Friday, December 20, 2013

Season's Greetings from Space: 1970

Here's wishing you all a very fine holiday season and a fantastic New Year! Thank you for your interest in this blog - and special thanks to those who recently supported my efforts here with donations. The plan is to get back to more regular posting after the holidays.

And yes - I listen to this album every year!

Monday, December 2, 2013

BUCK ROGERS Toy Art by Earl Norem

Despite the low quality of the above scan, it's still clear that this painting by Earl Norem, which graced the box of HG Toys' Buck Rogers In The 25th Century Galactic Playset back in '79, is a pretty fine representation of the Gil Gerard series and its universe (although the blonde bears no resemblance to Erin Gray, whatosever).

The "Galactic Playset" was a repackaging of a space toy that had been around since the late Sixties under various names, with the addition of a few Earth Starfighters and Draconian Hatchet Fighters to tie it in with the series. A quick look around the Internet shows that this set is commanding fairly high prices on auction and collectible sites - though not quite as much as the original Norem painting, which is currently being offered on eBay with an asking price of $1,800!

UPDATE: Here's a higher-quality scan of the left side of the painting: