Remember the world before the internet and instant messages? Of course you do. One way that fandom stayed active was to write Letters of Comment (LoCs) about whatever subject or show tickled the writer's fancy. These would often appear in club newsletters or in standalone zines like this one.
This was, as the cover suggests, devoted to the Stephen J. Cannell show RIPTIDE from way-back-when. UK broadcasts were limited to a few episodes in a few regions (I discovered it on Thames where It played in the afternoon's alongside the swiftly cancelled TUCKER'S WITCH) so I think contributors were keeping up to date thanks to the long lost art of tape swapping.
I think the zine eventually broadened its horizons to cover other Cannell shows (the Eighties was his creative peak) or there may have been a companion zine with a broader remit. The memory cheats.
The title is a reference to something in the show... although the significance is lost on me. The helicopter (Eighties shows had to have moustaches and helicopters... The audience research demanded it) was definitely pink.
For a certain segment of the Star Age audience, Perry King will forever be Han Solo thanks to his performance in the Star Wars radio series.
ReplyDeleteThis show was also broadcast on SKY ONE in the 90's.
ReplyDeleteapparently ,the zine's title derives from an episode called ' the mean green love machine ' .
I'm guessing it was a play on the Simon & Garfunkel song, "The Big, Bright Green Pleasure Machine".
DeleteIt also turned up somewhere in the Noughties... Possibly CHANNEL FIVE. It's not a bad show at all. I have the first season on R1 DVD.
Deletesome good news for egmont :
ReplyDeleteEgmont UK's Star Wars magazine publications have posted stellar sales numbers in the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) report for the first six months of the year. The ABC list records sales performance for registered publications in the UK.
LEGO Star Wars magazine has seen a 37.8% rise period on period resulting in an ABC of 80,012, leaving it fourth in the UK's Top 200 UK Consumer Comic Titles. Recent covermounts have included stunning LEGO polybags with unique builds such as an Acklay.
Star Wars Adventures has a ABC of 38,014, matching it's prior period performance of 38,008. For me this is one of the most fun childrens publications, crammed full of great content.
Star Wars Rebels is not a registered publication, and thus its performance is not published.
Jo Doubtfire, Publisher of Egmont’s Disney magazines portfolio said ‘We are thrilled with the success of LEGO® Star Wars™ magazine. The title combines two of the most popular children’s brands and young fans delight in interacting with their favourite characters through the stories and activities in the pages of the magazine. Plus, our highly collectable covermount programme really supports this.’
Cally Poplak, Managing Director of Egmont Publishing UK said: ‘I’m delighted with Egmont’s performance in this round of ABC’s. The children’s sector of the UK magazine market continues to thrive and we know from our research that parents value the physicality and the package printed magazines offer – they appreciate how they offer time away from screens and enable them to spend time doing activities and reading with their children.”
As a comparison, the Star Wars comic under Titan had a regular ABC figure of circa 25,000.
Congratulations to the Egmont team, whom continue to publish some of the most unique, and high quality Star Wars publications both in magazines and books, for the continued sales success.