ALL SCI-FI

Bud Brewster · Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2016 5:36 pm Post subject:

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The Sony Channel showed this movie recently, and I was astounded by how much better the picture looked than that damn sub-standard DVD of it.

Not only was it just as sharp at the DVD, it lacked the horrible grain and the annoying "strobing" that mars the DVD's of both this movie and 7th Voyage of Sinbad.

I don't know what was done to fix these problems, but I certainly wish they would re-issue the DVD with a picture as good as the Sony Channel airing. It was wonderful.
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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 · Posted: Wed Feb 08, 2017 9:56 pm Post subject:

And ------Just for Bud!

Bud Brewster · Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2017 4:14 pm Post subject:

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I found a site that has hi-def images of the comic book's pages! Cool

I can't say I'm real impressed with the artwork. The characters don't bare the slightest resemblance to the actors, and I dislike the way the artist made several puzzling color changes, like painting the crab brown instead of orange. The colorful giant bird is a drab brown, too.

And yet he put Beth Rogan in a red mini-skirt instead of the sexy tan micro mini-skirt.

Despite all this, it's interesting to see this promotional comic book for a movie that I love so much.

Enjoy! Very Happy

And here's a nine minute interview with Ray about the making of Mysterious Island.
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__ Ray Harryhausen talks about Mysterious Island

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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 · Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2017 4:51 pm Post subject:

Wow! Thanks Bud, I've never seen the interior of that book.
Looks like pencils by Jesse Marsh and inks by Dan Spiegle.

Still, good stuff! Thanks!!!

Bud Brewster · Posted: Thu Feb 09, 2017 5:55 pm Post subject:

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You're quite welcome! And here's a little treat from one Beth Rogan fan to another. Wink

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

Pow · Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2017 2:05 pm Post subject:

Thanks so much for posting this, Bud. I'm a lifelong comic book collector & enjoy discovering Dell/Gold Key issues.

Ironic you just did this as we recently noted the birth date of author Jules Verne. And, sadly, the recent passing of artist/inker Dan Spiegle.

I also noticed some differences between the comic book & the MI movie.

The marooned men discover the women in a boat in the comic whereas in the film they were laying unconscious on the beach.

Captain Nemo had a beard in the film, in the comic he is clean shaven.

A boulder did not block the hatch of the Nautilus trapping Nemo as was done in the comic. A metal girder was shaken loose in the submarine which then crushed the captain.

I've noticed with the Dell/Gold Key Comic Book adaptations of either films or television shows that they do indeed have discrepancies between the comics & the particular movie or tv show they are featuring.

In the Green Hornet comics they got most of everything from the tv series correct.

They did show Britt Reid as having a lab in the comic which he never did on the tv show.

The revolving garage floor where the Black Beauty is hidden is circular in the comics, square in shape on the series.

And the Hornet Scanner in the comic looks nothing like the design as used on the tv series.

I've wondered if differences like those in the comics were simply artistic license, or did the artist not have the proper photos in advance from which to recreate accurately?

Trivia} The Thomas Ayrton character whose cave becomes the survivors "granite house" is not deceased in the MI novel. He is alive & well & held captive on a nearby island. The MI heroes rescue him.

Aryton is a character first seen in JV's novel In Search Of The Castaways.

So MI features 2 characters from earlier Verne novels. Captain Nemo & Ayrton.

Always enjoyed ISOTC by Disney but thought it would have been nifty if they had done the giant condor scene in that film as stop-motion animation.

Also, the giant squid in Disney's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea could have been some of Ray's stop-motion edited in with the terrific animatronic squid they did use.

Bud Brewster · Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2017 2:36 pm Post subject:

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By gum, Pow, I think I'll treat you and the rest of our folks to the Dell comics edition for this beloved classic, too. I'll get to work on that right now, and it will be in the Jason and the Argonauts thread by dinner time tonight!

Heck, I think I'll watch the movie while I do it! Twice, maybe. Cool

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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 · Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2017 7:15 pm Post subject:

Just a little note on the art in this book.

The penciler/layout art looks like the work of Jesse Marsh. Marsh was the primary artist on Dell's TARZAN comic as well as Dell's JOHN CARTER OF MARS comic. His style is most evident in the panel layouts and figure placement.

Dan Spigle did a lot of complete stories for Dell as well as inks/finishes on other artist's work.

Other artists responsible for many of the movie adaptations was John Buscema (HELEN OF TROY) and the great Russ Manning, best known for MAGNUS, ROBOT FIGHTER.

Jesse's TARZAN

Bud Brewster · Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2017 5:26 pm Post subject:

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A few nice trivia items from IMDB (in blue text), with pictures!
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The scene with the giant bird was from the original draft of the script, which was to have had prehistoric monsters rather than giant oysters and crabs.

Ray Harryhausen has related the story of watching a cut of the film with composer Bernard Herrmann. In a sequence involving a giant bird, Herrmann told Harryhausen that he was going to score it with "Turkey in the Straw" (he was only kidding).

A real Brown crab was disemboweled, dismembered, cleaned and fitted with an internal armature for Ray Harryhausen's stop-motion animation of the giant crab. Additional live crabs were used for some of the "facial" close-ups, then later cooked for a crew dinner.

The armature for the crab is covered with the shell of a real crab instead of the usual latex. Ray Harryhausen bought three crabs for the production, having one humanely killed by a museum employee as boiling it would have changed the color of the shell. The other two were used for close-ups of the crabs' mandibles, which would otherwise have required a huge amount of time to properly animate. These crabs subsequently served as a dinner entr??e for Harryhausen and producer Charles H. Schneer.

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

Skullislander · Solar Explorer Joined: 13 Jul 2016 Posts: 74

Harryhausen selected the crab himself from Harrods in London, if my memory serves me correctly.

Bud Brewster · Posted: Mon Jul 31, 2017 8:57 am Post subject:

Pow · Posted: Mon Jul 31, 2017 1:02 pm Post subject:

I would have to list Twenty Million Miles To Earth, It Came From Beneath The Sea, Earth vs The Flying Saucers as films where the stories were mediocre but Ray's visuals stunning as always.

Neither movie has truly well developed human characters that are compelling in any way to me. The plots are strictly "B" movie with nothing really clever or intriguing.

Whenever I recorded these movies I would always fast forward to the stop-motion scenes.

I would have loved to have seen these movies as equals to the terrific The Thing From Another World, The Day The Earth Stood Still, or Forbidden Planet,Bud.

But the films I named of Ray's simply are not on that level. So I count 'em as being showcases for Ray's outstanding animation. But the writing is not nearly on the same level.

Bud Brewster · Posted: Mon Jul 31, 2017 3:00 pm Post subject:

Pow · Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2017 11:08 am Post subject:

Bud, make no mistake regarding the RH films I am critical of, his animation & model designs are always flawless to behold.

The actors are decent performers because we see them in other films & TV shows & know they are good.

My point are that the scripting is average at best. Can you really say these movies would be as entertaining to you minus Ray's wonderful stop-motion? I know I can't.

I'm certainly not disputing that you & others enjoy the movie as a whole.

But we cannot dispute that the films I've listed --- & I include on that list the later 2 Sinbad films & Clash of the Titans --- do not compare to such classics as The Day the Earth Stood Still, Forbidden Planet, or The Thing From Another World.

Those films had superior writing & it shows. It is why they are remembered as true classics with substance & not just light entertainment.

Nothing wrong with light, frothy entertainment.

However, I submit that these films had an ambition to 'em. The producers had something important to say, they wanted to do something innovative, daring & not simply be another formula film.