This is your grandfather's Traveller game.

[beowulf2044]

I'll be running my Retro-Traveller at a convention later this month. And thank Turing for the internet, the source of some great visuals such as the one below of the young cadet with combat armor, laser pistol and thruster pack:

 

[nyrath]

Is there a bigger pic of the "Polaris" out there?

I apologize for the thread necromancy, but the images are here
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nyrath/sets/72157616609434432/

 

[beowulf2044]

Apologize? You have our deepest gratitude, Sir.

 

[saundby]

When I was a kid, I didn't know a lot of the shows I was watching were already considered "old". I was lucky enough to live in a backwater mid-western U.S. TV market where they filled airtime with shows like "Time for Beany", "Tom Corbett, Space Cadet", old serials, and other stuff that was typically considered too poorly produced for broadcast.

Our radio was similar, lots of old dramas from the prior three decades. I thought they were being performed as I listened on my crystal set at all hours.

I learned that every alien planet looks exactly the same: a box draped with a cloth with a plaster of paris rock on top with a "rock" wall to one side. Different planets, or different parts of the same planet were shot from different angles. Just outside the bad guy's lair had the rock wall on the right, near the hero's spacecraft had the rock wall to the left.

Also, the bad guys' ships look pretty much the same as the good guys' ships, there's usually something on the control column to mark the difference. Every ship has a side door to get in and out of normally, a trap door to jump out of in flight, a control seat with a console, and there's a small closet of some sort just big enough for someone to hide in, or hide a body in.

Some good stuff is online at archive.org:
http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=rocky jones space ranger
http://www.archive.org/details/Flash_Gordon_VCD-001
http://www.archive.org/details/Flash_Gordon_serial_1936
http://www.archive.org/details/Flash_Gordon1935
http://www.archive.org/details/SpaceCadet
http://www.archive.org/details/tomCorbettSpaceCadet-RunawayRocket1954
http://www.archive.org/details/radarmen1

I love archive.org. It's almost as good as having a time machine to go listen to my crystal set or the old Zenith twelve-channel 10" TV that had been abandoned in the basement. Plus, it's cheaper and easier than mailing reel to reel or cassette tapes back and forth to other OTR fans.

 

[leo knight]

I just found this yesterday. The "Raygun Gothic Rocketship", built for Burning Man. The exterior is kind of 1930s, Buck/ Flash style, the interior is... wow. Here's the main link:

http://www.raygungothicrocket.com/

Here's a link to a documentary on the building of the rocketship:

http://vimeo.com/7743222

Enjoy!

 

[aramis]

Raygunrocket lead me to Pemberton Tech: http://www.pembertontechnologies.com/

Model rockets with a decidedly retro feel.

 

[Publius]

Isaac Asimov did a Lone Ranger in space series set in the solar system. Might be an inspirational read for you.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Starr,_Space_Ranger

Lucky Starr is the best, wish there were some reprints that were more available. Science Fiction Book club did have an omnibus edition which was nice, but you had to be a member or somesuch. Anyway, you cannot get them now from Amazon new, you have to go through third parties for hardcopy. The connection between this Universe and the Foundation Universe is tantalizing but there are actually several differences. Some different premises (especially about the tech and power differences between Earth and extrasolar colonies) but very similar feel.

Heinlein is great too. But a word to the wise if you are recommending him to younger folks: there is a difference between Heinlein's Juveniles and the rest of his work. Sometimes the difference is slight (I personally think Starship Troopers is a great novel for young people, it is also on the reading list of two or three branches of the American military service) and other times (Friday, lookin' at you babe) it contains some stuff to avoid for kiddies.