4 posts tagged “1979”

This wasn’t on YouTube when I last blogged about A Man Called Sloane, America’s coolest spy since Matt Helm pretended to be Dean Martin pretending to be Matt Helm, but here are some trips down memory lane for a few of you …

   What was very odd, for trivia buffs out there: Robert Conrad’s name appears before the title, which according to the commenters on YouTube, makes this unique among QM productions. It’s just the highlights plus the opening sequence, but considering I hadn’t seen this since 1981, it was a lovely revisit. And that typeface would be considered very trendy right now.

This Autocade article brought back memories of the World Trade Fair at the Wellington Show Buildings in 1979, which I attended with my mother. Škoda, Hyundai and Volvo showed off their cars at the Fair, which in my opinion was never equalled with subsequent school holidays. I picked up the Hyundai Pony brochure and believe it had this photograph in it.
   What happened to those great, open-to-the-public trade fairs in New Zealand?

Hyundai Pony. 1975–85 (prod. unknown). 3-, 4- and 5-door sedan, 5-door wagon, 2-door pick-up. F/R, 1238, 1439, 1597 cm³ (4 cyl. SOHC). ItalDesign body—Giugiaro also did the original Volkswagen Golf—was smart and crisp for Pony’s 1975 launch, but it hid a structure that essentially followed those of the Morris Marina, mated to Mitsubishi running gear. The brainchild of George Turnbull, formerly of British Leyland, who believed that a simple platform such as the Marina’s was far more adaptable than BL believed. Engines aside, pretty dated technology even when new, but sold on simplicity and cheapness, and took Hyundai into many export markets in the 1970s and early 1980s. Usually takes the credit as the first all-Korean car, despite the foreign input. Pick-up added 1976 after original hatchback, wagon in 1977, three-door in 1980. Replacement Pony II began coming on stream in 1982, after which original range rationalized and replaced by 1985.

The National Security Council has warned that a US spy satellite is going to crash to Earth and the media are speculating whether it has a nuclear reactor.
   As someone who grew up in the 1970s and who can remember the hysteria at the end of that decade, I can only say: ‘Aaarrrgggh! Skylab! Aaaarrrggghhh!’

This show, considered one of the biggest TV flops and one of the reasons NBC almost died in 1980, is recognized by the TV Trivia app. at Facebook, when Tabitha, Mr & Mrs Smith and CI5: the New Professionals—shows that lasted longer—aren’t.

   If you don’t remember it, no one blames you. It was about an atomic-powered train (with swimming pool and disco—yeah!) that was a mixture between The Love Boat and an actioner (bad guys trying to sabotage Supertrain). The network never knew what it wanted to do with it, despite spending millions, and by the time the last episode aired, they even chucked in a laugh track.
   Here is the second episode’s promo, when the network thought Supertrain might be Hitchcockian. Dick van Dyke seems to be a bad guy. Oooh, Rob!

   How about this? After a few episodes—three or four, if memory serves correctly—NBC tinkered with it. Now it is the ‘all-new Supertrain’.
   How many shows had three title sequences due to network tinkering, and didn’t last half a season? Here’s the third.
   It’s a surprise to find someone has these clips on YouTube, and I take my hat off to the uploader, Mr Tony Cook.
   There’s some retro–kitsch curiosity to all of this, but after seeing these clips, I can see why Supertrain didn’t work. No matter how big the train, the thing still seems claustrophobic. But most importantly, it never researched whether its audiences even wanted this show—it just thought bigger would be better. It was out of keeping with audiences and the $5 million special effects’ budget wouldn’t help it when the story styles kept changing.