Space: 1999 Ad

Another Captain Company ad from the back of Vampirella, this time for the exciting grey world of Space: 1999!

Six Million Dollar Man Ad

This full page ad ran in the back of Vampirella #86, and as you can see it's almost entirely made up of old time radio serial stuff put on to vinyl...except, right at the bottom there, is a Six Million Dollar Man LP.

The problem is, someone at Captain Company(?) swapped out the original cover art for this generic photo of Steve Austin, so I can't tell if this is one of the Power Records or some other piece of licensed merch! I've never seen any other Six Million Dollar Man LPs, so I think it's a safe bet that it's a Power Record. But of course you never know...

(On another note: how is it that Power Records didn't nab the Godzilla license, leaving it open to another label? Every time I see that LP, I have to remind myself it's not from Peter Pan!)

Star Trek - Passage To Moauv/The Crier In Emptiness Cassette Two-Pack

Peter Pan never met a way to repackage the Star Trek records they didn't like. Courtesy the Star Trek Comics site, here are pics of uber-rare cassette twin-packs that (for some reason) uses a bow-tied bear as pitchman/mascot.

I guess Peter Pan had so much Trek stock lying around that they kept finding new ways to burn it off, so this Frankenstein approach seemed as good as any. Thanks to Power Pal Mike Bridges (again!) for pointing the site out to me--it's the only place on the web I've ever seen these ungainly things.

Star Trek - The Time Stealer

Track:

The Time Stealer

Yet another reissue of "The Time Stealer", in conjunction with the release of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Interesting, this photo features no Chekhov, but it does feature Yeoman Rand, rarely seen on any ST merchandise of the time. Where's that Mego doll?

Scooby-Doo: Exciting Christmas Stories

Tracks:
Trouble at Santa's Workshop
Mystery of the Missing Santa

Power Pal Mike Bridges found yet another "rarity", this Scooby-Doo (and Friends) Christmas record, complete with cover art by comics legend Dan Spiegle! Like the other Scooby audio stories Peter Pan produced, these are pretty loyal to the show, using what sounds like the original cast. Fun stuff all around.

This album came with another, Scrappy-Doo-centric cover. I'm not posting it, because I have my limits. Thanks Mike!

Scooby-Doo Picture Disk

 

Tracks:
Scooby-Doo and the Mystery of the Strange Paw Prints
Scooby-Doo and the Mystery of the Sticky Money

Here's another unusual find, courtesy Power Pal Mike Bridges--a Peter Pan Picture Disk! As per usual with this blog now, I had no idea this existed, or that the company ever dabbled in this format. Unfortunately, I was not able to find an audio track for "Scooby-Doo and the Ghost in the Doghouse", so you'll all just have to take a wild guess what happens.

Of course, seeing this makes me think--hope--that Peter Pan did something similar for their Power Records line. How cool would a Neal Adams "Robin Meets Man-Bat" picture disk be? Odds are they never did, seeing as how none of them have ever surfaced over the years. But as is always the case with the Power Records, you never know.

Thanks again Mike!

Star Trek - A Mirror For Futility/The Time Stealer

Tracks:
A Mirror For Futility

The Time Stealer

Another Star Trek movie tie-in release, another front sleeve that also works as a sleep aid. Watch! The crew of the Enterprise stand-up! Thrill! As the crew of the Enterprise look concerned! At least Peter Pan had the smarts to retain the Neal Adams back cover, which is of course exciting as all get out. This record's contents are the exact same as the mid-1970s release, minus the new cover.

So sad and ironic that Peter Pan would not retain the Trek license after the first film, when as we all know the next film(s) in the series would be much better fodder for audio dramatization. Just imagine what Arthur Korb and Co. could have done with Khan Noonian Singh!

Star Trek - 4 Exciting Action-Adventure Stories

Tracks:

The Man Who Trained Meteors
The Robot Masters
Dinosaur Planet
The Human Factor

The Star Trek Story Records site continues to provide this blog with heretofore unknown Power Record discoveries, in this case yet another Trek repackaging meant to tie in to the 1979 movie.

And it's not just the sleeve that's new--the first audio adventure presented here, "The Man Who Trained Meteors", was another story I had never heard before! According to the STSR site, "Meteors" only appeared on this and one other LP, never getting a 45" or a book and record set. Click the link and enjoy!

Kojak - 4 Exciting Detective Stories

 

Tracks:

A Question of Honor 
Five Star Final
The Prodigal Son
Tourist Trap

Growing up, I always assumed that the DC and Marvel superheroes were the main "stars" of the Power Records line, and the other stuff--Star Trek, Space: 1999--were just ancillary releases, sort of similar to what went on in the world of comics. Well, after working on this for a couple of years now and making so many Power Record discoveries, it's clear that the sci-fi and TV licenses clearly were just as important to the Peter Pan company.

Case in point--Kojak. One of the seemingly oddest choices for a kid's record, Telly Savalas' titular detective received not just a book and record set, but a second LP of audio adventures, seen above (including two I had not heard before). This was another one of those Power LPs I had no idea existed until a Google search, and it only took a quick look on eBay to find decent scans of the both the front and back covers. Amazing. The search never ends!

Six Million Dollar Man - 2 Exciting Stories UPDATE

Tracks:

Birth of the Bionic Man

The Man From The Future

PDF:
Six Million Dollar Man Book and Record

Now it can be told, er, read!

A new Power Pal simply known as Reddata saw my post from a week or two ago regarding my not having the interior pages to this book and record set and generously sent them along! Thanks Reddata!

This act of geek generosity inspired me to try and make this site a little more user friendly, so if you look above where the audio links are, you'll see a link to a PDF of the "book" portion of this set. Now you can truly read as you listen! Over time I will try and add more of these PDFs to the site and it won't be limited to these tiny low-res scans. Enjoy!

Star Trek - 5 All-New Action Adventures

Tracks:

Time Stealer

In Viro Veritas

To Starve A Fleaver

Dinosaur Planet

Passage to Moauv

Another Star Trek Power Record discovery courtesy the Star Trek Story Records site is this LP featuring five audio adventures culled from both "eras" of Trek recordings. At least this time around, some attempt was made to put together a snazzy sleeve, as opposed to just slapping a still up and calling it a day.

The Star Trek Story Records site lists this LP as "very rare", and indeed I've never seen it before and could not find it on eBay. I couldn't even find it on Google, so we don't have a back cover sleeve to look at (yet).

It's difficult, if not impossible, to find any behind the scenes info about these Power Records releases, outside of talking to some of the comic book pros who worked on the book portions. But it occurs to me that Peter Pan was still in business in 1982, and there were other Star Trek book and record sets tied to The Wrath of Khan, but they are not from Peter Pan. So at some point between the two films, Peter Pan either gave up or lost the Trek license.

Also, Peter Pan was stretching the truth just a tad using the phrase "all-new" when referring to the record's contents!

R.I.P. Leonard Nimoy, who meant so much to so many. LLAP.


Update: Power Pal Rockwell Jay Pugglesowrth was kind enough to send along the back cover so we can all enjoy. It's quite spiffy--if you didn't know better, Star Trek: The Motion Picture almost looks exciting!

Star Trek - The Human Factor

Track:

The Human Factor

Power Pal Rockwell J. Pugglesworth sent me a link to a site called Star Trek Story Records, which features a complete(?) listing of every Trek record Peter Pan issued! I took a quick look and found a number of Trek records we haven't yet covered, so let's catch up.

This audio adventure is called "The Human Factor", which was one of the newer stories created specifically as a tie-in to the 1979 movie. It was issued on a couple different multi-story LPs as well as this single with the dull as dishwater sleeve, seen above. Somehow I had overlooked posting it before so it is making its debut on the site today!

As an audio drama, "The Human Factor" is on par with the others from this later series of recordings. Though I did particularly enjoy the oblique references to the other stories in the opening moments of this one (continuity!).

By the way, if for some reason you need to own ten copies of this record, there's a guy on eBay who can hook you up.

Thanks again Rockwell!

Six Million Dollar Man - 2 Exciting Stories

Tracks:

Birth of the Bionic Man

The Man From The Future

These Six Million Dollar Man LPs just keep coming!

This is yet another Steve Austin-starring Power Record, featuring two stories in both audio and comic book form. Unfortunately I couldn't find scans of the comic portion of the record online, and I haven't had time to scan, cut, and paste all the pieces necessary to put it all together (my apologies).

There seems to be no end to these Six Million Dollar Man releases!

Power Records Sci-Fi Gift Pack

Power Pal Rockwell Jay Pugglesworth followed up to the post I wrote a few weeks ago regarding this unusual "Sci-Fi Gift Pack" with full scans of the front and back sleeves. Thanks Rockwell!

I have to think Peter Pan did other gift packs like this, especially for the superhero records. It's hard to do Google searches for these, because "Power Records" is such a generic term and it brings up a lot of useless stuff, but I'm hoping eventually...

Power Records Sci-Fi Gift Pack

Here's another Power Records mystery I discovered via a Google image search. It seems as though there were Star Trek, Space: 1999, and Six Million Dollar Man LPs repackaged and sold as a three pack. That makes sense of course, but what's with the custom back cover, seen directly above? Did all three LPs get this new cover? Also, how were they sold--shrinkwrapped together? For some reason I have to know these things!

Unfortunately, these images were not from an eBay auction, otherwise I would have asked the seller a little bit about them. But for now, just these photos will have to do.

Space: 1999 - 3 Exciting Stories

Tracks:
Breakaway
Death's Other Dominion
Mission of the Darians

Like The Six Million Dollar Man, Space: 1999 was a property I was only vaguely familiar with as a kid. To my memory, I never had any of the book and record sets, and this second LP of adventures was completely unknown to me until recently. This certainly has to be the only Power Record recommended by Dr. Wernher von Braun--though to be fair, I bet he would have recommended this Wonder Woman 45" if he had had the chance.

Audio-wise, these adventures aren't bad, but they suffer an overall dullness that I thought marred the show, and kept me from really getting into it, in those dark days before Star Wars. Still, the sleeve makes it all look very exciting!

The Six Million Dollar Man: Volume 2

 
Tracks:

The Haiti Connection

Operation Deep Freeze

To Win An Oscar

The Loch Ness Syndrome

Boy, did I give ol' Steve Austin short shrift on the first iteration of this blog. I covered the first LP of course, and I mistakenly assumed that was all there was. Wrong, wrong, wrong! Not only did Power Records issue that first LP in two different sleeves, but they also put out an all-original Christmas record, multiple 45s, and this second LP full of another set of audio adventures! That puts the Six Million Dollar Man up there with Superman, Batman, and Spider-Man in terms of how many different Power Records are out there with Steve Austin as the star. 

Considering how big The Six Million Dollar Man was in the 1970s, its sort of amazing that he hasn't returned to the pop culture landscape, considering nearly everything from that era has (including The Bionic Woman). I know there's been a reboot movie script floating around Hollywood for years, I wonder what the hold up is?

Audio-wise, these four stories--which I'm hearing for the first time--are pretty solid. There's a different actor playing Steve, and he dropped the attempted mimicry of Lee Majors that the other performer went for. I kinda miss it, really!