ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

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After creating my post about the props for the Harryhausen movies, I started thinking about other fondly remembered props and sets from classic sci-fi movies which should be included in an imaginary All Sci-Fi Museum of Science Fiction Memorabilia!

Here's the list of exhibits I came up with.
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From Destination Moon

~ The obvious choice here is the model of the Luna. It appears in the scene which shows John Archer making his stirring pitch to the millionaire industrialists, and again in the factory scenes during the ship's construction.

Perhaps the model could be be displayed in a diorama like the second picture below.





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From Flight to Mars

~ The model of Chesley Bonestell's beautiful design for the rocket in this movie was also used in It! The Terror from Beyond Space, and World Without End. (I'd love to own it!)[/size]



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From The Thing from Another World

~ It took me while to come up with a prop from this movie that would impress the visitors to the All Sci-Fi Museum of Science Fiction Memorabilia, but I suddenly realized that the perfect exhibit would be a display which replicated Dr. Carrington's experiment with the seeds from the palm of the alien, which he planted and nurtured with blood plasma!

Especially if the tiny alien embryos pulsated the way they did in the movie . . .



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From The Day the Earth Stood Still

~ This movie gave us creations like Gort, the full-sized saucer, and the saucer's elegant interior. But the only prop (other than the space suit) was the "gift" which Klaatu brought for the president. He said it would allow him to "study life on the other planets."





If ever there was a simple statement that would tantalize the imaginations of young science fiction fans, that was it!

And yet, the idiot shown below panicked and smashed the device with a .45 caliber bullet!





However, the smashed gizmo actually deflected the bullet aimed at Klattu's chest and caused it to strike his shoulder instead — thus saving the life of this interstellar ambassador!

So, even though we lost an alien device which could have revealed priceless data about alien civilizations, we were saved from the wrath of Gort — who would have "reduced the Earth to a burned-out cinder" if Klaatu had been murdered immediately after leaving his ship and making this statement.

"We have come to visit you in peace, and with good will."


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And yet, the smashed prop we see lying in the grass after Klaatu is shot could easily be repaired. If we gave the pieces to Trekiffic with a bottle of Gorilla Glue, he'd have that thing repaired in no time!
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From When Worlds Collide

~ Obviously every fan of this movie would love to have the miniature of the rocket used in the movie . . . but what I'd also love to have is the miniature of the partial completed ship, with all the cranes and scaffolding around it.

This shot is just so awesome! It’s such a beautiful realization of this preproduction sketch I bought an 8X10 publicity still of, back in the 1960s.






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From War of the Worlds

~ We all know the tragic story of how the Martian ships were recycled for the copper they were made of, but fans like myself can't help hoping that the Martian "probe" shown below might have been rescued by some heroic person on the film screw and hidden away all these years.

Like Klaatu's "gift", this prop is broken during the story, but if the pieces survived it could be restored. Barring that, our sci-fi museum could display a fine replica.



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From Conquest of Space

~ Apparently the Mars ship was disassembled, and part of it showed up on the wall of cargo container in which Khan and his band from The Wrath of Khan lived.

But what ever happened to that beautiful space station and the supply rocket we see in the shot below?

I'd love to have that space station hanging from the ceiling in my living room, rotating at just the right speed.



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From Satellite in the Sky

~ The gorgeous rocket in the move would probably be much to large to display in my home, but I'd give it an honored place in the All Sci-Fi Museum of Science Fiction Memorabilia, with a background painting like the one below.



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From World Without End

~ A recreation of the spacecraft control room — complete with lifelike mannequins of the four main characters — would be a terrific addition to the ASF museum!

Add sound effects, recorded dialog from the movie, a gimble which titled the set slightly the way we see in the movie, and modest audio-animatronics to the characters, and you’d have a display that the museum’s guests would be be mesmerized by!



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From The 27th Day

~ The small prop of the transparent cases containing the “capsules” has always been a favorite of mine. I’d love to have one of the original props from this movie.





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From It! The Terror from Beyond Space

~ There aren't any exceptional props in this fine film, but the design of the ship's interior is unique and marvelous. The fact that the living area is aligned so that "down" is toward the stern and the ship has artificial gravity (as stated by a crewmen in an early scene) means the spacecraft has multiple levels.

And this also means that when the ship lands on any planet, the crew simply deactivates the artificial gravity and continue to move around inside it as they normally do.

The All Sci-Fi Museum of Science Fiction Memorabilia could offer a full-size replica of the ship on the grounds outside the building, and the guests would be taken on guided tours.

The tour would start at the bottom and move up to the control room — where they would be entertained by a mock attack by the Martian monsters who would attack the "floor hatch" from below and attempt to break through — completely unseen, but pounding ferociously on the closed hatch!

After the guests hear the noise of a terrific battle in the level below, the tour guide would hastily lead the guest out through through the airlock, and this would end the exciting tour.





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From The Space Children

~ This incredibly underrated movie includes several different versions of its incredibly well-sculpted and totally unique alien — which grew in size throughout the movie for reasons never explain!

The prop was a masterpiece; it constantly glowed and pulsated, like a living thing — but not like something from this planet . . .














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All the original props are long gone . . . but the All Sci-Fi Museum of Science Fiction Memorabilia could include perfect recreations, each of which would be housed in individual replicas of the cave.

Guided tours would be conducted by solemn young boys dressed in dark long-sleeved shirts like the one worn my Michel Ray in the movie, and they would explain the amazing transformation of the strange-but-benevolent alien in this movie, a life form from a race which saved mankind form destroying itself . . . with the help of seven brave children.
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From The Colossus of New York

~ The tank with brain in it is a an amazing prop that would make a great exhibit for the museum.





And an actor in a replica of the suit would walk around among the guests and answer questions in an electronically enhanced voice like the one in the movie!





The All Sci-Fi Museum of Science Fiction Memorabilia would be a fabulous place for science fiction fans to spend their vacations!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Krel]

Bob Burns owns the COS supply rocket and Mars wing and return rocket. He also owns the Luna and launch gantry. He has many, many more.

David.

[Bud Brewster]

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That's great. They're in good hands. Bob's house really IS the Museum of Science Fiction Memorabilia.

I looked at some jpegs of Bob's collection, and I was puzzled by the fact that somebody added a structure to the flat bottom of Klaatu's saucer!




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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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Ah-HA!

That explains it PERFECTLY!

The sad condition of the saucer's surface and the puzzling addition of a structure on the bottom can be blamed on 20th Century Fox and Irwin Allen.

The noble Mr. Burns has preserved the famous prop in it's current condition after it was mistreated by people who did not have Bob's respect for it.

Well, I greatly admire him for that. He has safeguarded this cinema treasure without erasing it's checkered history by having it restored!

After all, a pristine replica could do that — but it wouldn't remind us of the wear-and-tear the original prop endured during its active life in Hollywood!

Thank you, David, for showing us that Mr. Burns has done more than simply preserve beloved props like his one . . . he's also preserved is history!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)