ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

This is actually several episodes of an unsold television series by director by Richard Talmadge, edited into a feature starring Ross Ford, Donna Martell, and Hayden Rourke.

The plot involves a "communist saboteur" who damages a spacecraft on a lunar orbital mission, making it necessary for the ship to land on the Moon -- the first lunar landing.

The costumes are a bit bizarre; the astronauts wear shorts, t-shirts, skullcaps, and boots. A female president congratulates the astronauts (both male and female). One of the astronauts is the first person to orbit the Earth -- the woman.

These bold aspects of the story might have contributed to it being rejected in 1953. Too progressive.

But the FX are stellar, and the shots of the space port near the beginning are the stuff of which a sci-fi lovin' kid's dreams are made.


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

[Bud Brewster]

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Brother, if I'd seen this at a theater in 1954 at the age of five, I'd have been in hog heaven.

Even seeing it for the first time just a few years ago, I still enjoyed it thoroughly. It's by the same folks who did Rocky Jones I think, only with a bigger budget. The prints have been beautifully preserved (unlike Rocky, I'm sorry to say), so the DVD of it is gorgeous.

Enjoy this trailer and then buy it immediately. Those are direct orders from Space Command and must be obeyed!



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

[Robert (Butch) Day]

This was intended as a semi-sequel to Destination Moon (1950). It was co-written by Robert A. Heinlein.
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Common Sense ISN'T Common

[Krel]

According to Filmfax magazine, they never made the tv show, funding collapsed before they could film it. But, they had already built the costumes, sets, props and models, so they were able to secure funds to do a movie.

It is hilariously sexist. Over the falls in a barrel sexist to the point where I wonder if it was done intentionally for comedic purposes.

The model work was done by Jacque Fresca. Look up the Venus Project for more examples of his model work and photography.

David.

[Gord Green]

Looking at this from the present it IS amazingly sexist, but then so are many 50's films and TV shows.

MEN INTO SPACE has been showing on COMET TV on Sunday nights after MST3K and many of those are terribly sexist, to the extreme that women don't belong in space, or as pilots, or as anything other than staying in the kitchen baking cakes. The resolutions of these stories always revert to the woman using her "womanly wiles" and the men wink-wink about the conflict.

Robert Heinlien did write the story and much of the dialog reflects this. It seems to be influenced by his short story Delilah and the Space Jockey (also known as Delilah and the Space Rigger.)

[Bud Brewster]

[Bud Brewster]

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Interesting IMDB trivia item.
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This was initially intended as a pilot film for a TV series to be called "Ring Around the Moon". When science-fiction movies suddenly became popular, producer Jack Seaman added enough footage to the film to bring it up to feature length. This was done without the knowledge of writer Robert A. Heinlein, and he disowned the result.
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I wonder what aspects of the additional scenes Heinlein didn't like?
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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]

Wikapedia reports "

[bulldogtrekker]

This is one of favorite low-budget sci-fi movies and is similar to Cat Women of the Moon, Missile to the Moon and War of the Satellites, but much more fun.



Donna Martell is fun to watch and is easy on the eyes.

[Bud Brewster]

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Happy 50th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

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IMDB has several interesting trivia items for this production.
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~ This movie and Cat-Women of the Moon (1953) were made using some of the same sets and costumes. Both use spacesuits from Destination Moon (1950), but Project Moon Base had new helmets made instead. The two films were then released within one day of each other, September 3 and 4.

Note from me: Cat-Women of the Moon is pretty bad. But Project Moonbase was written by Robert Heinlein, and it looks it. I love the movie and I have the crystal clear DVD. And this next item surprised me.

~ The dialogue and space uniforms (including shorts and skull-cap helmets) is pure Heinlein.

Note from me: As unlikely as it seems that astronauts would wear T-shirts and shorts on a spacecraft, the ISS crew do in fact dress in comfortable clothes similar to the ones in this fun little movie.









~ Included is an early cinematic example of the word "warp" (used as a verb) in the science fiction space travel genre. This occurs around the 24 minute mark. A message is given by "Space Control" to the crew of "Rocket ship Mexico". Quote: "We will warp you to park at three", referring to dock number three on the orbiting space station.

Note from me: Obviously Mr. Heinlein liked the word "warp" in conjunction with space flight.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]