Sci-fi that’s lost in space
QUESTION Does anyone recall a Seventies sci-fi series depicting a rubbish collector in space?
U.S. actor andy Griffith (1926-2012), the epitome of southern rustic charm, found fame as affable lawman Sheriff andy taylor in Sixties sitcom the andy Griffith Show. In the Seventies he starred in a host of TV movies culminating in the sci-fi series Salvage 1, one of several attempts by U.S. networks to cash in on the success of Star Wars.
In the 1979 feature-length TV pilot, Griffith’s character Harry Broderick states: ‘I wanna build a spaceship, go to the moon, salvage all the junk that’s up there, bring it back, and sell it,’ which is a succinct summary of the plot.
Broderick builds a spaceship named Vulture, made from salvage and powered by a chemical called monohydrazine.
accompanied by ex-astronaut addison ‘Skip’ carmichael (Joel Higgins) and Nasa fuel expert Melanie ‘ Mel’ Slozar (trish Stewart), he embarks on a mission to the moon to retrieve scrap from an apollo mission to pay a tax debt. Despite dodgy special effects, the pilot was generally well received.
a total of 20 episodes of Salvage 1 were filmed, though only 16 were aired. Plots included Harry and his crew pulling a World War II bomber out of a jungle, towing an iceberg from the North Pole, and hunting for civil War gold. there were also wacky sci-fi episodes; in one Harry met an alien from andromeda, in another he befriended a runaway military robot.
Ultimately, the series failed to take off and was pulled by ABC. Griffith would go on to find success once more as Ben Matlock in Eighties legal drama Matlock.
Paul Adams, Stroud, Glos.
QUESTION When and where were the first set of traffic lights installed?
TRAFFIC lights go back to London in 1866 — a year when 1,102 people were killed on city roads by horse- drawn vehicles. railway engineer John Peake Knight devised a manual gas-powered colour lighting system to regulate traffic. His system was based on railroad signals using red for ‘stop’ and green for ‘go’.
on December 9 of that year, the world’s first traffic lights were installed at the corners of Great George Street and Bridge Street. a few months later, a light exploded due to a gas leak and the system fell out of favour.
an electric traffic signal, powered by overhead trolley wires, was created in 1912 by Lester Wire, a policeman from Salt Lake city, Utah. another american, James Hoge, created a version with coloured electric lights controlled by a policeman, installed at 105th Street and Euclid in cleveland, ohio, in 1914.
In 1920 american William Potts invented a three-light traffic system, as did Garrett Morgan in 1922, after witnessing a road accident in cincinnati, ohio.
Morgan filed a U.S. patent for a tshaped pole with red, amber and green lights. amber, the middle position, warned that a Stop was coming and ‘thus avoiding accidents which frequently occur by reason of the over-anxiety of the waiting drivers’.
Emilie Lamplough, Trowbridge, Wiltshire.
QUESTION I have the task of producing an existentialist playlist for my music club. Any recommendations?
EXISTENTIALIST philosophy encompasses many ideas, including: 1. a person is an island of meaning and understanding. 2. the universe is indifferent to our plight. 3. Existence is absurd; there is no meaning in the world beyond what meaning we give it. 4. We are free and responsible for our lives.
Existential questions include: What is life for? Who am I? What is my greater purpose? What happens when we die? the flaming Lips tackle many of these themes, in particular Do You realize?, a series of existential thoughts such as: ‘Do you realise that everyone you know someday will die’ and ‘You realise the sun doesn’t go down/It’s just an illusion caused by the world spinning round’.
the narrator in talking Heads track once In a Lifetime describes an existential crisis: ‘and you may find yourself in a beautiful house/With a beautiful wife/and you may ask yourself, well/How did I get here?’
Simon and Garfunkel’s I am a rock is the existential cry of the lonely, a man who has isolated himself to cope with the pain: ‘and the rock feels no pain;/ and an island never cries.’
Kurt cobain explores similar themes in Nirvana song Lithium: ‘I’m so happy because today/I’ve found my friends/ they’re in my head.’
Pink floyd’s time from Dark Side of the Moon is a powerful exploration of meaning: ‘So you run and you run to catch up with the sun but it’s sinking/ racing around to come up behind you again./the sun is the same in a relative way but you’re older,/Shorter of breath and one day closer to death.’
the cure’s Killing an arab describes a scene in albert camus’s novel the outsider: ‘I can turn./and walk away. /or I can fire the gun./Staring at the sky./ Staring at the sun./Whichever I choose./It amounts to the same./ absolutely nothing.’
the Beatles explored existential themes. Good Morning, Good Morning’s jaunty tune masks feelings of alienation: ‘Everything is closed it’s like a ruin/ Everyone you see is half asleep/and you’re on your own you’re in the street/ Good morning, good morning.’
Bob Dylan explored existential themes, too. My favourite is Senor, a search for meaning: ‘Señor, señor/ can you tell me where we’re headin’?/Lincoln county road or armageddon?
others include: the Pixies — Where Is My Mind?; U2 — I Still Haven’t found What I’m Looking for; Manic Street Preachers — a Design for Life; the rolling Stones — You can’t always Get What You Want; the Smiths — How Soon Is Now?; Biffy clyro — Living Is a Problem Because Everything Dies; the Strokes — Is this It?; the Who — Who are You?; tears for fears — Mad World.
Tim Lister, Bristol.
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