ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

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This is one of the best posters for a sci-fi movie from this era.

The movie gets off to a rousing start with some gorgeous title credits in dramatic block letters against colorful space backgrounds — very 1950-ish. And the rest of the film is enjoyable if you don't judge it too harshly for looking so much like an episode of "The Time Tunnel".

Director Ib Melchoir has a painfully static way of shooting scenes, holding the camera on uninteresting scenes for far too long. But the story (written by Melchoir himself) really has fun with the time travel concept. And the manner in which he gets his characters from the present to the future is both interest and funny.

They walk.

Scientist Preston Foster and crew open a "time window" in their lab. The window looks like a big view screen, showing a sunlit deser. The scientist simply step through into the future 107 years hence.

But once they are on the other side, the "window" collapses, trapping them in a post-atomic-war world where an underground complex protects the survivors from the murderous mutants on the surface. Androids (portrayed by actors in simple but effective makeup) help the survivors build a rocket in which they hope to escape the ruined Earth.

The scenes showing routine android repair (replacing heads, etc.) are clever, but their purpose in the film is a bit too obvious ("See, folks? These aren't just actors, they're androids!").

Forrest J. Ackerman has a minor role as a technician. The same basic plot was given a less satisfying treatment just three years later in 1967's "Journey to the Center of Time".
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[scotpens]

This is a fun little sci-fi picture that makes imaginative use of its low budget. Some of the trick effects are simply stage magician's illusions done live in front of the camera.

Watch for Delores Wells, the well-endowed brunette who was Playboy's Miss June 1960.

[Bud Brewster]

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It's a shame this exciting trailer is so dark, but I couldn't find a better version, so here ya go, folks!

Enjoy!
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___________ The Time Travelers (1964) Trailer


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

[bulldogtrekker]

Beyond the Time Barrier - 1964
I like this movie much better than Bud. I saw it on TV growing up and it is on the DVD Movies 4 You - Sci Fi Classics. I own the DVD.



After all, it has time travel; mutants; a rocket; and a little skin from Delores Wells.

The semi-remake, Journey to the Center of Time (1967) is a piece of junk.

[Pow]

I read that this movie's time window was the inspiration for Irwin Allen's ''Time Tunnel"(1966-'67)TV show.

[Bud Brewster]

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Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the "time travel window" in this movie just a rectangular opening at the front of the lab with a rear projection screen a few feet beyond it which displayed a desert scene?

This made it look as if what appeared in that "window" was showing us the landscape from the time period it was linking up with.

And when one of the scientist decided to go through the "time window" he just stepped through the opening, and the scene cut to the other scientist watching their colleague make this bold move.

The scene then cut back to the time window, and the scientists was shown on the rear projection screen, standing in the dessert location, gazing back at the folks in the lab.

Presto! He was in the future!

Except that to me it seemed like a lazy way to do this special effect. I wasn't fooled, and I was pretty sure nobody else would be either.

However, I appreciate the fact that the movie is ambitious and imaginative. I just can't seem to accept it's flaws and appreciate it's virtues.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Krel]

For the factory, and some other scenes in the future they used off the shelf magician's tricks.

They had to create the destruction of the rocket twice. The first time, the camera film loader forgot to load the camera! That had to really cut into the films modest budget. I can't help wondering if the second miniature set was a copy of the first, or if the first rocket and pad was of a different design.

David.

[scotpens]

Here's a link to a beautiful HD copy of The Time Travelers. Unfortunately it isn't downloadable.

https://ronemo.com/video/IrNjP7E5lqd/p_IYurEjjEq

[Gord Green]

It is a beautiful copy of the film! Sharp and great color!

Unfortunatley, it is un downloadable. I tried a few methods, but couldn't do it.

Still....What s fun movie to watch! Thank you for the link!!!

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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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Although I'm not a fan of this movie, I must admit it includes a lovely lady by the name of Delores Wells.

She was Playboy magazine's Playmate of the Month for its June 1960 issue, and she was one of the cover models in January 1961 — which probably explains the third photo below.

Be still, my foolish heart . . .









Just to cement my firm adoration for Miss Wells, Wikipedia says, "Wells was from Reading, Pennsylvania, and grew up with an interest in science fiction and becoming a movie star."
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[mach7]

I'll have to rewatch this movie.

I remember watching this long ago in the '70s on channel 56 in Boston.

I rewatched it about 10 years ago.

I like it. It's not fine cinema but an entertaining hour and a half.

[Pow]

Original working title: Time Trap. "The Time Trap" was the name of an episode on Star Trek: The Animated Series. It had nothing to do with this movie though.

The Time Travelers inspired Irwin Allen's The Time Tunnel TV series in 1966, and the film Journey to the center of Time in 1967. Director Ib Melchoir declined to sue either of these productions because he feared being blacklisted in Hollywood and not getting any more work.

[Pow]

When Gene Roddenberry first approached the executives at Desilu Studios about his Star Trek concept, the execs were concerned about the cost of producing a weekly science fiction television series. GR showed them The Time Travelers as an example of how to do a sf series on a limited budget.

[Bud Brewster]

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The budget. Ah yes . . . it's always about the budget.

I realize the term is show business — not show art — so if a series can't attract a sizable audience that sponsors are happy with, the networks can't keep making the series.

Unfortunately this means that television studios are forced to pander to the segment of the population who can't appreciate truly good television. So the studiss become a bit like a gourmet restaurant who can't attract enough customers — so they have to become a fast food franchise that sells hamburgers.

A public who won't watch shows that make them smarter tend to stay dumb. So, they demand more dumb shows as a result.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)