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Jun 30

And the flaming rocket exhaust killed them. The End.Click for larger image

Good Show Sir Comments Why is this cover giving me deja vu? And a free GSS Prime subscription to whoever can figure out the title.

Published 1979

Actually, that cover IS a classical work of art!I would touch it without protective gloves.I've seen worse. Far, far, worse.Interesting, but I would still read it in public.Middlng: Neither awful nor awfully goodWould not like to be seen reading that!Awful... just awful...That belongs in a gold-lame picture frame!Gah... my eyes are burning! Feels so good!Good Show Sir! (Average: 4.23 out of 10)
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19 Responses to “Commodore Planet”

  1. THX 1139 Says:

    No, we need THE Bertram Chandler.

  2. R. Scott Russell Says:

    I like the little tri-spoke adjustment wheel near the base of the chair. Because, of course you want to add a certain ergonomic adjustment to the command chair before conquering all of time and space.

    Hidden meaning department: After painting so many of these covers it would appear that the artist felt the need to sneak in a peace symbol.

    If only as an afterthought.

  3. Bibliomancer Says:

    He must be “The Commodore”.
    And her stripper name is “Spartan Planet”
    Did I win?

  4. fred Says:

    Is her name Spartan Planet?

  5. Raoul Says:

    Is he sporting a Hitler mustache?

  6. Ryan Says:

    Spartan Planet, the touch typist, looks for a sea to set down the Commodore from the magnificence of her Space Command Chair and Mobile Artillery Emplacement.

  7. Bruce A Munro Says:

    @Raoul: the shading leaves it ambiguous, I think. Combined with the peace symbol it suggests the artist didn’t like Chandler’s attitudes.

    Once again, Alexander gives us helmets which neither keep in air nor offer the head any padding vs shocks (that’s quite a chair, but it lacks seatbelts.) My only explanation is that space is full of palm trees and you have to protect your head from falling coconuts.

  8. Tat Wood Says:

    It’s possible that Ari saw this cover and told the director ‘Chris, make me something just like this book. These books. Whatever’. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8eRzOYhLuw

    Or, more likely, the director said ‘there’s about five minutes of ‘Barbarella’ not recycled by Duran Duran and Kylie Minogue’.

    Then again, if the Commodor’s name is ‘Grimes’, maybe hers is ‘X AE A XII’.

    (This has been your daily ‘I’m down wid da yoot’ joke).

  9. THX 1139 Says:

    @Raoul: Ha, ha, no. It’s a Charlie Chaplin moustache,

  10. Rick Deckard Says:

    @THX: Ha, ha, no. It’s a Michael Jordan mustache.

  11. anon Says:

    “Koob 5
    CONTAINS GEMS, JADE FOR HIGHMOOR EMO
    for the meeting”. At venue, consort Mepediad Fed has
    MOTHER OCOMA SEATED
    for the miter fits together with
    TAN PLANE PARTS.
    by Trench Rambler Ada

  12. fred Says:

    If you follow the barrel of the rifle down into the rifle far enough I can’t see how it can function as a weapon.

  13. Bibliomancer Says:

    I assume Good Show Sir’s deja vu is being brought on by artist Paul Alexander’s very recent cover The Winds of Gath.

  14. GSS ex-noob Says:

    So they put the novellas “Commodore at Sea” and “Spartan Planet” (both of which are retitles, so it could have been worse! We could have also had “Previously titled” for both!) together in one book for a re-issue.

    And then they got Paul to do another in his endless series of “scantily clad women wearing ridiculous hats on over-detailed thrones” for the cover.

    However, the previous thrones were attached to something. This one’s just floating out in space. As @Ryan said, it’s a command chair and artillery emplacement, but apparently you can also get your hair done with the built-in salon dryer.

    squints at bottom of throne And judging by the symbol, it’s made by Mercedes-Benz. Sturdy German engineering lasts till the end of time.

    Is the man in back The Commodore, or her Space Beautician? Is he a high-ranking officer in the Space Beauty Navy? Is his armor part of the throne?

    @GSS: It’s OK, they won’t feel the rocket exhaust. Since their helmets don’t keep air in, they’re already dead. Maybe it’s an elaborate Future Viking funeral ceremony. Launch the queen and her consort into space, and then burn them with rocket exhaust.

    @anon: Delightful to see you again! GSS for working with all those words. Entirely appropriate for Fed and Mother Ocoma, which is what I’m going to call these two from now on.

  15. B. Chiclitz Says:

    Amid all the great commentary, I’m surprised no one has mentioned her impressive boots, suitable for storing extra space ammo for the Commodore’s manly gun.

    I don’t think that’s a peace symbol, but a Mercedes logo. Her chair must have been one of those advanced Super Weapons the Third Reich couldn’t produce enough of in time to turn the tide of the war.

    Bibliomancer wins the deja vu contest. At first I thought maybe this recent cover was the answer, but I wasn’t certain.

  16. Hammy Says:

    You can tell The Commodore’s at sea because of his headdress that looks like a jumbo shrimp….

  17. Ryan Says:

    @Hammy, #16, I think you misspelled “transparent armadillo”.

  18. GSS ex-noob Says:

    Let’s call it an ocean-going transparent armadillo with tentacles and call it a day.

    @BC: I thought it was a Mercedes logo too. You’re right, she could get one clip in each of her boots — but that would ruin the fit and line of them.

  19. A. R. Yngve Says:

    When she fires employees, she FIRES them!

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