1. Pan Am Moon Reservations – Back when enthusiasm for our future in space was at its peak, Pan Am Airlines offered reservations for Moon flights. Well, not specific reservations, but you could get on a waiting list. You basically called or wrote to Pan Am, gave them your information, and you were all set for whenever commercial spaceflight was actually a thing. Let’s go over that again: You could get on a waiting list for a flight to the Moon. And it was for real – everyone involved thought it was just a matter of when and not if. You also got this slick club card:
And 93,000 people were on this list! If that’s not a chest-clenching dose of widespread optimism, I don’t know what is.
Here’s (supposedly) someone calling back in 1969 and making a reservation. The guy on the other end might as well be booking a flight to Topeka, he’s so matter-of-fact.
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1. Turkey Television – In honor of the Thanksgiving holiday, here’s a mostly-forgotten sketch show from Canada called Turkey Television. It was commissioned by Nickelodeon after the success of You Can’t Do That On Television, but didn’t fare quite as well. It premiered in 1985 and was cancelled after one season.
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1. Shadow Chasers – Following the insane success of Ghostbusters, ABC tried their own hand at a goofy, effects-laden romp through the supernatural. Shadow Chasers premiered in 1985 and lasted 9 episodes before being yanked from the schedule. The series ranked 106th out of 106 for ratings in the 1985 broadcast year.
Coincidentally, while the show itself resembles the movie Ghostbusters, the title card resembles the Filmation Ghostbusters cartoon, completely unrelated to the Venkman/Spengler/Stanz/Zeddemore universe:
I’m sure that’s just a coincidence.
The intro is long and great. It’s a little bit Ray Parker, a little bit Count Duckula, a little bit 21 Jumpstreet, and a lot of cringe:
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1. 2001 – As I’ve mentioned before, I love the Odyssey series. The film 2001: A Space Odyssey has style out the wazoo, but my favorite aspect of it is the delicate way that the film handles putting an extraterrestrial experience on film. Basically it doesn’t, not specifically, and that’s what makes the film work just as well 35 years later as it did in 1968. Well, apparently that wasn’t always the case, and Arthur C. Clarke and Stanley Kubrick went around the block trying to come up with just what the extraterrestrials would look like. 2001Italia’s got a great roundup of some of the pre-production imaginings of what the aliens would be. Here are some of my favorites:
A crystalline form, pretty abstract and keeping with the approach they eventually ended up using.
A crazy dot-suit against a dot background.
Tall, thin, elegant, and floating!
Eventually it was Carl Sagan who provided the answer, suggesting that Kubrick not show the aliens at all. That decision resulted in one of the weirdest film endings ever, but also keeps that movie timeless as there are no makeup/costume/effects attempts that would assuredly become outdated.
And once again Carl Sagan proves his worth to the human species.
Anyway, 2001Italia tells the story better than I do, so check it out there.
1. The Powers of Matthew Star – In 1982, NBC rolled out this sci-fi series that featured an alien teenage boy and his royal protector who were being pursued by bad guy aliens and had fled to Earth where the kid disguised himself as a high school student and the protector disguised himself as a science teacher. Also, the protector was Lou Gossett, Jr.
A little bit Superman, a little bit Fugitive Alien, The Powers of Matthew Star focused mostly on the kid gaining control of his alien powers but also keeping his cover on earth. Lou Gossett, Jr. didn’t have any powers, even though he was an alien, too.
The show ran for one season and then was cancelled. The final episode aired was the pilot episode, which gives some indication of how little NBC cared at that point.
Still, there’s some redemption in the opening title. I’m not sure if I would have felt that way in 1982, but in 2013 it’s pretty great.
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1. Wizards and Warriors – Decades before Game of Thrones, there was Wizards and Warriors. In 1983 CBS took a gamble on the idea that the general public was ready for swords and sorcery, that it was finally time to wrest the concept from the hands of the nerds, pull it out of the basements of America, and hold it aloft for the world to see.
They were wrong. Sure, movies like Conan the Barbarian performed well with a general audience, but it appeared America wasn’t quite ready for a weekly fix in their living rooms. Wizards and Warriors made it 8 episodes in and was cancelled.
Here’s the first episode – shared here mainly for the intro. It’s got a real “cop show” feel to it, for some reason. I’m gonna admit, I didn’t make it through the whole episode. If you do, let me know and we’ll work on some sort of badge.
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1. Misfits of Science – In 1985 NBC put a wacky show about some super-powered humans and their 80′s lifestyles on their Friday night schedule.
Misfits of Science was an attempt on NBC’s part to cash in on the success of Ghostbusters the year before – taking the supernatural angle of Ghostbusters and replacing it with more comic book sci-fi stuff. But keeping it light. And making it REALLY ’80s.
Yeah, that’s Courtney Cox!
One pilot and 15 episodes were produced, but the series was cancelled before all of the episodes could air. Because NBC put this up against Dallas.
Did I mention this show is REALLY ’80s? Here’s the intro:
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1. Automan – In 1983 the adventures of a Nerd Cop and his computer hologram friend graced the ABC Network prime time schedule for twelve sweet episodes.
Desi Arnaz, Jr (not pictured above) played a computer-hacking police officer who one day brought a computer program to life in the form of Automan. Automan looked like something straight out of TRON, and predictably was the strong, handsome and brave compliment to Nerd Cop’s, well, nerdiness.
Automan drove in the Autocar, which was a Lamborghini, and that was really cool. He could also merge with Nerd Cop to protect him.
Seems like 12 episodes was just about right. Here’s the intro, which is fantastic:
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1. Progressland - Progressland was Walt Disney’s exhibit for General Electrics at the 1964 World’s Fair, and the basis of what would later go on to become the Carousel of Progress at Walt Disney World. It was a circular structure of six theaters, the center of the pavilion around which the audience would revolve to see each of the scenes unfold. Each scene was a different era, featuring the advancements of the age in the 1890s, 1920s, 1940s, and 1960s. This was one of the first uses of Disney’s audio-animatronics, which would later go on to define his theme parks. Epcot Explorer’s got some amazing photos of the experience; hit the links for more.
The ride/exhibit is great enough, but GE put out a pamphlet for the exhibit that’s pretty gorgeous in its own right.
Here’s a newsreel created for the exhibit:
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1. 2010: The Graphic Action Game – I love 2010: Odyssey Two, both the book and movie. I love the book because it’s a pretty great one-upping of 2001 and a pretty inspiring story idea in its own right, but I love the movie for different reasons. 2001, the film, is this elegant exercise that seems to perfectly capture the ’60s view of the future — clean, stylish, quiet, white.
Then, 2010 comes along and (probably unintentionally) captures the ’80s view of the future – industrial, dirty, metallic.
It’s probably not fair to make such broad generalizations about each movie, and 2010 is beautiful at times, but there’s no denying the era either film came from – even at a glance.
But this isn’t even about the movies; I got distracted. Anyway, I love 2010 because it’s so so so ’80s and 2010: The Graphic Action Game reflects that as well in more of a sour way.
The excitement begins and ends with the box art. The game has the tendency, as do other licensed games of its time, to focus on one tiny part of the film’s story and base the entire thing around it. In 2010: The Graphic Action Game, the Graphic Action you are engaging in is….rerouting circuitry so that your ship can escape disaster. That’s it.
Riveting. It’s more of a shame because there was probably a pretty cool adventure game in there somewhere, and instead we got this.
But the movie is fun!
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