THE MAGwAwZIwNE.i BnEfiYOnNiDt yYmOUaR gIMaAzGiInNAe.TIcOoN.uk 10 THE MAGAZINE BEYOND YOUR IMAGINATION DPOOSUTBELRE -ISNIDSEIDDE ! KK CC UU BB SS:: RR EE GG OO RR ONLY £3.99 2255TTHH YY RR UU TT NN EE CC YY OO BB BUBCOKX B BSELE UWT-SRO TANOYP! LUS: ••• RRT HEA VE DA IIMSNOID TOSI NNCMSIG-UFT TICE HTHRHES,B R M COIOLLUFLA CBSMNH -GAA JMERO RVOUSER2R LE•N 0 …T• EHN0YEE 1IWAN:RTSOT OSFP ARCOEG ER DEAN BLSAEAKSEO’SN 27 STRBIAKCEKS AOIS DS 5YP0SA!SC EEY JEREMY BULLOCH TALKS INFINITY ISSUE 10 - £3.99 101-fi lms-store.myshopify.com / 101FilmsUK @101_Films 101films_darkside_ad_april_18.indd 1 25/04/2018 12:38 10 THE MAGwAwZIwNE.i BnEfiYOnNiDt yYmOUaR gIMaAzGiInNAe.TIcOoN.uk 10 THE MAGAZINE BEYOND YOUR IMAGINATION DPOOSUTBELRE -ISNIDSEIDDE ! BBUUCCKK RROOGGEERRSS:: ONLY £3.99 08 14 2255TTHH CCEENNTTUURRYY 18 20 BBOOYY BUBCOKX B BSELE UWT-SRO TANOYBP! LSLAEAKUSEOS’SN 2:7••• RRT HEA VE DA IIMSNOID TOSI NNCMSIG-SUFT TICE THTHRJHERS,BBE R M CROIIOALLUKFELA CCBSMMNEH -GAKSA YJMERO RVOUSER2AOIR LSE• ND 0 S…T• 5EHYNP0Y0EESA 1IWA!NSC :RTSEEOT Y OSFP ARCOEG ER DEAN BULLOCH TALKS INFINITY ISSUE 10 - £3.99 Cover art by Peter Wallbank (www.petewallbankart.com) 42 05: NEW - BINDERS, BACK ISSUES & T-SHIRTS! Build your collection and keep it in pristine condition! 08: JOURNEY INTO SPACE Andy Pearson remembers the days of radio sci-fi, and the 1950s adventures of Jet Morgan and his crew. 14: FLARES IN SPACE! Eugene Smith continues his critical guide to the BBC’s cult sci-fi series Blake’s 7, with a look at series two… 18: REVISITING THE CLANGERS Ian Millsted was over the moon to write this feature on kiddie sci-fi’s most close-knit community. 20: 25TH CENTURY BOY Mark Phillips looks back (or should it be forward?) at Buck Rogers in the 25th Century! 46 53 28: THE BUCK STOPS HERE We are passing the Buck to Simon Pritchard, who revisits his misspent youth watching the show. 42: DEAN OF FANTASY ARTISTS We talk to Roger Dean, a legend of British design, architecture and illustration. 46: MARVEL MONSTERS ON THE PROWL Jon Abbott hops aboard the Marvel Monsterbus to revisit the good old days of Where Monsters Dwell! 50: THERE’S NO BUSINESS LIKE RO-BUSINESS 60 60 Howard Hughes cannot (yet he must) take a look at the 1950s 3-D sci-fi cult classic, Robot Monster… 53: THE ULTIMATE TRIP We celebrate 50 years of Stanley Kubrick’s ground- breaking science fiction epic 2001: A Space Odyssey. 60: TARGETING THE SWEENEY Robert Fairclough takes down the particulars of Patrick Mower’s hard-hitting police series. Target. 60: BY ORDER OF THE EMPIRE Jeremy Bulloch talks about his role of Boba Fett - the bounty hunter from The Empire Strikes Back! HG Editor: Allan Bryce Web Master: [email protected] SN Design & Production: Kevin Coward Website: ww.infinitymagazine.co.uk LIHI Advertisement and Subs Manager: Published by: Ghoulish Publishing Ltd, US Yannie Overton-Bryce 29 Cheyham Way, South Cheam, Surrey SM2 7HX. 06: INFINITY NEWS ROUND-UP I [email protected] OL 12: YOUR LETTERS AND EMAILS Printed in the EU by Acorn, W. Yorkshire. B HU Online publisher: Ghoulish Publishing Distribution: Intermedia, Unit 6 The Enterprise 32: REVIEWS GP ww.infinitymagazine.co.uk Centre, Kelvin Lane, Manor Royal, Crawley, West 41: SUBSCRIPTIONS Advertising enquiries: Sussex RH10 9PE [email protected] © Copyright 2018 Ghoulish Publishing Ltd. 67: NEXT ISSUE PREVIEW INFINITY 3 REDISCOVERING THE SCI-FI JOYS OF DAYS GONE BY… W ell here we are at issue ten of Infinity and I interest later in life, like a cheesy old song that takes us now realise that I made a bit of a mistake back to our youth. not printing more of our earlier issues. I think the mark of any magazine’s success can be As more people discover the retro joys of judged by its letters pages, and though Infinity has our magazine they often want to pick up a complete only just celebrated its first year of publication we collection and a spiffy Infinity binder to keep them are getting so many great letters championing the in. We’ve got plenty of lovely purple binders but our uniqueness of what we are doing. back issue supply is dwinding fast and we have now Even more encouragingly, many of these are not sold out of issues 2 and 5 and are getting perilously just from old fogies like me. It seems that there are low on 3 too. Going forward I’ve upped the print run plenty of youngsters out there who would rather settle to ensure we have larger supplies, and we do down with a quality cult show like The Prisoner or intend to reprint issue 2 next as we already Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) than binge on did with issue 1. When we started the mag the latest series from Netflix. Not that there’s up just over a year ago, many folk asked anything wrong with Netflix, but their new the wisdom of such a venture in a market Lost in Space, decent as it is, is never going already overcrowded with sci-fi titles, and to replace the fun Irwin Allen original in it has been most gratifying to discover this writer’s affections. that so many people absolutely love what As for print vs digital, don’t get me started. we are doing here. Believe me when I say that getting a new issue We are a small publisher, albeit thankfully a in of the mag from the printers, holding it in my successful one, and not driven by ad sales to push the hands and flicking through it, is as big a thrill for me latest big budget Hollywood blockbuster. In fact my as it is for our devoted readers. Digital issues are all approach as editor and publisher is to run features very well and they fulfill a need for some, but as far on the kind of cult films, TV shows and even radio as I’m concerned it will always be about print for the programmes that most mainstream SF publications true collector. Call me old-fashioned if you will, but I’d wouldn’t touch with a bargepole attached to a rather poke around in dusty attic for a favourite old light-sabre. Yes, you will find something on Star Wars mag than do a quick search on my tablet for a PDF. in this issue, but it’s a fascinating new interview with Finally, just thought I would mention that I do Jeremy Bulloch, not a bland puff piece on the latest get out to see new films too, and Yannie and I were film in the series, and yes you will find comic book invited to a preview of Ready Player One at the London stuff here, but we are looking at the Marvel monster IMAX, with Steven Spielberg in attendance. I enjoyed comics of a bygone age, not the modern day CGI-laden it and knew it would do well, which it did, but it was screen epics from Marvel or DC. I make no apology for like watching someone else play a video game and much of the content of Infinity harking back to the there was no sense of threat or adult drama. The last happy days of my youth because I know that many time I saw Stevie in the flesh was at a preview of Close of our readers also enjoy rekindling old memories of Encounters of the Third Kind. Now there was a great favourite shows like The Six Million Dollar Man and movie. Anyway, to all of you out there who ‘get’ what Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. Even programmes we are trying to do here I would like to offer my sincere that didn’t seem that great at the time can exert an thanks. The future is looking bright. Allan Bryce. HELP US KEEP UP TO DATE WITH WHAT YOU WANT We value every single reader and they value us, which is why we are flourishing THE MAGwAwZIwNE.i BnEfiYOnNiDt yYmOUaR gIMaAzGiInNAe.TIcOoN.u k aesepenttlec ccaa,to witsouiemenr at weegg lioewll li u nhybsgeoe n,wu ha hpaanarlpdlit npt iwotyf e myst eooaan urgged iha v dizaenoiv n yiyeneo ognsuu eer rswiv goveshim reotyw efaw ssnph coduein -br(fi eplIi- ncearirefirtielynsa h ihtft eoaytdrhv s teiconh ot gewhn maoev ue.tc noMgatuhnoigto s)ghn t e sittm,i mamp leooiv.vr eWtiealyesn ,ltw eblytaot,n oetrk sts o what we are doing wrong! You can reach us by via: WEB: www.infinitymagazine.co.uk EMAIL: [email protected] FACEBOOK: Infinity Magazine ADDRESS: INFINITY Magazine Ghoulish Publishing Ltd 29 Cheyham Way, South Cheam, Surrey, SM2 7HX 4 INFINITY COMPLETE AND PROTECT YOUR COLLECTION TODAY WITH INFINITY BACK ISSUES, BINDERS & OUR NEW T-SHIRTS! BACK ISSUES T-SHIRTS - NEW FOR 2018! 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P C R LAACUERDFRSPALE:E EMASNCTTT ITWAEOIRRNNE’ GSSTS R TO,ELVV NRUKAIES C LTEVOE HBPRINEEEIISAWSA BROSNLYSDOA,EN NC -GKEUW HIDOSE,L ,&E FTF , R RMH S EOUEWUD MNMCRICN AHILCGNE M IBINN9FRO7IGN7I2ORT 5YS1WE 4ISP…S36UYN5E0 -30,F5 - I£,30.939 Blade Runner Star Trek The Thing ISSUE 01 ISSUE 03 THE MAGwAwZIwNE.i BnEfiYOnNiDt yYmOUaR gIMaAzGiInNAe.TIcOoN.uk TTTHHHEEE MMMAAAGGGAAAZZZIIINNNEEE BBBEEEYYYOOONNNDDD YYYOOOUUURRR IIIMMMAAAGGGIIINNNAAATTTIIIOOONNN 04 THE MAGwAwZIwNE.i BnEfiYOnNiDt yYmOUaR gIMaAzGiInNAe.TIcOoN.uk THE MAGAZINE BEYOND YOUR IMAGINAT0ION7 DPOOSUTBELRE -ISNIDSEIDDE ! £O3N.9LY9 DPOOSUTBELRE -ISNIDSEIDDE ! 0SP0A7 CINE JQPQPQQQPQQPQJPJOOOLLLLLUUUUUUUUUUUUUHHHAAAAAAAASSSSSNNNTTTTTTTT:::::EEEEEEEE TTTTTTBBBRRRRRRRR222222RRRMMMMMMMM,,,,,,UUU 333333AAAAAAAANNNDDDDDDTASSSSSSSSNNNHV SSSSSSSS------ EEEEE RRRRRRAAAAAAAA NRRROOOOOONNNNNNNNG,,, BBBBBBNNNNNNEDDDDDDDDEEEEEEREEEEEE BTRRRRRRTTTTTTTTSWWWWWWHLHHHHHHHHTTTTTTAE C EEEEEEEESSSSSSHPPPPPPYK ,,,,OAAAAAAEPPPPPPPP M&&&&NATTTTTTIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTOAR RRRRRRMMMM,,,,,,,,NRS IIIIIIDD CCCCCCUUUURRKKKKKKCCCC WWTTTTTTHHHHAAAAAARSBASA HHMMMMINTLLLLLLLUIRSURDKKKKKKOOPWOOOOEEE SSSSSS,,EM ERRRRTOORRR,,,,,,TOH EEEELF66MEEHRUF …………T00VVAEANHW…ssIIDCEEE EKSSHWW RPPINSS YYIN9E F--7FFISN7I2IIT:5Y1 4ISS36U5E0 405 - £30.949 DATANELDRE KRRSYE ,NN PEALGTA• A• I J GP• NOD• AA USENCEL WAESK-STUST SAUU RR DSANDYNAO :IDNYLHMG D A MM(HOC’YSUOAPO PSCRPKSYHNANTITMA IRRMNJ-IOPNRTKOGOA)DNA R TS(DSEEHNDUC…FRIEPDEAET ECRAT IR CLFEWH LTH ESALITETECR S ARH•I -EOIMSNFIDIEI DATTOSM)N U M T2F TI NA•SIE NMTI ODKAMH EOTEF SEERDE HATU SREUEIH TLL . 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PATRICK IS A FREE MAN original movies outside the Hollywood system, allowing Following on from the success of their Blomkamp’s creativity to truly be unrestrained. ‘Fifty Years of The Prisoner’ event With Firebase, Blomkamp brought literal Hell into in January, our good friends at the the Vietnam War. Bending the fabric of space-time, Unmutual website have again teamed the insanely ambitious short, which you can watch on up with Quoit Media Limited to present Youtube, introduced a whole new war enemy in the form another exciting Prisoner event with of the River God, a hellish beast who has the power to raise special guests, screenings, and other the dead… attractions. Now, Blomkamp is looking to turn Firebase into a feature film, ‘He’s Not a Number - A Patrick and he needs our help. Launched last month, the Firebase crowdfunding McGoohan Retrospective’ is the name campaign is a bit different than the ones you’ll find on services like Kickstarter of this one, and it is taking place on and Indiegogo. For his campaign, Blomkamp has done away with physical perks, the evening of Saturday 23rd June ensuring all the money is actually going to show up on screen; however much at The Studio Suite, Elstree Studios, money the fund raises, that’s how much Firebase will be made for. Borehamwood. Blomkamp explains, “We want to build a 21st century studio that is funded The late Prisoner star Patrick directly by fans. The more people online that support us the more content we McGoohan is now regarded as one of the finest acting talents of the will put out. We want to create an ecosystem where we are directly fuelled by the 20th Century. Starting out on the stage, with critically acclaimed community. Our goal now is the next Firebase film. Help fuel us here. We want to appearances in works such as Brand and Serious Charge, he grow and expand, but we need the community’s help.” became Britain’s highest paid television actor appearing as He adds, “We will create the Firebase film tailored to the incoming dollar John Drake in ITC’s Danger Man series before he co-created, amount. If we raise $40 dollars we will film a firebase “Cat” video. If we raise $100 starred in, and produced The Prisoner series - a landmark in TV million we will shoot a Firebase feature trilogy.” history, still loved, respected and examined 50 years on. The iconic Elstree Studios, where Patrick filmed some of his work, including his first ever film appearance in The Dam Busters, will play host to this very special event to celebrate the man, his work, and his legacy. The event has been approved by the McGoohan family. Special guests, including those who worked with Patrick McGoohan, as well as those who have been inspired by his work, will take part in exclusive and interactive Q&A sessions. In addition, there will be official and exclusive screenings, signings, and other happenings, to celebrate the man and his work. Guest details had not yet been announced at time of going to press but there are sure to be some familiar names. It is in a very good cause too, because any profits from the event will be donated to Ty Gobaith Children’s Hospice. Tickets must be bought in advance because there will be no ‘pay at the door’ facility. These are limited in number, and cost £20 per ticket. Each ticket holder will receive a commemorative programme upon arrival. Order 3 or more tickets and receive a paperback copy of ‘Cutting Edge - My Life in Film and Television’ VIRTUAL REALITY GAMES by Eric Mival, which includes several chapters about his lifelong friendship with Following the box office success of Ready Player One, Universal has hired Dan Patrick, absolutely FREE on arrival!. Mazeau to write a new draft of its sci-fi thriller Armada, based on Ernest Cline’s For more details check out www.theunmutual.co.uk. 2015 novel. Cline, who authored Ready Player One and co-wrote the screenplay, wrote an earlier draft of the Armada screenplay. Universal said that Cline will MARTIAN CHRONICLES remain in collaboration with Mazeau and producers on the forthcoming draft. Is there Life on Mars? Dunno, but there will be soon, Armada centres on a teenage player of an online video game in which players because up and coming director John Krasinski (seen left defend against an alien invasion. He discovers that the game is actually a with Emily Blunt) is set to direct a sci-fi thriller called Life simulator to prepare him and others to defend against an actual alien invasion. on Mars as a followup to his sleeper horror hit, A Quiet Dylan Clark (Planet of the Apes) and Dan Farah, one of the Ready Player One Place. Krasinski is re-teaming with the producers of A producers, are producing Armada through their Dylan Clark Productions and Quiet Place including Michael Bay, on the project, and Farah Films banners, respectively. Mazeau’s credits include Wrath of the Titans, Paramount, who distributed A Quiet Place, is in negotiations World’s Most Wanted, Section 6 and Van Helsing. to acquire the rights to distribute the movie. Life on Mars is based on a short story by graphic novelist Cecil APPLE’S FOUNDATION Castellucci titled We have Always Lived on Mars. The story follows a woman Not content with just taking our money for new iPhones and Macs, Apple now who is among a group of descendants of a Martian colony abandoned by Earth hopes to get a big lift-off, launching Isaac Asimov’s influential Foundation sci- following a cataclysm. Her world is then turned upside down when she discovers ence-fiction novels - about the collapse and resurgence of a galactic empire - as a that she can breathe the air on Mars. television drama series. Krasinski is not expected to star in the new film but will also produce. The The move is the latest from the iPhone maker to acquire original programming Office actor made his studio directing debut with A Quiet Place after helming two as it seeks to rival established frontrunners such as Netflix, HBO and Amazon. independent films and episodes of the sitcom. David Goyer, screenwriter of blockbusters The Dark Knight (2008) and Batman Begins (2005), and Josh Friedman, writer of Steven Spielberg’s 2005 sci-fi SUPPORT FIREBASE adaptation War Of The Worlds, have been tasked with bringing Asimov’s classic Just about a year ago, back in June 2017, District 9 and Chappie director Neill work to the television screen. Blomkamp debuted a nearly 30-minute horror/sci-fi short film titled Firebase, Hollywood’s attempts over the past two decades to bring the Russian-Ameri- part of his Oats Studios initiative. The concept, in a nutshell, is to make crazy can author and scientist’s saga of humans living on planets scattered throughout 66 IINNFFIINNIITTYY Name of feature the Milky Way galaxy to either TV or the Friday’, managing the office full of freelancers and big screen have yet to come to fruition. answering the prodigious fan mail. The Foundation series began as She left Marvel in 1968, and went on to found the several short stories published between trailblazing Big Apple Comix, later returning to Marvel 1942 and 1950, and was later developed as a proofreader. Steinberg starred as the Invisible into a trilogy of novels published from Girl in a 1975 comic-book homage that transformed 1951 to 1953. It won a Hugo Award, the the Fantastic Four into fictionalised versions of Marvel top prize for science fiction and fantasy staffers. She was also honoured in 2006’s Ultimate writing, in 1966 as best all-time series. Fantastic Four #28, appearing as the secretary to Industry pundits said the Foundation President Thor in a world populated entirely by stories have proven a nightmare to bring superheroes. Marvel released a brief statement on to the screen because the sprawling Steinberg’s death. “We are incredibly saddened to epic plays out in several different time hear of Flo Steinberg’s passing and send our deepest periods, with the resulting problem of condolences to her friends and family,” the statement read. deciding on which characters to dwell on “Flo has always been the heart of Marvel and a legend in her own right. She will for maximum impact. be forever missed and always loved by all of us here at Marvel.” Asimov’s stories are also male-centric and any adaptation today will have to IN MEMORIAM take into account the current sentiments It has been a bad time for darts players of late, but we can’t pay tribute to Jim favouring diversity and gender fair play. (“Here’s what you would have won”) Bowen and Eric, ‘The Crafty Cockney’ Bristow It is not known yet if Apple will distribute the show through its own iTunes Store, here because they had very little to do with sci-fi or cult TV. Mind you, Bullseye where it sells shows and films by other companies, or on another platform. Apple is conjured many a fantastical image of what people in council tower blocks would do also preparing a remake of Spielberg’s 1980 sci-fi anthology series Amazing Stories. with a speedboat. Instead let’s pay tribute to two lesser-known mortals who passed under Prince Sirki’s fatal spell recently… So let’s step away from the oche and pay tribute to Ralph Woolsey, the Emmy-winning cinematographer who worked on such series as Batman and It Takes a Thief and films including The Iceman Cometh and The Great Santini. He died at the grand old age of 104 on March 23 at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills. Woolsey was a consummate technician whose Hollywood career paralleled the birth and early evolution of television cinematography, including the transition from black-and-white to colour. Among the many series he shot were Maverick, 77 Sunset Strip - for which he earned Emmy nominations in 1959 and 1960, respectively - Batman and Mister Roberts. He won the 1968 Emmy for It Takes a Thief, starring Robert Wagner. Born on New Year’s Day 1914, in Oregon, the first movies Woolsey saw were silent. He began his career while a student at the University of Minnesota, making conservation films for the state and industrials for Bell Aircraft; some of the latter were used to train U.S. Air Force personnel during World War II. HOT READING He moved to Los Angeles after the war and worked at Technicolor and at Photo As a big Ray Bradbury fan I am looking forward to the new film version of one of his Research Corp., where company founder Karl (Mad Love) Freund was developing most famous books, the 1953 Fahrenheit 451. Michael B. Jordan begins to question specialised light metres. “Every metre was custom-calibrated based on a particular why firemen are tasked with burning books in HBO’s upcoming film adaptation of studio lab’s processing methods,” Woolsey told American Cinematographer. By a story that was first filmed by Francois Truffuat in the 1960s. Jordan plays Guy 1950, we was teaching cinematography at USC, a job he kept for seven years. Montag, a young fireman who explains to schoolchildren the importance of his job Woolsey worked on a handful of films during the 1950s before entering the and the evils of books in a dystopian future society. TV world, working on such early series as Bourbon Street Beat, Colt .45 and The “We burned almost every physical book in the country. So by the time you Roaring 20s. By the late-’50s and into the ’60s he was working steadily in series TV. guys grow up, there won’t be one book left,” he says in the recently released trailer In 1966, Woolsey worked on the first season of Batman, the cartoony but for the movie. Jordan, who is under the tutelage of fire captain Beatty (Michael enduring slapstick series featuring the Dynamic Duo of Adam West and Burt Ward. Shannon), then starts to struggle with his role as a book burner and meets with a He also shot such 1960s series as Mister Roberts, The Name of the Game and The secret group of bookkeepers who task him with an important mission. Tammy Grimes Show. “We were not born equal. We must be made equal by the fire... and then we can By 1970, Woolsey was back making feature films, and as the decade unfolded be happy,” Shannon tells Jordan after he asks him why they burn books. he was the DP on such films as the Bill Cosby-Raquel Welch yarn Mother, Jugs & We won’t have long to wait to see the end result. Fahrenheit 451 is set to debut Speed (1976) and the Sam Elliott starrer Lifeguard (1976). He also was director of on HBO on May 19. Sofia Boutella, Lilly Singh, Laura Harrier, and Martin Donovan photography on John Frankenheimer’s The Iceman Cometh (1973), the Robert also star in the film from director Ramin Bahrani. Duvall film The Great Santini (1979) and the 1980 George Burns sequel Oh, God! Book II, which was his last feature credit. STAN’S GIRL FRIDAY If you are a long time Marvel comics fan as the Ed was in his younger days then you will know of ‘Fabulous’ Flo Steinberg, Stan Lee’s ‘Girl Friday’ and Marvel Comics legend, who recently died aged 78 following complications from a brain aneurism and metastatic lung cancer. Steinberg was so endeared to Marvel’s writers and artists that she appeared several times as a character in special issues, and aside from Stan Lee himself, she was the only other full-time employee at Marvel in the 1960s. Born in Boston, Steinberg moved to New York in 1963, three years after graduating from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She became Marvel Comics ‘gal IINNFFIINNIITTYY 77 JOURNEY INTO SPACE I fell in love with science fiction back in 1953 when I was five. We were not a TV watching family, although my maternal grandparents had a set and I can remember being traumatised by a glimpse of the final episode of Quatermass 2. I didn’t have a clue what was going on but had the impression that it wasn’t at all pleasant. Instead of being glued to the haunted fish tank (as my dad referred to it) we listened to the radio: all day, every day and in most rooms of the house, thanks to the Rediffusion wired services in the Manchester area. There was music, comedy, drama and there was Journey into Space: half an hour every week of, for me, unmissable broadcasting. Andy Pearson remembers Journey into Space was the creation of Charles Chilton and followed the adventures the days of radio sci-fi, and of Jet Morgan and his crew as they, initially, made the first voyage to the moon, then a particular 1950s favourite to Mars and beyond. The first serial ran for eighteen episodes and the two sequels following the adventures of Jet for twenty episodes, each one ending on a cliffhanger. Morgan and his crew… Before we talk about the programmes themselves, it is only reasonable to look at their creator. Charles Chilton was a Above: The cast of Journey Into remarkable man and, at the time of creating Space l-r: Guy Kingsley Journey into Space, had already established Poynter, Don Sharp, Alfie himself as a producer of popular radio drama Bass and Andrew Faulds with Riders of the Range, a western-set This image: drama that featured Jeff Arnold and his A tableau of sci-fi and fantasy on the radio, every whiskery sidekick, Luke. I know that Luke home should have one was whiskery, as his and Jeff’s adventures were translated into graphic form in the pages of Eagle comic. Chilton was something of an expert on the Old West and had lived and worked in the USA for many years, giving him the opportunity for valuable research. He also produced comedies, documentaries and, perhaps most significantly as far as the UK’s broader cultural history is concerned, wrote the stage play Oh, What a Lovely War! based on his own father’s experiences in WWI. During its run Journey into Space attracted an audience of 5 million listeners and was the last radio programme to enjoy higher ratings than its television rivals. 8 INFINITY WONDERS OF THE AIRWAVES JOURNEY INTO SPACE DOING THE KNOWLEDGE Chilton’s predilection for writing about what he knew extended to the field of space travel even in those early days, as he was a member of the British Astronomical Association and had a small observatory at his home in the south of England. Of course manned space flight was very in much the realm of fiction in 1953 when the first episode was broadcast and it would be another eight years before Yuri Gagarin orbited the planet. Having said that, Chilton seems to have incorporated much of what the scientific community speculated would be the actuality of space hardware into his scripts. The eponymous spacecraft in the first episodes was a multi-stage rocket very much of the type proposed by Von Braun and his fellow ex-pat German boffins. The sound effects boys and girls must have had a field day, as there were not only rocket blasts to be created but also the two-tone hum of the airlock, the noises made by various other pieces of equipment and inter-stellar strangeness conveyed through tonal effects. A key contributor to the atmosphere of the serial was, inevitably, the music. This was composed and performed by a US citizen, Van Phillips – real name Alexander Van The first serial was, as suggested Cleve Phillips - who came to the UK to play above, recorded twice, initially in 1953 saxophone with the Savoy Havana Band and, and then in a somewhat revised version later in his career, was a studio manager at in 1958 for BBC Transcription Services as Columbia Records. One of the contributions to the original recordings had been erased. the appropriately other-worldliness of The later recordings dropped the first four the Journey into Space music was the use Earth-bound episodes and ran a couple of the clavioline, a forerunner of the of later episodes together as one. The analogue synthesiser. second recording has been available as a BBC release on compact audio cassette A CAST OF SEVERAL (Remember those?) CD and is, I believe, The core cast of the serials was the crew of also offered as downloads. A word of the spaceship Luna plus the late, great David caution here, if I may. I understand that Jacobs who played almost everyone else. suspect with tongue in cheek) he also Above right: some of the downloads are incomplete and, Readers may recall Mr Jacobs as a presenter looked like him. Truth to tell he may have Dan Dare, the whilst I have no first-hand experience of Pilot of the Future of music programmes on BBC radio and TV had a point. this, some care is perhaps needed if buying but his talents extended well beyond that, David Kossoff was quite a distinguished Above: this option. including a remarkable facility for vocal looking chap whereas Alfie Bass was more The radio shows, digitally improvisation and impersonation. In fact his the everyman, as was the character. There remastered for I SHOULD GET OUT MORE take on the late James Mason was nearly as were other actors involved but not many due, the modern age When the three series comprising the good as mine… no doubt to Mr Jacobs’ vocal acrobatics. In original Journey Into Space were broadcast Jet Morgan was played by Andrew Faulds an episode in the second series he actually again in the 1980s I managed to catch who would later become a Member of played the entirety of the press corps every one of them ‘live’ by planning my life Parliament. In the interim he featured in a interviewing Andrew Faulds’ character as (‘What life?’ I hear you cry) very carefully multitude of film roles including Phalerus in well as portraying most of the space fleet for two months. It helped that I was Jason and the Argonauts in which he helped support crew. running my own business at the time and fight Ray Harryhausen’s multiple skeletons. There was one piece of casting that may also between domestic relationships so I Other crew members were portrayed by tend to bring present day listeners up short, could disappear on urgent ‘errands’ on the David Williams and Bruce Beeby (both of and that involved the actor playing the first relevant evenings. Later, the programmes whom played Stephen Mitchell, the designer series’ alien, billed as The Time Traveller (bit were repeated on the BBC Radio 4 Extra of spaceship Luna) Guy Kingsley Poynter, of a spoiler there). He was Derek Guyler who digital channel and I recorded all those on David Kossoff and Alfie Bass. The latter two is probably best remembered for roles in a my TV’s hard drive, which self-destructed both played radio operator Lemmy Barnet number of TV and radio sitcoms. His voice some time later taking the recordings and with Mr Kossoff taking the part in the original was somewhat distinctive and to hear it some wonderful H. P. Lovecraft material lost recordings. representing a being from the edge of the with it. Unable to fill the role in the subsequent galaxy (Another spoiler. Sorry!) as opposed So what do the episodes have in store? recordings he was generous enough to say to a somewhat stuffy, moustachioed and The first four of what became Operation that Alfie Bass not only sounded more like bespectacled middle-aged official is a prime Luna began on Earth where Jet Morgan’s Lemmy than he did but that (and here I example of cognitive dissonance. dad (Sir William Morgan) IINNFFIINNIITTYY 9 9 NANamDYe PoEf AfeRaStOurNe was experimenting with his moon rocket *Readers familiar with the series will, I in New Mexico where all would not go hope, forgive the use of the plural well. The numbers listening to these opening episodes declined somewhat MARTIAN INVASION initially but, once our brave boys were in The final chapters of the original series space, audiences really took off. (Sorry!) were broadcast under the title The Oddities begin to manifest themselves World in Peril which sort of sums up the as Luna approaches the moon and overall theme and it would take twenty thing get stranger still once exploration more episodes before a resolution to the begins, with tension mounting until the perilous situation would be found. ship loses power completely and oxygen When the BBC began re-transmitting supplies dwindle. Until this point it has the series in the 80s I was particularly been hinted at that our intrepid travellers keen to reach this final run of episodes are not alone on the moon and this, if only to resolve what might have been fortunately as it happens, proves to be a childhood memory or a misinterpreta- the case. tion of something else entirely. I believe There then follow episodes of further that our German neighbours originated space travel, time travel and close the description of what we now refer to encounters of all sorts of kinds. Finally, as an earworm; a tune or snatch of music Jet and chums find themselves back on that lingers long in our heads. the moon with their ship re-provisioned I’d had one of these since the age of but with only hints of their adventures ten and it related to Journey into Space. to remind them of the travails of the My recollection was a group of male previous seventeen episodes. voices singing some sort of anthem and it certainly wasn’t one of the merry A LITTLE FURTHER FROM HOME songs that my rugby playing dad and With The Red Planet we were, perhaps his chums used to sing (and which I not surprisingly, off to Mars and further was discouraged from entertaining my suspense and strangeness. This time mother with). Jet and his crew have command of the At the time of the new broadcasts my Discovery and a fleet of supply and support out of place and, indeed, it transpired that office was part of a warren of similar premises in ships, almost all of which are manned by the he was also out of time as revealed when his the centre of Manchester. One of my commercial ubiquitous David Jacobs in various vocal guises. records are searched back at base. It appears neighbours was a photographer by the name Whilst Operation Luna was set in 1965, we are that Whittaker was born in 1893 and went of Allan Bray who was a few years older than now in a 1971 when there is an established lunar missing in 1924 which would make him seventy me and also a Charles Chilton fan. He was also base which will become the setting-off point for eight years of age – a little old for an astronaut a musician and confirmed that my tune did the Mars fleet. It soon becomes apparent that other than John Glenn. Anecdotally, there are feature in the serial but I would have to wait someone or something wants the Mars mission probably still a few folk of my vintage who quite a while for the reveal. to fail and that there is an interloper amongst experience a chill at the utterance of the words The World in Peril begins when the crew of the support crew, although it isn’t David Jacobs. ‘Orders must be obeyed without question at all the Discovery and two surviving freighters As a youngster, this character (a chap by times’, particularly if they are delivered in a flat, return to their base on the moon and thence to the name of Whittaker) provided some of the emotionless voice. Earth. From there, they are to return to Mars, more disquieting moments of the production. Things get stranger and more hazardous via moon base, but the action is ramped up There was something about him that seemed before a landing is eventually made on Mars and by the appearance of Martian spacecraft and exploration begins, revealing that the spacemen characters under Martian control. are not the only creatures on the planet, nor In addition to Martian spacecraft, indeed are they the only Earthmen. It appears re-engineered asteroids are being used as that the Martians have been kidnapping people part of an invasion fleet and much of the from Earth for some time and conditioning them subsequent adventure takes place on one of to be able to breathe the planet’s atmosphere as these. Conditioned and enslaved Earthmen well as believing themselves to still be on Earth. crew the asteroid (and sing my haunting ‘rebel’ Certain episodes verge on the surreal, even song) and, as the story unfolds, Jet and crew by science fiction standards. For example, a realise that the Martian plan is to condition the house is discovered occupied by a husband population of our home planet via television and wife team who believe themselves to be broadcasts. sheep farmers living in Australia in the 1930s, Now it has been speculated that the televisual although it’s very obvious that, whatever they ‘threat’ had some political motivation as TV was, are farming, it isn’t sheep and neither is their by now, a very real competitor for audiences. It’s sheepdog actually a dog. perhaps equally likely that it was simply a clever After much peril and several loses plot device or an ‘in’ joke on Chilton’s part. There amongst the support is an anecdote that describes a TV producer crew Jet and chums saying to the writer that there was nothing on escape and begin radio that couldn’t be produced equally well their return on television. That prompted Chilton to write journey to Earth an episode of Operation Luna set entirely in aware that these darkness in the spaceship’s cabin. Martians*, like their BACK IN ORBIT 19th century Whilst the BBC was journeying into space, predecessors as another intrepid traveller was gracing the described by airwaves on Radio Luxembourg (or Radio H. G. Wells, are Buxomgirl as the late, great Kenny Everett drawing plans had it). He was Dan Dare – Pilot of the Future against us. who had featured in the Eagle comic, the 10 INFINITY