Cloudbase's lookalikes

by **chrisbishop** » Sun Jan 30, 2005 5:04 am

A few months ago, I had seen the movie "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" and was rather astonished by a sight that present itself to my eyes about a half hour before the end of the movie. The movie is a clever tribute to old 1920s to 1940s serials movies, with dashing heroes and extravagant world-threatening villains, and has been filmed like it might have been by a 30s director - with his naive vision of the near future.

I bought the movie recently, and saw the said image again, and thought it was time I show it to you all, to see what your reaction would be. I found the image on the net. Here it is:

In the movie, it's called a 'mobile airstrip' - and if you're wondering, it's commandeered by a dashing British officer played by a one-eyed Angelina Jolie...

In addition to this, here's another picture. People who read ou had read Marvel Comic Group comics might recognise it:

This is a recent rendition of the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, the hovering headquarters or the S.H.I.E.L.D. organisation, an anti-spies organisation which leader is (still one-eyed!) Colonel Nick Fury. The Helicarrier has been seen in many Marvel comics, but most notably in Captain America. I have to admit that I don't know WHEN the Helicarrier has been thought of for the comics. To my knowledge, it exists since the 70s, but it might older than that. I will have to check that, if only out of curiosity.

But you have to admit there is a similarities between these two carriers AND Cloudbase!

Waiting for your reaction...

And have you ever seen yourself ANYTHING elsewhere that might have reminded you of SOMETHING from the Captain Scarlet series?

by **yorkie** » Mon Jan 31, 2005 8:34 am

The Japanese sci-fi series Ultraman Gaia had an "Aerial Base" which launched loads of jet "XIG" fighters.

Bandai toy version : http://www.toyeast.com/v2/proddetail2.a ... d=TBA70601

by **Carrie** » Thu Feb 03, 2005 12:00 am

Chris...love that photo of the S.H.I.E.L.D helicarrier!!!! I had a trawl arounf the net and I found a reference to it a comic dated Dec 1968 Issue 10 of Nick Fury. I'm sure the thing has probably mutated quite a few times in the intervening years...

by **chrisbishop** » Thu Feb 03, 2005 4:31 am

I found two sites with interesting drawings of many incarnations of the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier.

This one is where I took the picture I used:

http://www.iconian.com/fury/heli.html

And there is this other page, with a few of the same drawings, and a blueprint!

http://home.gate.net/~nickfury/shield/w ... rrier.html

by **Captain Indigo** » Sat Feb 05, 2005 12:22 am

Whoa! Second from the bottom on the iconian site! That must be the ultimate Cloudbase!

by **shaqui** » Fri Feb 11, 2005 2:53 pm

There was a 1960s german SF film, whose title I think translated as 'F.P.1 Does Not Respond' - F.P.1 being a mid-Atlantic flying platform used by planes as a stopover for long crossings.

I'll see if i can sourse an image - there may be one in my encyclopedia of SF films.

by **shaqui** » Fri Feb 11, 2005 2:58 pm

My mistake - the 'f' stood for 'floating' rather than 'flying' - but you'll get the gist in this poster - and it was a lot earlier. 1932, apparently...

by **chrisbishop** » Wed Feb 01, 2012 6:42 pm

Reviving this very old topic... I was just browsing around Comingsoon.net today, and found this interesting picture of a toy, based on the SHIELD Helicarrier, as it will be presented in the upcoming "The Avengers" movie:

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=86464

Quite similar, don't you think?

by **Carrie** » Sun Feb 05, 2012 12:04 am

I agree, Chris, very closely based. I was almost thinking the Quinjet looked like the NCS Hummingbird at first glance,but on closer inspection, the only similarity is the bug shaped windshield.....

by **adam blue** » Sun May 13, 2012 5:28 pm

Looks a bit like Skybase in some ways.