Comments on: Soviet futuristic illustrations of the 1970s

By: Preston Sturges

Preston Sturges — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 18:23:00 +0000

A civilization based on the designs of vintage electric shavers.

By: euansmith

euansmith — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 17:55:00 +0000

That is an epic shot of the Black Sea Beast; like a cross between Chris Foss and HR Giger. A triumph of Soviet Engineerink.

By: euansmith

euansmith — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 17:53:00 +0000

Cool beans.

By: vonbobo

vonbobo — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 02:47:00 +0000

Agree! Some of my most favorite design is from the Soviet space era, from the rockets to the bold propaganda.

Nice link Cory!

By: Preston Sturges

Preston Sturges — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 02:33:00 +0000

That flying wing looks just like the pencil sharpener from last week.

By: Gilbert Wham

Gilbert Wham — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 02:30:00 +0000

^^^This.

By: Gilbert Wham

Gilbert Wham — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 02:30:00 +0000

I wish I fuckin’ knew…

By: Incipient Madness

Incipient Madness — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 23:21:00 +0000

I know! I’ve read a ton of Stanislaw Lem, but I never knew there was a Pirx the Pilot TV show.

It’s on Youtube, in Estonian. There’s even some kind of Lem fan channel. My life is saved.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zatvPHavWg

By: Narmitaj

Narmitaj — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 22:40:00 +0000

Some old Soviet stuff looks great in real life (and, as euansmith suggested, look like it is out of Thunderbirds) – like the Ekranoplan/ Caspian Sea Monster: http://thevelvetrocket.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/soviet-lun-class-ekranoplane-ground-effect-vehicle.jpg

I also prefer their elegant manned space rockets (the R-7 Family with those nice flared booster skirts) to the more tubular Western model – they’re broadly the same sort of design used now for launching everyone to the ISS as launched the first Sputnik in 1957.

By: Nikolas Adair

Nikolas Adair — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 22:02:00 +0000

“Test Pilota Pirxa”

Oh please please please let there be an English subtitled version of this.

By: euansmith

euansmith — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 21:15:00 +0000

Looks like its time to call International Rescue!

By: WaferMouse

WaferMouse — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 21:14:00 +0000

Man, I was about to make a “JET ENGINES ON EVERYTHING!” joke, but I guess we’re LIVING in the joke?

By: Dan Hibiki

Dan Hibiki — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 21:01:00 +0000

Yeah, but soviets actually did something with them:
http://c1gas2org.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/files/2011/03/soviet-jet-train.jpg

By: Stefan Jones

Stefan Jones — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 21:00:00 +0000

Yeah, we capitalists got OUR jet packs and flying cars, just like we were promised. And everybody is healthy and trim thanks to our superior foodstuffs.

By: Stefan Jones

Stefan Jones — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 20:58:00 +0000

Looking through the article pages, this seems pretty ordinary. Not that much different from Popular Science. Lots of stuff about vehicles and industry. And exercise machines!

By: Saltine

Saltine — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 20:55:00 +0000

Yeah. It’s a good thing people in the U.S. have never been called upon to sacrifice civil liberties, food quality and availability, nor nuclear safety standards. Puts me in mind of Galbraith’s quip that “Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism, it’s just the opposite.”

By: euansmith

euansmith — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 20:54:00 +0000

Even Soviet visions of the future where behind the times. These look like cool 1960′s Italian designs – where is Barbarella and the Planet of the Vampires when you need them?

By: Chris Hogan

Chris Hogan — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 20:39:00 +0000

“Singing tomorrows” — the inevitable glorious Soviet scientific future, which will come to pass sooner if only we – and by ‘we’ I mean ‘you’ – make sacrifices today. What sacrifices? Oh, petty little things like quality and availability of food and consumer goods; civil liberties; nuclear safety standards…