundreds of them — and, with brush in hand, filling inside the outlined area with black paint. A silhouette of a travelling lady. A holdout matte! One sheet of hole-punched paper for each frame of film. This sequence of artwork would be photographed on 35mm motion picture film to produce a 'travelling matte', which would then be transferred to (analogue) video — these shows were shot on 35mm film but post-produced electronically (in order to save money). The matte would then be run in over the background scene with the positive image, that of the person, fitting inside and filling the matte.

"The Sweetest Sting"  —

Bees. Lots and lots of bees. An animator plotted out movements of bees, black blobs on white animation paper. With black paint we filled in the outlined bee shapes. Hour after hour. It was laborious work, but it was the only way to do it back then.

The show's visual effects supervisor was John Gajdecki, one of the more talented film-artist/technicians to have worked in this town (Toronto), and also one of the most congenial. He went on to set up his own company, GVFX (Gajdecki Visual Effects).

When I worked at Film Effects - Toronto in the early to mid 1990s, I again met up with John when my employer and GVFX got the 'opticals' contract for the television series Kung Fu: The Legend Continues. John, and his team, produced original FX elements on a Quantel "Harry" system at his facility; elements which he then outputted to 35mm film, which were then turned over to Film Effects. I took these film rolls and composited them with the appropriate live-action photography on the optical printer/camera. (We'd get a new episode to 'process' every week and a half or so.)

Back to the photo.

Friends of mine would spot me in a second. I've already gotten: "You look the same!" Think: a tall British-looking guy standing at the back in a brown jacket. My boss is sitting at the front of the youthful multi-talented gang.

Seeing my overall look now, I don't think I fit the image of an "inker" as much as I do a director from LWT or Thames Television. That or a used-car salesman from Sheffield.

Postscript: I remember most of the people in that photo. Gudrun Heinze is at the very left; to my left, Claude Theriault; and Dan Turner is to my right. A few months after this photo session, Dan flew off to Ireland to work for Don Bluth's outfit. Gudrun and Claude were still with John during my Film Effects years. Fun times, even with the hard work and sometimes long hours.

3,000,000 Hits on this Blog/Website — Appreciation!

Most mornings I will check my website data to see what kind of traffic I'm getting, and what countries it's coming from. This morning I got a bit of a surprise. While I knew that the counter was approaching 3,000,000 hits, I was not expecting such a 'final' push overnight. The bulk of that rush was from the USA and Brazil.

Yes, it's very rewarding to know my ramblings are being read. By the way, a few years ago I did research and read a recommendation to keep the writing at a fairly basic level... not to get too flowery with one's language, and to limit any verbosity, as tempting as it may be at times to go full-verbose. That I do, as my regular readers no doubt have noted. Readership is international.

Thanks to all my regular readers and those who pop in for one or two pieces.

As I've said here before, I must keep feeding the beast....

Star Trek Animation Premiered 52 Years Ago Today

On this day in 1973, another Star Trek series premiered: a Saturday morning 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".

Postscript: And that concludes my celebratory look-back at Star Trek for this year. September of next year marks that brilliant show's 60th anniversary. That gives me a year to write and stock....

Star Trek Premiered on NBC 59 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 eight 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-nine years after they hit the video airwaves?

Next Saturday: a Look Back at Space:1999

"Journey to Where" is one of the very 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.

Space:1999 premiered fifty years ago this month. For us older folk who care, we find it hard to believe. This coming Saturday, 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.

Star Trek Premiered on CTV 59 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 witness the first steps of, what would prove to be, a television legend — one of the greatest of all hour-long dramatic series, and one not needing the umbrella of "greatest science fiction television programs" to promote its ultimate historical ranking.

"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 Monday the 8th.

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

Business Card: Film Opticals of Canada Ltd.

Film Opticals of Canada Ltd. closed its doors in 2005, but it lives on for me in business card form. During my years there we produced titles and optical effects for films such as The Sweet Hereafter (1997), American Psycho (2000), and Ararat (2002).

I was one of two optical printer/camera operators. Those days! And late nights.

Of course, what "Film Ops" did then we can now do on a computer in our basement. Faster, cheaper (a lot cheaper), and with a heck of a lot less (potential) stress.

Side note: my name is emblazoned via my least favourite font. My own ego would have demanded nothing less than "Arial".

Some film and television people of note who popped by the Film Opticals facility during my days there: Kiefer Sutherland; Saul Rubinek; Jason Priestley; and Atom Egoyan. Messrs Sutherland and Priestley were super-nice guys, apparently: polite and courteous. I say "apparently" since, in both instances, I missed them by minutes. (Pardon the apparent name-dropping, but I had no other association with those gents.)

I worked on a full-time freelance basis at my favourite Toronto-based optical house from 1994 to 2000, returning a few times after that term to do some relief shooting . The company was on Fraser Avenue when I started there, but moved to Carlaw Avenue in late 1999. In my opinion the move was not a good one for the company ― this change of location was beyond their control.

Mike Smith, the main guy at Film Opticals of Canada, was full of wisdom and knowledge regarding the film business. I learned so much from him.

Postscript: After I first posted the above piece in June of 2019, I received a lovely comment from Mike's daughter, Suzanne:

"What a nice surprise to see the Film Opticals logo come up in a Google Search, Simon. Thanks for sharing this bit of nostalgia. Ironically, you posted this just before Dad (Mike Smith) passed. He loved his work at Film Opticals and all the people he worked with. Thanks again for sharing."

Space:1999 Premiered 50 Years Ago Last Monday?

On September 1st, 1975, which happened to be Labour Day, just like September 1st of this year, 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 — one tends to turn into a little television critic at that age. 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, 2025, 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.

Athot for the Day: We Care When Convenient

Our society knows how to cultivate poverty, but knows not how to care for the poor.

Back to School Special: Welcome to High School!

Chatter on the Internet this morning reminded me that it's Back to School Day. "Please, no."

This reminded me of my first day of high school: Tuesday, September 2, 1975.

As I moved somewhat self-consciously down an end hallway a well-dressed young man in flared jeans and matching jacket, and sporting long hair with matching facial hair, approached me with a signature drooping walk. He had what I assumed to be some kind of survey question, the kind dispensed to "minor niners" like me:

"Hey, man. Wanna buy some grass?"

At first I remembered what my parents said to me before I boarded the school bus earlier that morning: "If someone asks you if you want to buy some pot, say 'yes'." Or was it?....was it "no"? Darn. Nobody told me that high school was this hard! I then remembered that my mother gave me twenty dollars, but my memory told me that the money was not for "grass". Wait a minute... no, it was for "pot", not grass.

I told the gentleman: "I want to thank you for your concern and consideration, not to mention your warm welcome, kind sir, but my answer is 'no'."

In Toronto's Annex Neighbourhood: "Gleam & Sip"

This morning, on a beautifully sunny and warm day here in the great city of Toronto, I strolled up to my local LCBO store, On my way back home I made a discovery, one I'll appreciate very soon. There's a new shop at the southeast corner of Dupont and Madison:

Gleam & Sip

Matcha * Espresso * Bar

Vegan & Gluten Free Bakery

I popped inside for a moment to say hi. The friendly staff was most welcoming — it was me who was entering, after all  — and gave me the attached business card. As I was carrying my small order of Corona beer for this holiday weekend, and had other business planned for the rest of the morning, I could not sit down and partake in what, no doubt, would be a delicious experience.

The lovely lady gave me the shop's business hours: "Nine to five, every day."

As I promised before I left the store: "Soon!"

Postscript: It's important to me that I support local small businesses, hence my post.

Gleam & Sip is located just east of "Dupont" subway station.

Picturing: Italy Vacation Scenes — Not Mine

My friend Ana spent two weeks in Italy.  Her parents are from there which makes for a powerful draw. While she was showing me samples of pics she took I asked her if I could post a few here.

"Sure!

Given the fact that I studied art history in school — I still have my Frederick Hartt books — I love this stuff. No, I've never been to Italy — the farthest south I've been in Europe is Switzerland, and I might ask Ana if she would be into taking a vacation there and bringing back some photos for me to put up on this website

(Me: "Yep, that's the Matterhorn, all right.")

Almost forgot: Like much of Europe, Italy was very hot: 35 to 40 Celsius. At one point it hit 50.

Athot for the Day: I Thot Right

I'm the first one to say that PP Pierre Poilievre will be replaced by his own party come January, but I want him to stay as CPC leader. Watching him and his faithful twist and fizzle is just too much fun... and him remaining as Conservative Party of Canada leader would guarantee yet another Liberal Party of Canada win.

The TV Lunch Box Kids

When I was a child in the 1960s and early 1970s TV-themed "tie-in" lunch boxes were a big thing. The colour screen on the box's exterior was probably more important than any nutrients carried on the inside. The graphic was part of your identity: Perhaps you were a Bonanza fan, a "Bat-fan", or you gravitated towards the Irwin Allen fantasy shows such as Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea or Lost in Space. It did not matter whether or not these dramatic television programs were good (they were not) but the lunch boxes were a way of advertising our programming — a statement as to what we little ones thought was cool on television.

I remember sitting on the school bus one day, waiting for the vehicle to finish loading up kids outside of the CFB Baden Elementary School (in West Germany). A fellow traveller in the seat immediately in front of mine had in his possession what must have looked to me like a pretty specimen of a lunchbox: It had a rich green trim; it showed some futuristic vehicle; it was adorned with the title Land of the Giants. ("What's Land of the Giants?", I may have asked, but I learned something new and important.)

My favourite of the TV lunch boxes was the one for Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. The artwork, lame on many themed boxes for some inexplicable reason, was absolutely dynamic here: The front-of-box illustration depicted the submarine "Seaview" approaching a giant (giant!) octopus that was resting, but looking mighty angry, with the Flying Sub in its tentacles, on the ocean floor.

I never did get that lunchbox, simply because I never asked for it. My own box was of no TV-theme. It had a tartan pattern with the thermos inside sharing the same pattern. For all its blandness, that lunchbox served me well. When we moved back to Canada there was no need for this piece of school equipment as my school, Frederick Campbell Elementary in CFB Borden, was a few minutes walk from the house. I'd go home, eat, and pop on CFTO and meet The Flintstones.

Also, by this time Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and Land of the Giants had been cancelled. Suddenly their tie-in lunch boxes had become worthless....

Film & Television Design Comp 1

I comped the above some time ago along with another. My archives are calling me to release more bits and bites of film and television design. (I don't say "production design" as it's redundant. It would be like saying "production cinematography" or "production direction".) I'm working on new art and design work and will get some of that up here soon. Believe me, I'm as excited as you are.

Coffee? How 'bout a bowl of popcorn? Together would be perfect!

Picturing: Ferry Line Drop at the Port of Calais

Canon AE-1

100mm Canon lens

Kodak 35mm film - 100 ASA

Sunday Fun: Miller Lite ― a Great Canadian TV Ad

While I do not like television commercials, especially those from this great country of Canada, certainly those produced here in Toronto, there is one I loved when it aired many years ago: an advert for Miller Lite beer, Canada — and one loaded with former National Hockey League goaltenders.

The headliner is former St Louis Blues and New York Rangers netminder John Davidson. A natural actor, he carries the continuous 30-second shot, and a beer, a Miller Lite, as he makes his way through a crowded bar.

"Hi ya, Eddie!"

That's Eddie Giacomin, former goaltender with the New York Rangers, where, for a few years, he shared puck-stop duties with....

"Good to see ya, Gillie! How ya doin'?"

That's Gilles Villemure!

The main conceit in the advert is the fibreglass goalie mask, which these men would paint over with a graphic, one to reflect their respective personalities. Actually, Mr Villemure left his as a natural yellow-white finish. The masks' airhole cuts would be another identifying 'mark'.

I won't give away the ad's ending... it's fun, and I laughed out loud the first time I saw it.  And three years ago I laughed uproariously again. And I laughed yet again while prepping this post.

Those were the days when I loved the NHL.

Athot for the Day: Taking it Day to Day

Please forgive those of us who feel that, to Conservatives, every day is the worst day.

Nick Zedd on One's Destiny

"Unreasonable expectations were planted in my brain when I was five years old and saw Voyage to a Prehistoric Planet. I was stunned and traumatized by the thought of being shipwrecked on a planet of dinosaurs and cavemen. Little did I know this was to be my destiny."

I first saw that flick on television when I was in my early teens, and understood then and there that my destiny had already greeted me.

Movie Matinee: Attack of the Crab Monsters

I've never graded a film by way of its budget — big Hollywood films don't necessarily suck and low-budget or super-low-budget films don't automatically engender raves — but there are times, especially these summer days, when I feel I have to go after what I think is a known quantity. In the amazing year of 2013 I watched movie-meister Roger Corman's 1957 "epic" Attack of the Crab Monsters.

I was aware going in that it was, to that point in his career, Corman's biggest box-office hit. It's easy to see why. Viewed today, understanding a little about North American film history, Attack is appreciated for what it is and tries to be — pure unaffected movie matinee entertainment. While not without flaws, the flick is propelled to its inevitable conclusion (guess who wins), not only by director Corman, but through brisk scripting courtesy of the ever dependable Charles B. Griffith. This may be the film's real flaw although one common for feature films of slight running time; Attack of the Crab Monsters, while a lengthy enough title, is only 62 minutes long. With a single-minded propulsion there is little room for anything else, story-wise. (Young people attending the matinees and drive-ins would not have cared too much. Also, I can think of a few recent films, more than a few recent films, actually, that would benefit immensely from a 62-minute "cut".)

The plot is simple: A cadre of personnel — scientists and military men — land on a small Pacific island to investigate the disappearance of an earlier expedition. The team, of whom Russell Johnson is a member, but not one of the scientists, studies the results of the 1946 Bikini Atoll atomic tests and in the process discovers what happened to the previous researchers. If you don't like seafood, don't ask.

(I popped out of the film just once the other night: Russell Johnson plays a couple of sequences without wearing his shirt. The actor said in an interview years ago that while auditioning for the role of the "Professor" in Gilligan's Island, he was asked by the show's producers if he would mind taking his shirt off... to see what he would look like without his shirt on. He was not too keen on the idea.)

The strongest attribute of Attack of the Crab Monsters, for me, is the film's tone: it kept me on edge from beginning to end; a sort of dramatic tinnitus; as though a scary, if somewhat expected given the matinee title, surprise was forever lurking just around the corner.

The crab get-ups are not bad, actually. Physical effects and visual effects are the killer for low budget producers — then a lot more than now — but the filmmakers get away with a spoonful in this department. Corman tech regulars Ronald Stein (music) and Floyd Crosby (cinematography) add their rock-solid touches and, as per usual in that relationship, elevate the whole show a little above a low budget film's expected ceiling.

I'm not suggesting that Attack of the Crab Monsters is a great film, but: A friend told me a few years ago that he cares not for intellectual art... he just wants to be entertained when he goes to the movies. I'm tuned a little differently than my fast-food pal, but I could give him an answer in regards to what was in my soup bowl two nights ago: "Yes, I was entertained. And it was delicious!"

Nick Zedd on Future Reality

"I'd start crying when I'd see children on the street — their innocence awaiting the rot of society's touch."

I too 'start crying', even though I have no kids of my own... which is why I have no kids of my own.

Athot for the Day: Admitting

We are such oppressors.