History – Page 3 – Robot Claw

Classic Doctor Who Trading Cards

July 8, 2024

I bought thirteen packs of Doctor Who trading cards last year and I think they’ve aged enough. Time to open them!

As you can see there were four series, released from 1994 through 1996. Unusually these were printed by an American company, but even though I knew of them and looked for them at the time I never saw them sold here. They of course only cover classic Who, since the relaunch was several years away when these were printed.

The above shows the contents of a series 1 pack. Ten cards, each nicely designed (especially for the time) and with a great deal of text on the back. I would have loved these thirty years ago!

A nice touch is that the first three series continue numbering and share design, and it’s almost impossible to tell which particular series a card comes from if you don’t look at the number. Here are cards from each of the first three sets:

Series 1 and 2 have a small (about 1 in 500) chance of autographs in the packs. Of particular interest to me was the Jon Pertwee autograph apparently possible in series 2, and there were traces of excitement in the house as I opened the packs. Alas I was not lucky, and in fact only got two chase cards between all 13 packs:

The leftmost is a glossy card that has a puzzle piece on the back, and the rightmost is a very nicely done foil card (both these came from series 3 packs). These are of average quality for chase cards of that era, and I think would have been satisfying enough to pull from packs.

The 4th series was a surprise. Not only is the design completely different and the numbering resets, but the cards are uglier, many of them are poorly aligned or even miscut and the text written on the back not as good. If I’d bought these in 1996 I would have expected consistency with the first 3 sets (based on the wrapper) and would have been disappointed with the changes.

Overall though, it was fun opening these 30 year old packs of cards, and I’m happy I only got a single double and now have about a third of the full set!

Now let’s go back even further… almost fifty years to be precise!

Back in 1976 Ty-Phoo tea (in the UK) had a promotion called The Amazing World Of Doctor Who. This comprised a booklet, wall chart and set of 12 trading cards randomly packed into boxes of tea. Here’s the full set:

I bought these (for only $5!) at the antique store we visited the other day. They’re in incredible condition for their age, and as a relic of now-ancient Who they’re fantastic. As a fourteen-year-old I would have treasured these!

The back of each card has the name of the character/monster shown, and information on how to buy the book. Based on the rates quoted, you’d have needed to drink a lot of tea to collect a full set of these, so I suppose I’m fairly lucky I own them!

They’ll happily live in a case in a box in a chest for ever 🙂

Golden Stamp Books

March 14, 2024

Some months ago I purchased this for only $3.50 at a local antique store:

This was quite a find, not only because it’s Australian, but because I owned this exact book in my youth!

It’s a picture book of reptiles that came with a sheet of gummed stamps. The lucky owner would separate the stamps and stick them into each entry like they were putting a postage stamp on a postcard. The stamps in my copy have been stuck, but the back cover shows what the unused sheets would have looked like:

And here’s the charming instructions for the reader:

The book is 48 pages long, almost all of which are dedicated to a single animal with a picture and several interesting paragraphs. As a child I would have loved this. All the famous and well-known reptiles are included, like crocodiles, goannas and this old favourite:

But the true wonder of this book is that it also includes many lesser known – and possibly even nigh-unknown – beasts such as the Tryon Gecko, Master’s Snake and the good old Scrub Mullet:

I can vividly remember in the schoolyard, when my lesser-educated peers were yapping on about crocodiles and frilled lizards and I started dropping facts about Curl Snakes, Dtella Geckos and Krefft’s Tortoises! Immediately they recognized a master herpetologist in their midst, and rightly admired me for my knowledge 🙂

This book was first published in 1973, but I would have of course got it years later. I had other titles as well. I don’t remember exactly which ones, but I believe I had at least a sea life one and one about fossils or minerals. A quick search online reveals that many titles in the series were printed well into the 1980s. Here’s a selection:

The Golden Stamp Book series was popular not just in Oz but also in the USA and England, and no doubt other countries as well. Educational, fun, and lovely to look at: these were great books to have when we were kids 🙂

Lost Lands

November 14, 2023

We all know about Atlantis and Avalon, those mythical lands where elden (and future) kings lie. As a child I was fascinated by both (particular Avalon) and used to wonder where they were. But they’re far from the only mythical lands, and while the others that have been documented through history may not be as well known, they are equally exotic and mysterious. Here’s a few of them…

Lemuria was proposed as a ‘lost continent’ in a paper written by a zoologist in 1864. It was suggested to have been a (now sunken) land bridge, and was used as an explanation for why similar animals were found in geologically separated continents. Within 30 years the idea had been appropriated by occultists who claimed that it was the true source of humanity, and their ideas became even more crackpot to the point where some claimed Lemuria still existed in locations as diverse as inside the Earth (a common belief for lost lands) or underneath the USA. The history of Lemurian writing is interesting in and of itself, with some examples being claims that Lemuria may now be Australia (or perhaps Westralia), or that the capital of the land was called Telos (class Who fans take note) and was somehow linked with another planet.

As a mythological land, Lemuria is richly used in pulp sword and sorcery as well, with notable additions to the myth being added by John Jakes (the Brak writings) and Lin Carter (Thongor). Indeed it may be the case that Lemuria is the most popular ‘lost continent’ in fantasy literature, perhaps because it’s less developed that Atlantis in most readers minds.

The idea of a North Polar civilization goes all the way back to the ancient Greeks, who dubbed men from this mythical land Hyperboreans. The name of the land – Hyperborea – dates to 450 BC, and probably referred to the most northern parts of Europe. Legends compiled by Greek scholars referred Hyperborea as a civilized paradise, with men taller and stronger than other men, unusually healthy and living to a thousand years or more. Some specific descriptions of the inhabitants described them as white with blond hair, which would in time be latched on to by the Nazis (as well as another mythical northern Greek land, Thule) as an inspiration for the Aryan ideal. During the mid 20th century the occultists (probably trying to wash their hands of Nazi links) invented fanciful tales of hyperevolved (or in some cases, devolved) humans once living in Hyperborea, but as with all of the trash uttered by Blavatsky and her ilk, this was no doubt nonsense crafted to solicit donations from fools.

In modern literature Hyperborea was famously used in Robert E Howard’s Conan books and the countless pastiche’s that followed, where it was assumed to be exactly what was suggested in Greek myth. It’s also the namesake for a tabletop RPG, and (probably due to the Conan link) often included in the worlds of other games.

Mu – and this is a familiar origin by now – was suggested (in the mid 1800s) to have been a lost continent in the Pacific, that has long since sunk and become lost to time. Obvious connections to Atlantis and Lemuria were suggested (the Victorians loved their lost continent myths!) but Mu developed it’s own identity when professional prevaricator James Churchward made a career out of writing books about the place, which included a wealth of alleged evidence that roped in everything from ancient Indian fables to the Bible. These books were extremely popular, and for a time Mu was ‘bigger’ than Atlantis in the public psyche. I think those days, much like Mu itself, are behind us now. Had you heard of Mu before this entry?

H.P. Lovecraft mentioned Mu in many of his tales, and indeed the sunken cities inhabited by creatures of his Mythos are reminiscent more of Mu than Atlantis. Unsurprisingly, many of those followed in his footsteps and added stories to his mythos have also mentioned the mythical continent.

Ys was a mythic utopian city in northwest France (Brittany) that was said to have been built (over 2000 years ago) at the very edge of the land and surrounded by a great wall to protect it from the sea. Due to misadventure and deception, the wall was breached and the city was submerged, never to be seen again. The tale is romantic and fantastical, and various interpretations include powerful magic (a sorceress and even the Devil) and monsters (mermaids and sea dragons). Much like Avalon, it has been suggested that Ys is not gone for good, and evocatively ‘when Paris falls, Ys will rise again’. While Ys was been often described in books and art and even an opera during the 19th century, it seems to now faded from historical romanticism.

As a city and not a land, Ys doesn’t play any notable role in pulp literature, but the name was appropriated for a long-running series of Japanese role-playing video games (which are almost all very good). While they mostly have nothing at all to do with the actual myth, it’s worth noting that the cover of the first game is a literal interpretation, showing a city being swallowed by the sea.