Cool 70's Tang commercial. Was there a series featuring these aliens or just this one? I remember them and not understanding the whole rocks discussion.
This commercial was part of a series that ran in the early 70s. I wrote the first 8. This one is considered the best. It won One Show awards for best children's tv commercial. The first one introduced grape flavored Tang. This is on the Y&R Historical Reel of best commercials and is part of the Museum of Broadcasting in Astoria Queens, NY.
OMG, nearly fell off my chair stumbling across this entry. Haven't seen this in about 400 years. And I remembered it clearly as it played. Thanks for posting! Blast from the past. Tang always reminded me of the sweaty, dehydrated dog days of summer playing Little League when some teammate's Mom (God bless their hearts) whipped up a vat of this stuff out of the back of her station wagon using the tap water from a park district's drinking fountain. We drank it up & TRIED to play ball again.
@phlpbecker I loved your Tang commercials as kid. We lived in Florida and my dad worked for NASA. I doodled the moon creatures over and over again. I even sculpted one in clay during high school!
It's a shame they forgot to bring back water to add to the Tang to turn it into an actual drink. Of course even if they did have water it would boil instantly on the Moon's surface. Oh well, it still tastes good in powdered form!
I am 41 and have never been able to find grape Tang. Even the Orange is hard to find in powder form. I still love it. Sad huh? I got my 9 year old liking it now too.
To answer your question; One of the big features of the Apollo program, to the understanding of the public, was the collection of geological samples on the lunar surface. This included the collection of rock samples. These samples were, and still are, considered to be very precious indeed.
Yes, there was Grape Tang. I was very young. My Mom still has the old jar, I'm sure the label has long since rotted off, sitting in storage. Last I saw it maybe 15 yrs ago in had about a 1/2 inch of this tar-looking stuff at the bottom. I do remember it tasted good. I think there was also briefly a Grapefruit version of it.
On the exchange of the rocks, one kid in a focus group explained the moonman went to nasa and got money for the rocks and then took the cash and went to the store and bought the tang and then came back in the rocket ship. Because the focus group kids saw so much in the moonmen storyline, the saga continued all through the 1970s.. Philip Becker.
Moko, Don't be ashamed of the name Josie...:).. Nice to see some identification of some of the makers of these (Richard Vallee, Philip Becker. Glad to see you directed some...The creator of the Tootsie-Pop "How many licks does it take"-Jerry something-who died about 5 years ago-used to be on RU-vid with his own channel and the full 1969 one minute version of the Tootsite ad. The Tang ones are famous as well, I remember these, Tang, and Space Sticks..
The truth is actually unsettling to many, as the director (Richard Valle) had intended this film to mock our obsession with commercialism and the idea of "rarity", marking in the end the old saying "one man's trash is another man's treasure".
I thought I was the only one who remembered the grape-flavored Tang! I know they added the flavor & then stopped making it over 30 years ago! But even people who remember this add campaign don't seem to remember the 2nd choice! Of course... I thought I was the only person on Earth who remembered Fruit-Brute! (Until I saw it mentioned on Robot Chicken!)
I remember this one, remember hot Tang? Grape wasn't that great, didn't last long. We used to mix it SO SWEET! Whew! Drinking this, Kool Aid and Hawaiian Punch no wonder we were bouncing off the walls back then!
I remember the grapefruit Tang! I preferred the orange flavored one but the grapefruit was not bad. I can't remember the last time I drank some Tang. Do they still make this?
I used to have tang with my morning cereal back in the day when I was a child. And I do remember grape tang. But does anyone recall a pineapple version of tang or is it just me?
Yes, there was a series of commercials with those moon creatures. I've described some of them in detail on my commercial blog, 70scommercials dot blogspot. In one, they build a hotel for the astronauts (pay Tang to stay), just in time for the end of the Apollo program. In another, they go to Mars to see if it tastes like orange-flavored Tang.
Moonrocks are very valuable since it cost N.A.S.A. millions to build the ships that took the astronauts to the moon. So he could get a lot of tang for a few moon rocks. lol.
Yes, Judy Graubart provided the female "moonman" voice. We changed the name of the series to "moon creatures" to make it more politically correct. Jim Murtaugh's character was the one with the bright idea to trade rocks for more Tang. I know these facts because I wrote the first eight of this award winning which you cn see on the Y & R reel at the Museum of Broadcasting in Astoria, Queens,NY.
This was a followup to one where the aliens are laughing at how the astronauts "leave behind all this equipment and take home a bagful of rocks!" That's why the male alien figures they'll give him more Tang for more rocks.
I'm usually able to taste artificial sweeteners without seeing the label. They're nasty, and I hate that Crystal Lite crap, but I couldn't taste them in the new Tang. Must be because it still has enough sugar to cover up for the nasty aftertaste.
lmao I helped make a tang commercial for school awhile back to bring tang back which should be a disclaimer: warning, DO NOT BRING TANG BACK, shit was nasty :P
