ALL SCI-FI

[Eadie]

I suggest you go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Keyhoe#Flying_Saucers_Are_Real and see the backstory to the story. According to Pye-Rate Major Keyhoe like all military pilots of the time (WWII & beyond) see dangers where none may exist.
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Art Should Comfort the Disturbed and Disturb the Comfortable.

[Bud Brewster]

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Eadie, I read several of Donald Keyhoe's books when I was a teenager, and about a year ago I bought a copy of Flying Saucers from Outer Space. I don't know if he's a kook or not, but his books are supposedly well researched and based on verifiable evidence.

And they're written pretty well.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Pow]

Fun Facts about EVTFS.

Charles Schneer would cut out articles from newspapers & magazines which he thought the public found intriguing and use it for source material for developing a film.

Stories in the media about UFO phenomena was how CS decided that he & Ray would produce a film about aliens coming to Earth in their spaceships.

Noted screenwriter Curt Siodmak, who was well known for his work in the sf & fantasy genres, was contracted to script EVTFS. Ultimately Siodmak's script would be turned down, but his idea that Project Skyhook would be the US military response to the alien attack was kept.

The early idea that a group of scientists discover a crashed flying saucer in a remote jungle at the beginning of the film was dropped.

"Attack of the Flying Saucers'' was the early title for the film.

Ray Harryhausen was excited about the challenge of creating an interesting looking and convincing spaceship and having them invade Earth. Ray had been fascinated by stories about real life flying saucer sightings.

Ray created three flying saucers: a 12-inch model, an 18-inch model and a larger model (no dimensions are given for it in my source material).

The large model was the only one to was able to lower the exit tube, whirl on its axis and extend the dish~shaped death ray.

Ray wanted to animate the aliens but was unable to find a believable design for the other-worldly invaders. Plus, the budget wouldn't allow for being able to animate the aliens anyways.

Three reinforced latex rubber exo-suits were created for the aliens to wear, along with the headpiece that weighed 20 lbs each.

Ray was displeased with the suits and thought that they appeared phony.

Note from me } The updated drawings of the alien suits I see here by the talented Bud are terrific!

The alien's death ray was done in-camera with a roman candle fireworks.

Ray was very pleased with his visual effect for the shimmering of the flying saucer's defensive forcefield on the exterior of the craft.

The Project Skyhook control center was actually the Playa del Rey Sewage Disposal Plant located in Hermosa Beach.

EVTFS was released in July of 1956 as the first half of a double bill with "The Werewolf."

EVTFS would remain the least favorite of Ray's films that he did. Ray always preferred fantasy films over sf films for his stop~motion animation.

He felt that sf movies focused upon machines and politics which resulted in a tendency to be aloof and cold in its atmosphere.

Fantasy films were poetic for Ray. They imbued romance and warmth.

[Bud Brewster]

[Bud Brewster]

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Thinking Outside the "Plot"!
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~ A Question for the Members: Did one of more alien beings survive in the downed saucers? If so, could they have been confined and interrogated for more information about their species!

~ My Theory: We can safely assume that the ships were equipped inertial dampers, because we see Hugh Marlow and company experiencing no acceleration when the ship they were aboard zoomed out into space.

Therefore, even though the magnetic disruptor weapons were used by the military to bring the saucers down, there's no reason to believe the aliens were harmed when the ships crashed. Inertial dampers are the ultimate seat belts!

Admittedly none of the saucers that weren't badly damaged by the crash seemed able to rise back up and fly away — such as the one in the Potomac River or the one that slide up against a building at street level.




But even though the propulsion system was damaged by the magnetic disruptors, the inertial dampers might not have been affected.

I think we might have ended up with a few alien prisoners of war!

(I just tossed this out to encourage a discussion. I hope we get one.)
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Gord Green]

I wouldn't doubt that the saucers would be "back engineered" to learn about the propulsion, force ray and shielding technology. American made versions of the saucer fleet would be built.....Just in time for round two of the alien invasion....Except this time it's more an even match!
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There comes a time, thief, when gold loses its lustre, and the gems cease to sparkle, and the throne room becomes a prison; and all that is left is a father's love for his child.

[Bud Brewster]

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My thinking exactly!

And the scenes in the sequel which show advanced fighter planes flying in formation with American-made saucers during test flights are what inspired me to make this interesting picture.



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

[Gord Green]

Don't forget too that time dilation-expansion was also a factor the aliens used. A weapon could be constructed from that technology that could either "freeze" a subject in time or "age" it to the point of death!

I really doubt that the Earthmen could capture a living alien to the point of getting much data from it.
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There comes a time, thief, when gold loses its lustre, and the gems cease to sparkle, and the throne room becomes a prison; and all that is left is a father's love for his child.

[Bud Brewster]

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I'm a bit confused. Exactly when in this movie did the aliens do that stuff with time?

Yes, they said that time was slowed down while the humans were in the saucer and it was traveling through space . . . but I don't get how that would prevent any surviving aliens in the crashed saucers from being captured!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Gord Green]

Their "message" was transmitted during a sped up time effect...That's why it wasn't recognized as a message until the tape slowed down indicating that the aliens were living in various time effects...sometimes faster...sometime slower.
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There comes a time, thief, when gold loses its lustre, and the gems cease to sparkle, and the throne room becomes a prison; and all that is left is a father's love for his child.

[Bud Brewster]

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Ah-ha!

I was so focused on the idea of how some of the aliens survived in the crashed saucers that I forgot about the sped up message on the recorder.

You're right about the aliens apparently living in different time frames. Inside the saucer, the alien even says something like, "We live in a very different time frame from yours." Then he has Huge check his watch and his pulse . . . both of which have stopped.

(That's an unrealistic way of saying time was passing slower for the rest of the universe, but we got the idea.)

After that the alien says, "You might say that all this is happening between the ticks of your watch and the beats of your heart."

However, this is confusing, because they might have meant that the ship was traveling faster than light, and this was why time was slowed down relative to the universe. The alien also mentions that they traveled from far out in space and back to Earth in a matter of seconds, just before they destroyed the battleship.



We should also remember that whenever the aliens left their ships they moved around normally. That would suggest that the slowing of time INSIDE the ship was just because they were traveler FTL.

But if that's true, why was the message on the tape sped up when the saucer buzzed the car?

Puzzling, ain't it?
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Gord Green]

As I recall, when they looked at the saucerman after shooting him with a conventional firearm, he's described as an "ancient humanoid".

Did he mean "old aged"? Primitive?

Did the saucerman age to disintegration when taken out of the protection of the "suit"? Did the suit protect him from the effects of normal time ?
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There comes a time, thief, when gold loses its lustre, and the gems cease to sparkle, and the throne room becomes a prison; and all that is left is a father's love for his child.

[Bud Brewster]

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Good point! The way the alien fades away seems to agree with your suggestion that he vanished because the suit protected him from the effects of normal time!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Krel]

[Bud Brewster]

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Click here to listen to Hugh Marlow's line.

"Humanoid . . . and ancient. These suits must serve as an electronic and mechanical outer skin, to take the place of their atrophied flesh and muscles."

So, the suits keep these old geezers alive, but we're not sure why they just fade away after the helmet is removed — other than the fact that's an inexpensive special effect . . .
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)