Who and the Wizzard (1973)

Roy Wood, the Wizzard of 70's glam rock meets the Time Lord.  So 70's it hurts!


Steve

Doctor Who and the Tomorrow People (1973)

Benign Time Lord endorses the rights of Homo Superior to have their own long running science-fiction TV show.

Steve

Lake Monster books of the 70s. (+1 from the 80s)

1975                                                                 1976

 

1973                                                            1982

Sun, Sea and Cybermen (1973)

Stiffkey Marsh and Cley Beach, Norfolk, sometime in 1973.  An important birthday celebration looms and actors Anneke Wills and Michael Craze are invited to improvise a Doctor Who'ish scene or two for the Radio Times 10th anniversary special.

Of all the "companions and monsters" pictures taken for the souvenir magazine, this photo shoot is perhaps the most successful in capturing a sense of story, and a very Doctor Who kind of story at that.  Not just because its Ben and Polly and the Cybermen but because of locations that are at odds with mechanical men and because its aliens in the English ideal.

What happens next?  Well obviously a sunshine yellow Edwardian Roadster skids to a halt and the firm but kindly voice of an eccentrically dressed, white haired gentleman commands that if they want to live, they should get in the car and quickly.  They accelerate away at great speed as cyber weaponry tracks their escape with a chaser of smoke billowing explosive charges.  Later when they are safe, he will ask them if they are alright and call them by their names.  They will be surprised because his is a face they have never seen before.  But when he tells them who he is, they'll know straight away that its true because they were there the last time.  Of course its the Doctor, who else could it be....and then the adventure will begin again.

Steve

The Tomorrow People paperbacks (1973 to 1977)

1973

1974

1975

 

1976

1977

 

I only own the first one which is interesting because its written ahead of the TV episode and therefor slightly different.  It's also got some interesting illustrations in it, like all good books of that era did, which I may scan for your future amusement.

 

Steve

Behind the Planet of the Daleks (1973)

Welcome to the Beachfields Quarry in Surrey.  It's the 2nd or 3rd of January 1973 and we are here filming the Doctor Who story; The Planet of the Daleks.  Come the spring when the story transmits, this will be the planet Spiridon, just one more alien world to be subjugated by the tyranny of the Dalek forces.

Steve

The Jensen Code - Titles (1973)

 

 

 

 

 

Steve

Eagle Annual (1973) and other Christmas Annuals (1972)

 

 

 

Christmas 1972 I was 4 but heading towards 5.  I don't know what annual I got that year. I've no memories and no images have yet to trigger a sense of ownership.  My older brother had The Aeronauts and Star Trek.  I know because they lurked around the family home for years after, until being rescued by my younger brother -Who probably still has them stashed away somewhere safe, to this very day.

Looking at the selection above I like to think I would have gone for the Wham! and Pow! Annual but I don't think that's what I would have got.  Well intentioned parents would have picked me something more cartoon in style and probably rabbit or teddy bear based.  Which got me thinking..

I had a lot of cowboy and soldier toys when I was a nipper; Airfix, Timpo and Britains.  I was just looking through a few online catalogues and was almost embarrassed by the realisation that my parents had bought me so much of it.  Maybe my grandparents contributed too.  I was ill a lot as a youngster which meant time off school and day trips to the nearby town to visit the elderly relatives for a cup of tea and a catch up.  Maybe they felt sorry for me, or maybe it was just a bribe to keep me quiet and distracted while they talked.  Who knows or really cares but the end result was a very large and full toy box.

Anyway that Eagle Annual atop, reminded me of this little beautie below.  I owned this, I floated this in the sink and even with the metal bar at the bottom I seem to remember that it always listed to one side.  I had a bit of an underwater thing going on back then.  The oceans were a strange alien world and the frog men were its astronaut explorers.  I watched Jacques Cousteau, I owned the Ladybird book of Underwater Exploration and I played Voyage to the bottom of the Sea in the playground when there.

So I now realise that we'll probably have to look at these things in more detail as well as the realisation that the 60's into the 70's was as much about the oceans as it was of space.


Steve

Phase IV by Barry N Malzberg (1973)

"ebay - delivering the past to the present since 1995"...  Or at least that's how I think of it!

 

As mentioned a few days ago, I decided to order Barry N Malzberg's tie-in of the film Phase IV after many years of just not getting round to it.  It only arrived today so I've not started into it yet but I understand there is a variation to the ending.  I will report back here with my thoughts and observations, once read.

Of course its worth remembering that back in 1973, the novelisation would have been the only way to relive the film, which was obviously also true for other movies and TV shows.  I bought and read a lot of tie-ins as a kid and really enjoyed them.  Sometimes it was even a way to "see" an 18 certificate film, when you were too young to sneak into the cinema - Such as Alien, to name the first one that comes to mind.

 

With the advent of Video, DVD,  Blu-ray and Digital Download we can now have those films on hand and on repeat almost any time.  As such this kind of fiction has all but gone which is a shame.  As a generalisation they are usually quite exciting and an easy read.  And that certainly helped me begin to enjoy reading when the school-selected titles were doing their very best to provoke the opposite.

 

 

Steve