Changing pace this week from Flash Gordon, here's one of Gearbox Toys Buck Rogers spaceships they had made in 2006. The design is from a 1929 Buck Rogers comic strip and actually reflects a popular spaceship design of the early 1900's, that of essentially a bullet shape with truncated wings (when you look at the drawing and look at the toy it reminds me of those kiddie rides that you put a nickel into and it bucks up and down). The toy itself has a rotating rear ray gun and detailed control panel. It is somewhat selectively compressed and a tad chunky but is faithful to the overall design. What struck me was how the Space Ship was equipped with a rearward facing gun and gunner - exactly the same as the World War I aircraft which preceded this drawing by eleven years. Just a couple of days ago I had watched William A. Wellman's classic silent movie 'Wings' about two World War I fighter pilots. The movie was released in 1927 and I couldn't help but feel how much current technology influences art. In this case of course 'current' meant 1929 but it was an interesting reflection of the times. Enjoy!
