1. Defend Space Law – Another one of my favorite Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes, Space Mutiny features a thick man thwarting a rebellion led by thinner men on a spaceship that looks like a factory basement. It’s pretty fantastic. Check out this fan-poster done for the movie by SassyLazerMermaid: (EDIT 12/1/13: Actually done by xGeekbyDesignx! Sorry about that!)
Here’s a few good clips from the movie, to put things into perspective:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuB6H822Th0]
2. 1971 Zenith Catalog – Retrospace has a great post featuring a Zenith television Catalog from 1971. This is back when televisions were furniture; huge pieces that defined the rooms that they were placed in. You shopped for televisions the same way you shopped for sofas or dressers. This catalog capitalizes on the “future” motif of television while keeping the sense of a traditional furniture catalog. Hit the link for more images – here are some of my favorites:
3. Mario Brothers Commercial – Before Mario and Luigi became Super, they were just a couple of plumbers who hung out in sewers and fought non-anthropomorphic turtles and crabs:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnU-2HRJNO4]
Car-54-theme-song ripoff aside, the original Mario Brothers is a pretty satisfying game. One is left to wonder how these guys made it to a completely insane realm where a huge turtle named Bowser kidnapped one princess over and over again. Seems like there’s a missed opportunity in leaving out that transition.
4. OMNI Magazine – One of the definitive Sci-Fi magazines of the late 20th Century, OMNI was a proving ground for many now-recognized writers.
Stephen King, Orson Scott Card, George R.R. Martin, and William Gibson have all graced OMNI’s pages. Well, it turns out that the entire catalog of OMNI’s run is available on archive.org. If you’re a Sci-Fi fan at all, you owe it to yourself to check out this historic publication if you haven’t already. If you’re already familiar with OMNI, do like I did and grab the entire collection!
5. Future World of Agriculture – Here’s an image from an out-of-print book on Agriculture that appears to be an “EPCOT Center Book”:
“Robots tend crops that grow on floating platforms around a sea city of the future. Water from the ocean would evaporate, rise to the base of the platforms (leaving the salt behind), and feed the crops.”
Ayayay, that’s beautiful. The book goes for about $465 on Amazon. Anybody want to pony up?
-ds