A Few Random Thoughts

Greetings -

I never heard anything back from anyone about my comments on "Journey To The
Far Side Of The Sun," but I thought I would share a few more random thoughts
with you:

1. Some of you will recall that I faced a dilemma about installing a UFO
diorama on my toy train layout. I considered purchasing a Dinky Mobile, but
found them too expensive and not very realistic. I did acquire the complete
set of Konami UFO trading ships and, upon very good advice from members of
this group, purchased an Imai Mobile kit. Well, since that time, I have
built the Mobile and installed a little scene which I think is pretty cool:

http://www.thelynx.com/ufo/models/shado3-1.jpg
http://www.thelynx.com/ufo/models/shado3-2.jpg

P.S. Comments are welcome.

2. I've been watching Space 1999 on DVD in a semi-random order and it
occurred to me how changed season two was from one (bird woman takes over
from highly competent Barry Morse, Barry Gray classic theme turned into
disco, Hawk Mark IX's manufactured out of green moon cheese, etc.). Could
you imagine what a second UFO season would have been like? I shudder.

3. I watched "On The Beach" on DVD yesterday. For those who have not had the
opportunity to see this film, it is an interesting post-apocalypic tale
starring Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner and Fred Astaire. Yes, I thought as well,
what a cast! However, it was extremely well-filmed in 1959, tells a
fascinating story with a different twist, has an excellent supporting cast,
and, to top it off, has a connection to UFO (I know you were waiting for
this). There is a cocktail party during which the guests debate the reasons
for World War III. In this scene, a partygoer argues with Fred Astaire over
how the war started. I was sitting there puzzled because I recognized the
gruff voice, but not the face. A few seconds later it hit me. It was a
younger General Henderson (not any prettier) who was poking the jabs. Who
better, eh? Great classic film and I highly recommend it (along with Journey
To The Far Side Of The Sun).

Well, ciao for now.

Cheers,

Bob


---
TheLynx [www.thelynx.com]
Lionel Collectors Moderator [groups.yahoo.com/group/lionelcollectors]
WebRings: PRR, B&O Railroad, Railroad, TCA, Model Trains, Lionel Trains,
Convair
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>2. I've been watching Space 1999 on DVD in a semi-random order and it
>occurred to me how changed season two was from one (bird woman takes over
>from highly competent Barry Morse, Barry Gray classic theme turned into
>disco, Hawk Mark IX's manufactured out of green moon cheese, etc.). Could
>you imagine what a second UFO season would have been like? I shudder.

Well, some folks consider the last 9 episodes to be UFO's second
season -- Lt Barry takes over for Lt Ellis, Col Lake takes over for
Col Freeman, the Alien's methods go from relatively straightforward
to supernatural, and little UFO skirmishes become all-out battles!

Of course, there was a *planned* second season of UFO which later
became SPACE:1999. Considering that the design work for Moonbase
Alpha was originally intended to be UFO Season 2, you can tell that
they were planning for some major changes!

Marc

At 10:38 PM 7/28/2003 +0000, you wrote:

Excellent but I'd like to see them in the "big picture" How the whole
layout looks with the Mobile and UFO in it.

>2. I've been watching Space 1999 on DVD in a semi-random order

>, Hawk Mark IX's manufactured out of green moon cheese, etc.).

The Hawks are attacking the moonbase, they aren't piloted by the Alphans.

>3. I watched "On The Beach" on DVD yesterday. For those who have not had the
>opportunity to see this film, it is an interesting post-apocalypic tale
>starring Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner and Fred Astaire. ........ It was a
>younger General Henderson (not any prettier) who was poking the jabs. Who
>better, eh? Great classic film and I highly recommend it (along with Journey
>To The Far Side Of The Sun).

I can't stand the singing of Waltzing Matilda over and over again during
that film (No offense to our friends in Australia). I read the book in
High School (VERY DEPRESSING) and also attended a talk on Nevil Shute a
year or two ago, I have to check out more Shute because he's famous for OTB
but I heard at the panel his other works are very good. Showtime....or
another Pay TV channel did a remake of OTB, I think there are two versions
of it, one has more footage. I didn't see the whole thing but what I did
see was great. The part I saw was the trip into San Francisco or maybe
Alaska (Maybe it was Alaska in the remake) to check out the mysterious
signal.

As for Space 1999's second season...I think there's at least one very
disappointed UFO fan on the list who was upset over UFO's second season
metamorphing into the first season of Space 1999! ; -)


>Well, ciao for now.
>
>Cheers,
>
>Bob

Grant Taylor who played General Henderson was born in England but moved to
Australia to pursue his acting career. He can be seen in many classic films
made in Australia, among them are The Rats of Tobruk, 40,000 Horsemen, The Seige
of Pinchgut, The Adventures of Long John Silver (as well as the TV series of
the same title), On The Beach(as has been mentioned). The Kangeroo Kid, His
Majesty O'Keefe, and The Eureeka Stockade. For more of his credits and info see
his listing at IMDB

James K.


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Hi Bob and all - I know this is a tad OT, but I studied the book "On The
Beach' in high school as a kid and always wanted to see the movie. It was, I
believe, Fred Astaire's first serious role in films! Interesting that Gen.
Henderson was in that film - was that actor an American or a Brit? Pam

There are many times when I am glad UFO didn't get it's second season just
based on some of those weirder element scripts they filmed. Not that I
didn't like the Prisoner, but it had it's time and place, and I resented
trying to turn UFO into The Village to some extent. I wanted the straight SF
story the original premise started out with, not Timelash. Pam

Hey Pam -

Definitely get the movie. Well worth the watch. Fred was marvelous.
He spent too much time dancing. Shoulda been cast in many more
dramatic roles.

Cheers,

Bob

--- In [hidden email], Pamela McCaughey <mccaug@n...> wrote:
> Hi Bob and all - I know this is a tad OT, but I studied the
book "On The
> Beach' in high school as a kid and always wanted to see the movie.
It was, I
> believe, Fred Astaire's first serious role in films!

--- In [hidden email], Phil Merkel <captphil@o...> wrote:
> Excellent but I'd like to see them in the "big picture" How the
whole
> layout looks with the Mobile and UFO in it.


I was poking around my HTML and discovered a Gerry Anderson models
page that I had been working on and forgotten about. So, with some
quick teaking and added shots of my train layout, I have put up a
page which will be expanded upon in the future:

http://www.thelynx.com/ufo/models/


> The Hawks are attacking the moonbase, they aren't piloted by the
Alphans.


Ah, hah. Well, I haven't gotten to the Hawks episode yet. Actually, I
haven't seen that one since it first aired back in the 70s. I
apologize for that blunder.


> I can't stand the singing of Waltzing Matilda over and over again
during
> that film (No offense to our friends in Australia).


What else is there to do in Australia after a nuclear war?

Hic,

Bob

Last year I bought three UFO models: a 12 inch alien, a small scale Moonbase
and the Skydiver jet - my plan is to use them at some point in diromamas,
but my model-builder hubby is very slow these days!! Pam

I don't know. Maybe a second season would have settled the show down, and given them time for more character driven shows.
UFO was trying to find something that worked, and going hither and yon as far as stories go, was a a part of that. I can think of a number of shows that should have been killed in the first season, if you only judged them by that season. Since this was Andersons first live action, there were plenty of mistakes made, but he did seem to be getting his act together with it.
All shows have their "Weird" epsoides. Dallas killed an entire season by claiming that it was all "A bad dream" done by Pam. Trek had Spocks Brain,. UFO had its share as well. By the way, I rather like Timelash, it gave Straker a reason to be Manic, and it was nice to see him hyper for a change, and not so tightly controled.

Pamela McCaughey <[hidden email]> wrote:
There are many times when I am glad UFO didn't get it's second season just
based on some of those weirder element scripts they filmed. Not that I
didn't like the Prisoner, but it had it's time and place, and I resented
trying to turn UFO into The Village to some extent. I wanted the straight SF
story the original premise started out with, not Timelash. Pam





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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

At 04:24 AM 7/30/2003 +0000, you wrote:
>I was poking around my HTML and discovered a Gerry Anderson models
>page that I had been working on and forgotten about. So, with some
>quick teaking and added shots of my train layout, I have put up a
>page which will be expanded upon in the future:
>http://www.thelynx.com/ufo/models/

Oh this is wonderful! It looks like a UFO is attacking Mr Rogers
Neighborhood! : - ) Great stuff! Are you going to paint the walls with a
backdrop too?

>Ah, hah. Well, I haven't gotten to the Hawks episode yet. Actually, I
>haven't seen that one since it first aired back in the 70s. I
>apologize for that blunder.

War Games falls into the Gerry Anderson....It was all a dream....sequence
which he trotted out for just about every series he did!

> > I can't stand the singing of Waltzing Matilda over and over again
>during that film (No offense to our friends in Australia).
>
>What else is there to do in Australia after a nuclear war?
>Hic,

True but please....isn't dying from radiation punishment
enough? (Again....my deepest apologies to our friends in Australia...I
will go put myself in time out now)