Tag: retrofuturism

In the early 1950s, just prior to the beginning of that great era we refer to as the Space Age, Skelly gas stations distributed a fantastically campy series of science-fiction trading cards titled the All American Space Fleet.

The cards, 24 in all, comprise various space-faring characters boasting such heroic names as "Specs" Regan, who appears to be sporting a little too much gray for his alleged 28 years, and "Curly" Carson, pictured with his diapered Martian friend "Grog." The only woman to appear in the series is Jane Joy, who is "still attending Stewardess School."

The majority of the set featured a variety of far-out spaceships like the Asteroid King, the Cosmic Needle and the Sky Shark, each of which had its imaginary function and specifications listed on the back of the card, along with helpful reminders to "Never, Never Play With Anything Electrical" and to never "Run or Play Hard with Things in Your Mouth."

What's your favorite?

For years I've assumed that one of mankind's greatest fantasies has been to develop a practical, personal jetpack. But if the covers of Popular Science serve as any measure for this sort of thing, then it seems that for the past few decades man's been dreaming less about rocketing through the sky than he has about riding in some kind of giant wheel.

The revelation struck me as I was skimming Google's new archive of Popular Science and Popular Mechanics magazines for interesting cover art. As I quickly realized, the magazines' covers featured some crazy new vehicle every few years eschewing the apparently pesky and cumbersome multiwheel concept in favor of one enormous gyre.

Of course, once I noticed the pattern, I had to go back and scan all the issues methodically to see just how many variations have appeared over the generations. ... Continued

Just a reminder that the auction for the 1956 Aerocar N103D convertible airplane car I wrote about a couple weeks ago ends in just two days.

The retrofuturistic vehicle is being listed as "Best Offer," but you still have the option to beat the rush and snatch it up for the "Buy It Now" price of $3.5 million.

The seller has also added a Web site detailing the history and technical specs of the Aerocar, along with a black-and-white newsreel of the vehicle in action, viewable below.

They've also included list of reasons you should buy the plane-car, which include:

• It is a unique part of aviation history.
• It is a testimony to man’s creative genius.
• It is loved by the public.

Indeed.

Be sure to watch the vintage newsreel on the Aerocar below. ... Continued

Some of my best TV memories come from the early days of cable, back before it had really found its place in the entertainment world. I was especially fond of the newly introduced Disney Channel, before the introduction of superfluous productions like Hannah Montana and High School Musical, when Disney dug into their vaults and replayed classic programs that really exercised the imagination.

Many of them, even back in the '80s, stood as quintessential examples of retrofuturism, a pie-in-the-sky view of what the future will hold, with fantastic and often laughable ideas of what space travel would soon hold for us.

Telstar Logistics has just reminded me of one of Disney's best, titled Man and the Moon, in which guest narrator and rocket genius Wernher von Braun describes the way in which we will achieve lunar flight and life in orbit, 13 years before Apollo 8 and 43 years before realization of the International Space Station. (I just love the way he says "atomic re-ack-tohr.") ... Continued