By: Kloskk

Kloskk — Fri, 24 Feb 2017 11:46:16 +0000

The Unquiet Island recalls the films of the fifties. It makes it unique in the Jeff Hawke canon by displaying the domestic bliss of Laura doing the cooking!
Another nostalgic strip, the Martian Invasion takes you back to the sci-fi films of 1950s,especially ‘It came from Outer Space’.

By: Duncan Lunan

Duncan Lunan — Thu, 09 Feb 2017 21:19:44 +0000

‘Unquiet Island” was written in context of the creation of the military rocket range on South Uist in 1958-59. The Range is now an important part of the island’s economy but at first was strongly opposed, inspiring “Rockets Galore”, Compton MacKenzie’s sequel to “Whisky Galore”. In the film the Range is used for development of the Thunderbird ground-to-air missile and it is now used for training with the Rapier, but originally it was for the Royal Artillery to train with the Firestone Corporal, the 46-foot rocket seen at the beginning of Mike Todd’s “Around the World in 80 Days”. At age 13 in 1959, partly inspired by ‘Unquiet Island’, I went up there in hopes to see one and due to a series of misunderstandings, I got a full tour of the facilities and in effect a missile was fired for me to watch from the grandstand. I’ve told the story in ‘The Journal of the Royal Artillery’, Autumn 2002, condensed in JHC Vol. 6 No.1. I’m contacted about it by researchers from time to time (one chap drew heavily on it for his Ph.D thesis), Heather Couper wanted to do a BBC programme on it at one point, and another plan to film it seemingly isn’t coming off – but maybe some day…!

Comments on: Unquiet island – When the aliens never came

By: Kloskk

By: Duncan Lunan