This of course sparked off memories of the hilariously wonderful 1970's TV romp "Space, 1999".
In a childishly overexcited frenzy of confused memories, I posted a comment about the sparkly wigged, mini-skirted girls, and how our government would try to stop the Moon People from coming down here and taking our jobs and our weemen.
When I later hit Google Image with "Space, 1999", I was disappointed to find not a single sparkly-wigged girl.
It was then that I remembered the awesome, low budget magnificence of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's "UFO" (Space, £19.99) …
"UFO" …A "live action" spin off from the people who had made my sixties childhood so wonderful with Fireball XL-5 (gasp) …
Stingray (wowee) …
Thunderbirds (Yaaaaay) …
Captain Scarlet (Whoop) …
and Joe 90 ( … er … ) …
They abandoned the puppets, that fabulous "Superanimation" not seen again until Team America, World Police, but they did not abandon the puppet-like acting.
What they DID have, however, was Lt. Ellis …
Whaddya mean "Who"?
Look on the left. That girl in the purple sparkly wig.
By the time this came on TV, I was old enough to get wood.
Lt. Ellis gave millions of adolescent boys the opportunity to get sticky …
This was what adolescent girls got to fantasize about: their uncle in a string vest … Mmmmm.
And for the dads? … Hmm. Not quite the same nipple action (sorry, Robyn) as on the men's uniform. And saggy elbows, too …
And in charge of this farrago … Our gallant Commander Straker, played with admirable deadpan restraint by the lovely Ed Bishop.
Then there was gorgeous, sultry Aishea Brough, the only one to make it out of the series with her career intact.
Ahh … swoon … The unutterably beautiful if slightly tetchy-looking Lt. Ellis.If only all the girls at school had looked like that. Purple wig, silver uniform, unfeasibly long eyelashes, moody pout (oh yeah, they did have that) … sigh …
So come on, NASA, get a base on the moon so we can have proper space weemen down here. Real, feminist-baiting weemen, who wear silver leotards with detachable sleeves and platform boots with perspex heels (apparently practical in zero gravity). And men can wear string vests and be considered attractive. And bring back Lt. Ellis.
What are you waiting for?
9 comments:
First, I love the labels on this post. Side by side, they create quite a picture. Second, I have never seen nor heard of any of these shows.
When I was a kid, the big show was Lost in Space. I'll see if I can dig something up about that one--no matter what I say about it, my memories won't have the same...flair...as yours, though.
Woah! Lost In Space!
"Danger, Will Robinson!"
BILL MUMY! One of my all time heroes!
He played Will Robinson in Lost In Space, and much later, was the ass-kicking alien Lennier in Babylon 5 …
But in between, and far more importantly, he was one half on Barnes and Barnes, who released one of the best songs EVER: Fish Heads!
"Fish heads, Fish heads,
Roly-poly Fish heads,
Fish heads, Fish heads,
Eat them up, Yummmmm …"
etc.
Boy I love that song.
Thanks for the reminder, Robyn.
Oh, and wasn't Smith a real weasel?
Dr. Smith was a frightening little spineless guy--weasel is the proper word. Since you know this show, I won't post the pictures I found.
Oh, please do, Robyn.
Any excuse to see Robbie the Robot and crew will cheer me up.
My coworker says "Danger Will Robinson!" all the time when things go awry.
Foxy men in fishnet shirts? Hmmm.... Perhas old sci-fi shows had another reason for exisiting.
Now I have the fisheads song going through my head.
When things go awry at work, we generally just say "Shit!"
As for Fish Heads:
"They can't play baseball,
They don't wear sweaters,
They're not good dancers,
They don't play drums …"
Those saggy elbows are most unbecoming. But, them were the days, when you could rely on a Space Show for some really good silver jumpsuit constumes and your uncle in a string vest.
Scarily, the only man I've ever seen in his string vest was my physics teacher. True story!
I think the world needs to know more, Ms. Mac!
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