Terran Trade Authority.

OBJECTS OF OBSESSION #2: CLASSIC SCIENCE FICTION INSPIRATION (PART 1)

Classic science fiction has heart and soul, and an almost whimsical idea of what our futures might have held for us. It reached out into the vastness of time and space, and when these stories were thought up, years such as 2024 seemed almost too far away to even consider the possibility of them being rather ordinary times to live in. We have, of course, got technologies that are far beyond imagining in some ways, but in many, we’re lacking. Flying cars are burgeoning, but long distance space travel, and everyday exploration of the galaxy beyond our solar system is still a dream rather than a reality. So, in order to combat the disappointment of a lack of personal interstellar vehicles, we must return to one of the sources of visual inspiration for such idealistic futures. The Terran Trade Authority Handbook (or series of books), are probably what Stewart Cowley is best known for, and throughout the mid to late 70’s and early 80’s (as well as some output in the 00’s), he published over fifteen books, bulking out the lore of his various series, such as the aforementioned Terran Trade Authority and Galactic Encounters, which he wrote under the pseudonym Steven Caldwell. He collaborated with various other authors too across his oeuvre - these being: Scott Agnew, Jeff Lilly, Jonathan M. Thompson and Charles Herridge (there may be others).

I was exposed to the wonderful artwork and the incredible artists who made them through various means at a young age, but it wasn’t until a few years ago that I began to collect their work within these books, and since starting, I have been lucky enough to acquire a copy of each of the originally published titles. Unfortunately most if not all of them appear to be long since out of print, and finding all of these books in good condition is difficult… and talking about them probably just makes the problem worse. A good deal of them are readily available, but some are more scarce than others, and of those that are available, many have suffered the ravages of time. Many of mine have their former owners names scribbled in for instance - whoever writes in a book is a monster. Anyway, much, if not all of this work can be found online, but there is something special about leafing through these books - they’re time capsules of what science fiction was around the late seventies/early eighties, and the smell of old books goes hand in hand with the experience.

In perusing the pages, it makes me wonder how certain films/television shows/books might have differed in both their visual design and reception if given life my another artist with a different vision. What might the Star Wars films have looked like if one of the concept artist featured in these book were used instead of Ralph McQuarrie? We’ll be looking at his work specifically in more detail at a later date, but for now, his influence and that of Star Wars is more than obvious within the pages of these books. It’s almost impossible to visualise the films without his input, but not everything is so obviously inspired by his work, Star Wars, and other popular pieces of classic science fiction, such as Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, Dune, Thunderbirds, or books by authors such as Asimov, Clarke and Herbert - there are some lovely original ideas used within, but it’s also nice to appreciate those that have taken inspiration from what was popular at the time, and to see the individual artist’s spin on what they saw, as well as how some of these images might have influenced what came after them. There is a certain naïveté to the ideas of space, interstellar life, and the science behind it all. Everything in these books is a little more whimsical than we’re used to these days, and it seems to come from a real union between high fantasy and science fiction, where as nowadays, the two are invariably divorced from one another

Below is a list of each originally published book by Cowley/Cladwell and Herridge and as you can see, the artwork is wonderful to behold. The author’s invented worlds, or universes in these instances, wouldn’t be what they were without the aforementioned illustrators they collaborated with, and being so weighted in favour of the images, the artists who created the beautiful works that fill the pages of the Terran Trade Authority and Galactic Encounters books deserve more than a mere passing mention. Of the books I have collected, they feature illustrations from the following artist, and as you can see, they are beautiful, and represent the era of science fiction concept art perfectly. The original works were released in three groups, the Terran Trade Authority (five titles), Galactic Encounters (six titles), and a spin off, consisting of just one title.

We’re ignoring the roleplaying game rulebooks that were published in 2006/2014.

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SPACECRAFT 2000-2100 AD

(Terran Trade Authority)

By Stewart Cowley (1978):

Angus McKie, Bob Layzell, Jim Burns, Colin Hay, Tony Roberts, Alan Daniels, Peter Goodfellow.

Perhaps some Flash Gordon influences here, perhaps a little bit of Star Trek too?

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GREAT SPACE BATTLES

(Terran Trade Authority)

By Stewart Cowley and Charles Herridge (1979):

Angus McKie, Jim Burns, Peter Elson, Tony Roberts, Fred Gambino, Alan Daniels, Colin Hay, Bob Layzell, and Robin Hiddon.

I can’t help but think of Robot Wars when looking at the last image here. Perhaps the BBC prop department leaved through this when designing the house robots?

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SPACEWRECK: GHOST SHIPS AND DERELICTS OF SPACE

(Terran Trade Authority)

By Stewart Cowley (1979):

Tony Roberts, Colin Hay, Angus McKie, Alan Daniels, Robin Hiddon, Bob Layzell, Fred Gambino, and Peter Elson.

There are some very Star Trek scenes within this book, and you wouldn’t be surprised to see the crew of the Enterprise investigating these long forgotten space wrecks. I’m sure something like that happened in TNG…

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STARLINERS: COMMERCIAL TRAVEL IN 2000 AD

(Terran Trade Authority)

By Stewart Cowley (1980):

David Hardy, Trevor Webb, Tony Roberts, Chris Moore, Peter Elson, David Jackson, Fred Gambino, Nick Fox, Jeffrey Ridge, and Prieto Muriana.

Conan, but in space? The latter image evokes ancient powers perfectly, and the giant appears to be a cousin of Doctor Manhattan of the Watchmen.

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SPACEBASE 2000 (COMPILATION OF GREAT SPACE BATTLES & SPACECRAFT 2000-2100 AD)

(Terran Trade Authority)

By Stewart Cowley (1984):

Angus McKie, Jim Burns, Peter Elson, Tony Roberts, Fred Gambino, Alan Daniels, Colin Hay, Bob Layzell, Peter Goodfellow, and Robin Hiddon

The aesthetics that dominate in this book seem to have influenced the designers of Starfield, especially with the ship design featured in the first image, and the more realistic and utilitarian design choices in the astronauts costume.

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These books are voluminous in their content when it comes to beautiful artworks, and perhaps a little too much for one post, so I’m going to cover the Galactic Encounters series and the solitary spin-off book in the next part.

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