0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
c.1977/78

In the Sandcrawler (8)

Last Updated (Monday, 23 August 2010 16:09) Written by Administrator Friday, 20 August 2010 00:00

Attention: open in a new window. PDFPrintE-mail

Sandcrawler M1-+

"GURGLE DURTH"

(Blue-Bottle - Yuck!)

More jargon for you Star Wars buffs! I bet you didn't know that the Jawas' sandcrawler was a model 'Em one minus plus'? Did you eh - eh? Thought you knew everything. Yes, it's WELL KNOWN amongst well-read Star Wars scholars (like myself) that the Jawas didn't just drive around in some old Heath-Robinson pile of cobbled together rusty junk. No, it was a specially built 'Em One Minus Plus' model. Read about it here > Also known as the EmOneTakeAwayAdd.

Art Notes

Hurrah - it's 1977. Do you ever feel disorientated by all of this time-traveling readers?

polychromos

Gentlemen, we can un-block it. We have the technology...

I've noticed that R2 isn't vacuumed up a shoot in this one - but rather lifted up by a giant magnet or something. I think I know where this came from!

Did any of you have the Maskatron toy? In the '70s there was a fashion for a while for robots that looked like people - usually in Universal Studios' utterly crap TV offerings. When they got hit, their faces fell off - revealing all sorts of made-up computer bits. In the Six Million Dollar Man they were - I think - called Fembots! The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew reused the already paid for props for one of their quality episodes, and if I'm not mistaken, Britain's Dr.Who even got in on the act with their own version! Maybe it was a Stepford Wives effect? Very exciting when you're a child though, with nothing more exciting to watch - like Star Wars.

Anyhow... this Maskatron toy who was Steve Austin's arch-enemy, but who never appeared in the series because they blew all of the budget and creativity on the brilliant opening title, had a big sucker weapon thing. It was probably supposed to be a magnet or something but really it was just a big black rubbery sucker with layers and layers of child's saliva on it. And there you have the inspiration for the Sandcrawler magnet thingy.

Incidentally, if any of you has a better picture of the Cyber-Sink-Plunger please let me know. This stuff's REALLY important. My son plays with what's left of Maskatron - 36 years on - but the Space-Sink-Plunger is long gone. Possibly eroded by saliva.

On Monday: 'We're Doomed - DOOMED!'

vote for SW9 link!

artoo gets zapped and brought to the sandcrawler - comic page

Comments  

 
+1 # ms. — candace white 2010-08-23 11:18
Ha ha, I remember that toy and the plunger type thing with the saliva. Ewww..I can't imagine something so uncivilised now! It's like the conte painting pencils that everyone used to lick instead of dipping in water. I still remember the taste (not very healthy I'm sure). I used to love using them like face paint too.
Reply | Reply with quote | Quote
 
 
-1 # RE: ms. — John I. White 2010-08-23 14:25
HoLy CrAp - a comment! Candace, yours is the first in 9 days.

Agh! Did everyone just 'lick' them? That's disgusting. I bet that's how the Brit Artists started. 4 yrs - licking water-soluble pencils, 40 yrs - freezing your own blood in a mold cast from your own head!

Thanks for dropping by. I think I'll do a new page today after all.
Reply | Reply with quote | Quote
 
 
+1 # Look out! Giant fly! — Blue Milk Special 2010-11-08 17:43
I never heard of the Maskatron toy. I suppose I wasn't old enough AND it might not have made quite the lasting impact on pop culture that some other toys did. It looks cool though... sort of.

That one purple droid looks a little scary. "Burble durth?" Yikes. Not as scary as the giant fly... or maybe that's perspective and its in the close up foreground.
Reply | Reply with quote | Quote
 
 
0 # RE: Look out! Giant fly! — John I White 2010-11-09 00:08
Funny, I never even considered that the fly might be closer to us. Have you ever seen that Father Ted Episode?

No, Dougal. THOSE aren't little cows. They're FARRRR AWAY.
Reply | Reply with quote | Quote
 

Add comment