The Retro Blog

“Mars and Beyond” is a 1957 episode of “Disneyland” the tv series in which the folks at Disneyland contemplate life on other planets and man’s quest for understanding of the world around him. I like to think of it as Mickey Mouse’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. The episode is introduced by Walt himself with his personal [...]

If the winner of The Cold War was going to be determined by who had the most awesome looking new technology, I think the Ruskies would have been miles ahead of us. You know Sputnik looked sweet, but what about this lesser known project, EPIK. This flying saucer like aircraft was being designed in secret [...]

Ren and Stimpy creator John Kricfalusi has posted a series of retro science fiction book covers to his blog. The art is all by Richard Powers, an illustrator whose work looks like Paul Klee in space.

Artist Chris Reccardi has contributed to such wonderful animated shows as Ren & Stimpy and Samurai Jack. These shows regularly exceeded my expectations and showed how fantastic televised animation could be. (Seriously, you might think Ren & Stimpy is all booger jokes, but I think more effort went into the animation of that show than [...]

“Steampunk” is a phrase the internet rapidly embraced and then turned on. It refers to a retro-future aesthetic in which Victorian looking things perform very futuristic tasks. A lot of people like the look of these objects, but now everybody’s getting pretty sick of all the people slapping some brass plates on an iPod and [...]

When I picture vintage pet carriers, horrible wooden pet prison boxes come to mind. People of the past were not especially kind to their dogs and cats, and when I see old cages they look more like traps than carriers. Thankfully, you can now get a retro styled pet carrier that doesn’t look a thing [...]

Here’s a whole series of old black and white retro illustrations from Russian science fiction novels. Quite gorgeous! [via boingboing]

Osamu Tezuka is best known for Astro Boy, but you might not have heard of his other show, “Galaxy Boy Troop.” Apparently Tezuka turned down a gig as art director on Stanley Kubrick’s 2001 to work on this show. “Galaxy Boy Troop” combines marionettes and animation. And you know you love puppets. The show only [...]

Space Patrol is a prime example of what fun can be had with plastic rayguns and miniatures. The series aired nationwide from 1950-1955. The whole thing was performed live, which makes the “special effects” all the more thrilling. The show followed the adventures of Commander Buzz Corry through space in the 30th century. Strangely, a [...]

Ambassador Magma was one of the first “righteous guy that turns into a big spaceship to fight evil” Japanese tv shows. Airing from 1966 through 1967, 52 episodes were made.

I remember as a child finding “Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers” to be an odd show. The stuff with the teenagers in high school always seemed [...]

At some point in your life you thought it’d be awesome to live in a spaceship. Some people are living the dream.

This is a spaceship home located in Pensacola Beach, Fl. You might be able to rent it, although the link to do so is broken.

If you’ve seen Woody Allen’s Sleeper, you’ll recognize this Denver [...]

The other night I was watching 60 Minutes when this lovely little segment appeared:

Two thoughts came to my mind:
1. When did 60 Minutes become Jackass with a budget?
2. Why isn’t that ray-gun more awesome looking?
I’ll address only issue two here. This thing looks like a giant black tray with a hole in it stuck on [...]

When you think space age, Mexico City probably isn’t the first place that comes to mind, but Mexico City produced Juan Garcia Esquivel, inventor of quintessential bachelor pad music. Have a listen and hear what I mean.
It’s best to listen to Esquivel in stereo while sipping a cocktail, snapping your fingers, and impressing a lady-friend. [...]

I can think of no city symbol more awesome than the Seattle Space Needle. It’s not the tallest structure. It doesn’t even really do anything. Except be awesome. You can just picture a bunch of grown men in a meeting gleefully shouting,
“Yeah, yeah, it’s gonna look like a huge flying saucer!”
“And it’ll spin around!”
“Can we [...]

Quack has a designer table concept inspired by our favorite era. There’s so much to love about it: atomic legs, flying saucer top, snacks! [via mocoloco]