1986: LOOK-IN AIRWOLF COLOUR POSTER AND JAN-MICHAEL VINCENT ARTICLE

From September 1986: A LOOK-IN cover and centre spread devoted to Jan-Michael Vincent and AIRWOLF.

It's interesting to note that the show had already been relegated to Saturday afternoons (LOOK-IN hadn't even got around to launching their comic strip version) despite starting off as a fixture of the primetime schedule (and the sauced-up home video version of the pilot was a certificate 18 release).

AIRWOLF's new early afternoon, before-the-shops, slot made it part of the essential post-WORLD OF SPORT (axed the previous September when ITV ran out of decent sport) schedule of SAINT & GREAVSIE and WRESTLING.

I'm guessing that the publicity still used for the pull-out poster is posed the way it is because there was no chance of getting Ernest Borgnine on his knees.  I wonder how many teenage girls (and boys) had him Blu Tacked to their wall...

1982: THE FALL GUY COMIC STRIP IN LOOK-IN

From June 1982: He's the unknown stuntman... LOOK-IN publishes the first episode of the new ongoing THE FALL GUY double-page strip, based on the Glen Larson TV show starring Lee Majors and NOT starring Heather Locklear.

There's a fun game you can play either whilst watching reruns of TFG or - indeed - any action film made before the 1980s: spotting/ guessing the source of the stock footage stunts, lifted from assorted movies (oft from the Fox library), peppered throughout the series to make Majors look good and the show look more expensive than it was.

FALL GUY trivia:  There is a 1993 TV movie called THE COVERGIRL MURDERS starring Majors (along with Adrian Paul and an island full of the sort of beaties beloved by telly execs) and written by Douglas Barr...co-star on TFG.

The Adam Ant cover was obligatory.LOOK-IN's arch rival (at least for a little while) TV TOPS also obsessed with the campy rocker.  Even going as far as creating a time-travelling comic strip to ensure he appeared in every issue.

1984: THE FIRST A-TEAM STRIP in LOOK-IN

From October 1984: THE A-TEAM arrive, in comics form, in LOOK-IN.

This wasn't the first outing of the iconic-yet-underrated action show in British comics.  Cannell's guns for hire had already been appearing in TV COMIC, the moribund long-runner that had shown some belated signs of life in the Eighties by running original strips based on THE DUKES OF HAZZARD, BATTLE OF THE PLANETS, TALES OF THE GOLD MONKEY and - ahem MISTER MERLIN.

Signing the A-listers hadn't been enough to keep the weekly in business and LOOK-IN were quick to swoop once the property came into play.  It really was a logical team-up and it must have annoyed and frustrated ITV Publications that - somehow - Universal had licensed it to someone else first.

However, adapting the show was not without some hassles.  Despite ruling the early Saturday night schedules (sorry Colin Baker), editors were worried that the random gun play (and cigars) might attract the attention of parents when translated to the printed page.  So firearms and tobacco were strictly controlled, no doubt to the frustration of the writers.

Universal's fast-and-loose licensing struck agaion the following summer when MARVEL UK published the first of two TAT specials, recycling the three-issue mini-series rushed into print in the States.  Someone had obviously spotted that LOOK-IN had securred the rights to publish a weekly strip... but not all comics rights.  It's telling that Marvel were never tempted to rerun the reprints, in serial form, in any of their late-eighties anthologies (THE INCREDIBLE HULK PRESENTS or MARVEL BUMPER COMIC) when the show was still bouncing around the ITV schedules.

I've posted about those Marvel specials, and the US limited series that spawned them, in posts-long-past.  Follow the link below to see my A-Team musings to date.

1983: TERRAHAWKS' ZELDA on the cover of LOOK-IN

From the very end of 1983: The last LOOK-IN of the year, which would have been on sale during the week between Christmas and New Year, spotlights the TERRAHAWKS strip (based on the Gerry Anderson show which no like more now than I did then... Although I still prefer STAR FLEET) with a Zelda cover.

The strip, written by Angus P. Allen and illustrated by Jim Baikie, had debuted at the beginning of December and ran into the following April. Behind the scenes, relations between the production and the weekly were souring over the (literal) artistic direction of the strip. The bust-up brought the print adventures to an early end despite ITV having more episodes to show.

1980: LOOK-IN TOM BAKER COVER

From January 1980: LOOK-IN uses Tom Baker's stint (1979-81) as host of Yorkshire TV's THE BOOK TOWER (1979-89) as an excuse for a cover.  Tom's final episodes as the fourth Doctor aired the following year. 

1979: SAPPHIRE AND STEEL in LOOK-IN (ITV Publications)

From August 1979: SAPPHIRE AND STEEL make their LOOK-IN debut.  

The strip was written by Angus Allan and illustrated by Arthur Ransom.  It enjoyed a long, albeit not continuous run, through to 1981.  The sporadically scheduled show ran for another year, ending in August 1982.  

As with almost all the strips that appeared during Look-In's long (and, generally, illustrious) run, the S&S material has never been reprinted or collected. 

The TV show (produced by ATV at their Elstree studios for networking on ITV) made its screen debut a few weeks earlier on the 10th July.  The 1979 run was interrupted, during the second story (the memorable... albeit slow... adventure set in an abandoned railway station), by the national ITV strike which blacked out the entire network (save for little Channel TV). 

1982: STAR WARS TV PREMIERE in LOOK-IN (ITV Publications)

From October 1982: A fascinating issue of ITV's LOOK-IN.

It's ridiculously hard to emphasis what a massively big deal the TV premiere of STAR WARS was.  Almost five years after its British theatrical premiere (just after Christmas 1977), it was finally coming to the small screen.  It had been a long wait.

I'm not even sure whether it had been released (officially) on home video at this point but, even it is was, it was strictly rental only.  The affordable sell-through market was still a few years away.

How many families bought or rented a VCR simply to record and keep Star Wars?  Or borrowed the school, college or workplace machine (assuming it was bolted to a hefty trolly) for the weekend? 

LI stablemate TV TIMES also ran a STAR WARS cover and feature to celebrate the premiere... and I'll get to that...

Why didn't ITV make it their big Christmas Day film?  Ad space is in higher demand in the pre-Christmas sales period so ITV could charge a premium for ads in highly-rated programmes in the final three months of the year.  Christmas Day films could command huge audiences... but generated less income because the gift buying season was over.  

But... there were other delights that weekend as well.  ITV also premiered (with considerably less fanfare) the first episode of STAR FLEET, the legendary puppet SF show from Japan.  From the opening theme and the first few minutes, it was obvious that this adventure serial was something special.  And it was.  It became essential viewing throughout the run.  And, if I recall correctly, a latter quirk in ITV's regional scheduling meant I could watch it twice ever weekend.  The memory may be cheating but I think Anglia kept it in its Saturday morning slot... but neighboring LWT shuffled it to Sundays... allowing people (like me) who lived on the border of both regions the chance to double-dip.  

And LOOK-IN also teased the show that never was: BIG DADDY'S SATURDAY SHOW.  Central's networked Saturday morning entry for the 1982-83 season should have been fronted by the legendary wrestler.  Despite his lack of TV presenter experience.  And this show was live.  What could possibly go wrong?  The improbably-named Shirley Crabtree bowed-out (apparently because of ill-health although I can't help wondering whether someone belatedly concluded that it was a non-starter) at the last moment and the show was hastily rebadged (with a tweaked title sequence) as simply THE SATURDAY SHOW.  TV mainstay Tommy Boyd was drafted in to anchor alongside the already-booked Isla St Clair (another TV favourite but, again, somewhat lacking in the live-TV-presenting department).  

It proved a canny move for Boyd.  He stuck around for TSS successor SATURDAY STARSHIP (legendary for appearances by Spider-man, Gerry Anderson and - in the finale - the Fink Brothers) and then moved to main presenter duties (and also, apparently, a management role) at TV-am's Wide Awake Club.  The following decade he even became the regular presenter of CITV's equivalent of the continuity "broom cupboard". 

1980: STAR WARS and MORK & MINDY on LOOK-IN (ITV Publications)

From August 1980: A Star Age line-up that only LOOK-IN could concoct... Mork, Mindy and Darth.

It's a shame LOOK-IN were starting to loose interest in the BATTLESTAR GALACTICA strip (it wrapped its year-long run in October)... shoehorning a Cylon into the picture as well would have been the ultimate icon mash-up. 

1982: STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KAHN in LOOK-IN (ITV Publications)

From August 1982: LOOK-IN boldly goes again with a cover and four-page centre spread devoted to STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KAHN.  

Trek was still a BBC show throughout the bulk of the Eighties (they renewed the rights to the whole package at the end of the decade... and promptly shared them with Sky) but ITV's LOOK-IN wasn't averse to covering the new movie releases.  It probably helped that ITV owned the rights to the movies... although the gap between theatrical and TV premiere was around three years!

1983: LOOK-IN with E.T 3-D (ITV Publications)

From April 1983: LOOK-IN, and E.T, go 3-D!

IPC's EAGLE had already embarked, back in February and March, on a four-week 3-D binge and, no sooner had that promotion ended (with the issue dated 19 March), LOOK-IN followed fast behind with the issue on sale in the last week of the month.  

I've always loved the way the designer (and all the bods paid to tape the specs to the cover) incorporated the glasses into the cover's layout.  It's very effective and, ahem, eye-catching.  

Unlike the big E, Look-In restricted the 3-D material to the features pages, depriving weekly followers of the Bucks Fizz strip the chance to see their pop-tastic heroes rendered in an additional dimension. 

E.T was already approaching the first anniversary of the film's US release (11 June '82) but had only reached the UK the previous December and would have still been doing the rounds of British cinemas in March/ April. 

1980: WH SMITH MATCHBOX AND CORGI TOYS ADVERT from LOOK-IN

From August 1980: A one-page WH SMITH (love the old 'box' logo... still on the doors of the Cardiff branch... and no doubt throughout the chain with notoriously threadbare carpets and weather-worn stores) advert promoting Corgi and Matchbox toys.

There's a lot of classics on show here, all of these were playground staples in the Star Age and I personally had (and may still have... tucked away in a loft somewhere) the Superman van (and a pink Charlie's Angels variation), the James Bond Lotus, the Wonder Woman buggy (containing a butch-looking WW whom my mum compared to a "Red Indian"), the Batmobile (hard to believe the TV show was already a decade old at this point but ownership of the toy was still a playtime prerequisite) and - best of all - the Supermobile (as plugged in the comic book itself) with spring-loaded "punching fists' feature. 

This advert appeared in a copy of LOOK-IN. 

From September 1981: the New Season issue of LOOK-IN... and also the end of an era...

Proof positive that the CBS live-action SPIDER-MAN TV show took its sweet time (delayed by the feature film versions) to cross the Atlantic... the announcement of its impending arrival on ITV from LOOK-IN.  

It was usual practice for LOOK-IN to publish strip adaptations of any pre-watershed (ruling out THE PROFESSIONALS) shows deemed of sufficient interest to its readership and not already licensed to another title (which didn't seem to stop them doing their own versions of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA and THE A-TEAM) which would have made Spidey a shoe-in.  Except, of course, Marvel UK had those rights all stitched up.  The long-running weekly changed its name (SUPER SPIDER-MAN TV COMIC) and format (glossy front-and-centre spreads) to make the most of the marketing moment.  

Other highlights of the new ITV season (LOOK-IN was, of course, published by ITV Publications... owned by the regional ITV companies principally to publish their listings in TV TIMES magazine) included METAL MICKEY (another show that, for different reasons, never secured a comic strip slot herein... although the editors were confident enough to announce its impending debut.  It went to TV TOPS instead) and John Inman in TAKE A LETTER MR JONES.  Sadly LI readers were deprived of the chance to read a weekly dose of comic strip campery as well.  

This was also the last issue to feature the often stunning artwork covers (notable for some very odd combinations of cover stars depending on who was featured on any particular week) that served it so well throughout most of the Seventies.  The following issue switched to the photo-covers that continued for the rest of the mag's long run. 

1987: STAR TREKKIN' in LOOK-IN

More STAR TREK!  And a song that, once heard, will stay in your head for days (sorry about that!): the summer 1987 British hit single (and Trek cliche compilation) STAR TREKKIN' by The Firm.

British TV-and-pop weekly LOOK-IN jumped on the bandwagon with this cover and song words pull-out which'll help you sing along.

Just close your eyes... and pretend you're back at that convention disco...

1980: BUCK ROGERS DEBUTS IN LOOK-IN (ITV Publications)

Campy space fare BUCK ROGERS IN THE 25th CENTURY finally arrived on ITV a year after its debut on NBC.  And the broadcaster's in-house weekly comic LOOK-IN celebrated with this cover and pull-out centre spread.

Buck arrived almost the same time as (the even more delayed) BATTLESTAR GALACTICA although Buck was given a coveted network slot on Saturday evenings as powerhouse competition to DOCTOR WHO (the first time ITV had attempted a coherent scheduling strategy against the time traveller after years of leaving each regional company to counter-programme however they saw fit.  The impact on WHO's ratings were significant) whilst the rag-tag fleet were left to drift around the regions.

Universal's decision to release the pilot episode as a feature film meant ITV couldn't air it immediately, although they did run it later (the same rights problem struck again when the BBC acquired the series in the eighties).

The Buck Rogers comic strip debuted a few weeks later, and I covered the strip's history in the UK (running all the way to 1984) in this post. 

1985 - BEEB ISSUE 1 (Polystyle)

BEEB was the blink-and-you-missed-it (beginning in January 1985) attempt by publisher Polystyle (who'd recently put the long-terminal TV COMIC out of its prolonged misery) to build a rival to LOOK-IN by - sensibly enough - pulling together a look-alike built around BBC properties.

Beeb (of course, the nickname for the corporation) ticked all the boxes with gushing TV, sports and music coverage, all pegged (wherever possible) to BBC shows likely to appeal to kids (as the cover below shows, that inevitably included BLUE PETER and SATURDAY SUPERSTORE).  It's sobering to think that Janet Ellis was considered enough of a draw to prominently feature on the first cover.  

The comic strips included THE FAMILY NESS, ONE BY ONE (groan), TRIPODS (notoriously, the show that managed to make the occupation of Earth by giant alien war machines seem dull), BANANAMAN (already appearing in DC Thompson's NUTTY but winning a slot here by virtue of the Goodies-voiced cartoon)  and - from the States - the (only) comic strip adaptation of Glen Larson's short-lived AUTOMAN (somehow overlooked in the merchandise gallery on the recent DVD release).  

Beeb closed - without warning - a few months later.  I thought it lasted a mere 12 weeks although online sources quote twenty.  LOOK-IN, launched back in January 1971, barely noticed and soldiered on until 1994.

The BBC didn't make the same mistake again: its next venture into the teens-and-under market, FAST FORWARD (1989-95) was published in-house by BBC Magazines and benefited (until the rules changed) from heavy on-air promotion (Fast-fast-Forward) in the critical junction between the official end of CBBC and the beginning of NEIGHBOURS.

1979: STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE in LOOK-IN

December 1979 saw STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE hit the British big screen.  And LOOK-IN, despite Star Trek being a BBC show in the UK, marked the occasion with a cover and interior feature, poster and competition.  All of which can be found below.

Unlike BATTLESTAR GALACTICA (also featured in this issue), Look-In never had a Trek comic strip.

Years later, ST:TMP would get its UK television premiere... on ITV.