Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
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The 21st Century was beckoning in 1984 with the People's Republic of China and the People's Kingdom of United Kingdom signing the Sino-British Joint Declaration on the future of Hong Kong. That future was, of course, that China would get it back in 1997.
Elsewhere, a Soviet cruise missile plunged into Lake Inari in Finnish Lapland, although Finnish authorities didn't make the news public until January 1985.
In the world of music, Rick Allen, drummer of immense Sheffield poodle rockers Def Leppard, lost his left arm in a car crash on the notoriously abysmal Snake Pass between Sheffield and Manchester. However, this would prove to be no impediment to his career and he carried on drumming with the band, despite this setback.
Speaking of music, it was a month which started with the pinnacle of the UK singles chart being gripped by Frankie Goes to Hollywood's Christmas-classic-that-has-nothing-to-do-with-Christmas The Power of Love before the unstoppable juggernaut that was Band Aid's Do They Know It's Christmas? dethroned it.
And, having grabbed the top spot, that single was in no mood to relinquish it.
When it came to albums, there was only one kid in town, right then, with Various Artists' The Hits Album spending the entire month at Number One.
Of course I do.
While, inside, old hand Terrance Dicks talks about the fine art of writing the show.
Elsewhere, Richard Franklin - otherwise known as Captain Mike Yates - talks about a stage play which features UNIT.
There's a brand new comic strip starring someone called Dr Asimoff.
And we get a full colour pin-up of Peri which I'm sure won't do sales any harm at all.
The company's official adaptation of Conan the Destroyer continues along its merry way.
And there's a look at Marvel heroes in the movies.
Given that this is 1984, I suspect that'll be a fairly dispiriting read, made up entirely of the cinematic releases of the Hulk and Spider-Man pilot shows. Not to mention that duff Captain America film where he has the plastic shield that looks like it has all the heft of a Frisbee.
Still, as this mag now incorporates Mighty World of Marvel, we also encounter the latest from Night Raven, Marvel Showcase and Magik.
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24 comments:
Does Snake Pass still exist? Is it still as abyssal?
Snake Pass is evil. I mean Evel !
Phillip
Anyone know where Charlie is? Not seen him around here for a few days.
It’s official. This is the point where I no longer had a subscription to Starburst.
I’d longed to be able to buy it since it first came along in 1978. But funds didn’t allow. I’d occasionally get my (wealthier) best friend’s castoffs though, and I read every issue by his good grace.
Eventually by some magic I was allowed to get it kept for me at the local newsagent from 1983 onwards.
At which point fantasy and SF films dried up and I became a teenager and my interest waned.
Thank you Starburst. I still have all the back issues from No.1 through to the beginning of 1983.
CHARLIE has finally come up for a breath of air, lol!
Thank you for the concern DM!
Snake Pass… is that a literal name? Makes Charlie think of Don the Snake Prudhomme and Evel Knieval at Snake River Canyon!
Which makes me think of building plastic models (Don’s funny car) or those kids toy plastic cars (Evel had one) that had a big wheel in the middle. You’d pull a rip cord through the wheel’s gears and send it screaming along the floor! Let’s say around 1970?
The issue of Starburst here is basically a Ghostbusters souvenir mag, Matthew.
https://archive.org/details/Starburst_Magazine_076_1984-12_Marvel-UK/page/n37/mode/2up
A lot of people do seem to like Ghostbusters - am I the only person here who wasn't into it? Anyway, apart from that theres only really regular columnists doing a few reviews. Including one of a video release of Lucio Fulvi's spaghetti sword & sorcery flick Conquest -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pwi9pudxLWE
I guess the Claudio Simonetti soundtrack was ok - if you like early 80s Italian post-prog synth doodles - but even Starburst couldn't get up much enthusiasm for that film. And that issue also includes a rave review of Streets of Fire! "The most innovative film of the year" apparently. Oh dear...
Steve, the back cover of Starburst #76 is an ad for that years Grandreams annuals. There was quite a few more than the Hulk, Spidey and Star Wars/ROTJ ones you covered in your Christmas Day post! You missed out: Indiana Jones & the Temple of Doom, Conan the Destroyer, Dune - the Movie, Fraggle Rock, Knight Rider, The Fall Guy, Mr T, Manimal, Roland Rat, Wham, Culture Club, BMX Bikes, and er... the SAS (yeah, they actually did a 1985 SAS annual).
And before you say they don't count as Marvel annuals I looked up that Conan the Destroyer one and the contents were definitely a reprint of the Marvel film adaptation!
-sean
Charlie, congratulations.
And commiserations to DW, for the West Ham game earlier...
-sean
DW must have a bit of satisfaction knowing West Ham is (was?) sandwiched between Spurs and Man U?
CH.
sean:
I liked GHOSTBUSTERS back in 1984, but the last time I saw it, I thought the special effects looked way shabbier than I remembered and worse, I didn’t think it was funny AT ALL. When all the dudes were whining about the ‘Girl Ghostbusters’ remake about ten years ago, I was thinking, ‘Well, at least it made me laugh a few times.’
b.t.
I recall liking the idea of Ghostbusters, b.t., but in practice... I thought they didn't do that much with it. Or as you say come up with any real jokes - instead they seemed to think they could just rely on the appeal of Bill Murray, which frankly I don't get (but he wasn't well known here, so I accept that may be a cultural difference).
Charlie, I'm not sure being worse than Spurs is anything to get excited about...
-sean
Sean -
I liked Ghostbusters a fair bit back then - I was 13 though, and pretty easily sold on that sort of thing. It’s only in the last 15 years or so that I’ve soured on it a bit.
Really hated the sequel though.
Charlie, the Snake Pass is a road that links Sheffield and Manchester. It's very twisty and winding, tends to close whenever there's bad weather and is prone to subsidence. It, therefore, has a terrible safety record.
Sean, I can only apologise for my shocking ignorance of the Wham, Roland Rat and SAS annuals.
I thought Ghostbusters was perfectly OK but, when the all-female version came out, it was a bit of a shock to discover how emotionally invested in the original some people were. I've always seen it as being one of those films you have on in the background on Christmas Day afternoon while you're doing Christmas Day afternoon things.
Like many 1980s films, Ghost Busters - from start to finish - sustains viewers' attention. It's entertaining if not funny, in a laugh outloud sense. Modern films, in contrast, lose my attention immediately. Drawn-out scene setting, & clunky characterization being major problems. I've started X-Men Apocalypse, without getting beyond the first five minutes, 3 times! An exception is Top Gun Maverick, which 'hooks' the viewer immediately. Why is it 80s movie-makers understood that films live or die based on their first 5 minutes, whereas modern film-makers don't?
Phillip
Ghostbusters = One word!
Phillip
Charlie, I think we have different satisfaction expectation.
DW
I don’t think there was such a gap between the final Captain Britain in MWOM monthly and the relaunched Captain Britain monthly. As it was, there’s little of appeal to me this month.
My main memory of Ghost Busters was the C64 game with sampled vocals and a really good version the the theme tune. The actual game was very mediocre which is how I recall the movie (which admittedly wasn’t made for me).
DW
Driving around this morning , it looks like most people still have their Xmas lights and lawn decorations up (as the missus and I do). But our local ‘Xmas Music’ FM radio station has gone back to their regular format, playing ‘Oldies’ from the Nineties and Aughts. Everything in that last sentence, before and after the comma, I HATE.
b.t.
I dont blame you BT! Who needs music post-1989? Really!
That said, The religious radio stations may still be playing Christmas music. “Family radio “I think is nationwide, though I think it is out of Joliet, Illinois, and they are still playing Christmas tunes for another week or two. You will not hear “it’s a marshmallow world “or any of those other Secular songs, but it’s OK.
Sean-
A little bit of Bill Murray goes a long way, even in the U.S.
Short tactical bursts of comedy, that's how you do it.
Then go away for a while.
M.P.
"A little bit of Bill Murray goes a long way, even in the U.S."
Couldn't help noticing that at the end, after Mr StayPuft has exploded, everyone emerges covered head-to-toe in "marshmallow" - except for Bill Murray, whose bonce is totally foam-free. Hmmmm...
By this time I'd been reading Starburst quite enthusiastically for about four years. It was good value: well-written, packed (narrow columns and small font) but well-designed, and with a decidedly UK frame of mind ie not so rah-rah enthusiastic about absolutely everything as US publications (John Brosnan's column was usually the first thing read)...somehow, though, it was starting to wear thin. I can't help feeling the movies just weren't as interesting (how many horror movies can you take that all seem the same?)...
B Smith-
The best movie that guy was ever in was The Life Aquatic, in my opinion.
Murray plays a selfish middle-aged guy with a lotta baggage who is coming up hard against the limits of his talents and abilities.
And all the while, makes a complete jackass out of himself.
For some mysterious reason, I identified with that character....
M.P.
I think Starburst was lucky in that it rode a long wave of SF / fantasy / horror through from 1978 into the early 80s: there was plenty to write about.
Come 1984 though it was a very different landscape, and it was a stretch to produce an issue that was interesting cover to cover. As I’ve noted many times, I bailed at this point.
Though Starburst endured! It’s still going now, isn’t it?
Surely the record of the month was the 'E2-E4' lp by German guitarist Manuel Gottsching, formerly of 70s space cadets Ash Ra Tempel?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWcRUkHblkw
I love that record - the way it just synths just go on and on (but with his guitar playing on the old 'side 2' lifting up the second half) - and listened to it to death through '85. It was quite surprising to hear it again in a different context at the end of the 80s, when Sueno Latino sampled it to use as the basis for one of the first big house hits...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXhqDeTSEl4
-sean
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