The “Major Matt Mason” line of “space toys” was somewhat before my time, but I gather that for a lot of people who were kids in the heady days of the 1960’s – at least for those for whom the sixties held more than hippies and assassinations and the decline of western civilization – those toy astronauts and spaceships hold a special spot in their memories.

It now seems that “MMM” toys might make a comeback, since it’s rare for a live action major science fiction movie to not have merchandizing, and it hardly seems likely that the associated cash grab for a movie based on a toy line won’t feature toys. And as memory serves, another set of movies that featured Tom Hanks and a toy astronaut have flooded the aisles of WalMart with mountains of toys. I suspect, though, that the next generation of “MMM” toys will be a tad different than the originals.

Tom Hanks, Akiva Goldsman Set Live Action Mattel Adaptation ‘Major Matt Mason’ at Paramount (EXCLUSIVE)