Robinson Crusoe on Mars cover art

Dave says A great glimpse into the creative process from Criterion jacket designer Eric Skillman. In his latest entry he talks us through the creation of the cover artwork for the 1964 cult sci-fi Robinson Crusoe on Mars (starring Batman's Adam West).

[Art is by the wonderful Bill Sienkiewicz]

That second [illustration] was exactly what we were looking for. Draper's hunched over posture really gives the sense of struggle against overwhelming odds, and how can you not love Mona in the foreground? Since the jagged peak in the center was going to be pretty much obliterated by the branding and spine title treatment anyway, we figured we may as well lose it, and since Mona was already in her space suit, no need to keep Draper in his helmet. So we gave Bill the go-ahead to start painting the final illustration. Meanwhile, I decided to tweak the type a little bit, and eventually wound up here, which captured just a little bit more of the period look we were aiming for.

Link

• [Bruce Arthurs]

  Paul Mantee: Good actor who’s never gotten due recognition. A lot of character work in numerous TV series over the years. I think his only feature films as a lead actor were RCOM and A MAN CALLED DAGGER (a so-bad-it’s-good James Bond knockoff; imagine a cannibal Nazi played by… Jan Murray? Yes, really.).

  Trivia: Mantee appeared in two episodes of Adam West’s BATMAN series.

• [Viktor Kuprin]

  #6 posted by Thingamadad , October 17, 2007 6:54 PM:
  Yep, Paul Mantee played the main character. Adam West was his subordinate and died when the ship crashed on Mars.

  Not so. Adam West was the mission commander of the Mars Gravity Probe One. As Cmdr. Kit Draper (Paul Mantee) says in the film right before he and West must eject over Mars, “You’re the boss, skipper.”

  RCOM has long been out of print, and Criterion’s re-release on DVD has been long awaited by science-fiction film fans.

• [OM]

  …Two points:

  1) As noted, Adam West was only in the first 15 minutes. After Batman, tho, RCOM was given a limited re-release and West was billed on an equal billing with Paul Mantee. Now it appears that Criterion is attempting to cash in again by hyping up what was not much more than a cameo, much in the same way that the original Little Shop of Horrors had Jack Nicholson in a bit part before he got famous.

  2) It’s good to see that Bill S. can still draw without resorting to illegible, unintelligible abstracts. After the totally unreadable Stray Toasters and the equally abysmal Electra miniseries he did back in the 80′s, I’ve pretty much avoided Bill’s work. Quite a few people seem to like that particular style of his, alas. No accounting for taste, I suppose :P

• [Thingamadad]

  Yep, Paul Mantee played the main character. Adam West was his subordinate and died when the ship crashed on Mars.

  If only the film had been titled, Robinson Crusoe and his Coworker on Mars.

• [smfoster]

  You all beat me to it. RCOM is one of my all-time favorite movies, and Paul Mantee never did get the credit he deserved, in my opinion. And please let us not forget Victor Lundin as “Friday.”

• [ron]

  I would like to invite you to participate in a research conducted by MIT – Massachusetts Institute of Technology and ArtForecast.
  The research examines the myth of the term “Eye for Art” by presenting a set of artworks images to various participants.
  Participants are challenged to choose the most promising artwork out of a given set and to try to predict which artwork will be the most valuable in one year.
  http://www.artforecast.org

• [Flying Squid]

  Since Adam West is only in the first 15 minutes of the movie (or so) I don’t think it’s appropriate to say it’s starring Adam West. I mean the chimp got more screen time!

• [Dave Rattigan]

  Was he only in the first 15 minutes? Gosh. I haven’t seen the movie in years, so I assumed he played the main character. I always remembered the movie as “that one with Adam West”.

• [Flying Squid]

  Yep, Batman kicks it before they get to the surface.