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Kronos (1957)
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Maurice
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 17, 2017 11:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Its preposterous locomotion is the one thing that makes it really laughable.

About 41 minutes in Dr. Stern is looking at a newspaper with an "artist's conception from reports" that looks nothing like the actual Kronos, which leads me to wonder if the drawing was an early design. The thing has four legs, no central cylinder goes to the ground, and a pair of armlike protrusions.

https://youtu.be/XQKEX7Y9eHc?t=2484

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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 18, 2017 10:07 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Hey, wait a minute! I think we misunderstood what Morris Ankrum is looking at. The newspaper headline doesn't seem to be about Kronos at all! Shocked

The text above the picture says, "Giant Sea Creature Washed Up On Mexican Shore".

So, instead of this being a very inaccurate artist's conception of Kronos, it's a very inaccurate artist's concept of the octopus in It Came from Beneath the Sea!



_________


And at the 47:45 mark a smiling, dimwitted TV anchorman glibly holds up a picture and says, "Here's an artist's conception based on Dr. Gaskell's description." Then he grins like an idiot and says, "Pretty scary looking, isn't it? Perhaps a gift from another world to ours. Who knows?"





He acts like the whole matter is about as important as the sighting of the Loch Ness monster by a drunken group of Scotsman.

Can you imagine what the news media would do with a story like this today? A giant machine appears on a beach the morning after a huge UFO drops down into the ocean!

I can just hear Wolf Blitz now. Rolling Eyes






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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


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alltare
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 18, 2017 10:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

obama:
"It's Bush's fault!"
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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 19, 2017 12:03 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I bet most "Artist interpretations" from witness descriptions are just as vague and inaccurate.
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Bogmeister
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 01, 2019 1:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

____________
______________

____________________ Kronos movie trailer


__________


This is the one with a huge square-shaped robot-thing threatening Earth — different from the standard monsters or aliens which usually threaten us in these kinds of films.

It begins with a 5-mile asteroid hurtling towards Earth. and it ends in the ocean off Mexico — but doesn't cause the devastation we might expect.

At the same time, a man in a pickup truck driving through the dessert is possessed by a ball of electricity — an alien we assume — which then transfer to a scientist, who then is obviously possessed.

The main characters include Jeff Morrow from This Island Earth as a scientist. Barbara Lawrence is his girlfriend, and George O'Hanlon is a fellow scientist. They go to Mexico to see what's what, and (the next morning) see that a 100-foot high cube-like robot has appeared on shore.

For the rest of the film, we see this thing marching across the Mexican landscape on four pistons which function like legs, even though they move up and down.

__________
______________

Visually and conceptually this is an unusual idea for a film of this sort — it's a trip to watch this thing move across the landscape, and the idea is that it's here to absorb all our energy. It reaches a power plant, for example, and extracts all the energy. The highlight is when the military try an atom bomb against this thing.

But, for some reason, the resulting execution of all these ideas is not that exciting. Maybe it's just that monsters and/or aliens are just more exciting than this type of contraption. It's a widescreen picture and looks bigger budgeted than the norm for these sci-fi pics, but it's almost as if Kronos also absorbed some energy out of the film itself. There's too much screen time for the parallel plot of the possessed scientist.

BoG's Score: 5.5 out of 10



BoG
Galaxy Overlord Galactus


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Maurice
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 01, 2019 7:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The lack of excitement is largely a factor of the editing, and conceptually this thing absorbing all the energy on Earth is kind of abstract for a threat.
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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 02, 2019 12:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

As far as the piston-like movement.....

If the front piston was programmed to advance a foot or two at a time on each stroke it would propel the body of Kronos forward just as shown in the film.

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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 02, 2019 9:19 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

An interesting idea, Gord!

I have a little trouble with the idea that the very clear up-and-down movement of the four pistons were somehow "advancing a foot or two" at a time. But that glowing ray shining down from the bottom was obviously an anti-gravity beam, and if it could hold up that titanic weight, it's not too hard to imagine a lateral force taking place at the same time.

I realize the pistons were just done for looks, but we all know it's fun to figure out legitimate purposes for the things we see in sci-fi movies. Having said that, maybe the pounding pistons were meant to regulate the speed of the robot. With nothing but wind resistance to slow the floating robot, the pistons would keep it moving at a steady speed by briefly striking the ground with each downstroke.

_________________
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 13, 2019 2:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

IMDB has 10 trivia items for this movie. Here’s a few of the ones I found the most interesting, in the blue text. Very Happy
________________________________

~ The communication console and screen from Klaatu's saucer featured in The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) can be seen directly in the background of Labcentral's "Astro Physics" Laboratory where Vera Hunter and Dr. Hubbell Eliot have their confrontation. A map of the world has been placed behind the glass.

Note from me: I think I might have submitted this item to IMDB years ago, but I'm not sure. My list of contributions doesn't seem to go back far enough. Smile

~ Before production began, the budget was cut. This required a second draft of the script which eliminated some character development and some expensive special effects sequences.

Note from me: This is consistent with what I mentioned recently about how 1950s science fiction movies were often hamstrung by budgetary restrictions.

~ Baxter Ward, who played a TV news anchorman, was a real life TV news reporter at the time.

Note from me: Good grief! I commented earlier that the newsman's report seemed remarkably unrealistic! But if the item above is accurate, that guy should have known better!

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


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Krel
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 13, 2019 5:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

It occurs to me that the scientists that landed their helicopter on Kronos were very lucky. The energy draining beam didn't harm them. But if the beam had been used on the helicopter, they would have been stranded on Kronos.

Although it would have been a wild ride for as long as they survived.

David.
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Eadie
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 13, 2019 7:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Robert (Butch) Day wrote:
… George Orwell

He is best remembered for 1984 but I prefer his Keep the Aspidistra Flying — a great critique to today's capitalism.

I know it's not talking about the Aspidistra transmitter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspidistra_(transmitter) so it might refer to one of several cactus type plants:

Aspidistra eliator:





Aspidistra grandiflora:



By the looks of the flowering flowers they would have fit unto the deserts of the Forbidden Planet: Altair IV !

IT cannot be any of the related types (Aspidistra cryptantha, Aspidistra alata, Aspidistra campanulata, Aspidistra umbrosa, Aspidistra recondita or Aspidistra nikolaii) because these are recently discovered species recently discovered in the Annamite Range of central Vietnam.

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filmdetective
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PostPosted: Thu May 21, 2020 10:21 am    Post subject: I'm At Variance With Dave Szurek Reply with quote

Bud, I liked KRONOS!

I don't see why Dave Szurek — a Monster Kid from Way Back, who Met Forry and Wendy on their 1963 Tour of the USA from LA to DC, "Project 8500,"and who has written for many fanzines, well into his Old Age — called KRONOS a "turd."

I didn't look at Kronos that way at all.

I've got the letterboxed proper aspect ratio version of the film (not sure if it has stereo sound or not).

I really can''t say anything bad about KRONOS.

Bill Warren, in Keep Watching the Skies, says KRONOS would have been a better film with a bigger budget.

But I don't look at it that way.

I don't think a larger budget would have made KRONOS any better.

It is just right the way it is, and with a bigger budget I feel it would have been a worse film, not a better one.

Don't know if many of you other Board Members remember the documentary film Gizmo! about old-time inventions that never Made It, but that film had footage of a Walking Truck which was just like Kronos.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 11, 2020 4:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Thinking Outside the "Plot"!
________________________________

~ A Question for the Members: Would the aliens who brought Kronos to Earth in their giant mothership to steal our energy (because their civilization desperately needed it) simply give up after we discovered an "Achilles heel" in their power-draining machine? Shocked

~ My Theory: No. Of course not. Rolling Eyes

They would learn from their mistake and send one-or-more "power collectors" to suck our planet dry!

In fact, the giant mother ship which brought Kronos to Earth and placed it on the beach in Mexico is shown submerging itself in the Atlantic! Do we have any reason to believe that it left after that?






No! Shocked

Therefore, gentlemen, I submit that the mother ship remained on the ocean floor and monitored Kronos' progress right up until the time it was destroyed by a lucky maneuver which mankind discovered!






When that happened, the aliens evaluated the situation, determined what caused the failure . . . and made alterations in the other Kronos "energy collectors" which the giant ship had in it's cargo hold. Shocked

If Hollywood had understood the value of sequels in the 1950s, they could have made two or three more follow-up movies for Kronos, each one featuring an increasing number of the giant robots . . . until we finally see a climax in which mankind is faced with a dozen of them — all marching in formation across the landscape as they relentlessly stole the energy we possessed, without even slowing down! Shocked

Thoughts, gentlemen? (Heck, I've got more ideas I didn't even include here! I sincerely hope you guys do as well.) Confused

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


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Pow
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 25, 2021 1:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

One issue I have with the premise is that aliens require our electricity in the first place.

The alien civilization is capable of constructing star ships and then journeying light years. But they cannot create their own electricity? Seriously?

Would such a civilization even still be using electricity?

Electricity could be some form of archaic power system to such a planet that can build gigantic robots and star ships.

What in the world do we have that's of any value to offer such a society?
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 25, 2021 4:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Pow wrote:
One issue I have with the premise is that aliens require our electricity in the first place.

Would such a civilization even still be using electricity?

Electricity could be some form of archaic power system to such a planet that can build gigantic robots and star ships.

You're absolutely right, Mike! Sucking up the energy from our power plants — and even an atomic bomb — makes zero sense! Rolling Eyes

I'm really grateful to you for bringing up this interesting subject! It inspired me to ponder the subject and come up some fun ideas. Very Happy

For example, I don't think electricity will ever become a "form of archaic power".

Naturally we'll keep right on finding better ways to generate electricity, and we'll eventually create superconductor substances to transmit it with no loss of power.

But will electricity ever be replaced with something better? Well, just think of all the things electricity can do!

~ It produces heat.

~ It creates light.

~ It drives electric motors.

~ It powers electromagnets.

~ It transmits sound, images, and data through wires.

~ It transmits radio and television waves through the air.

~ It encodes data in both analog and digital forms.

Those are just the ones I came up with! Smile

So, please ask yourself this.

Is there another form of energy which lends itself to so many remarkable uses? I honestly can't think of a single one! Confused

In fact, I'm more inclined to believe that atomic energy is likely to become a "form of archaic power"! Shocked

Consider this. For decades, mankind has been in love with the idea that splitting atoms is the last word in producing energy.

However, I certainly hope that's not true . . . because atomic energy seems to be more damn trouble than it's worth! Confused






The horrible radiation it creates has caused catastrophes like Chernobyl, and getting rid of radioactive waste is a problem that gets worse — not better — year after year!

Meanwhile, every wind turbine and hydroelectric dam on the planet does a better (and safer) job of producing clean, affordable power.








Solar panel development is still in it's infancy.

Meanwhile, good old Sol is cranking out more energy each second than Earth could use in a million years! It spews out energy in all directions from the sun — while Earth only receives a tiny fraction of the output!






But of course, we have to convert all the energy from the sun — as well as the wind turbines and the hydroelectric dams — into electricity to do all the miraculous things I listed above.

Mike, you might be right when you speculated that future power systems won't use electricity . . . but in view of the fact that our own remarkable bodies use that power source to activate our brains and nervous systems, I'm having a hard time imagining a better way to get the job done. Very Happy




_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


Last edited by Bud Brewster on Fri Feb 26, 2021 10:17 am; edited 1 time in total
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