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King Dinosaur (1955)

 
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Thu Apr 02, 2015 9:25 pm    Post subject: King Dinosaur (1955) Reply with quote

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The great title and these eye-catching posters electrified kids in 1955 and sent them running to theaters in search of more thrills like the ones provided by The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms and It Came from Beneath the Sea.

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Alas, the film is a major disappointment — but the story sounds terrific. A group of astronauts (both men and women) land on a planet which has wandered into the Solar system, a rocky world populated by dinosaurs and giant mammals.

Unfortunately, the dinosaurs are just enlarged lizards and an armadillo. The film was shot in California's Benedict Canyon, where the cast screams and points at off-screen monsters.

This was producer-director Bert I. Gordon's first film, so don't expect much. Fans of Robby the Robot will recognize the voice of the film's narrator as Marvin Miller, who also starred in the popular 1950s TV show "The Millionaire".

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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: Sat Mar 05, 2016 7:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

_____________________________________

This movie is real looser, but trailers are always fun, and this one has it's merits.
Very Happy


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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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Bogmeister
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 27, 2019 2:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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A very low budget first feature from Bert I Gordon (Mr. B.I.G.), not counting his participation in the virtually unknown Serpent Island/1954), with some wild concepts — a planet, dubbed Nova, suddenly enters in our solar system, and 4 astronauts (2 men and 2 women) are sent to explore it.

They find a world very similar to Earth at first glance — it resembles one of our typical forests. They also run across wildlife identical to Earth's — bear cubs and deer, for example, as well as snakes and alligators which menace them unconvincingly. But then a giant bug, resembling a termite, shows up. Later, one couple decides to raft to a nearby island, and that's where the giant lizards live.

The poster, by the way, is misleading — there's no such dinosaur in the film, only stock footage of enlarged lizards.


_______________King Dinosaur (1955) Trailer


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The film's first sequence on Earth is a documentary-style explanation of a space agency's testing procedures, utilizing stock footage. It's actually a bit unusual and interesting. The narration by Marvin Miller, the voice of Robby the Robot.

The rest of the film betrays its complete lack of a budget. There's a reason, for example, that this other planet is identical to Earth — the production had no funds to show anything else. Even the actors (including William Bryant & Wanda Curtis) weren't paid.

There's further stock footage from One Million BC (1940) to show the giant lizards. However, Gordon makes the most of what he did not have, presenting a story of adventure into the unknown, and it explains why he was a success with later low budget innovative features like The Amazing Colossal Man and Attack of the Puppet People.

The final minutes include appearances by a gigantic (50 feet tall) woolly mammoth and an armadillo — these were the early Gordon giant-things FX which weren't quite fine-tuned.

The outrageous conclusion seems like an excuse by Gordon to use more stock footage of the military's atomic bomb tests. One character decides that they may as well use that atomic bomb they brought along and to blow up the offensive island and all its creatures. What a way to treat a new world — mankind has never been more callous and destructive!

BoG's Score: 4 out of 10


______________ King Dinosaur: banda sonora


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Dino Trivia: Screenwriter Tom Gries, who also wrote & directed the previous Serpent Island, went on to a pretty long Hollywood career as a writer and director, notably of some Charlton Heston films in the late sixties, including Will Penny (1968). He died prematurely of a heart attack at age 54 in 1977.


BoG
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 27, 2019 2:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Bogmeister was the master when it came to writing interesting review about UN-interesting movies! Very Happy

He was like a good reporter; he didn't judge the film, he just described it's shortcomings and the reasons they existed. I enjoyed reading his review above much more than I enjoyed this movie! Shocked


Bogmeister wrote:
Dino Trivia: Screenwriter Tom Gries, who also wrote & directed the previous Serpent Island, went on to a pretty good and long Hollywood career as a writer and director, notably of some Charlton Heston films in the late sixties, including Will Penny (1968), though he died prematurely of a heart attack at age 54 in 1977.

On a more somber note, Andrew Bogdan was born in 1961 and passed away on July 15, 2015 . . . at the age of 54. Sad

His obituary states the following.
__________________________________

Andrew G. Bogdan

Born January 25, 1961 in San Francisco and most recently resided in San Lorenzo, passed away unexpectedly on July 16, 2015.

He is survived by his sister Nina Bogdan.

Friends are invited to attend the funeral service on Tuesday, July 21, 2015 at 7:00pm.

__________________________________

Andrew's last post on the message board that Eadie found (and from which I'm getting these "lost threads") was made on July 2nd, 2015 . . . just fourteen days before he passed away.


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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 19, 2021 3:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

_______________________________________________

Thinking Outside the "Plot"!
_______________________________________________

Bud Brewster wrote:
The film is a major disappointment — but the story sounds terrific. A group of astronauts (both men and women) land on a planet which has wandered into the Solar system, a rocky world populated by dinosaurs and giant mammals.

It occurs to me that the premise for this low-budget movie has a lot more going for it than the way it was handled. Rolling Eyes

~ A Question for the Members: Could a competently done version of this story would be the ultimate Lost World story? After all, in this case the "world" isn't in pon Earth! It just moseys into our neck of the woods, loaded with dinosaurs and just itchin' to be explored!

~ My Theory: It occurs to me that the premise for this low-budget movie has a lot more going for it than than the lousy way it was handled. Rolling Eyes

The idea of a rogue planet entering our solar system is interesting all by itself! And the fact that it comes baring a bounty of prehistoric gifts is a novel idea to say the least!

Picture this!

Astronomers spot a new planet which miraculously appeared in Earth orbit, about 90,000,000 miles behind us, occupying Earth's L5 Lagrange Point. How the planet suddenly appeared there baffles the scientific community world wide!

As all good fans of award-winner author Larry Niven know, Lagrange Points are positions in a planet's orbit (both ahead and behind) which can be occupied by another object which will orbit at the same speed and distance from the primary — which in this case is the Sun.





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Hey, see how easy it is to use accurate science in sci-fi stories to make cool stuff happen? The dopes in Hollywood rarely bother doing their homework, which is why we get so many moronic movies . . . Rolling Eyes
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Anyway, a multinational coalition is formed to send a team of scientist to this new planet and study it. All we know about it is what telescopic images reveal from a distance of about 90,000,000 miles — which is more than twice the distance from Earth to Mars at it's nearest approach.








The journey to the planet would would take a relatively short time, because the advanced rockets would be equipped with very powerful engines.





When the two spacecraft arrive, they discover that the new planet appears to be much like Earth, 65 million years ago, populated by prehistoric beast which are remarkably similar (but not identical to) the ones which our own fossil record includes!









After landing and studying the planet for several weeks, the team of scientist surmise that a wormhole must have opened up right in front of the planet along its orbital path in a distant star system, with the other end of the wormhole located near Earth's L5 Lagrange Point.

After exiting the wormhole, the planet was drawn towards Earth's L5 Lagrange Point and assumed a stable orbit.

Obviously, gentlemen, this "imaginary movie" would easily generate multiple sequels — thus providing the gifted students of the Ray Harryhausen Academy of Animation several years of steady employment! Cool

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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: Tue Oct 19, 2021 9:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Could be an interesting action TV series Bud. It's similar to "Terra Nova" without the baggage of time travel. This is even better, because it's an alien world, and you wouldn't have to stick to Earth dinosaurs. You could have all types of animals and creatures, even giant insects, and possibly primitive natives and lost civilizations from earlier interstellar colonizers.

David.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 20, 2021 8:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Bingo! What a great idea!

I was so focused on the idea of giving King Dinosaur an upgrade in intelligence that I didn't give much thought to the concept's full potential, which you described so well. Very Happy

All I said was that the planet is "populated by prehistoric beast remarkably similar (but not identical to) the ones which our own fossil record includes." I was trying to hard to keep it close to King Dinosaur.

But I'm impressed by the wide range of other inhabitants you suggested, and naturally that makes much more sense than trying to make the planet just a big Jurassic Park! Rolling Eyes

By the way, I'm going to change the part where I said a worm hole destroyed the planet's star system but (somehow) transported the planet to our solar system. That's not how wormholes work (according to current theories).

I'll revise it to read, "A wormhole opened up right in front of the planet along it's orbital path, with the other end of the wormhole located in Earth's L5 Lagrange Point."

That way the planet just appears near Earth and never has to spend any time drifting through space before settling into Earth's orbit. This will prevent the planet from getting so cold it would kill off the lifeforms! Shocked

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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: Wed Oct 20, 2021 11:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

How would life survive on a rogue planet minus a sun, Bud? Or is the sun traveling with this planet, is that even possible? Just wondering.
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 20, 2021 2:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Great question, Mike! It challenged me to do more research and fine-tune my story premise. The results were VERY gratifying, and I gained a wealth of new knowledge.

Here's what I came up with, based on the facts I learned.

The rogue planet didn't travel through space, it went into a wormhole in it's home star systems and came out in our solar system — almost instantly!

The text below is what Interesting Engineering says about traveling through a wormhole.
________________________________

Moving faster than the speed of light might be one way to traverse the universe within a single human lifespan, but we might be able to do it in a single second — traversing unfathomable distances at once through a physical wormhole.

And, it turns out humans might actually survive the journey, according to several recent studies published in the journal Physical Review Letters.

________________________________





So, the rogue planet's Earth-like orbit around it's own star carried it right into a wormhole, still traveling at it's orbital speed or 67,000 miles per hour — the same as Earth.

It then exited at the other end of the wormhole at the same distance from the sun as the Earth. Fortunately it was located about 90,000,000 miles behind us at the Earth's L5 Lagrange Point, but still traveling at it's original orbital speed.

I realize that all this seems like an incredible bit of luck, but our scientists-characters in the story could make some sort of plausible case for the idea that conditions were just right to create a wormhole with the two ends located at corresponding locations in relation to the two similar-sized star systems.

I also Googled the question, "Are wormholes permanent?" and got this from UniWiki,
________________________________

Like stargates, they allow the travel of ships from one star system to another, but unlike stargates, wormholes are not permanent. They connect two systems for only a short time and collapse when either their lifespan ends or too many ships have passed through them.
________________________________

So, this wormhole opened up in the distant star system and swallowed up the planet which happened to wander into it. It then delivered the planet here at a point determined by the same cosmic conditions which attracted it to a point within the other star.

The fact that an entire planet went through the wormhole would be the equivalent of several million starships passing through it, so the wormhole would then collapse after the planet arrived here. Very Happy

Mike, I'm very grateful to you for contributing great ideas which have gotten me so jazzed up that I've been spending hours thinking about what your posts have suggested . . . and then building on them with new ideas of my own! Cool

I also appreciate David's recent post about the possible lifeforms on this rogue planet. His post was a total game changer! It transformed the planet into something far more interesting than just an orbiting version of The Land Unknown. Very Happy

I hope David will add more ideas to this thread, as well as the other threads you and I have enjoyed collaborating on!

We seem to be on a roll, Mike!

Who'd have believed we could "re-imagine" movies like this low budget looser and The Beast of Hollow Mountain — with each of us suggesting multiple versions which presented different, fascinating stories! Cool

_________________
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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: Thu Oct 21, 2021 9:14 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

I discovered that YouTube does indeed have a video of this movie! Watch it af the link below, or download it to your computer.

The opening is surprisingly good, with a narration by Marvin Miller — the voice of Robby — delivering an intelligent "science documentary" prologue that's extremely well done! Very Happy

However, the rest of the movie is deadly dull, so don't let the opening get your hopes up . . . like I did. Sad


King Dinosaur - 1955 (Sci-Fi - Full Movie - Restored Quality)


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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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PostPosted: Thu Oct 21, 2021 1:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

When the new planet appears and settles into orbit, probes are sent to the planet. The probe experiences heavy interference, and the digital photos are corrupted. Astronomers also notice unusual solar activity.

But the photos reveal thousands of structures on the surface, and dropped probes show a habitable environment.

An international expedition is sent to the planet. From orbit they survey the planet using telescopes. In addition to the structures, they see several spaceships with a compound, from the growth in the compound, they reason that it has been abandoned for years.

They also see the dinosaurs.

They land near the alien ships, and while exploring the compound, they discover that the alien expedition had committed suicide. They discover the aliens had left documents, along with a key to their language.

They decipher the alien language, and to their horror they discover the secret of the planet.

The planet had appeared in the aliens star system, and the aliens launched an expedition to the planet to discovered it's secrets. They discovered that the planet travels from star system to star system. But moving a planet across interstellar distances take power. A lot of power. To get that power, the alien machine induces the star to go nova.

This is what happened to the aliens home planet. With he loss of their star system, the aliens prepared their documents as a warning to any civilization unfortunate to have the planet enter their star system. They then committed suicide.

The Earth expedition now has an unknown number of years to shut down the alien machine, and save the solar system.

The show would be about the exploration, battling the wildlife and racing the doomsday clock.

Now it would be possible to shut down the machine by brute force. By either THE BOMB, or by a THOR kinetic orbital strike. THOR would be better, because they would have to drop thousands of projectiles. So a reason why they can't do that would have to be found.

If you want to complicate t the story ever more. On Earth, they are preparing an evacuation under the cover of a colonization effort. The governments are trying to avoid panic over the potntial end of the world. Rockets are expensive and take time to build, so a cheaper method will have to be found. There is one, but it is messy. Project Orion. There will be two types of Orion spacecraft, a passenger version, and a freighter version. The freighter version will be cheaper than the passenger version as it will not need life-support systems.

David.
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 21, 2021 3:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Okay, I've figured out a reason why they can't nuke the alien structures, and it raises the stakes..

The Earth expedition has mapped the planet from orbit. They discovered that some of the structures are of the same design, and are equally spaced around the planet. They surmise that these are the problem structures.

Earth sends a ship with the THOR weapons system. They figure that Kinetic strikes will hopefully cause less environmental damage than THE BOMB. They destroy the first structure and the machine fights back. All ships and satellites in orbit are destroyed. When a supply ship arrives a couple of weeks later, it to is destroyed.

The alien machine has embargoed the planet.

The Earth expedition is now on their own. They will have to rely on local sources for food, and the gear and equipment from the earlier alien expedition. They will have to cannibalize their ships to make what they need. In addition to the vehicles they carried with them, they will make electric prop planes for long distance travel.

Interference from the machine makes contact with Earth very difficult.

David.
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 22, 2021 7:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I wonder what the effect on the Solar system would be if an Earth size and mass planet suddenly popped into the Solar system.

David.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 05, 2022 3:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

IMDB has several interesting trivia items for this production. Very Happy
________________________________

~ Marvin Miller, who narrates this film, was the voice of Robby The Robot in Forbidden Planet.

Note from me: I wonder what Mr. Miller thought of the movie he was narrating. Probably not much . . .

~ This was the first of Bert I. Gordon's low budget special effects extravaganzas that were popular in the 1950s.

Note from me:

~ Mr. BIG (Bert I Gordon) actually reviewed dinosaur footage brought in by Ray Harryhausen and Ray Bradbury and did not even acknowledge them at the end of the viewing. There was no comment at all, no good, bad or get lost, just Gordon walking out. Obviously, Harryhausen and Bradbury were upset and disappointed.

A couple of years later, Bert I Gordon came out with this jewel and upon leaving the premier, Ray Bradbury went up to Gordon, said "Remember me? Ray Bradbury. It won't make a dime!" And it didn't.


Note from me: Mr. Gordon's next five movies were considerably better than this one! Very Happy

~ 1957 Beginning of the End

~ 1957 The Cyclops

~ 1957 The Amazing Colossal Man

~ 1958 Attack of the Puppet People

~ 1958 War of the Colossal Beast

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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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