ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

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I recently started watching the episodes of Men Into Space, and I realized that I'd forgotten how imaginative and intelligent the stories are!

I watch all 39 episodes while chatting with the late Bulldogtrekker (Tim Edwards) about five years ago, but I'd did remember what an amazing series this was.

So, I started creating posts for specific episodes and including the YouTube links, to encourage you guys to watch them, too.

I'm going to ask our chat group to begin each chat with [bi]Men Into Space[/b] episodes after we finish the Rocky Jones, Space Ranger episodes in a few weeks.

We hope some of you folks will join the fun!
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Episode S01E08 of Men Into Space

Episode S01E08 of Men Into Space, involved a mission to an asteroid that had wandered out of the asteroid belt and passed by the Earth.

I remember that episode because the miniature which the FX folks created for the asteroid looked somewhat like a chunk of a planet's surface, with a fragmented bottom side and "mountains" on top. And unlike actual asteroids, it didn't tumble — it just floated along like it was an island on an invisible sea.





A discussion about asteroids in the episode included the theory that they were the remains of a planet which once orbited between Mars and Jupiter.

So, the appearance of the asteroid in the episode convinced my young mind that asteroids were indeed the fragments of a lost planet, and the one depicted in the show was a chunk of the mountainous surface.

I mention this old memory because it's an example of how excited I got back in those days when it came to all things connected with science fiction. I'd like to think I haven't completely lost that ability over the years.

And that, of course, is why I created All Sci-Fi. Do any of you folks remember having Sci-Fi Moments like that one?

__Men into Space - S01E08 - 11/25/59 - "Asteroid"


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Men Into Space S01E11 First Woman on the Moon

I don't have any specific memories of this episode from seeing it 1959, but when I bought the box set and watched it a few years ago I enjoyed it very much — partly because it stars the lovely Miss Nancy Gates from World Without End.







Some might say that this episode demonstrates unfortunate examples of male chauvinism because of the way Miss Gate's character is treated in the story. Here's how one of the two synopses on IMDB describes it.
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When Major General Norgath is assigned to test how a woman can handle living on the moon, Major Joe Hale ends up choosing his wife Renza to accompany them. However, Renza soon grows bored with cooking and cleaning and goes for a moonwalk on her own. When Joe gets angry at her endangering herself, the couple starts squabbling and McCauley has to step in.
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However, the other IMDB synopsis indicates that the story is a bit less chauvinistic.
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It is decided to conduct an experiment to see if women could handle the rigors of spaceflight and living on the Moon. The plan is to send a woman to the Moon for 90 days. Initially she doesn't cope very well through a lack of training or projects to complete. Eventually she comes up with a novel set of activities to try and show her value to the mission.
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Miss Gates performance is a delight to watch. When Colonel McCauley and her Miss Gates' astronaut husband invite her to volunteer for a 90-day experiment on the Moonbase to test the effects of lunar living on females, she calmly agrees.

The conclusion of the episode is humorous, romantic, and highly uplifting!

If I've piqued your interest, enjoy the full episode at the link below.

_Men Into Space S01E11 First Woman on the Moon


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Men Into Space S01E12 Christmas on the Moon

Here's another episode I probably watched in 1959 but don't remember — and shame on me for not doing so!

Here's IMDB's synopsis of the story.
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McCauley and astronomers Farrar and Nichols are on the Moon on Christmas Day when it passes through a comet's path. When Farrar is stricken with appendicitis, only a miracle will save him... but Nichols doesn't believe in Christmas, God, or miracles.
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The story starts off with a dinner party hosted by Colonel McCauley and his gorgeous wive (Joyce Taylor), just prior to the male guest leaving on a Moon mission a few days before Christmas to observe the close passage of a comet.

They discuss the purpose of the mission; to make telescopic observations of the comet to determine if, as some theories suggest, it's mostly made of ice.

During the dinner party, the team's principle comet expert assigned to the mission — a young scientist played by Keith Larsen — makes a personal comment about the fact that he's an agnostic and doesn't believe in the Christian beliefs concerning the origin of Christmas.

Some time later, when these mission specialists reach the Moon, one of the scientists (played by Whit Bissell) suddenly develops appendicitis and desperately needs medical treatment . . . or he'll die.

Medical experts who are stationed at a second Moonbase several miles away attempt to reach the base where Whit Bissell and the other comet observers are located. But they may not arrive in time, because Bissell's temperature is rapidly rising — and there is no ice at Bissell's location which can be used to reduce his dangerously high fever!

Add to this the fact that the medical team's trek across the lunar surface is endangered by occasional bits of meteoric material from the passing comet as the Moon passes close to its tail!

During this time, the young scientist and self-proclaimed agnostic is disturbed by his teammates suffering. In a very moving scene, he gazes out a window at the base and says a pray for Bissell.

Suddenly the young scientist witnesses several fragments from the passing comet as they impact the lunar surface nearby,

He scrambles into a spacesuit, rushes out onto the lunar surface, and returns with a large chunk of ice from the comet! He and the other personnel break up the ice and use it to bring down Bissell's dangerously high fever, thus prolonging his life until the medical team can arrive!

This episode was packed with scientific facts that enriched this science fiction story and made it both entertaining and educational.

I was also delighted to learn in the closing credits that this very enjoyable and inspiring episode was directed by none other than [color=green]Richard Carlson — the star of several classic 1950s science fiction films![/color]

___ Men Into Space S01E12 Christmas on the Moon


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