Showing posts with label movie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label movie. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 13, 2026

Monday Mecha Madness (Continued) BATTLESTAR GALACTICA "Saga of a Star World" Conclusion

Art by Bob Larkin
There are those who believe...that life here began out there, far across the Universe...with tribes of humans...who may have been the forefathers of the Egyptians...or the Toltecs...or the Mayans...that they may have been the architects of the Great Pyramids...or the lost civilizations of Lemuria...or Atlantis.
Some believe that there may yet be brothers of man...who even now fight to survive--far, far away amongst the stars...
Betrayed by one of their own to the robotic alien Cylons*, the Twelve Colonies of Man are wiped out in a sneak attack.
The survivors hastily assemble a fleet of ships under the protection of the only remaining Battlestar, and head away from their now-devastated worlds....
This second half of the movie version of Battlestar Galactica was presented by writer Roger McKenzie and artist/colorist/painter Ernie Colon.
Because it was based on an early draft of the script, names (Serina is called Lyra) are different, and some characters who live in both the movie and tv series (including Cassiopeiadie!
(Baltar dies in the feature film, but survives in the TV series.)

This first version of Marvel Super Special #8 (1978) was a full-process color, slick-stock magazine.
However, because the editor didn't get approval from Universal Studios on the final art before it went to press, the vast majority of the copies were ordered pulped!
(This story has been confirmed by both then-Marvel Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter and the book's artist Ernie Colon.)
Changes in both script and art were made, and the book was reissued as a tabloid-sized Treasury edition, with standard comic book "flat" coloring and a new pen-and-ink cover by Rick Bryant based on the Bob Larkin cover painting!
The story was modified again when it was expanded to fill the first three issues of the ongoing Battlestar Galactica comic book...including keeping both Baltar and Cassiopeia alive!
(Cassie would later die in the comic adaptation of the two-part episode "Lost Planet of the Gods", where she's killed by Cylons.)
*Though the Cylons' Imperious Leader appears reptilian, it is as much a robot as the others, though based on the image of the humanoid lizards who created the robots!

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Battlestar Galactica: the Definitive Collection
The Original Series
Galactica: 1980
Original Feature Film

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Monday, January 12, 2026

Monday Mecha Madness BATTLESTAR GALACTICA "Saga of a Star World" Part 1

Besides Robots and Androids Created by Humans...
...we also present ones created by aliens, such as the Cylons...as seen in the extremely-limited/never-reprinted version of the feature film-length pilot, from the magazine-sized Marvel Super-Special #8 (1978).
...and thus we pause to catch our breath...until tomorrow...and the cataclysmic conclusion.
The Cylons were conceived and built by a long-dead alien race..also called Cylons.
It's unknown whether the robots killed their masters or the aliens went extinct due to a plague or other natural disaster.
The Imperious Leader, a robot itself, was built in the image of those reptilian aliens.
It's implied that Count Iblis and some of his near-godlike fellow aliens manipulated the Cylons and human Colonials into the Thousand-Year War.
(Actor Patrick Macnee played Iblis and provided the voice of the Imperious Leader robot, leading human traitor Baltar, the only human who ever met the Imperious Leader and lived, to piece the puzzle together!)
Note: the juvenile spin-off series Galactica: 1980, introduced Cylons indistinguishable from human beings in the episode "Night the Cylons Landed".
This first half of the movie version of Battlestar Galactica was presented by writer Roger McKenzie and artist/colorist/painter Ernie Colon.
We'll have the story behind the change from magazine to tabloid format next time...
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Battlestar Galactica: the Definitive Collection
The Original Series
Galactica: 1980
Original Feature Film

Paid Link

Friday, June 13, 2025

Friday Fun THE SEQUEL TO THE ALMOST 40 YEAR-OLD FILM STARRING THE 99 YEAR-OLD GUY...

...as Our World Collapses...
...let's have a good laugh!
God knows we need it!
Tomorrow On Space Hero Saturdays:
You Thought Disney Went Nuts on Star Wars Spinoffs?
SpaceBalls Beat Them to It!

Sunday, May 18, 2025

Errol Flynn's Captain Blood...by the creator of Flash Gordon!

How many of you have seen this classic movie poster...
...and knew it was the work of Alex Raymond, of Flash GordonJungle Jim, and Secret Agent X-9 fame?
Yep!
Since Captain Blood and Arabella Bishop do not look like Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland, it's a reasonable bet that this was done as an advance promo piece before casting, but it was so good, the studio still used it as their half-sheet poster for both the initial release and re-releases!
If you look at the original Flash Gordon strip, you'll see Raymond incorporated a lot of pirate/swashbuckler costume, weapon, and design motifs into Flash's adventures on other worlds!

Monday, December 2, 2024

Monday Madness: The Forgotten Inspiration for Disney's FROZEN...Hans Christian Anderson's "The Snow Queen"

Disney has a long history of adapting classic fairy tales...
...but none went further away from the source material than "Frozen".
Yes, it's been a commercial phenomenon, but, if you're looking for the Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale...this ain't it!
If you want to see an extremely-faithful version of the classic tale...
...click HERE, and "Let It Go, Let It Go, Let It Go!"

Sunday, January 28, 2024

Sin City & Sin City: A Dame to Kill For

It's the 20th Anniversary of Sin City, and the 10th Anniversary of Sin City: A Dame to Kill For...

...but do I really need an excuse to run these kool, rarely-seen pix?
In alphabetical order, Jessica Alba, Rosario Dawson, Clive Owen, and Bruce Willis.
And if you can't tell who's who, you're reading the wrong blog, bunkie!
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Thursday, November 16, 2023

RIP Roger Kastel 1931-2023

Best-known for his iconic posters for the movies Jaws and The Empire Strikes Back...
...artist Roger Kastel considered his third most-famous work to be a poster that pre-dated both of them, Doc Savage: the Man of Bronze!
In fact, the landing page of his own website (Click HERE) states...
Roger Kastel's Work Includes:
JAWS: Legendary painting featured on the cover of the paperback edition of the Peter Benchley novel as well as the poster for the blockbuster Steven Spielberg film.
Star Wars - The Empire Strikes Back: Movie poster for the second episode in George Lucas' original Star Wars Trilogy.
Doc Savage: Movie poster and cover art for Issue #1 of the acclaimed 1975 Doc Savage comic book series.
Original painting
The art (usually cropped and silhouetted) was used both domestically and internationally on theatrical posters and various licensed products.
Trivia: In 1987, I participated in an auction of legendary sci-fi editor/historian Forrest J Ackerman's estate where I acquired, not the poster art, but the next best thing to it...

...the expanded art for the "Ron Ely" on-screen credit at the end of the film, which consists of a hi-res photo of the original painting along with acrylic art hand-painted on both sides and below to accommodate the wide-screen image!
The credit lettering was optically matted during post-production.
It sits proudly over the TV in the Atomic Kommie Comics Video Library...
...and everybody who has seen it is able to identify both the actor and film!
(No "what film is that from?" or "who is that?" from the people we hang out with!)

Monday, August 14, 2023

Monday Madness: Presidental Sex, Lies, and Movies!

Press Secretary Jerry Ross (Martin Short) sneaks the Martian “girl” (Lisa Marie) into the White House in 1996’s Mars Attacks!
He lifts a lever, under a bust of JFK, which opens the door to a secret assignation space.
Was this scene a tribute to JFK's phallic prowess?
Want to see how pop culture presents real-life Presidents' antics in reel-life?
Check out this blog post...
(Full disclosure: I do the image reserch/selection/editing for the blog, but have no control over the editorial material.)