Author: alxkdd

Alien – Odeon, Leicester Square – 1979

alxkdd

A few years back I came across this Alien radio spot for the original London release back in 1979, something about this particular spot really struck a cord with me and sparked my imagination about what Alien must have been like to see on that opening weekend at the Odeon, Leicester Square. I love the urgency and specific nature of how the spot says “starts today, Odeon Leicester Square, late night show tonight and every night at 11:45PM”. That add must have just played during that one opening day of Alien, the one-off nature of the voice-over coupled with the haunting use of the Alien score really stuck with me over time and I’ve always wondered how much fun to it would have been to see it that day, especially in 70MM!

So as I was going through the Starburst back issues it was great to find this original advert for Alien playing at the Odeon, Leicester Square, which made me wonder what else was out there specifically about Alien playing at that one cinema where I’ve watched so many films over the years.

Starburst issue 14 -1979

Alien SB14 1979

Our good friend Alan Jones recently tweeted this picture from his invite archive, showing the original cast & crew screening with took place at the Odeon, Leicester Square Sunday 10th June and the first press screening which was up the road the Dominion in July. Note that both of those screenings were well in advance of the 6th September release for Alien.

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Digging around I also found this very fun picture on Reddit of someone’s dad who managed the Alien premiere at the Odeon with a flamethrower and Sigourney!

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And then there’s these two audience reaction pictures from Alien playing at the Odeon that I found on the stock picture website here.

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Lots of scares, one bloke who looks very intense and one lady about to spark up a cigarette in the cinema!

So that’s a brief look at Alien at the Odeon, will post more if I every find anything else!

Starburst – Dark They Were And Golden Eyed

alxkdd

Next up from our Starburst raid are these classic adverts for London’s first comic book shop – Dark They Were And Golden Eyed. Another great London store that I wish I could have paid a visit to, but sadly according to the Wiki page it actually closed down in 1981.

Dark They Were And Golden Eyed – 9-12 St. Anne’s Court, London, W1

Starburst Issue 1 – 1978Dark They Were SB1 1978

Starburst Issue 3 – 1978Dark They Were SB3 1978

Starburst Issue 5 – 1978Dark They Were SB5 1978

Starburst Magazine – Blade Runner

alxkdd

Welcome to our overview of Starburst magazine issues 1-87, which covers the years 1978 – 1985. After going through the first 100 issues of White Dwarf I was wondering where else I could find similar comic book shops and film adverts, so Starburst was the next logical step. I found these on Archive, the scans are slightly odd, the pictures don’t look great but the text is very readable though and I made some great finds going through these back issues, starting with:

Starburst – free Blade Runner preview screening in 1982.

There’s an interesting coincidence here, just a month ago our good friend and legendary film journalist Alan Jones had mentioned this screening in a tweet here.

Alan Jones Blade Runner

So it was strange to be looking at the advert for that very screening just a short time later. This stands out as it must have been quite a revelation to see Blade Runner for free so early on, seeing it fully fresh for the first time with no idea what to really expect from it. There were three screening around the UK, but the one in London is of most interest to us, the ABC Shaftsbury Avenue was still two screens back then, both of which were decent sizes, I can picture the huge crowd that was there to line up stretching all the way back up the street. I know it was busy as two issues later Starburst posted reaction letters they’re received from people saying how the screenings went, take a look further down to check them out. A small slice of Blade Runner history that was fun to find out more about.

Starburst issue 49 – 1982

Blade Runner Preview SB49 1982

Starburst issue 51 – 1982

Blade Runner Preview SB51 1982

White Dwarf Adverts – What’s Left?

alxkdd

So what’s left at the end of our White Dwarf adverts feature? Well we’ve gone through as many different London role playing games stores and themes as we can and there’s just two unclassified adverts left to look at, let’s take a look at them below:

Labyrinthe – Live Action Role Playing

White Dwarf 76 April 1986

Labyrinthe WD76 April 1986

I don’t have any real insight into this apart from that it’s an early appearance of LAPRing, Live Action Role Playing, in London. I wonder where they did this in London, using the word Underground hints at possible using an tube station, or maybe not, but that artwork is great either way!

White Dwarf 25 – June / July 1981

D&D Holiday WD25 June July 1981

We have to step outside of our London remit for this final entry, it’s a D&D Holiday advert that appeared one time only in the magazine, the title makes it sound interesting, but once you read it through there’s not really much there, at least to me. It’s just a regular B&B on the Isle Of Wight, where you can play Dungeons & Dragons if you want it, it’s not a dedicated event, it’s just a room to play D&D in if you just happen to want it. Maybe I’ve got it wrong but it just seems like an odd angle to pitch a holiday around, it could really be the same advert for any hobby or interest. I wonder if anyone ever took them up on a D&D holiday?

Hope you’ve all enjoyed our look at Role Playing Games stores in London, coming up next we’ll be look for London film & comic shops in the pages of Starburst magazine!