About the ‘B’ Competition

A (suprisingly) large number of people have asked me various questions about the Mysterious ‘B’ competition.

1. Is it for real?  – YES. There ARE three hidden ‘B’s in the film. Two of them are pretty obvious but the third is a little trickier.

2. What’s the ‘astonishing’ prize?  I can’t say exactly but something special from the film and some additional goodies.

3. If I leave my answer in the comments on the B Competition page will it really get recorded?  YES it will be recorded and entered into the competition.

So there you are… watch the film, spot the Bs!

Sci-fi on children’s tv in the fifties – do you know?

Captain Eager began when I was watching a documentary about kids TV from the black and white 1950’s. One programme was a live drama with a terribly English, square chinned hero. He was sitting in front of a curtain holding a steering wheel that was obviously not attached to anything, he was speaking into a cardboard microphone and he was under attack… which you could tell because he kept swaying about on his village hall chair. Then he told us he was dropping a bomb.

Cut live to a model boat in a tank hit by a cardboard bomb and sinking!

 

CLUNK  on a staggering and beautiful scale…which set me thinking about Captain Eager. 

 

I would love to know what that programme was. If anyone has any ideas please drop me a line.

ABOUT DAN DARE

Chris Baker wanted to know about the Dan Dare influences…

Yes, I love (the classic Eagle) Dan Dare and Captain Ted Eager has similarities: The noble spirit and extreme moral code are two. But what I really like about the comic is how it reflects its times – socially but also technically – I don’t know why but I love chortling at the clunky equipment.  In the 1961 annual, Dan Dare has a massive cine-camera and the villains make a call from an up to the minute phone box called a radiofone. There’s a sort of smug satisfaction in looking at the past’s hopelessly wrong interpretation of the future. I’m sure StarWars will look equally silly in fifty years time.

It’s not just Dan Dare though it’s the whole comic world… in the 1959 annual there is a feature: ‘Build your own Rocket Base’ which involves using a cotton reel cut in half. I can tell you cutting a cotton reel in half is extremely difficult. How many little fingers were lost because of that article?  Also the comic look and style is lovely – not just the Eagle but other comics/books such as ‘Startling Stories’ and ‘Astounding Science Fiction’.

So Dan Dare yes – but also 50′s films and TV.  I’m still hoping someone will be able to tell me what I was watching when I got the idea for the film – It was an extract from British TV for children.  See other Post for that.

ASK A QUESTION

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