Here’s something for fans of Ennio Morricone and his soundtracks for Westerns made by Italians, filmed in Spain. The Spaghetti Western Orchestra. 

Update: The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain offers a slightly more genteel rendition.

Related. And. Also. Plus. (h/t, 1+1=3.)

Oncoming train. Meddling kids. What could possibly go wrong?

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(h/t, The Thin Man.)

Further to this, and via Ace, here’s the revenge of bizarro Star Wars.

Avert your eyes, children. Don’t look directly at it.

Kirk, Spock and context. 

Variations on a theme. Via Coudal.

Animation and illustration by Steve Scott. Victorian mutants, flying machines and, of course, giant robots.

Via Drawn!

A short film by Luis Nieto. If you laugh at this you’re a very bad person.

More.

Further to this and this, here’s a third clip from the BBC’s Planets series, taken from the episode Moon. Here, Farouk El-Baz explains how Apollo astronauts honed their geological skills – and how a sizeable piece of Flagstaff, Arizona, was given a radical lunar makeover.

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More background here and here. The entire Planets series can be downloaded here.

Further to Friday’s post on The Planets series, here’s another short extract, taken from the episode Atmosphere. In it, we follow Joe Kittinger’s 1960 balloon ride to an altitude of 103,000 feet (20 miles / 32 km), where, technically, he became the first man in space. Thanks to automated cameras, we also follow Kittinger’s unorthodox – and perilous – return to Earth. Extraordinary.

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Parts one through six of The Planets can be viewed online here.

Related. And. Also. (H/T, The Thin Man.)

Via The Thin Man, here’s an extract from the first episode of the BBC’s acclaimed documentary series, The Planets. Broadcast in 1999, the series remains one of the most lavish and comprehensive accounts of astronomical discovery and space exploration, with previously unseen archive footage, most notably from Russia. There’s also a memorable score by Jim Meacock. Recommended.

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The first two episodes, Different Worlds and Terra Firma, can be viewed in full and downloaded here. Subsequent episodes should be posted over the next few days.

Sponsor my research. Those orbital weapons platforms won’t build themselves. 

Here’s Jonathan Ross’ excellent BBC4 documentary about his personal hunt for Spider-Man co-creator, Steve Ditko.

Parts 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.  More on Ditko’s art and politics here.

If the YouTube clips disappear again, try via here, here, here or here.