Space Force Saturdays STAR TREK "Dinosaur Planet" Conclusion

We Have Already Seen...

...(at Secret Sanctum of Captain Video) the Enterprise, after launching on it's second five-year mission, arrives at the Oblik star system.

They discover an M-Class planet, but one that's in the same stage of development as Earth was around 124,000,000 years ago!
And, they find the primordial world has primordial inhabitants...dinosaurs!

HERE'S a link to the audio file, so you can have a classic Power Records "read-along" experience!

Just move the sound bar control to 6:55 to continue the story!

Written by Ric Meyers and illustrated by Kirby Martin & Associates,

Power Records PR45 STAR TREK "Dinosaur Planet"(1979) is different from most of the famous "record and comic book" series.

It's one of two tales published after the release of Star Trek the Motion Picture, showing the crew in the grey and beige uniforms from the film.
However, the Enterprise itself is rendered as an amalgam of the TV series & movie versions.
And phasers and other tech are incorrectly-illustrated all the way through the story.
Neither of these tales were produced by Neal Adams' Continuity Associates, as all the previous tv show-based stories were.
Instead, Kirby Martin & Associates, a company that handled licensing art on merchandise like coffee mugs, t-shirts, and lunchboxes, was brought in to package the graphics.
Pavel Chekov, who was not on any of the previous Power Records, makes his audio debut here.
And Hikaru Sulu, who was illustrated as African-American in previous Power Records comics is finally rendered correctly as Japanese!

Monday Mecha Madness STAR TREK "Planet of the Robots"

WhenYou Think of Artificial Intelligence in Star Trek....

...you think of androids or non-humanoid sentient computers, not robots!

Captain Kurt?

The Enterprise lands on a planet?

Spock shouting?

Lt Bailey, who was left on the Fesarius with Balok in the episode "Corbomite Maneuver" is still aboard the Enterprise?
And...robots??

It was 1969.

Star Trek had not yet aired in England.

The publisher of the wildly-successful weekly comic magazine TV Century 21, which featured strips based on the various Gerry Anderson-produced series (Stingray, Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, etc.), decided to launch a new weekly magazine showcasing the currently-running Anderson series, Joe 90.

Entitled Joe 90: Top Secret, it also featured a couple of two-page strips about imported American TV series, Star Trek and Land of the Giants.

Since those shows hadn't yet aired in England, the writers and artist Harry Lindfield were working off whatever print material and photo reference was sent from America.

(Apparently nobody gave them a copy of Stephen Whitfield's Making of Star Trek, which explains things like the Enterprise being unable to land on a planet's surface.)

The storylines usually ran six weeks, but could go longer if required.

Because the Trek strip had the centerfold slot, it allowed for panels running thru what would be the interior gutters on any other page, giving them a wide Sunday newspaper-strip feel and layout.

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It's Palm Sunday! Did You Know the Very First Captain of the USS Enterprise...

...was Jesus Christ?

Jeffrey Hunter as Jesus Christ in King of Kings (1961)

 Jeffrey Hunter as Captain Christopher Pike with Leonard Nimoy as Mr Spock in Star Trek "The Cage" (1964)

Here's"six degrees of separation" trivia in only five degrees:

• John Huston, who later did a prequel movie, The Bible: In the Beginning, directed Moby Dick, using a screenplay adapted by Ray Bradbury from the Herman Melville novel.
• Ray Bradbury wrote the voiceovers in King of Kings spoken by Orson Welles.
• Welles' The Shadow and Mercury Theatre radio series co-star Agnes Moorehead served as dialogue coach to  Jeffrey Hunter (Jesus Christ) in King of Kings.
• Jeffrey Hunter later played Christopher Pike, the first captain of the Starship Enterprise in the pilot episode of Star Trek, "The Cage".
• Star Trek did an episode, "Bread and Circuses", about a planet where parallel evolution produced a society that resembled a 20th Century version of the Roman Empire, complete with it's own "Christians" and Jesus Christ (who doesn't appear on-camera, but is mentioned in dialogue)!

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder RAUMPATROUILLE "Angriff aus dem All" (Attack from Outer Space)

Let's kick the tires and light the fires...

...as we present the first episode of Space Patrol (technically, "Space Patrol Orion"!)
(BTW, it's the third tv series to use the name, after the 1950s American broadcast-live show and the early 1960s British puppet series.)

Meet Commander McLane and his rowdy "gang" (as their commanding officer refers to them), learn why they're being disciplined (again), and see why, despite various infractions against both civilian and military authorities, they're not doing life sentences in an interplanetary brig.

Also witness the introduction of the series' main villains, "Frogs", sentient energy beings who want to conquer the universe.

There's a lot to cover, so click on the screen and dive in...

(Note: It's German with English subtitles.

I've tried to set them up before creating the link, but you may have to click on the "gear" icon to implement them manually.)

Space Hero Saturdays STAR TREK Did You Know the Very First Captain of the USS Enterprise...

...was Jesus Christ?

Jeffrey Hunter as Jesus Christ in King of Kings (1961)

 Jeffrey Hunter as Captain Christopher Pike with Leonard Nimoy as Mr Spock in Star Trek "The Cage" (1964)

Here's"six degrees of separation" trivia in only five degrees:

• John Huston, who later did a prequel movie, The Bible: In the Beginning, directed Moby Dick, using a screenplay adapted by legendary science fiction author Ray Bradbury from the Herman Melville novel.
• Ray Bradbury wrote the scripts for the voiceovers in King of Kings spoken by Orson Welles.
• Welles' The Shadow and Mercury Theatre radio series co-star Agnes Moorehead served as dialogue coach to Jeffrey Hunter (Jesus Christ) in King of Kings.
• Jeffrey Hunter later played Christopher Pike, the first captain of the Starship Enterprise in the pilot episode of Star Trek, "The Cage".
• Star Trek did an episode, "Bread and Circuses", about a planet where parallel evolution produced a society that resembled a 20th Century version of the Roman Empire, complete with it's own "Christians" and a Jesus Christ (who doesn't appear on-camera, but is mentioned in dialogue)!
  
  
  How's that for an "Easter Egg"?

Friday Fun THE VIDEO VERSIONS OF "ARENA"

"Arena" by Fredric Brown (See HERE and HERE) was adapted (sort of) twice for TV...

...first, in 1964, on The Outer Limits as "Fun and Games", starring Nick Adams.

There are a number of differences between the story and the episode, including a pair of new characters, a woman with a hidden past who works with the hero and a mate for the alien...whom the alien himself kills!
(Talk about "battle of the sexes)!

A year later the story was reused, on Classic Star Trek as "Arena"...

...except it wasn't...exactly.

Gene Roddenberry's right hand man, producer Gene Coon, had submitted a story about Capt. Kirk fighting an alien starship's commander in hand-to-claw combat to see whose ship would survive.

When the story was fact-checked, it was discovered that Coon had inadvertently-used numerous elements from Brown's story, which Gene had probably read years earlier!
Since the episode was already in the production cycle, "Arena" author Fredric Brown was contacted, and he agreed to allow "Arena" to be adapted again...not knowing the episode was already written.
Since the OL and ST episodes are sufficiently-different (and titled differently), many in the 1960s never realized...or noticed...the "Based on a story by Fredric Brown" credit!

Friday Fun Extra: Kirk (William Shatner) and the Gorn (not the stuntman from the 1960s!) meet again in hand-to-claw combat...

...to promote a video game based on the reboot Kelvin Universe Star Trek!

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Reading Room WORLDS UNKNOWN "Arena" Conclusion

When Last We Left Our Hero...

Carson, a space fighter pilot on station at the edge of the solar system intercepts an alien ship, but before he or the intruder can fire, they are both teleported from their ships to a planetoid, where unarmed, they face each other.

A voice explains to the two combatants that they must fight to the death to decide the conflict, thus avoiding the mass destruction to both sides that a full-scale war would cause.
A force field separates the combatants, but they are told they can utilize the materials at hand to create weapons.
The opponents discover they can't pentrate the force field, but inanimate objects can!
They throw rocks at each other, but rocks alone won't provide a victory for either side...or will they?

This extremely-faithful adaptation of Fredric Brown's short story was created by writer Gerry Conway, penciler John Buscema, and inker Dick Giordano.

Be here tomorrow when we take a look at some less-accurate, but far more famous adaptations!

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From These Ashes

Complete Short SF of Fredric Brown

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Reading Room WORLDS UNKNOWN "Arena" Part 1

It's the sci-fi novella so nice, TV adapted it twice...

...first on Outer Limits, then, two years later, on Classic Star Trek!

 Will human ingenuity, cunning, and strength triumph?
Or will the alien win?
Be here THURSDAY for the answer!

This extremely-faithful adaptation was created by writer Gerry Conway, penciler John Buscema, and inker Dick Giordano.

The Fredric Brown-penned short story it's based on first appeared in Street & Smith's Astounding Science Fiction (June, 1944) pulp magazine.

The tale was voted one of the Top 20 Science Fiction Stories before 1965 by the Science Fiction Writers Association and included in the must-have (if you're a serious sci-fi fan) anthology... 

...which is still in print.
(Note: this is the dust jacket/cover of the hardcover 1st edition, one of the coolest and most effective cover designs ever, IMHO of course, and a proud part of my personal collection!)

You can read the taut tale of terror online HERE.
Feel free to compare to the comic.

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Visit Amazon and Buy

From These Ashes

Complete Short SF of Fredric Brown

(Including "Arena")

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Good Friday Fun: Did You Know the First Captain of the USS Enterprise...

...was Jesus Christ?

Jeffrey Hunter as Jesus Christ in King of Kings (1961)

 Jeffrey Hunter as Captain Christopher Pike with Leonard Nimoy as Mr Spock in Star Trek "The Cage" (1964)

Here's"six degrees of separation" trivia...
...in only five degrees:

• John Huston, who later did a prequel movie, The Bible: In the Beginning, directed Moby Dick, using a screenplay adapted by Ray (Martian Chronicles) Bradbury from the Herman Melville novel.
• Ray Bradbury wrote the voiceovers in King of Kings spoken by Orson Welles.
• Orson Welles' The Shadow and Mercury Theatre co-star Agnes Moorehead served as dialogue coach to  Jeffrey Hunter (Jesus Christ) in King of Kings.
• Jeffrey Hunter later played Christopher Pike, the first captain of the Starship Enterprise in the pilot episode of Star Trek, "The Cage".
• Star Trek did an episode, "Bread and Circuses", about a planet where parallel evolution produced a society that resembled a 20th Century version of the Roman Empire, complete with it's own "Christians" and Jesus Christ (who doesn't appear on-camera, but is mentioned in dialogue)!

CoronaVirus Comics THE GREAT TRICORDER CONTEST!

We showed you this amazing tale of past and present  Star Trek doctors fighting a disease...

...HERE and HERE, but we didn't answer the question...WHY?

Why do a stand-alone story about the medical personnel of the various (pre-CBS All-Access) series solving a medical mystery?

It turns out, a company called "Qualcomm" (in conjunction with Paramount) was behind it!

Why?

This will explain it...

Even those who didn't have a degree in medicine or electronics could participate...

If you keyboard "tricorderfederation.org" site, you find this!

And, it appears that, in 2017, someone did win the competition!

However, three years later, despite much publicity, there's still no tricorder, even in beta!

Pity.

We sure could use it during this pandemic, eh?