Bionic Filmstrips

I'm just finishing up season one of The Bionic Woman and I have to say that I'm pretty surprised at how little the whole Bionics thing is used. Towards the end of the season, it gets a little bit better but for most of season one, Jaimie Summers uses her bionics for doing housework most of the time. Lindsay Wagner had made a conscious effort to make sure that the show never had someone getting hurt unless it was in self defense. It really shows up when she uses her bionics to pull a rug out from under someone holding her at gunpoint rather than throwing him across the room with her bionic arm. However, in the war against messy apartments, all bets are off as Jamie uses her bionics to the extreme by washing dishes, waxing floors and cleaning grime from the windows. Anyway, it made me start searching for Bionic Woman related items and I happened to come across this super cool set of "Give A Show" slides that someone posted on youtube. Upon further research, I found there is also a "Give-A-Show Blog" that features tons of these items. The blog is kept up as much as the youtube page so if you are really into tracking these down, I suggest you start there. For now, here's "The Bionic Woman Give-A-Show" slide sets! Enjoy!

Trek Toys (re-post)

Back during one of the past Christmas seasons I ran a series of posts describing several of the toys that I received as a child at Christmas time. Seeing as how I am posting a series of Star Trek posts, I thought I would re-post the entry about the Star Trek toys of the 70s. Here it is:


Before Star Wars, there was of course, Star Trek. Don't get me wrong, Star Wars still rocks and the toys that they put out for Star Wars were and still are awesome. But the toys for Star Trek were a little more, I don't know, adult feeling. Take for instance the Star Trek Communicators.

These babies were real. Heavy plastic with real working walkie talkie parts! They came in a package of two and you could use these anywhere! What was really cool was when you hit the little red button on the side it made a high pitched squeal that if hit at the same time as the talk button, could be broadcast to the other communicator! How cool is that?!?!? I still have one of these communicators and it still works! I also had the super cool phaser gun that shot discs! This rocked as well. You loaded up the phaser with the discs (mine were multi-colored, not like the ones in the picture) and just pulled the trigger. Toys like this would never be approved today but back then, they were the best!!!! I'm sure my poor sister took many a plastic disc to the body and face from this plastic weapon.


The action figures for Star Trek were more like the old super hero action figures. They were tall and wore real uniforms complete with utility belts, tricorders and small phasers. Again, these small pieces would never pass inspection today. I had Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty and a Klingon. These came with the Enterprise Playset!

This was an amazing toy! On the outside was a drawing of space with the Enterprise soaring through it. The inside was the bridge of the Enterprise, complete with Captain's Chair, Command Center and a screen that could be changed with various scenes of planets and aliens and such. The coolest feature was, without a doubt, the transporter. You would put an action figure in the transporter and spin the dial on the top. There were two buttons to stop the spinning. The red one put the action figure facing the outside while the green one put them facing the inside. Super cool!!!!!! This toy was designed really well because when you were done playing with it, you just folded it up with everything inside and stored it on the shelf (or on top of the toy chest in our house!)

The last Star Trek item I want to show you is the Telescreen Console. This was pretty cool. You could sit Captain Kirk (or any other character for that matter) in the Captain's Chair and then play a pseudo-video game where you would have to hit various asteroids and planets and such. It was pretty cool and from what I can tell, very rare. I haven't seen too many of these around, even on e-bay. They're hard to come by! Anyway, it provided me with lots of good times! A special thanks to Plastic Stallions and The Mego Museum for the pictures.

The 25 Posts of Christmas: Wishbook Memories

As a child, gearing up for Christmas meant breaking out the latest Sears Wishbook and writing out a 3+ page list of all of the goodies inside that I wanted for Christmas. I then gave it to my Mom who of course sent it to Santa who we all knew used the Sears Wishbook for all of his shopping! Those of you who have been following the blog for a few years know that every Christmas I share some of those great items that made the list and eventually made it under the tree. Today we have the Fisher Price Adventure People! Over the years I received several different playsets with the FPAP. I had the Rescue Truck with the super cool extending ladder for saving people from burning buildings and such. It also came with a cool fold out side that you could load the patients into after having them carried by the EMTs on a stretcher. The best part was the siren button that you could push down over and over and really annoy anyone within earshot with! The Super-Speed Racer was also great. In fact, many a day I would incorporate both the Racer and the Rescue Truck together in one viciously gruesome car crash and rescue scenario. The coolest playset from FPAP was the Sea Explorer Set. It came with a boat, wave rider with water ski tow and water skis and, the best part, a dolphin that squeaked and squirted water! These toys actually floated on water so bath time soon became sea exploration time! The figures floated on water if you bent them a certain way to make them look like they were swimming. It was pretty ingenious if you think about it. I have yet to see a toy come close to that in a while! All of this talk makes me want to go on e-bay and find a sea explorer set for my son!

A Month of Monkees: Much More Monkee Business!

More great items from around the world wide web! (click on the images to get the full size pic)

This was the board game put out to coincide with the television show. I have never played it. Judging by most board games based on television shows, it probably wasn't that much fun.




This one cracks me up! Davy Jones as Pavel Chekov in Star Trek! Hilarious!



Here's one of the many model kits for the Monkee Mobile. I have the most recent release of this that was put out about 6 years ago. I attempted to build it. Attempt is about as far as I got. It looks somewhat like the actual car but I don't think I'll be taking on any more model cars in the future. The cool thing about the one pictured here is that it comes complete with figures of the Monkees to put in the seats. Mine didn't have that. Even it they were included, mine still wouldn't have that.

This is an ad for a performance by a group of kids taking music lessons at a "School of Rock" type place. Apparently the concert featured music by The Monkees. That must have been pretty cool to hear. I'm sure it sounded great! These "schools of rock" are becoming more and more common. I think it's a great way to teach kids 1) how to play an instrument and 2) the history of rock and popular music.


This is a poker chip that was used as a promotion to tie in with the Monkees week long engagement at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas in 2001. This is the same week long stay where the guys recorded "2001 Live in Las Vegas", the album sold on the summer leg of that same tour that we featured on yesterday's post.



And finally, the infamous four headed puppet from the 60s!

I actually owned this puppet, in its original box, no less, for many years before I decided to unload it on e-bay. How I came to own it is quite the story. I was in high school at the time and it was no secret that I was a huge Monkees fan. It was during the big resurgence of the band in the mid-80s and I don't think a day went by where I wasn't wearing a shirt that had some kind of Monkees reference on it. I even wrote a term paper on the band! Anyway, a girl that I knew and at one time dated had told me that her brother had the puppet and that it was currently being stored in her attic. Now, here is where it gets weird. Her brother had committed suicide some time back and the puppet in question was being stored in the attic with the rest of his possessions that his family kept in his memory. I, being the self indulgent jerk that I was, really wanted that puppet and tried every angle to get it, with no luck coming my way. Until . . . the girl asked me to her prom. I told her that I would go with her if, and only if, I could have the puppet. Obviously, I went to the prom and the puppet became mine. Looking back on it now, I realize that I was a gigantic ass for doing this but it still makes for a great story! Please do not think less of me . . . if it makes you feel better, the voice box didn't work.

A Month of Monkees: More Monkee Business

More items I have found floating about the inter-web (click on each pic to get the larger version).

First is a card for a bubblegum machine that featured paper action figures of the boys that you could mix and match. Has anyone ever seen one of these?



Next are two of the infamous Ben Cooper Halloween costumes. These are Micky and Davy.







Here are the four mini dolls that were made in the 60s. Each Monkee was represented. Each package also claims to have a "Groovy 331/3 Record" that tells all about each Monkee. Does anyone have these?


Here is a postcard that was sent to fan club members welcoming them to the club. I actually have this one!


Here is a mail-in offer to get what I am presuming to be a copy of "The Monkees Present" that came inside various boxes of Kellog's cereal. This ws in conjunction with the cardboard records that were put on the back of the boxes that featured various Monkees songs. One of them is below the ad.

Stay tuned for more Monkees' items right here on the World of Wonder!

Christmas in The World of Wonder: Boldly Going Where No Wishbook Has Gone Before

Before Star Wars, there was of course, Star Trek. Don't get me wrong, Star Wars still rocks and the toys that they put out for Star Wars were and still are awesome. But the toys for Star Trek were a little more, I don't know, adult feeling. Take for instance the Star Trek Communicators.

These babies were real. Heavy plastic with real working walkie talkie parts! They came in a package of two and you could use these anywhere! What was really cool was when you hit the little red button on the side it made a high pitched squeal that if hit at the same time as the talk button, could be broadcast to the other communicator! How cool is that?!?!? I still have one of these communicators and it still works! I also had the super cool phaser gun that shot discs! This rocked as well. You loaded up the phaser with the discs (mine were multi-colored, not like the ones in the picture) and just pulled the trigger. Toys like this would never be approved today but back then, they were the best!!!! I'm sure my poor sister took many a plastic disc to the body and face from this plastic weapon.


The action figures for Star Trek were more like the old super hero action figures. They were tall and wore real uniforms complete with utility belts, tricorders and small phasers. Again, these small pieces would never pass inspection today. I had Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty and a Klingon. These came with the Enterprise Playset!

This was an amazing toy! On the outside was a drawing of space with the Enterprise soaring through it. The inside was the bridge of the Enterprise, complete with Captain's Chair, Command Center and a screen that could be changed with various scenes of planets and aliens and such. The coolest feature was, without a doubt, the transporter. You would put an action figure in the transporter and spin the dial on the top. There were two buttons to stop the spinning. The red one put the action figure facing the outside while the green one put them facing the inside. Super cool!!!!!! This toy was designed really well because when you were done playing with it, you just folded it up with everything inside and stored it on the shelf (or on top of the toy chest in our house!)

The last Star Trek item I want to show you is the Telescreen Console. This was pretty cool. You could sit Captain Kirk (or any other character for that matter) in the Captain's Chair and then play a pseudo-video game where you would have to hit various asteroids and planets and such. It was pretty cool and from what I can tell, very rare. I haven't seen too many of these around, even on e-bay. They're hard to come by! Anyway, it provided me with lots of good times! A special thanks to Plastic Stallions and The Mego Museum for the pictures. I know not all of the pictures are from the Wishbook, but I assure you that they were in there!!!!

The Coolest Action Figure Ever!

I think you all will agree!



Here was the female version for the girls: