Sunday, August 27, 2006

It's a Bonanza of Unreadable Tv Related Paperbacks!

While I love teen idol and tv show books, they're pretty unreadable. In fact, I've never made it through any of these. I'm not sure if everyone is familiar with the show, UFO. It was made in Britain in the late 60s and they pronounce "u-fo." A live action show from the producer of the Thunderbirds - how can you not love it? S.H.A.D.O., the secret organization to combat the aliens, is headquartered under a movie studio and everyone's clothing is silvery and futuristic, such as it was in the late '60s.
I'm a sucker for trippy backgrounds, like the design on the cover of this book. And if the book has a photo of the characters in the show, I'm much more likely to become enamored with it. I'm glad the Mod Squad know of a groovy way to die because I was afriad death would be horrible.
The real Mission Impossible, not the recent Hollywood remakes with Tom Cruise (insert your own Scientology/Suri/alien joke here). While I was too young to watch this in the 60s, I enjoyed seeing episodes in reruns. Who could forget the famous words, "...this tape will self distruct in five seconds..."
It's almost inconceivable that the Leif in the recent mugshot could actually have been this cute, little golden haired teen idol. I'd make a joke here, but when you think about it, it's just so pathetic and sad.
Oh cone of silence, I love you so. I wish I had one at work, at home, at the beach, in the car, at a club.......and if only it would work correctly. Mel Brooks, Buck Henry, Don Adams, and Barbara Feldon - I salute you!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Now what you really need to post is some of those old Whitman kid 'hardbacks' (okay.. how about 'cardboardbacks'?). Most times they came with great cover and interior illustrations, and could be read in an evening count as a book read in school. Sometimes the person writing the novel actually knew something about the show, too! -hcc

jim kosmicki said...

I remember really liking the Get Smart novels when I was younger. I still have them but haven't read them in probably 20 years.

the partridge family books were really badly written -- I started reading most of them hoping that one would begin to resemble the show, but never got very far into any of them.

Chris Jart said...

Boy, I'm not even sure what the Whitman kid books are. I don't think I have any, or maybe I do and never realized they were Whitman books. Hmmmmm.

Yeah, the Partridge ones were particulary bad. Probably because they appealed to teens and pre-teens so they used the lowest common denominator as far as what level they were written.

Jimmy said...

I remember the UFO show. I thought it was cool.

I collect old UFO books similar to the first photo. They all have that same "font" on the cover, and have great titles like "God Drives a Flying Saucer." Gotta love it.

Tony said...

There's a store in San Francisco, Kayo Books, that usually has lots of these. I always want to grab some, but then I remember that the covers are about the only cool thing about them.

I prefer the thin ones that had a comic book version inside -- those at least were mercifully short and you could laugh at the way they'd draw Starsky or Mr. Kotter. I can't remember who made those, and I can't check because I'm at work.

Chris Jart said...

I really love the UFO tv show. The costumes and haircuts are so 60s, yet they are supposed to be the future. How I wish I had books with titles like "God Drives a UFO." If I came across something like that, I would definitely buy it.

Tony, I agree that the covers are the only good things about them. The Leif Garrett book was given to me as a gift when I was a teen. The others I picked up at flea markets or yardsales. I love the covers, but can't see spending much money on something I'll never be able to get through.