ALL SCI-FI

[Pow]

I agree with you, Bud.

The science is pretty poor for what was initially an intriguing concept by the Andersons.

The first one being that astronomers even prior to the space age would have been able to figure out and calculate that a large planet-sized object existed on the far side of the sun.

So right away the film scientifically missteps that the other planet was only discovered by satellite and its all a big surprise to Earth.

Legendary Derek Meddings is one of my favorite FX wizards of all time and once again he does not disappoint with this movie.

Every model is an exquisite marvel to behold even as the film fails to live up to the promise of its compelling title.

The script makes the film come to a screeching halt---for me at least---when it delves into the marital troubles of our lead astronaut.
Then it wastes more time as it shows the intensive program to prepare the scientist who is to accompany the astronaut-pilot on the journey.

The scene with Herbert Lom as a spy within the space agency was dramatic but ultimately leads nowhere.

I have not seen this movie in a long time so I may be wrong about this item. I thought that the film delves into the political wrangling regarding even launching the mission to begin with...another uninteresting deviation from the plot.

The payoff remains equally dreary when our astronaut lands on the mirror Earth.
He finds out it is an exact duplicate of our planet with the exception being everything is reversed.

This is our payoff? There could have been so many other outcomes with this premise but they come up with one that is prosaic.

An alternate Earth should have hosted a plethora of possibilities but not so in JTTFSOTS unfortunately.

The ending is tragic and downbeat.

It is a film that could have been so much more.

But Derek's visual effects are a feast to behold to this day.

[Bud Brewster]

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IMDB has several interesting trivia items for this production.
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~ Gerry Anderson has said in interviews that he had to shoot all the important stuff with Patrick Wymark and Ian Hendry in the mornings because both men well known for being heavy drinkers of the booze would go for liquid lunches and would not be able to do much in the afternoons.

Note from me: Apparently these gentlemen liked their liquor more than their careers!

~ The Phoenix spacecraft's power reactor is depicted as having been manufactured by Rolls Royce.

Note from me: In my novel Sail the Sea of Stars I stated that mankind's hyperdrive was developed by Rolls Royce. I just liked the idea . . .

~ When considering casting for the TV series Space 1999, Gerry and Sylvia Anderson did consider real life married couple, Roy Thinnes and Lynn Loring, who appear in this film.

However Sylvia in particular thought that Thinnes hadn't behaved particularly well during production, acting like a diva at times. Put off by the experience Space 1999 ended up casting another real life American couple, Martin Landau and Barbara Bain.

Sylvia said many years later that decision was also problematic with both Landau and Bain demanding superstar treatment and throwing their weight around the production.

Note from me: Oh my goodness, what a pain in the butt those Hollywood egos can be . . .

~ The cardiometer wrist watches that several of the characters wear correctly predicted the widespread use of fitness-watches nearly 40 years after the movie was released.

Note from me: I'm afraid to get one of those. It might figure out I'm dead before I do . . . and spoil the surprise!

~ Filmed at the tail end of 1968, this film (like many others of the time) predicted video phone calls. It would take another half a century before one to one video calls became a practical reality.

Note from me: Actually, that idea was presented all the way back in serials like Flash Gordon and movies like Transatlantic Tunnel
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Krel]

In the 90s I read an article on what happened to the video phone. The short answer is that nobody wanted them.

At the 1964 Worlds Fair AT&T had a video phone exhibit were you could talk to someone on a video phone, I think in Chicago (it's been a while). Afterwards the people were poled on their opinion of the video phone. Everyone thought they were fantastic! When asked if they would have one in their home, the people were horrified. Oh no, I wouldn't want anyone to see me in my home!

That killed the video phone. Ma Bell wasn't going to go through the expense of stringing video lines that nobody wanted.

The phones would have required two different lines, one for audio calls and one for video calls. You could pick which call to make, but the video calls would have been more expensive.

They did string video lines for Uncle Sam and some large corporations. Now companies use the internet for video calls, and have for years. It works really well, they had it at the law firm I worked for, and that was over four years ago.

David.

[Maurice]

The AT&T Picturephone Mod 1 which debuted in April 1964, utilized standard phone lines, but it required three of them: one for audio, one for video out and the other for video in.

The design of that phone was aped by the little gooseneck-mounted “television communicators” (as described in production memos) seen all over the Enterprise in the first Star Trek pilot. I wrote about it on the FACT TREK blog I co-write (link).


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"The absence of limitations is the enemy of art."
― Orson Welles

[Bud Brewster]

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Sir, I salute you!

That is a very enjoyable article, and I'm not only dazzled by the fine writing but also by the enormous amount of research you and your colleagues did!

Now that I'm aware that your site is such a gold mine of info and entertainment, I've bookmarked it, and I'll be checking it on a regular basis.

And please, please, please feel free to post part-or-all of any article from your site — along with, of course, the name of the web site and its link.


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

[Krel]

The AT&T Picturephones are on some of the desks in "Fantastic Voyage". I don't know if they actually used them though.

David.

[Bud Brewster]

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We might think that less sophisticated versions of technology like this from the past was a waste of time because we now have much better ways to achieve the desired goal.

However, these early attempts whet the public's appetite for devices like this, and their interest encourages the tech companies to spend billions on developing more successful versions which do a better job.

It's a bit like what good science fiction movies, TV shows, and literature does for mankind in general. We get samples of the possibilities the future might hold — and then we go out and see what might really be possible.
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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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Joe Dante has interesting things to say about this movie, based on his fond memories of it from his childhood. The YouTube video is short and entertaining.

At the of the video John Landis swears there really IS an unknown planet that stays on the opposite side of sun from the Earth, preventing us from ever seeing.

He urges us to Google "Planet X at the NASA website.

Poor John is partially correct. According to astronomical computations, the planet might be out there, far beyond Pluto. However, the NASA site, says, "It may take between 10,000 and 20,000 Earth years to make one full orbit around the Sun."

So, while Planet X stays on one side of the sun for thousands of year, the Earth zooms 'round and 'round once ever 365 days.

Mr. Landis is like so many other Hollywood people — he gets excited about a concept without fully understanding it, and the next thing you know we've got a sci-fi movie that's heavy of the Fi, but light on the Sci.
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_John Landis on Journey to the Far Side of the Sun


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

[Pow]

Unfortunately, American actors generally do not have the best reputation among the British theater trained actors. Roy Thinnes & the Landaus proved that, at least to Gerry & Sylvia Anderson when they worked with them.

In England, acting is simply seen as another profession by the British. You act, you're a plumber, you're a doctor, and so forth. The actors are appreciated for their performances, but they are not considered almighty gods like many Americans can do with actors. And that kind of thing is going to mightily inflate an actors ego and moods.

In England with actors there's a sense of everyone is on the same team working together for a common goal. Everyone is respected in the cast and crew.

American actors are viewed wearily by the British because some are known to have a me, myself, and I approach to acting. In other words, the British will ask on a production, how do I serve the script? American actors ask, how does the script serve me?

I've read some interviews with the supporting cast on Space: 1999. In these interviews they clearly state that the Landaus edged them out regarding good dialogue and scenes that were intended for the supporting cast members by the script writer. Martin Landau, an actor that I respect, absolutely wanted his Commander John Koenig to be the big damn hero at all times. No other actor was allowed to save the day on an episode if Landau had a say in it, which he usually did.

Catherine Schell said that she discovered that Barbara Bain requested that whenever an episode ended with a freeze shot, that she & Schell were not to be in the same shot. Schell was rather bemused by this directive and said that such a thing would never have occurred to her with another actress.

Oddly, the Landaus had a stellar reputation on Mission: Impossible (1966 ~ 1973) when they co-starred on that series in its first three seasons. According to the terrific book, The Complete Mission: Impossible Dossier by Patrick J. White, which thoroughly covers the making of the show, Barbara & Martin were well liked by both the cast and the crew. When the Landaus left the series there was a genuine sadness over it by the entire production company.

This isn't to suggest that there aren't some wonderfully gracious American actors in the business. Jimmy Stewart, James Garner, Tom Hanks, and Tom Selleck have pretty darn good reputations by those who worked with them.

Conversely, there are some British actors who can be difficult & act like entitled brats.

The only reason the Andersons cast American actors in their projects were because it helped raise money for a production, and for appeal and marketability of a movie or TV series in the U.S. If they had their druthers, Gerry & Sylvia would have much preferred working with an all-British cast on their projects.

[Bud Brewster]

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Terrific post, Mike! Well researched and well written.

I agree that American's tend to idealize actors, sports figures, etc., and this inflates egos until their heads almost explodes!

Thanks for sharing the interesting info.

(But don't let it go to your head, Dude. I'm the Big Cheese around here, and don't you forget it!)
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Krel]

Roy Thinnes gave an interview about the movie to a SF magazine back in the 80's. I don't remember much, except that he said that it was the Anderson's first time working with humans instead of marionettes. His feeling is that they couldn't tell the difference between the two.

David.

[Pow]

I really wanted to like this film so much more than I did. It should have had the pacing & thrills like Fantastic Voyage & Ice Station Zebra had. Instead, we are dragged down into melodramatic subplots about a marriage in trouble, infidelity (those scenes were cut), the attraction between the lead astronaut and the beautiful secretary, preparing a scientist for the arduous trip, the political maneuvering between nations in order to get the mission launched. All of which bring the plot into insipid, time wasting storylines.

Even the final denouement of encountering an duplicate earth was disappointing. Hardly original. Rod Serling wrote a script for his Twilight Zone episode The Parallel" (March 14, 1963), which deals with the same premise. Admittedly, it is a weaker TZ episode. "Although interesting in concept, "The Parallel" suffers from flat acting and never generates much energy." The Twilight Zone Companion.

[Pow]

If the Andersons knew that Patrick Wymark (a terrific actor) and Ian Hendry had reputations as heavy drinkers, and that issue would negatively affect production, then why hire them in the first place?

Were they friends of Gerry & Sylvia? Did the studio force them upon the Andersons? I've never understood the reasoning to hire known problematical actors for a film or TV series, and then have problems crop up! You want as smooth a production as possible. It'll also cost more $$$ dealing with such actors.

And I have never bought the reasoning that you hire a trouble making performer simply because they're so fantastic that no one on earth could ever carry out the role so magnificently. There is always another terrific actor---without the baggage---who can step into a role.

[Bud Brewster]

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I saw this movie when it first came out, and (as I've said before) I really didn't find anything to like about it.

However, I still enjoy your posts about the movie, because they reveal interesting facts I didn't know.

But please don't ever post a picture of your book shelves with all those marvelous reference books you own. It would spoil my fantasy that this is your library in "Stately Pow Manor".





I also believe that this is what you look like when you're catching up on your reading.



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

[Pow]

And some of those bookcases, plus my fireplace, are secret entrances!