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Starcruiser: Look-In - 1977-78
 Starcruiser is alleged to have started life as a proposal for a half-hour, live action series for the CBS channel in America. As related in his recent biography, Gerry Anderson recalls, "I devised an ultra-modern house where a mother, father, and two kids lived. At the touch of a button the house would literally fold into a spaceship. The family would travel around the universe from planet to planet... " In some ways, this could be seen as an extrapolation of the format devised for The Day After Tomorrow: Into Infinity, which Anderson had made as an educational special between the two series of Space:1999 (i.e. mid-1975). Anderson developed the format further, with his co-producer on Space:1999 Fred Freiberger, but the two men did not see eye-to-eye on the format, and the sale of the series never went ahead.
Several Starcruiser 'prototypes' were built by Martin Bower, an enthusiastic model-maker who had entered the professional effects field on Space:1999. Bower is adamant when constructing these was that Starcruiser was little more than a marketing exercise by Keith Shackleton, and nothing to do with any series, despite what the Starlog feature implied.
The initial design of Starcruiser (above, reproduced by kind permission) is entirely Bower's, with nods to the style of Earth space craft seen in the two series of Space:1999 and The Day After Tomorrow: Into Infinity. Modifications to the design were requested several times, coming through Shackleton from Airfix who, having had a lot of success with the recent Eagle Transporter and Hawk Interceptor kits for Space:1999, saw mileage in a new and similar venture. The failure to sell the concept of Starcruiser, and another called Intergalactic Rescue (aka Rescue 4), as potential series left Anderson in a weakened state, business wise. In the meantime, he took on work for the Junior TV Times magazine Look-In, and freely admits in his biography it was because he needed the money.
'The Worlds Of Gerry Anderson' made its first appearance in issue 2 of the 1977 volume of Look-In, appearing on the page after the Space:1999 strip which had already run for over a year. Occupying the top half of the page, Anderson answered readers' questions on his series, mainly the recent Space:1999 but also the ever-popular Thunderbirds and UFO. The bottom half of the page was taken up by a new strip called... Starcruiser.
 David Jefferis was commissioned by Look-In editor Colin Shelbourn to write and draw the weekly instalments. Jefferis was already a well-established freelance graphics artist with the Observer Sunday Magazine, and had worked on Look-In before, providing illustrations for various features such as 'The World At War' (based on the TV series) and related Look-In/TV Times publications, such as Peter Fairley's Is There Life In Outer Space? At the time, David Jefferis was also working as an in-house editor with Usborne, producing educational books with a scientific basis (or 'sci-tech and gee-whiz titles' as he describes them) such as 'The Usborne Book Of The Future' (written and co-produced with the late Kenneth Gatland) and 'Mysteries Of The Unknown'. Jefferis continues to work in publishing with his own business Alpha Communications, producing such educational ranges as Megatech and Future Space for the international market.
As part of the brief from Colin Shelbourn, David Jefferis was required to make the Starcruiser stories educational as well, and most of the installments featured information on astronomy, technology or any other aspect that may have had a bearing on that week's adventure. 'The strip was mine.' Jefferis recalls, 'I don't think I ever saw a finished TV script. I had some black and white pictures of a model to work from, and Gerry Anderson and his company approved my ideas.' A photo of this version of the Starcruiser model, apparently modified by model company Airfix (including the 'one-man skyfighter' and 'all-terrain vehicle' not apparent in the strip version), made a belated appearance in Look-In in early 1978, about a year into the strip's run (see above). Jefferis continues, 'I made several visits to Pinewood and also did some bigger art used as backdrops for the 'Space City' exhibition at Blackpool.' Ruefully, he adds, 'I didn't make it up there to view though.'
 Photo: One of the early reference photos used for the Starcruiser strip. Note the 'ISU' markings - see notes for Story One.
Courtesy of David Jefferis.
With such a tight brief for educational content, did this dictate the flow of the stories, or vice versa? 'It was - and still is - a reflection of my day job in educational publishing,' Jefferis explains, 'And the two tend to mix naturally. I did a very brief story outline, a line or two per episode, the fact element flowed naturally from this.' And from what sources and research would he have drawn inspiration? 'All sorts - I'm not sure I could point to any single influence, though the British Interplanetary Society and US futurists were certainly in the frame. I was really reflecting many of the leading-edge ideas of the time.'
Because of his high-powered day job, Jefferis worked on the Starcruiser strip in the evenings, 'I outlined each adventure, then let details make themselves on a weekly basis. The process was usually Monday night for pencils, Tuesday night for inks, Wednesday night to polish. So this method worked well - unless something else intervened in which case it got done quicker or I would do two episodes in one hit.'
 While a commitment to his already heavy workload, Jefferis enjoyed his time on the strip. It was a working arrangement that was very easy, 'I delivered and they printed. Colin (Shelbourn) and I chatted and lunched from time to time; he was an easy hands-off editor, which is ideal for reliable contributors. We still remain good friends.'
The first of the main characters in the strip was the heroic David Starr. There's a marked similarity between the astronaut and his creator - was he really the alter-ego of David Jefferis? 'The looks of David Starr weren't really 'me in the mirror', though it's fair to say I've always wanted to be an astronaut. I applied for NASA's educator-astronaut program but US citizens only, sad to say.' And his co-pilot, the slender attractive Venus Brown. Was that based on anyone in particular? 'No, but she was certainly a female type I have a taste for!' The duo would later be accompanied by an alien robot 'Black Borl', who disappears without comment after The Mines Of Jupiter. The short nature of each installment left little room for characterisation, though semi-regulars Professors Phatte and Thynne act as comedy relief in a couple of stories, as well as providing a couple of dramatic rescue missions having usually got into some form of trouble.
Starcruiser story guide - part one
Story One
Written and drawn by David Jefferis. Half-page, b/w.
Part 1 (76/01) - Issue 2, week ending 08 January 1977
Earthport is the 'Victoria Station' of the Space Age, 75 years into the future. The first mission of Starcruiser, and its crew David Starr and Venus Brown is to test its laser fusion motors around the Solar System.
Factual: The Solar System
 Part 2 (76/02) - Issue 3, week ending 15 January 1977
The destination of Starcruiser on this 'short-range' test flight is Saturn, a giant ringed gas giant in the outer Solar System.
Factual: The rings of Saturn
Part 3 (76/03) - Issue 4, week ending 22 January 1977
In the vicinity of Saturn, Starcruiser picks up an emergency signal and launches its command module to investigate. It finds a ship wrecked by a shower of meteoroids.
Factual: Meteoroids and Craters
Part 4 (77/04) - Issue 5, week ending 29 January 1977
David Starr and Venus Brown find a survivor floating in space and bring him aboard.
Factual: Spacesuits
Part 5 (77/05) - Issue 6, week ending 05 February 1977
The survivor tells of how a meteoroid shower struck without warning and air pressure blew the ship apart.
Factual: Air pressure
Part 6 (77/06) - Issue 7, week ending 12 February 1977
With its injured astronaut, Starcruiser uses its laser-fusion drive to return to Earth.
Factual: Laser Fusion Drive
Part 7 (77/07) - Issue 8, week ending 19 February 1977
Starcruiser lands at Earthport with the injured astronaut, and he is taken away by ambulance.
Factual: The 'Super-Ambulance' of the year 2051
Notes:
• The introductory story is brief and to the point, with a heavy accent on educational science wrapped in a thin layer of dramatisation.
• The graphic style of David Jefferis is a joy, though the story and characterisation come a very long way after the factual content.
• David Jefferis retained some copies of early artwork that feature slight differences. In these originals (see Part 1, above right), Starcruiser is referred to as 'the Interstellar Survey Unit' (ISU - apparent in the markings on early reference photos), and the command module as the crew pod. Based on photos of Martin Bower's 'final' version of the initial Starcruiser model, it also features the antennae that was later replaced by the one-man interceptor, has no wings, and a less detailed pod minus windows at the front.
• The fuel truck in part 1 is also marked as being made by 'Leyland' (a British car manufacturer) which was taken out for the final version.
• The original version of part 3 mentions watching for meteors 'especially on the 12th November' - a reference to the regular Leonid shower. But this was changed for the printed version, suggesting the strip may have originally been intended to start in the autumn of 1976.
• David Jefferis confesses his inspiration for the wrecked spaceship was the Nimbus Two from the Dan Dare story 'Project Nimbus' (1960), drawn by Frank Bellamy.
Story Two
Written and drawn by David Jefferis. Half-page, b/w.
Part 1 (77/08) - Issue 9, week ending 26 February 1977
A new mission for Starcruiser - to make an ultra-close flight by the Sun, to test its cooling systems.
Factual: The Sun
Part 2 (77/09) - Issue 10, week ending 05 March 1977
With all insulation and cooling systems at go, Starcruiser makes a close fly-by of Mercury, the nearest planet to the Sun.
Factual: The Planet Mercury
Part 3 (77/10) - Issue 11, week ending 12 March 1977
Starcruiser unfolds its 'wings' which will allow heat to escape into space. With David Starr and Venus Brown in heatsuits, the 'fridge systems suddenly malfunctions.
Factual: The refridgeration system
Part 4 (77/11) - Issue 12, week ending 19 March 1977
Its 'refridgeration wings' blown away, Starcruiser has one chance - to shelter in the shadow of the asteroid Icarus.
Factual: The Sun-Shield
 Part 5 (77/12) - Issue 13, week ending 26 March 1977
Starcruiser shelters in the shadow of Icurus while its crew repair the cooling system.
Factual: The eccentric orbit of Icarus
Part 6 (77/13) - Issue 14, week ending 02 April 1977
Starcruiser returns to Earth orbit and stops off at one of a ring of large orbital stations - Space Wheel Two.
Factual: The Space Wheel
Part 7 (77/14) - Issue 15, week ending 09 April 1977
Starcruiser docks at the central hub of Space Wheel Two and while the engineers check over the ship, David Starr and Venus Brown use one of the 'spokes' to travel to the gravity of the outer ring.
Factual: Centrifugal force
Part 8 (77/15) - Issue 16, week ending 16 April 1977
Now fully repaired, Starcruiser prepares to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere.
Factual: The Space Shuttle: Plan 1 & Heat Resistant Tiles
Part 9 (77/16) - Issue 17, week ending 23 April 1977
No actual story this installment
Factual: The Space Shuttle: Plan 2
Part 10 (77/17) - Issue 18, week ending 30 April 1977
Starcruiser re-enters the Earth's atmosphere.
Factual: Make Your Own Gliding Shuttle
Notes:
• Keeping the style brief, this story saw the introduction of 'do-it-yourself' experiments for the more scientifically minded. Centrifugal force was demonstrated using a marble on a record player, while you could make your own 'sun-shield' to protect yourself from the heat of a fire by using a stick and some tin-foil (see illustration).
Story Three
Written and drawn by David Jefferis. Half-page, b/w.
Part 1 (77/18) - Issue 19, week ending 07 May 1977
Flight Profile ++ Direct flight Earth-Moon ++ Flight-time 13 hrs ++ Land in deepest part of giant crater COPERNICUS ++ Detach and test mobile pod ++ Take 2 test crew ++ Professors Phatt and Thynne ++ Take-off imminent ++ T minus 41 minutes ++ report progress throughout the mission ++++++ GOOD LUCK ++++.
The rotund Professor Phatt is looking forward to losing some of his weight in the lower gravity, while the slender Professor Thynne thinks he has none to lose!
Factual: The Moon
 Part 2 (77/19) - Issue 20, week ending 14 May 1977
Starcruiser lifts off for the Moon.
Factual: The Apollo Moonship
Part 3 (77/20) - Issue 21, week ending 21 May 1977
Starcruiser approaches on the lunar surface.
Factual: Make Your Own Craters
Part 4 (77/21) - Issue 22, week ending 28 May 1977
Landing on the Moon, Starcruiser detaches its mobile pod and Professors Phatt and Thynne take readings.
Factual: Conditions on the Lunar Surface
Part 5 (77/22) - Issue 23, week ending 05 June 1977
A lift jet fails and the pod goes into a spin but Professor Thynne switches to auto-pilot.
Factual: Lunokhod One - a 1970 Russian Moon Probe - the first 'computer' pilot
Part 6 (77/23) - Issue 24, week ending 12 June 1977
Two more jets fail and even the robo-pilot cannot prevent the pod from crash-landing into a dust-filled crevasse.
Factual: Radio Blockage
Part 7 (77/24) - Issue 25, week ending 19 June 1977
Professor Phatt launches the laser-com which lifts out of the crevasse and sends an SOS to the Starcruiser.
Factual: Lasers
Part 8 (77/25) - Issue 26, week ending 26 June 1977
Having lost contact with the professors, David Starr and Venus Brown lift off in the Starcruiser command module and use seismic searching to find the buried mobile pod.
Factual: Seismic Searching
Part 9 (77/26) - Issue 27, week ending 03 July 1977
Picking up the SOS from on the laser receiver, the command module switches to VTOL.
Factual: Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL)
Issue 28, week ending 10 July 1977
No Starcruiser - Strip replaced by full page Worlds Of Gerry Anderson feature on Space City exhibition at Blackpool.
Part 10 (77/27) - Issue 29, week ending 17 July 1977
Having located the pod, Venus finds it is buried under tons of lunar dust. So the command module's engines are used to blow it away, leaving the pod clear to be rescued. The professors thank them but ask them not to take so long next time!
Factual: Clearing the Moon dust
Notes:
• The first use of humour and the introduction of semi-regulars Professors Phatt and Thynne - the Laurel and Hardy of space - add a little more humanity to the strip.
Story Four
Written and drawn by David Jefferis. Half-page, b/w.
 Part 1 (77/28) - Issue 30, week ending 24 July 1977
New Mission. Repairs to mobile pod carried out ++ Pod now fully operational - mission profile now follows... Large fuel tanks now being fitted to Starcruiser in Earth Orbit ++ They will boost speed to nearly light speed ++ 186,300 miles per second ++ Fast enough for ship to reach target ++
Destination is Alpha Centauri star system ++ Nearest stars to Sun ++ Distance 4.2 Light Years ++ System consists of three stars +++ whether they have planets is unknown ++.
Factual: The Nearest Stars
Part 2 (77/29) - Issue 31, week ending 31 July 1977
Accelerating out of the solar system at 9,000 miles per second and increasing, Starcruiser passes a comet.
Factual: Comets
Part 3 (77/30) - Issue 32, week ending 07 August 1977
Starcruiser's velocity increases to 90% of lightspeed and magnetic ramscoops are activated. Venus tells David it is time to enter the hibernation cells.
Factual: Ramscoops
Part 4 (77/31) - Issue 33, week ending 14 August 1977
As Starcruiser nears a target planet around Alpha Centauri, the auto-pilot awakens the crew.
Factual: Radar
Part 5 (77/32) - Issue 34, week ending 21 August 1977
Starcruiser nears a planet with three moons.
Factual: Other Worlds
 Part 6 (77/33) - Issue 35, week ending 28 August 1977
The planet has an oxygen atmosphere so David and Venus take the command module to the surface.
Factual: The 'Ecosphere' - the habitable zone around a star
Part 7 (77/34) - Issue 36, week ending 04 September 1977
Dubbing the planet 'Terra Nova' (New Earth), David and Venus 'skip' the command module over the atmosphere in a controlled deceleration.
Factual: Atmospheric 'Skipping
Part 8 (77/35) - Issue 37, week ending 11 September 1977
Entering the atmosphere, the command module encounters and collides with a swarm of flying 'gas-bags'.
Factual: 'Gasbags' - one concept of alien life
Part 9 (77/36) - Issue 38, week ending 18 September 1977
Its starboard thruster damaged and on fire, the command module veers to a crashlanding on a flat area of land - but it is quicksand...
Factual: Quicksand
Part 10 (77/37) - Issue 39, week ending 25 September 1977
David and Venus clamber out on top of the sinking module to check their chances. The module will be completely submerged in less than an hour and the motors are clogged - the main Starcruiser will not be overheard for another ninety minutes. But perhaps they can use the 'gas-bags' as zeppelins to get them out...
Factual: The Zeppelin
 Part 11 (77/38) - Issue 40, week ending 02 October 1977
Two signal rockets with wires stretched between them are launched towards another swarm of 'gas-bags'.
Factual: Barrage Balloons
Part 12 (77/39) - Issue 41, week ending 09 October 1977
The command module will be under the surface in about 20 minutes. David guides the rockets by radio control toward a herd of gasbags and, stunned by the wires, the creatures crash into the quicksand around them.
Part 13 (77/40) - Issue 42, week ending 16 October 1977
David and Venus tie parachute lines to the stunned 'gas-bags' and, when they recover, use them to ferry them to dry land - they hope!
Factual: Creating Gas By Chemicals
Part 14 (77/41) - Issue 43, week ending 23 October 1977
Venus believes herself to be over land and starts to descend but suddenly, tentacles reach out from the ground and grab her!
Factual: The Venus Fly-trap
Part 15 (77/42) - Issue 44, week ending 30 October 1977
Venus is ensnared by the alien man-eating plant but the main body of Starcruiser is now in range of their S.O.S. transmission and comes to their rescue. The sophisticated on-board computer uses its laser cannon to destroy the plant and free Venus. A return to Earth is still possible in the main body.
Factual: No factual content
Notes:
• The first story to venture outside the solar system, and the first use of more speculative science in the absense of actual facts about other star systems.
• The balance is nicely maintained but the story ends rather suddenly. It would have been nice to have a return trip, and perhaps a feature on relativity and time dilation (surely several years must have passed on Earth?).
Story Five - The Hell•World
Written and drawn by David Jefferis. Half-page, b/w.
Part 1 (77/43) - Issue 45, week ending 06 November 1977
Starcruiser has returned to Earth, and a well desrved rest while a new command module is fitted at Earthport, HQ of Starforce Command. Meanwhile a command sensor post picks up an S.O.S. in old fashioned morse code.
Factual: The Morse Code
 Part 2 (77/44) - Issue 46, week ending 13 November 1977
In response, Starcruiser is scrambled on a rescue mission to the planet Venus.
Factual: The Planet Venus
Part 3 (77/45) - Issue 47, week ending 20 November 1977
Orbiting the planet Venus, David and Venus pinpoint the S.O.S. to the Southern Utopia region.
Factual: The Russian probe Venera
Part 4 (77/46) - Issue 48, week ending 27 November 1977
Homing in on the signal, David and Venus pot the source - an old moon-mining robot.
Factual: Industrial robots
Part 5 (77/47) - Issue 49, week ending 04 December 1977
Half buried, the robot explains it was converted by its owners to work in high temperatures, and brought to Venus to search for new sources of mineral wealth.
Factual: Planetary Mining Resources
Part 6 (77/48) - Issue 50, week ending 11 December 1977
The owners are Professors Phatte and Thynne, and they too are trapped as a leg on their landing module has collapsed and it cannot take off safely.
Factual: The landing module.
Part 7 (77/49) - Issue 51, week ending 18 December 1977
Using powerdiggers, David and Venus free the robot - called Vee-One - and with characteristic ungratefulness obviously inherited from Phatte and Thynne, it goes to rescue them.
Factual: Vee-One's Rescue Plan
 Part 8 (77/50) - Issue 52, week ending 25 December 1977
Digging under the module and supporting the module in place of the collapsed leg, Vee-One is given orders to keep mining. But watching, David and Venus think the robot will be destroyed in the launch...
Factual: No real feature
Part 9 (77/51) - Issue 01, week ending 01 January 1978
Damaged by the launch, Vee-One was ordered to keep mining and it detects metal nearby...
Factual: Magnetic Anomaly Detectors
Part 10 (77/52) - Issue 02, week ending 08 January 1978
Activating its laser-beam tunneller, Vee-One follows its orders...
Factual: Tunnel Cutting Technology
Part 11 (77/53) - Issue 03, week ending 15 January 1978
But Vee-One is homing in on the nearby Starcruiser.
Factual: Accelerometers
Issue 04, week ending 22 January 1978
The Starcruiser strip took a break for a feature and competition.
 Part 12 (77/54) - Issue 05, week ending 29 January 1978
With ten minutes for Starcruiser's main lift motors to warm up, David Starr jumps in the cargo pod and uses its lift jets to lead Vee-One off.
Factual: Hovercrafts of the future
Part 13 (77/55) - Issue 06, week ending 05 February 1978
David Starr closes in on Vee-One and traps it in the cargo pod. Jumping into the gunship, Venus Brown tells Starr to get out and dive for cover - as missiles destroy the pod and Vee-One for good!
Factual: No factual content
Part 14 (77/56) - Issue 07, week ending 12 February 1978
Starcruiser makes a rendezvous with Phatte and Thynne's ship and asks if they need an escort. As ungrateful as ever, the Professors threaten to sue for the loss of Vee One when they return to Earth! But an emergency band signal diverts Starcruiser to Mars - and another mission.
Factual: H.G. Wells' Martians
Notes:
• This is the first story to be given a title.
• The final part is a kind of segue between The Hell•World and story 6 but makes a more fitting conclusion than opener.
• It is also the last strip to be dated for 1977.
With only the occasional break for an extended 'Worlds Of Gerry Anderson' feature or competition, the Starcruiser strip ran for two and a half years - did he regard the strip as a success? 'It was fun to do and it paid the mortgage. It would obviously have been more satisfying if the TV series had taken off. Which was why it eventually stopped in the mag.' Had things been different, and the Starcruiser strip continued in Look-In, was there anywhere else he would have taken the adventures? 'Oh yes... voyaging deep into the galaxy and the far stars beyond...'
 With so much time spent on Starcruiser and related material, did he still retain any momentoes from his work on the strip? 'I've got some b/w shots of the model, an original strip or two and maybe some art produced for Gerry Anderson's Space City expo in Blackpool. Might also the odd draft outline. All else is lost in the mists of time and space...'
In Part Two, we continue the story guide as Starcruiser visits Mars, Jupiter and the Andromeda Galaxy, and encounters the malevolent Doctor Doom! Plus David Jefferis explains his contribution to the release of the Airfix Kit.
The Gerry Anderson Complete Comic History would like to thank:
David Jefferis
Martin Bower
and Richard Farrell
- for their help with this feature.
Version 1.1 - 01.05.05
Any comments or notes about any of the strips, please contact technodelic@blueyonder.co.uk.
All text © The Gerry Anderson Complete Comic History, and its respective writers, and may not be reproduced without permission.
All images © their respective copyright holders
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