Friday, 9 May 2014

2000 A.D. TV AD FROM 1977...



Now here's a blast from the past - 2000 A.D.'s very first
television advert.  Just think - only another three years or so
and the comic will be 40 years old.  Wow!  Hands up who's
still got the first issue?  "Me, sir, me, sir, me, sir!"

11 comments:

  1. Believe it or not, Kid, but I've never read 2000 AD - not a single issue, ever ! No.1 came out a few days after my 11th birthday so I would have been the perfect target age range but at the time I was a loyal Marvelite and had no interest in anything else. I've seen it on sale but just never buy it - anyway, the title is so outdated now, why don't they call it 3000 AD? The only new comic I can remember being advertised on TV was Captain Britain in 1976. I wish I'd seen an advert for POTA No.1 and then I wouldn't have missed the first four issues - POTA No.1 came out just six days after the first episode of the TV show and when I discovered the comic (No.5) I assumed they were the same thing but I'd never heard of POTA or Marvel before.

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  2. I don't know if I saw the CB ad in '76, CJ (although I'd know for sure if I saw it now), but I saw the 2000 A.D. one in '77. I also saw the ads for MWOM and SMCW back in '72 and '73. Why don't they change the name of 2000 A.D. to 3000 A.D.? Probably for the same reason that 20th Century Fox still exists (although I understand there IS now a 21st Century Fox as well) - it's a recognised brand-name.

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  3. That's true but brand names can change - Marathon became Snickers and nobody minded. It's up to them but a "futuristic" comic with a title that's 14 years out of date is strange to me. Ideally they should have called it 3000 AD from the beginning. It was annoying back in the day that the Marvel UK comics had such short life spans but now I think that's part of their charm - I don't think I'd want to see SMCW or The Titans still going after 40 years, they blazed like comets and were gone.

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  4. Dunno about that, CJ - I minded, and still call them Marathons. Incidentally, they were already called Snickers in other countries anyway since their launch, so the name only changed in Britain, I believe.

    The reason they didn't call it 3000 A.D. from the beginning is obvious - it was 24 years in the future and they clearly weren't anticipating the comic still being around then. And MWOM is still going strong(ish) today. Remember also, that, in essence, SMCW in one form or another lasted right into the '90s. True, its name underwent a few variations (and perhaps the frequency changed), but it could be traced right back to the first issue of SMCW in '73.

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  5. Here's an advert for Look-In comic from around the same period:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEqBzqe2WpM

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  6. Adding on to my previous comment - there are quite a number of Look-In adverts on there. If you're interested, just search Look-In Magazine.

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  7. Thanks for the links, George, I'll be taking a look. Handy being the 'Junior TV Times', eh? You've got a whole TV station (ITV) to promote you. Incidentally, amongst my small collection of Look-In is #1.

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  8. One of the S1 boys told me his dad has "all the 2000AD comics" which made me feel very old.

    Over the years I liked the Dan Dare series, Strontium Dog, Nemesis the Warlock and Halo Jones. I passed on the FCBD edition - I thought it looked too gory for my classroom.

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  9. I was never a huge fan of the comic as a reader - although I took a professional pride in working for it. I remember buying the first three issues when they came out, but I didn't stick with it. Just too pessimistic in tone for my tastes, I think.

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  10. you really should have stuck with it. It got much better over the years - up to about the first 400 progs. It is a contender for my favourite ever British comic.
    Nowadays though, apart from JD, I just don't understand it!

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  11. I did start buying it again in 1979 for a good few issues 'til they changed to cheaper printing. And, of course, I have every issue that my work appeared in. Still a bit too bleak for my tastes (not really a Judgr Dredd fan, and the whole Judge Death idea ranks right up there in silliness with Bizarro, to me), but I'm still proud of my association (minor as it is) with the comic.

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