Review: LEGO Space 1978-1992 by Tim Johnson

December 13, 2023 | 15

If you’ve been following this blog for a while, you’ll know that I’m an unashamedly huge fan of LEGO Space. All eras of Space, from Classic Space to M-Tron to Ice Planet to the modern remake era – I love it all!

As we wind down 2023, there was one final LEGO release that I’ve been looking forward to and that’s LEGO Space 1978-1992, a new hardcover coffee table book published by Dark Horse Comics, and written by Tim Johnson, founder of New Elementary and is also a dear friend of mine.

LEGO Space 1978-1992 is available now on Amazon.com, Amazon Australia or LEGO.com (US/Canada-only for now) or most good bookstores. Support the work I do on the blog by buying one for yourself, or as a gift by using the affiliate links in this post.

I received my copy (actually, I bought a few of them) after pre-ordering it when it was announced a week ago, and finally found the time to give it my full and undivided attention, and boy was it an out-of-this world experience and I’m excited to share a quick review of the book to convince you to buy it.

The first thing that struck me about the book was just how well its made. It isn’t the cheapest book, at US$50/AU$95 but you’re getting a hardcover coffee-table book that’s incredibly well made.

Dark Horse and Tim have crafted LEGO Space 1978-1992 into a tome that’s beyond just a geeky catalogue of Classic Space sets, but something more akin to an artbook, celebrating the heritage, aesthetics and of course iconic product shots that LEGO Space fans know and love.

So yes, this isn’t the cheapest book, but you’re getting an absolutely premium experience here. Plus it looks awesome in any living space.

I won’t reveal every single thing about the book, but I wanted to highlight some of the more interesting sections which I enjoyed. The book starts off with a Prologue, diving into the history of The LEGO Group and how the Kristiansens came to incorporate Space into LEGO’s early products.

The book then dives into a chronological journey of LEGO Space, and is broken into Chapters, which conveniently act as markers for different eras of LEGO Space. Chapter 1 covers Classic Space from 1978-1987, the defining era for LEGO Space.

Chapter 2 explores Futuron and Blacktron as LEGO introduced newer factions and moved away from the plain Moon logo era, and Chapter 3 sees LEGO fully embrace story-telling and new forms from 1989-1992, with M-Tron, Blacktron 2 and Space Police 1.

The book ends on 1992 as according to Tim, the classic smiley minifigures in Space sets ended with Blacktron 2, and it felt like a fitting way to cap this era. Space never really ended, however, but from an academic point, it felt right to close off at Blacktron 2.

I was kinda disappointed that Ice Planet didn’t make it into the book as I consider it to be the pinnacle of LEGO Space, but hey, hopefully we get a sequel!

LEGO Space 1978-1992 dives into documenting nearly every set from this particular era, and if you grew up or have a special connection with these sets, you’ll be in awe of just how much information is contained within.

Each set has its own entry, with product art or photography used in the packaging, a primer on interesting elements found within those sets (Tim’s New Elementary pedigree on full display here) as well as a short fictionalised story, penned by Tim himself.

The stories were quite interesting, as for the first time, we get some sort of unofficial narrative that is threaded through these sets that we all know and love, with names, places and characters introduced. It’s not canon of course, but if you enjoy pulpy science fiction writing, you’ll enjoy Tim’s words.

I consider myself fairly in-the-know when it comes to LEGO Space, but I still learned so much from the book. In particular, I enjoyed lingering on sets that had made a strong impact on me as a child, or on “legendary” designs like the Mega Core Magnetizer from M-Tron, to just immerse myself in the photos, alternate builds and more.

What I enjoyed most about the book is the art, including incredibly high resolution photography, provided by LEGO’s Archive. Check out this incredibly crisp photograph of 6980 Galaxy Commander, supplied by Dark Horse which you’re free to use as a wallpaper.

I have a deep appreciation of photographs, advertisements and media from this era, especially of themes and sets that have a deep significance to me. I also have a fairly decent collection of catalogues, leaflets and posters from this era.

One of the most striking things included in the book were full uncropped photographs of scenes, dioramas and even set box art that the wider world has never seen before.

One of my favourite M-Tron posters is this one, featuring the Mega Core Magnetizer and the Futuron Monorail zooming by in the background. I audibly gasped when I saw the two-page spread featuring the uncropped version.

I knew the photos and images used within these posters, but it simply occurred to me that they were cropped versions of much larger photographs.

There are plenty of nuggets of information and discoveries, such as how the grid in the backgrounds were made, and also photographs where you can see clips holding up sets, lighting or even backdrops.

It goes without saying, fans of Classic Space, or any LEGO Space theme from this era will be treated to a feast for the eyes.

To give flavour and introduce a human element to the book, Tim Johnson also features interviews from several key people that worked on LEGO Space themes.

The book also uses these perspectives to frame a narrative around Jens Nygaard Knudsen, the “father” and Chief Architect of LEGO Classic Space (and also designer of the LEGO Minifigure!). Jens unfortunately passed away in 2020 at the age of 78, and the book is a poignant recollection of his life, influence and design philosophy which was so instrumental in not only crafting the LEGO Classic Space theme, but in mentoring and inspiring other designers that joined after him.

I was also incredibly excited to see plenty of early concepts, unreleased sets and themes and so much more in the book. The book was filled with so much from the archives, and I’ve deliberately not shared many of these to not spoil it.

The book ends with an Epilogue, exploring what’s next. For those of us that were disappointed that Ice Planet, Spyrius and more didn’t make it into the book, they get mentioned here, but it felt like a natural way to close the chapter on Classic Space.

The final page of the book features modern takes on Classic Space with 2014’s Exo Suit and the 90th Anniversary celebration set, 10497 Galaxy Explorer (which only just retired) to close off the book.

LEGO Space 1978-1992 is an excellent coffee-table style art book that is a joy to own. It joins other hardcover books such as In Focus (a gorgeous book filled with LEGO Photography) and The Art of the Minifigure, as premium books that collate and celebrate different facets of this hobby that we all love.

I just adored LEGO Space 1978-1992, and reading through it, I was so happy to be transported back in time, to worlds and spaces that I was too young to experience myself.

The amount of institutional knowledge, archival gems and stunning photography make LEGO Space 1978-1992 an incredible book, and I only have the highest of praise for Tim Johnson’s work.

If you or someone you know loves LEGO Space, or had fond childhood memories swooshing around Spaceships, UFOs or your very own Space Designs, this book is a must-have. I learned so much about a topic in which I thought I knew a lot of, and discovered so many new photographs (in stunning print resolution) which I never knew existed.

LEGO Space 1978-1992 is an absolutely stellar read that’s a must-own for any LEGO fan.

LEGO Space 1978-1992 is available now on Amazon.com, Amazon Australia or LEGO.com (US/Canada-only for now) or most good bookstores. If you’re struggling to think of a Christmas present, I highly recommend picking this book up as a gift, as well as In Focus or The Art of the Minifigure.

To get the latest LEGO news and LEGO Reviews straight in your inbox, subscribe via email, or you can also follow on Google News, or socials on Facebook, Instagram (@jayong28), Twitter or subscribe to the Jay’s Brick Blog Youtube channel.