fun in space cover

hey guys, im from israel and i just looked at the cover of fun in space and on the aliens magazine it seems to be upsidedown hebrew letters. is it true and if so, is there a reason for it?

It's true but I don't know what it says.

Just do a Google search and it will show up. You will see the letters upside down.

Neat. I look forward to a translation.

If it says something, it could be a fun hidden message or some mundane phrase that just looked sufficiently "alien" when rendered upside-down. If it's gibberish, it was probably used for the same reason (looked "alien" upside-down).

Interesting trivia: the alien was made by one Tim Staffell who was unaware who it was for.

dysan wrote: Interesting trivia: the alien was made by one Tim Staffell who was unaware who it was for.
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Yep, that's true. How mad is that?

I think it translates into English as 'it's fun to smoke marijuana'.

ha ha, but i know what it means and its just random letters. it big letters speel out "clmnspc'kr"

Djdownsy wrote: dysan wrote: Interesting trivia: the alien was made by one Tim Staffell who was unaware who it was for.
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Yep, that's true. How mad is that?
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That's actually a myth.

The alien was made by Alister Bowtell, a famous UK sculptor and prop-maker. He's even listed in the Fun In Space credits, both on the LP and the CD.

You can read them here (I double-checked my LP copy just to be certain):

http://www.ultimatequeen.co.uk/songs/funin.htm

Here's his obituary:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2006/oct/13/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries

I'm not sure where and how this story came about that Tim made the model, but it's not true.

Tim Staffell *did* work as a model maker for a time and one of his most famous gigs was working on the original UK "Thomas The Tank Engine".

http://ttte.wikia.com/wiki/Tim_Staffell

Here's where the story about Tim making the Fun In Space alien model comes from; Record Collector, January 2006, and Tim himself says it:

http://www.queencuttings.com/images/90s/RecordCollector_jan1996_p07.jpg

I've no reason to doubt Tim whatsoever, but I suspect we're missing part of the story. Perhaps Tim created the original working model, and the design was improved upon and the finished article created by Allister Bowtell. Tim wouldn't be lying in that case, and neither would the sleeve notes for Fun In Space.

Hipgnosis was the design company responsible for the Fun In Space cover, as listed on the sleeve.

One reconciliation is that perhaps Hipgnosis had several such models made and Tim's was one, but it was not used (and Bowtell's was). The reason for the confusion, then, comes from the fact that both models were based on the same source material: the July 1980 issue of "Creepy" magazine, which appears on the back cover of Fun In Space, which Roger is reading.

http://www.hipgnosiscovers.com/rogertaylor.html

You can see a copy of the original illustration at the bottom of the page.

So, basically, it's possible two or more people (Staffell and Bowtell) made similar looking models, as they'd have to look the same since they were both working from Jim Laurier's illustration, so if Tim later saw Allister's model on the cover, he'd naturally think, "Wait, I made that model!"

I just got a translation but it is far to devastating for me to tell you. All I have to tell you is... WELCOME TO EARTH OUR INSECT OVERLORDS.....