In 1950 the genius independently filmed movie Destination Moon was released. It stood as the trail blazing sci-fi movie that genuinely tried to examine the dangers of man attempting to fly to the moon and return safely back to Earth. The movie was produced by the combined genius of producer George Pal and the prolific actor/director Irving Pichel. It was co-written by Robert A. Heinlein, based on his novel Rocket Ship Galileo.

To coincide with the movie a comic book was produced to tell the story, but also inject scientific facts about travel to the moon into the story. In addition Pal included the famous cartoon character Woody Woodpecker, as he was a friend of Woody creator Walter Lantz. Woody featured in a cartoon that was shown as a short alongside Destination Moon, as well as being cleverly inserted into the the movie itself. The itself comic book stands out as a classic and early movie tie-in.

I'd almost forgotten about the ITV comedy series called Astronauts, that featured Hull actor Barrie Rutter. The series was written by comedians and ex-Goodies Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie. The show told the story of the first three British astronauts in space, who had been sent on a six month mission to a "sky lab". They all lived in the cramped two room little space station, with a dog they took up with them called Bimbo. The comedy of the show predominately (as it would) revolved around the claustrophobic conditions under which they lived.

What has been called The Goodies in space, simply didn't work. How it even made it through the six month mission and into a second series is a mystery. The three actors involved are all Shakespearean actors, what possessed them to do this show is another mystery. All of them have somewhat of an exemplary list of acting credentials, apart from this weird little blip, that I'm sure they Tiptex out of their CV's. Bruce Boa, continued to play the token American in British comedies and TV shows, despite being Canadian. The whereabouts of Bimbo are unknown.

Trekkie or not, surely there was no kid on the planet or in the federation that would have been seen dead wearing this monstrosity. Produced in 1976, by the  Azrak-Hamway Incorporated (AHI). The company acquired the Remco  toy company in 1974, after Remco filed for bankruptcy in 1971. As part of the acquisition AHI got the licensing rights to Star Trek. So in the 1970s they churned out a number of Star Trek tie-in toys. Some better than others, and some closer to replicas of items found on the TV series than others. The one item they brought out that bore no relation to Star Trek, was the "Official Star Trek Helmet", that has since become known as the Spock Helmet. Even though the company produced them with decals, so that kids could customise them with whichever character they wished.

The "Space Fun Helmet" was simply an insane piece of weird design. If they'd have left it at a helmet with a visor, then it would have likely disappeared into bland toy history. But the addition of the two antennas and what essentially was an emergency services flashing light on-top. That was referred to as a, “flashing light emitter with pulsing sonic sound.” 

In addition to the helmet, AHI produced a Star Trek utility belt, that allowed for the carrying of the enclosed equipment, a phaser, a communicator and a tricorder. In 1975 they also produced a phaser, the earliest electronic phaser toys. The gun isn’t what you’d call an exacting replica of the screen-used props, with its bulky size and the Gold Key-inspired“Star Trek” logo emblazoned on its side, but what the Phaser Gun loses in accuracy it makes up for in fun.  The phaser emits a "Realistic Phaser Sound" and a light shines from the front when the trigger is pressed.

While many of the AHI and Remco products released in the 60’s and 70’s are sometimes criticized for their cheap quality and wild inaccuracies, they still hold an important place in the history of Star Trek toys. As some of the earliest tie-in items from the franchise, they really are the stepping stones on Star Trek’s journey to becoming one of the most-heavily licensed properties in television history.

The Official Star Trek Helmet, has even gained infamy in its very own meme, referred to as "Spock's Helmet". Which involved photoshopping the helmet onto old pictures of Spock from the TV show and movies. Even Spock from the new Star Trek reboot franchise. 

A quick dig around the Weird Wide Web and you can come across dozens of weird and wacky Christmas themed albums. It seems every man and his dog have recorded a Christmas album at some point in their music career. Splicing the holiday season with any number of other themes. Yesterday I posted about the infamous Star Wars Christmas Album from 1980, and it got me thinking.

What other weird Christmas themed albums are there out there? The first one that came to mind, which is in my collection was Tim Dinkins Christmas On The Moon, originally released in 1969, at the height of the space race. A bizarre hill-billy / country spaced-out offering.

There appears to be plenty of spaced out tracks, that seamlessly blend Christmas with sci-fi and outer-space. How about the 45 single from 1961, Space Age Santa Claus? Or maybe Zoot Zoot Here Comes Santa In His New Space Suit by Tiny Tim from 1981? Delving even deeper into the genre, there's the short track a weirdly indescribable I Want A OC192 For Christmas/The 12 Days Of Christmas, which will blow your mind in just over a minute and a half. Almost as long as it takes to read and try to understand the title. Note: Listening to the track will only confuse you more.

Most people known about the first coin-op arcade machine released by Atari, Pong! First released in November 1972, and hit the streets in 1973 the game has gone down in gaming history. But do you know what came after Pong? The game Space Race was released in July 1973, the second coin-op game from Atari.

The simple game play involved two-players racing to get to the top of the screen from the bottom, avoiding asteroids coming in from the left and the right. The aim of the game was to get to the top to score a point and achieve a better time than your competitor. The game was manufactured in the standard cabinet seen in the advertising on the left, but Atari also released around 50 fibre-glass cabinets designed to look like some kind of space age alien console. 

Major Matt Mason was an action figure produced by Mattel in 1966, supposedly based on "real" science information and facts published in a number of popular magazines of the time. Including a Life Magazine article from April 1962, that featured a concept and prototype design for a Moon Suit, which Mattel copied for the Major Matt Mason line of accessories. On August 6th 1961 Post-Standard Sunday magazine ran a short piece about an Experimental Engineering class at UCLA that was working on a "moon man's suit" designed by Allyn B. Hazard, an engineer at JPL in Pasadena. It was known as Grumman Moon Suit!

Also known as the Lunar Exploration Suit, Model MK 1, it was heavily tested in the Mojave desert by its inventor. (as pictured on the front cover of Life magazine.) Major Matt Mason and his copy of the Moon Suit were Mattel's biggest selling toy line for years, until they suddenly ceased production in 1971. At the very height of the Apollo missions to the Moon. A year later, Apollo 17 went to the Moon for the last time.


The Major Matt Mason range was a major step-forward in toy manufacturing (Pardon the pun there!) As Mattel employed some of the best designers in the country to make as near accurate as they could equipment and accessories for the Major. Knowing that kids all over America were 100% sold on the idea planted by President Kennedy, that they were going to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade. The space race was one, and every kid wanted a piece of the plastic action.